#the bybs are pretty good at looking like they aren’t byb

[theborzoiarebackintown]

I have a greyhound and one (absolutely insane) grey/wolfhound mix and I’ve always wondered if Borzoi have similar personalities to greyhounds? Obsessed with your dogs btw, love their curly little butts 😭😭😭

Their butts are obsessed with you too

I think greyhounds and borzoi probably have the most similar personalities in general within the sighthound family! With the caveat different lines and different individual dogs can vary greatly.

A general like of people but not pushy about it, eccentric and funny at home. Enjoy couches and chilling tf out. Do well in “packs” granted their personal space and boundaries are respected.

The biggest differences are gonna be size and hair! Oh and greyhounds are more fragile in skin and bone. Borzoi are a bit hardier in those regards (HOWEVER a borzoi whomst wasn’t grown out properly WILL have weaker bones and be more prone to breaks). I’d say these differences aren’t overly significant if you aren’t doing lure coursing/open field tho.

Greyhound peeps feel free to sound off ✌🏻

[wilderun]

Since there is so much misinformation about wolfdogs and wolfdog breeding floating around lately......  Yes, most wolfdog breeders suck. It’s a market with a high profit margin that attracts the sort of people who are just are throwing together what they have available to make a quick buck from animals with little to no health testing done and no selection for temperament. They think a dog being Embark DNA tested to confirm breed mix is all that’s necessary to market their dogs for thousands of dollars, and unfortunantly, are right, because of the number of uneducated buyers out there who’ll throw down cash for anything that looks pretty. This leads to a lot of animals with sketchy genetic bases going to homes who have no idea what they’re doing or who throw them outside in an enclosure with no training or socialization or proper handling, which leads to bite incidents, animals being surrendered to rescue, extremely fearful animals, etc....  But..... that doesn’t mean wolfdogs shouldn’t be bred at all, any more than any other dog breed in which poor breeders and poor owners have given the general public a poor perception of their temperament and behavior. We don’t base our judgement of an entire type of dog on the BYB animals at rescues, we base it off of how they act when well-bred to ‘standard’ and how they act when in homes that are providing for the needs of the dog and training and handling them correctly. So why does this happen to wolfdogs? Probably because there’s so few good breeders, and as animals from these breeders aren’t ending up in rescue to meet and handle, they are owned by private owners who generally keep to themselves. Most people who have worked at a sanctuary/rescue have probably never met a well bred wolfdog, or at most very rarely worked with them. 

Here is an example of what goes into responsible wolfdog breeding, and some photos of what it is like to live with a well bred wolfdog--you will note that it’s largely the same as what goes into responsible breeding in any other breed of dog: My plans for my kennel for 2022 & 2024 involve bringing in two outside stud dogs with different attributes for Zephyr, my high content female wolfdog from a breeder who has been doing OFA testing and DNA testing on her line for 25 years. I spent years researching lines to find the right balance of temperament, health history, longevity, sound structure, and workability, purchased her, watched her temperament mature, health tested her, and decided to breed her when she proved to be an exceptionally easy to live with, biddable animal with a very sound and stable nature. Both of the studs I have lined up to utilize in my program are extremely accomplished in their fields of work, on the older side (both will be 9yrs old at the time of breeding), fully health tested, physically sound dogs who have held up to the rigorous demands of their jobs over the years, along with having wonderfully stable, outgoing, environmentally solid temperaments. 

Zephyr is OFA Fair Hips/OFA Normal Elbows/CAER Normal BO/DNA Clear/PennHip .27/.32, with Embark breed results of 94.4% Grey Wolf & 6.5% GSD/Malamute. Her parents are both OFA Good/Normal and DNA Clear, and she is linebred on an OFA Excellent male who lived to be almost 18 years old. She has several siblings with hip/elbow scoring done, all passing scores. She lives in the house, is safe with small dogs and cats, is trained off-leash with an e-collar, bikejors recreationally with me and one of my in house boys, and is a very stable dog who is aloof of strangers, and even in a high-stress situation that she wasn’t socialized to, she thinks through her reaction and settles herself. Booker is OFA Excellent Hips/OFA Normal Elbows/CAER Normal/DNA Clear, and is an Alaskan Husky from distance lines with an extensive race record. He is a team dog who has finished every race he has ran except for one, in which he was dropped due to an injury. He is great in the house. He is incredibly friendly dog who adjusts to being handed off to a new person immediately, very biddable and eager to please, sticky off leash with minimal training needed, completely safe with all livestock, zero same sex selectivity or reactivity, and adapts very well to busy new environments, to the point that he is used as the go-to dog to take along to schools for educational visits on sled dogs.  Flint is OFA Excellent Hips/OFA Normal Elbows/CAER Normal/DNA Clear, and is a West Siberian Laika from hunting lines who has proven to be a very versatile dog, successfully hunting everything from squirrel to bear. Flint is very social and friendly with strangers, as are his siblings. He will get along fine with polite male dogs, but isn’t highly tolerant of nonsense from them. He is great off leash, broke off of livestock, good in public, fine in the house, prey drive is very directable, and overall a stable and well rounded dog. He is titled in conformation, weight pull, lure coursing, and also bikejors and sleds with his owner, showing versatility and willingness to work with his handler at whatever they pursue.  The rest of the images are Zephyr, showing her greeting new people, making canine friends, living as a house dog, being safe with small dogs, in busy public environments, handling creative grooming routines, traveling on road trips with us and the other dogs in a van, and overall living much the same as any other primitive-breed dog with a tendency towards more primitive-breed behavior does, with some adjustments in regards to ensuring we have a secure outdoor space for her for when we are not home (a 6ft fenced yard for supervised time with us while training and playing, and a floored/roofed area for unsupervised), and ensuring we follow any breed-specific ordinances that apply to wolfdogs on a state, county, and city level.  Support ethical wolfdog breeders. They are the ones producing the animals you don’t see in rescue or causing issues :P 

[doberbutts]

Why are the people working on outcross projects using craigslist dobes? Is it because good breeders won't let their dogs be used to outcross?

