imported_Cassie

What a relief .....thank goodness he was found! :angel: :angel:

Heres hoping Zebra does not have HD and just has a sprain or some thing simple....but, if it is HD we are here to support you and answer any questions you many have. HD can be managed through diet and proper exercise and natural supplements...I have been able to avoid giving my Rottie aspirin...I have found the Yucca to be very effectiant in controlling any pain..Yucca contains saponin compounds known as sarsasapogenin and smilagenin. These phytosterol constituents are believed to be useful for relieving inflamed joint in animals with arthritis and other rheumatoid diseases. If you do consider using Yucca it is important to note, that only a very small amount of the powdered root perhaps a pinch or two is needed to achieve the result of improved nutrient absorption. Too much of this herb, fed continuously, may actually have a reverse effect, causing nausea and irritation of mild intestinal mucosa and may be counter productive...I buy my Yucca at a local health food store a bottle of 60 pills only cost me about $5.00 canadian....each capsole contains the powdered form of the herb Yucca...I break open the capsole and just put a pinch of it into my dogs morning meal every other day...the bottle of pills will last a long long time! :wink: Yucca has worked wonders for me...I have seen too many dogs die an early death on the anti inflamatory med's Rymidal and Metacam....I myself perfer natural products....I have subscribed to the whole dog journal which is very informative (a news letter) this news letter discusses new herbs and food etc...if you go to the website under [url]www.wholedogjournal.com[/url] you will be able to subscribe...my subscription only cost $29.00 for a year. Good luck with the X-rays, I hope every thing goes well...give us an update when you have the results... We are here for you... :D

In the summer months for my 3 cats I do not leave the litter pan out for them....it goes into storage....I put it back out in the winter. I failed in trying to keep my 3 cats indoor ...so, I put breakaway collars on them so they won't kill all the neighborhood birds, I don't mind if they kill mice and rats though...one of my cats actally brought a big fat rat home the other day...we have a compost and this really seems to attact the dirty critters. The breakaway collars don't seem to last too long on my cats, but, I will not put a regular collar on them in case they ever hung them selves. My cats also have refuge in the dog kennel...I have large baby barn in my dog kennel set up for the dogs and the cats...the cats are free to come indoors as they please...I myself do not have any problems with my cats scratching up the furniture on the parts you can see...but, they will get underneath the coach lie on their backs and skim along the bottom of the coach with their front claws....its pretty funny to watch. My brother actually had a feral cat take up residence at his home also...we had him vaccinated & neutered all on the same day to avoid too much stress for the poor little guy...the vet I work with will do this for feral cats at no charge, what she does is she has a jar out front at reception called a wild life donation jar, people can leave loose change etc and the Vets use this (and their own time and money) towards surgery on wild animals which have been hurt and feral cats and dogs ... she keeps them in isolation does all the necessary blood works then she does the surgery and vaccines....alot of these cats have never been close to humans and have had to be brought in in live traps...really quite aggressive when taken out of the cage...poor little things. Elle, I wish you the best of luck with your new little freind...I have always had cats in my life...I really enjoy them..my cats have always been rescues...one was found in a laundry shoot at an apartment building...the fall had broken both its back legs...he was a great pet....years ago my Doberman pinscher found a kitten...it was down by a lake wrapped in fishing line, the rest of the kittens had drowned...the little thing did not have its eyes open...was probably only about a few days old...I bottle fed the little thing and my female dobbie mothered it and really watched over it...the Dobbie & kitten bonded very closely... it really makes me mad to think of the person who so casually dumped these kittens in the lake to drown! if I could find the people who do these things...well, I don't know what I would exactely do...but, it wouldnt be pleasant...

