7 dog tricks to teach your Dalmatian

Let’s face it: Not all dog breeds are as smart as Dalmatians. Because of this well-known fact, if you own a Dalmatian then you should take advantage of his or her cleverness and teach your dog a few tricks when you have some spare time.

If you’ve been hoping to teach your Dalmatian a few fun tricks, here are the top seven fun and unique tricks your Dalmatian can learn easily:

1. Roll over

Have your Dalmatian lie down on his stomach, and then stand over your dog and hold a treat by his nose, then move the treat around behind your dog so that he eventually lies on his side and rolls over.
 

2. Twirl

Grab your dog’s favourite treat and then have him stand on his hind legs and ask him to “twirl” by leading his nose around to the right with the treat so that he walks in a circle. When the treat comes back full circle promptly praise him and give him his treat.
 

3. Take a bow

Take a treat and hold it down towards the floor under your dog’s nose. As soon as he reaches down to get the treat put your hand under his belly to hold his rear end upwards, and then hold him in that position and say “take a bow.” Try to hold him there for a second before giving him the treat.
 

4. Sing

Make eye contact with your Dalmatian and say “sing,” then start howling in a high-pitched voice and keep doing it until your dog howls along with you.

5. Turn off the light

Hold a treat to the light switch and command him to “turn off light” (or even “light” if that’s easier), and then when your Dalmatian jumps up to get the treat make sure his paws hit the switch. As soon as the lights are turned off reward and praise him, and do this repeatedly until he gets it.
 

6. Play dead

Have your dog sit or stand, and then point your finger and him and pull your hand up while yelling “BANG!” Try to get your dog to lie down on his side with his head down and then praise him accordingly.
 

7. Hide your eyes

Make your dog sit down and then with a treat in your hand tell your dog to “hide your eyes.” First try physically lifting his paw over his muzzle and then reward him once he figures it out. 

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Guest Author: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blogger for First in Education where she’s recently written about onlinemathprograms along with a piece on electrical engineering degree programs. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, traveling, and working with origami.

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--> By Dr Clive Dalton

 

Genetics or environment - which is more important?

This is the old question of which is more important - nature or nurture?  Is it the dog’s breeding (its genetic makeup) or the way it is trained and cared for?  Both are important and no amount of training will make a top dog if the genes for performance are not there.  On the other hand, good genes will not be fully expressed under poor training.

Most working dog traits or characters are strongly inherited - in other words what you see in a dogs performance will be passed on to the next generation.  The term "heritability" is used to describe this and is on a scale from 0 - 100%.  Weakly inherited traits like fertility and litter size are below 10% and strongly inherited ones like casting would be around 30-40%.  This is a guess, as geneticists have not done much study on working dogs, despite their importance.  Research has shown that hip dysplasia averages around 30-40% heritability.

What are working traits?

Heading dog

·      "Eye" or the ability to out-stare a sheep.  Dogs vary from "strong" eye to "plain" eye but the trait seems to be strongly inherited.

·      "Heading" or the dogs ability to cast around sheep.  Some dogs will naturally take a wide cast and others will run straight at stock.  The dog trialists ideal is a pear-shaped cast.  Again this seems to be strongly inherited.

·      "Shedding".  An ability to separate one sheep from another at close quarters.

·      Temperament.  This is the dogs "nature" and breeders say this is fairly strong in its inheritance.

·      “Early maturity” refers to the ability of a pup to start working at a young age.  Again breeders believe this trait is strongly inherited.  The fear with late-maturing pups is that they may not start to work at all.

·      Not biting or grabbing sheep is important.  Seen in some strains so must have a fairly strong genetic base.  Can be modified by training but is always there.

Huntaway

·      "Heading".  All huntaways should be able to head stock as in heading dogs.  Theyll head without showing "eye".

·      "Noise.  They must bark naturally and this seems to be strongly inherited.

·      "Temperament".  Very important and generally very good in huntaways.  They are always anxious to please.

·      "Force".  A trait usually seen best in big dogs that will push among stock with no fear of getting hurt.   A fairly strong genetic trait perfected by proper training.

·      "Backing".  Where a dog will jump on the back of sheep and walk over them.  A trait which varies a bit in strains, so must have some genetic base. 

Physical traits

Breeders are concerned with such genetic defects as:

·      Undershot jaw or parrot mouth.

·      Overshot jaw.

·      Normal reproductive organs.

·      Sound bone structure - eg no hip dysplasia common in some strains.

