Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey thirty seven thirteen ten WIBA and asked the experts
with checkout Veterinary online. Checkout vet dot com. That's all one.
We're checkout vet dot com. From there you can schedule
an appointment with your pet. You can learn more about
checkout Veterinary what makes them so special, so unique? Good
news they are accepting new patients right now at checkout Vetereri.
(00:22):
Don't forget that first visit that exam. It is free.
A great day to start that relationship again. A lot
of details online checkout vet dot com. Can us pick
up phone gammacall six oh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. That's six oh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. And joining us this morning is doctor Mardy Greer,
who is recognized as Veterinarian of the Year from the
Westminster Kennel Club. Backfresh from the American Dog Show out
(00:47):
in Pennsylvania. Doctor, how you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I'm doing great. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's great to talk to you, and of course you
last week when we spoke. We talked a couple of
weeks ago before Thanksgiving. We talked about, of course NBC
on Thanksgiving, the Big Dog Show going on there and uh,
I know, uh with Danish Swedish farm dog, is that
the is that the specific breed you had, you had
brought a few out there. How did everything go? It
(01:14):
was great.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
We we run three out of the four days, so
it was wonderful, had a really good time. Lots of camaraderie,
and because we were the new breed this year, we
were sort of the Cinderella of the ball. Everybody wanted
to come over and meet us. So it was really fun.
And you know, it turns out that this breed is
going to work for a lot of people depending on
their lifestyle. So it does does all the stuff you
(01:36):
wanted to do in a little package. So even if
you have a size restrictions on where you live or
how you travel, or you know, other aspects of your life,
you want a dog you can pick up and carry.
This is like the perfect sized dog.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
They look kind of to me and to my to
my just you know, regular folk kind of looked like
a Jack Russell terrier. Is that kind of an accurate
comparison just for regular folks to kind of they're kind
of wondering what they look like.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, that's pretty good. And they also look like a
Brazilian terrier, which is even less likely that anybody will
know what it is. But they are actually not a terrier.
They are out of the pincher family, so they're in
the working dog group. They're not a terrier. And if
you want to start a fistfight with somebody with a
Danish Swedish farm, can you say, I'm sure that's a
terrier and you could just get them going.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Bet I bet you know, doctor, And as we as
you know over the past few months, and of course
is you know, we've we've got to know you a
little bit more and had the opportunity to learn a
little bit about about some of your passions dog shows
and showing dogs and and of course, uh, breed specific
is really important to you. And one of the things
(02:47):
that always I think it's such a cool thing. And
I know all of us we look at our pets
and then we say they are the cutest dog shows
and pet shows and generally are not cuteness contests. If
that were the case, you know, they'd all win. What
got what got you involved? And let's talk a little
bit about kind of what goes into into preparing a
dog for the dog show and all that First off,
(03:08):
let's let's start with you doctor. What got you started
in dog shows and kind of got your interest in
that in that world?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, I grew up with Pembroke Wells Corgies as neighbor dogs,
and that was when I was eight nine years old,
and I knew when I got to be a grown up,
but that's what I was going to have. So I
started off in venitary school and then when I graduated,
we had two kids, and then started to look for
a Corky and I just wanted to find a Corgi.
But it turns out one of my very good clients
(03:36):
had recommended I go to a breeder. She's sort of
the queen mother of Corgi's in Wisconsin. I got put
on her list, I think a little higher than I
would have been otherwise because of my friendship with this lady.
So I went to her home. Dan and myself and
our two kids went to her home in January. It
was cold like today, two cold to send the kids outside,
which a little tiny house probably way too many Gorgi
(04:00):
and we ended up buying a dog that I thought
I was just going to buy for a pet, but
by the time I left her house. I'd signed a
contract to kill the dog and to breed her and
give her first two pick puppies back. So pretty quickly
I went from oh, yeah, I just want a puppy
to Oh, I guess I'm in the show dog world.
And you know, the one thing that I think a
(04:21):
lot of people have a misunderstanding about of show dogs
is that it's all about beauty. And although they are
beautiful dogs, it's really about form and function. So what
were they bred to do? What was a Doberman bred
to do? What was a Great Dane bread to do?
What was a loss of ops of bread to do?
They all had a purpose at one point when the
breed was developed. So what were they meant to do?
(04:42):
What is their function? And how does their body type
and coat type and eyes and ears and all the
things that go with them, How does that all fit
into the this is what you have to do for
a job. And so I think it's a bit of
a misunderstanding that people just think that they're out there
to kind of look pretty and cute and flounce around
the ring. But in reality, is we are really preserving
(05:05):
our breeds, preserving the history that goes to these breeds,
and some of the breeds go back thousands of years now,
you know, Golden Retrievers go back to the eighteen sixties.
People think they can move over with Noah on the arc,
but they're pretty new breed. But we have breeds. Corgies
go back to you know, a thousand years. The faraohhounds
and some of the other sidehounds go back several thousand years.
