SHAMPOOING AND CONDITIONING YOUR BLACK RUSSIAN TERRIER

The aim of Black Russian Terrier handlers and owners is to have a dog that has a nice coat so that when the dog is seen, the dog can be admired and complemented. To accomplish this, one must be very prudent in this undertaking.

Coat

The Black Russian Terrier has two coats, an overcoat and an undercoat, composed of a coarse, thick, slightly waved outer coat and a soft, short and dense undercoat. The outer coat covers the whole body.

Shampoo

The dog shampoo business is a multi millionaire business ranging from chemical to organic. When you visit a pet store there are so many shampoos on the shelves to choose from that you do not know which one to choose from. You go to a dog show where there are booths set up with all types on shampoos each booth telling you that their product is the best. So what do you do? I have personally spoken with some professional handlers to get some advice on the types of shampoo that I should use and in one case was told to use a dish detergent! Oh my! There are waterless shampoos specially made for persons showing their dogs at dog shows were washing areas are not available.

Shampoos range from the cheap to the exotic and fits all types of budgets. It is my understanding that the exotic dog shampoos are really shampoos that have been discontinued from the human shampoo and passed down to the dog industry.

There are some things that you can do to make sure that you choose the correct shampoo for you dog. This applies to everyone who owns a dog. You go to Federation Cynologique Internationale FCI), American Kennel Club, Canadian Kennel Club, United Kennel Club websites. If you live outside North America, then go to your governing dog body for information. Look for the breed standard for your dog. Then look for what your the dog's coat should be like. Once you get an idea of what your dog coat should be, you can go ahead and look for a good shampoo. A lot of shampoos may have chemicals in it that is harmful to your dog. In fact, your dog can and may be allergic to some shampoos. It is very prudent to do a spot shampoo on the dog to see if the shampoo is allergenic.


My advice to you is to do your homework, talk to "dog people" or even your breeder, about their experiences with dog shampoos in your breed. If you use the wrong shampoo on your dog, you may alter the coat of the dog, for instance, in the Black Russian Terrier, the coat has to be coarse. I do not want to use a shampoo that will make to coat soft. Always read the instructions on the label of the product.

With all this said, I would like to share some information with you. I am not receiving any compensation for this and accordingly, I will not be divulge their name. If you need this information, use our contact information at our website.There is only one manufacturer in North America whom I am aware of that classifies their shampoo into three different grades. Their grades are  1, 2 and 3. Under each grade, the company lists the dogs that can use this shampoo. Their shampoo is expensive, however, it is sold as the concentrate and it will last you a long time.

Conditioners

Like shampoos, dog conditioners comes in a variety of forms. You can get shampoos and conditioners all mixed into one, so there is no need to apply conditioner to a dog.

Since I am responsible for bathing our Black Russian Terriers, I go the separate way, I shampoo and then I condition.

If you purchase a brand shampoo, always get the same brand conditioner. Always read the instructions on the label. Some conditioners can be applied immediately on the wet dog, while some conditioners, like I use, instructs you to remove all excess water and then apply the conditioner. Some conditioners you can rinse right away while some conditioner instructs you to allow the conditioner to remain on the dogs coat for a period of time and then you can rinse. There are many methods of applying conditioners. Some persons will use the "bucket" method where the conditioner is mixed with water and then poured all over the dog, some will use the "bath" method where the dog is placed in a bathtub, where the bath tub is plugged and the mixed conditioner is pored all over the dog and the dog is allowed to soak in the tub. My method is to use a "spray" pump. The conditioner is poured into a pump bottle and air is pump into the container. On release of a trigger, a projectile spray is made onto the dog. The dog is completely soaked.

Again, when introducing a new conditioner do a spot condition to see if there is any allergenic reaction. If there is, discontinued use and try another conditioner.

Like I said in discussing shampoos, you do not want to get a conditioner that will alter the dogs coat. The aim is to keep the dogs coat as what is in the dog standard breed.

Talking to people who owns the same breed as yours will give you very good insight as to what conditioner and shampoo to use. Talk to your breeder also.I can assure you that you will get all types of suggestion.

