Long time no post

We’re sorry we’ve been away from the computer for a while, but we’re still around. We are 8 and 9 years old. Akira will be 10 in April. We now live with three cats, who mostly stay in the other rooms in the house, except Marko. Marko comes to visit us all the time and teases us. I am really more interested in the cat’s toys, than the cats, but sometimes I want to catch a cat, too. We are doing well. We just went to the vet today, as Akira posted below. Here I am post-vets. Do you think the DAP worked or am I just worn out from all the excitement?

 

Love,

Shiro

Vet Visit

Today we went to the Vets. We both got our heart worm tests (negative), and Shiro had to get some shots. They have us DAP bandannas to wear when we are done. Those are bandannas with dog appeasement pheromone on them, supposed to help calm us down. Sis said we look really handsome in them. What do you think?

Love,

Akira

Update

Hi everydog, Shiro-da-biro, number one Shiba here. I’m doing bunches better, thank you for your wishes. My legs are still a little tender, so I can’t do everything yet, like I can’t jump up my tree after birdies right now. Here are some pictures of us and the Sis from yesterday (Wednesday)
Love,

Shiro

Sis and Shiro

Sis and Akira

Shiro’s Injury

The Sis here. The boys were playing, running around chasing each other and play fighting as usual. My Dad and brother were the only ones home and out of the room. They heard a crash and ran in to see what had happened. Shiro was lying under the table with his front legs out in front of them and he couldn’t get up. My Dad and brother were afraid that he had slammed his legs of a chair rung under the table and broken them both. They had to find a vet that was still open, and travelled about an hour to a 24 hour vet. The vet took x-rays and no bones were broken. He gave Shiro a shot for the pain and some pills. He said it was a deep tissue injury, like a bruise under the skin in the muscle. He is walking a little more gingerly now, but other than that seems like usual. Keep Shiro in your thoughts and prayers though, that he will heal quickly, have no complications, and not get hurt again.

News

Our Sis was home for ONLY Friday and PART of Saturday this weekend! The nerve! So what if she had a community service project to do on Saturday evening? We were a bit upset about that, so we decided to demonstrate it by tearing her W-2 (a tax form from work) into tiny pieces, as well as various other mail on the counter. Ha. That showed her. She still gave us lots of loving, though. Long walks and cuddling, that’s the stuff.
It’s been raining raining raining, though. We don’t really mind the rain, but we mind the treatment we get when we’re all muddy! One of us (Shiro) had to get another BATH to get off all the mud!
Anyways, we’re borrowing a computer for a little while, so will hopefully be able to post a little more often now! It’s getting late (almost TOMORROW!) so we should sign off for now. Can’t wait to read all our pals adventures we’ve been missing out on!

Luv,
Akira & Shiro

Dog Article: Fur Color

Some humans are so strange. Why do they think they have to try to figure us out with Science? We’re glad our humans aren’t this weird!

This is from Discovery Channel News [Link]

Fur Color Linked to Dog Personality

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Dec. 13, 2006 — The color of a dog’s fur may seem to be just a whim of nature and genetics that reveals little about the dog. But a new study claims that coat color for at least one breed, the English cocker spaniel, reflects a pooch’s personality.

Prior research has suggested that fur color is also linked to behavior in labrador retrievers, while the type of fur — in this case, wiry or long — may indicate temperament in miniature dachshunds. Wiry-haired mini dachshunds are often more feisty than their mellower, long-haired cousins.

The latest study, recently published in Applied Animal Behavior Science, determined that golden/red English cocker spaniels exhibit the most dominant and aggressive behavior. Black dogs in this breed were found to be the second most aggressive, while particolor (white with patches of color) were discovered to be more mild-mannered.

In labrador retrievers, the color rank from most to least aggressive was determined to be yellow, black and chocolate.

The behavior-fur color connection is likely due to related genetic coding that takes place during the pup’s earliest life stages, according to lead author Joaquín Pérez-Guisado.

“Maybe the link (to coat color) is due to the fact that the ectoderm (one of the three primary germ cell layers) is where the skin and central nervous system originate in the embryo,” he told Discovery News.

Pérez-Guisado, a researcher in the Department of Medicine and Animal Surgery at the University of Cordoba, Spain, and his colleagues measured levels of dominance and aggression in 51 seven-week-old English cocker spaniel puppies that were either full siblings or half siblings.

The tests looked at how quickly a person could capture a puppy’s attention, how well puppies followed the individual, how the dogs behaved while restrained, how they exerted their social dominance and what they did when they were lifted off the floor.

In many cases, the golden-colored dogs resisted human contact and even tried to bite the tester, while the particolor pups often wagged their tails and seemed to enjoy the attention.

While genes control coat color and appear to predispose behavior in certain dogs, Pérez-Guisado said that how dogs are raised plays the biggest role in behavior. He determined that environmental factors account for 80 percent of dominant, aggressive personalities while genes only influence 20 percent of dogs’ demeanors.

“It is very important to give the dog an optimum and suitable environment in order to have a dog with a low dominance aggressive behavior level,” he said. “For that reason, owners are primarily responsible for this undesirable dog behavior.”

Canine behaviorist and trainer Wendy Volhard and professional breeder Carolyn Sisson, who is president of the English Cocker Spaniel Club of San Diego, California, both told Discovery News they’re not surprised by the findings. They said that coat color’s link with behavior has been “a well-known, old wives’ tale” for years.

Although they both think there is “some truth to the recent findings,” Sisson believes a dog’s genetic lineage, going back many generations, is a better indicator of temperament than color.

Sisson explained that there are 29 recognized different coat colors for English cocker spaniels, and combinations other than golds mating with golds can result in a golden dog.

“It’s the line breeding out of puppy mills in England that probably resulted in the dominant traits,” Sisson said.

She added, “The very best and worst of my dogs have been spaniels. They seem to cover every behavioral extreme.”

Pérez-Guisado and his colleagues next plan to study the English springer spaniel and English cocker spaniel genomes to pinpoint common genes associated with so-called dog “rage” and coloration.

What does the fur-type part say about Hershey and Copper? Is it accurate to them? Kind of silly, don’t you think?

~Akira and Shiro