That’s some of the problem, but another problem is that quite a few of the people who want to outcross aren’t exactly going about things responsibly. As said previously I know a good handful of people who are either becoming involved with the various outcross projects or who are thinking about it, BUT.

When the most successful (visually) outcross happened between a BYB non-dobe and a BYB dobe, both obtained off craigslist, with no health testing, then was bred to a different BYB craigslist dobe to get something that looked mostly like a doberman, then was entered in a dog show as a purebred (didn’t win anything but still forged the papers), and now is being crossed with English Bulldog? Yeah that’s going to deter a lot of people from even being interested because the ethics just aren’t there and the included breeds don’t make any goddamned sense.

The most successful (temperament) outcross happened between a pretty lackluster bitesport cross and, once again, a BYB craigslist dobe, and the resulting dogs are um. Also fairly lackluster. And the person behind them sees no problems with the crosses to bulldog or american bully or husky or the ethics behind some of these projects? Yeah that’s once again not going to win a lot of people over to being interested in contributing their hard work to a project with lackluster results and not super great ethics.

If someone who actually had a good plan were to approach the people I know, they would allow their dogs to be used. But no one has, and the folks I know aren’t interested in working with people who have no plan outside of “breed x breed to dobes and make it better”.

[tetedurfarm]

Do you have any advice for getting into keeping rabbits? I was looking into getting a couple for meat production and possibly starting to learn to tan pelts but I don’t want to get confused over all the conflicting info on the internet about wire flooring and such things.

ugh, it’s so frustrating, isn’t it?  with pretty much every other animal you can just google “how to raise x” and get tons of good advice, but the rabbit results are dominated by HRS forums that will crucify you for even mentioning breeding, much less meat production. 

so here’s some points i’ve learned from experience to help you out:

1. wire flooring is not evil.  in fact it’s great.  it’s clean, it’s sanitary, there’s airflow if you use it in a hutch, and if you do it right you won’t have foot problems (unless you’re raising rex or giant breeds, but even then there’s easy fixes like my lattice mats.)

here’s what you’re looking for:  1″x0.5″ grid 16g - 14g wire.  if you order your cages from a manufacturer like Bass Equipment (my preferred cagemaker,) or Klubertanz, this will come standard.  if you make your own cages or buy from a feed store, it’s a bit more hit and miss.  

make sure the half-inch wires are on top when you build your cages, so the weight is distributed properly:

see how the smaller gaps are “on top”?

vs this side.  (shoutout to me having like twenty cages all in pieces in my living room to get these nice reference pics ;p)

i also recommend you get your floors galvanized after weld; they’ll last a long longer that way!

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2. babysaver wire is called that for a reason.  babysaver is when there’s a 1x0.5 grid near the bottom of a cage.  it’s there to keep kits from falling out of the cage, and helps prevent predators from easily pulling kits out.

this is a cage with babysaver.  it does what it’s meant to.  i use these for my doe cages, and even if a kit gets dragged out of the nest, as long as i find it in time, it’ll survive because it didn’t roll out and get snatched by something off the ground.

vs one without:

i use these for bucks and my growout pens for older kits.  they are cheaper than babysaver cages, but it’s worth the money to keep your babies safe.

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3. invest in a good pair of j-clip pliers.  even if you buy prefab cages, often times they’re cheaply made and you’ll need to fill in gaps so they don’t fall apart so easily.  it’s also good to keep them around just because, because after a while the clips can get rusty and fall off, and you’ll need to replace them occasionally.

good on left, not so good on right.  the ones on the left cost my about fifteen bucks from my favourite hilariously-named rabbit supply site:  Rabbitnipples.com.  the ones on the right were like $8 at my local feed store.  so a significant markup, but VERY worth it.  the good pliers are more comfortable to hold in your hand, and make much nicer/more secure crimps than the cheap ones.  i often have to crimp clips twice or more with cheap pliers, because of the way they’re shaped:

the good pliers have a solid mouth that make a clean loop with no pointy outy bits.  and they can double as removers if you mess one up!

this is topical because i lost my good pliers and had to order new ones, and in the meantime i built four cages and my palms are so sore/bruised from the cheap pliers.  don’t be like me.

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4. vets kinda aren’t worth it.  one of the things you’ll see on HRS sites is that vets are ABSOLUTELY necessary.  i don’t hate vets, but they chronically have no idea how to treat rabbits, often making them worse or causing them to die because they administered a med that’s safe for cats but not rabbits.  they also often subscribe to HRS rhetoric that pellets are evil and rabbits should only eat hay and greens, which is…wrong (i’ll get to that in a minute.)  if you can find a good vet it may be worth it for one or two rabbits, but once you get into the double-digits, it’s just not worth it.  exotics vets are expensive, and i can’t afford $50 just for a consult for thirty rabbits.  learn how to treat everyday ailments like sore feet, wounds, abscesses, eye infections, stasis/bloating, and birthing issues on your own.  i suggest joining up with a meat rabbit forum (i like rabbittalk.net,) and going through their articles on rabbit medicine and herbology.  if i can’t fix it myself, that rabbit is soup.  and if a rabbit chronically has health issues, don’t use it as a breeder.  bad immune systems/teeth/feet/etc are hereditary.

