Big Dog

Photo:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bucovina_Sheepdog.jpg

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1 DAW Molossers

DAW: Developmental Arrestment in Wolves.

A dog is basically a tampering of developmental stages in a wolf. That’s what domestication often is. We did NOT create new genes for the dog. We tampered with what was already there. This is why most of the stages of dogs are all hunting stages of wolves.

Change in animal species over time is NOT through mutations alone, (like you were taught in school), but by a shifting of the amount of time which is spent in various stages.

Are we domesticated cavemen? Remember Freud’s “Oral, Anal, Genital” stages?

He said that shocking events got people stuck in stages of development. Maybe. But much easier to understand is that through selection, we have modified domestic animals to stay in certain stages. Maybe there are more than just two ways to get stuck in a stage?

Like the canine equivalent of raising frogs that breed while still tadpole, and never really become frogs.

1. MOLOSSER DOGS:.

A) FLOCKBONDER CLAN:

Hardware: large to giant dogs, heavy coat in winter, often white coat if used with white sheep, so the sheep accept the dog as one of them.

Software: most of the hunting software from the wolf deleted (but can still be activated from the recycle bin if the situation calls for it).

Use: to be raised with livestock, to bond with livestock, and protect them from predators.

Bio: the fetal stage of growth. Passive, open to bonding with whatever raises him. Becomes protective with maturity. .

B) GIANT MASTIFF CLAN:

A war dog of this size with intact instincts to kill people, would get his owner put in jail for using a lethal weapon – like what happened in California in the Diane Whipple case.

But while some people are attracted to giant dogs, other people are attracted to giant MEAN dogs..

Hardware: bigger or giant dogs, a strong build.

Bio: a cusp clan between Flockbonders & Bulldoggers, with some dogs in each group, and most a blend of the two.

Software, traditionally a war dog bred to bond with the family and defend them, or the generalized desire to bite and latch onto the victim.

Software, modern: very few instincts are desired, preferred that they be more like flockbonders.

Use: These were war dogs when men fought with swords. They fought people or calvary. People made amour for them to wear..

Today “war dogs” are a profession, not a physical type, our war dogs find mines, search for hidden people – they don’t rush onto a battlefield; there are guns now, so our modern war dogs are not so large, and are more agile, they are often from herding dog breeds, not bully breeds..

C) BULLDOGGER CLAN: Hardware: medium to giant dogs, strong build, medium to huge head, often short haired.

Software: to bite into flesh and hang on to it even when all 4 of their feet are lifted from the ground, and they are shook by the bull. “Locking jaws” is an instinct – the instinct to grab with the mouth, bite, and not let go; it is a failure to switch off, of the instinct of the newborn to latch onto the nipple.

Use: to catch feral hogs or feral cattle, for slaughter, to hang onto the feral animals until the hunter can kill it.

Bio: the birth stage of suckling from their mother – the stage to hang on with their mouth does not delete after weaning like it normally would, this instinct to latch on and hold stays active..

D) PITBULL CLAN:

Hardware: small to giant dogs, strong heavy build, medium to huge head, often short haired.

Software: “Locking Jaws” and “Terrier Shake” programs both active even after adulthood.

They are a cusp category, having both the software to bite and hang on like the previous stage, and the software to shake their head while biting and hanging on with their teeth from the next stage.

They also have the pecking order fight software from the next stage, and it persists after adulthood, not just longer during the puppy stage.

They may fail to have some of the other social software activated, because this would be programming activated stages ahead from here.

Use: to fight other dogs for sadistic people to watch.

Bio: a short stage where the blind puppy suckling and holding on to the nipple stage, and the earth den dwelling fight for position and rank stage, overlap.

It is like they have one copy of each activated at the same time, instead of two copies of the same stage.

It is possible for them to produce some puppies more in the previous stage or some puppies more into the next stage, but it doesn’t work out in Mendelian ratios, rather it seems to be a change of the blend..

next terriers.

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Dog Limit

One way to help a person self limit, is to take a cue from the tribe of 99.

(they lived on an island and self limited their human population number to 99 people – each with a different name, which must be one of the 99 allowed names).

When you have fixed the maximum number of dogs, then fix the names too. One woman told me she called her 7 show dogs: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday . . .

I look at her, she had to be kidding!

But no. She said she got too many dogs, and they became a mess. She had no time. The kids had to raise themselves, she was too busy with the dogs.

So she asked herself: How many dogs can I properly take care of?

