So....About Chevron.....

Before I get into about how I got Chevron, I'm just going to ramble a bit about this year.  2020 HAS BEEN HARD. LIKE HAAAAARD.  I'm not going to get into the details, but I had a falling out with someone I considered one of my best friends, and only RIGHT AFTER that was I actually able to get a depression treatment that...ya know...actually worked.  And the circumstances surrounding that came to light a bit after, and....honestly, people suck.  Well, some people suck, especially when they make you out to be the devil when they don't even know you and go destroying things without hearing the other side...but you know....whatever I guess.  It's been 7 months and I'm still broken over that.

Even without that, 2020 has been hard for just about everyone, and, let's face it, we ALL kind of wish that this year just kinda didn't happen.  Or at least most of this year.  

Before that happened though, our roommate who had adopted a dog from the city's animal shelter, had a new-to-us stove delivered....and the people who brought it were that dog's previous owners.  So they gave him back.  Props to that roommate, hard as it was.  Said roommate moved out, and a new one came in.  And then, shortly there after, their bike was stolen out of the backyard.  Which prompted me to go back to my searching for a dog (because of that falling out, I had started to, but lost steam because depression and upset).

So, with it being Covid-time, I knew, while I really, really wanted a dog to show, not to expect anything but a pet, especially with a limited budget.  I wasn't really hitting on a whole lot, but expanded my search because not a whole lot was really resonating with me.  

Cue me stumbling across a litter of Plott Hounds.  That would also have papers.  Ok.  I love HOUNDS.  Well, most hounds.  And I've grown fond of having a Treeing Walker bawling in my face at work, so basically, this felt like destiny. 

Here's the thing, the coonhounds tend to run pretty cheap all things considered.  They're also MOSTLY in working kennels.  There are some showlines, especially for Black and Tans, but for the most part, the coonhounds remain mostly in UKC, working lines, and aren't really health tested.  I knew this, I know this, and I know that in such a case, that things are really a gamble.  Like with breeds that aren't really seen outside of their country of origin, or never seen outside of their country of origin.  The saying 'gotta start somewhere' really is the name of the game in those cases. And in this one, as well, along with the fact that....well, we need more stock to be brought over to the AKC. Plott studbooks are open until question mark, there isn't a set closing date, and I don't know if there will be one in the foreseeable future. This isn't a bad thing, given that AKC registrations are so low for the breed.  

So, not requiring health testing and AKC show titles? This is ok, IF you understand that and accept it.  I do, I did. So cue my partner driving me to nearly the middle of nowhere and getting lost twice, to go look at a litter of Plott pups scrambling around in an outdoor kennel.  There were about three I eyed, two males and a female, and out of those, Chevron was the one I chose based on overall balance.  He puked twice in the car, but was a little trooper, if confused and mopey.  

And so came home a little hound puppy who mostly slept the first couple of days.  And after the newness to the roommates wore off, that's when he started getting loud.  I'm the only hound person in the house, apparently.  I do not regret my decision. '^' 

I do not regret my decision because even if Chevron is a little piranha at times, I see in him qualities of varying degrees that I loved in my Ibizan Hound, Dali.  And he really is turning out to be a good dog with a lot of potential.  I know there's a chance that he may not pass whatever health tests I throw at him, even though none are recommended in the breed, I still want to do at least the basics.  I know he may never be a big contender in the ring. He's my 'start somewhere' dog, and he's making me fall in love with a breed I hadn't really considered before.  I don't think I want to get massively deep into Plotts, but as a side breed....I'm considering it more and more with each passing day.  

Blog Name Will Change...

 It happened. A puppy.  A Plott Hound puppy to be exact.  And in time, once the plague is over, I will no longer be a spectator, but a participant.  What the name of this blog will change to, I'm not sure of yet as I'm just kinda mindlessly typing after 10 days of no power thanks to an ice storm.  I could have been thinking about that, but, nooooo, my brain said screw that.  It's basically been forever since I posted anything, there's a lot of half started things that I really didn't feel like I could go far enough with to post, or my thoughts were scrambled up something awful.  But, I've been stumbling across new resources, new people, new views that will help with some things, and I'm hoping I can get those half-written blurbs turned into something actually...you know...readable and makes sense.  I'll probably also start an instagram for Chevron, because quite frankly, we need more positive stuff on purebreds on every possible platform.  

