It’s a story that sounds like a made for TV movie. In 2007, Dr. Roy Madigan was a veterinarian practicing in Spring Branch, Texas when he received a call from a local shelter to treat a dog with severe arrhythmia and a heart rate of more than 220 beats per minute. The dog died. A necropsy showed it had severe heart disease, but it wasn’t clear why, so Madigan sent samples off to Texas A&M University. The result stunned him: Chagas disease.
By: Brittany Bevis Here’s the story of a man named Bradshaw. Surrounded by four, very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, and teeth so white. E! said, “Let’s film a show.” He said, “Give it a whirl!” Here’s the story of a man named Bradshaw. Breeding Quarter Horses on his farm. […]
I want to “Look Back” to a close friend that we lost a few years ago whose level of participation had been limited for a number of years before his passing. Many will have memories of R. Stephen Shaw. Many of those memories will be decidedly different and I can say that does not surprise me for one second.
Not a year goes by that somebody doesn’t post a link to an article “exposing” the money-grubbing conspiracy that is supposedly behind heartworm prevention. At first reading, their claims can be pretty convincing. Are we really being duped into dosing our dogs with expensive medication against a disease that barely exists? Let’stake a look.
Let’s face it: As much as we want to promote purebred dogs because of their predictable tendencies and health, that’s not why the typical person chooses one.
The Shiba Inu is the smallest of the native Japanese breeds. It shares many features with the Akita, also from Japan: triangular eyes, erect triangular ears that tilt forward following the arch of the neck, the high-set tail carried over the back, and clear and rich color. (Note: The Shiba is not and should not look like a little Akita.) The Shiba has distinct breed type characteristics.
Every once in awhile, thanks to fate or faultless timing, a book arrives at an almost prescient moment, when everyone seems to be seeking expert guidance to light the way forward. Ann Seranne’s classic, The Joy of Breeding Your Own Show Dog, was one of those books. The title certainly sets the timeline, but, at least in this quadrant of the universe, sex wasn’t the only big discovery going on at that moment. The sport was riding an unprecedented and seemingly endless crest of popularity. Those spiking numbers represented legions of fanatical novices entering the game. They provided energy and enthusiasm that would power the sport to previously unimaginable heights. Annual registrations topping a million; shows topping 5,000 entries. New, wildly successful kennels sprouted like weeds in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. Many spawned bloodlines that endure to this day.
It is nearly as certain as death and taxes that if you do enough performance or field activities with enough dogs, sooner or later you will have a dog that seemingly has developed an unsolvable problem in that sport. Sometimes that issue will be so serious as to cause the dog to be unsuccessful in that activity. When that happens, if the dog is willing to keep trying, it is important to not give up on the dog because somewhere, somehow there may be something that will enable you and the dog to overcome that obstacle and succeed.
Over the past 20 years our knowledge of the canine species has exceeded all of the cumulative information amassed in the previous two centuries. Researchers have improved tools and protocols, along with far more efficient ways to glean significant facts from the resultant mountain of data.
Ireland is the home of many wonderful and beautiful breeds. For many years the sporting and hunting dogs were reserved for the upper classes. Several terriers were used as general purpose farm dogs, including the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, the Kerry Blue Terrier, and the Irish Terrier. The Wheaten is distinguished by his coat – wheaten colored, soft, silky, and wavy. Temperamentally, they are also less feisty than some other terriers. Wheatens are currently the second most popular terrier based on 2019 AKC registration statistics.