She felt that she could bathe one dog each evening, so 7 was her limit. She called them: her Sunday dog, her Monday dog, etc. because that was the day they were scheduled for her to bathe and groom them, and that became their names.

If a dog died or was sold, then the replacement dog got the name of the dead dog, and his slot in her bathing schedule.

I wouldn’t name dogs after the days of the week, but I could understand picking your 7 favorite dog names and re-using them.

If that makes no sense to you, then you have probably have not deal with having to supervise a pack of dogs running about a yard – where you have to call out a dog’s name at split second notice to prevent a fight.

But above all else, remember what happened when an outsider ruined the culture of the Tribe of 99. Extra people, malnutrition, cultural collapse.

Never go over your dog limit.

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Woof Wolf!

Thinking about how you are going to keep all the dogs quiet tonight? My sympathies, my friends.

Don’t trust your dogs tonight. They are just dogs. Guard dog breeds in particular, often react to anything which is different, by being aggressive. Children in costumes, running across yards in packs – what might that look like to a dog?

Dogs don’t always understand that it is just a mask. They don’t know it is a holiday. Don’t let your dog slip out the door, don’t let him be where he can cause trouble.

I knew a dog, who lived next door to a man who put up a big animated Santa Claus. The dog went nuts. The dog freaked out at the big red mechanical thing moving on the neighbor’s rooftop.

The dog had to be kept in the house, and only let outside to go to the bathroom, and even then had to be supervised to keep him quite. This went on for about a month.

Then the neighbor took down the animated Santa. The dog went nuts again, and with renewed vigor began barking wildly at where the Santa use to be. I guess the dog was trying to say “See, I knew it was alive, and now it has slunk off elsewhere”.

The dog barked because something had changed. When it got use to the change, it barked when things went back to being as they were.

There was a TV episode, I think it was Breed All About It ??? The one on the Swissy ??(Swiss Mt. Dog). Maybe it was Funniest Videos? Anyway, this guy moves his garbage can from where it always sits, and puts it several foot over. It has move from it’s place. The dog barks at it.

I think you could Myer-Briggs (see earlier post) dogs. This dog was an extreme J. His motto would be:

“A Place For Everything and Everything in it’s Place”.

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Spooky’s Woods

Even in late fall when the trees are like leafless antlers,

There is a beauty in nature that we can not match with our concrete towers,

There is more music in the wolf’s howl, the bird’s song, and the wind whistling,

Than in all of tunes blaring from the freeway radios or from all the syrupy songs,

The invigorating hike, the blue sky, the unknowns of nature –
these are Kings & Queens of a my heart,

While the daily routine, the indoor ceiling, and the monotony of city life –
these are the Drains of my time,

Now, if you will excuse me, I have things I want to do:
warm wash, food from the fridge, good show on TV, computer time,
and nice indoor temperature – you know, all the natural stuff.

Happy Halloween Weekend to you!

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Ghost Mansion

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Good Nite

Happy Halloween to everybody, no matter who you are or what you believe in.

Happy Halloween to the pit bulls & the poodles,

Happy Halloween to the stud dogs & the neutties,

Happy Halloween to the purebreds & the doodles,

Keep you hands off my candy, or I’ll kick you in your booties!

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Ex or In

How do you know if your dog is an extrovert or an introvert? Your dog could also be an Ambivert, which is half way between an extrovert & an introvert.

* Put your dog on this continuum, based on how much your dog likes meeting new people:

EE = very extroverted/ ee = extroverted/ ei = ambiverted/ ii = introverted/ II = very introverted.

EE – My dog loves everybody, he loves to meet new people.

ee – My dog likes everybody, he likes to meet new people.

ei – My dog is selective about which strangers he likes, and who he doesn’t like. I don’t usually know which strangers my dog will like.

ii – My dog has certain people he likes, but is often scared of strangers or aggressive towards them.

II – My dog is shy, and hides when company comes. or, My dog warms up to strangers very slowly. or, My dog is aggressive toward strangers.

* In areas where dogs can run loose (like where there are dirt roads and only a few houses between you and the dead end of your road, how far would your dog roam?

EE – My dog would head for the hills, he wouldn’t even think about where home was until he nearly dropped from exhaustion.

ee – He would run around, but he would stay near our home, and come back in a few hours.

ei – He would quickly learn where the edge of our property was, and you could leave the gate open, he wouldn’t leave unless I called him.

ii – There are areas in our backyard the dog doesn’t bother to go into, or rooms in the house, that he seldom goes into. Our home is bigger than the size of territory he needs.

