Hybrid Dogs

[Canis erectus]

http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/interdisciplinary_research/report-9792.html

I came across this article and found it rather interesting. I have to assume that this guy knws what he's talking about but the reasoning seems rather backward and uneducated to me (maybe I'm the one who's uneducated).

I mean he states that he doesn't want to create a dog with 'too keen' of a sense of smell. But before that he goes on how jackals have a better olfactory sense than any dog (which I find highly suspect, jackals hunt as much or more than they do scavange and they are likely moreso dependant on their sense of hearing than smell). He also says that huskies have a better sense of smell than any other dog, which I also find highly suspect for the same reasons you're thinking of right now. Will he make up his mind about what he wants?

By the way, lumping the 'gundogs' (which he identifies as greyhounds, hounds, and setters), and stating that all of these dogs have weakened sniffers makes it pretty clear that his PHD is not in biology or animal husbandry. Has he never heard of Bloodhounds or Beagles?

I scratch this up to one egotistical whatever-he-is looking to make a name and career for himself all the while living off of big juicy grants or whatever the equivalent funding is in the Soviet. It's a government sponsored designer dog, Yay!!!

[courtnek]

well, I both agree and disagree with some of his statements. I can see how an artic breed dog would have a heightened sense of smell due to the environment, but disagree that hounds sense of smell is "too keen"

hounds have one of the best olfactory systems of any dog, possibly excepting huskies. but they can be trained to detect a certain smell
and ignore all others. My foxhound was trained to the scent of fox.
that is what her pack would look for, although there were tons of other
animals and smells around. when I take her to the river she knows there is fox there, although doesnt chase them, just bays.

also, bloodhounds need to be able to follow a scent that is a few days
old. they are directed to a certain scent, and like foxhounds, thats all they look for. they are capable of completing ignoring every other scent
once trained.

also, hounds do not fall into the category of "gundogs"....gundogs are
actually sporting dogs by AKC classification, and include setters, retrievers, pointers, etc...hounds are simply hounds. they are a different classification because of their intended usage.

I also dont see the point of crossbreeding with a jackal. it would take many generations to stabilize that animal. better usage of the money would be to train exisitng sniffers (and hounds would be good for this, they already use beagles) to pinpoint a certain scent. they use labs and
shepherds now as well, who get the job done. I think a hound trained from a young age would be very good at it.

[DogPaddle]

Some "nature filmography" group did something on arctic wolves. They buried a 2 1/2 cm square chunk of meat over 3 feet down in the snow and some arctic fox found it days later when he came across. Don't know how accurate it actually - many nature shows are staged or even false but I do understand the arctic dogs having a keen sense of smell. I really don't support breeding domestic dogs with wild dogs though for exactly this reason (and a few others)

it would take many generations to stabilize that animal. better usage of the money would be to train exisitng sniffers