[HN Gopher] The lifesaving sled dog Balto had genes unlike those...
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The lifesaving sled dog Balto had genes unlike those of dog breeds
today
Author : deepzn
Score : 61 points
Date : 2023-04-29 19:23 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.scientificamerican.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.scientificamerican.com)
| conorcleary wrote:
| What about those of Togo, the dog that did most of the work?
| majormajor wrote:
| One of the things that struck me from seeing some coverage around
| this recently is that Balto died at age 14 and Togo, another
| prominent dog in that sled run, died at age 16.
|
| After having a couple German Shepherds as a kid those numbers
| were striking for large working dogs. Looks like Huskies still
| have pretty good life expectancy (12-14 years in the US from the
| AKC), Malamutes a bit less, but both stronger than GSD, which are
| like <10 years in the US these days.
|
| Hopefully things swing away from the fascination with "purebred"
| before those breeds see further declines.
|
| From the article it seems like the working dogs, vs the breeding-
| for-sale dogs, are still pretty healthy: "What we found is that
| Balto is more genetically diverse and genetically healthier than
| your breed dog of today but similar to those working Alaskan dogs
| that we have now--which is what you expect from a group that is
| still bred for work rather than the aesthetic phenotype that
| breed dogs are now held to,"
| lbenes wrote:
| Me too. Since my grandmother was a child, we've always had
| German Shepherds in our family. When I was a kid for the first
| time our dogs started getting hip dysplasia. My mother and
| grandmother had never seen before, despite being involved in
| the dog training community.
|
| I've had 2 purebreds in a row with major health issues, even
| though I searched for working line breeders. I've given up on
| purebreds, and now have a GSD mix. He's a gorgeous animal,
| going on 11 without any hip issues or health issues.
|
| The AKC in their pursuit of the perfect look and willful
| ignorance of genetics has destroyed the German Shepard breed.
|
| https://www.handicappedpets.com/blog/german-shepherd-back-
| le....
| runnerup wrote:
| Note also that Togo was 12 years old when he led the 261 mile
| journey. Most of his community who knew, expected Togo would
| die during or immediately as a result of completing the trip.
|
| I share your views on many purebreeds being immoral, but the
| "wild-type" breeds with more genetic variability are often
| much, much more challenging for human owners. I'm personally a
| huge fan of Australian Cattle Dogs and Australian Shepherds,
| both of which are very "blended" breeds. But they take soooo
| much time and energy to raise, they're nearly incompatible with
| a 9-5 job for the first year or so of their lives.
| WalterBright wrote:
| > Hopefully things swing away from the fascination with
| "purebred" before those breeds see further declines.
|
| Those destructive breeding practices are shameful. How people
| can profess to be dog lovers and do such things is beyond my
| ken.
| ljf wrote:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1925_serum_run_to_Nome is a
| brilliant read (featuring Balto)
| [deleted]
| tedunangst wrote:
| The article goes on and on for many paragraphs about the claim
| that Balto was inherently healthier on the basis of genetic
| diversity, with no actual assessment of whether today's dogs are
| healthy, before dropping this sentence:
|
| > Today's sled dogs are even "faster and more durable" than those
| of Balto's era, Moon says.
| paleotrope wrote:
| They are trying to compare and contrast your pet breed with
| working dogs, clumsily. Not Balto and working dogs today
| yieldcrv wrote:
| sled work is work!
| oldstrangers wrote:
| Breed health was one of the reasons I ended up with a working
| line dog (Dutch Shepherd). Most dogs are bred for appearance
| these days, even in some working breeds like the German Shepherd.
|
| Anecdotally, I always felt like 'muts' were some of the
| healthiest dogs I've been around. They seem invincible, and the
| genetic diversity probably helps explain that.
| jjtheblunt wrote:
| We have an offspring of central american feral dogs, whom we
| DNA tested via Cornell vet school's embarkvet.com database.
