sandgrubber

Yes, I outcross, though I may accept some overlap in four or more generations back. If you chase down the COI statistics for Labradors, you'll find that line breeding is not common in the breed. See eg., http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2390636/#!po=50.0000

Epigenetics, though it has found wide popular audience, is one of those fields where there are more questions than answers. Science has shown inheritance of genes that are switched on or off by the environment in a few cases only, mostly with rodents. There is NO evidence that dog behavioral genes can be switched on or off by environmental factors.

On the other hand, if a dairy bought a calf marketed as Jersey-Holstein and she grew up to be something other than Jersey-Holstein, I think they'd demand more than a full refund. If there was deception here -- and given the unreliability of genetic tests and the unpredictability of x-breeds, it's hard to say if there was -- the breeder deserves strong censure. Fraud is fraud.

Depends. In a breed where the gene pool is narrow, preserving genetic diversity is probably more important than show conformation. If you have a popular sire, the more people/bitches you turn away the better. Particularly important that you turn away bitches who are related to your dog. If you have a healthy, but little-used stud, it is good for the breed as a whole that you allow your dog to be used over unrelated bitches. Goes without saying that you must trust the breeder.

For yeast, my vet recommended vinegar, any sort, diluted 50% with water. The goal is to change pH and make the environment unfavorable for yeast...just as with the traditional vinegar douche bag. I don't use a dropper. I get a make-up pad soaking wet with vinegar and rub it around. Some drops go down the ear canal. The pad cleans up ear gunk. And the dogs think they are getting their ears rubbed. (They used to run and hide when they saw the epiotic come out.

A couple other stupid features: 1. If the woman was intending to breed crossbreeds, she should realize that the F2 generation doesn't breed true. Even if the dog was as advertized, the pups would be all over the place. 2. The reading I've done suggests that the DNA tests aren't very good at breed identification . .. there are lots of stories about people testing papered dogs tend to get results telling them they have some crazy mixture that doesn't include the dog's actual breed. When I saw the title, I assumed this was going to be in the US. Good to see Australia is catching up in terms of stupid litigation.

Nothing wacko about confusion between flattie and golden. Quoting Wikipedia "Golden Retrievers were first accepted for registration by The Kennel Club of England in 1903, as Flat Coats – Golden" . . . it wasn't till a couple decades later that the two breeds really got separated.

Patty (6 mo old Lab puppy) is alert to animals, sometimes barking at deer, dogs, horses. She also watches people. She especially likes face closeups, as in talking heads, or some music performances. Singing is good. Another favorite category is women with heavy eye makeup and dark lipstick, especially if they show a lot of pearly whites.

Seems to me that before the problem of ID cards comes the problem of defining an assistance dog. I, personally, went through a few years of severe depression and my dog helped greatly to keep me away from going over the edge. I guess by some definitions, the dog could have been classed as an assistance dog. But I certainly wouldn't put her in the same class as Guide Dogs, who are carefully screened, and have something like 1000 hours of professional training (number is a guess). I don't feel that my dog should have been granted the right to go with me in the passenger area of an airplane. And people with home-trained assistance dogs . . . should they also have the right for special privledges for the dog-in-training as well as the original dog. You could end up with a situation in which all of us who are psychologically dependent on our dogs, including people with guardians, DA dogs, excitable little dogs, etc., were claiming rights to have our dog with us at all times. Could get pretty messy. I don't know where the line should be drawn, but I see a real need that it be kept fairly high so as not to put in jeaprody the rights of the blind and others with extensively trained dogs who are essential for their daily lives.

The only trouble with a photo ID card is that they'd be pretty easy to fake, especially if there isn't a national standard. Restaurant owners, etc. may find it hard to learn to recognize all states ID cards.

Good one. Thanks. Mine could have gotten either the rodent or the flea version of tapeworm, as they catch and eat rodents and get the occasional flea. I've ordered a broad spectrum with Prazinquantel ... sounds like it's advisible to do a repeat dose later on.

Canberra man found 'covered in blood' after dog attack DateJanuary 23, 2014 - 9:59AM A 71-year-old man was found "covered in blood and with numerous injuries" after a dog attack on the front lawns of Old Parliament House on Wednesday, police said. Police were called to the scene about 10.40am after receiving reports of two men fighting, with one man beating the other with a large stick. When they arrived, police found the victim bloody and injured and he was taken to Canberra Hospital for treatment. The Parkes resident said he had been attacked by a man and his dog - believed to be a bull mastiff, or a similar breed - which he claimed had mauled him. "It is alleged the offender threatened to attack him further," police said. Police arrested a 40-year-old man at about 12.15pm and charged him with assault and allowing a dog to attack a person. The man was notified his dog would be seized by Domestic Animal Services. He will face court next month. Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-man-found-covered-in-blood-after-dog-attack-20140123-319xw.html#ixzz2rDbaIQbb At least the guy was arrested. Fortunately, such people are few and far between.

They say dogs see much more in HDTV than they did in the older version . . . .cause the refresh rate is faster. They also say that flat faced dogs are better set up to watch due to the field of vision provided by their facial layout. So it's interesting to know what breed. I have Labs. My three sat on the sofa watching a program on Coydwolfs (wolf-coyote hybrids) last night. The puppy watched quite a bit of the show, including talking heads. She barked at a clear close scene of moose walking across the road (she's never seen a moose), and got up and ran out the doggie door when there were dogs barking at a coywolf. The two other dogs (her mother and grandmother) pretty much ignored the show, but got up and ran out the door with the puppy when the barking came on. How do your dogs react to such shows?

