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  • in reply to: Dog Photos #5424
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    brittney logan
    Keymaster

    Hi Linda, we are glad that you enjoy them! It is so much fun to learn more about the dogs that are participating in our study. All the photos are beautiful! To make it fair, we are indeed choosing the dogs of the month at random to make it far. Of course though, we will need the winners to have a validated address so we can send them a few gifts! 🙂

    in reply to: What exactly are we doing? #5530
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    brittney logan
    Keymaster

    Hi Linda, interesting question. We are looking for variations of the DNA in thousands of dogs and correlating these variations to the behaviors reported by owners. The dogs’ DNA will not truly change, but it will have these variations which could make a dog more susceptible to particular things, such as disease. The environment does indeed play a role potentially influencing behaviors, but that is all part of this elaborate puzzle. By seeing the DNA variations of each dog and relating it to behaviors that are reported we are excited to see the uniqueness of each dog.

    The sequencing technology we are using doesn’t detect differences in epigenetic modifications that happen during a dog’s lifetime, only things that are inherited between generations. Some of these changes, though, might influence epigenetic changes. Epigenetic modifications such as methylation actually require a different technique to read. Epigenetic changes are a really exciting and brand new field of research and we are running a different study (outside of Darwin’s Dogs) to look at changes in DNA methylation.

    It is wonderful that you took it upon yourself to research this topic and ask questions about it. I hope this helps you to better understand our research. Please let us know if you have anymore questions, and thank you for your support!

    in reply to: What exactly are we doing? #5528
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    brittney logan
    Keymaster

    Thank you so much for your support and participation. We are very excited about this research!

    in reply to: mutts vs pure breeds #5544
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    brittney logan
    Keymaster

    Here is a great article pertaining to the bulldog breed and how it could be changed for the better. This article was shared with me by Jessica Hekman, a wonderful and insightful collaborator who has been helping the Darwin’s Dogs project. I hope you all find this article interesting!

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/can-the-bulldog-be-saved.html?_r=0

    These comments on this forum are great, and I think all of you are on the right track! I certainly agree that they need to stop breeding some dogs for certain looks, and now need to focus on overall health and quality of life.

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