"sighthounds & siberians" wrote
"cshenk" wrote:

...proving yet again that dogs, like people, are all individuals. I
am always amazed when I hear sighthound owners talk about free-feeding
their dogs. Of my 8 sighthounds (four different breeds), there is one
(1) that wouldn't eat until she exploded.

Ha! I though that was scenthounds but I guess it's both!

I think it's true of many dogs, regardless of breed. With a few

Yes, would be! Forgive lack of snipping but there's nothing snippable in
this thoght-line.

exceptions such as Labs tending to eat odd, non-food items like rocks
(kind of like Siamese cats being wool-eaters), I don't really think
there are eating habits that are breed traits. Ex-racing greyhounds
are fed 4D meet at the track, but they're no more or less amenable to
raw feeding than other breeds, and they like kibble just fine.
Siberian Huskies eat a lot of fish during races, but none of mine
liked fish and one of them loved veggies and pasta and turned his nose
up at raw meat. Sighthounds and scenthouds are just subgroups of the
hound group, and while they have things in common, I think those
things mostly have to do with the purpose for which the breeds were
bred (hunt by scent or by sight). There are probably more
dissimilarities then similarities between the individual sight/scent
hound breeds.

I had never considered this from this angle! Oh sure, I knew some dogs vary
(in fact, al do from one another which makes them interesting people to us).
I hadn't realized the close relation of sight and scent hounds. I thought
it was just a similar word applied to a 'hunting' dog and you'd have to hunt
high up the tree to find a common ground to 'wolf'.

If they are closer than that 'high up the tree split' then yes, as a group
they may have some common habits that most (but never all) evince.

I think there is nothing wrong in assuming a tendancy based on breed, if one
realizes an individual dog is just that. An individual dog, may show most
but not all of the traditional traits and in mixed breeds, it can be pretty
funny to figure out.

Would it be worth starting a new thread to discuss average breed behavior
generally associated with 'hounds' of both types? There's times where it
more fun to just talk with a living breathing person than 'go google'. To
me, this is one of them. I'd rather hear your direct thoughts and i'm not
going to castigate you if you say 'what seems to me is both scent and sight
hounds seem to be chow hounds best as I know from experience'.

Grin, if you agree, start it?