the vet was telling me about the breed the other day, the long hair variety can get pretty miserable here in sydney. bred for one climatic extreme, they dont handle the heat.
but he also made another point.
for all their external size, they still have the internal organs of a smaller dog ie labrador. seems during the years of breeding the breeders were only looking at the external size and breeding the larger dogs, but there was never any exploritory surgery along the way to breed for say larger hearts to pump blood around the larger body.
today of course breeders use xrays and ultrasound and even surgery & pathology to make sure the breeding stock has the characteristics required for the program.
though i noticed poor fido's temerature still gets taken the good old fashioned way................
but he also made another point.
for all their external size, they still have the internal organs of a smaller dog ie labrador. seems during the years of breeding the breeders were only looking at the external size and breeding the larger dogs, but there was never any exploritory surgery along the way to breed for say larger hearts to pump blood around the larger body.
today of course breeders use xrays and ultrasound and even surgery & pathology to make sure the breeding stock has the characteristics required for the program.
though i noticed poor fido's temerature still gets taken the good old fashioned way................