(05:27):
So I think when you look at that kind of
history and the function of the dog and what they
were bred to do, how they interacted with humans, what
they in, what their intended use was, it makes it
a little bit easier to understand why we want them
to be structurally put together the way they are.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of check
Out Veterinaric talking about kind of a dog Show episode.
Of course, a lot of folks, I hope you had
a chance to check out The Dog Show on Thanksgiving
on NBC. If you haven't had a chance to watch it,
I know it streams on Peacock Folks, can I do
believe that even as matter of fact, can watch it
for free if you if you sign up for and
you definitely want to check it out as you mentioned
(06:04):
some of the history and preserving the history. I know,
as we mentioned you brought Danish sweetest farm dogs to
the show. New but not new is relative new to
the show. But obviously this is they are not a
new breed per se.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Are they right? They've been around since the seventeen hundreds,
so more recent than Corgy's but since the seventeen hundreds
when there were small farms around the time of the
Industrial Revolution in Denmark and Sweden. They needed little dogs
to do little farm dog work. So they help move livestock.
They rat so they've kept the mice and the rats
and the other vermin on the farm. They'll bark when
(06:40):
somebody comes in the yard. But they're not exactly a
guard dog. It's hard to take a twenty pound dog too, seriously,
it's not like a you know, a great day that
comes loping across the yard nose to nose with you.
And then the other thing they did really well was
play with the kids. But they're really smart little dog.
As they used them in circuses, they did a lot
of really interesting things of this dog, and so it
is technically a working dog, a working breed. So it's
(07:02):
being shown in the working dog class. There are seven
groups of dogs in the AKAC, so that kind of
helps you to define it. Corks are hurting, German shippers
are hurting. So we have a number of different breeds.
They are not in the terrier group. The other thing
that I think people kind of get hung up on
is well, why would you breed a dog if we
already have dogs in the shelters. And the answer is,
(07:23):
many of the dogs in the shelters aren't the kind
of dog that people are looking for. A lot of them, unfortunately,
have some characteristics that make them difficult to live with.
And the value of a pure bred dog is the
predictability of their size, their coats, their personality, their type,
what they do, how they act. Are they quiet in
the house, are they quiet outside? You know, you get
(07:43):
something like a sidehound, a greyhound, a whipp that they're
very quiet in the house, but they are wholly man
can they move fast when they're outside? So you have
to really look at the predictability. And for people with children,
you may want a dog that's predictably good with kids,
and that may be a retriever. For people that are
in their seventies and getting their last dog. They may
(08:04):
want something small enough that they can pick it up
and carry it. Because if you get a Great Dane
or a Saint Bernard and you're eighty, you know, you
get the dog when you're seventy. By the time you're eighty,
moving that dog when it can't walk, it's going to
be pretty close to impossible to do by yourself. So
what characteristics are important to you? And there's some really
good materials out there. There used to be a book
in print that still shows up every now and then.
(08:26):
I have a copy of it from Amazon called The
Right Dog for You. It's written by Daniel Twrtra and
it goes through it has a little chart and has
a bunch of different characteristics that are really helpful when
you're trying to look at the dog. But now, of
course that's pretty much been eclipsed by what's online. So
you can go to the AKC website, you can go
to the Breed Club website. You can go to a
dog show, I mean go to a dog show. In February,
(08:48):
the Renaissances Dog Shows in Madison at the Alliance Center,
and it's a good opportunity to meet two hundred breeds
of dogs, get to talk to the people who breed them,
live with them, show them, handle them, and get a
chance to up close and personalism like we did at
Philadelphia with the National Dog Show, and be able to
say I met this dog and this is exactly what
I'm looking for, or I met the dog and ooh,
(09:11):
it wasn't quite what I expected. So I need to
find something else. And that's a really good opportunity to
do that before you make a fifteen year commitment to
a dog and to a breed.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You know, it's interesting, Doctor, since you and I have
been doing the show together, I had no idea like
how many people showed dogs before, But I all of
a sudden, all these people that I've either known or
met are saying, hey, I show dog like They're like
I hear you with doctor Greer and you know, and
talking about and I'm like, wow, there are there are
(09:41):
And so I think a lot of us think of
like the like the National Dog Show, But as you've
referenced there, there's there's dog shows throughout the country throughout
the year on different scales. So this is not this.
And I wanted to ask you about folks that may
want to maybe they're young adults or maybe they've got
got kids those that are showing an interest in animals
(10:04):
and livestock and other things. Maybe a route could be
getting into dog shows and that how does one kind
of get into that culture?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, for kids, four each is a great place to
get started. They have a lot of good four age projects.
There are dog projects, a lot of places for other animals.
There's things like the Horseless Horse Project and four each.