II – Our dog only goes outside to go to the bathroom, or if we go out with him. Or our dog doesn’t go upstairs unless we call him, although he is allowed to. All on his own, he has carved out an area, on our property which he thinks of as his territory and he doesn’t cross this self imposed boundary unless he is following us.

How well does your dog play with other dogs?

EE- My dog loves to play with other dogs, he is always happy and excited to meet other dogs.

ee – My dog likes to play with most other dogs, and doesn’t try to fight, or get all into that dominance stuff.

ei – My dog likes some dogs more than others. He plays well with some of them, but ignores the rest.

ii – My dog likes to play, but is a little shy, even with dogs his own size. or, My dog usually likes to play, but he can’t be trusted – sometimes he gets mean towards other dogs.

II – My dog doesn’t play well with other dogs – either he is too aggressive, or too scared, or he just isn’t social.

****
Beagles tend to love everybody, love other dogs, and roam far from home if they get a chance.

Some lines of Rat Terriers (An American breed of farm dog), are so introverted that people who get a grown one, often assume that it was abused (unless they have had a rat terrier before).

If someone tells me that their dog only lives in some rooms of the house, even though the door is open to the other rooms, or if the owner says that their are certain rooms that the dog wont go in unless a family member walks in their first – then the first thing I think is, “Is your dog a rat terrier?”

If there was a breed of dog that most acted like it believed in ghosts, it would be a rat terrier.

The one time I felt this the most, was visiting people who lived in a large, multi-story home. They had one house dog, a rat terrier.

I began to feel spooked which is rare for me – then I realized why.

The dog would walk to the big open area, between dining room and living room, and then walk back, like wanting me to follow him. When I went into the other room to get something, he would rush and get a drink or something, like as if he was scared to be alone.

He looked around corners before he would enter a room, unless he was following someone.

He listened for every tiny sound – which makes sense – rat terriers are bred to kill mice & rats on farms – they find the rodents by listening for the tiny patter of mouse scurrying.

But I found myself mimicking his heightened awareness, and it spooked me. Like sneezing when other people sneeze.

Rat terriers are probably the most common breed of farm dog in the US. They usually aren’t chained up, and the farms aren’t fenced (note: I said farm dog, not ranch dog). If they roam, chances are a coyote invites them for dinner. Rat terriers usually live in the house or barn, and don’t explore much alone.

Beagles usually can’t be trusted off leash – they will be gone. You usually have to work to get a beagle back.

Here’s the weird part. American Rat Terriers are a mix of fox terriers like the Jack Russell, Whippets, and Beagles – and a bit of whatever was around the barn at the time.

But, maybe because the bold ones got eaten by coyotes, they aren’t at all like beagles, and even though you might have to look hard to see the difference between Jack Russells and Rat Terriers – there are big behavioral difference between the fearless Jacks, and the introverted Rat T.

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Happy Rio

Photo source:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brazilian_terrier.JPG

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2 EARTH TERRIERS

DAW – Are dogs proof of how epigenetics works in wolves?

. . . continued from pit bull clan..

2. EARTH TERRIERS:

A) TRUE EARTH TERRIER CLAN:

Hardware: small dogs, or sometimes the larger of the tiny dogs, who can fit into the burrow of their prey, without getting stuck or blocked by the twists of the tunnels..

Software: no fear of dark dens, willingness the enter and scrap in total darkness.

Traditional biting software may vary:

Draw Earth Terriers: will bite & hang onto their prey and drag it out of the burrow.

Rocky Earth Terriers: will go into a burrow & kill their prey below ground.

Bolt Earth Terriers: will go into a burrow and yap and nip at their prey, trying to force it to bolt out of the burrow..

Uses: to draw, bolt, bay, or kill varmints in a burrow.

Bio: The software to fight comes from the stage where young puppies work out their pecking order within their litter. In the wolf, this would be the stage where cubs sleep in a wolf den and first start on solid food..

Ancestral lines:

Earth Terriers often have a mixture of bite software. Most of the breeding stock have not been field tested for so many years, and some of the ‘purebreds’ are not really purebreds but have had other breeds crossed in for show coat.

Dachshunds are another line of Earth Terriers, a bit different from the British Earth Terriers; some people believe Dachshunds trace back to dwarf sprinthunds of the Egyptians.

Even if their hardware resembles a dwarf Saluki, their software has been terrier, with some tracking hound software being common. Dachshunds have many slightly different lines..

