sandgrubber

Please give references. I'm active in a vineyard discussion forum where we've thrashed this one over quite a bit. see, eg http://www.winepress...__fromsearch__1 Keeping the area under the vines -- or other agricultural areas -- weed free is expensive, and glyphosates are widely used. Glyphosate is the most widely used agricultural chemical in the world, by a wide margin. There are some concerns about weeds developing resistance in row crops, but little confirmed evidence that it is harmful to higher animals. There are a few people mounting lonely campaigns against glyphosate, but very few people are buying the argument. I haven't heard that the stuff has been banned by any country. (Btw, RoundUp is Monsanto's glyphosate product. They sold it on patent for many decades. It went off-patent some years ago, and there are now many generic versions available. In commercial agriculture, people tend to buy a generic and add surfactants / ajudivants as appropriate to the application). Some versions of RoundUp contain ingredients other than glyphosate which are lethal to amphibians . . . here's the first clip I could find using Google. It came from a gardening forum. But the final advice is critical. READ THE LABEL. http://forums.garden...2580527444.html Previous research had found that the ingredient lethal to amphibians in Roundup was not the herbicide itself, glyphosate, but rather the surfactant, or detergent, that allows the herbicide to penetrate the waxy surfaces of plants. In Roundup, that surfactant is a chemical called polyehtoxylated tallowamine. The problem really comes from improper application and/or choice of products for the given area. Roundup is not a labeled product for use over water or in wetland areas because of one of the ingredients in it (not the Glyphosate) is damaging to aquatic life. Rodeo is the Glyphosate product labeled for use over water. Many people misuse herbicides without reading the label. In a limited way, Roundup could be safely applied in areas known to contain amphibians if it were applied with either a brush or wick applicator. A mist application is typically the real culprit. Once again … READ THE LABEL. Improper use typically yields unintended consequences. Another, longer treatment can be found at: http://www.pan-uk.or...es/glyphosa.htm On further reading I find Denmark has banned glyphosate. But that's because it was breaking down less rapidly than predicted, and therefore accumulating in groundwater; not because it was proving toxic, carcinogenic or mutagenic. Denmark has some of the most intensive agriculture in the world, and almost everything accumulates in groundwater.

I agree, whilst it was funny, and it was entertaining - it didn't seem to address the real issues as to why desexing your dog is important. It did appear to just focus on the unattractiveness of the 'balls'. This angle has the potential to work - the amount of people who hang on to the words of celebrities because it's 'fashionable'. However the repercussions may indeed be that people stupidly thinking it's ok to 'chop off' any other perceivable 'ugly' part. Katherine Heigl cracks me up though. She's great a keeping a straight face throughout! I wonder how many takes it took to shoot this piece perfectly +1 Too many overtones of cartoon man-hating feminism for me. I doubt this did much other than tittilate. The propped up boobs over cutting off balls grossed me out.

If you don't often carry human passengers, you can make a great dog car by taking out the back seat of a hatchback. I gutted a 4-door Ford Festiva, including the passenger seat, and had a welder do up some cages. Worked great and I could easily and comfortably transport four or five dogs. I'm pretty incompetent backing up a trailer . . . and in WA markets it's cheaper to buy an old hatchback than a dog trailer. I also did the LPG Ford Falcon Wagon . . . another good solution.

From the Forum Rules We also ask that you refrain from unnecessary designer dog discussion. (ie discussion that has no real purpose other than to express dismay at the latest 'cross breed' you saw (or read about)). Sure, we all know they are out there, but we prefer to concentrate on discussing the pure bred dog (ANKC recognised breeds).

For the record, luxating patella is not autosomal, in the sense of autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive. As others have correctly pointed out, the mode of inheritance is unknown. It is likely to be polygenetic. I've been on the other side of this one. I sold a Labrador pup (as a pet) to someone. It eventually needed patella surgery. Although luxating patella is known in Labradors (I think OFA gives prevalence of 6%), it is not a commonly recognized problem in the breed and it is not something that Lab people commonly test for. The puppy owners were nice about it and I ended out paying half the vet costs. I didn't feel obliged, as it's unrealistic to expect I have had only one pup, in over 100, who had this problem. It can seemingly come out of nowhere, and there is nothing I could have done to prevent the problem. Thus, while I was free to take responsibility, I felt innocent of blame.

Sorry you got bitten . . . did you report it? Are you sure about breed id? Can you guess the mix of breeds in these dogs? Which are Labrador Retriever mixes? The Herald Sun article says the dog was thought to be a pit bull X . . . .not sure where you got Labrador. No the article says labrador K&P . . . my bad. I read wrong. The point holds. People mistake some mutts for Labradors, just as they mistake other mutts for APBT's. Rescue groups worsen the problem because Labs are probably the most adoptable of larger breeds, so they label many dogs as Lab-X who have no Lab in them. I breed Labs, and I scored worse on the 'spot the Labrador' test in link above [i got #3, #6, and #7 wrong]) than I've done on 'spot the pit bull' tests (which I usually do correctly).

