spirit of the north kennels

Should You Spay Your Dog? By Al Magaw

August 1, 2010 by teamineka

Should you Spay Your Dog?

By Al Magaw

There are problems associated with spaying your female that every dog owner should be aware of – there is no apparent or well known harmful effect involved in neutering male dogs, but there is a potential and common serious harm associated with spaying the females. The lack of estrogen production brought about by spaying FREQUENTLY (“commonly” is the word used in the veterinarian community) brings on the loss of bladder control in older females and frequently, uncomfortable skin problems. Earlier than normal death can also occur. It is such a simple thing to confine a female twice a year to prevent pregnancy that the risky alternative of spaying is not one I would recommend – one of the reasons given for spaying, beyond birth control, is the prevention of breast cancer. Breast cancer in un-spayed dogs is a rarity compared to the commonality of problems caused by spaying and the resulting hormonal imbalance. There are drugs that Veterinarians will prescribe to treat the hormone imbalance, but the drugs pass into the environment and are environmentally damaging, staying in the environment for many years, ( DES (diethylstilbestrol) exposure is often viewed as a health issue unique to those exposed to the drug and an issue that is no longer relevant. This is far from the truth. DES exposure and long-term exposure to any synthetic hormone concerns a much broader population than those directly exposed to DES. In fact, the entire population is exposed to synthetic hormones like DES from sources such as chemical pollution, medicines, plastics, paints and pesticides on food. Many synthetic chemicals in the environment are harmful to our health. Some are so-called “hormone disrupters” like DES”) ( “There is some evidence that DES-exposed sons may have testicular abnormalities, such as undescended testicles or abnormally small testicles.” “Professor Niels Skakkeback, a Danish scientist, first alerted the world to the possibility of a substantial fall in male fertility levels in 1992. He did this by showing that sperm counts in healthy men appeared to have dropped by more than half in 50 years” “Subsequent studies have confirmed and strengthened Skakkebaek’s findings) These hormones can and do upset and delay the development of prepubescent males and bring on early sexual development in females – be responsible with your dogs, don’t bring unwanted puppies into the world and don’t be so foolish to believe that having “just one” litter will improve your dog – think twice about the long term health of your female and the long term effect to the environment. You can be a responsible dog owner without resorting to spaying and the use of environmentally damaging drugs.

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Al Magaw is a musher from Salmo, BC. Al keeps a medium sized kennel of 20 – 45 alaskan huskies as well as several pet dogs of various breeds. Al has been training and racing for the last 33 years. Before becoming involved with sled dogs, Al, along with his family, kept and competed with horses for many years. Al can be reached through his website athttp://www.spiritofthenorthkennels.com Al is a guest blogger for Denver Dog Works and can be reached through our website athttp://www.denverdogworks.com

Are Alaskan Huskies a True Breed? By Al Magaw

July 25, 2010 by teamineka

Are Alaskan Huskies a True Breed?

By Al Magaw

A recent study led by graduate student Heather Huson on the genetic makeup of sled dogs has revealed some surprising answers to the question, “Are alaskan huskies a true breed? ” A news write up can be found at the “Fairbanks Daily Miner” (“Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner – entry Sled dogs are a breed apart study finds”) and the complete study at http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2156-11-71.pdf

In brief, Heather Huson says that the alaskan husky, no matter the heritage, has developed genetic markers that define it as a unique breed of it’s own, “essentially a breed of their own, as unique as poodles or corgis”. “Alaskan sled dogs are selected to be fast, tough, and hard working. That’s been enough to make them a distinct breed, according to a new genetic study” This surprising, to many, result has developed not because of common ancestry, but by breeding for purpose. The genetic markers are more consistent than those found in siberians or malemutes, which often show identical markers. The markers in alaskan huskies do show their genetic makeup, be it german shorthair pointers or siberians or malemutes, eskimos or elkhounds, but the markers that make it an alaskan husky are the same. The study also showed whether the alaskan type was better for distance or sprint and it showed the ancestry that was best for “speed, endurance, or work ethic”. (I find that grouping of ratings amazingly coincidental as that is the same groupings I used when rating the dogs in my kennel as I started the attempt to establish my own bloodlines over 30 years ago and still use today).

“Alaskan sled dogs seem like they shouldn’t have much in common genetically. They look different—they can be long-haired or short-haired, floppy-eared or perky-eared, 13 or 30 kilograms. And though breeders of distance dogs tend to stick to other Alaskan sled dogs, sprint-dog breeders mix in other breeds, like English pointers, shorthaired pointers, and even greyhounds. But Huson found much more commonality than she anticipated”

I have to compare this emergence of a unique breed brought about through breeding for usage to Darwin’s brilliant study of evolutionary development. Darwin showed that how species developed was caused by environmental pressures, as well as mutations, over millions of years. Man has shortened this time frame dramatically in the development of different breeds of dogs to just a few hundred years and the Alaskan Husky may be the latest in this process. So now, all you alaskan husky fans, you can claim that you really are running a true breed of husky, and perhaps, due to this remarkable study, the use of alaskans in some previously prohibiting countries will now be allowed. Please excuse me as I’m on the way out the door now to give my purebred alaskans a big hug!