·      Sound feet pads.

·      Normal palate ie. no cleft palate.

·      Normal leg length - no drawfism.

·      No problems with the eye retina.

Single genes - simple traits

These are simple traits controlled by single or very few genes.   When we get to the performance traits like speed, intelligence and working ability we have to deal with thousands of genes.  The dog has 39 pairs of chromosomes in its sex cells (sperm and eggs) and at present we dont know much about the thousands of genes on them. 

These thousands of genes combine when sperm and eggs are produced into millions of different combinations.   So dont expect parents to produce identical offspring unless you start splitting eggs.  In future we could see a lot more reproductive technology used in dogs and even genetic engineering where we can separate genes on a chromosome and move them around to engineer more certain combinations.  But before that we have to do some "gene mapping" to find out what genes are where on the chromosome.  This mapping the genome of the dog is underway.

 Many genes - complex traits

If you see "variation" in a group of animals (eg litter mates), then you are dealing with many genes controlling them, and to improve the next generation, you "select" the best parents from the present generation.  Sounds simple!

So in dogs you should not be surprised when some pups in a litter turn out to be good workers and some are not so good.  You will see a whole range in ability and this variation is then the raw material we use to make improvement, and the main tool we use is "selection".  Variation and selection is what has made our dogs and what will allow us to improve them.  So dont pine for dogs that are like peas in a pod, we need variation to work on and make progress.

 Cloning

Cloning where identical copies of an animal are made is now possible, and some merit can be seen for it in farm animals.  The idea is good provided that no problems will occur over time with the animals you produce - because if they do, then the entire cloned population will get it.  You have to make sure that what you are going to clone is “perfect” in all traits, and that’s asking a lot in the world of animals.  It also restricts genetic diversity for future selection.

G and E

But remember this "variation: is caused by two things.  First theres the genes or genetic variation, referred to as "G".  Then theres the environment, referred to as "E" which is the rearing, feeding and training.  Some trainers produce better E than others.  You need plenty of G to make a champion, but youll not do it without good E.   This is the old saying that "90% of the pedigree goes down the throat."

Mate the best to the best

This is what the early improvers did long before the science of genetics was born.  It worked then as it does now.  The only problem is what do we mean by "best"?

Dogs that consistently win at a range of trials, clearly have the genes needed on the farm.  They’re surely the best.   But there are some folk who think that todays trials are too artificial, and dont relate to the commercial farm with large numbers of stock per person.

The counter argument is that these trial dogs do work on commercial farms and can do all the jobs needed, as well as the fancy stuff for the trials.  They have the genes to do everything needed so there is no worry.  If they win at trials then they qualify to enter the stud book of the New Zealand Sheep Dog Trial Association (NZSDTA).  No useless dog can get into this book, and a dog’s looks and fancy points dont matter.  Its performance alone.

If you want to breed dogs that are not in the stud book, then you should make sure the parents have performed well and that you can see them working.  But remember you are trying to judge G, even if the handler has ruined it through the E provided.   In other farm livestock, many a farmer has been duped by thinking he/she was buying G when in fact they paid through the nose for E. 

Check the pedigree

Pedigrees are simply a record of ancestry - and thats all.  Never assume that a "pedigree" animal that can be registered in a studbook is geneticallybetter than a non-registered animal.  This is where the New Zealand farm working dog is unique - they can only get into the stud book by proving good working performance.

If a pedigree is a list of names and numbers and has no record of performance - then it doesnt tell you much.  The important feature of a pedigree is that every time you go back a generation, then you halve the genetic influence of the ancestors.

So parents give half of their genes (good and bad) to their offspring.  Grandparents give a quarter, great-grand parents one eighth and so on working backward along the pedigree.  In practice, only be concerned with a pedigree as far back as grandparents, as each ancestor after that has so little influence.

Remember that if anyone is trying to tell you that an animals superiority is due to a particular great-great-great grandsire, he has only provided one sixteenth of the genes.  Does this mean that the other fifteen sixteenth of the genes were useless?  Which would have the greater influence one sixteenth or fifteen sixteenths?

Fortunately the working dog world is free from a lot of the mumbo-jumbo about pedigree breeding that confuses other livestock.  We breed for performance and "functional traits" in working dogs and it makes life so much easier, and the end results more predictable.   Thank goodness nobody yet has started to say what a working dog should look like and formed a committee to administer this nonsense.  But that’s not to say it could happen in future.

