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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.
Does your dog understand you?
Activities for dogs: Canicross
Eaten something they shouldn’t have? A quick guide to gastrointestinal foreign bodies
Project update: Looking for genes causing diseases
Does your dog understand you?
A recent study has revealed that dogs may understand us because their brains react to voices in the same way as ours, which potentially explains why we often feel in tune with our canine companions.
Eleven pet dogs took part in the study and were trained to stay still for eight minutes in an MRI scanner whilst they were played different noises. To compare the results from the eleven dogs, 22 human volunteers carried out the same tests in the MRI scanner.
Both the dogs and humans listened to 200 different sounds during the time they were in the MRI scanner. The noises included human sounds (not words), dog sounds, traffic and environmental noises and whistles. The results from the MRI scans showed that in both humans and dogs, the same part of the brain (the temporal pole) was activated when they heard human sounds. This research is the first to find that this area of the brain exists in an animal other than a primate.
The emotional sounds of humans (crying and laughing) and dogs (angry barking and whimpering) also caused similar reactions in part of the brain known as the auditory cortex in both species. However, only 3% of this area of the brain lit up when humans listened to these noises, whereas approximately half of this area of the brain lit up in dogs. The results also showed that canine noises caused a much stronger reaction in dogs’ brains compared to humans, and dogs were less able to differentiate between vocal sounds and environmental noises compared to humans.
The researchers hope to set up more experiments to find out about dogs’ reactions and sensitivity to words (as opposed to just sounds) and specifically their owners’ speech.
To find out more about this study, please click here.
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Activities for dogs: Canicross
Canine cross country (known as Canicross or CaniX) is an activity whereby owners go out running off-road with their dogs. Dogs wear a padded harness with a bungee lead (to lessen any sudden jolts) which is attached to a specially designed running belt worn by the runner. Participants can run with more than one dog attached to them.
Canicross began in Europe as off-season training for dog sledding and usually involved sledding breeds of dogs such as the Husky, but now all breeds, shapes and sizes of dogs are taking part in the activity. Other variations of canicross are skijoring (owners skiing with their dogs), and bikejoring (owners cycling with their dogs).
Those who are just starting out with canicross are advised to start off by just walking (also known as canimarching) with their dog(s) and gradually increasing the pace until dogs and their owners are running together (canicross). Owners usually carry water for both themselves and their dogs as it can be thirsty work especially in warm conditions.
Any dog and owner can take part in canicross and many find it a great way to keep fit whilst spending time with their dog and enjoying the great outdoors together, either alone or with other dogs and runners. There are many different canicross clubs throughout the UK and canicross events and competitions have been set up which cover distances between one mile and twenty-eight miles.
To find out more about canicross, please click here.
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Eaten something they shouldn’t have? A quick guide to gastrointestinal foreign bodies
Labrador Retrievers are renowned for having good appetites, and sometimes this can lead to them eating things they shouldn’t! Gastrointestinal foreign bodies are non-food items which pets have eaten (hence the term ‘foreign’), and which can get stuck in their gastrointestinal tract if they are too large to pass through as they are not digested. We have already had a number of reports to the Dogslife database of dogs eating foreign bodies, including stones, bones, stockings and electrical wire.
If the foreign body is small enough, it will pass through the intestines un-noticed and without causing any clinical signs. If it is too large it can become stuck in the gastrointestinal tract, anywhere from the oesophagus (food pipe) and stomach, to the small or large intestine. This causes an immediate problem, as the normal fluid (or digested food) which fills the intestine can’t get past due to the blockage. The severity of the clinical signs which the dog will show will depend on the site at which the foreign body is stuck, the length of time it has been stuck, the degree of obstruction it causes, and whether it is toxic (for example, coins which contain zinc), or whether it perforates the gastrointestinal tract (if the foreign body has a sharp edge).
Typically the first sign of a dog having eaten a foreign body will be severe vomiting. If the foreign body is left in the gastrointestinal tract for long enough, it may perforate the tract leading to the spillage of intestinal contents into the abdominal cavity. This is a serious and life-threatening complication, called peritonitis. Fortunately, this is rare and doesn’t usually occur if the foreign body is identified early enough. The majority of foreign bodies can be removed if they get stuck in the gastrointestinal tract, either using forceps guided by a small camera (called an endoscope) or with a surgical operation. If you suspect your dog has eaten a foreign body, you should contact your vet immediately. Of course, foreign bodies are better prevented than treated, so if your dog is showing interest in chewing or swallowing something which they shouldn't, then it is best to take it away from them.
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Project update: Looking for genes causing diseases
We have recently received funding to run a pilot study to look for the genes which might cause the muscular condition limber tail, or the tumour histiocytoma. We know from the Dogslife database that we have over 40 dogs reported to have developed one of these conditions so far, and soon we will be contacting their owners to request a DNA sample (using a mouth swab), so that we can look at their genetics in more depth.
Canine cutaneous histiocytomas are the most common type of tumour seen in dogs, and account for nearly 90% of all tumours diagnosed in dogs less than one year of age. Certain dog breeds are reported to be at greater risk of this including Bulldogs, Greyhounds, Boxers, and Boston Terriers, although Labradors have been reported to have a slightly increased risk. Limber tail is a painful coccygeal muscle disease reported primarily in working-dog breeds, which tends to be associated with exposure to a cold wet environment, in particular swimming. Most dogs recover spontaneously within a few days to weeks, but cannot work during this period. For more information on either condition, please see our previous newsletter articles on limber tail and histiocytoma.
To date, there are no studies published which have investigated the genetic basis to either of these conditions in any breed of dog. We will use the DNA samples to analyse hundreds of thousands of genetic variants (differences in the DNA) in each dog, and by comparing their frequency between the groups of dogs with either disease to those from dogs who have never developed either condition, we can analyse if any of the variants are associated with either of the diseases. This also highlights the power of the Dogslife project to investigate uncommon diseases - the largest other study of limber tail so far has only collected information on four dogs. If your dog has been diagnosed with limber tail or histiocytoma by your vet, and you would be happy to send us a DNA sample, we would really like to hear from you so please do not hesitate to contact us at dna@dogslife.ac.uk. Thank you to the members who have already provided a sample of their dog’s DNA.
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