Mary's Mama I am so sorry to hear about Bo...my thoughts will be with you on Monday. :cry: I have made this trip with many of my senior dogs..once they have stopped enjoying life it is unfair to let them suffer...all of my dogs have told me when its time to go....my 2 Newf's I had put down before X-mas...one was 14 going on 15 years she had an enlarged heart the other was only 9 and had bone cancer...all of my dogs had given me the look...their eyes said it all...they had the sad look saying... I just can't do this any more...I stayed with my dogs until the end...and I am glad I had another person with me to drive me home..after they went it was just me & one Newf and my Rottie left (and 3 cats)....I have since gotten 3 more Newf's...and although they will never replace the ones I have lost...they have made new spots in my heart....

I would also put some "lost dog" pleas on all the local radio stations....and a few lost dog signs up at local stores. I wish you all the best in your search for Devin...perhaps some one took him in or he found a few children to play with... [size=6][b]Sending positive thoughts your way.[/b][/size]

Some Vets still go by that age guide of 6 months....they shouldnt though....especially for female dogs! for a large breed dog your usually pretty safe with the 6 month spay rule...but, with small breeds they can have their first heat cycle as early as 4 months...this has caused alot of bad feeling in the past for owners towards Vet's who will not do a spay before the age of 6 months.

As for the soft paws, we have people who come into the clinic to have them put on their cats every few months...they are pretty awkward to put on. Another suggestion for the cat...since outdoor cats are such roamers...I would definately post "found Cat" signs at all the local stores, and put it on the Radio and call the local Vet clinics & humane society's. There have been alot of worried cat owners never knowing if their baby has been hit by a car, eaten by a coyote etc...I also know of alot of roamers who actually have lived with one person for 6 months then going back to their orginal owner for the other 6 months...perhaps getting tired of the food... :lol: You never know, a little child could be really missing their little kitty. As for the rubbing up against you: Smell is an extremely important sense in cats, in some cases more than sight. Cats have scent glands on multiple places on their body including their faces and feet. On their face, the glands are located around the eyes, below the ears, and on the chin. By rubbing their face on various objects, such as legs and furniture, they are leaving their scent. Other cats passing the object will often stop and sniff, maybe even rubbing their faces on the object to leave their scent as well. Scent marks contain molecules called pheromones. Different glands secrete different pheromones which affect a number of behaviors, including reproduction and establishing territory. The pheromones that come from the glands on the face generally have a calming effect on cats.

HD is not the end of the world...my Rottweiler has HD and she has a horrible set of hips! she leads a normal active life. I don't over due the exercise...I am happy that she enjoys swimming as this is a perfect excercise for a dog with HD...with moderate exercise and the most important thing about exercise is [b]do not over due it [/b] on some days and lax on other days...it must be consistant through out the week (example you take your dog for 2 - 15 minute walks daily then on the week end go for a 2 hour hike...that is not good - be consistant) I was going to get the hip replacement surgery done (her hips are very bad) I have been able to manage my dogs HD with diet and supplements...your Vet will also go over other surgeries at the time when you find out how bad the hips are (if it is HD) I myself have been able to manage my dogs HD with out the use of Rymidal or Metacam (common anti inflamatory med's given to dogs with Arthritis caused by the HD) I chose not to give these Med's as they are very hard on your dogs liver...instead I give Glucosamine & Chondroitin (with ascorbic acid to aid in the uptake of the Glucosamine) I also have her on MSM, and Yucca for pain. I also have her on Vitamin E, B-50 complex twice weekly, once a week I give her a multi vitamin (made for dogs)...I also feed her canned Sardines twice weekly for the omega 3 fatty acids, and canned Salmon once weekly for the omega 3 fatty acids...I do not feed raw fresh/steamed Salmon as some salmon can contain a parasite called a "fluke" which is dangerous to dogs and not always eliminated in cooking. Also, the balance of calcium to phosphorus need to be considered -- when you feed canned salmon and sardines, you're feeding a source that contains some bone. And that is a good thing! You could also try a supplement from a company called "Utlimate Health." The supplement contains Boswellia and bovine cartiledge in addition to the gluc/chond. You'll want manganese too. If you are not currently feeding a raw diet or a holistic food then I would switch to a more holistic food or try the raw feeding (BARF diet) and try to drop as much weight as possible. Since switching my girl to a whole food/raw, she's gone from 100 lbs to 80 lbs (which is her ideal weight) a lot of Raw Meaty Bones are very good for HD -- chicken necks, backs, etc. these will help build cartiledge.

