dogsofimladris

[dogsofimladris]

I got cufflinks with Waverly’s pawprints on them and I’m kind of obsessed

#this is so cute #and now i want to wear cufflinks

[dogsofimladris]

Rory's first session with steadiness training and she's crushing it!

#bird dog training #woah training #this is so cool #never really thought about how to do this #but yeah this is exactly how imma do it

[dogsofimladris]

ok here’s all my rambling thoughts about the future of dog breeding. ignore if it pleases you!

caveats: i am not a dog breeder. i am not involved in dog breeding in any capacity. i have a strong interest in the dog–human relationship and the continuation of that relationship. i own purebred dogs. i have absolutely no animal-related academic qualifications.

so. i think the future of dogs is to move away from dog BREEDS. i think dog people really struggle with this. purebred fans struggle because they instantly have a negative response because they adore their specific breed. mixed breeders also struggle with this because still the focus is on BREEDS and mixing them. and then you have all that shelter dog rhetoric which seems confused in itself by the desire to continue to have dogs but the opposition to dog breeding of any kind (pure breeding is bad but mixed breeding is also bad and registered breeders are unethical but backyard breeders are also dodgy).

i have read lots of different dog books. some published before the real Victorian dog breeding explosion (early to mid 1800s) and some published much later (mostly the 90s to now) exploring and documenting the origin of the dog and the current use of indigenous or primitive dogs. so there are people doing what I’m saying ALREADY, TODAY, AND FOR ALL OF DOG–HUMAN TIME (see: landraces).

but what all this has told me is that the real focus should be TYPES. to look at this, you really need to put aside the concept of dog BREEDS as we know them today. dog BREEDS today are defined by hyper specific breed standards that list in extreme detail what the dog should look like and, to a lesser degree, how it should behave. put that aside.

according to Kim Brophey there are 10 families of dogs (i like her categorisation, it makes sense to me). they are Natural Dog (or spitz), Sighthound, Scenthound, Toy Dog, Guardian, Gun Dog, Terrier, Bull Dog, Herding Dog and World Dog (or pariah). using this as a base, then we would jump into TYPES.

so for example. in early sheep and cow centred Australia (early 1800s on), they needed to come up with dogs that would suit the climate and the work. this meant they developed regional variations of Herding Dogs, taking collies (a type) and bobtails (a type) and anything else they had, and refining that into a heeler (type) and a kelpie/koolie (type). it makes sense to me to have these kinds of variations around general principles of environment, working style, temperament, coat, size, ears, tail – that’s how it’s always been done! with TYPES, you could still end up with hundreds of variations. but the key difference to what we currently operate under would be that TYPES have no hyper specific breed standard and they can interbreed whenever necessary while maintaining a general look/working ability.

take one of the breeds i own – papillon. under this proposed model, dogs that look like this would be Toy Spaniels. and when you go looking for a breeder of Toy Spaniels, different people would breed slight variations – up ears or down ears, shorter muzzle, longer muzzle, taller or shorter. however, the focus would be maintaining an open gene pool and producing healthy dogs while still having a general type and a range of reasonable predictability. that is the key difference here. no standards, no stud books. no discussion about “freaks of nature” because a dog bred with another dog. the sport of conformation would have to also radically change in this scenario. but it’s not like you can’t evaluate structure and form of any dog. if conformation must continue, it could change.

contrary to most dog people i tend to run across, i don’t think we should get more specific when thinking about dog breeding, i think we should get less specific. i understand that some scenarios require specificity, but for the most part we as humans should accept that dogs are as varied as we are, with general predictable traits. and our approach to dog breeding should probably be, IN MY VIEW, to find the dog TYPE that is most suitable for our situation, but still accept the individual characteristics within each dog and that no dog is totally predictable nor should this be expected or desired.

so what i am saying is not NEW. it’s just what people did before the Victorians got weird about it.

[dogsofimladris]

Waterdance Painting - Waterdance Fine Art Print

[dogsofimladris]

the real fun of big dog shows is how nice it is being able to share the excitement of "oh my god there's DOGS" with other people for a few days and it being like, normal. im like this every day but then sometimes there's a good excuse for it

[dogsofimladris]

Hello, I hope you're having a wonderful day. I very much enjoy you sharing your thoughts on dogs and dog ownership and I value your perspective. I was wondering if it was possible to ask you for book recommendations? Especially books about how to better understand your dog and dog behaviour. You are very passionate about dogs and you seem well read. If you don't have the time to answer this ask, I don't mind and I hope your week starts off great. c:

Hello! I love answering questions about dog books. Understanding dogs and dog behaviour is one of my favourite subjects and I have books that approach it from all angles.

