Belgian Tervueren

Polish Lowland Sheepdog

History: The Polish Lowland Sheepdog, also known as the Polski Owczarek Nizinny (and nicknamed PON in America) hails as its name clearly indicates from Poland. This dog has roots that trail to Central Asia and is derived from Tibetan Terrier bloodlines. The Polish Lowland Sheepdog was evolved more as a flock herder than a flock guarder which would explain its moderate size; while other larger herd dogs protected the livestock from large predators the PON worked with the Shepherds to control and guide the sheep.

King Shepherd

History: The King Shepherd is a very new breed only dating back to 1995. Developed by American dog breeders, Shelley Watts-Cross and David Turkheimer, the King Shepherd is a cross between German Shepherds of American descent, Alaskan Malamutes, Great Pyrenees and then re-crossed to German Shepherds of European descent. The overall result is a very large majestic looking German Shepherd. One of the advantages of this breed is that it addresses many of the inherent health problems characteristic of the German Shepherd such as elbow dysplasia.

Commercial Dog Food Could Be Poisoning Your Dog!

If you are a dog owner you're probably aware of the recent pet food scandal that has rocked the nation, resulted in several pet deaths, hundreds of animals falling mysteriously ill and the nationwide recall of 60 million packages of dog food products (and counting) as well as other pet foods!

The Culprit

Melamine: This is the substance at the center of the pet food poison scandal. Pure melamine is used to make plastics and fertilizer so how the heck could it make the transition into dog food? Well the story begins in China…kind of.

Animal feed producers in China have apparently for some time routinely supplemented their feed with melamine to artificially boost the protein content (which translates into more profit). Protein readings are done by assessing the nitrogen levels of the feed and guess what? Melamine has a high nitrogen content!

Unfortunately this sordid tale gets worse. As if adding poisonous melamine to your dog's food was not bad enough another toxic ingredient is routinely added to Chinese animal feed products. This substance is known as cyanuric acid. In the United States this stuff is commonly used to disinfect swimming pools!

Investigators looking into the hundreds of pet food poison related deaths now believe that the combination of those two ingredients in commercial dog food and other pet food synergistically elevated the toxins to the point where they became lethal to pets.

The Dirty Secret Close To Home

Although American food safety regulators are pinning the blame on pet food contaminated with Chinese animal feed products, the alarming truth is that dog food manufactured in the USA is also toxic to your pet!

Commercial dog food manufactured in the US contains no less than 6 deadly chemicals that have been banned as unfit for human consumption because they cause:

Hair Loss (fur loss);

Kidney Disease;

Liver dysfunction;

Stomach cancer;

Blindness;

Leukemia; and

Skin cancer, to name but a few! The substances that cause these problems are found in preservatives…

Oh But I Always Use Preservative Free Dog Food!

You may think that your dog is safe and healthy because you only insist on buying preservative free dog food. Well dog manufacturers have found a legit way around that too! Many dog foods labeled as preservative free in fact contain preservatives because the manufacturers exploit a loophole whereby they do not have to list any preservative that they themselves did not add.

And unfortunately many preservatives are added to pet foods at the rendering plant well before the meat is ever sent to the manufacturer. One of the most widely used and most powerful preservatives also happens to be one of the most toxic! It is called ethoxyquin (EQ) and you aren't going to see it listed on your dog food label anytime soon (even though it is in that "preservative free" dry pet food you love to buy) because the manufacturer has no legal obligation to list it.

Although ethoxyquin is permitted in pet food, workers exposed to this substance showed symptoms similar to those of people exposed to agent orange (poisonous herbicide used by the US government in Vietnam War that caused cancer and other diseases).

Your Dog Is Eating Dead Dogs And Dead Cats!

Perhaps the sickest part of this sick tale is that euthanized (put down) dogs and cats are recycled as chow for your pet! The city of angels (Los Angeles) is known for the devilish practice of recycling approximately 200 tons of dead cats and dogs each month into pet food!

Arrrgghh…disgusting huh?