[size=6][b]Very good post horsefeathers![/b][/size]

There is nothing wrong with having your pup neutered at 20 wks...some Vets will neuter pups as early as 6 - 14 weeks...it does not affect growth rate etc. An eary neuter is very safe, in fact pups neutered at a youner age often have faster recoveries. I would defenately have the umbilical hernia repaired in many cases, a hernia that goes untreated can have a fatal outcome. Usually, the problems that occur are not caused by the intestines or other organs being in an abnormal position or from the displacement of other tissues that are supposed to be there. Rather, in most instances, a problem arises when the blood supply of the herniated tissues is affected. Good luck, and remember...the smaller the dog is the quicker it matures...a large breed can take up to 2 years to fully mature...small dogs usually are mature at 1 year. :wink:

I meant to mention that a Ruptured anterior Cruciate Ligament is not always due to a dog being over weight (it doesnt help though... :lol: ) my Newfoundland was not over weight when she tore her Ligament she just either fell the wrong way or tore it by perhaps running and taking too quick of a turn...and HD is not caused by being over weight it is a genetic disease...but, being over weight puts more burden on the hips etc. The reason I mentioned the above problems is that your dog still will play etc with RACL or HD and only show signs of limping every once in awhile...for the RACL the doctor will be able to tell by manlipulating the leg (called the drawer effect)...but it will have to be confirmed with an X-ray...

Starfox, they will not think you are abusing your pet at the Vet clinic...we have people come to our clinic every other week with their dogs...we always refer to them as concerned parents. :D As for the limp, I would definately have it looked at by a Vet...it could be some thing very serious...ruptured Anterior cruciate ligament, hip dysplasia, or it could be some thing very simple such as a sprain etc...I would first check over her pads in case of a cut or one dog we had come in for a limp had bubble gum stuck way up between its pads of the paw which was making the poor dog limp... :lol: if your dog has a long coat with long fur between its pads then I would check to see if the fur perhaps has matted and has caused a sore underneath, check for cracked/dry pads . In most cases I have seen and over weight dog + limping = Ruptured Cruciate ligament or hip dysplasia....I had a Newf with ruptured cruciate legiment and the limping was off/on for a few weeks before I took her in..the surgery was expensive, but, it was 100% effective..with hip dysplasia which my Rottie has, she had been off/on limping in the rear since I rescued her...the x-rays confirmed my fear, she has HD... I was going to get the hip replacement surgery done...but, I have been able to manage with supplements and diet and she is doing fine now...the thing that made me really think she had HD was her lazy sit...sitting off to one side, not a straight sit..she also groaned in the morning trying to get up, and it was worse after exercise...one more thing I have been able to ease her pain with a natural herb Yucca and have not used Metacam or Rimadyl. I would have Zebra checked, and also mention to your family members the importance of feeding the right kind of foods...if they really want to feed table scraps then meat, veggies or fruit is ok...but, junk food is a no no..you don't want poor little Zebra to get diabetes...

I taught my dogs...out of desperate measures! that when walking on lead on the poper left hand side when I say over its time to move over to my right hand side....this I only trained as we have very narrow little path ways alongside the major country roads I live on (no side walks out here! :o ) there is only one side of the road to walk on both ways on the walk...so when walking down the road my dogs are closest to the road, when I hear a car coming I say over and all 5 of them move over to my right hand side...this will not help me in 2 months when I try to put a CD on 2 of my Newf's...but, it works for us right now.

