sandgrubber

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2317115-dingo-genome-suggests-australian-icon-not-descended-from-domestic-dogs/?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=8ecc01904a-briefing-dy-20220426&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-8ecc01904a-45542558 Latest genetic research shows large difference between dogs and dingoes

A recent paper relating lifespans to mutation rates, and cancer incidence, has been making scientific headlines. This wonderful graphic says it all. Bottom line...they still don't know why mutation burdens are different. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04618-z?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=549b352785-briefing-dy-20220420&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-549b352785-45542558

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-social-self/201908/the-well-being-benefits-seeing-pets-family-members there's some psychological research that sees it as healthy to consider pets as family members

Here's one on kinked tail https://dognews.com/Veterinarian-Merry-Fitzgerald-discusses-spinal-anomalies-from-hemivertebra-to-kinked-tails-in-dogs seems it may be autosomal recessive...thus I was wrong in previous post. Could possibly trace back to ancestral bulldog population. More information on the kink required.

If your dig has cancer and you want to contribute data for research https://darwinsark.org/about-cancer-project/ quoting their intro page...follow link to enroll your dog DARWIN’S ARK CANCER PROJECT Welcome to the latest initiative of the Darwin’s Ark team. Together, we’ll be learning more about why dogs get cancer and the best ways to help them. We plan to study risk factors passed down from parents to puppies, test methods to detect cancer in a blood sample, and compare exposures to potential cancer risk factors in each dog’s home and surrounding areas. Like people, dogs get many different types of cancer and receive many types of treatment. We’re working together with top cancer scientists in the Broad Institute’s Gerstner Center for Cancer Diagnostics, the Count Me In Initiative, and the UMass Cancer Center, and we will freely share our data (with personal information removed). This means that everything we learn can be used and shared world-wide for years to come, for the benefit of our pets, and in time our loved ones and ourselves. If your dog has cancer now or has had cancer in the past, please enroll them in our new Darwin’s Ark Cancer Project. All dogs – purebred, mixed, or mystery – are welcome. Dogs with any type of cancer can enroll without any specific testing or treatment to qualify.

I don't like hearing men call women "baby" either. Infantalising... But there's nothing wrong with emotionally bonding with an non-human animal, so long as you respect that it isn't human. Wasn't so long ago that many scientists denied that non-humans had emotions.

Developmental abnormality? If a throwback it would be far more than 5-6 generations. Would have to be a pretty horrible breeder to put a dog with a congenital defect on main register...or to breed from such a dog in the time before main register was introduced.

But not as a 5 or 6 generation throwback.

Throwback seems unlikely. The breed mixing for bull terriers mostly took place in the 19th century. I think some other breeds got mixed in later to get colors, but I don't think any curly tail species were used. So there have been a few hundred generations for the curly tail to be culled out. Genetic testing would be a good idea.

Early desexing is a problem in some breeds but not others. Here's a recent mega study that crunched the numbers https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00388/full&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiZhef0rNv2AhVw4XMBHTITC-AQFnoECAMQAg&usg=AOvVaw11bejoqYTUbpOeLmWySNYu

I respect breeder costs. Nonetheless, it's a sorrow to see the costs of both puppies and houses with yards appropriate for a dog rising to the point where a lot of people are priced out of the market. Oldie bemoaning the good old days...but I remember a time when a lot of pups came from families deciding have a litter for the experience...or due to accidents...and formal breeding was less important. I, myself, see the love of puppies as a major reason to breed, and am inclined to pricing at the low end when I do have a litter. But my finances are in good shape and I can afford to weigh the benefit of doggy benefits high when doing a cost benefit analysis. IMO, the derision of back yard breeders hasn't helped the dog scene. I think the pedigree dog world is gradually dying out, in part, because it has been so unfriendly to new entrants and people who want to have an occasional litter without thinking of themselves as breeders.