Still it gets worse; poisonous disinfectants and denaturing chemicals are used to treat those recycled dead animals and "render them safe" for your dog's consumption, not to mention the fact that the toxin used to kill those animals (sodium pentobarbital) can withstand the heat used in the denaturing process.

Bottom line: If you love your dog and want to see him/her live to a ripe healthy old age, perhaps it is time you considered alternative means of nutrition!

Dog Breed

Caucasian Mountain Dog

History: Also known as the Caucasian Ovtcharka, this is an old breed of dog with Molosser origins. The word ovtcharka is Russian and translates as sheepdog or shepherd. The Caucasian Mountain dog is a large attractive dog which somewhat resembles a bear. It hails from the Caucasus regions which encompasses Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Daghestan, Iran and Turkey. Although this dog was bred as a protector of livestock against predators it has had quite an illustrious history in other careers most notably as a service dog. The Caucasian Ovtcharka debuted in East Germany in the late 1960s as a border patrol dog guarding the BerlinWall; when the Wall came down in 1989 the 7,000 or so dogs that made up the canine border patrol was disbanded and the dogs were relocated to families throughout Germany.

Anatolian Shepherd

History: Dating back to the Middle Ages this dog has been ever since by Turkish shepherds to protect their herds rather than herd them. The Anatolian Shepherd probably has some Tibetan Mastiff somewhere in its genes as well as influence from the vaunted Roman Mollosian war dogs that were brought to Turkey by the Romans 4000 years ago.

Afghan Hound

History: First introduced to the West in 1907 this dog's roots date back to the pharaohs of Egypt and is derived from the ancient sighthounds of the Middle East. The Afghan Hound eventually made its way to Afghanistan where it exists in three varieties: short haired; fringe haired and the long thick haired much favored in the West and a darling of dog shows.

Dog Evolution

Around 54 to 38 million years ago a new line of meat-eating mammals evolved. They became known as the carnivores and were distinct from all other meat eaters for the fact they possessed a unique feature – four carnassial teeth. Only carnivorous mammals possess teeth that adapted from a crushing chewing mechanics to a tearing and ripping mechanism facilitating cutting through flesh.

Modern day carnivores are believed to have evolved from two separate ancestral lines at some point:

1. Hesperocyon which habited North America 38-26 million years ago. This was perhaps the first genus to have developed an inner-ear anatomy a feature characteristic of the canine family.

2. Amphicyon which dominated the Eurasian continent for millions of years inter-lapping the same time frame as Hesperocyon. However somewhere along the line it is believed that the Amphicyon line died out.

Around 26-7 million years ago during the Miocene era Hesperocyon evolved into 42 different genera of canines with dog-like features of which Leptocyon (12 million years ago) an evolutionary descendant of Hesperocyon eventually evolved into the Canidae from whence came the modern canids which include wolves, foxes, jackals and hyenas.

Interestingly enough up until 10-20 million years ago bears and dogs were actually members of the same family before their evolution diverged to continue along separate paths. The ancestors of dogs are known to have evolved in response to climatic changes as well as changes to the environment. As tropical forests were superseded by vast areas of wide open savannah and steppes, so came into being the large herds of herbivores that are still present today in Africa.

Where beforehand the dog may have been a solitary hunter with the change in the environment it became expedient for the dog to evolve into a pack animal with a well formed social stratum. In this way dogs were able to successfully hunt and tackle the much larger prey that was characteristic of the grazing herds of herbivore. This pack mentality is still evident in the domestic dog as witnessed by roving packs of stray dogs in urban areas.

It is this innate ability of dogs to develop social relationships (inherited from wolves from which the domestic dog was bred) that is the basis of their success as a species!


Dog Breeds

Poodle

History: Though most credit France as the Poodle's country of origin this dog was probably derived from curly-coated dogs out of Central Asia. Some consider the Barbet as the earliest incarnation of the Poodle. The name Poodle however is derived from the German word pfudel

which means puddle or splash in keeping with the Poodle's water loving nature. The Poodle has had a many faceted career through history with uses which include: military dog; guide dog; water-hunting companion and circus performer.