hillside, that was hilarious....dainty little hands...but, yes your right they are not great for people who get nervous and get sweaty palms. :lol: I just wanted to add, the Newfoundland dog which had her leg ruptured due to a flexi lead was owned by a VERY responsible owner..the owner has been breeding/showing, training...attending water rescue seminars etc with her Newfoundland dogs for about 20 years, never has some thing like this ever happened to her ...her pup was spayed due to poor conformation. Newfoundland dogs are normally a very laid back docile breed...they do not normally go running off after things...unless you were drowning... :lol: I guess my point is, you never know what is going to happen and if you will be prepared at that percise moment, who knows if you are going to have the flexi locked as soon as you put the dog on it...i suppose that would be the proper thing to do...but, do we always do the proper thing all the time??? I don't...the owner of the Newf had the door fly back and hit her and the pup was already outside anxious to find a great spot to pee...when you have a freak accident like this happen while you have a normal lead in hand when it flys from your hand the most that will happen is your dog will do what it had in mind in the first place....like find a great place to pee like the Newf pup....which was a very well behaved pup and was obedience trained... I myself will continue using normal 6ft leads, and perhaps a horse lead as mentioned by K earlier in the post...I just don't like the possibilities of what could happen if you are not careful or prepared....I'm quite accident prone myself. :wink: So I will chalk these two flexi lead incidents up as a freak accidents....just like that car I "accidently" backed into in the parking lot last week...things happen...although I am a responsible driver...I guess I just wasnt paying attention at the right moment.... :o

I work at a Grooming facility as a bath/blow dryer...and although I am no expert I do tend to listen to my boss...once in awhile.. :wink: Perhaps where your sister is a dog groomer you could have her order in some special deoderizing shampoos...I can't think of the brand name at the moment ( I will look at the bottle when I am at work) but one of the shampoos my boss has in is called "Fresh pet" which smells really nice and another that actually has baking soda in it to absorb odors...she also has an assortment of dog "perfumes" which she sprays on the bandana's she puts around the dogs neck...she does not put this directly on the dog as some dogs have may have allergies...she has all sorts of different smells my favorite is baby powder scent and Vanilla...if your dogs have no allergies you can spray this directly on them... some other suggestions, use baking soda or corn starch for body odor, sprinkle some baking soda on the dog work it in, then brush it off. this dry shampoo leaves your pet smelling fresh. Bounce - to get rid of the smell of wet dog, wipe down the animal with bounce dryer sheets, making the dog springtime fresh (not recommended for dogs with ANY allergies) As for getting the dead coat out of your dogs coat, I always start with a bath....when I have the coat all lathered in shampoo I brush through the coat...this removes alot of that old coat...then while I am letting the conditioner sit on the coat I brush through again...where your sister is a groomer use the high velocity dryer...get it as close to the skin as possible....there are no fears of heat as the dryers blow cold air only...once you have the coat dry from the skin out.... the rest of the dead coat just blows right out...if you can't get to your sister's shop then invest in a good quality rake and slicker brush...these are great tools for getting out the under coat..especially the rake. Another thought around the house...are your dogs having mistakes quite often? perhaps you need to refresh your house training lessons...if the only reason for the mistakes is that you are at school for long periods of time and they are unavoidable....here are some suggestions.. after blotting up the urine and cleaning it with club soda let the spot dry completely, cover it up with Baking Soda, let it sit for one hour, and then vacuum it up . The baking soda will remove the smell of urine. Vinegar also will help...saturate the spot with vinegar..(its going to smell like urine and vinegar for about three days), but once it dries, the vinegar will completely deodorize the stain....you won't smell a thing. another suggestion for removing urine smell mix 1/4 cup white vinegar and a squirt of liquid detergent in a quart of warm water. Scrub the area thoroughly with the solution, then apply an odor masking spray or liquid, such as urine kleen or odormute. Both are available in pet stores. My favorite mixture is I mix vinegar with baking soda and a little bit of my favorite essential oil ( I use tangerine or orange) Another thought on the doggy odor, make sure your dogs ears are clean....ear infections are a common cause of bad odors...if your dogs ears smell bad, take your dog to a Veterinarian to treat...do not treat an ear infection your self you can clean your dogs ears with one part white vinegar with two parts water, then gently flushing the ear with a bulb syringe. Rub the ear gently to distribute the liquied, then wipe with a cotton ball... Last but not least...if youve tried brushing, scrubbing and other wise sanitizing your pet and he still smells like an old shoe, theres a good chance somethings wrong. A smelly pet may be a sick pet...some causes other than ear infections for bad odors are...tooth disease, kidney problem or even skin disease.

