You gave Dominque a negative treat, Eric

It seems I can't undo it, would you be so kind as to give a positive treat on the same comment as my negative, so that it balances?

Dominique, I truly apologize. It was not intentional.

I will

I wouldn't change my choice at this point tho, I love the little guy already. I'm also going to get him to a vet the day I pick him up. Which is why I'm really doing a good search now.

Also its ok no worries I'm using my mobile at the moment also so I understand.

I have a rescue Alaskan Husky from a sled dog breeder, a handpicked Dingo mix from a really good kennel of mixed herding dogs, and a rescue Lab from a BYB.

I can tell my lab will have to retire from dock diving at no later than 5. She already gets joint supplements, and has given me many health scares, and cost a lot of money.

My husky has an overbite of at least a qtr inch, maybe more. Otherwise, she checks out as healthy with a vet. She wasn't bred for conformation, and her overbite does not prevent her from eating or drinking, but it could have been a serious issue to overcome.

My dingo is a perfect specimen from two tested, healthy parents. She will likely not have any problems

There is nothing wrong with a dog that isn't perfectly healthy. It shouldn't breed, but it still deserves a loving home with a caring owner.

The truth is you can test the parents and take the dog to the vet regularly, and buy from the best breeder on earth, and your dog could still get bone cancer, like my ex gf's retriever

Or.. you can wind up like my housemate, and you can buy an all black pitbull from a BYB, without research, and 4 yrs later, be sitting on a brown AmStaff/Boxer that just happens to be perfectly healthy so far.

Its a gamble, same as having a kid. We can do everything right, and things can still go wrong. If you've done everything in your power to choose a healthy dog, then however your dogs health is, you can rest easy knowing you did all you could do to prevent any issues.

I do feel I've done the best I can in picking a good place to get a puppy. All the other breeders I found were breeding merles and breeding for eye color and other cosmetic things. I visited and saw the parents who both happen to be healthy thus far and extremely friendly and well mannered. I'm really looking forward to him coming home but as the title says I think I migh have given myself a sobering scare with all the stuff I read on the forums today. Some made me rethink getting any dog at all lol. Buy I want a new companion and nothing short of a gun to the head could stop me from getting one.

actually - if this breeder was actually mushing and working his dogs in harness - than your Alaskan was bred for conformation. As a dog without a able and working conformation would break down too early and would be useless to the musher!

It just isn't the "conformation" that one would normally think of i.e. the show ring.

Niraya wrote:

actually - if this breeder was actually mushing and working his dogs in harness - than your Alaskan was bred for conformation. As a dog without a able and working conformation would break down too early and would be useless to the musher!

It just isn't the "conformation" that one would normally think of i.e. the show ring.

How did you think of that? I'm actually shocked I forgot to mention it now.

Think of what :o?

Mentioning the working dog thing.

I spend a lot of time talking with my breeder about structure and conformation - as she used to race her Siberians and work them in harness (still does when she can). So structure and conformation are something I am very often thinking about.

So someone who is breeding sled dogs and has Alaskans is most likely working them in harness. And to work them in harness if you're breeding Alaskans you're breeding for a very specific conformation.

So I kind of look at things a bit differently (I'm still very much learning a lot about it) - from an actual conformation/working standpoint - not just the "conformation" ring.

Well, then all you can do is prepare yourself to deal with any health issues you may wind up facing, because chance can be a lady, or a bitch.

Here's a good example:
Mixie and Soshanna are both very social, very friendly, very good dogs.
I used to have a less than secure gate, so I left their tags and collars on at home.
One day, I let the dogs out, and 20 minutes later I called them inside....
All I heard, from the side of my yard, was terrible yipping.
I ran outsidde and grabbed a gun, almost sure I was going to shoot a coyote off my puppies.
INSTEAD, I turned the corner and found Soshanna and Mixie stuck together by a collar.
In playing together, Soshanna collar got a little loose. Mixies bottom jaw got between Soshannas neck and the collar, and then the collar got looped around her jaw. One loop of the figure eight that was my dogs collar was tightly around Mixies jaw, and the other was strangling Soshanna. They were freaking out, which was hurting them, and causing Soshanna to bite at Mixie, who's mouth was being cut from the friction of the nylon. Blood was everywhere. I couldn't get my finger between the collar and Soshannas neck to find the clip, so after 10 seconds that felt like eternity, watching Soshanna die and Mixie get maimed, I got my knife out and cut through the intersection of the two loops. Soshannas eyes were completely blood red from popping vessels. Mixies cleft was ripped up the middle to the nose, and over to the left a qtr inch, so I had a square angle flap of cleft to try to deal with. She also had a few good bite wounds from Soshanna no doubtedly fearing her life.
I don't doubt that I came close enough to losing Soshanna that I would have lost her if my knife wasn't on me. Once I had cleaned and stitched Mixies cleft back into place, and checked Soshannas neck out, I made a morning vet appt (this was 2am, mind you) and then just cried and cried and cried about almost losing my dogs.