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5. things will die.  get used to it.  with livestock comes deadstock.  if you can’t handle animals dying, including newborn babies, or having to euthanize animals (including newborn babies,) don’t get livestock.  if you can’t look your food in the eye and thank it for its sacrifices, then don’t get livestock.  this is not a place for bleeding hearts.

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6. don’t breed a new doe by herself.  rabbits are running on hormones only for their first litters, and sometimes they mess it up.  having an experienced doe kindle alongside her that you can foster to gives the new doe’s kits the best chance of survival in case she doesn’t get it quite right.  this ties in with the last point, though - you’re gonna have dead babies.  sometimes you have to make the babies dead yourself, because mama screwed up and the foster already has eight of her own.  not everyone has a n’rithaa who can nurse nineteen and not break a sweat, and the kindest thing to do is pick the strongest and cull the weaker ones so mama doesn’t have so many to feed.

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7. feed them pellets until you know what you’re doing.  pellets are formulated to be perfect nutrition for rabbits.  they are the healthiest option imo, and definitely the easiest.  it can take a few tries to find a feed that works for you, but they’re generally not too expensive and if your animals keep weight and make babies, then they’re fine.  trying to feed fodder only is expensive, time-consuming, and often ends up with animals not getting enough vitamins that cause bone issues, bloating, and tooth problems.  i am 100% convinced this is at least half of the reason why you see a lot of house rabbits that go into stasis a lot and have bad teeth.  (The other half is they’re always poorly bred byb rabbits, but that’s another conversation.)  fodder can be done well, but unless you really have the time/resources to grow appropriate plants or have a lot of pasture to graze on (and no worms/cocci or other bad things in your soil,) pellets and hay are perfect.  especially if you show.

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8. if you wanna get into tanning, just get a synth tan, and don’t expect fur rabbits to be an ideal meat producer.  fur doesn’t prime until the animal is about six months old, and typically you’ll be slaughtering them for meat around 12 or 16 weeks.  so if you want to produce fur, either stop caring about the quality of your hides, or get ready to spend more in feed while you grow them to prime.  i know it’s popular to use rabbits as a dual-purpose animal, but you need to set expectations lol.  so far i’ve found rabbits that are half rex produce really nice furs before “prime” age, but they still take longer to grow out than my meat-specific rabbits.  dual purpose really just means “not that great at one or both purposes.”

also just don’t even bother with brain/egg tanning and get you a synth tan like Rittel’s or Trubond.  “natural” tans have too much of a learning curve, require smoking to make them waterproof, and the results are subpar.  synth tans are cheap, easy, usually safe to put down a train if you’re on city water/toss outside if you’re on septic, and will produce a waterproof skin that’ll last forever.  

also alum isn’t a tan.  if you get it wet it’ll start rotting again.  if you wanna make clothes or rugs, use a real tan.  please.  i beg of you.

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9. auto-water systems are godly but don’t waste your money on expensive ones.  if you don’t know this, i’m disabled, and i like to make things easy on myself so i’m not having to fill 39458639458 bottles a day.  it sucks.  auto-water systems are SUPER convenient because you only have to refill the reservoir every few days and keep an eye on the nipples to make sure they aren’t clogged.

the problem is:  they leak.  all the time.  forever.  when i first got started i used cheap water nipples from amazon and was annoyed at how often they’d start leaking, or were leaking right out of the package.  so i switched to the more expensive Edstrom system that you can order online from places like rabbitnipples.com, bunnyrabbit.com, the bean farm, and bass equipment.  problem is, those leaked just as bad, and the edstrom water nipples cost FIVE DOLLARS EACH.  when half the nipples leak directly out of the box, i’ve just wasted $20+.  at least the ones from amazon are like $20 for a bag of 100.  if they’re all gonna leak anyway, at least i won’t go broke having to replace them all.

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i can’t think of anything else off top my head so i’mma cap it here.  i’ve been doing this for five years and learned many many things the hard way so hopefully you won’t have to!

[drferox]

maybe a stupid, pointless question--why do so many GSD enthusiasts try to brush over how sloped and bad their backs are? so many people try to say it's "just the way they stack" and that it doesn't effect health or movement, yet you can see in videos of them at play that their back is low the whole time, and that it's surely unhealthy and uncomfortable?

Make yourself a cup of tea and take a seat.

So I wrote previously about the health of the German Shepherd, really just skimming over some of the most common issues because there are so many associated with the breed.

Then I made a post comparing a German Shepherd from the 1920s to a recent show champion who happened to display morphological features that have drawn significant criticism lately, namely the hunched back and hocks that touch the ground. And in the interest of fairness, I had picked a historical dog well known in the public eye, and as typical an example as I could find.

Many people will say “Look, I love the dogs but I can’t deny they’re a mess right now.” Other people will make comments like these:

And my personal ‘favourite’…

The simple truth is that in clinical practice I have never seen a German Shepherd dog who has been ‘healthy’ and not afflicted by something regrettable by the time it’s 6. I would call that not good enough. So lets look at these claims.

I did not pick extremes. I picked typical examples, and that should concern you if you care about this breed.

Don’t blame the Back Yard Breeders when it has been the show scene pushing for this extreme conformation and inbreeding. BYBs get their stock originally from ‘ethical’ breeders so the ‘ethical’ breeders can’t be without blame. There are also a whole bunch of breeders who are doing health screening but breeding their dogs regardless of their result to ‘preserve the lines’.

