I want to thank everyone who left a question about dog DNA testing for Dr. Becker and Dr. Fretwell.

Good Morning America correspondent Dr. Marty Becker and geneticist Dr. Neale Fretwell are conducting satellite interviews on May 6th on the Wisdom Panel Test, the most comprehensive doggie DNA test available today.

With Wisdom Panel MX, mixed-breed dogs will receive the most reliable DNA breed test available.

* Blood-based sampling, scientifically proven to provide the highest quality DNA analysis
* Detecting 157 different AKC breeds (incl. 4 Foundation Breeds) and counting
* Proprietary algorithm providing 90% accuracy
* Backed by a decade of peer-reviewed veterinarian science research on dog genetics
* Detailed report illustrating your dog’s heritage, revealing breed traits and characteristics

This is the first of three segments, hear what the doctors had to say in response to your questions…

If you can’t see the video in your RSS feed, then click here.

What do all the things mentioned above have in common?  A study involving  dogs in Iditarod worthy shape to see if their fat-burning abilities could help uncover ways to prevent and treat obesity in type 2 diabetes?

Michael Davis is on the trail to find out. Davis, a professor at Oklahoma State University who has studied exercise physiology in sled dogs for a decade, recently completed the first phase of research examining how dogs that train for the 1,100-mile Iditarod become “insulin-sensitive” and convert fat to energy so proficiently.

“If we can figure out what exercise is doing to start the process, then we may be able to find how it can be applied to everyone, whether or not they are physically able to exercise,” he says.

Approximately 24 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, diet and exercise have been shown to help prevent the onset.

Davis and his collaborators chose 16 dogs in Iditarod-worthy shape and had them run 22 miles at a healthy clip of 8 m.p.h. Half the dogs were anesthetized for five minutes while researchers took small muscle biopsies from their legs; the other half were measured for insulin sensitivity using catheters.

By calculating the metabolic stress on the muscles again in the fall — when the dogs are not in shape after a summer of inactivity — Davis hopes to understand how the cells are reacting under different physical conditions.

Interesting, I’ll have to keep an eye out in the fall to see if there is an update on his findings.

*Cody is an Alaskan Malamute living in Australia, he obviously isn’t good with maps.

I received an email from a member sharing the news with me that PETA is encouraging the  USA Network not to air  the Westminster Dog Show .

The reasoning, the breeds that are bred for show endure inhumane treatment, bad breeding, and health issues.

The BBC has already decided to pull their version of the Westminster, Crufts Dog Show, from the air. The BBC pulled Crufts after an expose was aired, “Pedigree Dogs Exposed,” raising concerns over the health of dogs bred for the show ring.

In a letter to USA’s president Bonnie Hammer, PETA founder and president Ingrid Newkirk writes, “Since dog breeders routinely use incestuous inbreeding and genetic manipulation…it’s not surprising that as many as one in four purebred dogs is plagued with a serious genetic problem.”

Beagles like last year’s Westminster winner, Uno, are susceptible to a wide variety of genetic health problems like hypothyroidism, epilepsy and demodectic mange, according to PETA.

“Countless dogs suffer painful cosmetic surgeries and millions of wonderful dogs die in animal shelters because of the AKC’s inhumane policies…USA Network can take a stand against the cruel treatment of animals simply by denying air time to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show,” said PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch.

If you would like to express your opinion to the USA Network, letting them know how you feel, go to their feedback page.

Do you think the Westminster Dog Show is good television viewing, that PETA’s questions about health and safety are unfounded?  Or, do you think there is something to what they say and it should be pulled?

* Uno picture courtesy Timothy A. Clary / AFP – Getty Images

Drake, a Labrador Retriever, didn’t want to go duck hunting on Saturday.  He would much rather been playing fetch at the local park.

To put a stop to this unwanted activity he shot his owner in the buttocks. It worked, duck hunting was canceled.

