Tips for dogs with stiff joints…

Well, the Chocolate Lab mix is starting to show in Muttley now… he is a bit stiff when getting up after a long lay down.

Once he is moving he is fine, but he is no puppy anymore !.

So what to do?.  The Vet recommended Cod Liver oil at this stage.

The following are my findings… I have done all the hard work so you don't need too !:

Which oil for my dog ?!

• I quickly discovered that Salmon Oil is better for dogs than Cod Liver Oil.
• The two major Salmon oil brands are “Fish 4 Dogs” which is very expensive, or Kronch Salmon Oil http://www.activepetfeeds.co.uk/salmon-oil.php
• Kronch 1000ml Salmon Oil is available to the RookyRacers for £19.60 delivered, just ask (me) Andy for details.
• You can also buy Beaphar, some Pets At Home stores sell this but you are better off going for Amazon and getting free P&P (costs about £16 for 950ml)   http://www.beaphar.co.uk/productdetail/salmon-oil-/1407/

My recommendation is to buy Grizzly Salmon Oil for £19.80 with free P&P at Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grizzly-Salmon-Oil-Cats-Dogs/dp/B0053Q72O8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329587325&sr=8-1

Why this product?, well, unlike all the other products this uses Wild Salmon, so unlike the Farmed Salmon in the other products it will contain less toxins.

Which joint product for my dog ?!

Of course you can also buy joint supplements for dogs.

I remember when Yumove first launched as they gave Flyballers free samples, they now sponsor a Flyball team.

You can buy Yumove from Pets At Home for £12.99 for 60 tablets:

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/yumove-dog-joint-supplement-60-tablets-40405?freeText=yumove&msg=MSG_SEARCH_ONE_MATCHING_PRODUCT

Similar products are Pernamax Canine http://www.maxavita.com/products/pet/pernamaxcanine/

or Danes

http://denes.co.uk/health/product/58/green_lipped_mussel_extract_with_glucosamine_capsules

I wont go into costs too much at this stage, however all of the above are expensive if you have a 33Kg dog !.  (Muttley needs 3 tables a day, so 60 tables only lasts 20 days).

So I took a box of Yumove and broke the ingredients and dosages down and found I could buy 180 days worth of joint supplements for £19.90 !… compare that to £116.91 for Yumove !:

Buy 90 Green Lipped Mussel tablets 500ml £9.95 Buy one get one free (free P&P):

http://www.healthspark.co.uk/green-lipped-mussel-22.html

Buy 90 Glucosamine tablets 500ml £9.95 Buy one get one free (free P&P):

http://www.justvitamins.co.uk/products/Glucosamine-with-Chondroitin-(500mg100mg)-1112.aspx

These give the same quantities of ingredients / dosages as x3 Yumove tablets (you don't want to poison your dog !)

Wonder if I can convince the wife that I can spend the £100ish savings on beer ?!

If you have any hints or tips or anything else you want to share here just drop me an email !

Andy@rookyracers.co.uk

Fitness Swims…

… for those of you who cannot risk sending your dogs into lakes or rivers…

When Flyball goes wrong

I blame Chris 100% for sloppy trailer loading

Can you help the Rooky Racers?

Chris and I are happy running the team but any help in the following areas would be great !…

Setting up in morning…. we turn up an 9am to be ready for training at 9:30am… feel free to come along and help, not compulsory, but would be appreciated !

Venue… The Rooky Racers have a great training venue - fenced off, great parking, flat, rabbit hole free, cut short grass, water, dog paddling pool ! …. unfortunately we can only ever train on Saturday morning.  This can clash with competition weekends …. so if you know of a flat space (indoors or outdoors) that can be used in the summer competition season on Sundays, or, weekday evenings let Chris or I know !

Website… it needs an overhaul !… so any budding web masters come forward and make yourself known (could be a good ICT school project for our younger members !).

Training … we desperately need extra hands to help train starters and non starters, for people seriously interested we might also offer to fund a place at the Rocket Relay seminar, Chris has been on this twice… Rocket Relay are one of the fastest Flyball teams in the world and come to the UK from Canada once a year to give training advice:http://www.rocketrelay.net/

Box loaders … any spare family members to help with box loading would be appreciated !

Sponsorship… Windlesham Vets sponsored the Rooky Racers last year; this year we could do with a sponsor again !… we offer sponsorship branding on our tops, flyball boxes, website, (possibly on the jumps too)… this will be seen around many competitions in the South.

Competition Help… For anyone who enjoys waking up early there is the opportunity to turn up at competitions at 8am to complete the teams paper work ready for racing.  If they could also keep a note of the final race results to show in the website that would be great (not done this since Jan 2011 !).  We also need someone to log individual dog / heat results.

Others – Any discounts or services you can offer to the team let us know, we can provide links from the website… eg, we get a 10% discount at PetFayre in Woodley when you present your BFA membership card. 

Anything else just let Chris or me know !

Andy (Muttley & Chewy)

Entering a competition

Two posts down there are a number of competitions listed that we can enter this year.

As you know the Rooky Racers offer subsidised racing to members, I believe we are the only team to offer this (normally race costs are divided between who ever races on the day).