On random shapshot in time doesn’t represent the breed? I’m really sorry but I can’t post images of every single modern shepherd on a tumblr post. However, the evidence is freely available if anyone cares to look. Also, that was the question I was answering.

Breed type continues to change, as we try to change it. There’s not a way dog breeds are ‘supposed to be’, we as humans decided to make one. How about, just for something new, we try to change it with the health of the animal in mind, not to fit an arbitrary shape.

Notice how the last one tries to imply that I’m some kind of ‘rogue’ with my opinions and that they are just opinions, not backed up with a vet degree or years of experience or anything.

I don’t ‘expect people devoted to the breed to constantly bemoan its list of potential problems’, but gee, it would be nice if they actively tried to reduce those problems in their breeding plans. After all, aren’t ethical breeders supposed to be doing so to ‘improve’ the breed?

And while I certainly wont cry a river for a GSD fanatic, I have shed plenty of tears over these dogs.

The outright denial that the breed has a problem has features in common with nationalists (”Ours is the best because it is ours and how dare you question it” vs “I am proud of this thing but acknowledge its flaws and seek to improve it”) and climate change deniers (discrediting evidence, never enough evidence, discrediting the person voicing an opposing view etc). That’s a pretty difficult mix to have a discussion with.

It’s been fairly common since Pedigree Dogs Exposed. As soon as vets started speaking out about the health problems of any given breed, the response would be “But this is what they’re supposed to be” and “What would vets know”

Because, you know, what would vets know about the animals they’re treating every day? If your go-to defense is trying to claim that veterinarians, the profession entirely focused on the scientific improvement of animal health, doesn’t actually know anything about animal health, you have a weak argument.

- From your resident, Pitiful, vet.

[achoirofcritters]

Hey, question for you if you don't mind! So I've seen on dogblr that a "good" breeder picks out puppies for you and you shouldn't pick. Is that actually a thing? I know people's definition of a good breeder might vary, but some people have been very intent on not picking out your dog, just telling the breeder what you want in a dog. Thanks!!

I’m sure everyone is different, but this would totally be a no-go for me!

I’m one of those people who cares about a dog’s appearance in addition to its personality. Like when I got Astaroth, I had my heart set on a merle. So I wanted the pretty puppy, that had a look that I admired. I was particularly looking for one with a lot of splotches and a nice blaze! Now appearance and looks aren’t the only important aspect of your dog, of course. Personality and what you want in a dog are highly important, probably more important, but I’m a very aesthetic-oriented person and I like fancy coats and colors, haha.

So I would say it’s more… a little of both? Like you should definitely have a say in your own puppy, I feel. But I do also think it’s important to express what you want to your breeder, if you’re looking for something specific, so maybe they can narrow down the choices for you? If they know a puppy would be a good candidate for a service dog, or which dog has the drive to be a working dog, that sort’ve thing. I firmly believe communicating with your breeder to express your needs in your dog is very, very important. But downright not having any say in which puppy you take home? That seems weird to me! Like I would want to take into account my breeder’s input, if they made suggestions to me about which puppy may fit my lifestyle and fit my desires for my future dog, but in the end, I would want the final decision to be mine.

For example, Astaroth’s breeder will note if a puppy needs a more active home life, or if a puppy would do better in a household with or without children, etc., like I know for example one of Astaroth’s brothers was still in need of a home and his breeder was seeking an active, energetic home for him, because he had a lot of energy, whereas Astaroth himself was a little more mellow temperament-wise. I’m sure there are great breeders who want to pick out the puppies for their clients, but I personally wouldn’t like that arrangement at all, haha. But I’m not very well versed in the land of breeders, and KY is littered with BYBs and decent breeders are very difficult to to find around here (we have shoddy animal welfare laws). So I’m sure it varies by location as well!

[rebeccahpedersen]

Cruel, (Cruel), Cruel Summer?

TorontoRealtyBlog

What kind of a band name is “Bananarama” anyways?

I understand that during the last decade of mainstream music, literally hundreds of thousands of bands have come and gone, and musicians need to get creative to come up with names that are not only appealing, but also haven’t been used before.

I’m pretty sure if a cool, indie band from Whitby tried to market themselves as “The Beatles,” they likely wouldn’t get very far.

I think my favourite band-name origin has to be Lynyrd Skynyrd.

As the story goes, the band members had a very tough gym teacher at Robert E. Lee high school in the 1970’s, named “Leonard Skinner,” and they wanted to mock him by naming their band after him.

So if I had a band, I’d call it Byb Myntgymry…

“Bananarama” just doesn’t seem like a name that can be taken seriously, although “A-Ha,” and “Devo” aren’t much better.

Banarama hit #1 on the U.S. dance charts in 1987 with their single, “Venus,” but I think “Cruel Summer” has been more absorbed by pop culture over the years.

As it should be.

I mean, how can you forget lyrics like this:

Hot summer streets And the pavements are burning I sit around Trying to smile but The air is so heavy and dry Strange voices are saying (What did they say?) Things I can’t understand It’s too close for comfort This heat has got Right out of hand

It’s a cruel, (cruel), cruel summer (Leaving me) leaving me here on my own It’s a cruel, (it’s a cruel), cruel summer Now you’re gone

It’s a cruel, (cruel), cruel summer (Leaving me) leaving me here on my own It’s a cruel, (it’s a cruel), cruel summer Now you’re gone

The city is crowded My friends are away And I’m on my own It’s too hot to handle So I got to get up and go

It’s a cruel, (cruel), cruel summer (Leaving me) leaving me here on my own It’s a cruel, (it’s a cruel), cruel summer Now you’re gone

It’s a cruel, (cruel), cruel summer (Leaving me) leaving me here on my own It’s a cruel, (it’s a cruel), cruel summer Now you’re gone

You’re always around You found yourself But now you’re by yourself, waiting for me I’m your self I am the sun (leaving me)

–

I’m no expert lyricist, but it sounds like somebody got left alone in Toronto on a long weekend without an invite from her friends to hit up the parents’ cottage on Lake Joe!

