Breeding Dogs for Sickness and Early Death

"The rarest 50 AKC Breeds total just 3 out of every 2,000 U.S. dogs."

If you compare the UK Kennel Clubs 2004 breed health survey with their 2014 survey, you find that the deleterious effects of inbreeding and selection for defect continue unabated.

As Jemima Harrison notes over on her blog

Across all the breeds, median longevity has dropped by 11 per cent in a decade. Kennel Club registered dogs now live on average to just 10 years old - down from 11yrs 3 months in 2004.

Terrier breeds with special tumbles on health include Bull Terriers, which now die at age 7 instead of 10, and Border Terriers which now die at age 12 instead of 14.

The Labrador, Americas favorite dog, is now dead at age 11 years in the UK, as compared to 12 years and 3 months in 2004.

To be honest, within individual breeds, sample size is small, and reporting variances can move a number.

That said, when looked at across ALL breeds, it is very clear that the Kennel Club has woven the basket that makes "basket case" dogs.

Breed-blind show idiots will protest as they always do.  Let me see if we can get out in front of that and summarize their position:

I love my doggies, and you are being MEAN by asking questions based on "data" which I am sure is totally biased, or maybe a complete lie put together by "AR" people who hate doggies and are trying to force us to eat wood chips. Doggies forever and ever!!

Dysplasia is not a problem, but a FEATURE, as so many people are old now, and crippled dogs cannot move fast or pull down their crippled owners as easily since it is CRUEL to train doggies. Same with Bulldogs for people with that awful cellulite and diabetes virus. Doggies have to change with the times, and you are wrong, mean, and probably a liberal for even asking about canine health. Doggies forever!!!

Doggie training is cruel, because if you train a dog to obey, you are going to be mean and then you are NOT a doggie lover, but a fascist worse than Hitler.

Why do you admire Hitler?

Why do you hate doggies?

Why do you want to force everyone to eat wood chips?

Does that about cover it?

Ah well, carry on! 

The American Kennel Club continues to tumble down the rat hole, with a 75% decline in total canine registrations over the last 35 years.

In fact, AKC dogs now represent less than 12 percent of all the dogs in the U.S., and that number is continuing to decline as Americans are acquiring more dogs than ever.

More than half of all AKC dogs are in the top 10 breeds, with the bottom 50 breeds summing to 1.2 percent of all AKC-registered dogs (which is only 12 percent of all dogs) .

|To put it another way, the rarest 50 AKC Breeds total just 3 out of every 2,000 U.S. dogs.

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Dogs and babies Not always cute

Hi Mia,

Oh, Arf! Based on the way I treated him, its a good thing he was stuffed. I remember dragging him around by his leg (or maybe it was his ear) so we could "spend time" together. 

Given he was a stuffed animal, I have to admit its pretty cute. Nowadays, it seems like one of the functions of social media is sharing cute stuff. You cant go a day without seeing something posted, tweeted or shared that elicits an, "Aww cute" response.

Some photos mix and match baby animals:

Baby animals get us every time

Others photos are more in the cute-weird category:

I see a piece of strawberry and broccoli on that plate. Do you?

Then there are the dog and baby pictures. On our Do You Believe in Dog? Facebook page, I posted the below picture. We got 37 likes, 27 shares and 1, “Awwww!" comment. This picture also appeared elsewhere on Facebook, and I took a screen shot to capture all the attention it received (listed below): 1,658 likes and 464 shares.

In one sense, when it comes to dogs and babies, the above picture is something we are very accustomed to seeing, a gaggle of mushy cuteness.

But theres more to the story, and this is clearly where you are going in your next installment, The Science Surrounding Kids and Dogs: The Ugly (Part 3)

Kids are bitten by dogs and some babies don’t become kids because of an interaction they had with a dog.

This is a fact. A really upsetting fact.

• A retrospective study examined 341 children who had been bitten by a dog, and they found: “Incidence was highest in 1-year-old patients and decreased with increasing age.” 

• Another study found: “Children younger than 6 years constituted 52.8% (n = 204) of the sample. As compared with older children, a higher proportion of younger children were bitten by their family dog whose rabies shots were up to date.”  

• And another: “Children younger than 5 years represented 34% of all dog bite victims, but 50% of all children requiring hospitalization. Thirty-seven percent of all children admitted to the hospital were bitten by a family dog. The cost of direct medical care during the study was $2.15 million.”

These figures are quite painful. Even writing them sucks. But the numbers tell us something. 

• First, some families will have a traumatic experience as the result of an interaction between a dog and a child.

• Second, many of the dogs doing the biting are family dogs.

• Finally, young children constitute a high proportion of children being bitten (and often by the family dog).

