The genetic architecture of behavioral traits in dogs is of great interest to owners, breeders, and professionals involved in animal welfare, as well as to scientists studying the genetics of animal (including human) behavior. The genetic component of dog behavior is supported by between-breed differences and some evidence of within-breed variation. However, it is a challenge to gather sufficie...

An outcrossed canine pedigree was developed for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of hip dysplasia by breeding dysplastic Labrador retrievers to trait-free greyhounds. Measured susceptibility traits included age at onset of femoral capital chondroepiphyseal ossification (OSS), maximum hip distraction (laxity) index (DI), and the dorsolateral subluxation (DLS) score. The pedigrees consisted...

The regions of deviation method has been proposed as a technique for identifying regions of the gait cycle where joint motion deviates from normal (Shorter et al., 2008). The original statistical analysis distinguished only peak values during stance and swing. In the current article, we extend the approach by examining deviations from normal throughout the entire gait cycle using pointwise t te...

The skull of a small, young adult grizzly bear was discovered in the course of archaeological excavation of an early historic Eskimo house in northern Labrador. This discovery confirms the rumoured presence of Ursus arctm in Labrador in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is suggested that the Labrador grizzly represents an eastward extension of the barren-ground grizzly population acro...

A new two-pool model to describe glucose kinetics in the steady state is presented. The pools are plasma glucose, Q 1, and tissue glucose, Q 2 (both µmol). The flows (all µmol/min) into the plasma pool (Pool 1) are absorbed glucose entry from dietary sources, labelled glucose infusion, and hepatic glucose production. There is one flow out of Pool 1, glucose uptake by the tissues. Inflows to the...

Human centronuclear and myotubular myopathies belong to a genetically heterogeneous nosological group with clinical variability ranging from fatal disorder to mild weakness. The severe X-linked form is attributed to more than 200 different mutations in the myotubularin encoding gene (MTM1). In contrast, there are no reports regarding the molecular etiology or linkage studies on the autosomal fo...

One spayed female Labrador retriever and two castrated male golden retrievers were evaluated for chronic (i.e., ranging from 3 wk to 24 wk) neurologic signs localizable to the prosencephalon. Signs included seizures, circling, and behavior changes. MRI demonstrated extra-axial, contrast-enhancing, multiloculated, fluid-filled, cyst-like lesions with a mass effect, causing compression and displa...

The age associated decline in immune function is preceded in mammals by a reduction in thymic output. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence of a link between immune competence and lifespan. One approach to determining thymic output is to quantify signal joint T cell receptor excision circles (sj-TRECs), a method which has been developed and used in several mammalian species. Life expectancy...

Limber tail is a condition that typically affects larger working breeds causing tail limpness and pain, resolving without veterinary intervention. It is poorly understood and the disease burden has not been well characterised. Data collected from owners of the Dogslife cohort of Labrador Retrievers have been used to describe incidents and a case-control study was undertaken to elucidate risk fa...

Hip dysplasia, an abnormal laxity of the hip joint, is seen in humans as well as dogs and is one of the most common skeletal disorders in dogs. Canine hip dysplasia is considered multifactorial and polygenic, and a variety of chromosomal regions have been associated with the disorder. We performed a genome-wide association study in Dutch Labrador Retrievers, comparing data of nearly 18,000 sing...