Marcum was standing in the bay Saturday morning, about to tie up an 11-foot open aluminum boat, when his 3-year-old Labrador, Drake, jumped into the boat and set off the gun, his Father, Henry Marcum, said Sunday. The blast blew a hole in the boat before hitting Marcum.

His son was concerned about the dog, Henry Marcum said. “He’s a good dog. It’s just one of those things. It’s an accident.”

Matthew Marcum is in Portland’s Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center, recovering from injuries to his legs and buttocks. Not much more I can add to this story.

* I didn’t have a picture of so I posted Dogster member River, who I’m pretty sure never shot his owner.

Over the July Fourth weekend my wife and I were visiting friends in Wilmington, NC.  They took us out boating and we were amazed at the number of boaters who had dogs with them.  A large percentage of them had doggie lifejackets, but not all.  Which leads me to the point, not all dogs are swimmers.

There are certain things we assume dogs know by instinct. Then there’s swimming. It seems so integral to being a dog that we’ve even named a stroke after them, the dog-paddle – so you’d assume that’s another thing that every dog is born knowing how to do.

To keep your best friend safe this summer you may need to sign up for Swimming 101.

Some dogs have to be taught to swim, Diamond said, and others, like bulldogs, take to the water like submarines take to the Cross Bronx Expressway. For the former, there is hope. For the latter, there are those bright orange canine flotation devices.

Is there anything cuter then a dog in a bright orange life-jacket?

Among those that can’t swim at all or swim only with great difficulty are basset hounds, bulldogs, dachshunds, pugs, corgis, Scottish and Boston terriers and greyhounds.

When you teach a dog to swim you use a lot of the same rules as you would when teaching a child.  You never want to leave a dog unattended, even one that can swim.  Dogs that can swim may jump in a pool and not be able to get out, resulting in drowning.  Here is a checklist from Wendy Diamond,  founder and editorial director of Animal Fair magazine, of things to do to get ready for Swimming  101:

* Avoid excessive noise
“Take them to an area that’s not so crazy and hectic,” she advised. Like children, dogs can become frightened and confused if there’s a lot of noise and activity around them. The object is to keep them calm and focused on the swimming lesson.

* Use encouragement
As when teaching a child, keep your voice upbeat and positive, she said. “Using treats and toys to encourage your dog to enter the water also works quite well,” she said.

* Never throw them in
Just as you shouldn’t throw a child in the water and expect it to swim to safety, you shouldn’t do that with a dog, Diamond said. “Don’t force the dog. If they don’t want to do it, don’t force them to do it.” Instead, she told Celeste, “Slowly put them in the water and get their paws used to it.”

* Support their weight until they paddle
Even if the dog is wearing a life vest, Diamond said, support its midsection and hindquarters in the water until they start paddling and feel comfortable.

* Show them how to get out
Getting a dog in the pool is only half the battle. Diamond reminded pet owners that they also need to be shown where the steps are in the pool so they can easily get out.

* Keep an eye on them
Even in the water, dogs can wander off. Dogs that swim naturally and well can jump in the ocean and keep swimming until they’re lost, Diamond said. “You want to make sure, like children, that you watch where they’re going,” she said.

If you’re anywhere near Buda, Texas this weekend here’s something fun! Its time again for the annual Wiener Dog Races and like every other sport in Texas, these folks take it very seriously. Okay, seriously with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

And for those of us who can’t make it to Buda this weekend, check out last year’s events with a funny, yet touching DVD titled Lord of the Wiens: A Dachumentary.

Lord of the Wiens has three sections, all of which have their own charms. If you love Dachshunds or love seeing dogs and their people have a ton of fun, check out Lord of the Wiens.

So here’s the info for this weekend:

2008 Buda Country Fair & Wiener Dog Race
WHEN: April 26 & 27, 2008
WHERE: Buda City Park

Thanks to Mark for barking in about really big toys for you and your dog to share — dog-powered scooters and trikes! How cool is this?!?!?

check out this new Dog Powered TRIKE!
-it gives the rider precision steering control, with great braking
-total stability,
-the ability to help by pedalling, or by hand cranking !
-and the thrill of dog mushing/pulling !