So if you live where you can't have a horse,
but your children are really interested in it or you're
interested in it, you can join the Horseless Horse Project
and someone else houses the horse, trains the horse, but
(10:35):
your kids can go out ride the horse GroupM at
show it, do all the fun stuff. So there's a
lot of opportunities. The other thing is it's not just
about confirmation. That's the quote unquote beauty contest that we do,
but there are a hundred of their dog activities that
you can do. There's about ten or twelve different sanction
activities that the AKAC supports and those are the performance events.
(10:55):
So that's hunt, test, field trials, agility, fast fast cats,
a lot of fun barn hunts, sent work, dog diving,
so there's all kinds of activities. Now the farm dogs
will do almost every single one of those, so it's
not hard to find a dog that you can do
multiple sports with. And the performance events are really fun.
It keeps the people fit, it keeps them engaged and active.
(11:18):
You go to class one or two nights a week
and you take out the dog and you compete with them.
And I'll tell you the people who are running agility
and doing rallio and obedience and that kind of thing,
they're really fit people. So this is a really good
opportunity for people to stay engaged and fit and have
fun with their dog. It doesn't have to just be oh,
my dog's not a show dog. And if you don't
(11:38):
have a pure bread dog, if it looks close enough
to a pure bred dog, you can get a pal number,
a pal number through the ACC and still compete in
those events. So it's really fun. Fast Cat.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Have you ever seen fast cat?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Okay, so fast cat. They put a bag, just a
plastic bag on a pulley and they run it for
the dog to chase. And those dogs lo love this
because they just chase. They run down an alley that's
all fenced in and they run as fast as they
possibly can, and there's competitions and I can't believe how
fast some of these dogs can run. It's over twenty
miles an hour. It's it's pretty impressive. There's all all
(12:17):
kinds of really fun stuff. Fly ball, so those are
the dogs run down an alley, pop a ball out
of a shoot and grab the ball and run back,
and so those are on relay teams. There's really fun activities.
So if you're kind of hanging around the house with
your dog and wondering what you should be doing. You
might live but yourself, or you might have kids that
are interested, you know, whatever it happens to be, there's
(12:37):
a dog activity for you. And three quarters of the
people in the country owned dogs. So this is a
chance for all of you out there who are maybe
suffering from winter itis and they don't feel like you
can get out and do much that there are classes
everywhere that you can take with these dogs and really
learn a new sport and have a good time. And
even if you don't want to be competitive at the
(12:58):
level that you see on TV, it's a really good
exercise for you and your dogs.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I've really love too. Doctor you mentioned Obviously we talked
about the National Dog Show, a nationally televised some of
these athletic events and these these endurance things and other
just amazing things I see like ESPN and as well
as broadcasting some of this you talk about, just a
lot of fun to watch and definitely learn more about.
As we talk this week with doctor Marty Greer of
(13:22):
Checkout Veterinary. The website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout
vet dot com. Maybe you've welcomed a new family member
into the home and you're looking for a great, great
vet to get them into. They are now accepting new
patients at checkout Veterinary. Get more information online check out
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. You can
also make an appointment to right from the website or
(13:43):
give a call six oh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. That's six soh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. Don't forget that first visit. That exam is
free to your pet. Again. You can get more information
at checkout vet dot com. We're going to continue our
conversation with doctor Marty Greer. We will do that next.
As ask the experts with Checkout Veterinary continues here on
thirteen ten do wleu I b A eight fifty three
thirteen ten WI b A and ask the experts with
(14:06):
Checkout Veterinary talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of
Checkout Veterinary. Learn more online checkout vet dot com. That's
checkout vet dot com. They are accepting new patients right now.
Great opportunity for you at checkout vet. That first visit,
that exam is free, all the information. You can also
make an appointment right online checkout vet dot com or
give M call six SOH eight three one eight sixty
(14:27):
seven hundred. That's six SOH eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. And doctor and we talked a couple of
weeks ago, uh, mentioning that you were heading out to
the National Dog Show, and you made a reference to
the movie, uh, the mockumentary call it whatever whatever they're
calling it these days, best in Show. And then I
saw there was an interview with a television station I
think in Philadelphia that you were on uh leading up
(14:50):
to this, and I had seen this video and something
caught my attention and I didn't realize this. It's like
what came first, the chicken or the egg. Well, in
this case, am I right on? This Weston show is
the reason why there's the National Dog Show in Philadelphia?
That the Best in Show came first, not the other
way around, or am I off on that?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well, the show existed, but it wasn't very well attended
by people, so they decided that they were going to
try something different. And the time spot on Thanksgiving morning
between the Macy's Date parade and the football games wasn't
They were playing It's a Wonderful Life every year. They
were playing the same movie over and over again, and
(15:30):
they weren't getting a really great viewership. So the NBC
people had seen the Best in Show movie decided that
they wanted to try this, and so they collaborated with
the Philadelphia Channel Club and it just turned it into
a raving success. This is their twenty fourth year that
we had it this year. Next year it will be
the twenty fifth. So it's really interesting that they were
(15:51):
able to go from this really kind of under aware
dog show to being on the forefront of the national stage.