That is what I do for a living (part time) is I bath and blow dry dogs...you mean I can be replaced by a machine!!!!! :o :o :o :o :o I am not going to let the groomer I work for read this! :lol: :wink: I can't read spanish so I am unable to read your attachment...but what you have mentioned is very interesting.

Well, after some of the events which have occured in my neck of the woods...I am not too thrilled about flexi leads. within the last 4 months we had one man walking his dog on the flexi lead...lost the lead..the recoil sent the large plastic handle flying and hit him in the eye...he almost lost his eye... we also just had a dog lose her life due to an accident involving a flexi...the owner had just had her pup spayed (13 month old Newf) she was keeping the pup to leash walks only....on the day of the horrible accident she had the flexi lead on the pup and was trying to get out the front door with the pup...the pup was very excited and took a run for it while the owner was trying to close the door...she lost the flexi and the recoil sent the hard plastic handle towards the pup and hit the pup in the leg causing mutiple fractures....the pup was in surgery for about 9 hours...which is not good..this caused all the stomack acids to flow up to the throat. As a result of being under for too long she could not keep any food down, she was put on IV etc...she was eventually put out of her misery...it was horrible. :cry: Any way, not to say that these accidents would happen to others.... these were just freak accidents ...I guess its just that the 2 accidents occured so close together that had me so concerned...and it seems as though every one I see has a flexi lead for their dog....it just seems so dangerous to me now, with that hard plastic handle and the recoil action these leads have (I myself have never used one) I have heard you can lock the leads which would save a person from such and accident... one of these leads would never be some thing I would ever get for one of my dogs.

Here are some methods you can try although dresden is no longer a pup these methods still may work...some times a dog just hasnt learned proper manners....as you stated she was on her own for the first 4 months and probably did not have a chance to learn bite inhibation from other litter mates. [b]Startle response and redirection [/b] Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., an animal behaviorist and adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin, suggests a method which startles the biting puppy. Just as the puppy bites down, make a sudden, abrupt, high-pitched and loud 'AWRP' sound. This would be the same sound that a littermate would make if bitten by the puppy. The sound should be so sudden and sharp that the puppy is immediately startled and stops the behavior. If done correctly, you will be surprised at how instantly the pup removes his mouth and looks bewildered. At that point, quickly substitute a toy, such as a ball, the puppy can chew on. This redirects the puppy's biting behavior to the ball. This way the puppy learns it is no fun at all biting you, but chewing on the toy is. You may need to do this multiple times if the puppy gets excited in play. If the 'AWRPs' make the puppy more excited, try another approach. [b]Stop the action [/b] Dr. McConnell also suggests that, in some cases, just immediately (and dramatically) leave the room when the puppy bites. This is certainly a method children can use. After multiple times, the puppy will learn that every time she bites she loses her playmate, and that is no fun at all. [b]Important prevention measures! [/b] No matter what method you use, do not entice the puppy to bite you. Games like tug-of-war and waving your hands in front of the puppy instead of using toys may encourage the puppy to bite.

[url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684855305/ref=pd_sim_books_4/102-1057671-5451328?v=glance&s=books[/url] meehs, Above you will find a site on how to order the book I have been reading by Raymond Coppinger and Lorna Coppinger - Biologists the book is called [b]Dogs, A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior & Evolution [/b] This is probably one of the first dog books written by biologists. I have found this book very interesting and it has given me alot to think about... Happy reading! :wink:

I am so sorry about your loss... :cry:

[size=6][b]Rufus is beautiful! [/b][/size] :lilangel:

Thank you meehs, I really enjoyed reading this particular book by these biologists...it really opened my mind up to different ideas regarding dogs.

