Battle Born Azawakh

Over vaccination

2011-05-18T16:24:00.001-07:00

Most pets in the U.S. are over vaccinated. Vaccines, while they can be lifesaving by preventing disease, are not harmless. Vaccines tax the immune system, can cause tumors at the injection site and in some cases cause severe allergic reactions. They should therefore be used sparingly and with caution.
(If you fear your dog may suffer an allergic reaction from vaccination you may, with the guidance of your veterinarian, give 12.5 to 25 milligrams of Benadryl (dephenhydramine) depending on the dog's size before a vaccine is administered)

In 2002 a rather brave vet wrote this statement concerning vaccination protocols and their need to be updated. Please click the link to read it:
http://www.2ndchance.info/spayneuterAttorneyG.htm

Pet Obesity epidemic at all time high

2011-05-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

America's pets are fatter then ever, the huffington post reports with an article and video:
Click the link to view now:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/pet-obesity-overweight-dogs-cats_n_827017.html

Azawakh Textures

2011-01-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

Behold I am the Azawakh that flies! I am like a flying potato!

Play bow.

Fast moving and suspicious, the elusive Basement-Azawakh is difficult to photograph.

Hindfeet.

Shoulder.

Azawakh Art

2010-09-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

A sketch done at work while on a telephone call. I'm not sure which one I like better, the original or the coloured version.

Gangly Nara

2010-06-26T12:16:00.001-07:00

I came across these pictures this morning, and was reminded of how thin Nara was when she was around six, seven months old. She never wanted to eat, just play. That was about three years ago. She has filled out quite a bit since then.

2010-06-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

Samael. He looks almost identicle to his sire in this picture. Samael lives in Sparks, Nevada.

Tcherot

2010-06-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

Tcherot at 7 months (top) and 4 months old (bottom)

Tcherot is out of Nara and Ansongo. She now lives in California.

Newly uploaded video of Nara and her newborns

2010-04-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em6xVaasrvo

Follow the youtube link above.

Lilith

2010-02-20T12:12:00.000-08:00

Keeping female dogs intact longer may increase longevity, new study says.

2010-02-05T12:56:00.000-08:00

Message for women and dogs: keeping ovaries is linked to longevity
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - This year, hundreds of thousands of women and pet dogs will undergo a hysterectomy and have their ovaries removed along with their uterus. Now, two independent research studies looking at longevity may challenge almost four decades of standard operating procedures used in women and in pets.
Research published Tuesday (Dec. 1) shows female dogs that keep their ovaries longer also live longer. The study, exploring the factors that favor successful aging in pet dogs, was conducted by a research team led by David J. Waters, a doctor of veterinary medicine.
Waters' work is the first investigation to look for a link between retaining ovaries and reaching exceptional longevity in mammals. Waters is executive director of the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation, based at the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette. The Murphy Foundation is home to the Center for Exceptional Longevity Studies, which tracks the oldest living pet dogs in the United States.
The researchers collected and analyzed lifetime medical histories, ages and causes of death for 119 canine "centenarians" - exceptionally long-lived Rottweiler dogs living in the United States and Canada that survived to 13 years, which is 30 percent longer than average Rottweilers. These exceptionally long-lived dogs were compared to a group of 186 Rottweilers that had usual longevity, approximately nine years.
"A female survival advantage in humans is well-documented - women outnumber men by 4:1 among those who reach 100," said Waters, who is associate director of Purdue University's Center on Aging and the Life Course and a professor in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences. "Like women, female dogs in our study had a distinct survival advantage over males. But taking away ovaries during the first four years of life completely erased the female survival advantage. We found that female Rottweilers that kept their ovaries for at least six years were four times more likely to reach exceptional longevity compared to females who had the shortest lifetime ovary exposure.
"Clearly, we have tapped into a unique resource with our Exceptional Longevity Database. We like to think of it as the pet dog equivalent of the New England Centenarian Study. We want to better understand the biology of aging. Our quest to validate pet dogs as a model for the study of healthy human aging is at the core of this research."
Murphy Foundation scientists think it is time to tackle a new set of research questions relevant to the biology behind aging. At the top of the list are identifying ovary-sensitive processes that may influence the rate of aging and defining the critical window of ovary exposure that optimizes longevity.
The pet dog research published in Aging Cell mirrors the findings of the Nurses' Health Study published this summer by Dr. William Parker and colleagues from the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, Calif.
Parker's group studied more than 29,000 women who underwent a hysterectomy for benign uterine disease. The findings showed that the upside of ovary removal - protection against ovarian, uterine and breast cancer - was outweighed by increased mortality from other causes. As a result, longevity was cut short in women who lost their ovaries before the age of 50 compared with those who kept their ovaries for at least 50 years.
"For the last 35 years, most doctors have been routinely advising women undergoing hysterectomy to have their ovaries removed to prevent ovarian cancer," Parker said. "We believe that such an automatic recommendation is no longer warranted."
Waters believes it boils down to systems thinking.
"Nobody would argue that taking the caterpillars out of an environment does not change that environment in unforeseen ways," he said. "You're not simply left with the old environment minus caterpillars. Likewise, we are dealing with an ovarian ecology that urges us to pause and consider the long-term health consequences of taking out ovaries."
Taken together, the emerging message for dogs and women seems to be that when it comes to longevity, it pays to keep your ovaries.
"What we have here is a compelling convergence," Waters said. "The data from women and dogs, together with reported longevity benefits from ovary transplants in mice, are pointing in the same direction - the notion that a network of processes regulating longevity is under ovarian control."
Parker believes the results point to a need for a new conversation between patient and doctor, framed by the patient's specific risk factors and personal concerns. Waters concurs.
"In this era of personalized medicine, it seems only fitting that we should be directing the conversation about elective ovary removal in women and dogs toward a more forward-looking, individualized script," Waters said.

