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And here all this time we just figured you were itchy scratchy because you simply despised them dog dawgs...ha ha ha They just happened to get under yer skin and made you physically ill!
There are no true hypo allergic dogs or cats...it is usually the saliva that people are allergic to, so slobbery big Saints even with their precious filled caskets round their necks would be a tres bad breed choice for Bama.
Personally, I like dogs and just hate most all people! Bwa ha ha ha...I let the possession of animal persons in to my life because, well we're all just nutsos in the same fashion...me like THEM--lots!!!
Got an update on the precious goods arriving on next Tuesday!
Pupper girls both got their second set of vaccinations (good as they now have a week to deal with the response their immune systems will have plus gain some active immunity...lots of time to settle and deal with it comfy like--we SO happy!!)
AND
They had their BAER tests done (Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response test) on the 28th too.
http://www.doghearingtest.com/BAER.html:
VERY important in the Australian Cattle Dog breed, BAER testing will show you if your ACD is full hearing. The BAER test reveals if the dog hears in both ears OR whether the dog is fully deaf (hears nothing in either ear), OR (the most important part) is a uni...a unilaterally NOT fully deaf/hearing dog. A unilaterally deaf dog hears in ONE ear only and is surprisingly GOOD at making up for that fault...the one hearing eared dog (unis) will sometimes do funky things like prefer to always turn in one direction (usually the hearing ear side!) when you ask them to herd up stock, and the bigger issue is that single ear hearing dogs tend to produce more completely and fully DEAF dogs in future generations. Sorta like one ear is not working, so likelihood of compounding this bad and making fully deaf progeny in future generations is more likely.
Back in the olden days before BAER testing was available, breeders would let the pups fall asleep without touching each other and clap their hands over the isolated puppy...this was said to prove the dog was able to hear if it woke up (startled) to the sound of clapping...yeh, fine and dandy but the unis went along un-detected...one hearing EAR is fully capable of hearing a loud clapping over the sleeping dog's head. Yeh...things have gotten MUCH better with technology improving how we breeders may select for the top dogs for the breeding programs and eliminate genetic faults from the gene pools. Now not all breeders of ACDs do the hearing tests...it is a costly and sometimes difficult to get done endeavour...kinda that see no evil, hear no...you know, gonna make money on puppy litters no matter what, eh! Grrr....whatever...everything that goes business like often has $$ costs attach that oversee what should be done is not being done in the name of the almighty PROFITS...Grrr....
Makins (Fixins' mom) was tested as a fully hearing puppy by her breeder in 1995 at 90 decibels. We do not fully understand the inheritance of deafness in the ACD but we have found that the better the dogs were at hearing, those ones have been less likely to throw uni or fully deaf puppers! So the theory goes that the lower the decibels, the better the hearing of the tested dogs...some ACDs have been tested and the docs say the dogs can hear the grass grow--sounds GREAT right, until you realize those dogs can get set off barking at things nobody but them, can hear! AGH!
So when Makies had her litter of pups in 2001, we packed EVERYONE up and headed out in the truck and travel trailer (convoy!) for the U of Saskatoon over in the next province of Saskatchewan--ROAD TRIP! Makins, the pups and HyBlade (Stogs went too but she was not to be bred as an altered rescue, but we let her come along for the fun trip adventure of a lifetime!); all these registered purebred ACDs of ours had their hearing tested. Makins had her hearing REtested (fully hearing at 90 decibles by her breeder and then, fully hearing at 50 decibles) because I wanted her at the same level to compare on how the pups did in comparison evenly with her own level of hearing ability. Not overly scientific with such a small sampling but hey, every bit helps...it turned out as a positive reflection of the hunch on hearing inheritance...so that was OK.
Makins BAER tests; top one is 1995 test at 90 decibels (full hearing) and bottom one is 2001 test at 50 decibels. SHE can hear!
What you wanna see in the graphs are deep valleys...so yeh, there are valleys on thar! Yee haw--they are proven to hear yah!!
BAER Test Aug 31, 2001 at 50 dbs; Mommy Makins on the left and daughter Fixins on the right
Many attribute the use of Dalmatians in the formation of the ACD breed to a higher incident of deafness in the ACD breed. Dals may attribute some of the breed's issues with deafness to the "white hair gene" as when hearing cells are developing in the puppy dog, they need to consume "pigment" to grow...anyone remembering my colour genetics blah blah's knows WHITE hair is due to lack of pigment/NO colour! The whiter the dog (and other animals too--blue eyed ruminants are often deaf, not always, all my goats have had boo eyes and all dem can HEAR...should I my rattle rustle the grain bucket and they know!), the higher the incident of having deafness in them. It was once thought to be a silly wives' tale but now scientifically proven, white hair can = deafness! Y'all know that ACDs are born mostly as white puppies and colour up over time; the mask and body spots are dark but the main colour is white when born...white sausage puppers--so cutester!
So we shall KNOW for sure...when we call the puppy girl names...they CAN hear us and that they are just choosing to IGNORE us ... Oh my & good gack...how lovely to be armed and dangerous (all to meself, eh!)...sometimes you question the good of knowing for certain that them dogs are jest choosing to misbehave. Freedom of choice, to have strong wills and stubbornness--oh well, I keep telling myself I enjoy a good challenge, eh!
"Hey, I know you two can hear me...I got the documentation to PROVE it! BAER tested fully hearing...Now get yer furry haired butts outta the pool and the sand pit and get yer keesters going to the house! Got those hairy Heeler mouths to fill...Oh lookit, I said something about FOOD...thar they both go...wagging their butt and tail spotted tails behind them!"
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