The two big shows people know about are going to
be that one in Westminster, which is tell them February
and New York City and not televised now, the televised
version this time only showed what the winners were doing.
But if you have a specific breed and you want
(16:13):
to go on to the National Dog Shows website through
NBC and Peacock, you can go in and watch whatever
breed you want. If you want to go look at
you know, Chow's or chowel Wow's or whatever it happens
to be, those are all available for you to pick out.
What breed do you want to watch? You can watch
one breed, you can watch a group, you can watch
the whole thing all the way to best in Show.
But yes, that was the impetus behind getting it on
(16:34):
TV and the popularity. Twenty five million people watch that
show every Thanksgiving. So they went from It's a wonderful life,
which you know, you can watch it multiple tiens, and
it's a lovely movie and I enjoy watching it, but
it's the same movie every year, and this way it's
something different every year. You get to see a new
group of dogs, and it's pretty exciting and trying to
guess which one is going to be the winner and
(16:54):
which one you like the best. And you know, the
worst thing that happens on Thanksgiving Day is arguing about
which dog you think should win instead of politics, religion
or you know, burning the turkey. So it kind of
lightens the mood a little bit on Thanksgiving when it
can get a little family intense. So it's just a
really fun way to spend your Thanksgiving morning. And if
you missed it, don't feel bad because it's still available online.
(17:17):
What are those? And this year they gave away the
busy bees. Do you remember the busy best in the movies? Yeah,
this year Purina gave away busy bees and there's a contest.
There's a way to still win one if you go
to the Purina website and look it up. You can
win the busy bee toy that became very popular because
the Best In Show.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Which also I urge folks if you haven't seen Best
in Show. It is such a funny, funny movie as
well too. So I definitely Doctor two and uh, as
we're as we're kind of getting up against clock, I
did want to ask you, like obviously as a veterinarian,
as somebody that also that that shows that shows dogs,
and I've got to guess you watch these these for me.
(17:56):
I watch these things just pure joy and and and
really loving seeing the dogs and like, oh, that's a
beautiful Once you become more knowledgeable, I've got to guess,
much like any any event, there's probably other levels of
like like, for you, when you watch this stuff, you're
probably taking a lot more in than most people, aren't you.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Well, yeah, some of them are dogs we know because
we've bred them, we had the puppies with them, we
delivered the C section, whatever it happens to be, So yeah,
some of them are very personal. Some of them are
just friends of ours that we know because they're handling
the dog. Some of it's a little bit more fun,
like oh did you see that outfit that does not
go with her shoes? So you know, there's a lot
(18:36):
of levels to it, and of course then figuring out
which dog we think should win, and that's always a
lot of fun is to watch it. Now. We knew
two weeks ago who won the Best and Show because
we were at the event. We saw it happen, but
most people weren't aware of it. And it's kept pretty quiet.
Nobody makes you keep it quiet. But it's not like
on Good Morning America the morning after Westminster when they
bring the dog on. They don't bring the dogs at
(18:58):
won until the day for the show, so the day
after Thanksgiving us when the dog makes its first television appearance.
So for two weeks people keep it pretty hush hush,
and that makes it a little bit of excitement as well.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Who is the winner this year? Was not a beagle?
What breed won this year?
Speaker 2 (19:15):
It was a Belgian sheep dog. A Belgian sheep dog,
they're the black dog. They look like a malanois and
a tavern but they're all black. And her name was Sole.
She was beautiful and it's really hard, believe it or not.
It's harder to show a female than a male because
their coats tend to come and go as they go
in and out of heat. So the male dogs have
a much more consistent coat and much different kind of conditioning,
(19:38):
but the females are harder to get finished at that level.
So for her to win and oh she stars, she
was absolutely stunning. So it was really interesting and fun
for us to see our dog. However, one of the days,
one of the dogs we bred one a group one,
which means she won the working dog group and that's
very exciting for us because she's the first dogs who
(20:00):
have won a group one at this event because first
show that is, so it wasn't the day that was televised,
but it was one of the.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Other days that is And I see I didn't know
that par that is. Congratulations doctor. That's really exciting stuff.
And as we started this conversation off, you know, as
you mentioned, there's there's shows that go on in the area,
and of course people definitely AKC and other other resources
out there for people wanting to get in get involved
and learn more. And there's always great dog shows and
(20:27):
things going on. Definitely follow that stuff. Speaking of getting
on the computer, getting online, I hope you get a
chance to check out the website check out vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. You can see what makes
checkout veterinary such a great thing for you and your
pet and so revolutionary as far as convenience, and it
really helps with everything when it comes to getting your
pet cared for. They are accepting new patients, is a
(20:47):
great opportunity for you right now, they are accepting new patients.
You can of course get an appointment online checkout vet
dot com or give them a call six O eight
to three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six eight
three one eight sixty seven hundred, Doctor Greer, thank you
so much for your time, have a great day and congratulations.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
News comes your way next year. On thirteen ten, Wiba
Hey thirty seven thirteen ten WIBA and asked the experts
with checkout Veterinary online. Checkout vet dot com. That's all one.