About the Center for Exceptional Longevity Studies
The Center for Exceptional Longevity Studies seeks to identify important genetic and environmental determinants of healthy longevity and to better understand the complex relationship between aging and cancer. While the scientific community looks for reliable research approaches to verify exciting scientific leads, we see enormous value in studying pet dogs living with their owners as a virtual aging laboratory. There is a big payoff for validating this kind of innovative thinking - an opportunity to promote healthy longevity in both pets and people. The center and its research are supported by P&G Pet Care, makers of Iams and Eukanuba, and the Rottweiler Health Foundation. The research is conducted jointly by the Murphy Cancer Foundation and Purdue University.
About Purdue Research Park
The 725-acre Purdue Research Park has the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The park is home to more than 160 companies. About 100 of these firms are technology-related and another 39 are incubator businesses. The park is owned and managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, a private, nonprofit foundation created to assist Purdue University in the area of economic development. In addition to the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, the foundation has established technology parks in other locations around Indiana including Indianapolis, Merrillville and New Albany.
To the Purdue Research Park, http://www.purdueresearchpark.com
ABSTRACT
Exploring Mechanisms of Sex Differences in Longevity: Lifetime Ovary Exposure and Exceptional Longevity in Dogs
David J. Waters,1,2 Seema S. Kengeri,1 Beth Clever,1 Julie A. Booth,1 Aimee H. Maras,1 Deborah L. Schlittler1 (1Center for Exceptional Longevity Studies, Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation, 2The Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences and the Center on Aging and the Life Course, Purdue University); Michael G. Hayek3 (3P&G Pet Care)
To move closer to understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of sex differences in human longevity, we studied pet dogs to determine whether lifetime duration of ovary exposure was associated with exceptional longevity. This hypothesis was tested by collecting and analyzing lifetime medical histories, age at death, and cause of death for a cohort of canine 'centenarians' – exceptionally long-lived Rottweiler dogs that lived more than 30 percent longer than average life expectancy for the breed. Sex and lifetime ovary exposure in the oldest-old Rottweilers (age at death, ≥ 13 years) were compared to a cohort of Rottweilers that had usual longevity (age at death, 8.0-10.8 years). Like women, female dogs were more likely than males to achieve exceptional longevity (OR, 95 percent CI = 2.0, 1.2–3.3; P = 0.006). However, removal of ovaries during the first 4 years of life erased the female survival advantage. In females, a strong positive association between ovaries and longevity persisted in multivariate analysis that considered other factors, such as height, body weight, and mother with exceptional longevity. A beneficial effect of ovaries on longevity in females could not be attributed to resistance against a particular disease or major cause of death. Our results document in dogs a female sex advantage for achieving exceptional longevity and show that lifetime ovary exposure, a factor not previously evaluated in women, is associated with exceptional longevity. This work introduces a conceptual framework for designing additional studies in pet dogs to define the ovary-sensitive biological processes that promote healthy human aging.
Purdue Research Park contact:Steve Martin, 765-588-3342, sgmartin@prf.org
Source: David J. Waters, 765-775-1009, waters@purdue.edu

Nara/Ansongo litter 2009 at about 8 weeks old

2010-01-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

Top 2 Lilith the queen, Taikon always a blur, Barky noise-making Samael, and Garo looking worried.