And here’s more from the site:

THE FIRST DOG PULLED DEVICES WHICH PLACES THE DOG BEHIND A STEERING WHEEL! THUS GIVING THE RIDER PRECISION STEERING CONTROL OF THE DOG. THEREFORE EASY TO RIDE, SAFE AND APPROPRIATE FOR THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT MAKING DOG MUSHING ACCESSIBLE TO EVERY BREED, AGE OF RIDER, LOCATION, AND SEASON.

South Africans race dogs in snowy Sweden

Lifting a large Siberian Husky out of its cage, South Africa’s national dog racing champ excitedly describes what it has been like training for her first competition on snow at this weekend’s world sled dog racing championship in Sweden.

“There’s been a lot of falling. We’ve spent a lot more time in the snow than on the sled, but I think we’ve got the hang of it now,” says Cindy Foggitt, 30, who has been South Africa’s sled dog racing champion for the past three years.

“The good thing is that falling on snow is like falling on the clouds compared to falling on dry land. That hurts a lot more,” she tells AFP just a few hours before she and her four-dog team set off from the starting line.

The three-day competition in the small central Swedish town of Aasarna, which counts a population of just 7,000, has drawn 2,000 dogs and 270 drivers, or mushers, from 17 countries, making it the largest sled dog race yet.

With the colourful South African flag billowing from the top of a mound of snow behind her, Foggitt raises her voice to make herself heard over the constant choir of howling, barking and snarling dogs impatiently awaiting their turn to run.

“We can only do our best. Let’s be realistic, we’re at the world championship and competing against people who have been sledding on snow their entire lives,” she says, adding: “As long as I can compete all three days and the dogs enjoy themselves I’ll be happy.”

At her side stand Pierre Slabbert, 43, who ranks second in South African sled dog racing, and 14-year-old Stephan Grobler, who won last year’s national junior class. They are, they say, the first South Africans ever to compete in a sled dog competition on snow.

“It’s totally different on snow,” says Slabbert, who will soon compete with a six-dog team, explaining that in South Africa dog racers use wheeled carts and run on dirt roads.

“Here, when you go off into the forest with the dogs, it’s tranquil. When you’re riding on the road in South Africa, you always hear the clanking of the metal cart, and you always have to watch out for cars,” he says.

Slabbert says he bought his first pure-bred Siberian Husky after watching the 1994 dog racing movie “Iron Will”, “and immediately the sled dog bug bit.”

Today he owns 20 huskies, while Foggitt, who started “mushing” 12 years ago, has 28 and Grobler is just starting his collection with two.

The trio will not be competing with their own dogs however, since they would have been subjected to a six-month quarantine before being allowed to enter Sweden.

Instead, the South Africans have borrowed dogs from other racers in Aasarna and have even learned a few Swedish commands to make themselves understood.

“We came here a month ago to build a relationship with the dogs. That is vital if you’re going to race,” Slabbert says, scratching one of the dogs, Svinto, lovingly behind the ear.

“It’s been like a bootcamp. We’ve been with the dogs from early in the morning until late at night. We haven’t seen much of Sweden, but we managed to bond with the huskies, and that’s a great feeling,” he says.

Contrary to what one might think, Siberian huskies are no rare sight in sweltering South Africa.

“Huskies have double coats, and can actually adapt well to both heat and cold. They have the ability to adapt to any environment. They cope exceptionally well as long as they have a bit of shade and water,” Foggitt says, pointing out that there has been sledding (or rather carting) in her country for the past 25 years.

“It’s probably the fastest-growing sport in South Africa,” she says, adding that there are three times more Siberian Huskies in the African nation than in Sweden, where the breeding of the dog is strictly regulated.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article.

Is this a trend across the US and the world?

Thanks to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal for this article.

Dog racing injuries increase
More greyhounds broke legs at Dairyland racetrack in 2007
By DON WALKER

Posted: Feb. 24, 2008
Seventy-six greyhounds broke their legs racing last year at Dairyland Greyhound Park, an 18.7% increase over the year before, state records show.