For books that are about being able to observe and interpret dog body language, my top choices are Doggie Language by Lili Chin and Canine Body Language by Brenda Aloff. Both offer excellent visual examples, the former illustrated and the latter photographic, which really helps to understand what they are talking about.

If you’re after a book that helps you understand what dogs need and practical ways to achieve it, the best book is Canine Enrichment for the Real World by Allie Bender and Emily Strong. It’s a handbook on how to make your dog’s life more enriched.

For books about dog ethology, the scientific study of animal behaviour in natural conditions, which for dogs is living with humans, my top three are Meet Your Dog by Kim Brophey, Ethics and Ethology for a Happy Dog by Anders Hallgren and Making Dogs Happy by Dr Melissa Starling & Prof Paul McGreevy. Brophey’s book separates dogs into ten types which helps to understand them, while Hallgren and Starling & McGreevy talk directly about how to make the dog that lives with you lead a happy and fulfilling life.

For understanding dog history and how dogs got to be who they are and where they are, I highly recommend How the Dog Became the Dog by Mark Derr, A Dog in the Cave by Kay Frydenborg and my new favourite The Invention of the Modern Dog by Michael Worboys, Julie-Marie Strange & Neil Pemberton. All three discuss the history of dogs – Derr and Krydenborg about the origins of domestication and Worboys, Strange & Pemberton about the modern history of why dogs are now separated into breeds.

My final recommendations for understanding dogs is some of the memoir-style nonfiction books written by leaders in the industry. These books give incredibly valuable perspectives on dogs through the eyes of very skilled, knowledgeable and empathetic people. My favourite books in this category are Plenty in Life is Free by Kathy Sdao and The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell, but I know other people love other famous titles like The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson and Bones Would Rain from the Sky by Suzanne Clothier (I have not yet read either of these… I am a slow reader and my list is long).

Warning for next time, if anyone asks me about dog books I can write paragraphs…

#dog books

[dogsofimladris]

Wild Dogs see a Domesticated Dog

[dogsofimladris]

#iditarod #sled dogs #dog sledding #mushing

[dogsofimladris]

It’s so immensely cool that dogs have evolved so closely to humans that they can tell smiles are positive, even though smiles often show teeth, which is a big no no for 99.999% of animals. They are less enthusiastic about hugs naturally, because you are restraining their movement (which usually means Death for animals) but they’ll still reluctantly allow it in most cases even if they haven’t particularly acclimated to hugs.

Dogs put up with so many red flags. Out of love.

[dogsofimladris]

For 2024 I would really like to sit down and read more dog books. Delve into people's insights and thoughts at a depth greater than a social media post.

My reading goal list of the year:

Meet Your Dog: The Game-Changing Guide to Understanding Your Dog's Behavior - currently reading

The Secret History of Kindness: Learning from How Dogs Learn

Plenty in Life is Free

Constructing Canine Consent: Conceptualising and adopting a consent-focused relationship with dogs

The Dial Method: The Busy Parent's Shortcut to Raising a Family Dog Right

The Midnight Dog Walkers: Positive Training and Practical Advice for Living with Reactive and Aggressive Dogs

What Dogs Want: An illustrated guide for HAPPY dog care and training

The Stress Factor in Dogs: Unlocking Resiliency and Enhancing Well-Being

Considerations for the City Dog

#to be read #these all sound super interesting! #need to look into getting some of them... #research

[dogsofimladris]

she's trying to singlehandedly sell you all on the brittany conspiracy but try to resist

#puppy fever is hitting hard today #shes sooo pretty #brittany

[dogsofimladris]

