Preposterous
January 6, 2010
Tawzalt just walked casually into my office, stretched and curled up on top of Azelouan.
Backyard Shenanigans
April 19, 2009
Azelouan’s new game is jumping the pile of wood that I have left over after building a new fence. The wood pile is over 8 feet long and 2 feet high. He easily clears it every time.
On the way out.
The return journey.
It’s nap time
March 8, 2009
Theodora and Tawzalt
Cassandra and Tawzalt
Unfortunately, this lasted about 10 minutes. I should never have let the girls eat chocolate cake at the coffee shop.
“Help” with the snow removal
March 2, 2009
We had a pretty big snow storm last night, about 6 or 7 inches or hock-deep on an azawakh. The dogs are a little ambivalent about the stuff. They have fun with it until they start to get really cold. For Tawzalt, this is her first experience with proper fluffy snow that hasn’t been adulterated by a nasty skin of ice caused by freezing rain.
They were very helpful at un-shoveling the snow as I cleared it.
Tawzalt is starting to feel the cold after some crazed digging
What is this crazy stuff?
Snow Digger
Azeloan with his snow ball
Havoc wreaked, it's quittin' time.
West African Working Bush Dog
February 26, 2009
These are photographs of photographs I took in 1997 in The Gambia. The dog is one of three that serve as guardians for a beautiful herd of Fulani cattle. The structural conformation is very much like an Azawakh but many of the “bush dogs” in that area tend to be quite rustic and unrefined. Specimens with one or both ears erect were not uncommon, tails tendto be thick-ish and the hair was usually somewhat longer than is typical of Azawakh. The temperament is the same as typical of Azawakh. I believe these dogs and Azawakh are very closely related.
It was common practice for male working dogs to have cropped ears. I’m not sure if the primary purpose was to proactively prevent torn ears or to identify the dog as owned by someone (and therefore not to be killed).
West African bush dog protecting his cows
After thieves, the biggest risk to cattle might have been hyenas. The bush dogs that guard herds were expected to keep hyenas at bay.
West African Hyenas, the enemy of the bush dog
The Warm Spot
February 5, 2009
Today it is 15 F outside and a wicked wind is blowing. Azelouan found himself a nice warm spot in the sun to warm his bones.
Azelouan in his warm, sunny spot
Today we have sunshine
February 2, 2009
It seems like forever since we have had anything but grey skies and below-normal temperatures. The dogs definitely noticed the improvement. Tawzalt came into my office to bask herself.
Tawzalt basking in the warm sunlight
Enjoying the sun, but still still watchful.
Snuggle
January 21, 2009
Cassandra in jams snuggles Tawzalt
My wife insisted that Tawzalt needed an inaugural bath. If I say that Tawzalt detests being bathed it is not true only because detest is not a sufficiently negative verb. She does quite enjoy being snuggled and comforted by my daughters afteward, though.
Remain Dignified
January 20, 2009
Remain Dignified
Azelouan is working hard to retain his dignity while Theodora giggles with Tawzalt poking her ear.
Belyaev Temperament Breeding Experiment
December 31, 2008
Last summer I saw a DVD from the PBS show Nature called “Dogs that Changed the World” and also read the book of one of the contributing scientists. One of the really interesting parts of the miniseries was a discussion of the breeding program of a Russian scientist named Dmitri Belyaev which began in 1948.
Belyaev’s breeding program was designed to create a tame breed of silver foxes. As an aside, this was thought to have commercial implications because the raising of silver foxes in captivity for the Russian fur industry is difficult because the foxes are vicious.
What Belyaev did was select for a single behavior. The foxes that were least aggressive and avoidant were bred together. The result of this breeding program was that in just a few generations. Within a relatively small number of generations, by selecting only for temperament, Belyaev had created a very different stain of fox:
- They became dog-like and friendly with people
- Some of the tame foxes developed drop-ears
- The musky “fox smell” dissapeared
- They became white and black like border collies
- The pups begin responding to sounds 2 days earlier than wild type pups
- The pups open their eyes a day earlier than wild type pups
- Delayed onset of adult corticosteriod hormones levels (~8 months of age instead of 2-4 months of age)
- Their social behavior changed
- They wagged their tails when happy
- They began to bark and vocalize like dogs
- The tame foxes tended to have shorter tails and shorter legs
- Curled and double-curled tails developed
- Overbite and underbite developed
- The tame females came into estrus (heat) more frequently
The amazing takeaway point is that selecting for behavior and nothing else yielded dramatic cascade of apparently unrelated physical changes in the animals.
Incidentally, the physical changes make the fur of the tame foxes commercially useless. My understanding is that Belyaev has not been able to breed a tame fox that has the correct pelt for the fur industry and so the tame fox is not commercially viable.
