Looking at photos from the Westminster show has me wondering … I’m told some breeds (Newfies, Dalmatians, etc.) slobber because their lips are weak and can’t hold the saliva in. I assume this was bred into them at some point, so why hasn’t it been bred back out? I’m a dog fan/owner, but puddles of drool have occasionally sent me sliding and crashing, black-ice style, in friends’ houses. And then there’s the ick factor. Is slobbering a desired trait in some quarters?
People who own drooling dogs don’t mind that they drool or they wouldn’t haven’t gotten them in the first place. I assume drooling could be bred out, but they would have to then change the bred standards, which, after all, are standards. Some people find a drooling dog cute and endearing… to each his own.
IMO, excessive drooling is a big dog thing for the most part.
Also I have heard that they make a lot more /per unit of time / when food is near.
I wonder if loose lips are the only thing that is sinking their ships.
Never heard of a real study being done. Just opinions like my uninformed one.
I think the drooling is a side effect of intentional breeding for certain traits that are desirable. For example, the skin flaps and droopy ears of basset hounds and bloodhounds help direct scent trails towards the dog’s nose, and retrievers are specifically bred to have very soft mouths, especially their lips, to avoid damaging the retrieved object/prey.
When hubby and I decided it was time to get a dog, one of our criteria was no drooling so we got a greyhound. Very tidy animal… except when made to sit and wait for me to put down her food bowl. She sits there all pretty but with a long thread of nasty drool hanging out of her mouth. LOL!
We did a dog event some years ago and were placed next to Great Dane rescue. They were all carrying hand towels to wipe off their dog’s faces. Ewww.
I used to work with a woman who had a Newfoundland retriever. She kept towels all over the house.
Well, Newfoundlands are not classified as retrievers.
And none of the Labs I’ve had (or other retrievers I’ve known) had perceptible drooling problems, “soft mouth” notwithstanding.
Enough people like purebred dogs with certain conformational characteristics to overlook physical defects. I would like to see cocker spaniels bred back to the standard set by great dogs like this one. But it isn’t going to happen because humans are stupid.
Sorry, I get pissed off about what’s happened to the cocker every year at Westminster show time.
These are all presumably all highly pedigreed showdogs, meaning they have been bred over many generations to be ornaments and profit generators rather than biologically functional animals. In amongst the non-fusing skull plates, dislocating hip joints, spontaneously disintegrating livers and various other horrors a bit of drool is such a minor defect it’s hardly worth mentioning.
But is there actually any citable science behind these or is it just old wives tales passed down through the generations? Other animals have as good or better sense of smell without saggy faces. The ‘soft mouth’ thing sounds especially bogus since every dog breed appears perfectly capable of carrying e.g. newborn puppies around without injuring them, and retrievers are likewise capable of chewing the crap out of anything from couches to cowbones. Damaging stuff or otherwise seems to me more a matter of ‘want to’ than ‘able to’.
Agreed. I can’t stand seeing German Shepherds slouching around like their backs are broken. I’ve noticed that in Europe they still have tall, straight back ends, which makes me happy. It also makes me sad when dobie’s have their ears cropped and tails docked. It’s a gloriously beautiful animal, leave it the hell alone!
I adore my racing greyhounds. Bred purely for functionality, not appearance. Ironically they can often be found naturally “stacking” themselves to make the AKC champs look pathetic. (Stacking is the way they make the dog stand on the show floor/table with it’s back legs slightly back and head up to show off conformation. My male grey is a canine Adonis.
Ok, the hip dysplasia is familiar and I know about bracyphelahoweveryouspellit - the smush-nose breeds - having respiratory issues and sometimes trouble breeding naturally, but the non-fusing skull and spontaneously kaput livers are new to me. At the risk of hijacking, does anyone know more about those?
I have an American bulldog champion drooler. Certain things make her drool more: sushi, half-n-half, oranges or grapefruit being eaten. If it’s a food that she really really wants, she will make a puddle on the floor begging for a bite. The citrus and the half n half seem to start an instant deluge of drool. (Florida dog–she loves grapefruit.)
The other thing that makes her drool is stress. If she’s excited to go walkies or she’s stressed because she’s been to the vet, or even fun-excitement-stress, like when her BFF comes over for a playdate. Drool.
She’s got those big floppy top lips and a normal bottom lip. I wonder if it isn’t a mastiff-breed thing.
