No postings today. We’re on strike. Please sign the petition and help us to stop the testing of party pills on dogs in New Zealand – once and for all!
Posted in animal welfare
Tagged Animal Strike, animal testing, party pills, Paw Justice, petition
Watch out criminals. You’re on FIDO Cam!
Made in the UK by the Military and Law Enforcement Division of Industrial Television Ltd, FIDO Cam was developed to assist police SWAT units which needed to check inside buildings before their teams entered. The apparatus has also been used in drug busts and in search and rescue operations.
FIDO Cam is mounted on trained police and rescue dogs as seen here:
The company estimates that 70% of the police units in the UK own the gear; when activated, the camera sends a live feed of what ever the dog is seeing back to the handler.
Camera footage can also be used in court as evidence.
I wonder how long even a highly trained dog will wear the device (because it doesn’t look very comfortable).
At over £10,000 per unit, one thing is for sure: it’s unlikely that these cameras will be purchased by dog owners who want to know what their dog gets up to when they are not at home!
In my opinion, part of owning an older dog means ensuring you devote time to them for bonding, love, attention and care.
Daisy and I are just finishing a Spa Weekend.
Daisy’s spa weekend started on Friday with a regular acupuncture session. Daisy gets acupuncture every 5 weeks:
Daisy is happy to lay still while Dr Susanne Anderson places her acupuncture needles
On Saturday, it was then time for Daisy’s hydrotherapy session. Daisy swims every fortnight (2 weeks) to keep her muscles strong and to keep range of motion in her hind legs:
And today (Sunday), it was time for Daisy to enjoy a massage and laser treatment – lovingly delivered by me – her personal massage therapist and DoggyMom:
The only thing that was missing from Daisy’s spa weekend was a bath. But that’s because she had a bath last weekend!
How do you spend quality time with your elderly dog?
Posted in dog care
Tagged acupuncture, animals, bath, Dr Susanne Anderson, health, hydrotherapy, laser therapy, massage
September 21, 2013 in Dogs, Humor/humour
Tagged backpack, Dog, puppies, subwoofers, woofers
I love it when dogs are used in advertising. Some ads are better than others. My current favorite is from appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel.
I love the use of black & white and the dog theme. What do you think?
Posted in dogs in advertising
Tagged advertising, appliance manufacturer, black and white, Fisher & Paykel, patience
A very different type of research article has been published in the journal Animal Cognition. This study found that dogs react sociably to robots that behave socially towards them, even if the devices look nothing like a human.
What? Yes – that’s right. A research team led by Gabriella Lakatos of the Hungarian Academy of Science and Eötvös Loránd University tested the reactions of 41 dogs with a PeopleBot robot. The robot had two arms and four-fingered hands, resembling a piece of gym equipment with a white gloved hand attached to it.
One set of dogs in the ‘asocial group’ first observed an interaction between two humans (the owner and the human experimenter) and then observed an ‘asocial’ interaction between the owner and the robot. Another set of dogs watched an interaction between the owner and the human experimenter followed by observing a ‘social’ interaction between the owner and the robot.
A dog and the PeopleBot robot
These interactions were followed by sessions in which either the human experimenter or the robot pointed out the location of hidden food.
The dogs spent more time near the robot or gazing at its head when the PeopleBot behaved socially.
“Roboticists who design interactive robots should look into the sociality and behavior of their designs, even if they do not embody human-like characteristics,” Lakatos advises.
Source: Springer media release
Posted in research
Tagged Animal Cognition, cognition, design, human interaction, PeopleBot, robot, science
New Zealand’s Animal Welfare Amendment Bill is now before a Parliamentary select committee. Submissions from the public are being accepted from now until 4 October.
Here’s why I’m making a submission:
The Bill doesn’t ban testing of party bills on animals, nor does it ban the use of animal testing in the cosmetic industry. As far as animal welfare issues go, these are ‘no brainers.’
I’d also like to see an independent Commissioner for Animals because I don’t think the Ministry of Primary Industries, with its focus on economy and production, can make good choices.
Click here to read the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill
Making a submission online is easy – just click here and follow the instructions for uploading your submission.
Today, in conversation, I used the term ‘dog and pony show’ as in ‘David and Larry are going to do a dog and pony show on xxx.’ And then I got a question I didn’t expect – ‘what does that mean?’
The term dates back to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when there were many traveling circuses to entertain. It was often the dog and pony show that was promoted as a headline act.
Quite literally, this was when dogs and ponies/horses would perform together – often wearing costumes and decorations.
As time has gone on, ‘to do a dog and pony show’ means to publicize a presentation that is designed to impress or sell a product. It’s debatable about whether the saying is one of scorn – some dog and pony shows could be well-researched and professional as well as glitzy, others not.
Posted in dog quotes, Dogs
Tagged animals, Dog, dog and pony show, pony, traveling circuses
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