THE HAVANESE NATIONAL AUGUST 6-10TH, 2018 LOMBARD, ILLINOIS
By Kathy Ambler
T he Havanese National Special- ty week was once again held in Lombard at the Westin Hotel. A beautiful dog friendly hotel, close to many amenities. This year the club focused on the health and versatility of the breed. An OFA Eye Clinic was held by Dr Adam King, a fellow Havanese Breeder who happens to also be a ca- nine Ophthalmologist. 35 Havanese took part in the clinic. Over the years, through annual eye exams and care- ful breeding, we are seeing fewer and fewer cases of juvenile cataracts in the breed. Dr. Rafe Schindler reported on the recent survey conducted by the HCA Health Committee, the Longevity Study. This survey included 512 Ha- vanese. It appears from this survey that the average lifetime of Havanese is about 13 years with about 1/3 liv- ing to between 15 and 19 years. Sur- prisingly however, about 20% died prior to reaching their tenth birthday. This survey has shown us that we as breeders need to find out the most common cause of death at such an early age. Now, the Rainbow Bridge survey is underway. If you have lost a Havanese, please take a look at the survey, fill it out and return it to the Health Committee. 512 dogs are quite a small sample considering how many Havanese are born each year.
I hope we have more participants in the Rainbow Bridge survey. You can download the survey at www.ha- vanese.org/health/health-surveys. Eddie Dzuik COO of OFFA, also pre- sented a Health seminar. He focused on utilizing genetic testing and health screening as important tool sets for responsible dog breeders in their ef- forts to produce puppies that not only conform to the standard, but will be- come lifelong healthy companions for their owners and families. Now, the fun stuff! The week started with agility and what talented dogs we have! HCA’s National Agility Trial was held on Tuesday, August 7th at Agility at The Farm in Campton Hills, Illinois. Judge Joan Mullen evaluated 24 Ha- vanese exhibitors performing 59 runs in the classes of Time 2 Beat, Stan- dard and Jumpers WithWeaves. High in Trial rosettes were presented to: Master Regular: Classical Master Rhett (Rhett)/Celeste Frohm. Master Preferred: Mylad ‘N Wys- teria I Wanna Rock (Rock’e)/ George Hart. Excellent Regular: Summerstone’s Mister Right (Nino)/SophieWilson. Novice Regular: Nauti Moon- bow Dare to Dream (Skechers)/ Jodi Zandstra. Novice Preferred: Havena Blast
T op N otch T oys , S eptember 2018 • 49
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