Dylan

Dalmations and Golden Retrievers

My project is about dalmatians and golden retrievers. You will find out the body parts, history, behavior, and even more other information on golden retrievers and dalmatians. This will show what a golden retriever and dalmatians lives are like. The reason I chose this topic was because I'm very interested in dalmatians and golden retrievers. I also chose this topic because they have a very different life style from us. I did not select any other topics I thought I might do because this topic seemed more challenging. Dalmations and golden retrievers are my favorite types of dogs and it is cool to compare them. I hoped to learn about the dogs' senses. It would have been cool to have learned about the facial expression of dogs and their meaning. Lots of people think dogs look sad if their eyes are big. I also would of liked to learn some weird things like why dogs chase cars and why they chase cats. I did not learn all I wanted to, but I still learned a lot. Things did not turn out how I expected because the first time I went to the library there were a lot of books. Then, the next time there were books that didn't have good information. Then, on the internet there were barely any good web sites. all the web sites had mostly pictures of dogs. I did my research in books, encyclopedias, interviews, and the internet was a little help. What was very helpful was all the information in the books I found. There were a couple of problems. One was there were a couple of days when I could not find much information at all. Different dictionaries and encyclopedias had different information, which was good. another problem was that there was almost no information on the internet. One of the other problems was that the experts on the computer never e-mailed me back. I had an interview, but I found out information I already knew. also, when I found a site on the internet, I forgot to write down the site name and address and it was hard to find the site again. There was an open house at a veterinary hospital where a lot of dogs were boarded. I asked questions and found information there. A fact that I found very interesting was that the dalmatian was brought from India to England by gypsies. That fact seems the most unlikely compared to the other "legends" One of the other "legends" that seems much more true than the real one, is that the dalmatians were brought from Italy. It seems much more likely because dalmatians had much more activity in Italy. I also learned that golden retrievers were very good as circus dogs in 1950. after a while though, there were fewer and fewer golden retrievers in the circus. There are still some golden retrievers performing now. Something weird is that the golden retriever were not called golden retrievers ever since it has been founded. The golden retriever was known as a yellow retriever or a Russian retriever. Until 1920, the golden retriever was known as a golden flat coat. Golden retrievers like marshy areas and are adapted to pointing. Golden retrievers can be outside longer than the dalmatian because golden retrievers have much longer hair. There is one very important thing that if you ever own a golden retriever you need to know. Golden retrievers need to be in sometimes, not outside their whole life. They could get many different types of diseases if they do stay outside. also golden retrievers need lots of grooming. They should be groomed every day. Golden retrievers also need to have a walk two to three times a day. also golden retrievers need to have lots of attention. You should try to teach your golden retriever to know all the basic commands like sit, stay, shake, and lay. You will find out that it cooperates better after you train them these. An important issue about dalmatians is that dalmatians are not bred for a certain thing. Dalmatians can have jobs like hunting dogs, or guard dogs. Dalmatians can be trained for almost anything. When you think of a dalmatian, you might think they work at fire stations, but usually dalmatians, (their main job that some dalmatians do) are guard dogs. Most dalmatians are just pets. They keep people happy if they were lonely. Dalmatians are trained for defense. a lot more people wanted to buy dalmatians after the movie 101 Dalmatians was put out for sale. I do know some facts about if a dog looking a certain way. Their expressions do mean something. I know, for a fact that if a dog is frightened it straightens or lowers it's tail and flattens it's ears. When dogs are threatened they bare their teeth and stiffen their legs. If they are in pain, they growl and snap. You also probably know already that when dogs are happy they wag their tail. all dogs have two types of behavior. The first is to satisfy their future hunger. an example of that is burying a bone for later. The second type of behavior is a learning type. an example of that is if a dog gets hurt on a road, it will probably not go near that same road again. Dalmatians and golden retrievers have different sizes and weights. The dalmatian may seem smaller and lighter than a golden retriever, but depending on where the dog was born, it could be a different size. I does not change too much. The dalmatian can weigh from forty five to seventy pounds. They have a height of nineteen to thirty five inches tall. Golden retrievers on the other hand, can weigh from sixty five to eighty five pounds. Their height is twenty to thirty five inches tall. This project was a little bit hard. I went to lots of places, but there was not too much information. Before I began this project, at the beginning of the Independent Study Project, I remember I made one very hard choice. I was probably the hardest choice. What my topic was going to be. I was going to do a topic like cows, but it would have been hard since there was even less information. This project was good for me because it made me look for information harder than I did last year. If I had more time, I would of done a lot more things. One thing would of been to look through different types of books. I have been looking through books that show information about the size or weight, or where they came from. I would have looked through books about the health for dogs.   Glossary behavior - the way someone or something acts. boarded - when a dog is kept in a certain place. bred - training a dog to be something. class - the type of a dog. coat - the fur of a dog. coach dog - what a dalmatian used to be called. develop - when someone grows into something else. grooming - when you brush and wash something. gun dogs - a type of dog that used to hunt a lot. origin - where an animal, something, or someone came from. unspecified - unknown.   Bibliography Cairns, Julie. (1996). The Golden Retriever. New York. Fetz, Scott. (1997). The World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago. Moore, Cindy Tittle. Golden Retrievers. [Online] Available http://www.k9wb.com/dog-faqs/breeds/goldens.html#faq, 1994. Palmer, Joan. (1994). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds. Edison. Pugnetti, Gina. (1980). Simon and Schuster's Guide to Dogs. New York. Randinelli, Tracey. (1998). Contact Kids. Red Oak. Strand, Patti and Rod. (1995). The Dalmatian. New York. Taylor, David. (1990). The Ultimate Dog Book. New York. Pisano, Beverly. (1988). Dalmatian. New York.

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