|
| Interestingly, the notion of breed changed meanings, for me,
| when they published the results. The only modern breed in her
| is a great grandparent chihuahua and otherwise she's
| genetically varied as feral dogs are, something like an
| asymptote for the various blends called mutts.
|
| Of the 161 (i think) tracked recessive disorders, she's a
| carrier for only two.
| inconceivable wrote:
| i've got a 12 year old 35 pound mutt and he's literally never
| had a health problem. i take him in every 12 months for shots.
| he did get kennel cough one time from dog daycare but he
| just... got better on his own after a few days, or something.
| he just slept it off. at this point i'm only half joking when i
| wonder if he'll outlive me.
| explaininjs wrote:
| It is well established that mixed breeds and hybrids are
| healthier than purebreds.
| h2odragon wrote:
| I've found many "pure" breeds to be regrettably diminished,
| they look like the books say but they pay for it in some way.
| Shorter lifespans, health problems, mental problems, etc.
|
| Out-crossing a purebred with something from a different style
| of dog can often produce much healthier pups than either
| parent. Great Danes and Collie make 3/4 sized, slightly skinny
| dane-like dogs that are shockingly robust and energetic and can
| live to 16+ in my experience (and that's as active working
| outdoor dogs).
| 27fingies wrote:
| is this an "old wives tale" (for lack of a better term atm) that
| turned out to be true? i swear my parents used this as a reason
| to get a mutt for me as a kid in the 90s..
|
| today's pure breed dogs are sometimes sad to see..
| kept3k wrote:
| Togo is a great movie based on this event
| iancmceachern wrote:
| Also the animated film Balto
| nocoiner wrote:
| Togo was the real hero, though.
| esaym wrote:
| At least Togo got a proper burial...
| paleotrope wrote:
| That's partly why they are talking about Balto here. Balto's
| genes are readily accessible.
| runnerup wrote:
| Erm, Togo's mounted skin is on display at the Iditarod Trail
| Sled Dog Race Headquarters museum in Wasilla, Alaska. https:/
| /www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/images/2019/12/...
| bee_rider wrote:
| It is funny to project the concept of heroism to working
| animals... I bet Togo thought he had just been on a
| particularly exciting walk.
| runnerup wrote:
| To expand for those who don't know: Togo and Balto were both
| lead dogs owned/raised/trained by the same man (Leonhard
| Seppala) but they ran different sleds. Togo led the "A" team
| and Balto, being a lesser sled-dog, led the "bench" or "B"
| team.
|
| For the famous "serum run", Togo's team ran 261 miles,
| including the most dangerous section: 42 miles over frozen body
| of water. Whereas Balto's team only ran the final 55 miles.
| However, Balto got the credit because he carried the medicine
| into the town while Togo's team was still out in the
| wilderness.
|
| Seppala wrote: "I hope I shall never be the man to take away
| credit from any dog or driver who participated in that run. We
| all did our best. But when the country was roused to enthusiasm
| over the serum run driver, I resented the statue to Balto, for
| if any dog deserved special mention it was Togo."
|
| There is a Disney movie named "Togo", which does a fantastic
| job of telling the story. According to comparison with best-
| available primary and secondary sources, the movie has
| astounding historic accuracy -- even though many, many times it
| seems like it "jumps the shark". The "true" story of Togo's
| life is so unbelievable that Disney's inaccuracies are more
| leaving things out that audiences would never be able to
| believe rather than putting in exaggerated over-the-top things.
| nashashmi wrote:
| That was a difficult movie to watch. It was filled with so
| much excitement and jitter. The periodic breaks into history
| did little to suppress the anxiety.
| rythmshifter wrote:
| where can I read the "true" story of Togo's life?
| runnerup wrote:
| Perhaps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo_(dog). Much of
| the wiki is borrowed from a more detailed book[0], "The
| Cruelest Miles" by Gay and Lainey Salisbury.
|
| 0: https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=27144DD0253AAAF5031
| 4993...
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(page generated 2023-04-29 23:00 UTC)