IMO testing isn't the issue for two reasons. First, the tests aren't that expensive. Second, 'testing' as done in pedigree dog circles isn't a very good predictor of health. Unfortunately, the things that can be tested for often aren't the biggest health problems, and commonly recommended tests aren't very good at predicting. Eg, there are no reliable tests for allergies, cancer proneness; perfect and elbow scores for parents only increase the chances for the pups; annual eye exams are recommended because a dog that looks good one year may be uncertifiable the next (after siringmanylitters). Also, though genetic tests for degree of inbreeding (associated with many health problems) are now available, very very few breeders do them. The pretence that 'we are ethical because we do xyz tests' is a sham. I would much rather see a 10 generation pedigree with records of what ancestors died from at what age...snowballs chance in hell of finding that.

There any value to signing if you're not from NSW?

In a healthy and popular breed with large litters (eg Labradors) puppy sales can bring in quite a sum of money. Probably not enough to pay off the mortgage on a kennel property, or even pay a decent wage for hours spent, but more than enough to pay for testing, food, vet bills, stud fees, costs of showing, etc. It gets more complicated if you cost in expenses of keeping the bitch when she gets retired from breeding. And of course there will be litters with few pups or high expenses. So $2k vs $6k may be the difference between covering the costs of an enjoyable hobby and beginning to operate as a not very profitable business. In a less healthy breed with small litters it becomes more a labor of love. Older established breeders are less likely to have mortgages to pay off and child care costs, so may be better placed to be unprofitable in a business sense. I don't think those selling at a lower price are necessarily cutting corners...they may just be in a position to do so.

https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2022/02/thank-you-poland-and-romania.html?m=1 Poland, Romania, and probably other countries are expressly permitting Ukranian refugees to bring pets. Photos at https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2022/02/ukrainian-refugees-flee-with-pets.html?m=1

Or a world in which pedigree dog deaths were recorded as well as births...so one could breed for longevity.

But in too many cases, judges interpret and have long interpreted the standard in ways that cause health problems and/or result in high maintenance, often at a cost in temperament. The winners end up on MR and the BISs become preferred studs. My mother was born in 1923. She complained that show preferences were ruining breeds she loved...specifically, rough collies and cocker spaniels.

I see a couple problems here 1. You can't be sure of suitability for either at 8 weeks. Eg, adult size may end up outside confirmation standards or hip and elbow scores may be too high for breeding. 2. It is possible to be unsuitable for showing but still within breed standards and visa versa. Brachy dogs with too much nose or GSDs with squarish hindquarters have poorprospects in the ring. Conversely, a Labrador that doesn't like water or a BC with no herding instinct isn't acceptable to the spirit of the breed standard, but could do quite well in the show ring.

Do you seriously believe the pedigree Goldens of 2022 are better (healthier, better temperament) than those of, say, 1950? No question they have bigger coats and the proportion of light colour coats has increased, as per show ring preferences. (Having bred Labbies, I ended up watching a lot of GRs in the show ring thanks to alphabetical order). Do you not believe in science? Did you even try to read the article I linked to? If you don't like science, here's from insurance company data. Note the very high incidence of cancer in GRs. https://www.embracepetinsurance.com/waterbowl/article/rates-of-cancer-by-dog-breed And insurance costs reflect this.

I can't remember where I saw the warning but synthetic grass gets HOT. Real grass transpires so there's evaporative cooling. Fake grass just absorbs solar radiation and converts it to heat.

I read and follow scientific literature. Look at Appendix 1 for information on Goldies. They aren't the worst, but are worse than average. https://cgejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40575-021-00111-4 also, I used to live next door to a Goldie breeder.

You have my sympathy. LR is an awful convention. Despite what people have said above, Golden breeders haven't done a great job "improving" the breed. High incidence of cancer, growing incidence of temperament flaws, excessive coats, and other problems (including high prices) that make the breed less appropriate as a family pet. Good luck.

Any of those breeds COULD work if you took up a sport such as agility or tracking in a big way and stuck to it. Otherwise, I agree with others...not a great fit.

For me the takeaway is that meat animals shouldn't be fed antibiotics...not that you shouldn't feed raw. Bacteria are everywhere. Healthy dogs can handle a lot. But we shouldn't be spreading antibiotic resistant bacteria.

I lived in Perth and owned a boarding kennel in Banjup (now Treeby) but haven't been there for years. Just looked at Perth Gumtree and I see a wide variety of cross breeds...but about 1 in 10 could be considered a pig dog. The only rescue I found was dominated by greyhounds. Judging by prices, it looks like big mastiff crosses aren't much in demand.