> I'm not trying to get anything started, just asking to learn. Should a > dog that has hot spots or allergies be bred? Isn't this something that can be > passed on to their offspring?
Almost everything is hereditary to at least some extent--so this is a good question. My feeling is that the basis for hot spots and allergies is extremely complicated. If I had a dog whose parents were not vaccinated every year and that dog was also not vaccinated every year; if I lived in a really well ventilated house out in the country; if the dog and it's parents were fed a good BARF diet their entire lives; if I didn't use any toxic chemicals around my house or on my lawn; if dog and parents were thyroid normal; if the dog lived in a calm, *pack* (social) situation and was not bored--and the dog still developed allergies or occasional hot spots--I would probably not want to breed that dog. Beyond that, it is very hard to say. None of the dogs I've kept ever developed allergies or hot spots, but I certainly have produced them. I sometimes think it is because the situation my dogs live in is more healthy and *normal* than many of the pets I've sold. Cavaliers are very social and do very well in a *pack* so I think my dogs are less stressed than *only* pets and live a life closer to what they would choose in the wild. I do not overvaccinate. I'm careful about all toxins, making and using very safe cleaners. I have a doggie door so my dogs can get outside for fresh air as often as they want. They eat a much better diet than most of the pets I've sold. I have thought for years about why my own dogs never develop allergies and some of the ones I've sold do. It just seems to me that some of them should have developed allergies along the way if it is *in my line* since I have kept so many over the years. But they don't. All the things I have mentioned may play a part in why--or maybe not! Maybe I'm just lucky? Laura Lang ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