If you would like to know what conditioner to use, drop as an email at lana@izteremkabrtkennel.dog

Thank for reading and remember to visit our website at https://www.izteremkabrtkennel.dog

Your comments will be appreciated.

PRESERVING THE NORTH AMERICAN BLACK RUSSIAN TERRIER BREED

Black Russian Terrier Puppies

The Black Russian Terrier (BRT) Breed is relatively a new breed to the North American Market including The United States of America and Canada.

As with anything new, there are unscrupulous persons who are trying to financially gain by backyard breeding or selling dogs without health checks and even by the Russians who are trying to make money because of the low value the Russian Ruble. 

First of all, let’s examine the “modus operandi” of Russian sellers of the Black Russian Terrier. Breeders of Black Russian Terriers in Russia will first of all make contact by joining Facebook communities dealing BRTs.They will make their presence know and sooner of later they would start advertising their litters for sale. In most cases their litters are very much underpriced, no health tests, no pedigree information, absolutely no warranty information and sometimes email addresses which cannot be verified.

My wife who was born in Russia tells me, that the Russians will not sell you the best of litters, because they keep the best puppies for themselves. People who have purchased puppies from the Russians were sold dogs that were not good and had lots of health issues. These North American buyers also complained about warranty problems. How are you going to take action against a persons who is living thousands of kilometres away?. In addition, although these dogs may costs 500.00USD, one has to pay for transportation and any additional costs. In the long run, the price may have escalated to more than what you may pay for a dog purchased in the USA.

Some inexperience breeders have brought in puppies from the overseas market only to learn that some of these puppies have been plagued with medical problems and have not been good for their breeding program. Now with that said some of the most experienced breeders who have built up a good relationship with their Russian counterparts or contacts  may be able to obtain a line of a reputable breeder.

In conclusion, for both breeders and buyers, "buyer beware"of purchasing Black Russian Terriers from abroad. Support your local experienced breeders who would be able to sell you a Black Russian Terrier, with a contract, with a warranty and most important, a breeder who would be able to support your questions and answers for the lifetime of the Black Russian Terrier. I have often heard from owners of Black Russian Terriers that once they purchase a BRT, they have never ever from the the breeders or are afraid of approaching their breeder due to a conflict situation.

Support your North America market.

The Best of Breed

To the persons who are interested in showing dogs what does the Best of Breed also known in the dog world as BOB mean?

Well, to give you a better insight, there are certain things that you should know. Most well governed countries have instituted organizations that govern dogs breeds. In the case of Canada, the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC)is responsible for registering pure breed dogs. I should mention that in Canada not to register your pure bred dog is felony. In the United States of America, it is the the American Kennel Club, in Great Britain it is the Kennel Club, in Australia it is the The Australian National Kennel Council and so forth. When you register your dog, your dog is placed into a predetermined classification. Each breed falls into a particular classification where other pure dogs may be. For example The Canadian Club has seven classification or groups as they are called and they are listed as:

Group 1. The Sporting Group - some examples are Barbet, Spaniels, Griffon. Check with the CKC for the complete list.

Group 2. Hounds - some examples are Afghan Hound, Beagle, Borzoi. Check with the CKC for the complete list.

Group 3. Working Group - some examples are Akita, Black Russian Terrier. Check with CKC for complete list.

Group 4. Terriers - some examples are Airedale Terrier, Bull Terrier, Skye Terrier. Check with CKC for complete list.

Group 5. Toys - some examples are Coton de Tutelar, Chihuahua, Pug. Check with CKC for complete list

Group 6. Non-Sporting Dogs - some examples are Tibetan Terrier, Chow Chow. Check with CKC for complete list

Group 7. Herding Dogs - some examples are Border Collie, Puli, Briard. Check with CKC for complete list

Miscellaneous Class are breeds of dogs that are awaiting to be recognized by the Canadian Kennel Club.

Once Registered and assigned a group, your dog will be placed into the category of your breed. So for example if your dog was a Barbet, your dog will be placed in Group 1, and into the Barbet breed. (Using the Canadian Kennel Club Specifications).

