sandgrubber

I'm amazed by the quality of some of the K9 blogs out therre. Title says it all. Do you have a favorite dog blog? If so, please post,

Good pick! I think DOL needs to set up a pinned topic for good (or relevant . . . sometimes it's good to keep track of the anti-pedigree dog community) blogs.

I've tried the repellers . . . in a caravan, where they should have maximum effect. No effect on mice, whatsoever. Went back to traps. It's easy to put them in places where dogs won't put paws, like the back of a cupboard or next to the toaster.

Link to full article Interesting, start, but needs much more work to be convincing. I would have liked to see more description of Fox's studies of wolf behaviour, eg., description of where it was done under what circumstances. His work is ~ 40 years old . . . are his methods still considered valid? Do the wolves he studied reflect wolves as a whole? And more importantly, do they represent wolves as they existed before extensive environmental modification by Homo sapiens. I don't think you can characterize all French Bulldogs by observing four females interact in five one hour sessions. I find the group behaviour of Labradors varies considerably between breeders . . . don't know if this is due to genetics or environment. It's peculiar that he doesn't mention Balyaev's work with foxes which so strongly showed correlation between morphological and behavioural changes during domestication.

The Chinese Crested write up she did was laughable. Apparently I pour hot wax on my dog then rip it off... I have been told that's what I do so it must be true. I went and read the Chinese Crested article on her blog and I have to say, I find it convincing. see: http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/01/bald-truth-about-chinese-crested.html Her sources seem to come from the 'inside' . .. people talking about how to win shows . . . and I am pretty repulsed by the descriptions. You are being unfair. She does not say all Crestie people denude their dogs. She agrees that some are naturally hairless. If what she says is true, ie, the Crufts crowd includes many who do extensive hair removal before showing, I think it deserves attention. Conformation shows should be about conformation, not cosmetics, and hair removal on the scale she's talking about strikes me as cruel. While I don't buy Pedigree Dogs Exposed lock stock and barrel, there are a lot of things in the pedigree dog world as dominated by conformation showing that need examination and perhaps correction. It's routine for the journo who breaks a question open for examination in a big way is sensationalist. Over-reaction on the part of the pedigree dog world comes off as denial, and does more harm than good.

You can take the dog/wolf out of the environment but can you take the environment out of the dog/wolf? That is the balance we need to find, how much is inherently 'wolf' behaviour and how much is 'man made'. In the study I linked earlier there are very clear and quantifiable behaviours that correlate between dogs and wolves and correlate with alterations in morphology which have been influenced by artificial selection. A big ask! What if common behaviours between dog and wolf come from a common proto-wolf / proto-dog that is no longer available for behavioral study? I'm happy to buy into the notion the wolves have been more persecuted in Europe than North America. Has anyone seen comparative study of wolf behaviour, or, for that matter, morphology, on different continents? p.s. Anyone following this thread might want to read the article WoffnHoof posted in 'Studies About Dogs'.

This comes from Blog run by a guy who calls himself Retrieverman. It's an interesting take on the 'wolf behavior as model for dog behaviour' that lots of dog people subscribe to. . . . and an interesting blog. It seems to me that wolves have experienced a Belyaev [the fox domestication Russian] experiment in reverse. Persecution was a selection pressure against tameness and approachability, and the animals that survived the cull were largely those that were most nervous and emotionally reactive. It is so severe that many wolves won't cross roads. Roads and virtually anything else that appears novel are too much for them. This is one reason why it was found that many captive wolves won't eat beef. They were raised eating deer and elk, and beef is just too novel and too scary. Perhaps one of the reasons why these wolves are so nervous is that nervousness and paranoia are the result of a selection pressure that chooses wolves with shorter critical periods for socialization. Just as Belyaev selected for tameness and got longer critical periods, man could have selected for only those wolves that were paranoid and emotionally reactive– and this may be in some way correlated or associated with a shorter critical period. Maybe it goes like this: If you have a short critical period for socialization, one has only a limited opportunity to learn which things are safe, so almost everything else in the world is scary. Conversely, if you have a longer critical period, one can learn that more things aren't scary and one's brain develops very differently. Both of those courses of development would have profound influence on how one's brain would develop, and perhaps, it can explain many of the differences between dogs and wolves. . . . One part that is always missing in the wolf and dog comparison is the tendency to ignore the simple reality that wolves have continued to evolve after dogs were domesticated. The dog didn’t descend from the wolf running wild today, but both descend from a common ancestor. Both may be the same species, but that same species exists in two distinct populations. One has been selected by both nature and man to be very close to humans. The other has been selected to fear humans at all costs. The error is assuming that the latter has always been this way. from: http://retrieverman.wordpress.com/ . . .

oops . . . meant to put this on General . . . sorry

Hate to mention, but it's rare to have only one mouse.. . . where you've got one, you've probably got many. I keep traps set. I use the old fashion snap traps -- not the Chinese made ones, which I find impossible to set properly -- Victor traps made in the US are much easier to use. Peanut butter or Nutella for bait. Traps aren't kind, but the kill is almost instant, unlike poisons, where the poisoning process may take a week or more. (They do this deliberately. Rats are smart. If they see another rat eat something and keel over, the other rats avoid eating the stuff. So they make poisons that act so slowly that the rats can't associate the poison with the death). I catch one almost every night. My dogs are happy to dispose of the dead ones. Yum yum. Mouse with peanut butter!

