You're saying my basset hound is inbred? I don't buy it.
Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred
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Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred
#72Dog breeding is mostly a net-negative for the society. Kind of like jewelry and luxury cars.
Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred
#73This is well known. Sometimes people breed the grandfather with the bitch or even the father. I think 'Pedigree certificates' has a lot to answer for in this regard. It doesn't encourage any kind of genetic diversity and people are actively discouraged and punished for trying to introduce new blood into lines. Another group to blame are 'puppy farms', people who breed merely to make money and take no responsibility f…
> not so smart that it's getting bored or trying to figure out how to escape. This could be understood as if the most intelligent dogs were always bored or trying to escape. To clarify: intelligent dogs do need more stimulation, this is very true. But as long as they get it, they're happy.
As a owner of a smart and a dumb dog.. the smart dog is a lot lot lot lot more work. Dumb dogs make so much easier pets..
Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred
#74The idea of pure breeds is a relatively modern phenomenon and not a very good one. The number of people that I have heard talk about how they cannot "trust" a dog if they don't have papers is staggering.
Every mutt I have ever had ended up being a great dog with a great personality and disposition with minimal training required. All lived into their teens with only minor health problems towards the end of life.
Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thank you for sharing, I really enjoyed reading this. It was informative and quite enjoyable to read. I'm also very jealous of the amount of space you have.
I've got 10ac in the middle of this. There's drawbacks (we get snowed in for 2wk by 12in of snow) but there's compensations.
My opinion is 10 is about perfect, big enough but not too big. I can appreciate the perspective, I take a lot for granted in the city and detaching my family from a major metropolitan area will be a living shift.
Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred
#76I've often wondered why breeders don't do more cross-breeding across areas. Travel time aside, I think it would be a good investment into what is literally a business. e.g. If I'm a Border Collie breeder in Nevada, I could meet up with another Border Collie breeder in Arizona or Idaho and do an "exchange". While this does water down the lines, as each breed is probably generally in the top-tier form of whatever they've been bred for the past X00 years, I think a little genetic diversity would go a long way to help with these issues.
Perhaps I'm just naive and this is what happens already, but I feel like anytime that I've been on a dog breeder's website, it's just 5-10 males, 10-30 females, and their resulting litters.
Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
> not so smart that it's getting bored or trying to figure out how to escape. This could be understood as if the most intelligent dogs were always bored or trying to escape. To clarify: intelligent dogs do need more stimulation, this is very true. But as long as they get it, they're happy.
As a owner of a smart and a dumb dog.. the smart dog is a lot lot lot lot more work. Dumb dogs make so much easier pets..
Laughs in Australian Shepherd. Idk how, but my Aussie manages to be simultaneously smart and dumb.
Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do think it's news because some breeds suffer terribly at the end of their life, like golden retrieves typically getting cancer at 60% rates. [1] Would you get a golden retriever if you knew that at 7 years-old it's very likely to get a brain tumor? The same can be said for many breeds that suffer from breathing problems (pugs) or spinal issues (german shepherds) because someone decided that a german shepard should…
> Would you get a golden retriever if you knew that at 7 years-old it's very likely to get a brain tumor? Dogs have a lifespan. It's shorter than ours. It's sad, but it simply is. Scottish terriers seem to get cancers around 10-12 years. My dog died at 11 of liver cancer. A brother died of a stomach cancer similarly. The mother died of a brain cancer at about the same age. Was the joy and happiness brought by those d…
The joy and happiness is purely at the expense of unethical practices tho, that is my issue. These are living empathetic creatures, not designer fashion pieces (which is often what pure breeds are selected to emulate). There's no reason why you couldn't bread a healthy retriever dog, yes it may not look exactly like the current iteration of a golden retriever but it will live a life that is less likely to be purposely afflicted with pain or suffering.
I've only owned mixed dogs and they've all lived extremely health lives with zero joint, spine, breathing, or jaw issues.
Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred
#79Side note: you can get a pretty robust genetic panels (health + breed) for dogs for about $150 now. We did it recently on two of our pups (both mutts), and it was neat seeing the various possible lineages. Our tiny terrier / beagle mix came back with >10% Chow & Siberian Husky. Never would have guessed that! https://embarkvet.com/
Time to do this would be before you acquired the dog, no?
Well, if you're adopting from a shelter, chances are the genetics are pretty varied.
Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
> not so smart that it's getting bored or trying to figure out how to escape. This could be understood as if the most intelligent dogs were always bored or trying to escape. To clarify: intelligent dogs do need more stimulation, this is very true. But as long as they get it, they're happy.
As a owner of a smart and a dumb dog.. the smart dog is a lot lot lot lot more work. Dumb dogs make so much easier pets..
For sure -- you should only get a working-breed dog (which tend to be the smarter ones as we view it) if you actively enjoy spending time on training with them.
If your ideal dog experience is sitting on the couch with them keeping you company, well, there's other breeds for that. :D
I have a pitbull/amstaff/boxer mutt, which is a pretty good balance on being smart enough to learn tricks quickly but still be kept happy with walks and toys. I'm staying well away from the border collies and Australian cattle dogs...