We're checkout vet dot com. From there you can schedule
an appointment with your pet. You can learn more about
checkout Veterinary what makes them so special, so unique? Good
news they are accepting new patients right now at checkout Vetereri.
(00:22):
Don't forget that first visit that exam. It is free.
A great day to start that relationship again. A lot
of details online checkout vet dot com. Can us pick
up phone gammacall six oh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. That's six oh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. And joining us this morning is doctor Mardy Greer,
who is recognized as Veterinarian of the Year from the
Westminster Kennel Club. Backfresh from the American Dog Show out
(00:47):
in Pennsylvania. Doctor, how you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I'm doing great. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's great to talk to you, and of course you
last week when we spoke. We talked a couple of
weeks ago before Thanksgiving. We talked about, of course NBC
on Thanksgiving, the Big Dog Show going on there and uh,
I know, uh with Danish Swedish farm dog, is that
the is that the specific breed you had, you had
brought a few out there. How did everything go? It
(01:14):
was great.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
We we run three out of the four days, so
it was wonderful, had a really good time. Lots of camaraderie,
and because we were the new breed this year, we
were sort of the Cinderella of the ball. Everybody wanted
to come over and meet us. So it was really fun.
And you know, it turns out that this breed is
going to work for a lot of people depending on
their lifestyle. So it does does all the stuff you
(01:36):
wanted to do in a little package. So even if
you have a size restrictions on where you live or
how you travel, or you know, other aspects of your life,
you want a dog you can pick up and carry.
This is like the perfect sized dog.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
They look kind of to me and to my to
my just you know, regular folk kind of looked like
a Jack Russell terrier. Is that kind of an accurate
comparison just for regular folks to kind of they're kind
of wondering what they look like.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, that's pretty good. And they also look like a
Brazilian terrier, which is even less likely that anybody will
know what it is. But they are actually not a terrier.
They are out of the pincher family, so they're in
the working dog group. They're not a terrier. And if
you want to start a fistfight with somebody with a
Danish Swedish farm, can you say, I'm sure that's a
terrier and you could just get them going.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Bet I bet you know, doctor, And as we as
you know over the past few months, and of course
is you know, we've we've got to know you a
little bit more and had the opportunity to learn a
little bit about about some of your passions dog shows
and showing dogs and and of course, uh, breed specific
is really important to you. And one of the things
(02:47):
that always I think it's such a cool thing. And
I know all of us we look at our pets
and then we say they are the cutest dog shows
and pet shows and generally are not cuteness contests. If
that were the case, you know, they'd all win. What
got what got you involved? And let's talk a little
bit about kind of what goes into into preparing a
dog for the dog show and all that First off,
(03:08):
let's let's start with you doctor. What got you started
in dog shows and kind of got your interest in
that in that world?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, I grew up with Pembroke Wells Corgies as neighbor dogs,
and that was when I was eight nine years old,
and I knew when I got to be a grown up,
but that's what I was going to have. So I
started off in venitary school and then when I graduated,
we had two kids, and then started to look for
a Corky and I just wanted to find a Corgi.
But it turns out one of my very good clients
(03:36):
had recommended I go to a breeder. She's sort of
the queen mother of Corgi's in Wisconsin. I got put
on her list, I think a little higher than I
would have been otherwise because of my friendship with this lady.
So I went to her home. Dan and myself and
our two kids went to her home in January. It
was cold like today, two cold to send the kids outside,
which a little tiny house probably way too many Gorgi
(04:00):
and we ended up buying a dog that I thought
I was just going to buy for a pet, but
by the time I left her house. I'd signed a
contract to kill the dog and to breed her and
give her first two pick puppies back. So pretty quickly
I went from oh, yeah, I just want a puppy
to Oh, I guess I'm in the show dog world.
And you know, the one thing that I think a
(04:21):
lot of people have a misunderstanding about of show dogs
is that it's all about beauty. And although they are
beautiful dogs, it's really about form and function. So what
were they bred to do? What was a Doberman bred
to do? What was a Great Dane bread to do?
What was a loss of ops of bread to do?
They all had a purpose at one point when the
breed was developed. So what were they meant to do?
(04:42):
What is their function? And how does their body type
and coat type and eyes and ears and all the
things that go with them, How does that all fit
into the this is what you have to do for
a job. And so I think it's a bit of
a misunderstanding that people just think that they're out there
to kind of look pretty and cute and flounce around
the ring. But in reality, is we are really preserving
(05:05):
our breeds, preserving the history that goes to these breeds,
and some of the breeds go back thousands of years now,
you know, Golden Retrievers go back to the eighteen sixties.
People think they can move over with Noah on the arc,
but they're pretty new breed. But we have breeds. Corgies
go back to you know, a thousand years. The faraohhounds
and some of the other sidehounds go back several thousand years.