And if I’m right, the “I’ve got to get up an go” means she’s going to crash the party!  That’s ballsy!

Imagine the surprise of her friends, at an epic dock-party, drinking mimosas, talking about which equestrian camp they went to as children, and BAM!  Bananarama-the-left-behind, shows up, unannounced.

Or maybe I’m wrong, and this is just really crappy 80’s retro with no meaning, other than the cliché boyfriend who hurt her feelings.

Either way…

So here we sit, after the first month of a two-month summer break of sorts for the real estate market, and I figured we’d take a quick pulse check.

As I’ve written before ad nauseam, May is often viewed as the “peak” of the spring market, June is an extremely strong month (on par with April) but certainly falls below the peak of the curve, and things really, really slow down in July and August before the Fall market starts back up again after Labour Day.

In my July e-Newsletter, I noted that my expectation for the average home price, after April, May, and June averages of $804,584, $805,320, and $807,871 respectively, would fall below $800,000, simply due to the decrease in activity.

And that’s exactly what happened.

The July average home price in Toronto dipped to $782,129.

Now before we actually measure that number, and determine whether it’s more or less than expected, let me show you two headlines from last week when the TREB numbers were released:

Wait.  What?

“Home sales and prices rise in Toronto region for a second straight month?”

I just said that the price dropped from $807,871 to $782,129.

I’m not wrong.

And technically, neither is that headline.

They’re talking about the second straight month of “year-over-year” increases, which holds true.  But the way in which we measure the market, and the way in which we explain statistics – especially through headlines, can be oh-so-misleading!

I’m not here to cheerlead the market, and I’m also not going to fall into the bear-trap.  But as I write, almost every month, surely we can clear all this up a bit, no?

How about this headline:

This one isn’t as poorly-constructed as the one above, since it doesn’t say “…for the second straight month,” referring to a monthly year-over-year number (man, that just sounds awkward).  But it doesn’t specify whether the 19% refers to monthly or yearly, and again, in this case, it’s looking at year-over-year numbers.

So where does that actually leave us?

What is the public perception?

Here’s three headlines from the last 3 1/2 months, all from the Globe & Mail’s real estate reporter (keep in mind – the reporters don’t choose the headlines), and note how the sentiment changes?

Signs of firming?

Really?

Okay, well let’s take a look at the numbers.

For today’s experiment, I want to look at the drop-off (which we take as given) from June to July each year, as the market slows down for summer.

I want to look at Price, Sales, New Listings, and Active Listings.

And in order to draw any conclusions about how the month of July went, I want to compare the June-to-July drop in 2018 to the previous decade.

Sound fun?

First, let’s take a look at the average Toronto home price:

Despite what the newspaper headlines say above, we did see a drop in average home price in July, from June: $807,871 to $782,129 as previously noted!

That’s a 3.2% drop, which is significant in some ways, ie. when you consider the May-to-June increase was only 0.9%, but also insignificant if you compare against previous years.

This is what I wanted to look at: historical context.

Last year, we saw a 5.8% drop in average home price, and that was after the hammer had already hit in May and June.

The previous two years, we saw drops of 4.8% and 4.9% respectively.

And as you can see from the “average” at the bottom of (-4.0%), the 3.2% drop is trailing the decade-average.

For what it’s worth, the 3-year moving average including 2015, 2016, and 2017 was (-5.2%).  So I have to conclude that the 3.2% drop in average home price that we just saw, is a sign of a healthy market.

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I’m tempted to look at the sales figures for June and July of 2018, measure them against 2014, 2015, and 2016, and say, “Wow, are sales ever down!”

But in context here, it doesn’t tell us about the market right now.

We saw sales drop 13.9% from June to July, which pales in comparison to last year when the drop was almost double.

Once again, that 3-year moving average greatly outweighs the overall average; a 21.7% decline from 2015, 2016, and 2017, compared to the 16.6% average through the entire decade.

Either way, the 13.9% drop this year, once again, shows the market is healthier than the average market during the last decade.

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Next, we look at the number of listings, and here’s where you could make an argument either way.

On the one hand, you could suggest that a large drop signifies a healthy market, in that the summer is usually, or “supposed to be” slower.

On the other hand, you could suggest that market activity is market activity, and that the more listings there are, the busier the market is, and that in itself, demonstrates a bullish market.

Personally, I think the former applies.

I think the market cycle exists because of differing market forces, tastes and preferences, and interactions between buyers and sellers.  There are peaks and valleys, and good and bad times to list.

Here’s how the Active Listings look for the past month, and compare to the last decade:

So if you’re taking my opinion on the measure of this statistic, you’ll note that a “healthy” market would see a larger than average drop, unlike the Price and Sales statistics above.

There were a LOT of “leftover” listings in 2017 from sellers who refused to accept market conditions, and held on for dear life.  So the 4.7% drop, up against the 8.0% and 7.2% drops in the two years preceding, doesn’t surprise me.

But I am surprised to only see a 5.4% drop in 2018.

It looks ‘normal’ up against the 2017 number of 4.7%, but that, as I explained, was abnormal.

A healthier number, in my opinion, would have been around the 7-8% mark.