The point: dog ownership is really just a big gamble. Its worth it. 100x over, it is worth it, but it is a gamble.

I agree that it is a gamble and that it is indeed totally worth it. I was sold on him the moment he started grumbling to me about how he just had to endure a horrible bath and what a mean person his breeder was for doing that to him.

Ceara, I've spent a lot of time in different dog rings. When I say conformation, I am specifically referring to conformation showing for purebred kennel clubs. I strictly look for dogs that can work well, with no consideration for conformation, and breed standards.

While Alaskans are bred to be fast, they aren't conforming, because their size, color, coat, etc vary so much. The dogs are not being bred to a standard appearance, they just have to be fast sled dogs.

While Siberian Huskies can pull, at this point, they are really just a show/conformation version of what they were in the Serum run days. The valuable sled dog version of a Siberian husky is a breed not recognized by kennel clubs, the Seppala Siberian Sled Dog. You'll notice they look a lot like Sibes, but they can have unusual markings, or be smaller, bigger, less or more wieghty in comparison to a registered Sibe.

Any working breed that a kennel club recognizes winds up being broken into show breeds and working breeds. GSD's and Kelpies are other prime examples.

In fact, where a working Kelpie naturally herds with little training, a Show kelpie is pretty damn retarded as far as herding goes, unless you happen to have a working Kelpie that is within breed standard to show.

Actually. Alaskan's are being bred to a standard. They have to have a specific conformation to be able to be fast and to be able to work in harness at speeds. Look at the Iditarod Alaskans. They all STRUCTURALLY (which is what conformation is) look the same. Just because a standard isn't written does not mean that the dogs are not being bred to one.

The Chukchi did not have a written standard but their Siberian's were all conformationally the same. The same can be said for how any dog breed started. A standard is also not the be all end all.

If you don't have a dog that is conformed well - the dog is more likely to break down sooner. There is a reason why dogs that are structurally sound and well put together are also more aesthetically pleasing.

You're not talking to someone who hasn't done their research.

There isn't confusion about the definition of the word conformation in the general English language.

In the world of competitive dogs, "conformation" is the show dog event, where they decide who has the best example of the breed. It is a purely aesthetic competition.

My dogs all do events where they need to conform to certain criteriia to excel, but breeding Soshanna with the specific intent of carrying on her favourable skills will not be conformation breeding, it'll be breeding for working stock. Breeding Soshanna for her gold eyes, perky ears, and markings would be conformation breeding.

I didn't say you didn't do your research, but conformation is a specific event, for purebreds, and Alaskans aren't a recognized breed, so they can't exactly be bred with conformation in mind.

Id say Eurohounds are a better example of the work conformation you're speaking of. They turn out closer more often than Alaskans

I am not speaking of the event. This has nothing to do with the sport of conformation showing.

I am purely speaking of the conformation of a dog - the structure of a dog. And every breed of dog was created with a specific conformation in mind for the job that they needed to do.

In the world of competitive dogs - when you speak of a dog structure you're speaking of it's conformation to do whatever job it was bred to do.

Mixed breed dogs working on farm are bred to the farmers standard to get their job done efficiently.

You're confusing my use of the word conformation to mean only the sport. Not how I actually used it in describing the structure of the animal. I mentioned the sport of conformation ONLY when I said that it was the most common thing people think of when they use the word "conformation"

con·for·ma·tion
/ˌkänfôrˈmāSHən/
Noun

1. The shape or structure of something, esp. an animal.

Okay, but since this whole lack of clarity started from my saying that Panzer wasn't bred for conformation, and you explaining why you don't see it that way, then isn't it my job to clarify that I use the word "conformation" solely in reference to the competitive breeding event? I definitely made that exact clarification in an earlier post.

Now, I have shown Irish Water Spaniels and Beaucerons in Conformation for breeders, I have a mixed breed agility and herding dog that actively competes, and A mix breed dock diving dog that actively competes. I spent years in kennels training dogs for the conformation ring, and other events. I have been surrounded by so many breeders its unfathomable. In 6 years of a canine oriented career and life, I have not heard anyone but you talk about conformation and be talking about anything but the conformation event.

So, as the person who brought up conformation, let me assure you it was a specific reference to the conformation ring. That is what I've been trying to say.

Research and firsthand experience are two equally useful, but entirely different games.

And when I brought up conformation (mostly as a joke) it was very much to point out that there is another definition of the word conformation. And just because a dog does not compete in the sport of conformation does not mean that it wasn't bred FOR its conformation.

I understood entirely what you were saying - I didn't think YOU understood what I was saying as you kept pushing the conformation show sport and I wa solely referencing the stucture.

Glad that's cleared up.

What we have here is a failure to communicate, on both of our parts...

We both felt the other wasn't quite comprehending information.

I feel pretty silly..

It happens to the best of us!!!

I feel pretty silly too I forget jokes don't come across clear in text

well now that thats all cleared up, We can go back to the topic of health and such.

Health is never guaranteed. The only thing you can do is stack the odds in your favor.

Sure thing!

Any specific questions?