(05:27):
So I think when you look at that kind of
history and the function of the dog and what they
were bred to do, how they interacted with humans, what
they in, what their intended use was, it makes it
a little bit easier to understand why we want them
to be structurally put together the way they are.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of check
Out Veterinaric talking about kind of a dog Show episode.
Of course, a lot of folks, I hope you had
a chance to check out The Dog Show on Thanksgiving
on NBC. If you haven't had a chance to watch it,
I know it streams on Peacock Folks, can I do
believe that even as matter of fact, can watch it
for free if you if you sign up for and
you definitely want to check it out as you mentioned
(06:04):
some of the history and preserving the history. I know,
as we mentioned you brought Danish sweetest farm dogs to
the show. New but not new is relative new to
the show. But obviously this is they are not a
new breed per se.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Are they right? They've been around since the seventeen hundreds,
so more recent than Corgy's but since the seventeen hundreds
when there were small farms around the time of the
Industrial Revolution in Denmark and Sweden. They needed little dogs
to do little farm dog work. So they help move livestock.
They rat so they've kept the mice and the rats
and the other vermin on the farm. They'll bark when
(06:40):
somebody comes in the yard. But they're not exactly a
guard dog. It's hard to take a twenty pound dog too, seriously,
it's not like a you know, a great day that
comes loping across the yard nose to nose with you.
And then the other thing they did really well was
play with the kids. But they're really smart little dog.
As they used them in circuses, they did a lot
of really interesting things of this dog, and so it
is technically a working dog, a working breed. So it's
(07:02):
being shown in the working dog class. There are seven
groups of dogs in the AKAC, so that kind of
helps you to define it. Corks are hurting, German shippers
are hurting. So we have a number of different breeds.
They are not in the terrier group. The other thing
that I think people kind of get hung up on
is well, why would you breed a dog if we
already have dogs in the shelters. And the answer is,
(07:23):
many of the dogs in the shelters aren't the kind
of dog that people are looking for. A lot of them, unfortunately,
have some characteristics that make them difficult to live with.
And the value of a pure bred dog is the
predictability of their size, their coats, their personality, their type,
what they do, how they act. Are they quiet in
the house, are they quiet outside? You know, you get
(07:43):
something like a sidehound, a greyhound, a whipp that they're
very quiet in the house, but they are wholly man
can they move fast when they're outside? So you have
to really look at the predictability. And for people with children,
you may want a dog that's predictably good with kids,
and that may be a retriever. For people that are
in their seventies and getting their last dog. They may
(08:04):
want something small enough that they can pick it up
and carry it. Because if you get a Great Dane
or a Saint Bernard and you're eighty, you know, you
get the dog when you're seventy. By the time you're eighty,
moving that dog when it can't walk, it's going to
be pretty close to impossible to do by yourself. So
what characteristics are important to you? And there's some really
good materials out there. There used to be a book
in print that still shows up every now and then.
(08:26):
I have a copy of it from Amazon called The
Right Dog for You. It's written by Daniel Twrtra and
it goes through it has a little chart and has
a bunch of different characteristics that are really helpful when
you're trying to look at the dog. But now, of
course that's pretty much been eclipsed by what's online. So
you can go to the AKC website, you can go
to the Breed Club website. You can go to a
dog show, I mean go to a dog show. In February,
(08:48):
the Renaissances Dog Shows in Madison at the Alliance Center,
and it's a good opportunity to meet two hundred breeds
of dogs, get to talk to the people who breed them,
live with them, show them, handle them, and get a
chance to up close and personalism like we did at
Philadelphia with the National Dog Show, and be able to
say I met this dog and this is exactly what
I'm looking for, or I met the dog and ooh,
(09:11):
it wasn't quite what I expected. So I need to
find something else. And that's a really good opportunity to
do that before you make a fifteen year commitment to
a dog and to a breed.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You know, it's interesting, Doctor, since you and I have
been doing the show together, I had no idea like
how many people showed dogs before, But I all of
a sudden, all these people that I've either known or
met are saying, hey, I show dog like They're like
I hear you with doctor Greer and you know, and
talking about and I'm like, wow, there are there are
(09:41):
And so I think a lot of us think of
like the like the National Dog Show, But as you've
referenced there, there's there's dog shows throughout the country throughout
the year on different scales. So this is not this.
And I wanted to ask you about folks that may
want to maybe they're young adults or maybe they've got
got kids those that are showing an interest in animals
(10:04):
and livestock and other things. Maybe a route could be
getting into dog shows and that how does one kind
of get into that culture?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, for kids, four each is a great place to
get started. They have a lot of good four age projects.
There are dog projects, a lot of places for other animals.
There's things like the Horseless Horse Project and four each.