Sorry you got bitten . . . did you report it? Are you sure about breed id? Can you guess the mix of breeds in these dogs? Which are Labrador Retriever mixes? The Herald Sun article says the dog was thought to be a pit bull X . . . .not sure where you got Labrador.

Glyphosate, sold under the brand name RoundUp, is as close to non-toxic as you can get. In testing it, they fed dogs as much as 500mg of the active ingredient/day and observed no ill effects. It is short lived in the environment, so you don't need to worry about buildup. I use the stuff in the vineyard . . . . as do most vintners . . . my dogs suffer no ill effects.

Ouch! Must have been terrifying. Poor people/dogs.

Having been a landlord who takes tenants with pets, I can understand why most landlords don't. Irresponsible tenants with pets can cause expensive damage and a lot of annoyance. The 'If your pets are looked after' is a big 'if'. Working pet owners who leave pets locked in and unattended when they work can be a problem. Chewing and scratching doors, hair in carpets, smells, barking and neighbours complaints, destroying the lawn/vegetation in the back yard . . . I have also had great tenants with pets. But the bad ones make you regret that you didn't put a 'no pets' clause in the rental agreement. References, unfortunately, can be cooked up and tenants from hell sometimes come up with great references.

My first Labrador was said to be typey and 'a good type', also show quality. She didn't like water and wouldn't fetch. Hence my cynicism about the word.

No overpopulation? There's no overpopulation of cute puppies. Seems like everybody wants a puppy. Babies have them on their PJ's, in their story books, and on their television shows. Its like society tells kids, from six months onward, that they have the right to have a puppy. Lots of adults who could turn down a grown dog get all soft when it comes to a puppy. But a lot of people lack the time and resources to raise a puppy properly. So when the cuteness wears off, and all too often, when the dog starts barking too much, escaping, annoying people, digging holes, fighting with other dogs . . . or the kids get tired of picking up dog pooh, even though they promised they would, and they take the dog to a round of training classes, but it doesn't fix the problem. Somehow drifts to another home, and eventually ends up in a pound. Some people are willing to look at adopting a pound dog instead of getting a puppy . . . but not enough to make the books balance. btw, The cost of subsidizing a spey or neuter is more or less the same as the cost of euthanising and cremating a dog. Scandinavians don't often neuter their dogs. But I'd guess fewer than 1 in 10 dogs in Scandanavia is allowed to reproduce.

Too many animals . . . too few good homes. It's too expensive to care for unwanted animals in populations capable of doubling in one year or less. Generally, it makes sense, through carrot and stick, to discourage breeding of animals whose offspring aren't highly desirable. I think subsidized desexing of pets is cost effective, especially for low income people. Mandatory desexing makes sense for animals with health or behaviour problems. People who have track records of abuse, or inadequate confinement, should be required to desex their pets.

Thanks for the correction. Stupid of me to think recessive . . . it is clearly expressed with one copy present. Can you suggest links relating to problems with the NBT? I did a little scanning and find only studies reporting no problems, eg., this one with Australian Shephards http://www.imgnr.com...al_nbt_art_.htm Also what seems to be a solid research article on the genetics of short-tailed dogs. Link MARJO K. HYTO¨ NEN*, ANAI¨S GRALL*, BENOIˆT HE´ DAN, STE´PHANE DRE´ANO, SAMUEL J. SEGUIN, DELPHINE DELATTRE, ANNE THOMAS, FRANCIS GALIBERT, LARS PAULIN, HANNES LOHI, KIRSI SAINIOy, AND CATHERINE ANDRE´y,Ancestral T-Box Mutation Is Present in Many, but Not All, Short-Tailed Dog Breeds, Journal of Heredity 2009:100(2):236–240 This latter reports 29% reduced litter size when two NBT dogs are mated is Swedish Vallhund. They found no dogs homozygous for the gene, suggesting that the homozygous condition is always lethal. After a bit more reading, I find some people refer to the NBT, like the merle gene, as lethal semi-dominant.

For once, I have no opinion. In my breed we go for otter tails (coffee table sweepers). Personally, I prefer natural tails on all dogs, but I'm not against docking at birth. I posted a set of articles by the guy who introduced the NBT gene into boxer lines (in Articles about Dogs: General discussion) and a few rotti/dobe breeders seemed interested in the possibility of this being done with their breeds. Those articles didn't present the problems of the homozygous pup being non-viable. Seems responsible to see that the problem gets discussed. Also, I find the question interesting as the extreme case of a lethal recessive gene. As I understand it, the genetics is much the same as, say PRA, but in this case people deliberately breed for carriers (no genetic testing required), but risk loosing pups, usually by foetal absorption, but sometimes through non-viable live births, if they breed carriers.

