AKC to Celebrate 125th Anniversary at 2009 AKC/Eukanuba National Championship
-- Entries For 2009 Show Open To All Competitors

NEW YORK, NY  – The American Kennel Club® is pleased to announce that the 2009 AKC/Eukanuba National Championship will be the platform for AKC’s 125th anniversary celebration. In recognition of this milestone, the AKC will waive the invitational format. As was the case for AKC’s centennial show in 1984, classes will be offered at the breed level and championship points will be awarded.

The event will take place in Long Beach, CA on Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13, 2009 and will continue to showcase the top American dogs as well as offer the popular Bred-by-Exhibitor competition and Eukanuba World Challenge. AKC anticipates a very significant entry and therefore an entry limit may be necessary. the panel for this show will consist of almost 90 judges.

To further commemorate the anniversary, AKC Parent Clubs are invited to hold a specialty or supported entry in conjunction with this show. If a Parent Club chooses not to participate, then local specialty clubs will be given the opportunity to join us. The AKC/Eukanuba National Championship will return to an invitation-only format in 2010. All dogs who would have qualified for the 2009 show will be invited to attend the 2010 show, along with the 2010 qualifiers.

The AKC National Obedience Invitational and AKC Agility Invitational will be held in conjunction with the 2009 AKC/Eukanuba National Championship. The Los Encinos Kennel Club, Kennel Club of Beverly Hills and Long Beach Kennel Club shows will precede the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship at the same site on Dec. 9-11, 2009.

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Disgraced Cloner Reports Success With Tibetan Dog Breed
Published: June 20, 2008

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean team led by a disgraced cloning expert said Thursday that it had created 17 clones of an endangered dog breed popular in China.

The team, from the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, said the cloned Tibetan mastiff dogs were born in April, two months after being requested by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The team that cloned the dogs was led by Hwang Woo-suk, who in 2005 successfully created the world’s first known dog clone, but was found the same year to have fabricated research on cloning human stem cells .

The foundation said it took two months to produce the cloned Tibetan mastiffs from pregnancy, but it declined to discuss its success rate, citing internal policy.

The foundation said all 17 dogs had been cloned from two dogs — female and male — through six surrogate dogs and cited DNA tests conducted by another institute as evidence.

However, an official of Kogene Biotech, the Seoul-based institute specializing in DNA analysis that did the tests, said it did not take its own samples from the dogs and that the samples it tested were provided by the foundation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Pedigree dogs face extinction due to inbreeding


By Jasper Copping
Telegraph in the UK

Many of Britain's most popular dog breeds could be extinct within 50 years because they are so inbred, vets have warned.

Some pedigrees are suffering from a range of worsening health problems because they are being bred from a shrinking gene pool in an effort to create the most sought-after physical characteristics.

Many breeds will die out as a result of hereditary diseases, the vets warn.

Emma Milne, the television vet who will address the British Veterinary Association on the subject next week, said: "If things carry on as they are, within 50 years many breeds will not survive. There are breeds with massive welfare problems that are in dire need of action.

"The constant refinements made by this kind of breeding mean they have become cartoon caricatures of what dogs used to be."

Ms Milne, who starred in the long-running series Vets in Practice, said animals were now having to be put down because of hereditary diseases, which had become widespread.

"This isn't natural. They are not really viable breeds but are being artificially maintained. A lot would die if they were not treated. If it carries on like this, veterinary intervention will not be able to save some of them."

Of the more than 200 pedigree breeds in Britain, most now have problems with hereditary diseases.

Among those most at risk are breeds such as the bulldog, which suffers from breathing problems, and shar peis, which are bred with twice as much skin as necessary, and suffer from chronic infections.

Both breeds cost about £1,000 a puppy. The average price for pedigrees is £600.

Dachshunds are increasingly prone to arthritis, because they are bred to have longer bodies and shorter legs, while Yorkshire terriers often need orthopaedic surgery to fix dislocated knees.

Deafness is now common in dalmatians, because the deafness gene is linked to the shape of the spots, for which they are bred.

