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If your dog has had any illnesses or ailments, you can tell us about them at any time without having to complete the rest of the questionnaire. Simply login to your dog's profile by visiting www.dogslife.ac.uk and click on the link underneath your dog's graph.
Where have our domestic dogs originated from?
Activities for dogs: Dock jumping
Urinary incontinence (a wee bit of bladder leakage?)
Dogslife website updates
Where have our domestic dogs originated from?
There has been great debate over the origins of the domestic dog. Palaeontologists have discovered fossils of dog-like animals that are more than 30,000 years old. Previous studies suggested that the origin of dogs traced back to domesticatoin of wolves in the Middle East or East Asia 15,000 years ago.
A recent DNA study suggests that dogs may have been domesticated in Europe around 18,000 years ago. To try and find out more about when and where dogs originated from, this research compared genetic sequences in modern and ancient dog and wolf samples. The results indicated that modern dogs are genetically closer to ancient European wolves (which are now extinct), rather than wolves from outside of Europe. Since the samples used date back over 18,000 years, the study implies that dogs may have been domesticated earlier than previously thought.
If the study’s timelines are accurate, dogs started to separate from populations of wolves whilst humans were still hunting and gathering, so it’s plausible that they followed humans as they hunted, and lived off their scraps. These animals could have benefitted humans as there were larger predators at that time (for example, bears) and the wolves would have been a good alarm system. Over time, wolves and humans would have become less afraid of each other and worked more closely together so that the wolves eventually become domesticated.
However, it is difficult to give a definitive answer to the origins of our domestic dogs because human populations have moved around a lot over time and dog populations have become very mixed. Furthermore some dogs have been bred back to wild wolves again, which further complicates any genetic analyses.
The ancient DNA tested consisted of small fragments of mitochondrial DNA, which traces the maternal lineage but gives no information about the paternal lineage. To get closer to the truth, more samples of larger, nuclear DNA need to be tested although this is challenging to extract from fossils and extremely old bones.
Regardless of the exactness of the origin of our modern day dogs, we know that humans and dogs have formed relationships all over the world for many thousands of years. With the help of studies like Dogslife, we can find out how to keep our dogs healthy and happy so that they can continue to be our companions for many thousands of years to come!
To find out more about this study, please click here.
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Activities for dogs: Dock jumping
Dock jumping (or Dock diving as it is also known) is a sport which, as its name suggests, involves dogs jumping from a dock into water where they compete for height or distance - just like a high jump or long jump, but landing in water rather than on a mat or sand pit.
The sport was first seen at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge in North America in 1997, and other competitions have since taken place in the USA, Canada and Australia, and from 2005, in the UK as well.
It is essential that Dock jumping only takes part in a safe place where the dock and the body of water meet the relevant safety requirements (we wouldn’t want any Dogslife participants trying this at home and sustaining an injury!). The dock is often covered in rubber matting, carpet or turf for better grip and the dog jumps from the dock when a toy is thrown into the water. The dock jumping distance is measured from the end of the dock (not from the point at which the dog leaves the dock) to where the dog hits the water at the base of its tail (the dog does not have to retrieve the toy for the jump to qualify). Distances are usually measured electronically, but sometimes judges are used.
The dog and their handler can walk on any part of the dock: there are no rules as to what part of the dock the owner or dog should not tread, and two techniques can be used depending on what suits the dog best. One technique involves the dog being asked to stay at a starting position at the back of the dock whilst the handler goes to the front of the dock and calls the dog and throws the toy at the same time. A second technique is where the handler and dog are at the end of the dock and the handler holds the dog whilst they throw the toy, then takes the dog to the back of the dock before releasing them to run and jump after the toy. Dogs are trained to try and jump up at the end of the dock to increase the height and distance covered and avoid landing short.
Any type of dog can take part in Dock jumping: there are classes for small dogs, older dogs, and dogs of different abilities. Dogs that are trained competitors at the sport have been able to jump over 8ft high and over 31ft long!
If you want to try it with your dog, make sure you take part in an official competition which meets the relevant safety standards, as jumping into water is inherently risky. To find out more about Dock jumping, please click here.
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Urinary incontinence (a wee bit of bladder leakage?)
Urinary incontinence is a term used to describe the involuntary passage of urine. It can vary in severity from an occasional, small amount of urine leakage to the regular leakage of a full bladder. It is important to differentiate urinary incontinence from other causes of inappropriate urination, such as behavioural problems (for example incomplete house training).
There are many causes of urinary incontinence, including neurological abnormalities (affecting the ability of the bladder neck to “tightly” contract), inflammation (so called “urge” incontinence which can be observed with painful inflammatory conditions of the urinary tract such as cystitis), congenital malformations of the urinary tract (resulting in the urinary “tubes” being positioned in the wrong place) and hormonal problems.
Perhaps the most common cause of urinary incontinence is urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence (USMI), a condition where the bladder neck does not tightly contract. Many factors have been suggested to contribute to the condition, such as incorrect positioning of the bladder, obesity and inadequate tone in the urethra (the tube which connects the bladder to the outside of the body).
Female dogs appear to be predisposed to USMI, and the most controversial association of this condition has been with neutering (spaying). A recent review of the many publications investigating the links between neutering and USMI revealed that there was a little evidence that neutering, in particular before puppies are three months of age, was associated with an increased risk of urinary incontinence in female dogs. However the evidence supporting these associations was weak, and not consistent nor strong enough for the reviewers to make recommendations about either the effect of neutering or age of neutering on the risk of urinary incontinence. And of course, there are many pros and cons to neutering dogs that must also be taken into account for each puppy on an individual basis.
Dogs with urinary incontinence have to be investigated thoroughly to determine the precise cause of the incontinence, through the analysis of urine, blood tests and diagnostic imaging of the urinary tract (with X-rays, ultrasonography, computed tomography and/or cystoscopy where a small camera is placed into the urethra and into the bladder). The treatment depends on the underlying cause of the incontinence. Dogs with USMI can be treated medically (using drugs or hormones to increase the contraction of the bladder neck) or with surgical procedures to increase the pressure at the bladder neck or to change the position of the bladder. In many cases this can lead to a permanent and successful resolution of this difficult problem.
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Dogslife website updates
Dogslife have recently made some amendments to the website to improve the usability and efficiency of the site, and to update members on the project’s progress.
If you have completed your dog’s record since your dog turned ten months of age, you may have noticed that some of the questions are now prepopulated with your previous answers. This has been set up so that completing the questionnaire is quicker and easier, and we hope it will encourage members to continue to update their dog’s record when it may seem that little has changed in their dog’s routine. Dogslife is very grateful for all the data member’s provide to the study, no matter how small the detail, or if nothing has changed at all - we’d still like to know!
Dogslife have also updated the study so far section of the website to let our members know about what is happening to their dog’s data, and the process of data validation that is carried out before the analysis of the information. We will soon begin to explore the relationships between various aspects of a dog’s environment (such as their diet, exercise, geographical location or household type) on the risk of them developing a disease. As soon as we have any findings, we will let you know in our newsletter and in the study so far section of the website.
Finally, we have updated the Dogslife UK section of the website to show a map of the locations of Dogslife members throughout the United Kingdom. (Unfortunately we are no longer able to show a map with a paw-print to identify the location of every member that’s joined the study because we now have so many members the map was taking too long to load!)
Thank you to everyone who continues to tell us about their Labrador Retriever, we are very grateful for all your time and help with the study.
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There will be another prize draw at the end of March so don't forget to come back to Dogslife (www.dogslife.ac.uk) and update your dog's record to be in with the best chance of winning!
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