PART ONE – Existing Colors in the Breed It was my pleasure to deliver a series of illustrated lectures in the Republic of South Africa at the invitation of a coalition of the South African Boerboel clubs in January 2011. One seminar was on the subject of hip dysplasia and other orthopedic disorders, and the …
Revised 2012. (As They Relate to Function and AKC & UK Breed Standards, with Special Attention to Leg-length Ratios and the Tendency toward 13-, 14-, and 15-inch Cairns. Plus, Comments on Other Short Terriers.) Several people over the years have commented on my article “A Matter of Proportion” first published in magazines, and later on …
Sometimes an advance in knowledge is unfortunately brought on by problems. A decade or so after the new Century dawned, we started hypothesizing about the alarming increase in failures in the dog breeding community that we had been hearing about for the past 10 or 15 years. I know I was not the only one …
“Nature prevails enormously over nurture” …English scientist Francis Galton in the late 19th Century. Natural Selection & Survival of the Fittest Hip dysplasia is not common in wild animals because of the continuous processes of natural selection and survival of the fittest. In an environment where society removes or inhibits these means of selection, the …
Hypocalcemia is defined as an insufficient level of calcium in the blood. Eclampsia, once also called puerperal tetany, is one of the results — in fact, the most important one. In cattle, eclampsia has been known in some areas as “grass staggers” but it occurs in non-grass-eating animals such as dogs and cats, also. Homeostasis …
Revised December 2011. There has been renewed interest in the subject of “abnormal” bone lengths, joints, angles between limbs, and related phenotypic variations from what I have called “the ancestral type.” We need to establish some definitions of terms before entering into a discussion of the subject. The “ancestral” phenotype in my arbitrary definition (which, …
Revised December 2011. Dwarfism is a condition of abnormally small stature, and usually is characterized by altered body proportions. There are several causes and types. Dachshunds, Basset Hounds, and Corgis are examples of achondroplastic dwarfs; they have more or less normal-sized torsos and heads but shortened limbs, and are accepted as typical of their breed. …
updated November 2011 WORMS Most worms (nematodes) settle and grow in the small intestine, though some species are found in the cecum, heart, lung, and other tissues in various stages of development. The intestinal nematodes produce eggs, which are carried with the digestive products to exit in the feces. But since the egg-lay¬ing does not …
Revised 2012 There is no one “secret to a long and healthy life”, although many make money by selling books, products, and programs based on such a title and concept. But there certainly is a combination of ignorance and lack of will that inhibits most of us from reaching toward that goal. As one trained …
It was again a privilege and pleasure to associate with fun-loving fanciers of the German Shepherd Dog and to enjoy the beauty of the breed, when I went to South Florida to handle dogs in a WDA show sponsored by the Broward SchH Club. The show ran well under the firm hand of Miriam Barkus, …