While great danes and Irish wolfhounds, selectively bred for their massive sizes, have been left susceptible to heart disease and bone cancer and are lucky to live to seven.

Of the two most popular breeds, labrador retrievers suffer from three different hereditary joint problems, six eye and two heart conditions, while English cocker spaniels have five eye and four heart conditions, as well as kidney disease.

A new association has been set up to push for reform of the pedigree dog system.

The Pets Parliament has been established to secure ratification of the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals, which has already been signed by more than 20 countries.

The convention highlights a list of breed characteristics that need to be modified for the dogs' best interests and also bans breeding if the two animals share a grandparent.

The move could see some breeds disappear, and alter significantly in appearance, and the move is being resisted by the Kennel Club, which currently registers pedigrees.

Holly Lee, from the Kennel Club, said: "We're aware of the inherited health problems but we're the best placed to deal with them."

At $4K each, K-9 imports draw howls

The government imports hundreds of untrained bomb- and drug-sniffing dogs from Europe each year for as much as $4,535 apiece, four times the price charged by American breeders, says a federal report out today.

The high canine price tags are prompting outrage from congressional and government spending critics and U.S. breeders, who say taxpayer money is being wasted.

"What kind of dogs are these — gold-plated?" asked Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste.

The Homeland Security Department's inspector general (IG) found that the Customs and Border Protection division spent $1.46 million on 322 untrained dogs between April 2006 and June 2007. CBP has more than 1,000 trained dogs working at the nation's borders, airports and seaports, and the number is likely to grow.

The report called the figure "reasonable" and "comparable" to what other government agencies pay. The Secret Service, which has 75 dogs, pays an average of $4,533 for its dogs. The Department of Defense, which gets a discount because it buys more dogs than other agencies, pays between $3,300 and $3,800 per dog, the IG found.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., called it "irresponsible" that the government is spending so much, even before it pays $15,000 per canine team for 13 to 15 weeks of training.

A typical purebred in the USA sells for about $1,200. A show dog could go for as much as $2,000.

"Using canines … is smart security," Thompson says. But "paying $4,000 for an untrained European canine seems excessive, a waste of taxpayer money and does not support the breeders we have right here at home."

Lee Titus, director of CBP's Canine Enforcement Training Center in Front Royal, Va., where the dogs are trained, said 90% of the dogs come from overseas because Europe has a long history of breeding dogs with the proper temperament for security duties. U.S. breeders, he says, breed mostly "pretty" show dogs or pets.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says the "bloodlines from Europe make the dogs very desirable for us."

The government, which puts its requests for dogs out for competitive bidding, buys Belgian Malinoises, Labradors and shepherds.

Michelle Denson, who breeds Belgian Malinois dogs in Ocala, Fla., says her dogs are no different from European dogs. She says she has sold some to police departments for $1,000. "There's plenty of American breeders who breed these kinds of dogs," she says, "and they don't charge this exorbitant amount of money."

Mutt-dom is revealed through DNA

Through the marvels of DNA testing, some of the greatest mysteries of Mutt-dom are being revealed.

Dogs of vague or unrecognizable ancestry — whether fluffy white mongrels with Chihuahua ears and beagle-like voices or massive hounds that resemble nothing previously seen in nature — are being exposed for what they really are, genetically speaking.

DNA testing can disclose what breeds dominate their family trees. And thousands of people are happy to pay, about $60 to $170 depending on the method and company chosen, to end the what-do-you-suppose-he-is speculation of mixed-breed dog owners everywhere.

The first test was unveiled less than a year ago. Now, consumer interest is growing so fast that more companies are jumping into the doggie-identification business, websites are being enhanced, and additional breeds are being added to testing databases.

"Pure curiosity, getting the answer" is the reason most owners seek out the testing, says Neale Fretwell, head geneticist for Mars Veterinary, maker of the Wisdom Panel MX Mixed Breed Analysis. The analysis can can determine which of 134 breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club composes a dog's genetic makeup.

And some of the answers are real stunners, not only for the owners but also for the veterinarians who have made their best guesses, Fretwell says.