Winter in northern Nevada

2010-01-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

Record cold and snowfall this season. I love it. The dogs are less impressed.

Some belated (and a bit outdated) photos

2009-12-26T11:18:00.000-08:00

Toki, Tak, Tiamat, Taikon, Samael, Lilith, Garo. You know the routine.

New Pictures

2009-12-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

New pictures of the babies. From the top: Toki eating Tiamat, Lilith, Samael, Taikon, Tak, Tiamat, Toki eating mommy, Toki looking at the camera with his siblings, Garo, Garo with daddy.

Tak, Taikon, Lilith and Tcherot (not pictured) have been placed.

More puppy pictures!

2009-11-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

Tak (female)

Lilith (female)

Samael (male)

Taikon (male)

Tiamat (female)

Garo (male)

Toki (male)

Tak and her dad Ansongo The puppies are growing faster than weeds I think. they are now three weeks old.

Tak (top) has been placed, and Tcherot (not pictured here) has also been placed. All the other puppies are still available.

For more information E-mail me at battlebornazawakh@yahoo.com

The puppies are born!

2009-11-10T13:13:00.001-08:00

On Sunday the 8th of November Nara whelped 8 puppies, 4 males and 4 females. They are only a couple of hours old in the photos!

The birth occured without any troubles and all are doing well.

The puppies names are in order of birth from the top:

1. Toki----male

2. Garo--- male

3.Taikon--male

4.Tcherot-female

5.Tak-----female

6.Tiamat--female

7. Samael--male

8. Lilith----female

If you are interested in a puppy from this breeding (Ansongo Idiiyat-es-Sahel X Nara Idiiyat-es-Sahel) You can e-mail me at battlebornazawakh@yahoo.com

More pictures of pregnant Nara

2009-10-31T12:16:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pictures of pregnant Nara. In the top picture Ansongo, the sire of the litter is resting his head on her belly. The movement of the puppies can now be easily felt under the abdominal walls. There is still some debate among scientists whether the movements of the unborn occur as part of waking activity, or if they are a byproduct of R.E.M. sleep.

The puppies have only about a week to go, I'm sure its getting cramped in there.

The Tamaskan Dog, another testament to the flexibility of dog genetics

2009-10-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

Looking at this picture what do you think right away? Wolf? Wolf hybrid?

Neither would be true. This is a picture of a Tamaskan Dog, a new breed created by selective breeding to resemble a wolf, as its standard reads "to resemble a wolf as closely as possible." Several breeds have been used in its creation including the German Shepard, Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Inuit dog and an dash of working Spitz from Finland. The Tamaskan has been selected for wolf like appearance, with each successive generation looking more like the wild thing, without the use of any wolf blood, at all.

I have often wondered if it would be possible to create an animal that looked convincingly like a wolf through the use of dog blood alone, here we see that it is definitely a possible. It is a testament the the flexibility in the genes of the dog, which is responsible for so much of the varied appearance in the animal, from super specialized athletes to almost comical deformity.

I have little doubt that if it were attempted over a long enough series of generations a dog could be bred with physical characteristics to resemble a felid.

From what I have been able to gather from research about the physical and behavioural characteristics of living wild canids, and their feral kin in the most remote parts of the undeveloped world, as well as some (sparse) fossil evidence, I find it highly unlikely that the first dogs were the spitting image of the grey wolf as we know it today. (despite the public's romanticized conceptions.) It is more likely that the ancestor of canis lupus familiaris was a leaner, smaller canid, closer in appearance and behaviour to the coyote or jackal. It would have fed on the refuse and leavings of humans, much like these living animals still do today. But like the Aurochs, the ancestor of our modern cattle, the mother race of the domestic dog may very well have gone extinct.

But people still have an undeniable draw to the grey wolf, to the extent that there is a very large market for wolves and their crosses in the pet trade. Their numbers may be as high as 500,000 in the U.S.A. alone. This is all too often an unfortunate situation for both the animals and their would be owners. Dog and wolf have different instincts, and this causes many hybrids to be in a constant state of behavioural conflict. Many become terribly board and extremely destructive when their rather extensive needs are not met. Wolf hybrids are also responsible for a disproportionally large quantity of fatal dog attacks.

