Sandi

There may be more in genetics than we want to admit. Years ago we fed a brand called Tuffy's, probably not available anymore, don't even remember who made it, it was very similar to purina, but anyway, we had much stronger dogs back then than now.

We have all rescued dogs, either Kuvasz or Great Pyrennes. We are starting to notice that the general health, stamina, well being is not what it used to be. Our oldest ones here, both 13, which is quite old for the breed came from horrible conditions, one had heart worm, the other lived in horrendous conditions for 7 years, 24 dogs in a house that were kept inside, when they were removed by the state, most couldn't even walk.

Our younger ones just don't have the vitality that we used to see. Maybe all this show breeding is weakening them. Maybe breeding a straight coat over a curly coat has implications not thought of by the breeder, in fact some of the breeders are seeing the same thing.

The other thing is maybe the food 15 years ago wasn't as bad as it is now and with the BAD or WEAKENED genetics we are seeing more illness.

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Sandi

This may be true, considering that my dogs would have been used as livestock guards, they would have either been shot when unable to walk or would have been killed by predators if unable to defend themselves.

I do believe that the breeds are getting weaker though, we are starting to see an awful lot of knee, hip, and cancer in the breeds. I am on a few dog breed specific lists and these ailments are becoming common, even in younger dogs, like 2-4 years old.

Some theories are the food, pretty obvious, over vaccinating, pollutions, of course if you look at the general health of society it isn't much better, obesity in children, cancer on the rise, heart and blood pressure on the rise, obesity in adults, etc.

to me,  I strongly feel that something isn't right out there.

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Sandi

Yeah so do we. Been in rescue for over 25 years, have heard all the BS excuses, have seen all kinds of crap. The breeds that we deal with are Kuvasz and Great Pyrennes. I try to talk to people about the nature of the breed, their independence, aggressiveness, the fact that if you don't handle them right they are going to be a problem, health issues, children etc. Just sick of it. Probably why wife and I stay to ourselves most of the time. They see a cute white fuzzball, try to tell them that this dog is going to grow and become very tough in about a year, no one listens, and then we end up with them. Most of the breeders are responsible and will take the dogs back IF and that is a big IF, the owner notifies the breeder before putting the dog down or shipping it off to a shelter.

Had one last August, breeder writes me if we are interested in another dog? , like we are short here have 7 dogs, anyway one of her dogs is in a kill shelter, the only way she was found was the local rescue person scanned the dog and found the chip, breeder is frantic, the owner just dropped the dog off, never called the breeder, just dumped her.

We get the dog out of the kill shelter and have her transported to us, she is very thin, in horrible shape, traumtized, etc. She is doing much better now, took some time to get her to calm down. She is already anti-people and probably will never be socialized to the point of being safe around people. So now we have another luny one, that makes 5 of the 7 that can't be around people for abuse, starvation, lack of sociaization etc.

We don't use any insecticides, herbicides, any of that stuff, BUT you can't stop the neighbors from using it and it does blow around. Well you can but since strangling is out of the question, oh well.

people suck

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