So I changed to a small country practice with 2 vets. I prefer having one person who is more familiar with the dog and has more time to think about what's going on and what should be done. The vet care has wound up cheaper and better.
I have had so many bad experiences with vets (Not just having things priced high, but being charged hundreds of dollars for surgeries and procedures that were never performed...by several different practices!), and was really sick of bringing in my pets and hearing the vets literally standing around and talking about how their golf trip would be funded today by the locals bringing in their sick pets..who, by the way, drive shoddy cars (no exaggeration on that one, my husband and I both looked at each other and left). I too have found the lower priced country vets to be honest, knowledgeable, and perhaps more importantly, willing to listen to the owners and willing to research things they aren't as familiar with. They also tend to be able to handle a wider range of animals, tell you right off what they can and can't do, and use some common sense when diagnosing. That is the sort of vet I seek out every time we move, and I have always been very happy with them and how they treat my pets. I also find breeders who are willing to share their knowledge can be a huge source of help. I can't tell you how many tricks on treating rats I've used successfully passed on from both rat breeders and also overlooked peer reviewed research papers (there is a lot out there on rats as they are one of the most used lab animals). Hm, sorry. Think I digressed there.
On dogs, yes, definitely they are changing, though I know changes among human-bred animals is definitely not a new thing. I think though, that because of how dogs are viewed in our society, the trend is both towards perceived beauty and as an indoor companion, where as trends in the past have been for things like a better pit dog or a better hunter. I think the Tibetan mastiff is one breed that is interesting to look at, because the actual steppe dogs look and act quite differently from show or American TMs:
Nomad dog in Tibet
China bred...I think (In china, this would be the lion head type, not the 'tiger head' type)
US bred
Is breeding a more mellow dog with a different look bad? I can't say it is. One is more suited for where it is found...out guarding the heck out of land, the other is now suitable to be part of the family. But, is a dog that no longer has its original look or function the same dog? I don't feel it is, and that recognizing the difference isn't a bad thing. However, I wonder how the breed will progress. TMs are unusually long lived for large dogs, but according to Wikipedia, "Canine Inherited Demyelinative Neuropathy is an inherited condition that appeared in one of the prominent lines of Tibetan Mastiffs in the early 1980s. " I wonder if such issues will continue to be bred into these dogs where as the nomadic dogs would have stronger selection against health issues due to their harsher life.
I have found that I generally enjoy dogs from working lines or mixed breeding (mutts) as opposed to many show lines just because of the health problems I have personally experienced in the latter. I don't know if anyone has any statistics on health in working versus show breeds. It also seems that behavioral issues such as seizure related aggression is something I have just personally seen more in show lines. It'd be nice to see some numbers on whether any of that is true or not.