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover-Dog Edition

By now, everyone has seen one of those videos or articles on the internet that uses pictures of dog breeds from the late 1800s to early-mid 1900s and sets them against the absolute worst photos (usually, but not always) of modern counterparts.  Typically, it's the same handful of breeds because they can't possibly go through 400+ breeds and say they've all changed immensely because they haven't.  Ones that exhibit what seems like extreme physical changes. And the whole theme here is pretty much "BREEDERS RUIN BREEDS". 

Now, I want you to look at the title of this post again.  You've probably heard this phrase many times over in your life.  I'm not going to evaluate individual dogs, as I do my best to avoid copyright issues.  Instead....

I'm going point out a few things. 

1.One of America's most beloved breeds, the Labrador, is almost never on these lists.  Even though a good number are often kept over weight.  This breed is an average looking dog, nothing extreme, but distinct enough that you typically know a  Lab when you see it, probably because they're everywhere.  Not flashy, not extreme, though there are a ton over over-sized Labs.  But let's look into some of their health issues.  Hip and elbow dysplasia, luxating patella, progressive retinal atrophy, cataracts, corneal dystrophy, retinal dysplasia, hereditary myopathy, autoimmune diseases, deafness, exercise induced collapse, and yes, obesity.  Because in a study of 310, most were missing all or parts of the POMC gene which plays a part in appetite regulation.  But it's okay, they look normal, so no concern there, right? 

2.Bull Terriers and their egg shaped heads....there's no known problems that can be attributed to their head shape alone.  The OCD.tail chasing is a mental thing, and there are other breeds that have dental problems just the same.  Now, the fact that Bull Terriers seem to literally use their heads may be a side effect of the head shape, but I kind of consider it a benefit. 

3.The Bull Terrier and the GSD were still rather young breeds back then.  Technically, they're still quite young when you compare them to Otterhounds, which are in NO way the oldest.  In early days of development, the breed may not be what it was meant to be.  Don't like them?  Don't get them. 

4.GSDs are popular and varied.  There's many different lines, many different types.  Also, you can stack a GSD four ways ( Example from google ) and, depending on the dog, get four different looks.  There's terrible working lines, awesome show lines, iffy bred lines...all kinds!  I used to harp on this breed myself, but I can no longer, with the evidence, paint the breed with the same paint brush. 

5.Basically, if you're going to judge health on looks, you are going to miss the fact of cancers, heart problems, mental issues, joint diseases, and a plethora of other things that AREN'T seen in a single photo.   You ARE judging a book by it's cover.  Because some of those weird looking dogs are just fine, are healthy, had health tested parents and won the Russian roulette of genetics when some of those normal looking dogs, purebred or not, didn't. 

Do not prioritize your idea of the appearance of health over the whole and deeper picture.  There is more going on under that cover.

It's NOT All About How You Raise Them-And That's Understandable

This piece has been on hiatus for quite some time, I wasn't exactly sure if my initial ramblings were getting the point across or not.  Regardless, is it any wonder that one of my favorite dog blogs is 'The Dog Snobs'?  Ok, maybe it is.  Maybe it isn't.  The Dog Snobs blog is funny, insightful, and....well, they don't sugar coat anything.  They had touched upon a topic that I wanted to talk about at some point, and then they touched upon it in their own fashion: http://thedogsnobs.com/2014/01/28/genes-count-too-aka-if-i-hear-its-all-in-how-you-raise-them-one-more-time-a-rant-by-fang/

Many in the animal rights crowd or those well meaning dog lovers can sit there and mutter all they want that a dog is a dog, and it's all about how they're raised, but it simply isn't true.  Many times people seem to want to believe that dogs are a blank slate, innocent even, and that you can shape them completely into what you want them to be.  But how often does that fall short? Quite a lot.  Especially when people don't consider genetics.

Breeds are not a new thing, though closed gene pools are in the grand scheme of things.  Some people will simply say that types existed, that landraces existed, but regardless, different types, names given to different types of dogs of a certain kind, did happen.  Whether or not they were kept as 'pure' as the dog fancy does so now, doesn't really matter.  These different varieties often had different jobs, different drives, different ways of working and being....different temperaments.  You simply can't erase all that genetic history and believe that you're getting a perfectly clean slate. 

While temperament is one of the lowest inheritable traits, it still can be selected for, it can still be a bit consistent.  Compare Chow Chows to Golden Retrievers as a whole, and there's no way that anyone can say that the breeds are even remotely a like in temperament.  

Believing that 'it's all about how you raise them' does a grave disservice to breeds as a whole, even if you have a mixed breed, those breeds, whether you know them or not...gave you that dog.  To believe that undermines the fact that there are wonderful adult dogs out there who need homes.  To believe that undermines the fact that there are dogs who have been through hell and back and still come out for the better-it doesn't always happen, but it does happen.