Honestly, from the information provided, I'd say people are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Either side could have avoided the incident. If the boy just had marks on his face, I doubt he was seriously hurt. The dog owner deserves trouble for 'hit and run' behaviour. Some kids are hard to surpress . Some dogs are nippy. Many puppies jump up. Accidents will happen. I think it better to save our ire for cases where the dog attacks and shows inclination to do serious damage. Making a big fuss of it makes it more likely that the kid will be traumatised.

Whoa! Look at those dark eyes and nose! Wonderful contrast with her light colour. She's really sweet looking. I hope she's a good girl for you.

Someone posted a request for donations a few days back . . . I notice it isn't getting many viewings. Such an awful story. I know people are worn out by disaster reports, but I think this is a case where help may really do some good. The British woman braving Fukushima radiation zone to save abandoned quake dogs By Richard Jones Last updated at 12:48 AM on 29th May 2011 Comments (19) Add to My Stories Share They are the forgotten victims of the Japanese tsunami; the countless pets abandoned by their owners as they fled fallout from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. But one British woman is braving the potentially lethal radiation levels to rescue animals left to die in the eerie ghost towns of the 12-mile evacuation zone. So far, 70-year-old Elizabeth Oliver, originally from Somerset, has saved 197 dogs and 17 cats from the area, which she enters wearing a protective suit and carrying a Geiger counter. Safe: Miss Oliver with a rescued pet in Osaka After the evacuation, residents were allowed back for two hours to collect essentials – but were told to leave pets tethered in front of houses, for authorities to collect. Yet in ten days, just 15 of an estimated 20,000 pets were picked up. Miss Oliver, who has lived in Japan for more than 40 years, said: ‘Even when animals are cut free they often refuse to leave their homes, believing their owners will return.’ One rescued dog is an English setter she named Frostbite. He was found wandering hungry in an area called Nami-cho. His owners had cut him loose so he could fend for himself, but he had become terrified and aggressive. Under Miss Oliver’s care he became gentle again. More... The Saga suicide squad: Dozens of pensioners prepare to risk their lives in Fukushima clean up Finally, the full truth about Fukushima? Japanese nuclear bosses admit meltdown of THREE reactors after tsunami She has now tracked down Frostbite’s owners – but they are still living in an evacuation centre, so their pet must remain in Miss Oliver’s Animals Rescue Kansai shelter in Osaka, more than 400 miles from the affected area. After animals arrive there, she advertises them for three months in an attempt to reunite them with their owners before putting them up for rehoming. During one visit to the evacuation zone, she encountered a particularly hellish scene: ‘I saw a farmer sitting amid the carcasses of nine horses that had starved to death. The 20 horses still alive were in appalling shape. Police had refused to let anyone back into the zone with feed.’ The farmer said he was going to kill them rather than let them starve, but Miss Oliver arranged for them to be rescued. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391988/The-British-woman-braving-Fukushima-radiation-zone-save-abandoned-quake-dogs.html#ixzz1NwVCfB1M

Be cautious with Permoxin. It is a nerve poison, and will put some dogs into horrible seizures. I almost lost a girl after using a permoxin-based spot-on flea and tick medicine. I used it on two dogs. The one licked the other and bingo, the 'do not ingest' medicine got injested. She has had recurrent seizures thereafter and is now on phenobarbitol to prevent seizures.

I'm as bothered by people's haste to judge a vet based on little information as I am by the possibility of a vet recommending unnecessary surgery. Shame on those who cry shame. Early diagnosis and treatment is often better than letting it run and seeing if a problem develops. I agree, from what Ernie's said, it would be good to seek a second opinion . . . a wise move on most non-emergency major surgery. And I don't doubt that there are some vets who milk their clients by prescribing unnecessary surgery in the guise of prevention. But we don't know the facts here. Perhaps the pup IS symptomatic but the owners aren't skilled enough to see an altered gait that isn't a classical limp. In my experience, pups that hurt often don't limp, they simply avoid exercise. We don't know.

