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Just where exactly did this sweet and adorable little lap toy dog, the Japanese Chin originate? As with many of our toy dog breeds, there are several theories for us to remember as the history of this toy dog breed.

There is plenty of evidence that the Japanese Chin can be traced back to the dogs that arrived in Japan as precious gifts from China and Korea over 1,100 years ago. The Japanese Chin is one of the most ancient breeds of dogs.

The exact history of the Japanese Chin is difficult to determine, however, evidence exists that at the end of the first century A.D., the Chinese had a type of dog known as ‘Pai’. Canine breed authorities say the ‘Pai’ was a very small, short-headed and short-legged dog. One canine breed writer, Collier, tells us there is little doubt the Japanese race of small dogs originated from China. It is fact that trade and association between the two nations date back as far as the fifth century. During the period of Tein Wu Ti (A.D. 673-686) and Ch’ih T’ung Ti (A.D. 690-696), Korea and China constantly gave small pet dogs to Japan.

As with many of our toy dog breeds there are various theories about the origin of the Japanese Chin. Some suggest they come from Korea and that a Korean prince went to Japan taking gifts for the Mikado in A.D. 732. The gifts included tiny dogs with flat noses which resemble our present day Japanese Chin. In those days they were called Shoku-Ken. They were definitely different from the dogs in Japan at that time which was of the Spitz type.

Another theory of the origin of our Japanese Chin states that as early as 520 A.D., Buddish monks took Shoku-Ken from China to Japan when they went to preach as missionaries. The dogs were said to be a symbol of the sacred Lion of Buddha.

Other people believe the Japanese Chin were of the Imperial Ch’in that supposedly originated in China. The Imperial Ch’in dogs were only owned by Chinese royalty. This seems to be the case of several of our purebred toy dogs. We are so very fortunate now that not only the wealthy have access and the companionship of the purebred toy dog.

It has also been said that the last Empress of China kept 50 of these dogs in the throne room. When the Empress entered the room story goes that these little dogs would line up from door to throne, standing on their hind legs and bowing until she was seated. Of particular note, I would like to add as the author of this article is about my little Danny Boy, who is not Japanese Chin, but is Shih Tzu. Of all the Shih Tzu I have owned, he is the only one who stands on his hind legs before me. Danny and I are very, very close. I wonder if this is a characteristic he inherited from the Imperial line of dogs in China. None of my other Shih Tzu exhibits this trait. I thought he was begging for something. He does it quite often and he looks as if he is just standing up on his hind legs like a human and his front legs are like his human arms and hands. It is so cute; I really enjoy seeing this little trick in my Danny Boy. I am also wondering if the little dogs owned by the last Empress of China lined up from door to throne, standing on their hind legs was out of “respect, love and honor for her.”

It has been said, however, that because the Japanese Chin is not the easiest of dogs to train, the thought of 50 of them doing this in perfect unison was a bit too much to believe. And…….it is only one of mine, out of all I ever had, who does this. Incidentally, my Danny Boy received no training for this. The only real thing different is my relationship with Danny Boy. He is my absolute favorite of all time Shih Tzu I ever owned and I have in many ways told him this. He does have one bad trait I think is cute, but is dangerous for him. He sees himself as rough and tough and loves to try and prove this to all the dogs, big and small. I have to many times rescue him, which may add to the beauty and love of our relationship also. He stands to his feet when I am around because I suppose in his mind, I am his “Empress.”

Other relatives of the Chinese Imperial Ch’in were the Chinese Temple Dog, the Japanese Spaniel, the Pekingese and the Chow. They resemble each other in my opinion.

With all we know about the Japanese Chin today I believe it is reasonable to assume that at least in the very beginning was an Oriental breed. We also know the early days of the Japanese Chin were spent with people of nobility or very high rank and were considered as something very valuable and precious. It is my opinion as well that this “precious look” that seems to glow from the faces of the Japanese Chin is the result of some of that pampering and adoration. The Japanese Chin is a delightful little lap toy dog companion for us today, and is still considered valuable and precious for all who truly love this breed.