The procedure requires an appointment with a veterinarian to draw a blood sample, and when analysis is completed in two or three weeks, a follow-up visit to discuss the findings. The pricing is set by individual veterinarians, $135 to $170.

Another reason owners go the testing route is to uncover possible explanations for behaviors that might be inherited, such as herding people and other pets or rooting around in chipmunk or mole holes.

Other owners want to know whether their dogs have a high proportion of a breed predisposed to a particular ailment or frailty, although experts caution that it's impossible to know which traits, including propensity for disease or medical problems, a mongrel might inherit from any particular breed.

No one offering such tests suggests a mongrel assumes some sort of elevated status upon learning a purebred bloodhound or dachshund entered his ancestry generations ago.

Indeed, the companies celebrate the characteristics of mixed breeds, and some experts applaud "hybrid vigor," the belief that mixing unrelated breeds can create a stronger, healthier dog than purebreds, which can pass on genetic conditions found in specific breeds.

Many clients are "very surprised" upon receiving word of what breeds populate their dog's background, Fretwell says.

Meg Retinger, chief administrative officer of BioPet Vet Lab in Knoxville, Tenn., says: "Some people say, 'That's just exactly what I thought.' " Others "have such preconceived notions about what their pet is they just won't accept the results."

In January, the lab began marketing its $59.95 DNA Breed Identification kit, which tests for 61 AKC breeds using cheek cells scraped by the owner.

But the signature appearance characteristics of a particular breed don't always materialize, even when there's a high proportion of that breed in a dog, Fretwell says.

A mongrel with a German shepherd parent or grandparent, for example, might not have the black and tan coloring, the saddle pattern on its back or even the long muzzle. Some could not show any shepherd characteristics.

Size, color and a host of physical features such as ear and muzzle shape and tail type are influenced by genetics, and when several breeds meld in one dog, it's tough for even experts to eyeball a mutt and accurately assess what lies within.

Connie Steele of Colorado Springs learned that. This year she adopted a black-and-white dog that shelter personnel thought was mostly border collie and about 1½ years old. She soon discovered from her veterinarian that Ellie was still a puppy, probably less border collie than believed and almost certain to grow a lot more.

Steele had Ellie tested because, she jokes, she wanted "a bit of warning if I'm going to need to plan ahead for a larger house to accommodate a 2-year-old pony-sized dog."

Upon receiving Ellie's results, Steele did not begin house-shopping, though she was surprised by the breeds found in her background. Steele believes the information she now has about Ellie and also Kayla, another recently adopted shelter dog, offers clues about how to approach their training.

Most DNA tests show three or four different breeds in the mixed breeds' ancestries, and many show five or six, experts say. Several more probably are in the mix, but the amounts have been so dissipated over the generations, they are merely weak traces, unlikely to influence a dog's appearance or behavior.

And, yes, a few dogs comprise so many disparate breeds, the experts and their tests just can't solve the puzzle.

"Even the best test can't answer every question of biology," says Dennis Fantin, chief of operations for MetaMorphix, a company in Beltsville, Md., that has done testing for the AKC for years. The company now offers a $119.95 mixed-breed cheek-swab kit. The Canine Heritage XL Breed Test can detect 108 breeds.

Sometimes, any pure DNA has become "so diluted" by encounters with mixed breeds over the generations that no answers emerge, Fantin says.

Their owners are told the mystery must remain.

The Official Site of the Iditarod
By the Iditarod Staff

Wasilla, AK – The 2009 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race first day sign ups began at 9:30 am Alaska time at the Iditarod Trail Committee.  By the end of the first draw deadline (12:30 pm Alaska Time) fifty one mushers had signed up for Iditarod XXXVII. The second draw concluded at 3:45 pm

Dog DNA Study Yields Clues to Origins of Breeds
National Geographic - Published in 2005

Scientists have completed the first comprehensive comparison of the genes of domesticated dog breeds.

The analysis of 85 common types—including the Pekingese, Great Dane, Border collie, and dachshund—found fascinating clues about how dog breeds are related to one another, and how they may have descended from ancestral dogs in different parts of the globe. Those clues, in turn, could increase understanding about early human migration.