Oh my! :o I am so sorry to hear about your loss I agree with the others...an autopsy will put your mind at ease as to the reason for the death (not ease the pain of the death)...at least you will know the reason.

here is an interesting quote from Raymond & Lorna Coppinger (both are biologists) Quote: [quote]During the past one hundred years, hobby breeders have taken the working-sporting breeds and bred them specifically for the household market. I understand that throughout history breeders have bred miniature and gargantuan forms of dogs simply for display: the bonsai-garden type of breeding. But few of our modern household breeds are much older than a hundred years. The "perfection" of breeds is coincidental with the interest in expositions in which owners or trainers submit their dogs to judges who decide which which dogs are superior in looks. Over the past hundred years, the hobby breeding program has succeeded quite well in isolating subpopulations of working-sporting breeds from their greater populations for the specific purpose of public display and sales to the household market. This is an important concept to understand. The modern hobby breeder specializes in a breed. A breed is a population of dogs that is mechanically isolated from all other dogs. It also points up a very different process than the one producing pet or show dogs. A dog purchased from inbred stock (closed stud book), untested in the field for many generations, is the product of a breeding program (maybe) that has little to do with its working behavior. The expectation of the new owner is that the dog will be good because it is a purebred golden retriever."What kind of dog should I get?" "Get a golden retriever because they have a friendly nature and disposition, athletic ability, love of water, and natural instinct for hunting and retrieving". That sounds ridiculous to a working-dog person, or to a population geneticist. Friendly disposition is genetic? Love of water is genetic? Athletic ability has something to do with golden color? Is the implication that all goldens have this same set of genes, and all these traits? Is there no variation in golden retrievers? Lord Tweedmouth had good dogs because he had a good breeding program that included a high percentage of crossbreeding and because he hired people to work those dogs from their youngest days and develop the best dogs. He liked to hunt, he liked to have the best hunting dogs, and he was proud of his eye for working dogs. And he culled the bad ones. Increasingly, the modern household dog becomes a genetic prisoner trapped in an isolated population. With each succeeding generation the behavioral and physical misfits get eliminated from the gene pool while breeders try to hold on tho the ancestral form. But in each new generation we see a host of new genetic problems. Lists of breed-specific genetic diseases are now part of the professional and popular literature. And it is worse than that. Breeders and owners forget what the historical dog looked like. They select for the exagggerated form. They select for the longest face. They select for the really big ones. They select for the flattest face. The breeds end up with weird conformations. Each breed takes on an unnatural shape, becoming a freak of nature. They are loved the way the hunchback Quasimodo was loved-a dichotomy between the grotesque form and the honorable personality...As the decades go by, every part of the household dog's life is increasingly manipulated for the human host's benefit. The dog is capriciously manipulated for human pleasure. The more bizarre and exaggerated the animal is the more benefit it seems to confer. This recent breeding fad for the purebred dog is badly out of control. It appears that selection for the exotic is the goal, We are producing unhealthy freaks to satisfy human whims. This is terribly unfair to dogs. The same reduction in gene diversity takes place when a breed club tries to select against hip dysplasia, retinal atrophy, and some other so-called genetic disease. Every time an animal is culled for genetic problem, the genetic variation in the closed population is further reduced. It's not just the bad genes that are affected, it is all the animal's genes. Any time there is selection for or against single characters, ie, "tame" or "hip dysplasia," then one must be prepared for the appearance of new or altered characters because of what Darwin called "the mysterious laws of correlation" Today the phenomenon is called pleiotropy, or saltation-the fact that more than one characteristic can be controlled by a single gene, and selection can result in unintended and unpredictable changes. Many breeds are living to pay a terrible price for the temporal increase in population or the luxury of expensive food and care. It is not simply that the dogs have access to the kind of medical care that is given to humans, but that they have been bred so they need such care to survive. Breeds like the English bulldog are in a dead-end trap. There probably is not enough variation left to get them out of their genetic pickle. Unless the breed clubs open their stud books and and allow outside breedings, Bulldogs and the other breeds caught in these eugenic breeding practices are headed for extinction. The problem here is that unlike the wild counterpart becoming extinct because of habitat loss, these purebred individuals will increasingly suffer ill health. What is troublesome is that modern society seems to have little realization of what it is doing to dogs..owners don't seem to be disturbed about deformation.... [/quote]

