An eclectic assortment of stuff: food, archaeology, fun, books, history, geekery, etc.
In Montana a Hassidic rabbi helps police speak Hebrew — and it’s all for the benefit of a police dog. From the New York Times:
Miky, pronounced Mikey, is in a Diaspora of his own. He was born in an animal shelter in Holland and shipped as a puppy to Israel, where he was trained by [...]
Posted in animals, birds, insects, etc, dogs on Aug 24th, 2009
This justifies the existence of the internet, Youtube, and border collies, all in one fell swoop.
Posted in dogs on Jul 21st, 2009
From Science Daily: Babies Understand Dogs, Bark-matching Study Finds.
New research shows babies have a handle on the meaning of different dog barks – despite little or no previous exposure to dogs.
Infants just 6 months old can match the sounds of an angry snarl and a friendly yap to photos of dogs displaying threatening and welcoming [...]
You should watch this video if you’ve got a dog, if you’re thinking of getting a dog, if you’ve ever trained a dog, or if you ever might train a dog. It’s also perfect for parents, teachers, and pretty much everybody. You’ll see.
Related
Dog Star Daily – Ian Dunbar’s website
Posted in dogs on Feb 17th, 2009
From Science Daily: If You’re Aggressive, Your Dog Will Be Too, Says Veterinary Study.
In a new, year-long University of Pennsylvania survey of dog owners who use confrontational or aversive methods to train aggressive pets, veterinary researchers have found that most of these animals will continue to be aggressive unless training techniques are modified.
The study, published [...]
Posted in animals, birds, insects, etc, dogs on Feb 7th, 2009
From Science Daily: Wolf in Dog’s Clothing.
Slipping through trees or across snow, the wolf has glided into legend on paws of white, gray or — in North America — even black. This last group owes an unexpected debt to the cousins of the domestic dog, say Stanford researchers. In an unconventional evolutionary twist, dogs that [...]
Posted in dogs on Dec 10th, 2008
Ha! No problem. Look what Smartdogs’ Weblog found in a 1939 issue of Popular Science:
Signs reading "No Dogs Allowed" mean nothing to Miss Jeanne Lorraine, of New York City, since she taught her twelve-year-old pet toy collie, Jiggs, to drape himself around her neck and masquerade as a fur piece. The trick first worked on [...]
Posted in dogs on Dec 2nd, 2008
Oh my. This made me laugh until my tummy hurt.
Posted in animals, birds, insects, etc, dogs on Nov 6th, 2008
From Ananova: Baby monkey gets his own guard dog.
A Chinese zoo has given an orphan monkey its own guard dog to stop it being bullied by bigger primates.
Keepers at Jiaozuo City Zoo said the monkey was always being bullied and they had intervened to save his life several times.
"So we put a dog in the [...]
Wow, it’s not even an Onion article, nor is this April 1st. From Reuters: City uses DNA to fight dog poop. (Are they serious? Really?)
An Israeli city is using DNA analysis of dog droppings to reward and punish pet owners.
Under a six-month trial programme launched this week, the city of Petah Tikva, a suburb of [...]
This looks like so much fun.
Posted in dogs on Jun 20th, 2008
From Why more offices are going to the dogs.
At Sermo, a Web company whose offices resemble a Romper Room for adults – complete with beanbags and arcade machines – finding the CEO is easy. Just look for his dogs. This particular afternoon, Daniel Palestrant’s two dachshunds act like draft stoppers outside their master’s conference-room door. [...]
Posted in dogs on May 22nd, 2008
From the Wall Street Journal: In Moscow’s Metro, a Stray Dog’s Life Is Pretty Cushy, and Zoologists Notice.
MOSCOW — Like human commuters, this city’s stray dogs can often be spotted traveling on the subway, waiting patiently for a train to pull in and its doors to slide open.
In Soviet times, dogs were barred from Moscow’s [...]
Posted in dogs, history & archaeology on Apr 25th, 2008
From National Geographic: Buried dogs were divine “Escorts” for ancient Americans.
Hundreds of prehistoric dogs found buried throughout the southwestern United States show that canines played a key role in the spiritual beliefs of ancient Americans, new research suggests.
Throughout the region, dogs have been found buried with jewelry, alongside adults and children, carefully stacked in groups, [...]
Posted in dogs on Dec 10th, 2007
From msnbc.com: These dogs have a nose for doo-doo.
Ally has a nose for wolves. Gator can sniff out grizzlies. And Tucker really knows his orcas. Or rather, what they’ve left behind.
Among the growing number of scat-detection dogs used to track wildlife by land or by sea, the canines employed by the University of Washington’s Center [...]
Posted in dogs on Jul 17th, 2007
I know almost nothing about St Louis, Missouri, but it’s just captured my attention. From ksdk.com: St. Louis Mayor Signs ‘Doggie Dining Bill’.
St. Louis has become the first city in Missouri to allow dog owners to bring their dogs along when they go to restaurant patios and sidewalk cafes.
The so-called "Doggie Dining Bill" [...]
Posted in dogs on Jul 5th, 2007
From Alternet: Why Is the Pet Food Industry Killing Our Pets?
The commercial pet foods industry rakes in billions of dollars annually. In exchange for our dollars, we trust the companies to provide our pets with quality nutrition. The recent pet food recall demonstrated that our trust has been misplaced. But while many were shocked by [...]
From ABC News: Results Revealed in Dog DNA Test
For dog owners who have mixed-breed dogs, it’s the age old question that always comes up at the park: What kind of dog is that?
A new blood test administered by veterinarians is helping a lot of pet owners get answers. [continue]
Posted in dogs on Apr 26th, 2007
From the New York Times: If You Want to Know if Spot Loves You So, It’s in His Tail.
…there is another, newly discovered, feature of dog body language that may surprise attentive pet owners and experts in canine behavior. When dogs feel fundamentally positive about something or someone, their tails wag more to the right [...]
In the finding one’s own snacks department, the Chaos puppy does quite well.
The Victoria Times Colonist notes that "an evolutionary biologist at the University of Victoria is working on the hypothesis that a kinder, gentler breed of wolf was developed in half a century." Here’s the article: We didn’t go to the dogs — canines went to the people.
That dogs descended from wolves is commonly accepted. So [...]
Posted in dogs on Mar 21st, 2007
By now you’ve heard about the pet food recall, yes? From ctv.ca: Owners fear for their pets after huge food recall.
Concern among pet owners is growing as officials look for the source of contamination that prompted the recall of more than 90 dog and cat foods across North America.
The recall by Menu Foods, based in [...]
Posted in dogs on Mar 16th, 2007
From the New York Times: Can Your Dog Humanize the Office?.
Take Your Dog to Work began as a quirk of the dot-com boom — another perk that employers could offer to employees to persuade them to stay.
It had been thought that the patter of paws would go the way of casual Fridays and massages at [...]