This tells me that a lot of holdover or leftover listings still exist, and we are still seeing freehold sellers listing at prices below fair market value, not getting what they wanted on “offer night,” and then re-listing again at a higher price.  They often sit on the market thereafter, for weeks or months at a time.

–

Last but not least, we look at the New Listings.

And this number surprises the most.

New listings only dropped 12.9% from June to July, after seeing this number balloon to 27.8% in 2017, off a 20.2% stat in 2016:

I’m shocked that so many sellers out there chose the month of July to list their properties.

Granted, the condo market isn’t nearly as cyclical as the freehold market, and while I would argue that I would rather list in June or September, I’m not completely averse to listing a condo for sale in the summer, as I would be with a single-family freehold.

But I would have expected this number to be way larger, at least showing a 20% drop.

–

Overall, I’d still say the month of July showed strength.

I’m always more concerned with price than I am with listings, and while I don’t make as big a deal about the number of sales as many people (especially the media who often lead with sales, over price), I do think the sales activity in July shows incredible strength when compared to the previous three years.

I wrote in a blog post a few weeks ago that you really can’t tell much about the overall health of the market from one slow summer month, and I stand by that.

But if you want a snapshot, or a proverbial “balance sheet” at a particular point in time, you can draw a very small takeaway from the numbers above, as they compare to years’ previous.

I do expect the average home price in August to dip once again, below the $782,129 number that we saw this past month.

But I would also expect the average home price in September to soar into the $820K range as sales pick up again dramatically.

The post Cruel, (Cruel), Cruel Summer? appeared first on Toronto Realty Blog.

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[tetedurfarm]

vincedakota replied to your post “i am excellent and naming animals and you should ask me what your...”

i cant send asks and this is completely unrelated but if you want to crunch an hour or two. whats your opinion of Every Arba Breed

you asked for it get ready for some Unpopular Onions

american: have doofy faces but i like em a lot.  tried to get into whites several years ago but breeders kept ghosting me :(  not as rare as ppl think but nobody likes whites it’s only blues at shows.

american chinchilla:  bruh why do we have like three whole chinchilla breeds i don’t like chins that much in general why do we need three whole breeds of just chinchilla

american fuzzy lop:  all the worst parts of lionheads and holland lops in one little package

american sable:  never seen one in real life but i want to touch

argente brun:  don’t understand why the argentes aren’t more popular, look at ‘em.  they’re cool as heck.  give me one.

belgian hare:  do you love suffering?  get a hare

beveren:  i think they’re ugly sorry.  suddenly got rly popular and idk why.  remind me of basset hounds but with blue eyes.

blanc de hotot:  absolute showstoppers.  the supermodel of rabbits.  why can’t i have any someone please give me a hotot i will pay lots of money

britannia petite:  genuinely make me uncomfortable to look at.  the big eyes and tiny body...they are gremlins and i do not like them

californian:  boring but a good meat rabbit.  what can i say they have a niche and are good at it

cavies:  are not rabbits and make bad noises

champagne d’argent:  the only breed i ever seen enter fur shows here lol.  i wanna work with them to make silvery every other breed :)

checkered giant:  Big Angery.  only breed i’ve consistently been told not to ask to pet.

cinnamon:  really cool lookin rabbits but every feral in issaquah looks just like ‘em so either a cin breeder had an oopsie or they aren’t that rare

creme d’argent:  i’ve only seen ONE irl and it was like buttered toast.  i love them.  someone please breed them.

dutch:  the only rabbit allowed to be visibly VM (hotots are vm too but you can’t really tell.)  really cute little meat bricks.  the holstein of rabbits, in that when i think of a generic rabbit i think of a dutch.

dwarf hotot:  more popular than their commercial sized cousins and honestly it’s a RIGHT SHAME.

english angora:  that is a mop.  apparently betty chu is driving people out of the breed cos hers are all too good :’)  the one we have is bonkers and i don’t like him.

english lop:  hardly should be able to call themselves lops.  sure they got big ears (which i don’t like) but to me a lop should have a brick face and they don’t and it makes me sad.

english spot:  suuuper attractive animals, esp the goldens.  if i hated myself enough to get into a running breed i would go for english i think.

flemish giant:  BIG.  FRICKIN.  EARS.  my husband’s fav breed.  he likes the red ones.  i have three growing out in my yard rn and they’re so cute.

florida white:  for some reason they are becoming really popular with homesteaders?  but i have never seen one in real life.  really just kind of boring but apparently good for meats.

french angora:  i don’t like anything i have to groom

french lop:  BIG.  FLOPPY.  EARS.  BIG.  POTATO.  FACE.  truly the epitome of a lop.  can’t wait til i get mine.

giant angora:  ah yes let’s make MORE wool to groom no thanks

giant chinchilla:  this is a chin just Big.  boring, next

harlequin:  fan favourite of my fur clients.  if you hate yourself, show these.  ofc i’m a sucker for calico things so i have a bunch but do you see me putting them on a show table?  no.

havana:  very good little dudes.  husband likes the black ones.  i can only justify one or two itty bitty breeds so i don’t have any.

himalayan:  the stupidest looking animal i have ever laid eyes on and i love them so much.  they spark immense joy.  also very very sweet if my two are anything to go by.

holland lop:  oversaturated in both pet and show circles.  there’s just so many.  the holland rings take HOURS to get through at shows.  they are very cute but so far in general their personalities leave something to be desired.

jersey wooly:  i hear they’re little demons but other than that i don’t know much about em

lilac:  it’s a rabbit, but purple!  never seen one in person.

lionhead:  literally every byb pet rabbit is mixed with a lionhead.  my first rabbit was a lionhead and he’s evil so there’s that.