Inbreeding

This is where "related" animals are mated.  This concentrates genes, whether they are good or bad.  Breeders are often forced to inbreed when they want a sire for a particular purpose, and they cannot find one better than their own.  So they mate related animals and live with the consequences.

There is nothing wrong with this, and it will certainly concentrate similar genes.  In the process however, as similar genes meet, they may throw up certain recessive genes that have been hidden.  Its here where undershot jaw, cleft palates, no hair, and drawfism is seen.  You can cull these out and keep on inbreeding, but as the level of inbreeding rises (called increasing homozygosity) youll most likely find "inbreeding depression" taking its effect.

Here traits like fertility, litter size and general "fitness" are affected.  Bitches will be hard to get in pup, and theyll have small litters with “runts”(small weak pups) in them.  In working dogs we euthanase them but in the fancy dog world they keep them, often to form new breeds!

If you inbreed and strike trouble you can get out of it in one generation by making an "outcross" to some completely unrelated animal.  All those recessive problem genes will have been buried again.

So avoid high levels of inbreeding by not mating sires to daughters, sons to mothers and even as close as first cousins.  Dont go any closer than second cousins.  First cousins have common grandparents and this is generally too close, unless you have a very special reason to experiment.

Linebreeding

This is very similar to inbreeding but seems to have a better image among breeders.  Its “inbreeding done more slowly” and has the same effect as mating relatives and concentrating genes.  This is the way to go - you make haste slowly, and it gives you time to do some selection, and go back and make an outcross if you strike trouble. 

In this outcrossing, try to get a new sire from a breeder with similar objectives but slightly different genes.  Then you dont slip back too far and lose the benefits of the genes you want.

People have a great fear of inbreeding (probably because of the human religious taboo against it) but less fear of linebreeding.  So theres an old saying that if it fails call it inbreeding but if it works call it linebreeding!

The future working dog

The dog like the human is a very adaptable species and it has a great future. It can reproduce rapidly and responds well to natural or man-made selection.  As a result there is plenty of opportunity for man to change the working dog - for better or for worse.

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Dog Breeding

You may feel awkward or uneasy when breeding your dog and I know it is a serious decision one dog owner has to make. But here are some good tips that will make the process easier for you and your dog.

You should choose the right partner for your dog – this is one of the most significant things to do. Bear in mind that the puppies carry with them the genes of their parents, so you should choose a partner that is healthy, attractive, and other positive qualities you like your dog to possess.

The female dog should be very healthy so that giving birth and pregnancy is very easy. Before the breeding process, she should be well fed with supplements and the right amount of nutrition to have all the energy and boosts her body for the pregnancy.

Knowing important records about the male and female dog can give a success to the breeding process, but you should focus more on the female’s records. You should know medical issues and background of the female, time of the year where she is in heat, and any important changes in her behavior.

You should also establish a firm foundation to your veterinarian. Having a good relationship with your vet is very essential since he/she is there all throughout the breeding process. You might want to ensure that the vet is doing his/her best for the process to become successful.

We cannot avoid the fact that dogs also possess reproductive problems. Usually, female dogs have more reproductive problems than the male dogs. But problems for the males are more difficult to solve. Low sperm count, anatomical defects, and reproductive organ infection are very common problems. Male dogs may also less or no interest whenever they have Brucellosis, arthritis of the spine, and hypothyroidism.

For the female, the right timing is needed in order to have a successful breeding. That right timing is when the female dog is in heat. But, that heat period is usually hard to tell with the proper hormone tests. Fortunately, veterinarians have all the ways to know when the best time to breed is. Heat period for females occur every 6 months and it starts when they reach 1 year. It is also advisable that the female dog is fully grown, as to avoid any complications during the pregnancy.

Once a female dog is in heat, it will show signs like changes in temperament, the way she acts, etc. There are many different signs but they blood discharge is the most common. You will also know that the female is willing to breed once she is in heat. Blood discharges are usually from dark red to a tan color. You will then have to let the male and female spend time together, like a couple of days and let them do their process.

Be sure to watch and study the changes in your female for once the heat period is over, you’ll have to wait for the next 6 months. The vet will then be able to tell if your dog is pregnant 22 days after the breeding time.

Breeding occurs naturally without help from humans, but if you want to accelerate the process, a little help won’t hurt the dogs. Hope these tips will bring you joy and success in dog breeding.

Check Dog Breeding for more of the exciting thoughts! 

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