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.

When you have a pet spider, you have to give it a name, unless you just want to call it Spider or Spidy all the time.  You may be a fan of Spiderman and name your pet after a character in the movie or the comic book series. Parker, for example, sounds like a nice strong name for a spider. If you wish, you can use the name of one of the villains, but then people may think you have a bad spider. You can also choose a name based on the spider appearance or its scientific classification. How about Rachy, based on the word Arachnid for the class of spiders? There are many choices in spider names you just have to use your imagination.

There are male and female spiders, as you know, so when you do bring home your pet you can choose a name appropriate to the gender. Charlotte is a very popular name for a girl spider based on the spider in the story Web? Spin could be a name for any gender because that is what spiders do spin webs. Webmaker, Webspinner, or even Web are suitable names, but they are not very imaginative and when someone hears the name it won’t raise any eyebrows or invoke any questions about your choice of name.

By looking at the meaning of the name, you can find many different and unusual names that will suit this type of pet. How about one of these names for a male spider?

– Malcolm – Servant of St. Columba

– Seanloach – Old hero

– Tag – Handsome

– Kaelen – Mighty Warrior

– Victor – Winner

– Rodd – from the name Roderick

-Hania – Spirit Warrior

Female names for spiders can include

– Shiny

– Erna

– Nicole

– Chloe

– Grace

– Molly

In fact any male or female name would be suitable for a spider.

Find the common name for the spider and let that be your guide in choosing a name. If you have a female Black Widow spider, you could name it killer because of the belief that the females eat the males after mating. Blacky is also a popular name, but there are also Brown Widow Spiders, so if this is the pet spider you have you can name it Brownie.  You might also want to choose a color completely different from the color of your pet.

You may be one of the spider owners who has a Carolina Wolf Spider. This opens the doors to many names because you can even use names of dogs for your pet. These spiders have a dark stripe on the abdomen, so this may give you ideas for names according to the color of the stripe. This is also one of the largest wolf spider in North America so any names that denote a large size would be very apt choices.  Since the fangs of this spider are quite large, you could even call it Fang. Then when someone asks you about your choice of name, you can tell them all about this species of spiders.

Cats are unlike any other domesticated animal in that they have retained an independent streak despite centuries of living with humans. In fact, the history of feline domestication is thought to go back as far as the Ancient Egyptians in the third millennia B.C.

It is clear that the Egyptians had a fascination with cats that can be seen in pictures, art and artifacts. However, it is almost impossible to tell whether these were domesticated or wild animals. Nevertheless, by 1600 B.C. the volume of cats featured in Egyptian art has led historian to believe that cats were, at least to some extent, domesticated by this time.

Why Did Cats Begin to Live with Humans?

In most cases of domestication, humans instigated the relationship with the animal for their own gains. However, with cats, the story is slightly different. It is thought that cats were drawn to humans for warmth, security and food. You may have noticed in your own cat that felines tend to take the path of least resistance and the offer a free meal and a cozy fire seems to have been too much to resist.

It was then that humans realized that cats came with benefits – a reduction in mice and rats. So, understandably, people tried to encourage the cats to stay. As the relationship was just as beneficial for them, they did.

Why Did Cats Retain Their Independence?

Whether you are a cat lover or not, you will be aware of the huge difference between cats and other domesticated animals. Sometimes known as the most domesticated wild animal, the vast majority of cats look upon humans with disinterest and, at times, utter disdain. There can be no question, cats live with us, but, as has always been the case, very much on their own terms.

So, why are cats so different to other domestic animals? Well, there are two principal reasons. First, is the way that a cat would live in the wild. Cats are solitary creatures (with the exception of lions and cheetah), therefore they do not live in a pack or herd that has a defined leader. In other words, a wild cat is a law unto itself. Consequently, when it comes to training or domesticating these animals, it is almost impossible, because humans cannot assert themselves as surrogate leaders.

