sandgrubber

I have two problems with genetic profiling related to health 1. It's not regulated or patrolled AT ALL. There's nothing to prevent inaccurate results or inaccurate descriptions. 2. Prevalence is rarely reported, and testing for genes known to be part of the cause for polygenetic conditions (eg hip/elbow dysplasia) are hard to use effectively. The companies tend to spew out results on things they can test for, no matter how rare (eg narcolepsy) while providing little helpful information on common problems (eg allergies, temperament faults). Yes, do the testing, but don't let it fool you into thinking it's a recipe for breeding healthy dogs, and beware of false readings.

I'd say Embark did well. The article would have been more useful if the samples submitted were from mutts coming from regions dominated by breeds recognised by kennel clubs and mixtures of such breeds. The companies should probably add a disclaimer saying their model was created using dogs from such and such a region, and their confidence in results is lower if the dog came from regions including land races not included in the creation of their model.

Whew! It would have been humiliating to rack up a big vet bill for an eye booger! That was an impressive one.

Gold morning to you. Don't know what you're talking about. Which advertisements? Where? If you mean DOL you can select the state. Some breeders don't like posting puppy photos...the little guys change so fast! And usual photos don't really tell you that much unless you're buying for colour. For some buyers, it's enough to know the kennel name or see the sire and dam's pedigrees

BBC News - All aboard the Alaska pup bus...https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64346501

I suspect contact allergies when itching is in paws, belly, throat and chest. (My itchy boy dives into green thickets that may well contain Tradescantia). Base of tail, I think fleas. Food allergies, not sure. Ears, paws, everywhere? Thoughts?

Falling dog prices will do more to reduce theft than any legislation

I'm in NZ, no snakes. No 1080 in the area. No cars. Good swimming for dogs.

Depends on the park. We walk a normally deserted river bank with lots of bushland. It's designated off leash exercise area. It's one day in 20 that we meet others dogs. The general understanding is that dogs will work it out. So far the worst that has happened is that my relatively timid girl ran off. I searched for awhile, then went back to the car. She was there and the car was well scratched from her efforts to get in. A crowded city park would be a different game.

Can dogs smell time? Just ask Donut the dog https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/12/22/1139781319/can-dogs-smell-time-just-ask-donut-the-dog?sc=18&f=1001

Not to mention the likely problem of sampling bias. Quite likely 4Paws got replies from a relatively large number of people who had problems.

A photo would help. I don't understand the **. UAP is a bad elbow condition. No is what you want. Both elbows 0 is excellent. https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?id=7259286&pid=14365

How do you define backyard breeding? Some lovely, kind people want pups from a much loved, and quite healthy family dog. And then there are oops litters. Some AKC breeders breed for extreme conformation, many sell pups from high maintenance sire and dam, with health problems that don't get listed, such as food allergies. Others have long offloaded pups to pet stores. Pedigree dogs are a minority in the USA. Sure, there are people who breed indiscriminately with the intent of making money. But I wouldn't entrust any legal system to separate the wheat from the chaff.

https://thesciencedog.com/2022/12/16/are-there-benefits-of-insect-based-dog-foods/ discuss availability and reviews claims. were it available and not overpriced, I'd give it a go

Read on. "The new law will not affect at-home breeders who sell animals born and raised on their property."

I didn't write the article. I, and 18,000+ others contributed to its database. They asked a huge assortment of questions. Here's a link describing the article https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-dogs-breed-cant-predict-most-of-its-behavior-new-study-shows-180979999/ The questions asked may not get to the details. For example, in my experience in boarding kennels, I found that many Labs/goldies aren't particularly enthusiastic about retrieving balls, whilst many kelpies are. Questions about retrieving may lead to the conclusion that retrievers aren't especially inclined to retrieve. However, I think it would be far easier to train a Lab, as compared to a kelpie, to retrieve shot game without damaging it.

New York bans pet stores from selling cats, dogs and rabbits https://www.npr.org/2022/12/16/1143365678/new-york-bans-pet-stores-cats-dogs-and-rabbits?sc=18&f=1001

A similar, recent study found breed wasn't a great predictor of behaviour.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04380-2?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=87b8e08f4c-briefing-dy-20221209&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-87b8e08f4c-45542558 A study that combined behavioural data from 46,000 dogs with 4,000 dogs’ DNA sequences has pinpointed genetic variants linked to nervousness and predatory behaviour, such as chasing squirrels. The researchers scrapped the conventional breed categories — which had been found to be a poor predictor for behaviour — and sorted dogs into ten genetic lineages.

Yes! Dogs should not be weapons. And packs of dangerous dogs are especially dangerous.

Sorry if this isn't a nice question, but are these pedigree pups from a registered breeder? If so and the breeder isn't willing to provide support (and guarantee the breeding won't be repeated), seems like there's a need for name and shame. The pedigree dog world is in decline. Breeders who fail to provide support for pups with serious congenital defects do the system no good.

Voluntary surrender could only happen where there's a tight knit community. But the same sort of pressure leads to witch killings. Not sure it's better than the often dubious dog control done through governments.

I just leave doors open ;-)

Some cultures regard dogs as something other than "man's best friend". If you were raised to regard dogs as unclean beasts, an energetically playful dog could be frightful.

Multiculturalism is hard sometimes. Glad the dog wasn't immediately impounded and the kid only had a few scratches and trouble getting to sleep.