I started thinking about that one post about how from dogs POV humans are beings that live like 500+ years (because I was petting my dog and I was looking at her like “thirty thousand years of cooperation have led to this. our species have spent 30k years building up to the point where you, child of wolf, descendant of noble hunters and wild things,  would come all the way out of the office and come sit with me in the hopes of letting a souped up monkey rub its paws on you”)

and then I thought about what it must have been like for the first humans to let a fucking wolf, maybe only a few generations from the wild, behold their infant child. Like man can u believe that? Maybe this alliance is only a few years old and sure you’ve seen the wolf’s kids but now you’ve got one of your own. And even though you’ve seen this wolf tear out the throats of creatures that could kill you, this wolf is your family. This wolf is your friend, you love them and they love you and you gotta show ‘em the new kid, look, friend, I had a child. I know you are wild and dangerous, but look at this, my most precious thing, sniff him, give him a lil lick, his children and your children will be bound together for thirty thousand fucking years because I love you

There’s a set of  preserved footprints from 30k years ago that is a young child and a wolf standing side by side can you fucking imagine? Maybe the kid’s mom was like “hey go get some water from the stream, but take the wolf with you. I trust him, he will protect you.”

[dogsofimladris]

doggo's first day of work after a week off

#herding dog #precious baby

[dogsofimladris]

penelopeponalapy said: This is so sweet! May I ask, how have you been working on face/teeth handling exactly? My puppy is fine-to-mildly annoyed with me handling her face or teeth. When I bring out food to reward cooperation she gets MORE annoyed by handling because she gets all focused on the reward.

Sure thing! I don't really follow an official protocol and I'm sure there are better ways to train this, but I just make it a game.

I (gently) grab his snoot while doing a playful little "haha!" or "I grab you!", then immediately follow it with a cookie from the other hand. Grab, haha!, cookie. Do that repeatedly until he's visibly brightening when I grab his face.

Then the next day I grab his snoot from different directions. Over the head, under the head, with my other hand, etc.. So hand moving around his face is a fun game that gets rewards.

Next day, two hands. I'm not pulling back his lips yet, just getting him used to having to hands near his face. If he balks, I let him, do a one-hand grab, cookie, and when he has a chance to go "okay we're still playing this fun game," I return to two hands.

When he's comfortable with two hands, I pull back his lips. It does not need to be a lot. Just same thing-- grab, "haha!", move lips at all, cookie. Build up more and more lip movement until he's letting me see all of his teeth.

I'm keeping it lighthearted and playful without revving him up. (I do a fuckton of impulse control with this puppy, so he's being decent about keeping all four feet on the floor.)

I've also been keeping the cookies on a nearby table because when they're on the floor it's too much. He turns into a lot of flying limbs and teeth because he wants the cookies so bad. We're working on this separately.

Right now I'm at the point where I can rub a dry toothbrush on his canines without much wiggling. Still working towards the back teeth. I am separately putting toothpaste on my finger and spreading it on his gums. Toothbrush + toothpaste is too interesting and all he wants to do is grab the toothbrush from my hands.

I do basically the same thing for ears and eyes.

I hope this is helpful!

#handling

[dogsofimladris]

Best day ever

(via)

[dogsofimladris]

okay so i'm not an expert and there are a couple of different collies but:

australian shepherd:

medium-large

pretty fluffy

may or may not have a tail (may or may not be on purpose)

ears supposed to be nice and sophisticatedly folded

comes in blacks and reds and tris and merles

sh jusht a little chonky maybe

Australian but in the sense that it's American and has really nothing to do with Australia at all as far as anyone can tell

collie:

medium-large with a side of large

either smooth coat or stupidly fluffy, anything in between is illegal

long tail (should reach the hock)

ears meant to stand on top of the head maybe with a fashionable little forward tip

comes in brown (sable) and black tricolour + merle

legs legs what's on the menu legs legs

longest snout you've seen in a while

British

shetland sheepdog:

what i have (allegedly)

see: collie, but 1/4 of the size (unless something went wrong)

but calling it a mini collie is a federal crime

the fluffier the better. needs more fluff.

colors are sable and black tri- and bicolour as well as merle

very sweet but should have capacity for evil to keep things spicy

Shetlandish (Scottish) (British) (twice removed)

border collie:

insane<3

rectangular-esque

sneaky bastard

size: approximate. ears: yes. tail: yes. coat: usually. colours: sure

from the BORDER REGIONS OF SCOTLAND

you'll know

[dogsofimladris]

Some t shirt design ideas. Not sure that I love the design but I like the concept. Would ideally like to add other sporting breeds with the same idea… Brittany, setters, cockers, springers ect. Maybe with different fauna or flora. Idk. WIP