Photo/Gary Porter

A broken leg, or hock, is considered to be one of the most serious injuries a greyhound can suffer at a track.

In all, a total of 462 injuries were reported at the track last year, a 19% increase from 2006.

Of those 462 injuries last year, 363 involved dogs that suffered muscle-related injuries, sprains or fractures. Track owners have complained for several years that the state’s Gaming Division, which regulates the track and compiles injury statistics, throws together relatively minor injuries like nail or tail injuries along with the more serious injuries.

The 2007 report makes a distinction between the more severe injuries and the minor ones.

Asked to explain why more dogs are breaking their legs, state officials pointed to a number of factors, including the condition of the track, the race quality of the greyhounds and the weather. Greyhounds run year-round at the track, which opened in 1990 and is the state’s last remaining dog-racing track.

Jenifer Barker, a state veterinarian on site at Dairyland who treats most of the injured dogs at the track, cited the condition of the track’s surface and the overall deterioration of the greyhound industry in general as reasons for the increased injury rate.

The track has not been completely resurfaced since at least 1995, according to Bill Apgar, the track’s general manager. However, he said, the track is constantly maintained and groomed for the dogs.

“Nobody likes injuries,” he said. “This is an athletic contest, and injuries do happen. We spare no expense in making the track as safe as we can.”

Apgar said the track employed four full-time employees to groom the track, plus three part-timers. In addition, a maintenance director, the track’s racing director and Apgar himself monitor the track, he said.

Apgar said that not every injury is attributable to the track itself. “A third of these injuries were injuries when the dogs were bumped in turns. Other injuries could be the result of genetics. Maybe the dog got bumped, didn’t show any effects right away and the next time he ran, he broke down,” he said.

Barker said her veterinary peers around the country did not have a set policy on how often a track needs to be resurfaced, but said a rule of thumb is every three to five years.

Industry experts have differing opinions on what constitutes a well-maintained track that minimizes injury. Some say a hard surface is the best surface; others say a more forgiving surface can minimize injury.

Barker also said the greyhound industry has been in decline for years, a victim of differing tastes and the growth of casino gambling.

“Some have called it a dying industry,” she said. “There’s not much money in it, and there isn’t as high caliber of help as there used to be.”

Barker recalled a time in the 1990s when each kennel at a dog track would have several helpers on duty. Today the average is more like two helpers per kennel.

Dan Subach, the Gaming Division’s chief steward at Dairyland, said a number of factors played a role in the number of injuries. But all parties are trying to address the frequency of injuries.

“It will take enormous efforts by numerous parties. . . to hopefully have a positive impact on this,” he said.

According to Subach, weather plays a role in injuries at Dairyland. The dogs are subjected to rain, wind, snow, sleet and very dry conditions.

“And there is a concern that the quality of dogs Dairyland is getting is not as good as they’ve seen in the past,” Subach said. “And that quality may be related to past health issues, or previous injuries. Finally, when dogs run well, they tend to be moved out to other tracks.

“We want to look at the kennels and the education and training at the kennels, and make sure they are putting a sound animal on the track.”

Follow this link to read the rest of the article.

Thanks to Annie for barking in this excellent article from the OCRegister.com.

Soccer links father, son, border collies
By ANNIE BURRIS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Terror grips Mark Lukas as he stands on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico.

He looks out into the cold, foggy water.

He is looking for his son.

Mark had sensed something was wrong hours earlier when his son was late to a dinner party at the family’s home in Brooksville, Fla. Zak Lukas, 16, was the class clown, the rebellious athlete and everyone’s best friend. Mark hoped his son had blown off the party.

Zak, a soccer star, had gone jet skiing with teammate Jason Lewis in the gulf, 20 minutes away from their home.

Mark had sped to the usual places the boys went to ski.

On his fourth stop, he found Zak’s truck.

Then he saw his son’s ski trailer.

Then he called 911.

