Editorial - September 2002: New plans for magazine

Hello everyone,
I want this issue to be a dedication to my brother John, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in May. In only the last year before his death he had bought a second Siberian husky for the family so that he and his wife Gayle could share walks, tracking, training and sled racing.

John loved sled racing and though he was practically a newcomer to the sport, on the week of his death he was to have spent the weekend in qualifying races for his musher certificate.

When John was killed the huskies knew, and later they sat beside his coffin with the rest of the family, knowing they were part of the family and grieving with the rest of us.

John was on the way home from work when he misjudged the speed of a truck turning a corner and just clipped its rear. He was thrown across the road and pinned by the motorcycle, and as he tried to get up a car coming the other way hit him and sped off without stopping. The police are still asking for information from anyone about this Napier, Hawkes Bay (NZ) accident.

The next issue of K9 Perspective will be in December. From 2003 the issues will be back to two-monthly, in the last week of February, April, June, August, October and December.

Letters are invited on any canine subject, and if there is any subject that readers want to know about just tell us and we will gather as much as we can on the subject and pass on the relevant parts to you.

Whatever country you live in, if you attend a major national event we would love to know about it - did you enjoy it, was it well organised, do you think any area could be improved for next year, was the standard good, were the facilities and services good, what was the winning dog's name and breed - even pedigree if possible.

When I say a major event I include national shows of course, but not just shows - we want to hear about agility, cross country, tracking, obedience, trials, search and rescue, sheepdog trials, retrieving, service and guide dogs, and even pet dogs. And if you have photos, either printed or digital, we would love to feature them in the magazine. We want to know about unusual dogs, heroic dogs and problem dogs, track racing dogs and sled dogs.

We want to know about your training successes and those that are not yet successful (we may be able to help, or other readers may have some useful suggestions).

We also want to concentrate more on natural health for dogs, the healthy way for them to eat and how to prevent the development of some of the more preventable conditions - what to worry about and what not to worry about.

Genetic diseases and how they are passed on are also marked for target. We do not have to go on breeding from dogs that we know carry affected genes. There has to be a larger commitment to the elimination of genetic diseases and that is only possible when breeders are able to become completely honest with buyers and can say "this pup has a recessive gene for PRA" (or whatever other disease) "so please never breed it to anything other than a completely clear partner." - Elezabeth