I am interested in the topic and maybe you will hit on something. Check out the drug store shelves if you don't think that is true. Clark, MD, Department of Neonatology and Pediatrics, Children's Hospital at Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY, USA in case anyone else wants to read it and while it is saying that abnormalties of the hair on the scalp (and other places on the body) MAY indicate some other underlying disease process, it is not a given and it may in fact not even be related one to the other.Īnd by the way, most humans have facial hair - it is very fine in most people under the age of 60 or so, but it certainly does exist and some babies are born with a fair amount of facial hair. A hint to go look for something is quite different from finding it.Īnyway, the article you are quoting is "Scalp Hair Characteristics in the Newborn Infant: Scalp Hair Examination" written by Susan A. Maybe having a zipper across the muzzle is a sign of aberrant brain development, but those are different statements I think and I am not even sure what percentage of who has what ends up with abnormalities anyway. So maybe 5% of the dog population has zippers and that is normal. "double hair whorls found normally in the parietal region in 5% of the population" which then goes on to say "abnormal positioning of the whorls MAY (emphasis mine) indicate aberrant brain development." so if you quote the latter it would seem to say something it doesn't. I think you should read the whole article and perhaps you will see that you are taking the discussion out of context. So I went ahead and read the article I think you have been quoting. Again, take it for what it is worth to you." Humans aren't dogs - however, much of what we learn about the genetics and development of one species can be applicable to another. "Distinctly unusual hair growth or cowlicks along the midline can be diagnostic signs for several genetic or developmental problems in humans. I personally have owned 2 zippered dogs, neither with any other physical or brain problems. I would be interested whether zippered dogs, have any other abnormalities. Obviously no scientific study, just informal inquiry. I simply passed along the information so that it might be considered by those who wish to explore the possibility that there is more at stake than what the judges like Do a medline search and you will find a number of human developmental irregularities and mental retardation syndromes that are associated with facial skin clefts or misalignments, cowlicks, etc.ĭo the research, don't do the research - your choice. As to hair cowlicks on humans, frontal midline cowlicks are highly indicative of brain abnormalities in the frontal lobe. The reason the abstract didn't specifically address hair growth or development is that most human faces are not covered with a lot of hairĪlterations to the midline - small or large - result in alterations in hair formation when they occur in "hairy" areas. These alterations take place to a major or minor degree on human faces. Your cited reference was talking about major facial feature changes that are caused by truncating the primary cilia on "cranial neural crest cell" and didn't seem related to hair growth or development. However, if all things were equal (which they never are!) I would opt for a pup without the zipper to reduce the probability of other suture defects down the line.ĭo you have a reference (study, journal, book, link etc.) for this information? That is, a cowlick is a suture irregularity. I have finished dogs of several breeds with and without facial cowlicks. I personally have kept and would not turn away a nice pup with a zipper. In a poplation-based human study, neonates with one midline defect had an 86% chance of having a second one. Some of these are very serious or even fatal. These can include a variety of suture locations: facial midline disruption (zipper), cleft lip/palate, umbilical hernia, omphalocele (intestine protruding through umbilicus), trachea or esophageal deformitiy, rectal/gental irregularities, conotruncal heart defects, diaphragmatic hernia and neural tube defects. Although the disruption of the facial midline suture that creates the zipper is generally inconsequential, it does show a familial predisposition to potential suture line birth defects. While not mentioned in the breed standard, cowlicks down the muzzle are really suture line irregularities. In reality, it is irrelevant whether or not people like them zippers are not a fault nor are they a breeding issue and have no bearing on whether or not a dog should be shown or bred.
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