Standing on the Gulf’s edge, Mark feels powerless as the coast guard arrives. They refuse to fly over the water to search for the boys because of the winter fog. They decide to send a boat out in the morning.

It is Dec. 7, 2002. The coast guards tell him there is nothing more they can do.

The next morning, a fisherman finds the boys nine miles away from shore.

Mark’s son and his teammate had died of hypothermia.

A cord had been sucked into the jet ski rendering it useless — a death sentence in the freezing Florida waters.

Mark cannot cope with the nightmare unfolding in front of him.

“It was a shock,” he said “It motivated me to change.”

Six months later he left his 20-year marriage and quit the cleaning business he had owned for 19 years. He lost touch with is adult daughter.

Now, five years later, he’s moved to Huntington Beach to seek a new life.

And he’s found it in what may sound like the strangest place, the strangest relationship.

He found it in his dogs.

Mark Lukas, now 50, found comfort in four Border Collies, who became his new passion. Those dogs helped him deal with his son’s death.

The link between the dogs, the son and Mark?

Soccer.

• • •

Zak began playing soccer when he was 5-years-old. He was a goalie.

But by the time he was 12, he was handling the ball well enough to play striker — a skilled offensive position — at the highest level of soccer for the 13-year-old age bracket. His team played in an international tournament and beat a Russian team that hadn’t lost in four years. Mark remembers the Russian team crying when the game was over.

Zak made the varsity soccer team his freshman year at Brookville’s Hernando High.

By Zak’s junior year, Mark said his son was something of an athletic legend.

There was just one problem.

He never practiced on his own.

He felt he shouldn’t be bothered with extra dribbling and drills apart from the team. Mark called Zak’s apathy a soccer sin.

When Mark and Zak attended a professional soccer game in Tampa Bay, Fla., Mark thought he found a cure.

During half-time, a Border Collie dribbled the ball from the corner of the field to the center in what seemed like two seconds.

If Mark could teach a dog to play soccer, maybe Zak would practice with the pup.

Zak died before the idea came to fruition, but the dream still burned in Mark’s mind.

After Zak’s death, Mark bought a fourplex apartment building. He lived alone and spent his days retiling his building.

He bought a Border Collie and named her “Ms. Z.”

Z was for Zak.

With the dream of raising a soccer star, Mark started to coach the collie.

He would throw the ball and refuse to praise the year-old puppy until she brought it back.

Dog soccer is vastly more complicated than picking up a yellow tennis ball and carrying it back to the master.

Ms. Z needed to use her snout and paws to dribble the ball.

Mark also taught Ms. Z to catch.

Mark would throw the ball in the air and she learned to trap it with her teeth and two front paws.

It’s like watching the real-life, Border Collie, soccer version of Air Bud.

Ms. Z learned to shoot with her shoulder.

In October of 2006, Mark expanded his soccer team, buying twin Border Collies. He named them “Sweeper” and “Keeper.”

These two puppies seemed to hate the tactics Ms. Z learned and took to more defensive soccer positions that matched their names.

Sweeper – usually the last defensive player before the soccer ball reaches the goalie – became the acrobat of the team with her 5-foot vertical jump.

Keeper – the goalie – has a target-like circle on her nose, Mark said.

Beck, named after the soccer icon David Beckham, was added to the team a year after the twins and learned to play offense with Ms. Z.

Together the collies learned how to outrun and outshoot any human soccer athlete, Mark said.

Soccer Collies had become Mark’s life and his business.

The unconventional dog team became the Soccer Collies – a business that was featured at a Radio Disney convention in Florida that attracted 15,000 people and has become a favorite at birthday parties. His ultimate goal: taking the soccer phenomena to the summer Olympics in China to play as a half-time show at a soccer match.

On Monday, the dogs suited-up to play soccer for the first time since their move to California. They went to a Huntington Beach park to perform for Orange County Register cameras.

From the moment they are let onto the field, the dogs, in red and blue uniforms, zero-in on the ball like an atomic missile programmed on a target.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article and watch the video.