Putting it together: Images of dogs and babies
Madeline Gabriel is a San Diego-based Certified Professional Dog Trainer who holds training classes about dogs and babies. On her blog, she recently took a look at ubiquitous dog and baby photos, exploring whether “Cute” Dog and Baby Photos Feed the Fantasy?
  
Photos of dogs and kids often suggest that dogs and kids are just supposed to be "best friends," that dogs should somehow be comfortable having their space invaded, their toys handled, their food bowls touched and their tails tugged.

Gabriel points out, "parents don’t know about safety with dogs and babies and toddlers.  Why should they when our society chooses to surround itself with imagery showing dogs and babies as “best friends?”  You cannot pick up a children’s book with dogs in it without finding talking animals or smiley cartoon dogs who seemingly love being hugged and [their] space invaded by babies.  We have chosen to sacrifice the real to the fantasy.

The price of fantasy is being paid every day by children and dogs and the families that love them.  Hardly ever does a baby or child die from a dog bite (that’s why a single incident will be news across the country), but even a less serious bite is devastating to a family.  Tearful clients tell me, “If only I knew, I would have done it differently…”

She continues, “No one purposely puts babies with dogs they think will hurt them.  The more a dog is tolerant, the more liberties will be allowed.  It’s human nature to believe what’s in front of your eyes (“He’s good with the baby!”), particularly when spurred on by a society that rewards and covets “cute” dog and baby interactions.  That is, until it goes wrong and then you’re spurned — as if you did anything different than millions of other parents who cling to the fantasy.” 

In her follow-up post, Gabriel gives examples of photos of dogs with babies and kids that dont foster the fantasy: each has personal space, no hands are in the dogs face and dogs are not cornered or smothered.

This photo would not have made Gabriels list:

Feeding the fantasy?

Looking forward to your take on this topic!

Julie

Recommended reading 
Madeline Gabriel. 2010. Good Dogs Don’t Bite Children, Do They? Dogs and Babies Blog


References
Madeline Gabriel. 2012. “Cute” Dog and Baby Photos Feed the Fantasy. Dogs and Babies Blog 

Madeline Gabriel. 2012. Should You Share That Cute Dog and Baby Photo? Dogs and Babies Blog

BERNARDO L.M., GARDNER M.J., ROSENFIELD R.L., COHEN B. & PITETTI R. (2002). A comparison of dog bite injuries in younger and older children treated in a pediatric emergency department, Pediatric Emergency Care, 18 (3) 247-249. DOI: 10.1097/00006565-200206000-00024

Daniels D.M., Ritzi R.B.S., O’Neil J. & “Tres Scherer L.R. (2009). Analysis of Nonfatal Dog Bites in Children, The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care, 66 (Supplement) S17-S22. DOI: 10.1097/TA.0b013e3181937925

Schalamon J. (2006). Analysis of Dog Bites in Children Who Are Younger Than 17 Years, PEDIATRICS, 117 (3) e374-e379. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2005-1451
© Julie Hecht 2012 

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Dog poo turning green – the power of science

Hey Julie,

Thanks for the run down on ScienceOnline and ‘Lend a Paw’ month. 

I completed the survey about my cat’s behaviour, it was quick and easy to do. 

I also liked your stroking video, but I’ll get back to that later, right now I need to tell you how dog poo (I think you usually say ‘poop’ in the USA?) is turning green.

Dog poo is turning green

It’s turning green and it’s thanks to the power of science. Or perhaps it’s the science of power? It’s easy to get confused. 

(source)

The important bit is that a Melbourne-based entrepreneur, Duncan Chew, received funding in 2012 from the Inspiring Australia strategy for his idea to turn dog waste into energy to light up parks around Australia. Titled Poo Power!, his project is using science to help our communities live more sustainably.

How big is this issue?

In Australia, we have one of the highest incidences of pet ownership in the world with over 60% of households owning a pet. The average dog produces 0.34 kilograms (that’s 0.75 lb) of faeces per day.

Do the maths, and that’s around 1.4 tonnes of dog poo needing to be disposed of DAILY in Australia, which adds up to a colossal 490,000 tonnes each year!

490 MILLION KG!  That’s 1,080,270 MILLION lbs!

(or almost 20 million labradors if you were following my pre-post riddle clues on our Facebook page!)

The USA have more than 20 times the number of dogs as Australia. Just saying.

The issue of dog waste disposal (what I like to call Poo-llution!) is an especially important issue in areas of growing urbanisation, cities with limited park spaces and in light of declining landfill site availability.

Using our love of dogs to brighten the future

Dog poo light? Not as silly as it might seem! (source)

The project will see a series of biogas generators turn dog waste into energy for lighting up Melbourne parks, at the same time as engaging audiences on the issue of ‘what is waste?’, and the potential opportunities posed by reassessing waste management practices. 1kg of dog poo will give you about 25-30 litres of raw biogas.