And even more than that-it undermines the fact that genetic psychological issues do exist.

I'm talking about something like 'Springer/Cocker Rage' due to the occurrence in Springer and Cocker Spaniels, or just generally called 'K9 Rage', 'Rage Syndrome', 'Sudden Onset Aggression', or 'Idiopathic Rage' as it can happen in other breeds.

With K9 Rage, these are dogs which sometimes there's a trigger, other times, there's no trigger.  These dogs will freeze and then launch into a frenzied attack.  There's some suspicion about the actual causes, from thyroid to seizures, but 30 years of study and we're still fairly in the dark about it.  Granted, in the past, sometimes resource guarding aggression and other problems may have been attributed to K9 Rage, but this is a very real disorder that does happen.  The first story I had heard about it was actually from my mother who had met someone with a very physically restrained Rottweiler who suffered from it.  Just several years ago, I heard another story from a man who runs a large rescue who rescued a couple of German Shepherds from the street....one of which, with no triggers, tried to kill the man twice.  The dog was sent to one of the top dog training facilities in the state, but there simply was no help for it, and while I wasn't told whether or not it really was K9 rage, the way the dog's attacks were described to me made it seem likely.

Just in this alone, just because idiopathic rage does occur in dogs, means that nurture does not always over ride nature.  Nurture can only go so far with genetics in play.  Which, there can be an otherwise perfectly stable litter save for one pup that just had something wrong, and no matter how far the owner goes to try to manage and handle that dog, it's a lost cause.

Yes, you can say that a genetic mental disorder is an anomaly and we should just ignore it, that it shouldn't count.  I honestly don't think that we have anything to gain by ignoring the fact that it exists, and we have only more knowledge and understanding to gain by accepting it as a fact that no, it's not 'all about how you raise them'.  I think at some point I wanted to believe that it was about how you raised them.  However, my way of thinking left loopholes that developed into what I believe now, that only strengthened with time and evidence.

One part being the fact that, yes, idiopathic rage syndrome does exist.  Another being the fact that you can take dogs used in dog fighting, and they aren't ruined, defective, or dangerous, they can be rehabilitated, trained, and become perfectly fine pets in some cases.  Lastly, there exists breeds and random individual dogs with temperaments that if in the wrong hands, can be dangerous-yet some of them can be managed just fine through their lives with the right owner, though such homes are very few and far between.

For those owners who are out there dealing with dogs who seem to exhibit some severe temperamental issues, I want to tell you that it's not your fault.  It is completely understandable.  Sometimes, dogs are just broken from the beginning, and there is nothing we can do to fix it.  If you are an owner who has tried everything you possibly could and just can't....I want you to know it's ok to let the dog go peacefully under the eyes of your vet.  I want you to know that it's ok to wonder if.  And I want you to know it's not your fault, whether you raised the dog or not.

"Most Dog Breeds"

There is no quicker way to get me to anger than to spit out the phrase "Most dog breeds".  The reason is that every, and I mean EVERY time someone says that it is 1.ALWAYS in regards to health issues and 2.ALWAYS followed by examples of COMMON breeds -OR- the Neapolitan Mastiff and Dosa Mastiff on the rare occasion.  There has never been a general dog owner or dog loving person who has spit out this phrase followed by a rare breed other than the Neo or Dosa.  Serious dog people will talk about the health of various rare breeds, but I absolutely can not recall any one of them ever using the phrase "Most dog breeds".

I have then asked people who use the phrase to tell me how many breeds are there.  They never respond to the question.

In regards to health, most of the general public then throws out some of the most common breeds there are, like...German Shepherds.  Boxers.  Dachshunds.  These are the breeds they use as examples for the over 300 different breeds and land races out there.  The FCI recognizes 332 breeds officially with 11 more provisional breeds.  This may not even come close to all that is actually out there.  As more and more areas become connected to the internet, more and more people are popping up out of seemingly nowhere with a "Hey, this breed exists". 

It is important to realize the number of breeds, because when you start talking about health, it gets muddy.  You can't use a handful of popular breeds as examples of "purebreds" having health problems.  And you sure as hell can't judge a book by it's cover, appearance is only a part of health in dogs. 

Do you realize how many people are disabled but don't look like it?  Various auto-immune diseases, heart problems, visual and auditory impairments, cystic fibrosis, etc.  The wide scope of genetic diseases in humans, both visual and not? 

