Joseph g's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: The Heart of Man’s Best Friend: How Elevation Affects Heart Risk in Certain Breeds
BASIS Advisor: Jacyln Titone
Internship Location: Aspen Vet Clinic
Onsite Mentor: Amanda Wilson



Project Abstract

This project aims to examine the severity and prevalence of heart disease, specifically cardiomyopathy, in dogs living at different elevation levels. The research will be conducted by either collecting deidentified cases from veterinary clinics or distributing surveys in both Flagstaff and Phoenix to compare the results and assess any statistical differences related to elevation. This project is significant not only for contributing to my personal experience in veterinary medicine but also because there is limited research on how elevation impacts dogs with heart conditions, particularly if it exacerbates these conditions. As part of my project, I will be interning at Aspen Veterinary Clinic, gaining hands-on experience in veterinary practice. The findings from this research will enhance the understanding of how moderate to extreme elevations influence the health of domesticated dogs, potentially offering insights into how environmental factors affect the progression of heart disease in animals.

    My Posts:

  • Crossing the finish line.

    Helllo everybody, and welcome back to my final blog post. It is crazy that we are already done it seems like we just started, honestly. but here we are. So to recap my research question was "How does Elevation affect dog Breeds Predisposed to Heart Disease?" I was analyzing this question through a survey that... Read More

  • Practice, Rehearsal, and a trip to texas not related to my project.

    So now I have my paper done and turned in, so I believe that's cause to celebrate. But I also don't have time to celebrate as I have to finish up my presentations and practice practice practice. I did both of my practice presentations in school already, so now I just need to implement the... Read More

  • Week 9: You’re a villain all right but not a super one.

    What’s the difference? PREEEESEEENTATIONNNNN!!! Anyways I started working on my project presentations. It was a lot easier than I imagined. Powerpoint apparently has design features which are very helpful and it will just generate like little icons and individualize slides to how many PowerPoints or the topic without using any external images. This definitely is... Read More

  • Limitations

    Since last time, I have finished up with all my statistics and finished my paper. That means I can talk about what I ended up finding (with what little data I had) and the final conclusion and limitations of my paper. I could not get enough data. That's the biggest issue I faced, and while... Read More

  • Sheep and cows and horses, oh my!

    Given it's been a couple of weeks since I gave an update on my internship, today we'll be doing a recap. I'm honestly not as in love with being a veterinarian as before I started shadowing at the clinic. However, there are still a bunch of things that happen every day. One day, there was... Read More

  • Statistical Significance (except not really)

    We are finally making progress on all the statistics. (yippeee!) I talked with Ms. Buckley last weekend, and she gave me some advice on what to use and what methods I should use. If anyone took statistics, you should know what a 2-proportion z-test is, but if you haven't, it is taking two proportions like... Read More

  • Week 5: creative titles are hard, how do I make a pun about statistics

    Why are statistics so complicated?   We are getting to the point in the projects where I get to run through all the survey statistics. Except we still don’t have enough statistics to make any actual predictions of a larger population. This complicates matters, and I was warned that we had past issues with surveys.... Read More

  • Week 4: Survey Struggles

    We have now distributed the survey flyers (well we did it a couple of weeks ago but I’m now done with putting it everywhere.)  Now that the surveys are distributed, I hope to get more responses, but it isn’t looking too good. I only have 8 individual’s pets  from Flagstaff and three from Phoenix. So... Read More

  • Spring Break-The history of breeds and their many issue’s

    When you adopt a dog, there are multiple things you must keep in mind: diet, exercise, and ensuring that you are engaging and providing the dog with entertainment, which are all crucial to ensuring a high-quality life for the dog. However, another critical factor in the health and living conditions of the dog is making... Read More

  • Week 2- All dogs have their day at the clinic and they all hate it.

    Last week I had my first day at the veterinary clinic and it was not anything like I expected. The clinic started off very slow but when it picked up it was very busy. I spent most of the morning running from patient to patient with the Doctor I was shadowing and it was a... Read More

  • Week 1 Heart-Stopping Cuteness, But the Heart Issue’’s are Actually Serious :(

    Hi everyone! We're back with my second week of blogging and my first internship day this week. I had some questions about cardiomyopathy last week, so I'll try to explain it more this week. Cardiomyopathy is a condition in larger dogs, specifically Boxers and Great Danes, where their heart muscles become enlarged and/or stiff, preventing... Read More

  • Heart of Man’s Best Friend:introduction

    Hi everyone! My name is Joseph G, and I’m a senior at BASIS Flagstaff. My project will examine how elevation affects common cardiomyopathy in Boxers and Great Danes. I chose this project because I’ve always loved animals, having grown up with dogs, cats, horses, goats, and even geese for a bit. My childhood with animals... Read More