Biogas harvesting is achieved utilising anaerobic digestion (where a bunch of microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen) to produce a renewable energy source that can be used to power lighting. Or cooking! Imagine having a coffee as your dog runs around the park, while the coffee machine was powered by your dog’s poo!

I’m not talking crap (well, I am)

We know this can work. This kind of project has been implemented previously at ‘Park Spark’ in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near MIT. 

Munich Zoo similarly harness the energy of their animals’ faecal output to help power their operations. Imagine if shelters and other kennel facilities could use this system to reduce their power consumption and expenses? That would be awesome!

(source)

Can’t get enough of green dog poo? 

If you’d like to hear more and you happen to be in Melbourne this weekend, a) you should come over to my place, so we can say hi, and b) you can watch Duncan Chew and Melbourne filmmaker James Boldiston talk about the Poo Power! project at 12 midday on Saturday 16 February 2013 in ‘The Big Tent’ at Federation Square as part of the Sustainable Living Festival. Otherwise, you can keep up with further developments at the Poo Power! website. 

I’ll be touching base with you again after I speak at the RSPCA Scientific Seminar. 

Looking forward to having lots to report about animals and the science of positive welfare – more stroking!

Mia 

Further reading:

Miller R. & Howell G.V.J. (2008). Regulating consumption with bite: Building a contemporary framework for urban dog management, Journal of Business Research, 61 (5) 525-531. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.07.006 

Wells D.L. (2006). Factors Influencing Owners Reactions to Their Dogs Fouling, Environment and Behavior, 38 (5) 707-714. DOI: 10.1177/0013916505284794 

Okoroigwe E.C., Ibeto C.N. & Okpara C.G. (2010). Comparative Study of the Potential of Dog Waste for Biogas Production, Trends in Applied Sciences Research, 5 (1) 71-77. DOI: 10.3923/tasr.2010.71.77 

Nemiroff L. (2007). Design, Testing and Implementation of a Large-Scale Urban Dog Waste Composting Program, Compost Science & Utilization, 15 (4) 237-242. Link: click here to view PDF

© Mia Cobb 2012

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The First Miss America Is Not as Cute as the Dog

The dog is Long Goodie. The woman is Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C., the very first Miss America in 1921. This picture was taken in 1925.

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Funny Famous and Cute Quotes about Cats and Dogs

By Linda Cole

When it comes to having an opinion about “mans best friend” or the inquisitive nature of a cat, we dont have to look far for a great quote expressing someones impression of their favorite pet. I enjoy reading quotes about cats and dogs because some of them make me stop and think, some make me laugh, and some make me wonder why our pets continue to put up with us. Id like to share with you some of my favorite funny, famous and cute quotes about cats and dogs.

Cat Quotes

“There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast.” - Unknown

“To a cat, ‘No’ means not while Im looking.” - Unknown

“Cats are smarter than dogs. You cant get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.” - Jeff Valdez

“I love cats because I enjoy my home; and, little by little, they become its visible soul.” - Jean Cocteau

“Thousands of years ago, cats were worshiped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.” - Anonymous

“I put down my book, The Meaning of Zen, and see the cat smiling into her fur as she delicately combs it with her rough pink tongue. ‘Cat, I would lend you this book to study but it appears you have already read it.’ She looks up and gives me her full gaze. ‘Dont be ridiculous,’ she purrs, ‘I wrote it.’” - Dilys Laing

“Cats motto: No matter what youve done wrong, always try to make it look like the dog did it.” - Unknown

“I dont think it is so much the actual bath that most cats dislike; I think its the fact that they have to spend a good part of the day putting their hair back in place.” - Debbie Peterson

“If I tried to tell you how much I love my cats, you wouldnt understand me – unless your heart is also meow-shaped and covered in stray fur.” - Lexie Saige

Dog Quotes

“It came to me that every time I lose a dog, they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are.” - Unknown

“Dogs come when theyre called. Cats take a message and get back to you later.” - Mary Bly

“A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things – a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty.” - John Grogan, Marley and Me

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They dont know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring – it was peace.” - Milan Kundera

“My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am.” - Unknown

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.” – Unknown

 “All in the town were still asleep,
When the sun came up with a shout and a leap.
In the lonely streets unseen by man,
A little dog danced. And the day began.”
- Robert Rupert

“I look into your great brown eyes,
Where love and loyal homage shine,
And wonder where the difference lies
Between your soul and mine!”
- Josiah G. Holland

Quotes That Make You Think

“The difference between friends and pets is that friends we allow into our company, pets we allow into our solitude.” - Robert Brault

 “Pets are humanizing. They remind us we have an obligation and responsibility to preserve and nurture and care for all life.” - James Cromwell

“We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” - Immanuel Kant

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of ones soul remains unawakened.” - Anatole France

Cat photo by Shreyans Bhansali
Dog photo by Roens

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