As bans on tail docking spread, outcrossing and backcrossing to produce natural bobtails seems like an attractive option. I was reading the Retrieverman blog awhile back and came across some horrid accounts of what can happen if pups are homozygous for the bobtail gene. see: http://retrieverman....atural-bobtail/ Apparently they may end out missing not only a tail, but also without an anus, with the result that they should be PTS to avoid a horrid death. Are people aware of this problem? Is it a problem? (edited to add the word 'spread' to first sentence. I dropped it somehow, leaving the sentence confusing)

Its not about support its about over regulation. Breeders arent walking away because the ANKC doesnt support them. Unless you actually suvey breeders you haven't any real evidence about why they are walking away. Chances are, it could be that they feel óver regulated' but by the same token, that doesn't mean that promotion and or support won't turn things around. Further, what is stopping new breeders coming into the fold? I can't see that the same influences would affect both groups. Much like the debate about the originating source of dogs in pounds, unless a fact finding mission is instigated to determine the actual lay of the land, and a considered and appropriate approach is taken based on those findings, the rot wont stop. I agree that study trumps opinion. But study requires hypotheses to test. I'd suggest the decline in breeders has multiple economic/social causes. 1) Breeding is time consuming and everyone is pressed for time. More women are employed than in past decades. And there are a lot more options for using your leisure time than there used to be. 2) The real costs of breeding are high if you consider the cost of buying and maintaining an appropriate property. 3) Lack of welcoming entry. It's hard to find anyone in the pedigree world who welcomes a new entry into the world of dog breeders. You get dismissed as a back yarder if you have an entire bitch and decide to give breeding a try without first making a serious commitment. No one likes to feel judged. There are a group of people calling you names if you make a profit on a litter, which amounts to saying, you are required to operate at a loss: a big loss if you are one of those people who consider your dogs 'forever' pets, and end out supporting your brood bitches through their old age.

Not much. After 12 mo, they fill out more than growing taller in my experience.

Good on you for taking on a blind pup. Is she ok with somewhat uneven ground? You don't have that many steps. How about changing steps to semi-ramps using some triangular blocks that produce a drop of a few cm . . . . then using smaller blocks . . . . then taking the blocks out altogether.

My dogs (Labradors) puke a lot after a ferrier has trimmed horse hooves. I don't see that it does much harm to the dogs, but can be a bit disgusting when they puke on the carpet or bedspread. I'd guess the same applies to cow hoofs.

Read the label!!!! Beware of pyretherins. I almost lost an old girl (bitch) to them. She licked the spot-on application off a puppy. Awful cluster seizures.

Thanks, everyone for replies. The best I can figure is, that, sigh, like so much else in life, it's complicated. I pull loads of ticks here in California. Sometimes I get three or four off each dog when we go through the daily inspections (you're right, the dogs love being feel-ed over). I get ticks as well as the dogs. It itches like hell and sometimes the pull-spots get infected when I pull them from myself (mostly it's the juveniles that get me . . . not the big fat suckers). I finally ended out putting the dogs on the chemical equivalent of Frontline-Plus in the spring, when we have the most ticks. But the little buggers we get here are a nuisance and not deadly. Lots of wildlife. No hope of getting rid of them. I like living where there's lots of wildlife. It scares the crap out of me to think of getting similar numbers of ticks when they may be a life and death matter. I spent ~15 yrs in WA, but haven't coped with the east coast conditions.

+1 My dogs live on a 7 acre vineyard property. I know a lot of vintners who have dogs. No one reports problems. I expect my dogs eat hundreds of grapes a day during harvest season. Maybe as much as 500 g/day. The only problem I see is extra sugar/carbohydrates. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease! A few, and I'd say a VERY VERY few, dogs have problems with grapes. Dogs are pretty good at puking when they need to.

Sand is a fact of life. Yah, it's messy. But washed sand is sanitary. Accept the things you cannot change. Use a dustpan occasionally to clean up the harmless mess.

Without type a dog is merely a dog. Type is what best describes a breed. Could you elaborate on this? I don't quite understand the meaning of "type" For example I think most people can see the difference between show and working line breeds eg. GSDs, Labs, Setters etc but both "types" can easily be identified as the correct breed. But why is only one "type" rewarded in the show ring? As another example, my pet labrador is hardly a potential show winner, yet most people correctly identify her as a labrador. Are you saying she is "merely a dog" and not a "labrador retriever" because she lacks (show-winning) type? Not taking a position. But be I've found sometimes 'type' means pushing to the showing extremes (eg, for Labbies, big boofy head and big bones, and the classic 'look', exaggerated. sometimes at the expense of temperament and health). I'd much rather see the catch word 'balanced' than the catch word 'type'. To me the intelligence, temperament, and mental profile of a Lab are more important than ear-set, tail-set and 'boofy' look, and I think the way a dog moves is equally as important as how it is shaped (which I guess means I do care about angulation).