I was brought up to believe that fear of thunder is the same as gun shyness . . . and that it is hereditary. Can anyone confirm or contradict this? (I've got Labbies, ie, gun dogs . . . for some reason being gun shy is considered a serious fault).

Oops, double post. Sorry.

I find it interesting that Labbies are being used for rabbit hunting. I've always been amazed that my Labbies are uninterested in rabbits . . . though they love most rodents (eg, mice, and in the USA, gophers, and ground hogs). Guess that can be changed by training.

Eileen Thanks for posting. I find it hard to imagine what people and pets are going through in Japan. Does ARK have any more recent stories about animals rescued? The link you posted says they are anticipating an influx of animals, but is not dated. I'd guess the influx has already come and they are now having a hard time coping with it. Sorry . . . no wool.

Also note that the surface matters. A friend of mine has had a horrid time with bad joints, though her dogs are genetically very similar to mine. I have had no such problems. She ran young dogs beside the bike on roads and paved bike paths. I let my dogs follow me on the bike (off lead) when I biked on a limestone access road. Grass, or uneven tracks that make the bike ride an exercise in picking your way around obsticles are much easier on joints than blacktop or cement.

Long ago I lived in a basement apartment and had a dog (Labbie) with a broken leg. Toilet was traumatic. My vet said she can hold it for 26 hours. I found that was accurate advice . . . we got the sling out once a day and braved the steps. For a healthy dog, I think toilet is mostly psychological and for the psyche, you don't want to go that long.

Yes, that would be backyard breeding. Not necessarily. I bred Labs in WA for a decade or so. There is huge demand for Lab pups, and many people end out going to other breeds cause they can't find a Lab when they want a pup. Most of the WA breeders are pretty friendly and helpful. If you work with a respected breeder, do the necessary health checks, and spend some time learning the breed standard . . . and after that you feel your pup is worth breeding from . . . I wouldn't consider you a BYB. I would consider you a BYB if you skip health checks, breed from a Limited Register dog and/or bitch, and/or don't consult with the breeder you bought from about whether your lovely pup is worth breeding from. Oh yes, you also have to take a breeder's exam and register with the CAWA. There are some people who consider almost everyone BYB's . . . but those folks can be ignored.

Where are the pictures!!!!!

The happy message is that if the owners stay cool, even a horrible situation can be gotten through without minimal damage. I'd say it's clear who was right . . . and the humans involved agree. . . the guy with the bullies shook the guy's hand after he shot one of the bullies . . . as if to say, this was way out of control, and you did right to get out the gun. I'm strongly anti-gun, but in this case, seems fortunate that a gun was at hand and the guy either missed his mark or was a good shot and used the gun as a high-power distraction. (they say distractions rarely break up a dog fight . . . maybe this is the exception). This situation could easily have lead to MUCH worse outcomes . . . like two guns present and both dogs and people getting shot . . . serious or mortal wounds.. . trials . . . jail sentences . . . dogs PTS. Whew! Bottom line was two dogs went to the vets for relatively minor wounds and two guys learned something . . . well . . .I certainly hope the pit bull bloke learned a lesson.

People discussing dog behaviour often talk about whether a response had a trigger or whether it was provoked. Given how much of a dog's perception of the world comes through its nose, seems to me that we may be unaware of a lot of things that trigger dogs . . . eg, humping may be triggered by certain smells (it certainly is when you have a pack of girls and one comes on season). Aggression might, likewise, be triggered by smells . . . and there may be a special class of aggression triggered by fear smells. Or is 'the smell of fear' a myth? Seems very likely that dogs reactions to people are influenced by smell. More generally, seems like, in discussing dog behaviour, we often forget that our perception of the world is very different from a dog's.

I don't understand. Rehoming is not always cruel . .. and putting a dog in kennels for a month while you go on holiday may create more separation anxiety than placing a dog in a new, loving home. Dogs have poor sense of time, so a few weeks seems like forever. They are pretty adaptive. Despite fabled 'loyalty', many dogs (my experience is mostly with Labradors) change loyalties very rapidly if the new home provides for their physical and social/psychological needs. Jeez, if you take a hard stand on 'rehoming is cruel', it would be better for greyhound breeders to pts than rehome, and I doubt anyone in DOL would take that stance. Someone else mentioned breeders . . . what about the very common practice of 'running a pup on' . .. and rehoming it if it doesn't make show standards or have good-enough hip or elbow scores? As for people who have no reason other than they no longer wanted a dog . . . their dogs probably didn't have the happiest of home lives, or the best prospects for getting their needs met in coming years, so rehoming may be a kindness. People shouldn't take dog ownership lightly, and breeders shouldn't sell to people who take dog ownership lightly. But I don't see it as 'until death do us part'.