Alaskan Malamute

Great Dane

HISTORY: The Great Dane is misnamed because it originated from Germany not Denmark. In fact in 1880 the German authorities insisted that it only be referred to as Deutsche Dogge following its early "adoption" by the British gentry and their subsequent change of its name! The Great Dane was much revered for its hunting prowess and regal stature. This breed of dog was probably derived from a combination of the Greyhound and some breed of Mastiff explaining its sleek lines and large size.

Dachshund

Chihuahua

History: The Chihuahua, the smallest breed of dog has a controversial history of origin. On eschool of thought has it that the dog originated from China and was introduced to the New world by the Spanish armies of Hernando Cortes in 1519; the other school of thought postulates that the Chihuahua is a descendant of the Techichi, a dog bred by the ancient Toltec civilization of Mexico for sacrifice. Whatever the case, the truth probably lies somewhere in between. The native sacrificial dog, the Techichi likely cross-bred with the small hairless Chinese dogs that were introduced by Spanish.

What is well documented though is that in 1850 three very small dogs were "discovered" in Chihuahua, Mexico (hence the name) and were introduced to the United States. The Chihuahua breed never caught on in the US until it was popularized by Xavier Cugat (aka the rhumba king) who appeared very often in public with one as his companion!

Rottweiler

The Rottweiler is a large muscular dog with males measuring from 24 to 27 inches at shoulder height while females stand from 22 to 25 inches.

German Shepherd

History: Also known as an Alsatian, the German Shepherd is one of the smartest dogs as well as one of the most popular dog breeds. The German Shepherd breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz a German cavalry officer in the 1890s. In 1899 Stephanitz acquired his first breeding stud dog which he renamed Horand vom Grafrath from Hector Linkrshein and this dog became the foundation of the German Shepherd breed.

Breed Group:

Labrador Retriever

HISTORY: The Labrador is one of the world's most popular dogs and originated from the St. John's region of Newfoundland. In fact this dog was not initially known as the Labrador Retriever but as The Small Water Dog to distinguish it from the larger Newfoundland.

Golden Retriever

The Golden Retriever is one of the most popular of dogs.

Dog Grooming

Smartest Dog Breeds

Origin of Dogs

The modern dog comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and were once thought to have originated from differing genetic pools. However scientists today believe that the dramatic differences found in dogs is as a result of intensive breeding over the last 500 years by humanity!

Previously dogs were thought to have originated in the Middle East but now scientists believe their origin was from a handful of wolves tamed by humans in or around China less than 15,000 years ago. Their research suggests that all dogs today have a common genetic pool backtracking to only three females known as the so-called "Eves" of the dog world!

Dog Domestication Began In The Country That Banned Them!
Dogs (Canis Familiaris) were domesticated from their not-too-distant cousins the wolf (Canis Lupus) and until recently the origins of that domestication process was still in doubt. Scientists originally favored the Middle East as the birth place of the domestication of dogs on the premise that several other species of animal were first domesticated there. Another favorite region for the initiation of the domestication of the dog was the West, probably because of the abundance of the various dog breeds.

New research however almost conclusively rules out those regions despite the fact that the best archeological evidence puts the earliest dog domestication occurring in Irael and Germany.

Mapping the Origin of Dogs
The steps to tracing the origins of dog domestication were tentative and came in fits rather than a cascading torrent. One of the early clues was observed by a scientist who noted that a distinctive feature of the modern dog traced back to only one population of wolves; Chinese wolves! The particular feature in question was found in the dog's cheek bone.

Research conducted by Peter Savolainen of the Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm which analyzed dog DNA samples taken from canines from across the globe revealed that the greatest genetic variation was found in East Asia indicating that domestication of the dog most likely started there, specifically in China which is somewhat ironic seeing at some point in that country's history they banned dogs on the basis they were an affectation of the bourgeoisie!


Dogs