One of the best things about having a dog is you get to learn a lot about your dog. Some great things I learned are the ins and outs of dogs, their history and their appearance. I learned that they come from wolves but were domesticated by humans. They are descendants of wolves that mated with our early hunters.
A cross between the two produced a dog with characteristics that would prevent them from hunting or hunting prey. Wolves are generally solitary animals, solitary wolves would rarely ever mingle with other wolves. I guess our early humans decided to tinker with the gene pool by crossing with their wolves to produce our own domesticated dogs.
They do have a long history of the Pleistocene with our early humans. This is evidenced by the fact that the first writing dates back as far as 40,000 years ago. The first dogs came from Iran over 15,000 years ago, this was their way of telling us where to find good meat for our feasts. Dogs are very important to our early humans. Their bones are dated to the same period.
This gives us another layer of information on dogs that we can learn. We can learn about our early ancestors through the bones of the dogs they used to hunt. Dog’s teeth were not sharp enough to do the job for them, but they were the perfect fossil for us to use. We can date ancient bones and determine when they lived and when we first had dogs.
These early dogs were no doubt domesticated by our early humans. This is evident by the fact that modern dogs have features that were found in their wolf ancestors. Wolves give off pheromones that are strong indicators of breeding. All dogs have alleles that make them respond to their mothers’ pheromones. The same alleles are at work in modern dogs and wolves. This is also shown by the fact that most modern dogs smell and respond to their mothers’ smell and also by their smell. The modern dogs are descended from the wolf ancestors and have wolf features.
The only ones who don’t have the alleles for the pheromone production are the Chinese Shar-Pei and some Mastiff breeds. This makes me wonder if the Shar-Pei is a breed of Mastiff. I have seen some Mastiff breeds that don’t have the pheromone-producing genes and the Chinese Shar-Pei have a strong pheromone-producing gene. The Chinese Shar-Pei seems to be the only breed of dog that does have pheromone-producing genes. The gene seems to be in each of the breeds and this is the reason for my research in this area.
The Phylum Cytochrome b5, subfamily Cys12 is an important group of cytochrome and the phenomenon (process) that makes dogs smell. It is the receptor cytochrome that is the marker of this group. It has lots of cytochrome b5, but it is more concentrated in dogs that have very short coats and are cold sensitive. This is very interesting because these dogs are not covered in long hair and are all in a cold climate and the Cytochrome b5 is the only group that does seem to have a strong phenomenon for this climate. The dogs that have longer coats and are not cold sensitive seem to have other group cytochromes.
Clinical studies, animal studies, epidemiology studies show an association between dry skin and dogs that get flea and tick treatments. One study that only looked at cats found a strong association between dry skin and flea treatment use and cats that did not use flea and tick treatments.
Another study on dogs that had active fleas and saw no effect from treatment use and cats that did not use treatment.
Cytochrome b5 is the receptor of the smell cells that are in the nose and the skin.
Cytochrome b5 is the cause of the phloem hormone and the phloem hormone is important in helping the body’s ability to control itchiness, dry skin and eczema.
If a dog has dry skin, it often has very dry patches on the face, legs, arms and behind the ears and sometimes on the back. I am not sure if these are just dry skin or can be signs of other conditions. They are often very itchy and sometimes crusty. They have the mottled look of bad dry skin but they are also dry all over. The patches are often very distinct.
Dogs that have a lot of eczemas tend to have dry skin and often patchy fur. This is often the result of a poor diet and if the dogs are not brushed at least once a day. A diet that is low in fiber often makes these dogs very dry and itchy. There are also studies that have shown very poor diets also cause dry skin in dogs.
Itchy dogs often have all the signs of bad dry skin but not always and they can have much of the good dry skin too.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but diet is probably the number one. Dog skincare should be the number one priority. The goal in dog skincare should be to moisturize and de-itch the skin. In many cases, this can be done by simply bathing the dog. It is important to bathe the dog daily. But in other cases, if the dog has a bad diet, dry skin, eczema and itchy patches then a regular shampoo and conditioner may be needed.
Once dry skin is controlled, more often than not fungal infections will likely arise. These can be controlled by regular cleaning and disinfection of the skin and paws.
The goal is to find a balance that works and that helps the dog feel better and keep the skin healthy.
We are all different and every dog needs different treatment plans. With many treatments available, finding the right one for your dog is easier than ever. The goal is to find the best plan that works for you and your dog.
