Rescue People are a Special Kind of People
The average, normal person has been refusing to leave their house during the storms which have been battering parts of Canada and the USA. Not rescue people, however – for rescue people, helping a dog trumps all kinds of bad weather. In some cases, this can also lead to some dangerous situations –
From Denver’s News Channel Seven
A Indiana man who got trapped in deep snow in Saguache County, Colo., survived by drinking Mountain Dew and eating snow.
Jason Pede, 31, was driving from Dulce, N.M. to Aspen, Colo., to deliver a rescue dog.
He told his wife Thursday morning he was following a plow truck, but she didn’t hear from him again.Pede had a cell phone, satellite radio and GPS, but when his Lincoln Navigator got stuck in the snow on a country road off Highway 114 northwest of Saguache, Colo., the electronic devices didn’t help.
Pede stayed in his vehicle, burning some items to warm, but no one found him.”When I finally ran out of fuel, I took it upon myself to walk the seven miles from where I was at to the roadway,” said Pede. “That was my only way of not dying, I guess.”
Great, but how’s the dog?
The Australian Shepherd Pede was taking to Aspen was found in his SUV and taken to a vet for treatment.
Video below the cut.
Friday Zen – Frenchies and Babies
These twin babies obviously have a special bond with their own personal Frenchie, Zaboo. Face licking Frenchie plus giggling babies equals fun, fun, fun.
Normally, I would preface any video about dog/kid interaction with some caveats, but let’s just assume that anyone watching this already knows all the stuff about supervised play, etc etc.
French Bulldog Coat Color Genetics, In Depth
Brindle, Cream, Pale Cream, Fawn Pied - Four French Bulldogs, Four different colors
I’m about to begin a series of posts about French Bulldog coat colors. This can be taken as a warning, for those of whose eyes glaze over whenever this topic comes up. I’m most definitely a layperson, and not a geneticist, so bear that in mind when reading.
It will be broken down into the following sections:
Brindle (which is a coat pattern, not color)
Pied (see above, with pied being a marking, not a color or a pattern)
Black Masked dogs
Fawn and creams (an attempt to decipher the mysteries of the ‘e’ allele)
“Mystery Alleles” – everything else, and then some, from ticking to agouti to Dilute Colors
I’m basing a lot of this on the new, updated coat color genetic information research being done around the world, but in large part on the work of Dr. Schmutz, of the University of Saskatchewan. She writes that DNA and breeding research has identified the following alleles definitively —
Alleles known to exist at the 8 genes mapped in dogs, using DNA.
* A (agouti) = agouti signalling protein (ASIP) Examples with photos
o ay = fawn (cream to yellow to red with darker tips)
o sable (some solid black hairs intermingled amongst reddish hiars) aw = wild color of sable (black tips on cream to red hairs)
o at = black-and-tan or brown-and-tan
o a = recessive black
* B (brown) = tyrosinase related protein 1 (TYRP1) Examples with photos
o B = black eumelanin
o b, including (bs,b d,bc) = brown eumelanin
* E (extension) = melanocortin receptor 1 (MC1R) Examples with photos
o EM = melanistic mask Examples with photos
o E = eumelanin or phaeomelanin can be produced in hair
o e = only phaeomelanin produced in hair
* D (dilutes or pales eumelanin pigment to blue, and phaeomelanin subtly) = (MLPH) Examples with photos
o D = not diluted
o d = diluted pigmentation
* K (from black, “dominant black”) = Beta-defensin 103 Examples with photos
o KB = solid black, brown or blue (eumelanin pigmentation only)
o kbr = brindle (on body region that would be phaeomelanin pigmented otherwise)
o ky = expression of agouti alleles that express phaeomelanin possible
* M (Merle) = (SILV) Examples with photos
o M = Merle apparent on dogs that are not e/e
o m = wild type, no merle
* S (Spotting) = (MITF) Examples with photos
Note that this gene is certainly involved in piebald spotting, but may or may not be involved in Irish spotting
o S = Solid, or more correctly, minimal to no white markings
o s = piebald or randmon spotting, also called particolor
* H (Harlequin) = (gene not yet identified, but trait mapped to chromosome 9) Examples with photos
Note that for the Harlequin pattern to occur, at least one H allele and one M allele must be present.
o H = Harlequin pattern of Great Danes
o h = wild type, no Harlequin patternAdditional alleles postulated to exist based on breeding data
* G (Progressive Greying) = (gene not yet identified) Examples with photos
This gene causes gradual greying of black or brown hair and paling of red hair, prior to geriatric age.
o G = Progressive greying
o g = wild type, no premature greying
* I (Intense) = (gene not yet identified) Affects only phaeomelanin pigment
o I = intense red, not diluted
o i = co-dominant, so i/i dogs are paler than I/i dogs
* C (Colored) = (gene not yet identified)
o C = full pigmentation
o ca = albino
* T (Ticked) = (gene not yet identified) Ticks are small pigmented flecks of color in white spots. Ticking is not visible on a solid colored dog. It is possible that there is a second gene causing Roaning, but that is not clear at this time.
o T = ticked
o t = not ticked