Talk:Dog/Draft

**Article Checklist for "Dog/Draft"**
Workgroup category or categories	Biology Workgroup [Categories OK]
Article status	Developing article: beyond a stub, but incomplete
Underlinked article?	No
Basic cleanup done?	Yes
Checklist last edited by	Larry Sanger 09:35, 21 March 2007 (CDT); luke 00:05, 13 March 2007 (CDT)

To learn how to fill out this checklist, please see CZ:The Article Checklist.

Approval area Version 1

David Tribe has nominated this version of this article for approval. Other editors may also sign to support approval. The Biology Workgroup is overseeing this approval. Unless this notice is removed, the article will be approved on April 8th 2007.

One editor approval.David Tribe 22:59, 31 March 2007 (CDT)

Plan for this article (Dog)

This article is aimed to be a reasonably comprehensive but brief introduction to a single (sub)species. Although the article aims to be biologically correct to the scientist, it is aimed at the general reader who is much more likely to be interested in dogs as pets. That interest is used as something of a lure to bring the reader to other biological and social topics in CZ, but is always satisfied by exploring the most pertinent aspects of (1) why dogs make good pets, (2) proper care of pet dogs (3) important factors in choosing and training a pet dog (breed, etc). The language should always be plain, with special terms clearly explained. When possible, the language should be entertaining rather than dull.

Discussion

1. Changed the first sentence "Dog is a mammal...in the order.... The entire Classification is already there in a box, and this sort of introduction is horribly boring,

What not to feed dogs

Hi Nancy, I like dogs but I don't know much about them. There's all sorts of stuff in the section you deleted that I didn't know. Maybe that's because it's false or uncertain (and you can't know false or uncertain stuff), but surely not all of it is false or uncertain? And remember, 11-year-olds will be reading this article, and it might be news to them that you shouldn't give dogs gum. --Larry Sanger 14:42, 15 December 2006 (CST)

We can address this! Nancy Sculerati MD 07:41, 16 December 2006 (CST)

I started in on the "gum" issue and here's the problem. No, you shouldn't give dogs gum, sure enough. You also shouldn't give them: erasers, lipstick, mouthwash, hard candies, caramels, charcoal, marshmallows, mortar, and a list of household items that goes on and on. All of these things are things dogs will likely accept, of course, especially if lovingly offered by their buddy, the 11 year old kid. But- If we put in "gum", but we leave out something else that seems equally appropriate to the person who has to be explictly told not to give gum, we are almost implying that it's only gum you really have to worry about. Further, if we mention gum as a no=no for dogs, what about cats? Parrots? Rabbits? Gerbils? I guess there are those people, the sort of person who lacks common sense understanding, who might assume that if a "food" like gum is specifically mentioned as forbidden for dog, but left it off the list for cats, then it must be ok for cats. Right? So, no I prefer to use general guidelines fo feeding (that are not finished yet). :) Nancy Sculerati MD

Layout issue-need picture, please help

The juxtaposition of the Classification info box and the Content Outline box leaves a big gap in the page. This is generally true for all articles containing both. Not having the capability to come up with a better layout (hint to somebody who does) I would like a large picture of dogs in all kinds of activities that nicely balances in that space. A collage would do, as would a large picture that has a lot going on (dog show- field trials- etc.) Please help you visual arts/photo mavens!! Nancy Sculerati MD 07:46, 16 December 2006 (CST)

The gap between the Contents menu and the infobox is often a problem. The main problem is how big is the gap? The higher your screen resolution and the bigger your monitor, the bigger the gap. On my laptop, there's not such a big gap. You have to be careful what you put in this place. If you put in a image that fills all of your screen, it might break the layout in my screen.

It is possible to let the article text fill this space. This simply requires adding a tag in the page markup that floats the content menu to the left or the right (why you would float right I don't know). The text will then fill the center area. Look up the WP help pages will tell you how (I don't have WP access form here - China) The advantage of filling with text rather than an image is that the text will automatically wrap it's self to fill the space perfectly, no matter what size that space is. Derek Harkness 05:16, 20 December 2006 (CST)

Do you think at the very end of the article we could have an alphabetical list of all the kinds of dogs? -Tom Kelly (Talk) 15:01, 4 February 2007 (CST)

There is another article - Dog breed, that I think such a list might be helpful. Nancy Sculerati MD 15:31, 4 February 2007 (CST) Or maybe there should be a separate "LIst of Dog Breeds" that both could link to? What do you think? Nancy Sculerati MD 15:32, 4 February 2007 (CST)

removed on article cleanup

need image

image_caption = '''[[Pair of very different dogs ex.Gr.Dane and Chiuaua]]'''<br>two breeds of the domestic dog

Add section on recent food poisonings?

Perhaps someone, who is on top of the current and puzzling pet food poisonings involving Menu Foods, should add a section on this on-going tragey as well as last year's horrible tragedy involving aflatoxin-contaminated products sold by Diamond Pet Food company. (A fellow member of the Iroquois Labrador Retriever Club in Western New York lost five of her Labs to liver failure after eating the contaminated food. The pain of such a loss is impossible to describe.) Andrew A. Skolnick 11:12, 31 March 2007 (CDT)

Approval

I've cleaned up the empty refs. As far as I'm concerned this could be approved. David Tribe 22:49, 31 March 2007 (CDT)

Fixed some wording in Registered Purebred Breeds

I rewrote part of the Registered purebred breeds section, but it needs a bit more work because I think it still is a little misleading. I think it is confusing requirements for winning confirmation shows with requirements for registering a purebred dog. Club-established standards (such as nose color) are guidelines for breeders in chosing the best dogs to breed and for judges to pick winners in club-sanctioned confirmation shows, but not much else. They are not standards for registering a pure bred dog. The only requirement for registration a purebred is proof that the parent dogs are the same breed and both have "full registration" with the club. For purebred registration, puppies do not have to meet any physical standards at all. (How could they since they're only weeks old and don't look at all like the dogs they will become?). The only requirement is that both parents be the same breed and fully registered. (Purebred dogs considered less than suitable for breeding are usually given "limited registration" - which recognizes them as purebreds, but won't allow them to compete in confirmation shows nor allow any puppies they produce to be registered. That's what I purchased when I got my Labrador from his breeder, who wanted control over her Labrador lines. But when my pup was 4 months old and showed great promise for the show ring, the breeder had AKC change his registation. So Arg is now winning first place ribbons [no points yet, sigh] and may someday sire some real great dogs.)

Another confusing point is that purebred dogs don't have to meet the established confirmation standard to compete in other kinds of club-registered events, such as agility, obedience, rally-o, hunting, tracking, etc. Bulldogs having a pink nose only disqualifies them from winning in confirmation shows, not in obedience or rally. Castrated and spayed registered dogs cannot compete in the confrimation ring but they are welcome in most other kinds of club-sanctioned competitions. Andrew A. Skolnick 15:37, 1 April 2007 (CDT)

Andrew, your criticism is correct and appreciated. Can you think of a way to change the wording so that the subject is explained more accurately? You are welcome to edit it yourself on the article, or paste the sentences you think have to be redone here on the talk page and we can work on it together. Nancy Sculerati 15:48, 1 April 2007 (CDT) P.S. We need a whole article on the AKC, and it will be linked here and can and should have entire sections on each kind of show, hopefully we will have other kennel clubs as well. Nancy