The findings, reported in the edition of the research journal, Science, may also offer the first way to determine the breed of a dog based on a genetic sample. The majority of breeds tested have a unique DNA signature, despite the fact that many breeds were created only within the last few centuries.

"Since the formation of breed clubs and official breed standards only happened in the 1800s, it's really surprising that we've found such a high degree of distinction between different breeds," said geneticist Leonid Kruglyak of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Based in Seattle, Washington, Kruglyak is a co-author of the study.

Explosion of Breeds

The distinction found between breeds is much higher than the distinction between human populations on different continents, Kruglyak said. The variation is large enough that an individual dog's breed can be distinguished using its genetic sequence alone, he added.

"It's remarkable to find such differentiation, since the vast majority of the explosion of breeds we see today have a recent origin," commented Robert Wayne, evolutionary biologist and expert on dog genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Most previous research using a different, less-sensitive type of genetic technique had not been able to detect great differences between different breeds, Wayne said.

To collect data, graduate student Heidi Parker, geneticist Elaine Ostrander—both of the Hutchinson center—and other team members contacted breed clubs across the U.S. They also scouted numerous dog shows to take cheek-swab DNA samples from five purebred dogs of each of the 85 common breeds they tested.

Over two years of focused work, with the assistance of the American Kennel Club, the team collected and analyzed DNA from 414 dogs.

The results revealed that an unexpected and geographically diverse cluster of breeds—including the Siberian husky, the Afghan hound, Africa's basenji, China's chow chow, Japan's akita, and Egypt's saluki—are most closely related to dog's ancient wolflike ancestors. "Dogs from these breeds may be the best living representatives of the ancestral dog gene pool," the researchers wrote.

The finding may back up claims by some experts that dogs originated in Asia and migrated with nomadic humans both south to Africa and north to the Arctic.

 

 

Judge Restores Protection for Wolves
Reported by AOL July 7, 2008

BILLINGS, Mont. (July 19) - A federal judge has restored endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, derailing plans by three states to hold public wolf hunts this fall.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula granted a preliminary injunction late Friday restoring the protections for the wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Molloy will eventually decide whether the injunction should be permanent.

The region has an estimated 2,000 gray wolves. They were removed from the endangered species list in March, following a decade-long restoration effort.

Environmentalists sued to overturn the decision, arguing wolf numbers would plummet if hunting were allowed. They sought the injunction in the hopes of stopping the hunts and allowing the wolf population to continue expanding.

"There were fall hunts scheduled that would call for perhaps as many as 500 wolves to be killed. We're delighted those wolves will be saved," said attorney Doug Honnold with Earthjustice, who had argued the case before Molloy on behalf of 12 environmental groups.

In his ruling, Molloy said the federal government had not met its standard for wolf recovery, including interbreeding of wolves between the three states to ensure healthy genetics.
"Genetic exchange has not taken place," Molloy wrote in the 40-page decision.

Molloy said hunting and state laws allowing the killing of wolves for livestock attacks would likely "eliminate any chance for genetic exchange to occur."
World Dog Show Winner
Tokima's Northwest Passage

Maja Golob of Hydrargium Kennels, from Slovenia,  owns this years World Dog Show Winner, Tokima's Northwest Passage.  The show was held on July 6, 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden.  He is an American bred Siberian Husky whose call name is Clark. He was bred by Maryl Foster of Tokima's Siberians.
 
Clark was the Best Male, BOS and was awarded the  WORLD WINNER title.  This is his second time being awarded the WW title, the first was in Poland in 2006.

World Winner Female and BOB was Karnovanda`s Beatrisa from Portugal.
 
Clark is finished under 11 different Ch titles.  The countrys are listed below. He is:
 
AMERICAN CHAMPION, POLISH CHAMPION, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA CHAMPION, LUXEMBOURG CHAMPION, SERBIAN CHAMPION, MONTENEGRO CHAMPION, INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION, SLOVENIAN CHAMPION, RUSSIAN CHAMPION, ITALIAN CHAMPION, CROATIAN CHAMPION.