B) DASH TERRIER CLAN:

Hardware: small or medium dogs with an cat like agility, good at short sprints, but able to snatch up small rodents from the ground.

Software: the desire to dash small animals; the fighting head shake of the previous category and the quick head shake of the next category.

Use: to see small rodents, dash after them, and kill the rodent by shaking it. To kill rodents that are too big for a cat to kill. Sometimes used on game bolted by Earth Terriers..

Bio: The expression “to shake it like a terrier does a rat” refers to the instinct used during the stage where puppies in a litter work out a pecking order – the fight instinct where a cub would shake his littermates during a fight (when they are still to small & weak to harm each other), and for the Dash Terriers if they grab something too large for the quick shake.

This is another cusp stage, an overlap of the true ground going terriers and the sprinthunds. Dash Terriers usually lack the speed of whippets, and the ground going skills & desire of true terriers. Dash Terriers have their own speciality – to kill rats. A rat catcher (person) moves things around, the rats dart away the Dash Terrier kills the rats.

.. . . next the sprinthunds.

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Answers?

There are ways that some show dog breeders use to stifle the tendency to hoard. (Without giving up showing dogs).

The best way is to have a good relationship with a spouse who is firm, sane, and not suckered in by the same things that lure you off the right path.

Actually, the best way is to stay the Fig away from cults.

But here are some ways that I have heard – hear ye and be yea wise, or wallow in troubles like the unlearned swine!

1. Decide on a number of dogs that you can easily care for, in a presentable manner, at all times, without them running your life.

Write this number BIG on a full sheet of paper, and put the paper somewhere that you will always see it. On your refrigerator, on the wall by your mirror, as your desktop background, or write it in Calligraphy with colors that match your furniture, frame it, and hang it on the wall.

Tell everyone what the number if for – it is your own self imposed limit law, the maximum number of dogs and cats that you can have at one time. Puppies over 3 months old count – plan accordingly!

Reduce to this number of dogs, or never have more than this number. Stand firm.

Long before you feel the pull to have more than this number of pets, condition your spouse to NOT become an enabler. Tell your family about your number, about how this is the most dogs you should have.

Tell your spouse that they must stay strong and not let you get more than this number of dogs.

When you reach that number of dogs, then for each puppy you keep, each show dog you buy, then one of your dogs has to be found a new home BEFORE you get the new dog. But, but, but what if I find the perfect dog, and I have to buy him now or I will miss my chance?

Plan for the fact that this will happen. If your limit is 5 dogs, than only have 4, that way you always have an option open.

If your limit is 10 dogs, only have 9, if your limit is 60 dogs – get professional help.

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Barf pumpkin

Does it make you want to barf when:

a) people wont believe how much better show dogs are than those pet dogs,

b) when show dog breeders & their organizations, keep taking over the domains of other kinds of dog breeders and pet owners,

c) that people breed more and more inbred show dogs – or that they breed those show dogs at all.

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Cry Baby

Oh quit crying just because somebody finally told the truth about your stupid sickly show dogs.

You’ve been saying bad things about pet dogs for years and years.

You’ve used the words “mutt” and “cur” like they were an insult: You’ve turned the very name of the people’s dogs into an insult.

You’ve been dishing out the dis for over 40 years, don’t cry because the table has turned and what dishes you served to others is now your own plate.

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All Hallos’ Eve

And yes, you have seen this face before, and yes it is the same guy, done from the same photo as what is shown on – hmm, ah, “M D D” – the previous blog in THIS ring – see link to “MDD” on the right towards the top of my site?

Hard to guess hair color from a black & white photo of an actor, but I will give you a hint – this is pure halloween. And you do know his name – either the actor’s name or his title role.

This and the other are of a public domain image of Frankenstein’s monster.

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Guess Who.

This is someone you know. No it is NOT me, or anyone in this ring – at least I don’t think so. Yea, I looked it up – he’s dead, but they don’t call this day of the dead fer nutting yea no?

I will post the answer in a couple of days.

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Young Jung

Those of you into Jung (I like him better than Frued) probably have heard of the Myer-Briggs personality test. (MBTI)

You know the one, where it figures out where you are on 4 continuums:

Extrovert or Introvert
iNtuitive or Sensor
Thinker or Feeler
Playful Pack-rat or Judgeful Junk-tosser.

Okay, that’s NOT what the J and the P stand for, exactly, but it’s certainly in the right ballpark.

“Please Understand Me” is an easy read and a good read on this – and NO I am not in anyway associated with the book or the theory, or any of it, I just like it, and it is one of the few books that actually help, not just entertain.