I don’t know about the livers, but apparently Chihuahua’s sometimes have a problem where their skulls don’t close and fuse normally which leads to hydrocephalus (fluid buildup around the brain). I don’t know what causes that.
The smush-nosed breeds of both dogs and cats also sometimes have issues with cleft faces. Puppies and kittens born this way don’t live for long for obvious reasons. It’s just monstrous that we breed animals to this extent.
I just googled “spontaneously disintegrating livers in dogs” and the first hit was this thread. So then I googled “genetic liver problems in dogs” and there’s nothing to suggest that a spontaneously disintegrating liver is a Thing. There is a Thing called hepatoportal microvascular dysplasia that tends to be seen in small breed dogs, but the liver itself doesn’t disintegrate with that condition.
hepatoportal microvascular dysplasia is a blood vessel abnormality inside the liver that causes shunting between the portal vein and circulation into the system. It may be caused by microscopic lesions on the liver, abnormal development, abnormal positioning, or throttling due to a prominent smooth muscle that prevents blood flow. The lobes of the liver are involved, some severely, others very little. This is suspected when the bile is not doing its work. In short, because of malformations in the blood vessels, the blood is not flowing to the liver as it should.
That is not the same thing as a disintegrating liver. I wonder what that poster is actually referring to.
I love dogs, all dogs, really, but if a dog can’t drink out of its water dish without spilling all over the place; or slobbering on my clothes when we are supposed to be going out for dinner… that’s a problem for me.
If that is the breed standard then more power to them, but not me.
(full disclosure, I have a Basenji-no drooling, no excitement peeing, no hip displasia…just Fanconi; mine is clear.)
Missed the window but…I’m new to posting here. I have been lurking for a long time 
Just to be clear, there is nothing Ewwwww about Gunner the Great Dane. Yeah, he’ll drool at the slightest indication that food might be near, but I consider that character.
Drooling is a byproduct of a facial feature that showdog breeders want. It has absolutely zip zero nada nothing to do with any functionality whatsoever. You think wolves can’t track prey? Do they helplessly drool?
There are two separate dysfunctions bred into show dogs. One is the accidental diffusion of genetic disease into an artificially closed, highly inbred population. The other is the purposeful distortion of physical traits to produce a more prizewinning animal, many of which lead to physical problems. Many breeds have both.
Watching Turner & Hooch yesterday and there’s a scene in the car where Hooch has big threads of drool out both sides of his mouth and Turner says it looks like he has a tennis shoe in his mouth and the laces are hanging out.
My Newfie drools when very hot, after a long hike for example. I do not need to keep drool towels, as drooling would be the exception rather than the rule.
Responsible breeders should be working to keep physical problems like hips weakness or heart problems out of the breed. There are lots of irresponsible breeders out there unfortunately. Like other posters, I like dogs who are still bred for work over show.
Well, no, wolves don’t drool;they slaver.
Seriously though, I am sick to death of hearing ALL dog breeders lumped into a single pool with the idiots who breed in genetic illnesses.
And yes, obviously breeding the GS for crouching and the English Bulldog for too broad a skull has gotten WAY out of hand.
But if you want to go out and hunt elk, an English bulldog is an excellent form to help you. He is low enough, and solid enough, to charge up and bump the huge animal’s leg and either break the leg or knock it off balance. A downed elk is extremely vulnerable. Likewise, if your dog is going to be in a situation where it might get kicked by an elk, or a deer, or even a horse, then a broad thick skull is a good thing to have. I once watched helplessly as my Dad’s bulldog got his head run over by a golf cart. Boom! the front wheel, and then Boom! the back wheel, went right over his poor head. And he got up wagging his tail and looking to play some more. (I never said he was smart. LOL!)
Most of the dogs with super loose lips were being bred for loose skin. Very loose skin, as in the basenji or most bulldogs is a huge advantage when taking down large prey. If the prey animal bites and holds, the dog can still turn and bite back - it can’t be held still and helpless. I don’t think anyone has found a way to breed loose skin without also getting loose jowls. It’s just the same set of genes.
And yes, this also results in an animal which is really better suited to an outside kennel. Which is what they were bred to be: working dogs who live outside the home. Now we are turning around and breeding in new personality traits to make them pets, and this naturally puts them in a position where the other traits we worked so hard to develop are a lot less beneficial. But making them pets is saving the breed, as there are just too few gentleman farmers hunting elk these days.
I’d never have a drooling dog in my house, but judging these animals on that basis is ludicrous.