Full Cry Column
May 2004

Clint Stubbe (Northern Working Airedale Terrier Association correspondent)

Bear season is still a little ways off as I write this but by the time this reaches print the bears will be out of their dens and munching away on all that nice spring greenery. Bears are classified as carnivores but are anatomical omnivores and have evolved over millions of years so that they are able to efficiently process plant matter like grass, dandelions, fireweed etc. Dogs on the other hand, well....

SPRING SNACK

I recently visited another Airedale breeder just to talk dogs and in the course of conversation the subject of feeding dogs came up. I don't really worry about the quality of the commercial dog foods I feed my dogs due to the fact that I feed them so much wild game meat, which I get from the local meat cutter during deer and elk season and freeze for as long as it lasts. Like a few other people I have spoke with, this woman was appalled that I would feed a dog anything but something that came out of a package from a store. This got me thinking so I did a bit of research on the Internet regarding feeding habits and was stunned by what I found. One place "the second chance ranch" would have you think a dog is an omnivore and would prefer wheat to meat. I couldn't understand how someone could be so out of touch. One quote "Most wild dogs hunt small prey, like rabbit, birds or rodents, providing a relatively small amount of actual meat. Even bones are sometimes left behind. The first thing they do with prey is tear open the belly and eat the pre-digested greens" had me in stitches. I'm sure when a pack of wolves tears into a prey animal anything that isn't nailed down gets torn off and carted away by the animals lowest in the hierarchy to be devoured in peace but to suggest that wolves exhibit a preference for stomach contents is ludicrous. In fact a national park website detailing a three year wolf study examining 57 wolf kills says this "The first parts of the animal eaten are the viscera, except for the stomach contents. The soft parts of the neck and ribs appear to be preferred over the more massive tissue structure. In many cases the entire animal is consumed, including hoofs, long bones, and skull, with only hair and stomach contents remaining." Another quote from the second chance ranch, "Generally, vegetables are the most needed and beneficial for the majority of dogs." was more than I could take. Her reply to an email contained "Well CLINT, you are an idiot of the worst kind. I looked at your disgusting and despicable web site. How can you sleep at night, let alone be proud of pictures of terrified, bloodied hunted cats? Dogs, like wolves, are omnivores (which means they can be carnivorous, but they are not "carnivores"). Inbred hillbillies like you are not worth the time it takes to write this - you'll never get it. But out of respect for the dogs and cats and who know how many other animals you've slaughtered....your day of will come. " Well at this point I was nearly in tears which proves that the Internet can be a source of some really good free entertainment.

Maybe these people cringe at the thought of little fluffy actually sinking his teeth into something that may have been alive at some point and are comforted by the fact that they can feed their little pet a corn, wheat and rice based food and it will survive or perhaps having seen a dog eating grass in an effort to regurgitate some offending morsel they have made the quantum leap into thinking the dog is grazing. Whatever the reason I wish the spaceship would return so these folks could get back to their home planet.

A BEAR DEN

A little history may be in order.
A number of wolf-like canids diverged from a common ancestor about two to three million years ago. Early in the Pleistocene period, about a million years ago, the first Gray Wolf, Canis lupus, probably appeared in Eurasia and is thought to have migrated about 750,000 years ago to North America. When the first wolf was domesticated is open to discussion but it is thought to have been between anywhere from 135,000 to 12,000 years ago. From BBC News world edition,
"Dogs today come in all shapes and sizes, but scientists believe they evolved from just a handful of wolves tamed by humans living in or near China less than 15,000 years ago. It looks as if 95% of current dogs come from just three original founding females. One team studied Old World dogs to try to pin down their origins, previously thought to be in the Middle East. The other team studied dogs of the New World and found they are not New World dogs at all, but also have their origins in East Asia. "We found that dogs originating in the Old World arrived to the New World with immigrating humans. "Thus, even before the development of trade as we know it now, humans had to be exchanging dogs."

Obviously then dogs are genetically closer to wolves than any other Canid, some scientists think Canis familiaris does not exist at all and that all dogs are still to be considered Canis lupus. Breeders have genetically manipulated dogs in various sizes, colors, coats and shapes over many years, but they may not have managed to create a new species. Canis lupus has just been stretched, pushed, prodded and teased into new forms, but within the chest of your dog beats the heart of a Wolf. Well maybe a husky or a malamute your thinking but not my terrier or hound. A husky, malamute or wolf look alike is no less a dog than a Chihuahua, nor is the Chihuahua any less wolf like than the husky both have just been artificially selected and altered to suit fashion or function. In fact the dog is now known scientifically as Canis Lupus Familiaris and not just Canis Familiaris (as it is in older textbooks) in recognition of it's close ties to the wolf species. Wolves are not dogs and dogs are not wolves but the similarities are far greater then the differences. A female dog regurgitating for her pups or digging a den or howling at a siren is merely demonstrating this fact.