Here is a quote from Raymond & Lorna Coppinger (biologists) this quote is from a biological view point: [quote]Many dog breeders have poduced a contrary effect in trying to preserve breeds. They treat breeds as if they were species, and sexually isolate small populations of them in an attempt to preserve their historic, ideal phenotype. Sexual isolation from the greater population of dogs leads almost inevitably to dire consequences for those dogs that get trapped in a purebred. Indeed, the idea of trying to modify a breed's behavior into a more tractable type of pet, while holding its form constant, seems not to work very well. Holding the size and shape constant while changing the behavior might well be one of those developmental constraints that don't work, like trying to get ocular overlap and robust drooling in the same animal. Another severe problem with locking dogs up reproductively is the problem of inbreeding. Once the stud book is closed on a breed, it is unbelievable how fast thay become inbred. I was sitting in a review session at The Seeing Eye in New Jersey one afternoon with John Pollak, a geneticist from Cornell, and I asked how fast inbreeding will occur once a population is isolated. A true teacher, he led me through a little exercise. How many founding sires do you strt with? if you have just one, than all the first generation will be siblings or half-siblings. By the second generation, all breedings are inbreedings. If there are two founding sires (unrelated), then the third generation is inbred. So he developed a formula for me to go home and practice with. If I started with five hundred unrelated founding males when I closed the stud book, then by the tenth generation I will start inbreeding. That could be only fifteen years after the stud book was closed. If I created a breed of dogs in 1900 (that is, closed the stud book) with 500 males, currently that breed would have been inbreeding for eighty-five years. They are caught in a genetic trap. And what can possibly be done about it? open the stud book. The pure breed story is worse than that. Starting with five hundred males, I get ten good breeding years if I use all the males equally. If the members of the breed club begin to breed only to the champions, then the inbreeding is accelerated. If the stud book closed on five hundred males but every female is bred to this year's grand champion, then inbreeding starts next year. Is it such a wonder, then, that our purebred dogs have so many breed-specific diseases, increasing all the time? Consider the advice of the experts who counsel breeders to eliminate from their breeding programs those dogs that exhibit retinal atrophy or hip dysplasia. The inbreeding coefficient increases more rapidly. The breed is in big trouble. The old-fashioned breeders who continue to create dogs by cross-breeding for specific, specialized tasks, like the lurcher breeders of Europe or the sled dog drivers, are, by and large, disdained by pure breeders. I have been chastised many times by newcomers to the world of the uncommon guardian breeds. How could I possibly crossbreed the pure white Maremmano-Abruzzese with those gray and black Sarplaninac? Well, I say, in the first place, my understanding of the transhumance leads me to believe that the Maremmano-Abruzzese and the Sarplaninac are not pure breeds at all. And in the second place, improvement of plants and animals, when performance is the goal, relies on crossbreeding and hybridization. The ability of agriculture to produce the quantity and quality of animals and plants it does depends heavily on crossbreeding and hybridization. The successful techniques of cross-breeders of working dogs are practically unheard of outside of their fields. What purebred breeders forget is that golden retrievers and every other modern breed are poducts, originally, of crossbreeding. That is why they have been good dogs. At least in the beginning, they had the health and energy that are known as hybrid vigor. Surely we owe dogs more than tightly restricted lives and distorted body shapes. Surely we can give up the eugenics of the pure, the perfect dog, and create instead a population of well-adapted, healthy pet dogs. In my wildest dream, I imagine people who have given up the "What kind of dog should I get?" question and gone to "I would like to make a dog for this task"[/quote]