SPOILER ALERT!! This post contains tha answers to this morning’s quiz. If you haven’t already seen the quiz, scroll down before reading this post.
Category Archives: Breed Specific
Name That Dog Breed!
OK, we know that if you’re reading this, you’re a faithful reader of everything on doggies.com. Here’s your chance to show off! Take our short quiz below and see how many breeds you can recognize by the descriptions given. Answers will be published tonight at 8 pm.
Massachusetts Question 3: Banning Dog Racing
Are you voting in Massachusetts next week? If so, be sure to read Question 3 carefully. If the majority vote Yes on Question 3, greyhound racing would be phased out in the state by 2010.
Continue reading Massachusetts Question 3: Banning Dog Racing
Visit Your Dog’s Ancestral Home
MSNBC.com is running a travel story about where you can go to catch up on your dog’s ancestry. The article provides tips on going to Boston to check out the Boston Terrier, Rollinsford, NH for the Cocker Spaniel, and the Mediterranean coast of France for the Bichon Frise (sign me up!!).
Sled Dog Endurance
Any of you who study the science of exercise know that experts recommend you do different types of exercise or work out only every-other day to prevent muscle damage. So, how do sled dogs compete in the 1,100 mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, which spreads over nine days?
Michael Davis of Oklahoma State University‘s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences has studied the sled dogs for the past 10 years, before, during, and after races both in the lab and in the field. His findings may even have implications for humans.
Top Ten Tuesday: Least Destructive Dogs
Last week’s Top Ten Tuesday post was about the most destructive dogs, based on a survey of 3,000 customers of UK pet insurance carrier Esure. This week, we bring you the opposite – the breeds found least destructive by the same survey.
Each of these breeds were responsible for less than $2 worth of damage. I’m sorry, but in my humble opinion, any dog who can’t do more than $2 worth of damage can’t really be a dog!
King Charles Spaniel
Border Terrier
Cocker Spaniel
Old English Sheepdog
Highland Terrier
Corgi
Poodle
Pointer
Saint Bernard
Pug
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
Top Ten Tuesday: Most Destructive Dogs
UK pet insurance provider Esure recently surveyed 3,000 dog owners, finding that up to 66% of pet owners end up filing claims for damage done to their homes by their dogs. The biggest issues were soiled carpets, scratched floors, and chewed door frames, followed closely by clothing and furniture damage.
Owners reported that most damage occured, as you might expect, while their dogs were just puppies, but some have had problems during the whole lifetime of their dogs.
Does Manhattan Hate Golden Retrievers?
I just returned from a vacation in Manhattan. We saw all kinds of dogs out being walked. I was kind of surprised because I don’t think of NYC as a dog city. I guess you see so many people out walking their dogs because you can’t let your dogs out in a back yard you don’t have.
Anyways, in all of our travels – believe me, we walked up and down the whole island – we didn’t see even one golden retriever. We saw boxers, pugs, dachshunds, and tons of mutts. So, is there something New Yorkers don’t like about Goldens? If you live, or have lived there, let me know what the story is!
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
Kayla’s DNA is in!
If you’ve been following along, you know I submitted some of her cheek cells to determine her breed. The results came today!!! Now, make a drum roll sound….
She is a true Heinz 57 dog. The majority of her DNA comes from a German Shepard, as we expected. The next biggest contributor is Rottweiler, also a popular guess. She also has some Bulldog, Bull Terrier, and a bit of Spaniel. I still don’t understand the upturned tail, but maybe that’s what happens when you get a crazy mixed-up dog.
The vendor, BioPet, issues a certificate showing various levels of DNA. Level 1 indicates that at least 75% of the total DNA comes from a particular breed, while Level 5 shows breeds that contribute less than 10%. Kind of cool. If you’re curious about your dog, there are worse ways to spend $65.
Thanks to those of you who submitted guesses on Kayla’s breed.
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
Least Aggressive Dogs
As promised yesterday, here are the dogs that scored very low on the aggression scale in the study recently reported in the Applied Animal Behavior Science journal. This study, compiled by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, involved asking 6,000 dog owners about their dog’s behavior. Thirty-three different breeds were catalogued and rated according to how aggressive they are.
The dogs that were least aggressive were:
Basset Hound
Golden Retriever
Labradors
Siberian Huskies
Greyhounds
The Rottweiler, often assumed to be very aggressive, ranked average in its hostility towards strangers.
The researchers did note, however, that even though small dogs headed the most aggressive list and big dogs headed the least aggressive list, the bites from the larger dogs were more likely to have required medical attention than those from the smaller dogs.
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!