Dogs are carnivores but feeding them as such is inconvenient if not impossible so we do what we can and trust in the dog food companies to provide our dogs with a suitable food. The problem is that the same was done with cattle feeds and we got animal by products being fed to a ruminant which resulted in mad cow disease and now we have carnivores being fed a cheap grain based food with a long shelf life when their anatomical structure is designed to process meat not kibble. There's something wrong with this picture.

From The Comparative Anatomy of Eating by Milton R. Mills, M.D.
The stomach volume of a carnivore represents 60-70% of the total capacity of the digestive system. Because meat is relatively easily digested, their small intestines (where absorption of food molecules takes place) are short about three to five or six times the body length. Since these animals (carnivores) average a kill only about once a week, a large stomach volume is advantageous because it allows the animals to quickly gorge themselves when eating, taking in as much meat as possible at one time which can then be digested later while resting. Additionally, the ability of the carnivore stomach to secrete hydrochloric acid is exceptional. Carnivores are able to keep their gastric pH down around 1-2 even with food present. This is necessary to facilitate protein breakdown and to kill the abundant dangerous bacteria often found in decaying flesh foods." I guess this explains how dogs can dig up a bone that's been buried for weeks or a fish carcass at the beach and chow down with apparent relish when it would send you or I to the hospital.

GOTCHA

What the early peoples fed their dogs may not be well known but it is likely the dogs had to fend for themselves to a large extent and it is doubtful they existed on grains, more likely it was bones, marrow and the poorer scraps of meat.
Commercial; dog foods have only been around for about a hundred years so for approximately 99.995 percent of their evolutionary development canids have existed on raw red meat but suddenly a commercial grain based easily packaged product with a long shelf life is supposedly better for them and they are being referred to as omnivores by PETA types and pet food companies. Why? Perhaps because a proper meat based diet contains a low profit margin or maybe it just isn't practical to provide millions of pets with high quality protein when so many humans in the world lack the same. Wild game scraps from a local meat cutter are a good source of free or cheap meat as is road killed deer and elk but check with your local regulations before attempting to salvage any of this. Beef is a much poorer source of quality meat as these animals are designed to be butchered bone in and most of the waste is in the form of tallow or extremely large bones too large for a dog to process. Deer on the other hand are usually boned out leaving the spinal column, ribs & brisket, areas of blood shot meat and all the bone marrow as excellent sources of protein. Of course feeding meat and bones is not without risk, it is unlikely your dog will ever get a piece of dog food stuck in it's throat but this could happen with a cracked bone and while commercial dog food is pasteurized to neutralize bacteria raw meat can carry salmonella or listeria. It is up to you to decide the level of safety you want to provide your dog and if you really want to ensure no risk then cook the meat and discard the bones. You can find a lot of information on the net both for and against a raw meat diet but what is interesting is that a lot of the anti raw meat information appears to be sponsored by pet food companies who obviously have an agenda.

My lion hunting has been dismal this year and while the dogs have made a couple trees I just haven't been able to make it before nightfall. I did get a surprise one day while out snooping around at the end of February. I was skiing along through some pretty thick bush when Terra who was on my tail started digging away at a small mound in the snow. Soon enough her and Bar had their heads down in the hole and were locked on to something. My first thought was porcupine and I was scrambling to get the dogs under control when I got a whiff and realized it was a bear den. At this point I didn't know whether it was wiser to stay or run, as I didn't know what might come busting out of the den but was relieved when the dogs dragged only a small bear out of the hole and proceeded to tumble down the hill. I scrambled to get my camera out and got a few pictures and video. It wasn't a fair fight as the young bear was only the size of one of the dogs and they would have likely killed him so after they stretched him out I managed to break them off and chained up without getting bit by dog or bear. We left him treed, a little the worse for wear but hopefully smart enough to locate another den.