Moreover, the domestication of cats did not involve any kind of selective breeding until the late part of the 1800s. Subsequently, unlike dogs, horses, goats, sheep and other domestic animals, the feline breeding program is centuries behind. Obviously, the aim of selective breeding is to select the character traits that are most suited to a life lived with humans. Due to religious and superstitious reasons, cats were seen as handy assets, but not pets. Therefore, human intervention over breeding was not considered necessary.

Recent Changes in Domesticated Cats

Now, of course, there are many pedigree breeds of cat and it is thought that this can make all the difference in terms of personality and willingness to be around humans. The longest standing pedigrees, in other words, those that have been selectively bred for the longest period of time, are thought to behave very differently to non-pedigree felines. It should be said that there has been no official research to ascertain this, but cat breeders and fanciers have noted behavioral inconsistencies, which indicate that cats will become more domesticated as time goes on.

Of course, so little is known about early humans and their relationship with animals. It certainly seems as though cats and humans have had a mysterious relationship for millennia. Quite why they continue to live with us is also a bit of a mystery, but maybe that is the attraction.

Every day thousands of dogs are ‘put to sleep’, which is a kind way to saying that they are euthanized.  Many of these are simply unwanted animals that have been abandoned by their owners.  They are not sick.  They are not unadoptable or aggressive.  They have simply been pushed into the ‘unwanted’ garbage bin.

Here is the story of ‘Red’, a lovely Chow dog that was hanging onto its life by a thread.  Red was an unwanted dog that some careless owner had abandoned.  Red ended up as a stray and was finally picked up by the SPCA in North Carolina.  He was somewhat thin, but really a wonderful dog that would thrive in a loving home.  Since shelters only have so much room and resources, dogs brought to them can only be with them for so long.  After the required time period is up and the dog is not adopted, then the animal is euthanized.  Red was in that situation.  His time was literally ‘up’.  He only had hours to live.

Red was lucky though.  Volunteers and animal lovers came together to try to find Red a second chance for life.  What volunteers did when they found out Red’s situation was to post Red’s picture and information on blogs and websites.  Finally a dog rescue in Texas responded to one of the notices.  Red was dragged from the death table with moments to spare.  He was saved from being gassed (which they do in North Carolina—instead of the more humane needle euthanasia method).

The above is a true story and Red was given his second chance for life. Through the Texas dog rescue and the efforts of many volunteers, Red now has a chance for a great home and a long life with a loving family. 

Here is another story of poor unwanted Chiquita, a little long-haired Chihuahua.  Chiquita was only about a year old when her owners no longer wanted her.  She was also on death-row.  Again, volunteers came to her rescue as they posted her picture (Chiquita completely and lovingly cute in a little pink dress) on the web.  Their efforts saved Chiquita from death as well, and she has now been placed with a family that will appreciate what her little soul is worth.

Red and Chiquita were both lucky, but many other dogs are not.  It takes a lot of effort, time, commitment and caring on the part of many volunteers to save these poor unwanted dogs. 

What can you do to help? 

• Volunteers are needed to accept lists of animals about to be euthanized, and who can then cross-post the details to various dog rescues that may be able to take these animals in. You can contact animalcareservices@greenvillecounty.org (email address) to get up-dated lists.
• You can post the list to blogs or your own websites to gain as much exposure to the animal’s situation as possible.
• Volunteers are also need to help transport the animals from one place to another.  You don’t have to take them through the whole route if the dog is being placed in a faraway location—simply a leg of the route, say from one city to another.
• Of course, money is always helpful. Contact dog rescues in your area to find out what is needed.

If you are a dog lover and can’t sleep nights wondering about what will happen to these poor unwanted dogs, maybe you can help too.  Think of Red and Chiquita and how volunteers willing to put in a little effort to save a dog helped saved their lives.  Maybe that can be you.

The evolutionary history of the horse is one of the most-covered subjects in modern biology. And no wonder – of all modern animals, the horse has behind it the most intact and visible family tree.Our story begins millions of years ago – with the Perissodactyls.