It helps explain your boss, your friends – or lack there of, your kids, your spouse or potential spouse. You can teach the method to children. I builds respect between people. It explains our differences.

I’ve never been to one of their parties, where you get clumped with other people who have the same 4 letters that you do – the quiz puts you into one of 16 basic human personality types, and teaches you to see that most people fit into one of these 16 personality groups.

This link leaves out the fun stuff but explains it well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator
.

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1915

Still looking like they did?

See:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wy%C5%9Bcigi_chart%C3%B3w_Szombierki_2009_azawakhi_8p.jpg

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3 SPRINTHUNDS

DAW – does DAW go back to before there were dogs, to when wild canines began to radiate out after on ice age?

.. . . continued from dash terriers..

3) SPRINTHUNDS

A) TRUE SPRINTHUND CLAN:

Hardware: medium to bigger dogs.

The hardware of sprinthunds is more important for them to succeed than with most other categories.

The dogs must have good eyesight both to spot a moving rabbit at a distance, and to run full speed through the woods without running themselves into trees.

They must have an ectomorphic form with long legs and a long neck. This usually produces a long muzzle, long but not wide head, long tail, and long toes – because a major switch has been thrown which elongates the total form.

The dog should not be so over elongated that it a caricature, or like a stick figure..

Software: the desire to sprint after small things that run away. The instinctual skill of the ‘quick kill’ where the prey is killed with one quick shake..

Uses: to catch and kill rabbits, hare, and small prey like antelope.

Bio: the stage of growth in wolf cubs where the long bones grow. The cub stage where the cub hunts little things for himself, like grasshoppers, mice, young rabbits..

B) STAGHUND CLAN: (includes deerhunds, wolfhunds & boarhunds)

Hardware: bigger or giant dogs. They differ from the sprinthunds in being larger, a bit heavier built, and having a heavier neck which is not as elongated as a sprinthund’s..

Software: the same as that of sprinthunds, but a willingness to hang onto a large animal as well.

In the US, most of the desire to hunt big prey has been damped down in these dogs.

A dog with strong instincts will look for something to use those instinct on – this would be too dangerous in a dog of this size, bred to go after large animals, so it is rare to find one with old instincts fully on..

Use: Traditionally used to hunt deer, elk (moose), wolf, and boar, from the time people hunted these animals with spears. Some varieties retain both the form and the instinct to enable them to course and catch hare, coyotes, or kangaroo..

Bio: these are a cusp category, really mostly a giant sprinthund for large prey.

Today some of the show varieties sometimes almost seem like an attempt to be a cusp breed between the non-adjacent categories of Bulldoggers & Sprinthunds – a dichotomy that can’t balance in the breeding over time – instead of an overlap of sprinthunds and tracking hounds.

.. . . next the tracking hounds.

(Cusp breed here is the Great Dane)(note: the Great Dane is an interesting breed, not one easy to pigeonhole).

Built like a sprinthund, mannered like a tracking dog, but heavy and jowly headed like a mastiff.

Unlike today, where dog breeds are usually kept sexually isolated from each other, in the past, any breeder could cross any dogs that he thought might make for better working puppies.

Of course, it isn’t just which dogs reproduce, it is which puppies find homes, survive, and raise puppies of there own..

There is an excellent photo of the kind of Great Dane that I like. The photo shows Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis when she was a very little girl with a Harlequin Dane that looks very nice.

I don’t like the head and drooly lips that are on today’s show Great Danes in America. And today’s Great Danes are too large. A big dog is one thing, but let’s not overdo it please. .IMO, the old 28 inch (on females) measure was good.

. . .next the tracking hounds..

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Dead ‘wood’

No matter how you cut it, if you breed and show, dogs for competitive victories, you often reach a point, where you have to make this choice:

a) you get rid of losers before you replace them with another puppy.

b) you periodically have “spring cleaning” or “get rid of the dead wood”.

c) you have kept so many animals to show, that you have more than you can take care of – you have become a hoarder.

There are some dog breeders whose losing dogs can be sold as pets. We are NOT talking about them! (yet)

Many dog breeders who show their dogs, understand this. To some of them, it is not something to be ashamed of, because, of course they have to kill the dogs that they don’t want, like, what, you think they are going to keep 50 dogs?

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Good dogs

What’s a good temperament for a pet dog?

Well if the breeder has to keep her dogs each in a separate cage or kennel, then her dogs don’t have it.

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