Dog show Saturday and Sunday in Sumner

Published 5:50 pm Friday, September 17, 2010

A dog show in Sumner Saturday and Sunday is part of an ongoing effort to improve the health of a specific breed of dog.

From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at It’s a Dog’s World in Sumner, the Hurricane Ridge Havana Silks breeder group is hosting an informational show on the Havana Silks dog breed.

Jennifer Haugland of the breeder group said she hopes people learn more about the dogs.

Years of breeding has caused health problems in the Havana Silk dogs and the group aims to correct this.

“We wanted to bring breeding back to the original standard,” Haugland said.

Health problems include dwarfism, blindness and more.

At eight weeks of age the dogs have a skeletal structure very similar to an adult dog and an examination can determine whether it’s in proper health in certain ways.

“You breed away from shorter fronts,” she said.

To breed the dwarfism out of the dogs, the ones with the straighter front legs are selected.

It’s a Dog’s World is located at 16024 60th St. in Sumner.