So if you live where you can't have a horse,
but your children are really interested in it or you're
interested in it, you can join the Horseless Horse Project
and someone else houses the horse, trains the horse, but
(10:35):
your kids can go out ride the horse GroupM at
show it, do all the fun stuff. So there's a
lot of opportunities. The other thing is it's not just
about confirmation. That's the quote unquote beauty contest that we do,
but there are a hundred of their dog activities that
you can do. There's about ten or twelve different sanction
activities that the AKAC supports and those are the performance events.
(10:55):
So that's hunt, test, field trials, agility, fast fast cats,
a lot of fun barn hunts, sent work, dog diving,
so there's all kinds of activities. Now the farm dogs
will do almost every single one of those, so it's
not hard to find a dog that you can do
multiple sports with. And the performance events are really fun.
It keeps the people fit, it keeps them engaged and active.
(11:18):
You go to class one or two nights a week
and you take out the dog and you compete with them.
And I'll tell you the people who are running agility
and doing rallio and obedience and that kind of thing,
they're really fit people. So this is a really good
opportunity for people to stay engaged and fit and have
fun with their dog. It doesn't have to just be oh,
my dog's not a show dog. And if you don't
(11:38):
have a pure bread dog, if it looks close enough
to a pure bred dog, you can get a pal number,
a pal number through the ACC and still compete in
those events. So it's really fun. Fast Cat.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Have you ever seen fast cat?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Okay, so fast cat. They put a bag, just a
plastic bag on a pulley and they run it for
the dog to chase. And those dogs lo love this
because they just chase. They run down an alley that's
all fenced in and they run as fast as they
possibly can, and there's competitions and I can't believe how
fast some of these dogs can run. It's over twenty
miles an hour. It's it's pretty impressive. There's all all
(12:17):
kinds of really fun stuff. Fly ball, so those are
the dogs run down an alley, pop a ball out
of a shoot and grab the ball and run back,
and so those are on relay teams. There's really fun activities.
So if you're kind of hanging around the house with
your dog and wondering what you should be doing. You
might live but yourself, or you might have kids that
are interested, you know, whatever it happens to be, there's
(12:37):
a dog activity for you. And three quarters of the
people in the country owned dogs. So this is a
chance for all of you out there who are maybe
suffering from winter itis and they don't feel like you
can get out and do much that there are classes
everywhere that you can take with these dogs and really
learn a new sport and have a good time. And
even if you don't want to be competitive at the
(12:58):
level that you see on TV, it's a really good
exercise for you and your dogs.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I've really love too. Doctor you mentioned Obviously we talked
about the National Dog Show, a nationally televised some of
these athletic events and these these endurance things and other
just amazing things I see like ESPN and as well
as broadcasting some of this you talk about, just a
lot of fun to watch and definitely learn more about.
As we talk this week with doctor Marty Greer of
(13:22):
Checkout Veterinary. The website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout
vet dot com. Maybe you've welcomed a new family member
into the home and you're looking for a great, great
vet to get them into. They are now accepting new
patients at checkout Veterinary. Get more information online check out
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. You can
also make an appointment to right from the website or
(13:43):
give a call six oh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. That's six soh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. Don't forget that first visit. That exam is
free to your pet. Again. You can get more information
at checkout vet dot com. We're going to continue our
conversation with doctor Marty Greer. We will do that next.
As ask the experts with Checkout Veterinary continues here on
thirteen ten do wleu I b A eight fifty three
thirteen ten WI b A and ask the experts with
(14:06):
Checkout Veterinary talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of
Checkout Veterinary. Learn more online checkout vet dot com. That's
checkout vet dot com. They are accepting new patients right now.
Great opportunity for you at checkout vet. That first visit,
that exam is free, all the information. You can also
make an appointment right online checkout vet dot com or
give M call six SOH eight three one eight sixty
(14:27):
seven hundred. That's six SOH eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred. And doctor and we talked a couple of
weeks ago, uh, mentioning that you were heading out to
the National Dog Show, and you made a reference to
the movie, uh, the mockumentary call it whatever whatever they're
calling it these days, best in Show. And then I
saw there was an interview with a television station I
think in Philadelphia that you were on uh leading up
(14:50):
to this, and I had seen this video and something
caught my attention and I didn't realize this. It's like
what came first, the chicken or the egg. Well, in
this case, am I right on? This Weston show is
the reason why there's the National Dog Show in Philadelphia?
That the Best in Show came first, not the other
way around, or am I off on that?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well, the show existed, but it wasn't very well attended
by people, so they decided that they were going to
try something different. And the time spot on Thanksgiving morning
between the Macy's Date parade and the football games wasn't
They were playing It's a Wonderful Life every year. They
were playing the same movie over and over again, and
(15:30):
they weren't getting a really great viewership. So the NBC
people had seen the Best in Show movie decided that
they wanted to try this, and so they collaborated with
the Philadelphia Channel Club and it just turned it into
a raving success. This is their twenty fourth year that
we had it this year. Next year it will be
the twenty fifth. So it's really interesting that they were
(15:51):
able to go from this really kind of under aware
dog show to being on the forefront of the national stage.
