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Dates & News:

ZimDog News, which can be accessed from: www.vanerp.net.
The Kennel Club of Harare held their 'Doggy' Xmas party on 7 December with musical chairs, which was won by Eyrun and Raury, and Kayla with Pippa. The club held their annual Xmas dinner on Sunday 14 December. A lovely dinner and all enjoyed the spread. Kennel Club does not really close for an Xmas brake so do come every Sunday.
The GSD Club of Bulawayo Their Match meeting on 6 December has been postponed till January.
The GSD Club of Harare held their AGM and a braai on 16 December. The AGM was over in about 15 minutes and all the old faithful will carry on their very commendable duties for the New Year. The braai was a very small due and extremely enjoyable. They will close for the holidays and open on 11 January again with training.

Correction: Mother Aycka vom Matschenka, G Father Troll v Haus Milinda 9th place WUSV 1999, 2nd place WUSV 2000 and 25th place in WUSV 2002 and her GGG Father is again the well known Lord vom Gleisdreieck, winner twice of the BSP.
Lord vom Gleisdreieck was three times winner of the Top show in the DDR [not the BSP], in 1985, 1986 & 1987. The Berlin wall was then still up and he could not compete in the BSP.

Explanation of Titles: BSP = Bundes Sieger Prüfung which is the German Schutzhund top show and only the best from each province [dogs registered and living in Germany only] may compete,. WUSV = World Union Schutzhund Verein is the world Schutzhund Show and only the best of each country may compete. So if you are chosen to be in your country's team [only 4 are in a team], this does mean you belong to the best of your country. So even if you come 45th place in the WUSV, you are belonging to the best in that year.

Recent New Arrivals in the Country: Four and a half weeks early and the twin boys of Sue and Ian Grierson popped out without any problems. Well done and well planned for no doubt these will turn out the new handlers for our breed in the future. Start training them already for it Sue and Ian. Congratulations!

Get well: Latest news from Bulawayo. Ann Hancock has had a car crash and ended up with her car a total loss, broken ribs and broken fingers. It sounds that with this very bad luck, she was still lucky to be alive with only very sore bruises and broken bones. Best wishes for a speedy recovery
Apparently all is well with Misha and so she can have good years to come.

Condolences: My apologies for not putting this in the previous newsletter, but I just heard that Cherrie Blake's husband passed away very suddenly and must send her condolences. She is very busy building a 'cheese' house to make her delicious cheese. All was Brian's idea and she can get on with this to keep her mind busy. See you soon back at the club with your lovely dogs. All the best and courage for the coming years.

Shows:. Our next Open Breed show is expected at the end of February, unfortunately with a judge who cannot give the dogs a grading. End of March there should be the Champion Breed show in Bulawayo, recently their committee has completely renewed and we hope that they will make every effort to get a specialist judge for their show and I urge each and every one of us to support both shows.

Misuse of Choke Chains by Des Hawgood Institute for Animal Care Education New Road, FramlinghamWoodbridge, Suffolk IP13 9AT

During a recently completed Instructors Course earlier this year, I elected, as a special study, to carry out a small survey into the Misuse of Choke Chains. The preferred name of these chains in the dog-training world is Check Chains, but as they check the dog initially by choking it, I decided that for my special study I would use Choke Chain as a more apt description. My survey extended to 51 pages on completion so the following is a shortened version containing most of the important points discovered.

My interest in this survey stemmed from my original use of Choke Chains on my own Golden Retrievers, which I soon stopped once I realized that the chain was removing hair from my dog's necks. At the same time, I had taken up agility and soon realized that I had to maintain control over my dogs by voice and encouragement alone. I was further puzzled by seeing handlers who had good verbal control over their dogs during competition and yet slipping a choke chain over their dogs necks at the end of the run.

My study was therefore to find out if there were recorded injuries to dogs caused by these chains being misused, and to gather the views of as many differing bodies as I could. I therefore contacted The Kennel Club, The National Canine Defence League, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Veterinary Practices, Trainers, Pet Shop Outlets and Chain Manufacturers/Distributors.

After badgering The Kennel Club and the RSPCA several times I managed to establish that neither have any particular policy on the use of Choke Chains, and that both consider they are relevant pieces of training equipment, if used "by experienced handlers". (Surely, that statement in itself constitutes a policy.)

The National Canine Defence League does not use choke chains in any of their kennels and advises against their use when re-homing dogs to new owners.

From 16 Veterinary Practices, I received 13 responses and seven confirmed recorded cases of injured dogs caused by choke chains. This number in the Norwich area alone would amount to hundreds on a national scale if this were the average. Add to that the ones that never are brought to the attention of a veterinarian. Almost all the Practices agreed that they would advise against the use of chains if there were confirmed cases. None recommended their use.

Most of the trainers I contacted do not use chains but 2 recommended their use, with one recommending their use on untrained dogs. One trainer advised that they should be banned altogether after nearly losing one of his own dogs through strangulation when a choke chain locked. Only one agreed they should only be used by experienced handlers, which I personally found disturbing. Seven thought it might be a good idea to add a warning label to each chain at the point of sale.

Pet shop outlets seem more interested in the till takings but agreed they may consider displaying "warning information" about choke chains only being used by experienced handlers if injury proof existed. The two distributors I contacted apparently are not aware of any problem but one of them decided to consider adding a warning into its standard label.

To be concluded in the next newsletter.

"Zimbos making a go in a new country"

Recently I was forwarded a letter and here some news about the Baseotto family. It is nearly 4 months they left.
"I am still living in 2 places and don't think that it has really hit me that this is going to be our permanent life. As our container is still in Harare we live with borrowed and given items. I did invest in a fridge/freezer, dish wash, vacuum and washing machine. All acquired at good prices on weekly auctions - which was fun. The children seem to accept their schools - although they are very different to what they have known, and Monica is enjoying a very active music life. I have been a month working in a call center handling renewals for a major insurance company - at this stage I quite enjoy the work but don't think I could do it indefinitely. There are many, many worse jobs, which I could be doing. Apparently more jobs become available after Christmas.

We eagerly await the arrival of the animals - the house is very empty without them, and miss them all the time. For us the weather is a novelty and we dress up and are not cold. I relish a bit of sunshine most days at lunchtime, as by the time I leave work at 5 it is dark. All things considered I am very glad that we finally made the move and know that for the children it will be the right move in the long run. I often think of the Sunday morning obedience crowd"

[What a positive reaction, all seems to work out, job found, which some seem not to be able to get, cold weather OK as you dress up for it etc. Well done! Would love to get more news of our doggy people. Editor].