Pedigrees 101

by John Gibble

A long time ago I wandered onto a farm in Indiana where I’d heard that a fellow had some good beagles for sale. The place was about as run-down as the fellow who lived there. His bibs were about three sizes too big and the holes in the seat revealed his preference for boxer shorts with candy cane stripes. He gave me a snaggle-toothed grin when I announced the reason for my visit, and with a wave of his greasy blue cap directed me to a converted hog pen where he kept his hounds. He pointed to a rather fat red dog that looked something like a beagle and proclaimed, “That there is a direct great, great, great grandson of Warfield Red”. Then, he showed me a skinny young bitch that retreated to the furthest reaches of her pen at our approach. “This young gal is entirely Blue Cap bred.” As we progressed along the pens, it seemed he had, according to his own calculations, representatives of the best of the breed based on his own line and in-breeding. Pearson Creek, Yellow Creek, Blue Cap, rolled off his tongue like brand names at a Procter & Gamble sales meeting.
When he saw I wasn’t convinced, the old boy turned to another line of persuasion. He noticed I had a bad case of poison ivy on my arm and suggested that if I’d take a nice potent bud from the vines along his hog fence and eat it, I would no longer suffer any reaction whatsoever from that noxious weed. I didn’t eat any poison ivy and I didn’t buy any dogs there. I’ve heard a lot of folks over the years, spitting out pedigrees, judging hounds by their papers rather than their performance. Some of them were pretty accurate in their predictions, but most of them I put in the same category as that old fellow with the holes in his bib overalls.
Looking over a pedigree is a lot like looking into a crime scene. Your first order of business is in deciding if your information is correct and valid. For instance, a few years back a fellow told me he had a bitch that had just whelped a litter. Thinking back 63 days, he remembered that she was riding in the same box with Pistol, but she was exposed to another male while in the field, Shotgun. Pistol acted kind of aggressive that day so that was another point. Looking over the litter, they reminded him more of Pistol in their coloring than they did Shotgun. So he registered them as Pistol puppies. It makes me wonder how many times guess work is used in filling out papers, and it makes me wonder more, how many times guess work isn’t right. Then too, I’ve heard about several big stud dogs that couldn’t get the job done anymore or they were overbooked for a few days, so a sibling or related pup stood in for the job. I’ve even heard about field champion bitches that raised 12 pups in every litter, two and sometimes three times a year. The point is: using a pedigree as a tool, is only as accurate as the information that was used to build the pedigree.
I kind of consider a pedigree to be something like the periodic chart of elements we were given in 8th grade physical science. At that point, we had to remember that “O” stood for oxygen and “K” was potassium (though many of us put down P for Potassium and forgot that P represented Phosphorus). In high school chemistry, we learned that the chart was organized by atomic weight; based on where they were on the chart, some elements were metals and other were gases. In college chemistry, we were supposed to be able to theoretically mix up a bunch of these elements and using complex calculations determine what we would get for compounds. Then, they made us take organic chemistry and that just proved that everything you learned was wrong and that you were pretty much a dummy. When it comes to reading pedigrees and predicting the outcomes of breedings, there are a few good organic chemists out there, a few college-level chemists, a few more high school students, and a whole bunch of 8th graders.

To finish this article, check out page 18 of our May issue!

Habitat Management

By Glenn Carson

Rabbit season has come to an end and spring is just around the corner. It won’t be long here in North Carolina until we start seeing flowers bloom. Tree buds are swelling, and before you know it, leaves will begin to appear. Some Easter flowers are blooming now in my yard. To me, this signals spring is just around the corner. Spring also triggers those little bunnies to start the spring mating season. For the next few months, rabbits will be mating and raising young. We want to do all we can to save as many of those young rabbits as possible for later. Those food plots we have been working on will begin to green up and we might see some rabbits grabbing a bite in there while out and about. We know they are searching for a mate or a nesting site.

This month, I want to share a couple of thoughts about creating and maintaining nesting and brood habitat for rabbits. Some sites lack adequate natural cover for young rabbits and that is one area where we as managers can help. Ideal natural habitat usually gets whacked by a bush-hog and we are left creating artificial habitat. We can have good success by providing brush piles that are within close proximity to feeding areas. These piles should be large enough to provide safety from predators and not so small they can be torn apart by a predator. Piles should be dispersed across the landscape so as they are adequately spaced.

Young rabbits face a lot of predators. Most research says almost 80% of the bunnies born will not make it to one year of age. That explains why rabbits have so many litters in a summer. Young rabbits are vulnerable to a variety of predators. Good, natural habitat is best but when it is not adequate or available we can build brush piles to supplement some of those needs. Placing brush piles in close proximity to feeding area is important. Spacing is important. Piles should be 50-75 yards apart, if there is not adequate cover. I guess, if you think like a rabbit for a minute, you don’t want be far from a safe location if a hawk is hovering overhead.

I researched ideal brush pile size for rabbits and found a brush pile for rabbits is recommended to be at least five feet in height and fifteen feet in width. That may seem a little large, but it is just a recommended size. Generally, I did not build mine that large the first time. I added a little brush each year to grow the pile as it rotted down. I have experimented with a variety of designs of piles. I have used logs on the bottom and cross hatched with limbs over top to provide area for movement of rabbits. That design worked well but was a back breaker, if you don’t have access to a young helper.

Let me share my personal design that I have found works well. I gather old pallets from a local hardware. When I get pallets, I transport them to the wood via a four wheeler. When I get to my desired location, I stack two together crisscrossing the openings and knocking out a board or two from the top of the bottom pallet. This will allow rabbits to move to top floor or live on the ground. I guess you might call it a two story home. I cover the top pallet with a piece of black tar paper. I bought a damaged role for 5 bucks. I attach the felt paper with roofing nails. On top of the tar paper, I put a half a bale of hay or straw. Hay or straw seems to fill in any holes. I think it also protects the felt paper some from the limbs which I pile on top. On top of the hay, I place fresh cut limbs to cover the entire pallet. I don’t spend a lot of time. Usually I just pile about two feet of limbs on top. My plan is to add a few limbs each year to keep the pile growing.