The two big shows people know about are going to
be that one in Westminster, which is tell them February
and New York City and not televised now, the televised
version this time only showed what the winners were doing.
But if you have a specific breed and you want
(16:13):
to go on to the National Dog Shows website through
NBC and Peacock, you can go in and watch whatever
breed you want. If you want to go look at
you know, Chow's or chowel Wow's or whatever it happens
to be, those are all available for you to pick out.
What breed do you want to watch? You can watch
one breed, you can watch a group, you can watch
the whole thing all the way to best in Show.
But yes, that was the impetus behind getting it on
(16:34):
TV and the popularity. Twenty five million people watch that
show every Thanksgiving. So they went from It's a wonderful life,
which you know, you can watch it multiple tiens, and
it's a lovely movie and I enjoy watching it, but
it's the same movie every year, and this way it's
something different every year. You get to see a new
group of dogs, and it's pretty exciting and trying to
guess which one is going to be the winner and
(16:54):
which one you like the best. And you know, the
worst thing that happens on Thanksgiving Day is arguing about
which dog you think should win instead of politics, religion
or you know, burning the turkey. So it kind of
lightens the mood a little bit on Thanksgiving when it
can get a little family intense. So it's just a
really fun way to spend your Thanksgiving morning. And if
you missed it, don't feel bad because it's still available online.
(17:17):
What are those? And this year they gave away the
busy bees. Do you remember the busy best in the movies? Yeah,
this year Purina gave away busy bees and there's a contest.
There's a way to still win one if you go
to the Purina website and look it up. You can
win the busy bee toy that became very popular because
the Best In Show.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Which also I urge folks if you haven't seen Best
in Show. It is such a funny, funny movie as
well too. So I definitely Doctor two and uh, as
we're as we're kind of getting up against clock, I
did want to ask you, like obviously as a veterinarian,
as somebody that also that that shows that shows dogs,
and I've got to guess you watch these these for me.
(17:56):
I watch these things just pure joy and and and
really loving seeing the dogs and like, oh, that's a
beautiful Once you become more knowledgeable, I've got to guess,
much like any any event, there's probably other levels of
like like, for you, when you watch this stuff, you're
probably taking a lot more in than most people, aren't you.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Well, yeah, some of them are dogs we know because
we've bred them, we had the puppies with them, we
delivered the C section, whatever it happens to be, So yeah,
some of them are very personal. Some of them are
just friends of ours that we know because they're handling
the dog. Some of it's a little bit more fun,
like oh did you see that outfit that does not
go with her shoes? So you know, there's a lot
(18:36):
of levels to it, and of course then figuring out
which dog we think should win, and that's always a
lot of fun is to watch it. Now. We knew
two weeks ago who won the Best and Show because
we were at the event. We saw it happen, but
most people weren't aware of it. And it's kept pretty quiet.
Nobody makes you keep it quiet. But it's not like
on Good Morning America the morning after Westminster when they
bring the dog on. They don't bring the dogs at
(18:58):
won until the day for the show, so the day
after Thanksgiving us when the dog makes its first television appearance.
So for two weeks people keep it pretty hush hush,
and that makes it a little bit of excitement as well.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Who is the winner this year? Was not a beagle?
What breed won this year?
Speaker 2 (19:15):
It was a Belgian sheep dog. A Belgian sheep dog,
they're the black dog. They look like a malanois and
a tavern but they're all black. And her name was Sole.
She was beautiful and it's really hard, believe it or not.
It's harder to show a female than a male because
their coats tend to come and go as they go
in and out of heat. So the male dogs have
a much more consistent coat and much different kind of conditioning,
(19:38):
but the females are harder to get finished at that level.
So for her to win and oh she stars, she
was absolutely stunning. So it was really interesting and fun
for us to see our dog. However, one of the days,
one of the dogs we bred one a group one,
which means she won the working dog group and that's
very exciting for us because she's the first dogs who
(20:00):
have won a group one at this event because first
show that is, so it wasn't the day that was televised,
but it was one of the.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Other days that is And I see I didn't know
that par that is. Congratulations doctor. That's really exciting stuff.
And as we started this conversation off, you know, as
you mentioned, there's there's shows that go on in the area,
and of course people definitely AKC and other other resources
out there for people wanting to get in get involved
and learn more. And there's always great dog shows and
(20:27):
things going on. Definitely follow that stuff. Speaking of getting
on the computer, getting online, I hope you get a
chance to check out the website check out vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. You can see what makes
checkout veterinary such a great thing for you and your
pet and so revolutionary as far as convenience, and it
really helps with everything when it comes to getting your
pet cared for. They are accepting new patients, is a
(20:47):
great opportunity for you right now, they are accepting new patients.
You can of course get an appointment online checkout vet
dot com or give them a call six O eight
to three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six eight
three one eight sixty seven hundred, Doctor Greer, thank you
so much for your time, have a great day and congratulations.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
News comes your way next year. On thirteen ten, Wiba
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