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The Homing Instinct by Al Magaw

July 18, 2010 by teamineka

The Homing Instinct

By Al Magaw

Homing instinct, nostalgia, home sickness, territorial identification, what ever you want to call it, the description of the phenomena remains the same with all species – it’s the desire to be in familiar surroundings. Studies have shown that familiarity with a territory increases chances for survival. This “homing” instinct can be seen in life as primitive as a flat worm, perhaps the lowest form of multi-celled organism. Flatworms have no brain, no eyes, no ears, some have no mouths and absorb nourishment through their skin. They have two nerves that run the length of their back, yet flatworms kept in a petri dish will go off their feed if moved from one petri dish to another identical, but unfamiliar, one. Flatworms will even work their way through a maze to find their own dish and the “smart” ones will do it quicker than the rest. The instinct is shared by every species up to and including humans.

This homing instinct was demonstrated in spades by a friend’s dog one winter after it had got loose from it’s kennel and was picked up by the dog catcher. The pound where the dog was taken to broke their own rules when they released the dog to a new home in the matter of a few hours. By the time my friend had traced the dog to the pound in Nelson, a town 25 miles away, the dog was gone. The only information about the dogs location that the pound would release to my friend was that “Gill” had been sent to a pet home in Castlegar, another town, also 25 miles from home, and 35 miles from Nelson. My friend decided to drive the back alleys in Castlegar to see if he could find his dog, but on the way to Castlegar, just before he crossed the bridge over the Columbia river, he saw something in the water. Whatever it was, it was swimming through the rapid current between the many ice flows rushing along in the frigid river. Before very long, my friend could make out it was a dog swimming. In a few more minutes he could make out that it was Gill in the water, swimming towards home. Gill emerged from the water after the long difficult swim, dragging a fairly heavy 12 foot cable that he had obviously been tied with. Gill had barley survived the swim, but was very pleased to see his “dad” waiting for him on shore. Gill was taken home to his kennel where he happily lived out his life. What amazes me about this story is how did Gill know which way was home? – he had been transported in the back of a closed van to a town 25 miles to the north on twisty mountain roads, then transported another 35 miles to the west, yet he knew exactly which way to go without retracing the way he had gone by road. The homing instinct, nostalgia, or what ever you want to call it, is very strong.

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Rupert Sheldrake by Al Magaw

July 11, 2010 by teamineka

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of works on telepathy research, and morphic resonance that explains the ability of dogs and other animals to communicate by a term he calls “Morphic Resonance” . He uses that term to explain many behaviours that others put down to genetics, or family or species memory. I like the term “Learned instinct” to explain behavior that is passed from one generation to another for as long as the instinct is needed or cultivated. Examples of Learned Instinct have included pair bonding in humans when that behavior was needed for species survival. When human ancestors first walked upright and hunting became the main way of life, society went through major changes. Previous to the hunting lifestyle, so research claims, our ancestors lived in close knit groups where the group was responsible for the safety and teaching of the young. Pair bonding was unnecessary and even detrimental to the groups survival. Once hunting became a way of life, the group was no longer viable because of the distances traveled for successful hunting. Pair bonding became necessary for the upbringing of the slow to mature human offspring and the assured return of the hunting male to the homebound female. Todays society is changing in such a fashion that the community offers the support to the mother and offspring that hasn’t been available for 10’s of 1000’s of years. Some researchers give that reason for todays high divorce rates and the seemingly lack of strong pair-bonding is given as the reason for the high incidence of divorce. My question is this, are the specific behaviors bred into dogs, genetic or are they a learned instinct? Will the behavior of dogs that were bred for a specific purpose that are now bred for show alone, lose the natural desire to do the job they were specifically bred for? Does a specific behavior, not required when dogs were wild, become a genetic trait, a family memory, or a learned instinct? Will the siberians and other working type dogs lose their true desire to do a job when the family has no job?

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Nutrition by Al Magaw

July 4, 2010 by teamineka

Nutrition

By Al Magaw

In the early 1980’s, a study about nutritional requirements for racing sled dogs was done by D.S. Kronfeld and T. Adkins and was a big factor in my and other dogsled racers decision to feed raw meat in addition to a good quality kibble – a lot of effort was put in by a group of veterinarians and scientists to measure various body reactions to different diets on dogs belonging to Harris Dunlap, the top unlimited sprint driver of the time – another related study, done by Kronfield and others at or around the same time is one I missed reading until recently – the study centers on protein content and is as follows —

“Erythrocyte (red cell) counts were depressed significantly during the race, by 15% in dogs fed an experimental diet and by 27% in those fed a commercial stress diet. Erythrocyte parameters have also become depressed during the racing season in middle distance sled dogs fed 28% protein (energy basis) but not 32 or 39%. Depressed red blood cell production has been demonstrated previously in dogs subjected to stress induced experimentally in several ways, and its restoration has been affected by dietary protein. Erythrocyte parameters may be useful indicies of the degree of stress in a dog as well as the adequacy of its protein intake during stress.”

This information would help explain the behaviour of some of my teams in longer distance sprint races (30 – 35 miles) – I was feeding what was claimed to be high quality food by the manufactures, but my dogs were running out of steam about the 20 – 25 mile point of a race – I realize now that in addition to the chicken and red meat I was feeding, the kibble I was using was about 27 – 28% protein – the study shows that the kibble I was using could have been the cause of the premature tiring of my teams

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Al Magaw is a musher from Salmo, BC. Al keeps a medium sized kennel of 20 – 45 alaskan huskies as well as several pet dogs of various breeds. Al has been training and racing for the last 33 years. Before becoming involved with sled dogs, Al, along with his family, kept and competed with horses for many years. Al can be reached through his website at http://www.spiritofthenorthkennels.com Al is a guest blogger for Denver Dog Works and can be reached through our website at http://www.denverdogworks.com