To view the rest of this article, refer to page 22 of our April issue!

Why Vaccinate

by Dr. Ron Harrison, DVM

People often ask “Why should I vaccinate my dog?” Current vaccinations prevent the following diseases: Rabies, Distemper, Adenovirus Type 2, Parainfluenza, Parvovirus, Leptospirosis, Corona virus and Bordetella.

Rabies

Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system of all warm blooded animals, including humans. Rabies is transmitted by saliva, which is usually transferred by a bite from an infected animal. The disease is frequently found in wild animals such as skunks, foxes, raccoons and bats.

Once infected, the disease is fatal. Prior to death, clinical signs may include a change in behavior (e.g. increased aggressiveness or increased shyness), dilation of the pupils, excess salivation, snapping at the air, a shifting gait, and facial twitching.

As the virus can be transmitted to humans, no stray dog, cat or wild animal should ever be approached. Wild animals should never be kept as pets. Your dog should be kept on its own property or leashed when off its property. To help prevent raccoon rabies, it is recommended that you cap chimneys, close up any holes in attics or outbuildings, and make sure that stored garbage does not act as a food source.

Vaccination is important to safeguard your dog from rabies. Most states require dogs to have rabies vaccinations.

Canine adenovirus type 2

Canine adenovirus is related to the hepatitis virus and is one of the causes of infectious tracheobronchitis, also known as kennel cough. Vaccination against adenovirus-2 will not prevent infection from this virus but limits its severity so the chance of secondary bacterial infection and complications occurring is minimized. In most cases of kennel cough, the disease is multifaceted and will include a combination of bacterial and viral agents.

Canine Distemper

Distemper is a serious viral disease affecting primarily young, unvaccinated dogs. Clinical signs may include a yellowish or greenish discharge from the eyes or nose, coughing, difficulty breathing, increased body temperature, weight loss, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, nervous system disorder (twitching of a limb, seizures, etc.), and hardening of the foot pads.

Distemper is a highly contagious disease. All body excretions and secretions (discharges from the eyes or nose, vomitus, diarrhea, urine) may carry the infection. The virus can also be carried by air currents, and on inanimate objects such as food bowls.

Prevention of this disease is extremely important, as distemper is often fatal. Even if a dog survives the disease, distemper can permanently damage the dog’s nervous system, sense of smell, sight and sound. Vaccination has been shown to prevent the disease.

These are just a couple reasons Dr. Harrison gives for vaccinating your dog. To find out the rest, refer to page 44 of our March issue.

Trends in Beagle Field Trials

by John Gibble

“The number of entries is absolutely pitiful”. “It’s the economy that’s got beagling down”. “Folks won’t drive to these field trials with the price of gas the way it is”. We hear a lot of hypotheses on why beagling is failing, but have we actually considered the numbers? I’ve put together a few tables from the Beagle Advisory Committee minutes from 2011 through 2012. From examining some of the numbers and doing a bit of extrapolation, the results are interesting.

The first table is just raw data provided by the American Kennel Club to the BAC delegates. If there’s a gap in any data, it wasn’t provided; or in the case of two couple pack hunt tests, there just wasn’t any data prior to 2006 because the format didn’t exist. It is interesting to note that the number of individual registrations, when reported, dropped off almost 20,000 between 2001 and 2009. That’s a decrease in individual registrations of nearly 40%. One could suppose that such a tremendous decrease in individual registrations would indicate a declining popularity in the breed. Where the beagle has always been highly popular as a house pet due to its small size, hardiness, and happy disposition, we do see it being supplanted by other smaller breeds and especially mixed breeds. Pet owners can afford to spend a bit more on something unique and pass the beagle by as somewhat ordinary.

Perhaps the 100% increase in individual registration fees since 2001 has influenced the decision to purchase individual registrations. That the beagle has remained somewhere between 5th and 3rd most popular breed in terms of individual registrations indicates a downward shift in registration of all breeds. Pet owners, especially those of modest means that might select a relatively inexpensive beagle, may find little value in the individual registration if they did not intend to field trial or breed their beagle. Field trialers and hunters may be culling harder before investing in an individual registration. Commercial and other breeders for the pet trade have found cheaper registration alternatives with other registries, or are simply moving more to the mixed breeds where registration is not required or desired. The movement to other registries by commercial breeders might also be attributed to resentment of AKC’s surveillance program, including DNA profile requirements and inspections.

Another interesting trend is the number of total field trial entries over the past decade. Despite the opinions voiced by many, field trial entries have not dropped off as precipitously as many believed. Over ten years, entries are down less than 10%. On the other hand, the number of field trials is up more than 11%. Consequently, it would appear that slightly fewer entries are distributed over slightly more field trial events. Table 2 tracks the average number of entries per type of event, as well as the number of events and number of entries per type of event. Table 3 tracks the number of entries, percent of the total entries, and number of field trials by type of event for 2011. Both tables give indications on trends in beagle field trials.

Using Table 3, for instance, the demise of traditional brace beagling has to be discounted. Traditional brace entries still account for 30% of all beagle field trial entries. While not the factor it was two or three decades ago, 30% is still a respectable number when it comes to adding up per capita fees. It is interesting to note, however that the number of traditional brace trials adds up to just over 40% of all the events and the average number of entries at a traditional brace trial is down to 53.4.

Check out the rest of this article along with the tables on page 46 of our February issue.