Healthy Dogs
Origins of Dogs
It is beleived that dogs sprang from wolves as a distinct form probably no more than 15000 years ago. Dogs may well display the greatest range of shapes of any mamamal that has every existed.
Darwin (The Origin of the species 1859) thought that evolution proceeded from the simple to the complex, with each species being more sophisticated, more specialised than the one it replaced.
This supports the idea that dogs are not an inferior form of wolf but specialised with certain traits.
Dogs and People
Relationships of dogs to humans is not all that clear. Of the many dogs in the world only a tiny percentage have a truly mutual relationship with people. At some point in human histore there were no dogs. There were wolves, jackals and coyotes but no dogs.
Many people don't knowingly treat dogs badly, it could be that some pet owners are biologically bad for thier dogs.
The Bulldog - originally the butchers working dog, then as a sporting dog, now adapted to a pet and show dog. In order to enhance the robust, highly unusual appearance, breeders have selected for those traits that emphasize the essence of bulldog - the thick, massive head and short, pug nose. What they have acheived, probably accidentally, are dogs that often can barely breathe, can barely chew, whose puppies are hard to deliver and females that have to be artificially inseminated. This "enhanced" shape is bringing them to a genetic dead end.
What do you have as a pet owner that enhances your dogs life?