‘Atlas’ the definitive guide to world’s worth of canine companions
By Pet Connection Staff
July 7, 2009
This week’s Pet Connection showcases the amazing diversity of dog breeds and types, from contributing editor Christie Keith:
They’ve guarded livestock, herded sheep, driven cattle and protected human dwellings from castles to condos. Dogs assist people with disabilities, sniff out illegal drugs and find food from birds to truffles.From detecting heart attacks and seizures before they happen to dragging drowning people to safety, it’s hard to imagine any form of technology that could surpass the uncountable number of ways in which dogs lend us a helping paw.
In selectively breeding dogs for the skills that helped them help us, human beings have changed the dog both inside and out. Today, there are hundreds of dog breeds so different from each other in type that it’s hard to believe they’re members of the same species — and yet, each of these dogs’ forms grew out of a specific function.
“If people hadn’t changed the dog to do certain tasks, he’d look very much like the dingo,” said Heather Russell-Revesz, co-author of the “World Atlas of Dog Breeds” (TFH, $100). “Whether it was making a dog shorter-legged or faster, so he could catch a specific kind of prey, or making him tiny enough to sit on your lap, human intervention has brought an incredible diversity of type to the dog.”
How much do Americans spend on our cats? Check out the average annual costs in 2007-2008, according to a survey of cat owners, here!
In “The Buzz,” our Dr. Marty Becker and Mikkel Becker Shannon write about how the value of pets goes beyond property — even in the eyes of the law:
A New Jersey appeals court issued a precedent-setting decision when it ruled that a pet’s “special subjective value” to its owner should be considered in custody cases. According to the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the opinion reverses a trial court’s decision that pets are personal property lacking in the unique values typically associated with heirlooms, family treasures and works of art that induce a strong sentimental attachment.
Want more? Read the entire Pet Connection for this week, or download the page (PDF) as it went out to our newspaper clients.
Those looking for more information on the precedent-setting decision of the New Jersey appeals court, saying that pets are at least as unique as heirloom inanimate objects, may wish to look at the JAVMA News write-up.
Comment by Lis — July 7, 2009 @ 5:18 am
Re: “How much do Americans spend on our cats?” — No wonder I’m always broke! I have 6 cats who are very well cared for (vet visits, teeth cleaning, grooming etc.)
At least cuddling is free.
Comment by Shauna — July 7, 2009 @ 5:50 am
I’ve got one we’re currently evaluating for a possible neurological disorder. Not only do the vet visits add up, but she’ll probably end up on some sort of medication for the rest of her life. Eeek!
Good thing she’s so cute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 7, 2009 @ 5:55 am
“Today, there are hundreds of dog breeds so different from each other in type that it’s hard to believe they’re members of the same species — and yet, each of these dogs’ forms grew out of a specific function.”
**************
Sorta. Well, no.
Functional breeds’ forms derived, in part, from their specific function.
“Modern” fancy breeds’ forms have been exaggerated beyond recognition by people chasing fantasies about those original functions. Among other goals.
A 21st-century English bulldog would be unrecognizable to an 18th-century butcher. A show dachshund is badger meat down a hole (if it will go down the hole). You can stand a show collie in full coat next to a border collie or English shepherd — who have both skipped the selection for fancy points for the past century — and ask WTF? A rottweiler 60 years ago was a medium-sized athletic farm dog. Before routine advanced veterinary surgery, pugs birthed naturally or died trying.
The structural and cosmetic parts of the canine genome are much more plastic and variable than the variety of real-world functions for which humans have needed it to change. And that has often been exploited to the detriment of the animals whose bodies carry and express that DNA.
Comment by H. Houlahan — July 7, 2009 @ 6:45 am
Heather, but that “function” might have been the Victorian obsession with “novelty” dogs. This wasn’t meant to be about USEFUL WORK only… hence the example of the bulldog or the Victorian “field spaniel.”
Comment by Christie Keith — July 7, 2009 @ 7:52 am
Heather, my smooth collie very much resents that remark. :P It’s not HIS fault that the BCs and ESes have too much hair.
(However, he apparently was busy standing in the ‘extra-long nose’ line and missed the ‘work ethic’ line…)
Comment by Cait — July 7, 2009 @ 7:56 am
I read the post, and I have always been amazed at the diversity of French regional hounds. Some of them are very similar, just they come in “griffon” (wire-haired), “basset” (short-legged), grand (large), or petit (small) forms.