I've come across far too many people who start talking about health in dogs and they go straight to physical appearance.  People point out the Boxer's short muzzle, but two of the biggest problems are cancer and cardiomyopathy.  Things that aren't obviously visual from the start.  It's backwards thinking, to believe, that you can judge health on appearance.

The fact remains, however, that they still point out popular breeds that they refuse to research because they believe them sickly.  Why not do more research?  For whatever reason, they want answers given to them on a silver platter, and they accept the first ones they're given because it's dressed up in a neat little, simplistic package.  They are given these handful of examples and reasons and use them to wipe the entire dog world with the same brush.

Fact is...no, most breeds aren't that badly off.  Yes, all breeds can have genetic diseases occur.  However, there is a popularity issue at play.  The more popular a breed is, the more likely it is that there's questionable people breeding them, and breeding unhealthy examples. 

At the same time, the rarer a breed is, the harder it is to breed away from genetic problems, and this is especially true in breeds that had almost been wiped out, creating a genetic bottleneck.  Some of the middle of the road breeds are decently off, but it's not always the case.  There's some rare breeds who are quite healthy, there's some popular and middle-road breeds that are as well. 

When vets get involved, things get even more absurd.  They run a business, they went to school to learn to deal with health related issues.  They're not geneticists, they're not often involved in breeding any more, they deal mostly with....health problems.  And, again, this becomes a popularity thing....the rarer a breed is, the less likely anyone is going to see it, including vets.  So if they're using the examples of "purebreds are unhealthy because German Shepherds"......they haven't dealt with even a large number of breeds.  You'd think they'd be more wise to the whole situation.

For the most part, from my crazy research and interest in the vast number of breeds.....most....aren't seriously unhealthy.  Problems do occur, there are things to watch for, there may be a few common-ish problems, but typically the issues are not nearly as common as a handful of example breeds.

20 breeds out of over 300 isn't even a quarter of the breeds and landraces out there.  On top of it, most breeds aren't "extreme" physically, so, there really is no reason to complain or say that phrase I hate so much..."Most dog breeds". 

So stop saying it. 

Dog Breeds And Hollywood Fame

In the movie and TV industry, whether animated or live-action, when dogs have been involved, there has been little to almost no mention to the general public that the simple fact is that these are professionally trained or, in the case of animation, fake, animals, and that you should do your research before acquiring any animal or specific breed. 

The fact that no public service announcement of the sort has ever been standard in regards to animals in movie and tv, has caused some serious problems in the past and will likely continue to do so in the future.  The general public will often see these trained animals as being typical of the breed, and they end up often liking what they see as they have no idea that it's common place to have multiple animals play a part in a movie, much less the amount of training that goes into these animals so they can play these parts. 

The best example of the problem is that many people wanted their own "Pongo" or "Perdita" after seeing 101 Dalmatians, after all those spotty little puppies were just so adorable and would grow into elegant adults!  However, the Dalmatian breed was developed to have a fair amount of energy.  Those who expected the spotty pups to turn into easy going adults laying by the fire without any training or work, were surprised to find that these were active and athletic dogs!  In addition, because of the movie and the sudden increase of popularity, there were dogs being bred to fill the market with little regards to proper temperament or health.  It wasn't hard to find partially or completely deaf Dalmatians and those with temperament issues in shelters as they were surrendered by people who could not handle the breed's energy, much less a special needs one.  Responsible breeders of Dalmatians were upset, and many Dalmatian rescue groups sprung up as a result.  In the first decade of the 2000's, Dalmatian registrations in the AKC dropped by a whopping 90%, as the public interest in the breed died off from the live-action remakes.

This trend has happened multiple times with different breeds, and since the development of breed rescues, responsible breeders are always worried that their breed will be the next in the spotlight, increasing the need for rescue and foster homes for their beloved breeds to try and save as many as they can.  The dogs are the ones who pay the price, sometimes with their own lives, simply because the public fails to understand that movie and tv is not real life, and that every breed has it's downsides that can make them unsuitable for the wrong home.  In the future, I hope that the outcry from responsible breeders wanting to prevent their breed from falling into the wrong hands continues to ground and will hopefully encourage the movie and tv industries to encourage research before getting any animal.

In the meantime, with the movie "Max", right around the corner, social media has erupted to try and educate people that while, yes, Belgian Malinois are amazing dogs, this is not a breed for most people. Belgian Malinois can be very driven, and very, very high energy depending on the individual breeder's line.  They do have an incredible amount of flexibility, capable of herding, police and military work, search and rescue, tracking, agility, flyball, and much more.  This is a breed that can typically work all day and still be ready for action while you're ready for bed.  Without the proper outlets and training, which can take a lot of time, money, and effort, the breed can easily become destructive.