The dog has been bred to function within human society and respond to human cues for over 15,000 years. The wolf is an apex predator that is avoidant of people. (big game predator + domestic animal with no fear of people = bad idea)

Even well intentioned breeders have tried to bring out a working usefulness from wolf genetics as early as the 1920s with poor success. The breeds that have been spawned from these early attempts at creating a "superdog" are still undergoing improvement as long as 90 years after the first attempts and they are still not up to par with the mental stability and performance of the Malinois or German Shepard.

In conclusion I can see the good in the creation of a breed like this, this dog in wolf's clothing. Because it is a dog it is just as easy to handle and train, and will be a happier animal, with happier owners. As long as it is bred with consideration for its overall wellbeing and health I can see this animal having a long future and a happy following by wilderness lovers who do not wish to try and make a pet out of a wild animal.

Pregnant Nara

2009-10-24T12:38:00.001-07:00

Here Nara is enjoying the last (luke)warm days of the year. The leaves have already fallen and the grass has died. The dogs have been spending most of the morning sleeping by the stove.

Nara seems kind of tired of being pregnant, she seems to be thinking "aren't they going to come out already?" I wish I could tell her that it won't be much longer, but she will figure that out soon.

2009-10-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

Idiiyat-es-Sahel Ansongo who is the sire, at 6 months.

Idiiyat-es-Sahel Nara, who is the dam

I can now tell that Nara is definitely pregnant. The puppies are expected to be born between the 8th and the 13th of November. If you might be interested in a puppy from this breeding you can E-Mail me at battlebornazawakh@yahoo.com
Pedigree information can be found linked at the post below.

Azawakh puppies planned for November

2009-09-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Ansongo Idiiyat-es-Sahel has been bred to Nara Idiiyat-es-Sahel and I am now waiting to see if she is pregnant. Both dogs are very healthy and active and I am sure they will make lovely puppies. This breeding has a relatively low inbreeding of about 6%

click here for pedigree of Ansongo

click here for pedigree of Nara

If you might be interested in puppies from this breeding you can email me at battlebornazawakh@yahoo.com

From LiveScience, dogs catch human yawns

2009-08-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Dogs Catch Human Yawns
By Jeanna Bryner, Senior Writer
posted: 17 September 2008 06:53 am ET

"Spying someone yawning often makes us yawn. Now, a new study shows your canine buddy can catch yawns from you, too.
The results suggest domestic dogs have the capacity for a fundamental form of empathy, the researchers say.
The phenomenon, called contagious yawning, has been found only in humans and other primates such as chimpanzees and is thought to relate to our ability to empathize with others. Past studies, however, involved yawning within one species at a time, so for instance chimps that triggered other chimps to yawn and humans prompting yawns in other humans.
Shaggy line-up
Researcher Ramiro Joly-Mascheroni, a psychologist at Birkbeck, University of London first tested the phenomenon in his dog, a Labrador. Immediately upon yawning himself, Joly-Mascheroni's dog immediately yawned. And sure enough, tests on friends' pups showed similar results.
For the new study, the furry cast included a wide range of dog breeds from a Greyhound to a Staffordshire Bull Terrier to a Dalmatian. In total 29 dogs went through two testing scenarios each lasting five minutes, one in which a human (not the owner) called the dog over and while keeping eye contact with the dog he or she would act out yawns that included the vocal portions.
In the non-yawning scenario, the human went through similar motions, except he or she didn't yawn vocally and instead just opened and closed their mouths.
During the yawn sessions, 21 dogs (or 72 percent of them) yawned, while no dogs yawned during the non-yawning scenario. That's compared with 45 percent to 65 percent found from past studies in humans and 33 percent found for chimpanzees (in chimp-to-chimp studies).
In addition to yawning, the dogs showed similar reactions to human yawns. "In the yawning condition, we found the dogs reacted pretty much in the same way," Joly-Mascheroni said. "They all acknowledged the yawn in some way either by dropping their ears or turning their heads away."
Catching the Z's
The researchers aren't sure why dogs catch the yawns from us. In fact, scientists don't yet understand contagious yawning in humans.
"There are theories that seem to think that we used to transfer this information of 'I am tired' by yawning when we didn't have language," Joly-Mascheroni told LiveScience.
In this same way, humans could be transferring sleep info to dogs. "It would be interesting to find out what other information we transfer to dogs or to any other animals that we are not aware of," he added.
In past studies, research team member Atsushi Senji, also of the University of London, has shown a possible link between empathy and contagious yawning in autistic children, the researchers said. Autism is a developmental disorder in which individuals often show impaired social interaction, problems with communication and a lack of empathy, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. This previous research showed that autistic kids don't "catch" yawns from others, Senji said.
And so the new results in dogs, published online in August in the journal Biology Letters, could mean man's best friend has the capacity for a basic level of empathy. "

