Gender on the agenda
OPINIONS change and are altered by circumstances. When my wife was pregnant for the first time, I really wasn’t bothered whether we were going to have a girl or a boy.
After Ellie was born, however, and she was pregnant again, I secretly prayed for a boy. Happily, Bill arrived safe and sound.
It’s a question clients often ask us: Should I get a bitch or a dog? It’s a difficult question because it depends on so much... and so much depends on it.
Some owners will opt for a bitch, presuming them to be “softer”. Others want the more macho hardness of a male. Up until now, much of what we advised was based on our experience and personal preference.
Research, done at the Royal Veterinary College, has allowed us a little more insight into the “battle of the sexes”. They looked at thousands of clinical records of German shepherd dogs (GSDs) and published the results in Canine Genetics and Epidemiology. (I am sure you read it every week.)
Their data threw up some interesting facts. Firstly, the popularity of GSDs is waning.
In 2005, they accounted for 3.5 per cent of all dogs born in the UK. This statistic reduced to 2.2 per cent by 2013. (And my guess is that figure has dropped even further.) In 2013, 63.43 per cent of GSDs had at least one medical disorder, which ranks them on a similar health status to cavalier King Charles spaniels and pugs.
The most common veterinary problems were ear infections (7.89 per cent), osteoarthritis (5.54 per cent), diarrhoea (5.24 per cent), obesity (5.18 per cent), aggression (4.76 per cent) and anal furunculosis (1.4 per cent).
The latter is a horrible condition involving death of the tissue around the anus. That three GSDs in every 200 are affected is pretty awful.
The average life span of all GSDs was only 10.3 years, broadly similar to other breeds of the same size. But female GSDs lived an average of 1.4 years longer than males (11.1 years compared to 9.7 years). Also relevant to the family pet owner is that aggression in males was 6.75 per cent compared to 2.78 per cent in females. Both figures are disappointingly high.
Finally, males weighed on average 40.1kg, while their female counterparts were 34.8kg. A significant difference, especially if you have to pay the food bills or lift them into the car.