Ibizan Hounds

[momto8]

Originally Posted by CrazyDogLady

How hardy are they? My two play pretty rough sometimes, and I know they are built a lot thicker then a Beezer. Also, we get pretty cold winters sometimes, will they need a coat of some kind when they are outside? And from what I've read they are pretty dog/people friendly, but can be sort of aloof with strangers. To what extent are they aloof? I have a cat, do you think if raised with a variety of animals and given a good outlet for their prey drive they will be ok with them? I ask because my Carolina dog is the WORST when it comes to chasing/killing squirrels and birds, but is totally reliable when left with baby kittens/ferrets/etc. She has excepted them as "pack members" of sorts. Granted, it took a LOT of training, but the result was well worth it.

They are pretty hardy dogs, Courtney keeps up with my pack well. I would suggest a good coat, and your future breeder actually makes them I have a couple from them, very nice coats!
The aloofness varies dog to dog, Courtney will meet/greet, but then its all about me, she's friendly, but other ppl just don't really matter to her, and thats how it is with most I've met. And most i've met, including Courtney LOVE kids, they seem to attract to them.
I know alot of ppl that have small dogs/cats around them. Courtney can't be around small dogs or cats, but she is a rescue, and was not raised as a house dog around small animals.My breeder has a few cats, and your future breeders have cats and IG's.
So since you get to start young, I doubt you'll have any problems

[Pops2]

despite how they look, well bred sighthounds are NOT fragile unless they hit something at full speed. sighthounds are very much like terriers, same cat they let push them around in the house can become lunch when seen running across the yard. or they may be good w/ the cat they're raised with but all others are just fast squeaky toys.

[CrazyDogLady]

Originally Posted by momto8

They are pretty hardy dogs, Courtney keeps up with my pack well. I would suggest a good coat, and your future breeder actually makes them I have a couple from them, very nice coats!
The aloofness varies dog to dog, Courtney will meet/greet, but then its all about me, she's friendly, but other ppl just don't really matter to her, and thats how it is with most I've met. And most i've met, including Courtney LOVE kids, they seem to attract to them.
I know alot of ppl that have small dogs/cats around them. Courtney can't be around small dogs or cats, but she is a rescue, and was not raised as a house dog around small animals.My breeder has a few cats, and your future breeders have cats and IG's.
So since you get to start young, I doubt you'll have any problems

That's good too hear I actually originally found Alfheim because of their IGs, as that is what I was looking for (I wanted a local-ish breeder and had a few breeds on the list, IG's being the first I looked for) and when I saw they also had Beezers I couldn't resist. I've wanted one since Luxors Playmate of the Year won bob at Westminster in what, like '03? lol

[CrazyDogLady]

Originally Posted by Pops2

despite how they look, well bred sighthounds are NOT fragile unless they hit something at full speed. sighthounds are very much like terriers, same cat they let push them around in the house can become lunch when seen running across the yard. or they may be good w/ the cat they're raised with but all others are just fast squeaky toys.

That is how Maddie my Carolina Dog/Pointer mix is. My current cat doesn't run from her, so Maddie doesn't chase her. All other small animals outside are fair game. I can call her off of them if I catch her before her feet start moving (she points first) but otherwise I just have to follow her. Granted, she is just in it for the chase, if she "catches" them its no longer a game, and therefore no longer fun

[Pops2]

is there something about ibizans that they have a greater than normal incidence of hip dysplasia? (that is greater than other sighthounds)
i ask because i went & looked at the breeder site. the last time i looked into it, of ALL sighthounds combined only about 3% x-rayed showed HD and less than 1% of those x-rayed ever showed symptoms and then it was mostly in old age (including IW & RR which obviously are a majority of both the affected & symptomatic).
so my point is, why x-ray for something that is functionally nonexistant?

[CrazyDogLady]

Originally Posted by Pops2

so my point is, why x-ray for something that is functionally nonexistant?

To have proof the odds are decent? Because two dogs rated OFA Excellent can still have pups with bad hips, but its less likely than a dog OFA Bad and a dog OFA Excellent

[Pops2]

Originally Posted by CrazyDogLady

To have proof the odds are decent? Because two dogs rated OFA Excellent can still have pups with bad hips, but its less likely than a dog OFA Bad and a dog OFA Excellent

but that's the whole point, outside of the IW (which is heavy in great dane ancestry) and the RR (which isn't a true sighthound and may or may not have sighthound ancestry), when i looked into it in the early 2000s HD was virtually non existant. it was on a level half a dozen true sighthounds (across all breeds) born every year that had less than OFA excellent.
it's the equivalent of screening for vonwillbrands in pit bulldogs or Plotts.

so has something changed in the last ten years that makes it necessary to screen for it?

[Romy]

Most "hip" issues in sight hounds aren't from joint deformity. Several SH breeds carry degenerative myelopathy, which affects the spine and causes loss of control in the rear in old age. Borzois have a DNA test for that now, it's a simple recessive and will be pretty easy to breed away from. I have no idea if beezers can have it or not, and whether or not there's a test for them yet.

One reason a lot of sight hound breeders are reluctant to x-ray is the risk of putting their hounds under sedation. Most vets that I have talked to use general anesthesia during the xrays, which carries a real risk to our dogs. If HD was prevalent the risk might be justified, but since it isn't there isn't any reason to xray dogs from asymptomatic lines in a breed that has no history of that issue. So it's partly an issue of risks vs. benefits and which is greater.

Edit: It's worth noting that Alfheim has access to a fantastic breeder vet literally just down the road from them that breeds pharaoh hounds. So they're lucky to have a vet who understands sight hound physiology. Also, when they run their breeder specials it's only $60 for OFA xrays. If I had known we were going to breed Kaia this year I probably would have had hers done just for the heck of it, but missed their special (they brought in specialists to the clinic who all went home afterward. )