mini lop:  my first breeding rabbits were mini lops and they have a special place in my heart.  but i went with french over minis cos Big Chungus.

mini rex:  take a rex and make it small and able to produce peanuts.  5/10 not enough fur

mini satin:  i have only ever handled one and it was enough for me!  awful awful little creatures but very nice fur.

netherland dwarf:  disgOSTINgly cute but oversaturated and also dwarfs.  sorry.

new zealand:  yep that’s a rabbit

palomino:  it’s a rabbit but YELLOW.  apparently the breed joel salatin breeds but his are all vm-y and he THROWS AWAY THE FURS i hate it.  idk they’re cute i guess.

polish:  it’s small alright

rex:  supermodel of rabbits but wow is showing them the worst.  rex people think they’re better than everyone else and it’s very tiring.  so good for touching though.  pelts sell for good prices.

rhinelander:  very good 10/10 if they weren’t hard to find i’d consider them as well if i were gonna go for a runner

satin:  considered getting into them but decided not to.  the white ones look like they peed on themselves :(

satin angora: we have one and i have no complaints except that it makes wool

silver: someone apparently breeds them around here and it’s neat that chestnut is a colour they come in considering every other silver breed is like NO AGOUTI ONLY SELF

silver fox:  this is the rabbit literally every homesteader has now and i don’t get it.  they’re pretty and big but what a waste of good pelts by raising them for meat only.  anyway they only come in one official colour (with the three general self colours in COD) so i find them boring otherwise.  i can’t tell ours apart at all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

silver martin:  never seen one in person but they’re pretty.  silver fox ppl hate them cos they “don’t even have a real silvering gene.  they’re just chinchilla otters.”

standard chinchilla:  WHY DO WE HAVE THREE OF THESE

tan:  smaller than anticipated, but very pretty.  why don’t more breeds have this colour.  what even IS this colour.  is it related to otter?  IS it otter just without white?  i’m intrigued

thrianta:  photos really do not do that colour justice.  kinda boring cos they only come in red but boy is it RED.

velveteen lop:  technically still in COD but my opinion is the same as english lop.  i don’t like their faces or the ears, sorry.

[rebeccahpedersen]

Cruel, (Cruel), Cruel Summer?

TorontoRealtyBlog

What kind of a band name is “Bananarama” anyways?

I understand that during the last decade of mainstream music, literally hundreds of thousands of bands have come and gone, and musicians need to get creative to come up with names that are not only appealing, but also haven’t been used before.

I’m pretty sure if a cool, indie band from Whitby tried to market themselves as “The Beatles,” they likely wouldn’t get very far.

I think my favourite band-name origin has to be Lynyrd Skynyrd.

As the story goes, the band members had a very tough gym teacher at Robert E. Lee high school in the 1970’s, named “Leonard Skinner,” and they wanted to mock him by naming their band after him.

So if I had a band, I’d call it Byb Myntgymry…

“Bananarama” just doesn’t seem like a name that can be taken seriously, although “A-Ha,” and “Devo” aren’t much better.

Banarama hit #1 on the U.S. dance charts in 1987 with their single, “Venus,” but I think “Cruel Summer” has been more absorbed by pop culture over the years.

As it should be.

I mean, how can you forget lyrics like this:

Hot summer streets And the pavements are burning I sit around Trying to smile but The air is so heavy and dry Strange voices are saying (What did they say?) Things I can’t understand It’s too close for comfort This heat has got Right out of hand

It’s a cruel, (cruel), cruel summer (Leaving me) leaving me here on my own It’s a cruel, (it’s a cruel), cruel summer Now you’re gone

It’s a cruel, (cruel), cruel summer (Leaving me) leaving me here on my own It’s a cruel, (it’s a cruel), cruel summer Now you’re gone

The city is crowded My friends are away And I’m on my own It’s too hot to handle So I got to get up and go

It’s a cruel, (cruel), cruel summer (Leaving me) leaving me here on my own It’s a cruel, (it’s a cruel), cruel summer Now you’re gone

It’s a cruel, (cruel), cruel summer (Leaving me) leaving me here on my own It’s a cruel, (it’s a cruel), cruel summer Now you’re gone

You’re always around You found yourself But now you’re by yourself, waiting for me I’m your self I am the sun (leaving me)

–

I’m no expert lyricist, but it sounds like somebody got left alone in Toronto on a long weekend without an invite from her friends to hit up the parents’ cottage on Lake Joe!

And if I’m right, the “I’ve got to get up an go” means she’s going to crash the party!  That’s ballsy!

Imagine the surprise of her friends, at an epic dock-party, drinking mimosas, talking about which equestrian camp they went to as children, and BAM!  Bananarama-the-left-behind, shows up, unannounced.

Or maybe I’m wrong, and this is just really crappy 80’s retro with no meaning, other than the cliché boyfriend who hurt her feelings.

Either way…

So here we sit, after the first month of a two-month summer break of sorts for the real estate market, and I figured we’d take a quick pulse check.

As I’ve written before ad nauseam, May is often viewed as the “peak” of the spring market, June is an extremely strong month (on par with April) but certainly falls below the peak of the curve, and things really, really slow down in July and August before the Fall market starts back up again after Labour Day.

In my July e-Newsletter, I noted that my expectation for the average home price, after April, May, and June averages of $804,584, $805,320, and $807,871 respectively, would fall below $800,000, simply due to the decrease in activity.

And that’s exactly what happened.

The July average home price in Toronto dipped to $782,129.

Now before we actually measure that number, and determine whether it’s more or less than expected, let me show you two headlines from last week when the TREB numbers were released:

Wait.  What?