New (old) video

2009-06-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

I put up a new video on YouTube. It is of the dogs as puppies shortly after I brought them home from Georgia. The trip involved lots of flying and driving, but we were mostly recovered when this was shot. I think they were about 10 weeks old here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6QVb-2M080

ASPCA opposes madatory spay/neuter laws

2009-06-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

The ASPCA opposes mandatory spay neuter bills like SB 250, California's latest mean joke for dogs and their owners.

The ASPCA knows that the reasons for shelter intake are many (for example if a dogs chews the carpet and the exasperated owner surrenders it to a shelter, it is irrelevant if the dog was neutered or not.) and can not be solved by sterilization alone.

Many proponents of these bills lump together cat population statistics with those of dogs, to make numbers of "stray" or ownerless pets appear higher.

Laws like these set an unacceptably low threshold for government interference in private people's lives. They are dangerous and can have severe, unforeseen future consequences for animals and people. If you live in California please call and write your lawmakers and tell them that forcing people to have surgery preformed on their pets is not acceptable. Altering your pet should be an informed decision between you and your veterinarian, not the decision of the state.

The ASPCA offers a very balanced and sane argument against mandatory sterilization. Click below to go to the ASPCA website and read the entire article.

http://www.aspca.org/about-us/policy-positions/mandatory-spay-neuter-laws.html

pictures from the past

2009-05-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

Pictures form 2007. The dogs were born in January of that year.

The new home

2009-04-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

After a long while searching I have finally been able to move into a house of my own. It's a bit of a fixer, but nothing can compare to have a place of your own. The following are pictures of the dogs enjoying the new place. The tan and white female is Idiiyat-es-Sahel Nara, Sired by Fasiqqi. Her dam is Idiiyat-es-Sahel Imouyene. Nara is very feisty, intelligent and willful. The blue eyed male is Idiiyat-es-Sahel Ansongo. He is sired by Afelahlah and his dam is Xanadu farms Azzat. Ansongo is even keeled, laid back and has a good sense of humor.

Birthdays

2009-01-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

Today January 22, is the birthday of my Azawakh bitch, Nara. It is also my birthday today. She is two years old. I am twenty four.

Dunes

2009-01-11T10:11:00.000-08:00

The beautiful red dunes of Sossusvlei in the Namib desert, Namibia. These are some of the tallest dunes in the world.

Azawakh playing

2009-01-06T22:32:00.001-08:00

My Idi, at about 11 months

Slowly the hand mends..

2009-01-05T17:38:00.000-08:00

It has been nearly a month since I broke my hand over a steel railing after slipping on some ice outside my apartment. It has been very hard to work, so I have been limited to one handed tasks. Its amazing how you can take something so basic as a hand for granted. I have not been able to do much, even getting dressed and flossing my teeth is a struggle.
Surgery was not recommended as it has a risk of causing further damage, so I have wore a brace to help guide the bone back into place. At the time it occurred I had a bone jutting up underneath my skin, I found out later after x-rays the extent of the damage, which I had first underestimated.
Above is an x-ray of my left had taken about a week after the injury at the orthopedic center.

Kitten from Hell?

2009-01-03T22:51:00.000-08:00

Little did I know when I bought a three legged kitty from an rescue group at Petco what a task would be at hand! She was a very cute little Siamese mix who had just had a leg removed (likely due to an auto collision) and had just been spayed. She had stitches everywhere, It was like Frankenstein cat. But she had a great personality was cute and was deformed, I couldn't say no. She has since grown into a remorseless eating machine that has destroyed the phone, the carpet, the drywall, the Internet cable, the speaker cable, and the dog halters among other things. She chews more than any dog I have ever had.