If you decide to show your Barbet, you will of course make your entry for confirmation and at the time of competitive showing one dog has to be chosen by the judge as the best of breed. The best of the breed is supposed to be the dog that comes closest to the breed standard in comparison to others dogs of the same breed.

Now if your dog is the only dog in the breed, your dog may be given the best of breed after going through the motions of showing. This in my opinion is a flaw in the rules. The question that really has to be asked is how can you give an only dog the best of breed where there is no comparison? In fairness to this situation, a dog being entered does not know how many dogs are being entered.The only way of knowing in advance is when the entry catalogue is sent out or on the day of competition. With that said, it should also noted that some owners deliberately go to shows, knowing that no other dogs in the breed would show up.In these cases where the dog is judged the best of breed with no competition, the dog is not awarded any points. 

Once you dog has been given the title of best of breed for that particular event, the dog goes to compete for the best of group which will entail all the best of breeds in that particular group.

A good Canadian website for checking on show confirmation result is Canuck Dogs.com

The Black Russian Terrier Colour Controversy

The United Kennel Club (UKC) based in the United Staes of America with outlets in Canada recently inaugurated and ruled that “coloured” Black Russian Terriers could be shown under their auspices. 

There has been backlash from the Black Russian Terrier community some crying foul and some agreeing with the UKC ruling. In order to understand this dispute, one has to go back in time to understand the origins of the Black Russian Terrier.

The Black Russian Terrier was created by the Soviets under the USSR era when the Russian Military lost most of their dogs during the World 1 and World 2. As a result of this, the Russian Government made and edict that a new breed of dog should be introduced and that this dog should be a guard dog and be able to withstand the cold and frigid temperatures of the Siberian weather.

"Coloured"Black Russian Terrier

Normal Black Russian Terrier

The Red Star Kennel began their experimentation  and came up with breeding a Rottweiler with a Giant Schnauzer. To get what they were looking for, other crossing breedings took place between Airedale Terriers, Caucasian Ovcharka ( Caucasian Shepherd Dog), Newfoundlanders, and other varieties of unnamed dogs. With a limited amount of dogs, the  breed was finalized as a Black Russian Terrier and introduced to the Russian public around 1953.

With this information, one can quickly  deduce that the gene pool and genetic information was rather limited to a few dogs and because of inbreeding anything was possible from their offsprings. What is rather interesting is the way the Red Kennel scientists were able to get the colour of the dog black.

As these Black Russian Terriers were made available to breeders across the Soviet Union, inbreeding was common resulting in off coloured puppies. In 1958, a breed standard was put in place and throughout the years revised and in conjunction with the world organizing body, Federation Cynologique Internationale, a proper breed standard was approved. For the purpose of this blog, I shall only deal with the colour. The breed standard colour for the Black Russian Terrier is Black, black with insignificant intermingling gray hair is permissible. 

As breeders continued to breed Black Russian Terriers, puppies were whelped with colour variations of the original dogs that were used as the foundation stock. The breeders who cared about the Black Russian Terriers made notes of such breedings and stopped breeding those dogs. The resultant puppies of these litters were either neutered and spaded so that their genes pools would be terminated. The breeders who did not really care, sold these puppies without have these puppies fixed.

The owners of these off coloured puppies in Russia wanted the same privileges as owners of the Black Russian Terriers namely, to compete in the same confirmation  ring.

The International Black Russian Terrier Club of Russia conducted an experiment prior to 2006 where these off coloured were shown at specialized shows. No titles were awarded. The experiment was called off since some of these dogs had the appearance of the Airedale Terriers and some dogs were extremely aggressive.

In North America, breeders had similar situations as to their counterparts in Russia. Breeders who cared for the breed made sure that the off coloured puppies were fixed so that their gene pool would not spread. Unscrupulous breeders who did not care about the breed continue to breed dogs that will produce off coloured puppies and are intent on competing with the true Black Russian Terrier.

It is a concern and the fight has only just begun  between as to who will be the winner in the long run. I am afraid that in order to enrich their coffers, the national breed clubs are going to eventually  approve and allow colour variations of the Black Russian into the show rings.