Myths about dogs and dog breeding

There are many old wives tales about dogs. They are far from the facts and they have been in circulation from centuries and generations. I want to debunk some in this article.  You can comment or add some of the myths you have heard in the comment section.

1.Wetness of a dog’s nose has to do with the health

It is generally believed that cold or wet nose is a sign that a dog is healthy.  And warm or dry nose on the other hand is a sign of sickness. This is very untrue. Moisture level or temperature of a dog’s nose is not an indicator of the health status per se. When a dog wakes from sleep, the nose may be dry or warm. We cannot however rule out sickness if the dog’s nose is constantly dry and crusted.  It can be a sign of distemper. Distemper usually cause hardness of nose tissue and foot-pads,so if the nose is persistently dry, you may call your veterinarian. It may be caused by an underline health issue, so calling your veterinarian is not out of place.

2. Dog saliva  has healing properties

My mother was a nurse and she was working at a primary health care facility in a village very close to Ondo State in 1987. I went to visit her when our school was on break. I saw a different life from what I used to see. When a child pooed, they would allow a dog to clean the anus with its mouth. When someone is wounded, a dog would lick the wound instead of visiting the health centre. They believed that their wound would heal faster after a dog has licked it.

In the hospital, the wound may be cleaned with hyrogen peroxide or any other cleaning agents to remove dead tissues from the wound. This heals the wound faster. That was what the dog had successfully done to the wound and subsequently, the fast healing. However, the dog’s mouth has germs,bacteria and other dirty things they can introduce to the wound that may cause discomfort or delay in healing. Although, the germs in dog mouth may not cause harm to human, but is dog licking a human wound not barbaric?

3. Sick dogs eat grass to make them vomit

We usually notice that some dogs vomit after eating grass. We deduce from this that our dogs eat grass in order to induce vomit whenever they have stomach disturbances. I believe the dogs eat the grass for fun and it can sometimes lead to minor stomach irritation. Dogs should pick up the grass eating habit in the wild when they ate their preys with the content of their intestines. If the grasses are not contaminated with poisonous substances like pesticides or herbicides or the plant itself is non-toxic to dogs, the vomit will be transient. In the case of serious vomiting, keep dogs away from the grass and seek  the advice of your veterinarian.

4. A year of dog’s age is equivalent to seven in human

This myth is indeed funny. At 7 years of human age, a human cannot produce sperm or menstruate, but dogs can produce offspring wonderfully well at less than a year of age. It is a fact that dogs grow faster in the early days than human. We have to take into considerations the size and breed of a dog as these relate to the rate of aging and ultimately the lifespan. Small breeds tend to live longer than the giant breeds. The small breeds also tend to reach maturity faster than the giant breed despite this.

5. Colour blindness in dogs

We used to believe that dogs can only identify black and white colours, but they can see some other colours also. I think the believe came from old scientific work. Many new research works have proved this wrong. Canine colour differentiation has been proved to be similar, but not exactly to the colour blindness in human. Canine retina can see colours in the blue spectrum of colours better. Dogs can see blue, yellow,green-yellow, shades of gray,black and white. The colour red,green and orange  cannot be distinguished by the retina of dogs and they appear somewhere on the yellow to blue colour spectrum to dogs.

6. Learning is difficult as dog ages

You have heard before an adage that says, ”You cannot teach an old dogs  new tricks”. They used it mostly  especially when elders are talking to stubborn people. Are old dogs truly stubborn? Just like human can learn at any age, so are dogs. Someone may refuse learning and same way an old dog may be listless in learning new things owing to various physical and psychological factors.

You do not expect an old dog whose sense of smell has become weak to do well in narcotic training . An old dog may not do well in racing or tug of war as it can be physically demanding for them. Can we ask a  nonagenarian to engage in a-100 metre race without expecting a casualty? The old dog may have lost its hearing and may seem not obeying instructions in your perception. A dog that has gone senile cannot retain new information, commands or training.

7. Deworm and vaccine a bitch in season before mating

Worming and vaccination have regimen and intervals. Can I re-vaccinate a dog that I vaccinated 4 months ago if the bitch comes into season today? Hell no! When a bitch is duly wormed and the current vaccination is still valid, we do not need to vaccinate or worm again.

8. Mate a bitch on day 9-11 of season

In my dog breeding experience, I have seen bitches ovulating as early as day 4 and as late as day 19 of heat. Some have even seen as late as day 28. That is after the heat is supposed to have ended according to books. We used to hear that once a bitch is flagging, she is fertile and ready to be mated or when the bitch is humping other dogs, go ahead and mate. We have seen bitches doing these, even when they are not in season.

Those rules of the thumb are applicable when advancement in technology has not occurred. Nowadays, there are many scientific ways of establishing the right time to mate our bitches during heat. We have progesterone test which is done in a laboratory, ovulation test pad and saliva ovulation microscope test. The latter two tests can be done in the comfort of your kennel. Through these methods, we have been able to establish that bitches may or may not have ovulated by day 9 of heat as postulated by the rule of the thumb.

9. Tie the dog’s legs or cutting the rear limb to prevent abortion

This is the most hilarious of all. Who tie their legs or cut their limbs close to the lower abdomen in the wild? These are not part of why a bitch can have abortion or fetal resorption. Most of the time, the bitches are not pregnant as a result of some underlying factor. When puppies are not available at the end of the supposed gestation, we are quick to blame it on the non restriction of the bitch after mating.

10. Do not deworm a bitch in pregnancy

People believe that a bitch should not be dewormed during pregnancy. This is not true. Unborn puppies can acquire worms from the dam during gestation and lactation. A pregnant bitch should be dewormed 2 weeks to whelping and during lactation to reduce the exposure of puppies to worms. Consult your veterinarian for the worming drugs that are safe during pregnancy.  

Written by Olumide Makinde 

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