Dog Gone Genetics...

Did you know these two are closely related?

As many of you know, I am a former MUTT. When my female human had my DNA done a few years ago, they said I was so far in the mix that not one breed stood out. They saw traces of Akita, Chow Chow, Poodle and ShihTzu. In person most humans think I'm a Terrier of some sort. In fact several actually asked if I'm a Giant Westie! BOL! The DNA people didn't see any Terrier! Huh? WTD (What the dog)? So that's why I'm a former mutt. Mom and I created the first all encompassing breed for mutts. I am a part of a breed!  I'm a GenChan®! That's short for the genetically challenged dog and I certainly am !

So I saw this article on NPR and it pretty much amazed me. It says that us dogs, like the two in the photo, are not far apart genetically at all. Us dogs were all created from a very few dogs from waaaaay back when.  Well whoever they were let's toast to our ancestors big or small with good or bad breath! BOL!

While you're here reading, make sure you are entered into my monthly contest to win an UpCountry Collar or Lead of your choice! Just go to the top of my blog and enter your email address.

Animal Domestication, Foxes and Me - See for yourself!

Fox or Me?

More than one person has told my Mom that I look like a Fox from the back!  Well, here's a fascinating story from National Geographic. It turns out that some researchers tried to compress 15,000 years of breeding from foxes to dogs in just a few years, and they succeeded. In only nine generations they were able to breed a fox that was friendly to humans.

That's interesting enough, but it gets better. Here's a quote from the story:

Selecting which foxes to breed based solely on how well they got along with humans seemed to alter their physical appearance along with their dispositions. After only nine generations, the researchers recorded fox kits born with floppier ears. Piebald patterns appeared on their coats. By this time the foxes were already whining and wagging their tails in response to a human presence, behaviors never seen in wild foxes.

We just think that's amazing. The only thing they were breeding for was friendliness to humans, and they got floppy ears and coats that were more of a mixture instead of being all uniform.

Fox

Me

So may be there is something to what those researchers came up with.  There's a little fox in all of us MUTTS!  Nothin' wrong with being Foxy right? BOL!  Why don't you send pictures of your foxy tails to  me. I'll post them on my blog and we can vote on the tail that looks most like a fox and the winner will win a new foxy collar from Up Country! The Foxy Tail drawing will run from Sept 3 thru Sept 10th.  Send your Foxy Tails to customerservice@MyGenChan.com.  Photo needs to be taken from the posterior position and be clear. Be sure to include your name and email address so we can contact you!