Natural History

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

12 Responses

1. on January 25, 2013 at 5:18 pm DesertWindHounds

   That was quite interesting. Obligatory moron question in the middle, though.

   
   
   • on January 25, 2013 at 5:25 pm retrieverman

     Now, you know it wouldn’t be NPR without one of those in there.

     
     
     • on January 25, 2013 at 5:31 pm DesertWindHounds

       I can’t get NPR on the radio here and you know I don’t usually listen/watch things on the web due to data constraints. We ended up with a download credit because our model modem had some kind of conniption the other day.

       You notice the interviewer slips up and says ‘species’ instead of ‘breeds?’ I was happy they discussed how dogs were before the Victorians came on the scene.

       
       
       • on January 25, 2013 at 5:58 pm retrieverman

         The interviewer could have made it more interesting had he read Mark Derr’s book, which is very much opposed to using that fox farm model as the main basis for describing how dogs were domesticated.

         
         
         • on January 25, 2013 at 6:22 pm DesertWindHounds

           Derr got a little time to talk about that but not enough, I thought.

           
           
         • on January 29, 2013 at 12:34 pm kittenz

           The fox farm model is very intriguing in that it shows just how quickly a species can move down the road toward domestication under the right circumstances, but I don’t think it’s a valid model for domestication of the dog. Even if someone took a large number of wolves and selectively bred them for “tameness”, it would not be directly analogous to the way our ancestors acquired their dog, or rather, dogs, since this surely occurred many times in many places. Some questions may never be answered satisfactorily; there are so many conflicting theories, each having their points. The truth is probably much like humans and dogs themselves: an amalgam of opportunities taken or lost.

           
           
2. on January 26, 2013 at 12:43 am Nora

   I’m still mildly annoyed with Derr about some of “Dog’s Best Friend,” though I thought much of it had excellent information. For instance, he was rather dismissive of Flyball, which may in fact be “less interesting” to watch than Frisbee competitions, but in all honesty the dogs seem to have more pure joy doing it than doing Frisbee or Agility, and I have seen/participated in all of these. Plus the mixing that Flyball breeders do is bleeding in to both Agility and Frisbee competitions–and I enjoy the fact that sighthounds are so well-represented in Flyball. Despite Ashley Whippet, AFAIK nobody gets a sighthound for Frisbee competition, but there are plenty of Flyball folks both getting Whippets and other sighthounds, and mixing Sighthound into the Flyball mix dogs. For another, he recommended (at the time) that people should look in to dogs like Catahoulas and Feists as family pets. A lot of people should NOT have Catahoulas and Feists as family pets–and he himself mentions his Catahoula’s bad case of hip dysplasia. IIRC, he now has a JRT–which most of the JRT/PRT people I know (and I know a LOT of them, being involved in Agility and Flyball) do not recommend as family dogs. (I have many, many anecdotes, which of course are not data, but suffice to say that none of the people I know with JRTs/PRTs also have children, and all of them have told me that their dogs have serious temperament issues–dog aggression, people aggression…)

   WRT the interview today, I had to stop listening to actually talk to my boss about something I was doing, but I was kind of disappointed–I thought there would be more depth.

   
   
   • on January 29, 2013 at 12:15 pm kittenz

     We always had at least one feist … some of them can be “feisty”, but they’re generally smart enough not to bite the hand that feeds them and they do make good family pets – for families that understand they are DOGS and not furry robots.

     
     
     • on January 29, 2013 at 12:17 pm kittenz

       Various family members have also had JRTs. Except for being hyper as hell, they were good dogs. Never had any problem with aggression toward people, but they can be death on cats and my dad had one that eventually killed a large palm tree, girdling it by jumping to try to catch a squirrel.

       
       
     • on January 29, 2013 at 12:21 pm Nora

       I don’t disagree with you, but I did feel that by recommending just these types of dogs he was discounting whole other categories of dogs that would be just as good, if not better, family pets.

       
       
3. on January 26, 2013 at 2:07 am Nora

   For instance, his recent post on the West Siberian Laikas (and the disappearance of the “all-purpose” dog). Not that I have anything bad to say about Laikas. but I do think that MANY dogs COULD be “all-purpose” if they are asked or allowed to be. For instance, my older IG has killed small rodents and once a baby possum, and actually points too (practically perfect pointer pose, alliteration HA!). My Shelties, though unlikely to ever have REALLY been herding dogs, will herd (I’ve had them put chickens into the chicken house without panic on the part of the chickens) and kill small rodents, and perform the “all-purpose farm dog” functions of chasing animals out of the flowers, fruits and vegetables (though unfortunately they will also eat the fruits and vegetables themselves).

   I only NEED my dogs to be Agility and Flyball dogs and bedwarmers. And, of course, to warn approaching strangers to back off if their intent is not good (I have had tweaky folks at my door freeze up when my older male Sheltie leaps at them–and long story, my first Sheltie probably saved me from rape more than once when I was in college).

   Sorry, much too much yakking. My point is that I don’t think that the “all-purpose” dog is anything LIKE gone–it’s just that the collection of purposes has changed. MANY fewer dogs are required to perform the work of the Taiga dogs. MANY more perform the work of companion, protector, small rodent killer, strange-noise-checker (I could actually ask my first Sheltie to do this–she was that good), plus perhaps service and/or sport dog. We need more healthy dogs to do all these things.

   
   
   • on January 26, 2013 at 5:06 am Dave

     I don’t think he meant the breeds themselves, but the people who use them. There are very few places in the world nowadays which still require universal dogs. Nowadays, people just want pets or dogs bred for specialized functions.

     
     

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