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Feb 13

Dogs hit the gym before Westminster show

Diets that Work Comments Off on Dogs hit the gym before Westminster show

By IRENE KRAFT

February 12, 2012

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — Gyms. Treadmills. Exercise balls. Diets.

What works for human athletes, it turns out, also works for four-legged ones trying to get into tip-top shape for the nation's premier canine contest — the 136th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

On Monday and Tuesday, more than 2,000 champion dogs of 186 breeds will convene in New York's Madison Square Garden to compete for the ultimate honor, Best in Show, awarded to the top dog in the nation.

And in the dog-eat-dog world of purebred sports, some owners will go through what seems like extremes to give their beloved canines a shot at that title.

They'll firm up their muscles, groom their coats, buy them the best supplies and monitor their diets in hopes of catching the eyes of judges looking for the purest specimens.

For the last couple of months, Donovan, a 3-year-old Irish setter, has been working out twice weekly at Animal Therapy Center in Bethlehem Township. Owned by Wright Veterinary Medical Center, the center is equipped with physical therapists/trainers and some of the same equipment you'd find in a gym.

Donovan's owners, Lydia Miller of Williams Township and Matthew and Jayneann Wikler, of Rancho Sante Fe, Calif., are hoping the training, which costs $450 for 20 half-hour sessions, gives him a competitive edge.

"This is my heart dog," said Miller, using a term synonymous with soul mate.

She bred him and she'd do anything, she said, to improve his performance. That includes buying a $100 lead to replace the leather one Donovan doesn't like.

Just as a baseball player works on his upper-body strength to improve batting, a dog may benefit from athletic training, said Dr. Pamela Mueller, a veterinarian at Wright Veterinary Medical Center.

"You want to train the dog for the sport it competes in," added Mueller, who helped design a conditioning program for Donovan that would strengthen his rear and core muscles to help him look better in the show ring.

In the workout, Donovan steps over a series of raised poles to encourage a flowing gait, balances on a rocker board to strengthen his core and walks with his front legs on an oval-shaped exercise ball to strengthen his hind end.

He wraps up the session with a brisk walk on the Aqua Paws water treadmill.

"It's like running in the surf," Mueller said.

By strengthening muscles, proper training can prevent injury in athletic dogs, she said.

Phil Zeltzman, a traveling veterinary surgeon in the Lehigh Valley, agreed.

"I'm not into show dogs, but some of these agility dogs are true athletes," he said. "Conditioning to prevent injury and make dogs stronger is a good thing, particularly when it's done in a controlled veterinary environment."

But dogs can be over-trained, Mueller cautioned.

"You train them to reach their peak performance, like for a show like Westminster. But after the show, they must relax and allow their muscles to rest," she said. "A dog can't always be at peak performance. They are more prone to injury."

Miller said she has already seen results. Since he started the training, Donovan has placed in three major events, she said.

Tom Bavaria, who showed his first dog at Westminster 20 years ago, doesn't take his 4-year-old Akita, Trader, to the gym. But he does put him on a treadmill.

"Everybody's got little training tricks," said Bavaria, of Weisenberg Township.

But his preferred way of exercising Trader, who won breed honors at Westminster last year and is returning this year, is to let him run and play in the yard with his other dogs: "It's far better than any treadmill that I can put him on," he said.

Frank DePaulo of Germansville uses home exercise equipment for his 5-year-old pointer, Josh.

"I have an indoor trotter," he said. "He goes on it twice a day, 15 minutes at a time. It gets him into a nice steady gait and keeps him fit, especially this time of year."

DePaulo, who is showing Josh at Westminster this year, judged the pointer and ridgeback breed competitions at Westminster two years ago. In his 30 years of breeding and raising both breeds of dog, he has never heard of taking a dog to a gym for workouts.

"I'm sure it's pretty unusual," he said. "Most people have trotters or they do road work, tethering the dog to a golf cart or car to give them a workout."

Susan Palla, who raises Great Danes, has relied on the hills on her Upper Mount Bethel property to strengthen her dogs' back ends. But Lil' Carrie, the dog she's taking to Westminster, needs to strengthen something else — her bond with handler Javier Rojas.

To do that, Lil' Carrie spends every moment with Rojas during the weeks leading up to the show and even sleeps with him.

Established in 1877, the Westminster Kennel Club is America's oldest organization dedicated to the sport of purebred dogs. Its annual dog show is the second longest continuously held sporting event in the country, just one year behind the Kentucky Derby. It's considered the Super Bowl or Academy Awards of the dog show world. So there's little wonder why owners of purebreds strive to compete in it.

Last year, Hickory, a 6-year-old Scottish deerhound, one of the oldest breeds to be registered in the club, won best in show. The judge said he choose the tall, coarse-haired dog because her body structure and movement were exactly as it was supposed to be when the breed was established 150 years ago.

It shows that the extremes owners take to prepare their dog to show may not matter, Bavaria said. Genetics can determine the winner. As with models, bone structure is key.

"Just like with people, you have to be born with it," he said.

Few owners faced the challenges Cynthia Meyer of Salisbury Township did in getting her Chesapeake Bay retriever Rita's coat in shape for Westminster. After Rita gave birth to two hefty puppies in August, hormonal changes caused her to lose her close-cropped but curly coat.

"Her back was almost bald. She looked more like a Labrador retriever," Meyer said.

She also put on a little baby weight.

Meyer cut back on Rita's food and supplemented her diet with green beans to fill her up on fewer calories. And, she added a raw egg to Rita's food to improve her coat.

"I also had to walk her three miles every day," she said.

She forced back Rita's coat by wetting it and putting her outdoors in the cold or by keeping her in the cooler basement of her home. It worked. Rita's coat grew back in two to three weeks and she was ready to hit the pre-Westminster show circuit.

Looking good in the show ring is about coat as much as fitness, agreed Sherry Hanley of Slatington, who will be taking her Belgian sheepdog Wynonna to Westminster this year.

She bathes and grooms Wynonna's long black fur weekly and sprays it every day to keep the coarse coat from breaking.

"We also feed her premium dog food and proper vitamins," said Hanley, who quickly learned how expensive raising show dogs can be.

When she first started showing Eli, her 13-year-old Belgian sheepdog, she bought a motor home to make traveling easier. Her expenses in Eli's first year — the motor home, gas to fuel it and show entry fees at $30 a pop — totaled $125,000.

They came home from a big, prestigious show at the end of that year with no honors — just a silver key chain given to all participants.

"I like to tell people it's my $125,000 key chain," Meyer said. "Showing dogs is an expensive habit."

Some owners are lucky. They have breeds that require little grooming or exercise.

Diminutive Rocky, a 6-pound Chihuahua, doesn't need much work other than walks to keep him in shape, said owner Connie Newcomb of South Whitehall Township.

"He's one of those dogs that loves to be at a show," she said.

But one trick does improve his show performance.

"He gets a little filet mignon," Newcomb said. "I cut it up into pieces. And he knows that's the special show treat."

___

Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com

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Dogs hit the gym before Westminster show

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