TERRA AND BAR

I got an email from Al Kranbuhl in New York a while back.
"Hi Clint, well after 36 years with the State of NY I am now officially retired. I now can pursue something that I have always wanted to do and that is devote myself fulltime to my dogs. I have not had much of an opportunity to hunt the past couple of seasons because of my work but what I have got done has me excited. The dogs I have today are across the board as good as I have ever had the pleasure of owning. I have over the years seen a slow but steady improvement in my line and I feel these dogs are now coming in as good as any that I have ever owned and a lot better than most. As usual at this time of the year around these parts the snow puts a halt to everything, if I was younger I would take Henry's advice and train some of these guys out as sled dogs, at least I would have something to do in the winter. In the fall I did get to work the young dogs on coon and a little on squirrel, with what little I did I was well satisfied in the results. I did some bird work also and was very pleased with the way TJ the brother to your pup worked. The Mooreland Winston pup Rex has stopped growing pretty much and he is not going to get quite as big as I had expected, he is not real tall but is wide bodied and big boned. I figure he will end up around 80lbs, bigger than I like but not too bad. I will tell you this he has a nose like a hound, if he can use it is going to be the question. I have a couple of other prospects out of Tucker, one is a little 50lb male named Rufus, and I am really liking this guy. I have not done a lot with him yet but I have one of those gut feelings about this guy. All and all it should be an exciting year ahead and I should have some good pics and stories for you if these potlickers are as good as I think they are. Take care Al"

Good luck with the retirement and the dogs Al. My wife says it's ironic that many people who could easily retire will continue to work while people like myself who would love to retire right now will likely need to continue working until the grave just to make ends meet. I got my Terra from Al and she is just a jewel

Rick Schell in Alabama sent this along recently.
"I missed the Airedale section this month. Hope your all getting enough input from everyone. I don't have a bunch to talk about. I pretty much use Copper for a catch dog now. He has caught about 2 or 3 I guess in the last few months. He is too rough to run with the hounds. Titan (by Billy Harkins steele) is about 6 months now and still maturing. A good looking dog with good solid bones. A real nice red color with shorter wirery hair then Copper. I really have not had much time to work with him though. My plate is too full as my wife says. She thinks I try to make a Saturday out of every day in the week. I think I am going to try them retrieving doves this year, as they both like to retrieve. They're both good dogs and enjoyed by the whole family. They can be serious and hunt when needed. Bark only when there is something to bark at. Back down from nothing, but my discipline. Very well mannered in the house and will not step on the carpets or leave the kitchen. Both sit and stay when asked. Look you in the eyes with intelligent. Taking care of their coats is the biggest draw back I have, as they get dirty and collect burrs some. Yet during the winter they stay warm and during the summer I shave them short. So all in all it works well for them. When I do hunt Copper he always comes back when called and will find me if gone a long time. With the hounds it could be a long night. Even though I have shock collars and they are trained to a cow horn I can never pull them off a hog track. Sometimes I am glad Copper does not have the nose of a hound. You can be home in time for dinner that way. Just a quick little update from Alabama. If anyone else is hunting Airedales in the south email me ras4511@yahoo.com
Rick Schell
Alabama"

AL KRANBUHL'S REX AND TJ

Thanks for the letter Rick, hope you can locate someone close to join you in keeping those hogs on the run.

Well to kind of tie back into the dog food theme, in the fall of the year my place gets swarmed by flocks of Stellar Jays and Whiskey Jacks, which is fine because I like having birds around and feed them suet in the winter time when there are slim pickings in the forest. It becomes a problem when the birds start going for the dog food though and it is surprising how quickly fifty pounds of dog food will disappear when flocks of birds start eating it day after day. So after finally getting around to it I have built a pest proof dog feeder and have posted the plans on the web. I know you can buy these things but I don't mind building something if I can and also don't mind saving a buck or two at the same time. This is a gravity type feeder for free feeding dogs and is made from 3/4 inch plywood so it should last for many years if kept dry. My dogs loved to drag the food out of their feeders and eat it off of the ground where a lot would just go to waste and this feeder seems to have eliminated that problem as it is near impossible to scratch the food out onto the ground.
The plans are HERE and you will need adobe reader to view the document. If you don't have adobe reader it is a quick download and can be found at www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Well that's it then. The quote of the month is: "People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle." Thich Nhat Hanh

As Henry Johnson always said: "Until next month, let me hear from you Airedale people and don't forget to put your arms around those black and tan dogs with the beards and the moustaches and talk to them. They are people dogs and family members.
Respectfully submitted, Clint Stubbe, Northern Corresponding Secretary for the Working Airedale Terrier Association. No rules, regulations, officers, dues or formal affiliations. It's more a state of mind.