No, not “pterodactyl” – those clawed flying relics of the dinosaur age as imagined in B-movies and The Flintstones. The “Perissodactyls” are hoofed animals with an odd number of toes on each foot (they are also distinguished by their tooth structure); this group of animals is itself, say scientists, descended from the same ancestor as the tapir and the rhinoceros but, unlike these animals, gradually adapted to life on drier land than the tropical forests preferred, even today, by the rhino.

One creature’s evolution often influences that of other creatures in its environment, and this was true of the equids (the horsey branch of the Perissodactyl family tree), who began eating grass as this new crop began to flourish. Such a diet favored the spread of new sorts of equids who had larger teeth.

Likewise, the equids – adoption of a dry, steppe-like habitat, where predators lived and where the comparative lack of foliage made it harder to hide, encouraged the survival of those equids who ran the fastest. Gradually longer-legged equids with a long third toe (which allowed for greater running efficiency) began to predominate. The Mesohippus species of 40 million years ago reflect this trend.

It’s a common – but disastrous – mistake to see evolutionary history as a smooth straight-line progression from early to middle to modern versions of an animal, with the modern animal taken as the final copy of the earlier animals’ rough draft, as if we were viewing successive sketches of Michelangelo’s David in a line that ended with the real statue.

In fact, though, most equid species lived their day and died, without having any influence on today’s horse; they existed in their own right, and we shouldn’t think of the modern horse as the “goal” of all this equine living and dying. Many genealogical lines simply ran out, while one (leading to our horse) happened to survive; but it could as well have been any, or all, of the others, given slight modifications in some habitat a million years ago or so.

In any case, of the many horselike species whose fossils have been found, it’s thought that Plesippus – a species descended from the earlier Dinohippus – is the father of the modern horse. This species responded to falling North American temperatures by heading, either to South America or across the Bering Strait from North America to Eurasia, about 2 and a half million years ago, with a few staying behind in North America.

Somewhere toward the end of the Tertiary period or at the beginning of the Quaternary – that’s scientists’ talk for the beginning of the most recent Ice Age, roughly 1.8 million years ago – descendants of Plesippus gave rise to offspring different enough from their sponsors, and like enough to our modern horses, that scientists have dubbed them Equus stenonis, the first “true” horse.

They crossed into North America and survived for millions of years, perhaps giving rise to the other ancient horses known to have inhabited the area during this period – the super-sized Equus scottii giganteus, whom the present author swears he is not making up (they seem to have exceeded modern horses in size). But all North American horses died out, rather inexplicably, around 11,000 years ago – at the same time as many other kinds of animals, and for reasons scientists have yet to discover. Was it some mega-virus of the ancient world? Or, a more tantalizing possibility, did humans (arriving on the North American scene, according to some theories, at about this time) hunt them to extinction?

In any case, horses had no purchase on this continent until after European colonization of the Americas began in 1492; for this long period, then, from 11,000 BCE to 1491, the horse’s development took place in Eurasia instead. (Another tantalizing thought – after the colonizers had reintroduced horses to Mexico, the southwestern US, and Peru, some indigenous tribes told stories about how “the grass remembers” these new animals.

Did these people groups retain some memory, perhaps through myth and legend, of the long-gone North American horse?)

The outline of horse-history given here is just one sketch, based on one strand of scientific theorizing. Like those ancient Perissodactyls giving rise to many species of not-quite-a-horse, most of which flourished in their time and died without contributing in any way to the development of modern horses, scientific speculation as to the origin of any species will include many interesting, intelligent “dead ends.” So who knows.

A popular theory, the “Four Foundations” theory, suggests that at some point long predating the horse’s disappearance from North America, four basic types of horses developed in Europe (from those Plesippi, perhaps, who crossed from North America to Eurasia before the last Ice Age began). Warmblooded, forest-dwelling horses and draft horses of northern Europe, plus taller, slimmer Asian horses and pony-sized Tarpans, are considered, in this theory, to be the “basic” horses from which all others are descended.