July/August 2010 - Dogs Naturally Magazine

Show and Tell
Waltona Labradors and
Papps Dog Training
How did you get involved in obedience?
I was getting ready to show saddleseat
and happened to stop at a Collie specialty
at the local fairgrounds. What
caught my attention was the Utility
class. I went home and told my husband,
Lew, that I didn't want to show
horses but wanted a purebred dog to
compete with. Lew was working with a
lady who had titled a dog to a Companion
Dog Excellent title and introduced
me to my first trainer (who we later
bought the business from!)
Tell us about your first dog(s)
I have had dogs all my life but my first
obedience dog was Becca, a field bred
black Lab. She was amazing: before she
was three years old she had her AKC
Utility Dog title and was ranked in the
top 20 in Utility for both placements
and scores. She was spayed right at six
months and ended up totally blowing
her ACL and had to have re-constructive
surgery on her knee. I still question if
having her spayed so early contributed
to her pain.
Tell us about your current dogs
I currently have two Labradors: a seven
year old yellow, Caleb, and a two year
old black, Micah. I am currently working
on completing Caleb's AKC Obedience
Trial Championship. Caleb and I
have had so many firsts together: my
first High in Trial (he has almost 20),
my first High Combined (almost a
dozen), my first Utility Dog Excellent,
and he will be my first OTCh. He's also
been the first dog I've gone to a tournament
with: The All-Star Performance
Dog Championship where we have
placed multiple times. He's also been
the first dog I've shown in breed, earn-
ing his UKC Grand-Championship and is
pointed towards his AKC Championship
with a Best of Breed over Specials.
Caleb also has his U-CDX, his Canadian
OTCh/UD and numbers Rally
titles.
Micah is my silly happy go-lucky boy
(where Caleb is Mr. Serious). Micah has
just started his career and has completed
his AKC Rally Advanced Excellent
and will be making his debut at the All-
Star Performance Dog Championship
this August in Super Rally. I keep telling
Micah that he has some big paws to
fill. Micah is third generation weaned to
raw, with minimum vaccines. Boy is
that nice!
Why Labradors?
My husband did not grow up with dogs
in the house, and was not really sure he
wanted dogs, but after a huge fight and
my telling him that I would never have
married a man who would not have
dogs, we began our search. Since I had
all ready been to an obedience trial I
knew I wanted to compete so I wanted
something that I could show. Before I
got married I had gotten a mixed Lab
that stayed with my Mom and I
had already fallen in love with
the Lab temperament. We narrowed
our search to Labs and
Goldens and went to meet a
Golden breeder. As it turned
out it was a show breeder and
when he brought his dogs out
for us to see, they had tons and
tons of long, beautiful coat. We
got in the car and Lew said we
were getting a Lab, which was
what I really wanted all along.
Why did you decide to feed
raw?
As most pet owners I wanted to
do the best for my dogs. Becca
ate premium food all her life
but she was the type of dog that
could have eaten trash and still
be healthy. We got our second
purebred Lab, and things
changed. Tobie started with
anal gland problems and
through a long process we dis-
covered an allergy to rawhides (during
this time I found out they were a product
of the tanning industry not a food
producing industry), wheat and corn,
and I actually had to cook for him. He
was my first Lab on a totally wheat and
corn free diet. Then Caleb came and he
had chronic ear infections and then he
was diagnosed with Pano. A lady that I
was training with handed me Billinghurst's
second book and told me just
to read it. As I read it I was
hooked! Even Lew said feeding raw
makes perfect sense. That was over
seven years ago and now I even travel
with raw food for my boys.
Do you vaccinate?
Not anymore. I grew up being taught
that MD's and DVM's were almost like
gods and one must follow everything
they say and never question. Becca developed
tumors at what I realize now to
be the injection site . Tobie had tons
and tons of health issues. My vet at the
time told me I needed to keep vaccinating,
even though Becca was now 16
years old. Really?!
Dogs...Naturally! July/August 2010
Susan with Caleb and Micah