And while the breed is highly trainable, it still took 5 different trained dogs to play one in the movie. 

My own biggest concern, as someone who loves the various breeds, is that the breed is more popular in the working dog community than the show dog community, and many of the working lines are even more unsuitable for the average household.  The pups are often started early on jute tugs to make the transfer to the padded bite sleeves used to train protection work and sports easier, and Malinois use their mouths a lot which leads to their nickname of "Mali-gator".  As the working lines are more plentiful, they would be easier for the unsuspecting public to get a dog from.  I can only hope that the working dog community also does their best to protect their breed from falling into hands that would not be able to cope with this amazing working breed.

For more on breed popularity due to movies, please see the following links:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140910152512.htm

http://consumer.healthday.com/mental-health-information-25/behavior-health-news-56/films-featuring-dogs-seem-to-boost-a-breed-s-popularity-691551.html

If The Were No Dog Breeders In The Country....

This post comes about due to a dream that started me down the thought path, pulling me out of the dream, into the twilight between being asleep and being awake, and then finally into full alertness.  I don't remember that path clearly, nor do I remember the dream at all, but I remember the feeling of sorrow that people....people know not what they do when they rally against ALL breeders, what that could lead to.

So, what could it lead to?

If breeding dogs/cats/whatever else was banned...

-Breeding would go underground.  Any time anything goes underground, it is harder to regulate, harder to find, harder to make sure the animals have at least the minimum of care.  Animals would be more likely to be used for profit without any care to their health or well-being by those who would break the law.

-Accidental litters could cost good people their freedom and more.  Do we really need even more good people with no criminal history or violent offenses taking up space and tax payer's money over such a small thing?  Aren't there more important concerns?

-Dog shows would pretty much cease to exist, dog shows which generate massive amounts of revenue, bring people together with old friends, and, despite politics and it's own variety of issues (like everything....find me one thing that doesn't have an issues across the board, I dare you), does help further breeding programs.

-Breeds would vanish from the country.  This means the Otterhound population alone would drop by around 300-350 individuals, out of a worldwide estimate of 800-1000.  It would bring multiple breeds closer to extinction, possibly bring some recently created American breeds to actual extinction, and cripple gene pools in a variety of ways. 

-Various lineages would be lost, never to be regained, the dog world, globally would lose a lot of variety as a whole, making it even more difficult to eradicate genetic diseases.

-Only those well off enough to afford to import would truly have a choice in being able to get a breed-if importation wasn't cut off.  Small farms scraping by wouldn't be able to get dogs that were more likely guaranteed to guard, rather than eat, their livestock for example. 

-^-Those with special requirements would be relegated to taking a risk on what is hopefully a small-type pup, but could get over their expectations, putting them in a bind with landlords.  Or someone could end up with a mixed that has a high drive, more than they can handle.  The rich would be able to truly choose what they want, the rest would have to deal with whatever was in shelters and rescues.

-Those dogs in shelters and rescues?  If breeding was illegal, chances are most of them, over time, wouldn't just be "street" dogs from other countries, but also flat out feral dogs.  And having known someone with a feral dog-most people wouldn't be able to handle the special requirements to keep and maintain a true feral dog.  Feral cats can at least be maintained on farms

-More "rescue" imports=more diseases coming over which may or may not be communicable to other animals and people.  A dog imported from Mexico exposed family members and dogs it interacted with at a training class to rabies in 2004: http://www.naiaonline.org/articles/article/thriving-animal-shelter-businesses-assure-more-rabies-in-american-pets#sthash.H1irkpvY.dpbs
Growing concerned over the Asian Canine Influenza outbreak, which may have been brought over with the recent imports: http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/canine-influenza-outbreak-caused-asian-virus-scientists-say

-To cease breeding of dogs, or any other animal, would be considered a win to animal rights activists, who want to see people cut off completely from nature, and it would steam roll from there, no more farms, no more meat, no more companions.  I would think that they expect us to start living underground or in bubbles there after.

There are those who would see all of this as a good thing, everything that we would lose.  Breeds, gene pools, companions, working animals.....they WANT them gone, they want us separated.  I truly believe that these people see us as cut off from nature, cut off from life and the balance.  The dogs that we share our lives with are a part of that balance, thousands of years of history together, walking, working, surviving.  It would be a crime to cast all the diversity we created aside so blindly because bleeding hearts can't see the positives that so many of us live every day.

Do not let them win.