“Home sales and prices rise in Toronto region for a second straight month?”

I just said that the price dropped from $807,871 to $782,129.

I’m not wrong.

And technically, neither is that headline.

They’re talking about the second straight month of “year-over-year” increases, which holds true.  But the way in which we measure the market, and the way in which we explain statistics – especially through headlines, can be oh-so-misleading!

I’m not here to cheerlead the market, and I’m also not going to fall into the bear-trap.  But as I write, almost every month, surely we can clear all this up a bit, no?

How about this headline:

This one isn’t as poorly-constructed as the one above, since it doesn’t say “…for the second straight month,” referring to a monthly year-over-year number (man, that just sounds awkward).  But it doesn’t specify whether the 19% refers to monthly or yearly, and again, in this case, it’s looking at year-over-year numbers.

So where does that actually leave us?

What is the public perception?

Here’s three headlines from the last 3 1/2 months, all from the Globe & Mail’s real estate reporter (keep in mind – the reporters don’t choose the headlines), and note how the sentiment changes?

Signs of firming?

Really?

Okay, well let’s take a look at the numbers.

For today’s experiment, I want to look at the drop-off (which we take as given) from June to July each year, as the market slows down for summer.

I want to look at Price, Sales, New Listings, and Active Listings.

And in order to draw any conclusions about how the month of July went, I want to compare the June-to-July drop in 2018 to the previous decade.

Sound fun?

First, let’s take a look at the average Toronto home price:

Despite what the newspaper headlines say above, we did see a drop in average home price in July, from June: $807,871 to $782,129 as previously noted!

That’s a 3.2% drop, which is significant in some ways, ie. when you consider the May-to-June increase was only 0.9%, but also insignificant if you compare against previous years.

This is what I wanted to look at: historical context.

Last year, we saw a 5.8% drop in average home price, and that was after the hammer had already hit in May and June.

The previous two years, we saw drops of 4.8% and 4.9% respectively.

And as you can see from the “average” at the bottom of (-4.0%), the 3.2% drop is trailing the decade-average.

For what it’s worth, the 3-year moving average including 2015, 2016, and 2017 was (-5.2%).  So I have to conclude that the 3.2% drop in average home price that we just saw, is a sign of a healthy market.

–

I’m tempted to look at the sales figures for June and July of 2018, measure them against 2014, 2015, and 2016, and say, “Wow, are sales ever down!”

But in context here, it doesn’t tell us about the market right now.

We saw sales drop 13.9% from June to July, which pales in comparison to last year when the drop was almost double.

Once again, that 3-year moving average greatly outweighs the overall average; a 21.7% decline from 2015, 2016, and 2017, compared to the 16.6% average through the entire decade.

Either way, the 13.9% drop this year, once again, shows the market is healthier than the average market during the last decade.

–

Next, we look at the number of listings, and here’s where you could make an argument either way.

On the one hand, you could suggest that a large drop signifies a healthy market, in that the summer is usually, or “supposed to be” slower.

On the other hand, you could suggest that market activity is market activity, and that the more listings there are, the busier the market is, and that in itself, demonstrates a bullish market.

Personally, I think the former applies.

I think the market cycle exists because of differing market forces, tastes and preferences, and interactions between buyers and sellers.  There are peaks and valleys, and good and bad times to list.

Here’s how the Active Listings look for the past month, and compare to the last decade:

So if you’re taking my opinion on the measure of this statistic, you’ll note that a “healthy” market would see a larger than average drop, unlike the Price and Sales statistics above.

There were a LOT of “leftover” listings in 2017 from sellers who refused to accept market conditions, and held on for dear life.  So the 4.7% drop, up against the 8.0% and 7.2% drops in the two years preceding, doesn’t surprise me.

But I am surprised to only see a 5.4% drop in 2018.

It looks ‘normal’ up against the 2017 number of 4.7%, but that, as I explained, was abnormal.

A healthier number, in my opinion, would have been around the 7-8% mark.

This tells me that a lot of holdover or leftover listings still exist, and we are still seeing freehold sellers listing at prices below fair market value, not getting what they wanted on “offer night,” and then re-listing again at a higher price.  They often sit on the market thereafter, for weeks or months at a time.

–

Last but not least, we look at the New Listings.

And this number surprises the most.

New listings only dropped 12.9% from June to July, after seeing this number balloon to 27.8% in 2017, off a 20.2% stat in 2016:

I’m shocked that so many sellers out there chose the month of July to list their properties.

Granted, the condo market isn’t nearly as cyclical as the freehold market, and while I would argue that I would rather list in June or September, I’m not completely averse to listing a condo for sale in the summer, as I would be with a single-family freehold.

But I would have expected this number to be way larger, at least showing a 20% drop.

–

Overall, I’d still say the month of July showed strength.

I’m always more concerned with price than I am with listings, and while I don’t make as big a deal about the number of sales as many people (especially the media who often lead with sales, over price), I do think the sales activity in July shows incredible strength when compared to the previous three years.

I wrote in a blog post a few weeks ago that you really can’t tell much about the overall health of the market from one slow summer month, and I stand by that.

But if you want a snapshot, or a proverbial “balance sheet” at a particular point in time, you can draw a very small takeaway from the numbers above, as they compare to years’ previous.

I do expect the average home price in August to dip once again, below the $782,129 number that we saw this past month.

But I would also expect the average home price in September to soar into the $820K range as sales pick up again dramatically.

The post Cruel, (Cruel), Cruel Summer? appeared first on Toronto Realty Blog.

Originated from https://ift.tt/2KyBtxt