I wormed my three dogs with pyrantel [the PLUS ingredient in Heartguard Plus] a few days back. We can buy pyrantel in bulk in the US . . . it's a good, safe, and easy to use wormer, and very cheap. The day after being wormed, the puppy crapped out a jointed string of tapeworm ycch, maybe 4 cm long. Very clearly tapeworm and not roundworm. There were also a few smaller white bits that looked like grains of rice, and they squirmed around in the fresh pooh, just as in the descriptions of tapeworm. I've hit roundworm before, many times, but never tapeworm. I routinely observe the dogs poohs to look for possible problems, like excessive ingestion of tennis balls, and have seen none in the other dogs. Funny thing is, pyrantel is not supposed to be effective for tapeworm. I've gone ahead and ordered a broad spectrum wormer that handles both forms of tapeworm, and I figure it won't hurt to do all the dogs one time. Am I going overboard? Is it likely that the pyrantel is actually killing the tapeworm, and further wormers are not required?

Time and patience. ..wait it out. Kennel cough is more alarming than serious in a healthy dog. Often it's just a few days. At worst, a few weeks. You can try to make the dog more comfortable.

Oh how I wish my puppy would make a truce with the broom! I know she will...eventually.

Worth noting that daschunds are a varied breed, with three coat types (smooth, rough and long), and, in some countries, three body types (miniature, standard, and rabbit). The most aggressive daschies I've met have been smooth coats, especially the standard. Never met a rabbit daschund that I know of. Checking the Finnish KC database confirms the suspicion that these have different mortality profiles. For standard, smooth coat daschies, more die of accidents than of old age. For standard, long coat, only about a third as many die of accidents as old age. Likewise, death from euthanasia due to behavioral problems is higher for the smooth coat than the long coat. Not that this is definitive, or that things are the same in Finland as Oz or the US. Just to say that the breed is diverse. Let's hope the fad picks up on relatively friendly, unaggressive strains, as people buying fashionable dogs are often inexperienced.

I would not like to see animal rights nutters given the opportunity to post to the breeders forum . . . so as much as it would be good to offer support, etc., I think the negatives of opening the forum outweigh the positives.

Do you think only terriers chase and kill things? All hounds will kill something - give a whippet a rabbit and look out, give any hound anything and they will do the job they were bred to do. Dacshunds are more chilled than most terriers and work in a different way. In my experience hounds are prey driven, but rarely DA or HA, and noisy at meal time and maybe full moon, but not the sort of dogs that yap at people coming to the door. Daschunds were rated as the most aggressive of breeds by one study based on thousands of owner questionnaires (Breed differences in canine aggression Deborah L. Duffy, Yuying Hsu, James A. Serpell, 2008). I've met a few sweet tempered daschies, but many are as inclined to attack big dogs and ankle bite as the worst of high-strung, badly-trained JRT's.

Hound? I'd say more like the brain of a terrier! Earth dog and many have the temperament needed to drag a badger from its hole. Surprised by the fad. A byb'r is doing well to get $400/pup for dachsies around here.

If you're concerned, talk to a repro vet. I did this once for a girl who I thought hadn't come into season at 2 1/2 yrs.. After a brief exam, the vet laughed at me in a friendly way and said I was wrong. He gave me some meds that brought on her next season. She was mated and had 9 healthy pups.

Hey, wait a minute. Not all Labs stink! I have three. I almost never bathe them. Their smell is quite mild, even when wet ...I only smell them when my nose is right next to their coat, and even then it's not an unpleasant odor. No one else has ever commented on a doggy smell either, so I don't think it's just that I'm used to them. For some reason, some of their bedding ends out smelling raunchy . . . but never the dogs themselves. The first Lab I owned developed some skin condition (I've forgotten its name) that made her really stink. There was a very specific chemical for managing the odor, and I've forgotten its name. Long ago.

why not use a harness? If neck width is close to head width, collars are going to be a problem.

If you play with the Finnish data, you'll find various surprises. Attached is the data for the ASBT. Note that for dogs who make it to old age, average age of death is 12 1/3 yrs. But accidents and euthanasia for behavioral reasons knock off around one in four dogs, typically at an age of 3 to 4. Also note that skeletal or articular disease takes a huge toll at a pretty young age. Cancer, on the other hand, takes out older dogs. Because there are major causes of early death, the average life expectancy for the breed as a whole is a bit under six years. see http://jalostus.kennelliitto.fi/frmTerveystilastot.aspx?R=122&Lang=en If I were an ASBT breeder, these stats would carry some strong messages, eg, that screening for skeletal/articular disease (I presume this includes HD and OSD) is a necessity, that breeding for good temperament is a must, and that puppy buyers should be screened carefully to avoid people who won't be careful of things like fencing. I suspect the reason many breeds come out with shockingly short lifespans in the Finnish data it that the data accounts for deaths we tend to forget . . . ie, accidents, pts's for behaviour, chronic diseases with early onset. I think it's important that both breeders and puppy buyers are aware of the things that pick off dogs when they are young, and work to prevent premature deaths.

Personally, I've resolved to get a new dog no more often than once every four years. That saves me from the bind of ending out with multiple oldies -- and attendant sorrows and vet bills -- at once.