sandgrubber

Go to the referenced article for methods https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.241703 "3.1. Subjects Fifty-four dogs, 30 females (24 neutered, 6 intact) and 24 males (10 neutered, 14 intact), aged between 1 and 12 years (mean = 6.06) were tested in a within-subject design study (electronic supplementary material, table S1). Medium to large size (small sizes were not included due to the Polar WearLink® strap minimum length), purebred as well as mix-breed dogs were recruited. Only mesocephalic dogs were included, to control for the influence of morphology on the facial expressions exhibited. Subjects were recruited from the database of our laboratory and adverts on social media and none of them was familiar with the dog actors. The inclusion criteria for the subjects required that dogs had to be awake, with eyes open and maintain head orientation towards the stimulus for at least 4 s within the video projection." Breeds are mentioned for the pilot study.

https://www.science.org/content/article/dogs-people-may-use-blinking-bond?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=650f7314e1-nature-briefing-daily-20250219&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-650f7314e1-50644548 Another subtle behavior to watch for.

A flying tackle worked for me. I've only hit that situation once, though . I'd be afraid for my hands if I went for the balls. If you have netting handy, it's the safest way to go. I recently helped a neighbor whose two Staffies were trying to kill each other by tossing her a big wad of grape netting. The netted dog didn't know what to do and was easily pulled off.

I've been in retirement as an Australian breeder (Labradors). Now advising a young girl who wants to breed a pedigree JRT in NZ. I'm going through the health testing checklist. It makes sense to do DNA first cause it's relatively cheap and easy and good for a lifetime. Which company is in favour these days?

The article expresses an urban/infilled-suburban viewpoint. Getting to the nearest vet school would be at minimum an 8 hour drive. And if someone wanted dead pets for research, I'm sure a few notices to local vets would do the trick. The post office wouldn't be happy transporting a dead dog. I've never had any remains resurface. If you bury high on a gentle slope and cover with 600mm+ it's very unlikely. Ok the hole is deeper, but the legs stick up.

https://skeptvet.com/2018/11/hair-and-saliva-test-for-allergies-are-worthless-pseudoscience/ Don't know if this has been revised, but there's reason for skepticism

The New York Times Sunday Read podcast this week was about animals, mostly dogs, learning language. (If you use a different app, ignore the link and just pull up the Daily). [The Daily] The Sunday Read: ‘Do Our Dogs Have Something to Tell the World?’ #theDaily https://podcastaddict.com/the-daily/episode/190928686 via @PodcastAddict

No. I think it's strictly a modern human thing.

"To begin with..." I credited that to poor breeding, due to the high demand and price for chocolate pups back when Chocos were rare. Back in those days I had an accidental Choco girl come out of a black and Yellow mating. She was typical Lab and when bred to a chocolate with good credentials, produced pups with solid Lab temperament. Thus I came to discount the negative views of Chocos. The work on redheads makes me admit to the possibility that there is a biological basis....that a single gene can affect temperament as well as colour.

I've always poopoo-ed the notion that colour is linked to temperament. Specifically that chocolate Labs have different temperament than blacks or yellows. Recent studies with mice and humans show that pain tolerance and sensitivity to opioids are linked to a gene associated with red hair (and some types of blonde hair). https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/study-finds-link-between-red-hair-pain-threshold Or podcast (more complete) http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0kkfjts.mp3 I wonder if any such studies have been done on dogs.

How was COI calculated? It's possible that a 5 generation COI looks good but a 16 generation COI is a disaster. I don't know if line breeding was fashionable for Staffies in past decades. DNA testing is preferred if a pedigree that goes back many many generations can't be found.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00133-z?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=790d82fcd4-nature-briefing-daily-20250116&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-790d82fcd4-50644548 The article is not intended to be about dogs, or Australia, but if it comes through Anti-Venom is going to be both cheaper and easier to store.

I bought a cheap (under $25) dog grooming kit (scissors and comb) from AliExpress to shorten coat and remove dags on my Springers. Have been happy with the result. My dogs don't tolerate clippers without restraints, and many don't recommend clipping for their coat type. Scissors get it done.

Many years ago used phenobarbital. Mild seizures only once or twice a month. It worked. I reduced dose and eventually stopped giving it over a few years.

Fenbendazole, Pyrantel, Moxidectin, and Milbemycin are all used to get rid of hookworm, so rotation is a viable strategy, along with only treating when required.

Yoli finally slipped hers after a year of wear. It's lost in the bush somewhere. But it stayed good while it lasted.

What parasites or pests do your pets suffer or are they likely to suffer? How serious is infection? I look for meds specific to the problem or likely problem. In general, pesticide is poison, but yeah, worth avoiding paralysis tick or heartworm.

I can't remember ever having a vet spend more than 5 minutes on the “exam“ associated with a vaccination. Usually they pull out the stethascope and look at teeth and ears. Maybe also ask what I'm feeding them. I've owned a dozen dogs, and when I was a breeder, briefly owned 100+ puppies...so at least 150 vaccinations, not one of which ended out in discovery of anything that needed attention. Nor have I ever seen an adverse reaction apart from one litter of puppies getting kennel cough from a bad lot of vaccine (fiasco). Btw... mostly Labradors, a few Springers.

Titres don't tell give the information you need. T cell based immunity is often effective long after antibody levels drop. So you may end up paying for the tetre AND the vaccination Btw, the article gives vaccination costs $90 to $250? Eeeks! When I live in the USA I bought vaccine and diy'd it. Cost USD 5. Ok. I can see paying something for a checkup and short consult, but ....

Winston Peters is a nutter. Rehoming 2900 racing greyhounds in 20 momths is going to be a fiasco. I'm mildly against greyhound racing, but can't see that this has been thought through. The racing association and dog rescue organizations aren't on the same page. Shelters are overloaded, especially for large dogs.

https://skeptvet.com/2024/12/nuq-cancer-screening-test-yes-of-no/ Some useful background on cancer screening. It may not be as helpful as it seems.

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Blood Meta. Here in NZ they don't even permit sale of eggs, but have no problem with whitebait (fish fry, netted indiscriminately during spawning season, traditional here, but horrible for fish stocks). So far the rehoming sites I follow haven't been hit.

Ich sproke nich Deutsch.

I'm in Marlborough NZ. I regularly walk my two Springers off leash in river reserves (two different ones). These allow kilometers of walking/running/cycling in an area unsuitable for development due to occasional flooding. Have never had a problem. A few people keep dogs on leash because they are not social. Parks may not work, but tracks can be good, at least in smaller cities.