One point, though: I thought the Greenland dog was a hauling breed that is very similar to the Qimmiq or Canadian “Eskimo” dog (“Eskimo” is a pejorative, so I don’t like to use it.) They sometimes were used to hunt seals and polar bears. The Icelandic dog is a herding spitz, and maybe the actual breed in question. However, they don’t herd reindeer. They herd sheep.
Comment by retrieverman — July 7, 2009 @ 8:11 am
Also, Greenland doesn’t have reindeer. Because Greenland is closer to North America than Eurasia, its natural history is more affected by North American mammals. Our version of this species is called caribou, and Greenland has North American caribou, not reindeer.
Comment by retrieverman — July 7, 2009 @ 8:16 am
I’ve found that some Icelandic dogs herd reindeer in Iceland, but I see nothing of any herding dogs native to Greenland.
Comment by retrieverman — July 7, 2009 @ 8:21 am
I guess we’ll have to ask Heather over to explain herself on the Iceland/Greenland confounding… ;)
Comment by Christie Keith — July 7, 2009 @ 10:44 am
Iceland, Greenland … isn’t that kinda like Ohio, Iowa? Both places with similar names that you fly over?
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 7, 2009 @ 11:52 am
flyover country, eh? slow day on Left Coast?
…clicker, treats, e-collar, aversive, purely positive, trainers, behaviorists, byb, mills, ethical breeders, heritage breeds, oops litters, …
_that_ string’ll get your comments goin’…
Comment by eli — July 7, 2009 @ 1:13 pm
Heather is
in a bunkerat an undisclosed locationon vacation, but her co-author, Stephanie Fornino, had something for us:I think Heather meant to reference the Lapinporokoïra (also known as the Lapponian Herder) when speaking of herding reindeer, not the Greenland Dog.
The Lapinporokoïra was used by herdsmen in northern Finland to herd reindeer for many years, but with the advent of the snowmobile, they lost favor. Soon, however, the expense of running the machines helped the breed become popular once again for this purpose.
The Greenland Dog was largely used as a transportation animal used to pull sledges, and he was also employed as a hunter and guardian of family.
I’m not totally shocked that one would opt to retrieve the name “Greenland dog” instead of “Lapinporokoïra,” but nonetheless, I apologize for not catching that at the time. And thanks to Stephanie for the prompt clarification!
Comment by Christie Keith — July 7, 2009 @ 1:20 pm
Interesting about the “Lapinporokoira”. The pics I found make it look as if it belongs to that universal, utilitarian, multi-purpose family of spitzes. If they derive from reindeer herding stock ( I thought the taxonomists had stopped playing games with Rangifer and that the NA caribou were subspecies of the Euro reindeer)then it would make perfect sense to have selected out individuals to create a sheep herding breed. Many Nordic sheep breeds are considered primitive, and need the help of an intelligent dog to herd them, as they don’t flock as effectively as more modern breeds.
Comment by Anne T — July 7, 2009 @ 6:13 pm
AnneT - what’s interesting is that there ARE any number of herding spitz breeds- the Samoyed is the most obvious, but the earliest shelties we have photos of are very spitz-like. German Spitz (and Amreican Eskimo Dogs) were a small all-purpose farm dogs and the standards/giants (AED = standards, German spitz (grossespitz) = giant) in both countries have gotten herding instinct certs.
My little German Spitz will round up poultry, but it’s clearly a predatory behavior that will end in a snack if I don’t recall her, unlike my collies’ herding behaviors. (Mal, above mentioned smooth, though, is turning into a VERY professional herding dog as he matures. Maybe he won’t get a pet home after all. :P)
Comment by Cait — July 7, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
Caribou and reindeer are the same species, but they are different subspecies. In Alaska, there are feral reindeer that are interbreeding with native caribou.
The North America subspecies are all called caribou, while the North American ones are called reindeer, even if they are wild and never touch reins.
Comment by retrieverman — July 8, 2009 @ 5:15 am
If it’s a Lapinporokoïra, that’s a reindeer herder.
It’s not a Greenland dog, though.
Comment by retrieverman — July 8, 2009 @ 5:18 am