This year some race costs are increasing to £45 a team which is not cheap !.

As a result some teams now ask for money up front from members who offer to race; if they then pull out they loose their money… even worse if their withdrawal means the team cannot race they have to pay the full entry fee !.

Chris and I want to keep Flyball fun and stress free… this means not resorting to the methods just mentioned, but it means we need your help.

The option to enter a competition is made available between 4 & 6 weeks before the event… if you don't enter on the option day you can be sure not to get a place at the competition.

At the moment Chris and I “best guess” how many teams we can field… but if we guess 3 teams and can only field 2 then the Rooky Racers bank account could loose £45.

If you can have a look at the dates below and let Chris or I know which competitions you could or could not do that would be a great help.

At the moment any competition with a £45 entrance fee will only have the Racers and Raider entered ( as we have more Fast and Medium speed dogs than Slow dogs)… so if you are a Rebound dog (like my Muttley and Chewy) speak up early if you want the chance to race.

Remember we wont charge you if things do not work out !.. Dogs can go lame, personal life can get complicated… so feel free to give us a heads up as soon as you can !.

Andy ( Muttley and Chewy)

What is a Multibreed team ?!

Multibreed is where a team of all different dog breeds is entered.

For example the Rooky Racers have many different types of dogs… so we could enter a “Rooky Randoms” or “Rooky ReMix” team with:

Toby – Flat Coat Retriever

Tosca – Border Collie

Riley – Staffy

Oz – ESS

Panda – Poodle

Plus many more combinations… you are also allowed one “mix” or cross breed dog in the team.

The Rooky Racers have never entered a Multibreed team (there are not many competitions as not many teams can field such a combination of dogs), but if you are interested in giving it a go let Chris or I know; we would be very keen to support such a team !.

It is also the only time you can “legally” race your dog in a different team, or at the same race weekend.

So if Chris or I cannot sort out a Rooky Randoms multibreed team for you, we can help place you in another team.

Andy ( Muttley and Chewy)

2012 Competitions

Below is the “current” list of competitions we could attend this year… These are all within a 1 hour drive of Winnersh.

Members are more than welcome to request going to venues a bit further a field… just read the BFA Current Diary and let Chris or I know where you want to go

http://www.flyball.org.uk/official/diary.php

For example: Barbury Castle, Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 1RS (June 30th comp…) is just over an hour, and is conjunction with the Barbury International Horse Trials and Wiltshire County Show… so plenty of other things to do and probably a good place for a weekend in a caravan !

Team	Venue	Date
Dream Team	Bracknell Leisure Centre, Berkshire RG12 9SE	4th March
Jets	Fairview Farm, Stockbridge, Hampshire SO20 6EN	6th April (3 days)
Jets	Fairview Farm, Stockbridge, Hampshire, Hampshire SO20 6EN	9th April (Multibreed Team Only)
Dream Team	Frogmore Leisure Centre, Yateley, Hampshire GU46 6AG	14th April (2 days) (Includes Starters)
Mad Mutts	Acremead Kennels, Drayton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4EZ	21st April (2 days)
Mad Mutts	Acremead Kennels, Drayton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4EZ	12th May (2 days)
Dream Team	Cantley Park, Wokingham, Berkshire RE40 5QG	19th May (2 days) (includes Starters)
Kennet Zingers	Bradfield Young Farmers Show, Englefield , Berkshire RG7 5ED	27th May
Lightning Strikes	Snowball Farm, Burnham, Buckinghamshire SL1 8EH	2nd June (2 days)
Lightning Strikes	Snowball Farm, Burnham, Buckinghamshire SL1 8EH	4th June (Multibreed Only)
Dream Team	War Memorial Park, Basingstoke, Hampshire RE21 4AG	16th June (2 days) (includes Starters)
Dream Team	Shalford Park, Guildford, Surrey GU4 8AA	July 7th (2 days) (includes Starters)
Mad Mutts	Acremead Kennels, Drayton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4EZ	July 14th (2 days)
FourPaws Racing	Imber Court, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 0BT	July 21st (2 days) (includes Starters)
Jets	Fairview Farm, Stockbridge, Hampshire SO20 6EN	4th August (2 days)
Jets	Fairview Farm, Stockbridge, Hampshire SO20 6EN	11th August (2 days)
BFA	CHAMPS	17th August (3 days)
Dream Team	Runnymead Pleasure Park, Egham, Surrey TW20 0AE	21st August (2 days) (includes starters)
Dream Team	Anstey Park, Alton, Hampshire GU34 2RL	15th September (2 days) (includes starters)
Mad Mutts	Acremead Kennels, Drayton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4EZ	22nd September (2 days)
Dream Team	St Johns Beaumont, Old Windsor, Berkshire SL4 2JN	20th October (2 days) (includes starters)
Dream Team	Frogmore Leisure Centre, Yateley, Hampshire GU46 6AG	10th November (2 days) (includes starters)

Andy ( Muttley and Chewy)

URGENT Training cancelled today

Too much risk of our dogs cutting their stopper pads on the frozen ground.

Hopefully next week will be warmer.

(Reading status updates for other Flyball Teams we are not the only team having to call of training this weekend...)