3D Photos: Summer Dogs 2010
August 16, 2010
Anaglyphs of Luna (black) and Huxley (chocolate) Labradors and Bailey, Golden Retriever. Russian Beach, Stratford, CT. Summer 2010.
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Ice Cream Van for Dogs in Regent’s Park, London
July 22, 2010
What’s being billed as the first ice cream van for dogs is set to make an appearance on this weekend at the Boomerang Pets Party in London’s Regent’s Park. The event is called “A free super furry fun day out for everyone who loves pets and animals. Best of all, you can bring your pets along with you!”
They’ll be serving two flavors vetted by pet nutritionists: “Dog Eat Hog World” — a chicken and gammon sorbet — and “Canine Cookie Crunch,” vanilla ice cream sprinkled with dog biscuits.
For the complete story from Reuters, go here.
“The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome” by Charles Siebert
July 14, 2010
On a late May afternoon last year in southwest Baltimore, a 2-year-old female pit bull terrier was doused in gasoline and set alight. A young city policewoman on her regular patrol of the neighborhood of boarded-up row houses and redbrick housing developments turned her squad car onto the 1600 block of Presbury Street and saw a cloud of black smoke rising from the burning dog. She hopped out, ran past idle onlookers and managed to put out the flames with her sweater. The dog, subsequently named Phoenix, survived for four days with burns over 95 percent of her body, but soon began to succumb to kidney failure and had to be euthanized.
For the complete article, go here.
This is a long article in The New York Times Magazine by Charles Siebert and deals with the issue of animal cruelty, focusing on dogs. Reading parts of this almost made me sick to my stomach; it is not for the squeamish but I consider it Must-Reading for anyone who cares about this issue. I hope that Siebert will put this material in book format so that it can stand alone as testimony to the horrible things humans are capable of and the efforts of those who seek to stop the abuse.
PETA Kills 97% of Dogs & Cats Brought in 2009 for a total of 2,301 — Adopts Out Only 8!
July 8, 2010
It’s no secret that I’m no fan of PETA and believe their operation borders on being a cult. They are quite clear in their core message, no animal should be used by any human for any purpose; not for medical research, not for food and not as pets.
But many people think of them as the ‘good guys’ fighting for animal rights and support them without really understanding where their money is going. Would you send them $25 if you knew that they kill almost every dog and cat that is surrendered to them?
“It’s whoring itself out for media coverage,” David Martosko, director of research at the Center for Consumer Freedom, said of PETA. “They’ll do the ridiculous stuff, but they won’t put an ad in the Norfolk press saying, ‘We have puppies and kittens, come adopt one.’”
For the complete article go to the Care 2 website here.
Help for Dog Owners with Problem Behaviors is Just a Click Away
July 2, 2010
Here are three great resources I was recently referred to that seem to have the right approach to dealing with problem behaviors in dogs (and other pets, as well).
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has a Virtual Pet Behaviorist that offers a searchable database of bad behaviors and possible solutions on how to deal with them at www.aspcabehavior.org
The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers offers help on teaching basic obedience skills at www.ccpdt.org They also have referrals to licensed classes and puppy trainers in all 50 states.
A site run by a group of veterinarians, biologists and animal behaviorists www. certifiedanimalbehaviorist.com can give you expert advice on your problems. The members all have at least a master’s degree in their field and are said to specialize in dealing with “tricky behaviors” and hard to solve issues.
Dog’s Amazing Hearing from Bark magazine
February 7, 2010
Even during the quiet hours of the night, the world is a noisy place for dogs, who can hear the high-frequency pulse of the crystal resonator used in digital alarm clocks and the bodily vibrations of termites in the walls.
— Bark, Feb./March 2010
New Treatment Options for Dogs with Obsessive-Compulsive Behaviors?
February 4, 2010
Katie Drummond reports on AOL News that a gene for obsessive-compulsive disorder may have been located in certain dog breeds.
My initial reactions are these: 1.) The concept that a gene “causes” a behavior is, at best, an over-simplification (see Richard Dawkins, et. al). So Ms. Drummond’s lede follows the incorrect pattern of most science writing on this subject. 2.) Surely there exists a more pleasant, more flattering photo of Katie Drummond (left). And 3.) I didn’t know that AOL was still around. Amazing.
But I am a huge fan of Dr. Nicholas Dodman and a long-time subscriber to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University’s newsletter Your Dog. If you’re serious about keeping up to date on issues of canine health and training there is simply no better monthly newsletter out there.
What this really means is now that a relationship between the existence of this gene and the obsessive-compulsive behavior in some breeds has been identified it will open up more treatment options. And the possibility that this link may lead to a similar finding in the human genome.
This is, potentially, a breakthrough achievement and it doesn’t surprise me in the least that it comes from Dr. Dodman and his colleagues at the Cummings School.
Pedigree Dogs Exposed – BBC documentary
January 21, 2010
We’ve allowed some breeds to become too heavy, some too short-faced, some too heavy-coated, some too short legged, others too short-lived, all in the pursuit of cosmetic points, not sound anatomical points. — David Hancock, dog historian
The 60 minute BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed is available for viewing on YouTube in 6 parts. If you care about dogs, it should both sicken and anger you. Watch it directly on YouTube here.
The only conclusion you can come to is that annual dog shows like Crufts and Westminster have degraded our best friends into a parade of deformed, disabled, disease-prone mutants. And we’ve done this in just over 100 years of pursuing a eugenics-based system of standardizing dog breeds to a bizarre, artificial aesthetic that values appearance over health and temperament.
For example, did you know that the distinctive ridge of Rhodesian Ridgebacks serves no useful purpose and is actually a mild of form of spina bifida, the incomplete development of the spinal cord or its coverings? You’ll learn all about this and much more in this riviting exposé. Every caring dog owner should watch it.
How Smart is Your Dog?
January 18, 2010
Sarah Kershaw has an excellent article about canine intelligence in the New York Times, “Good Dog, Smart Dog.”
The matter of what exactly goes on in the mind of a dog is a tricky one, and until recently much of the research on canine intelligence has been met with large doses of skepticism. But over the last several years a growing body of evidence, culled from small scientific studies of dogs’ abilities to do things like detect cancer or seizures, solve complex problems (complex for a dog, anyway), and learn language suggests that they may know more than we thought they did. Their apparent ability to tune in to the needs of psychiatric patients, turning on lights for trauma victims afraid of the dark, reminding their owners to take medication and interrupting behaviors like suicide attempts and self-mutilation, for example, has lately attracted the attention of researchers.
Inside Denver’s “Pit Bull Row”
January 18, 2010
Denver has had a breed-specific ban on pit bulls since 1992. In that time 5,286 pit bulls have been impounded and an estimated 3,497 have been destroyed. Shelters in Denver cannot put pit bulls up for adoption; they must try and find room for them in other Colorado cities.
See the photo essay by Joe Tone in Denver Westworld here.
Click on image for larger size.