Category Archives: research

Dog hair blankets in Native America?

Posted on July 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

Mass spectrometry has been used to resolve a debate about the fibres used to weave Native American blankets.

The blankets have been known as ‘dog hair’ blankets because oral histories passed down by descendents of the Salish weavers, who were indigenous to the Pacific coast of North America, told of the blankets being woven from the hair of dogs who were specially bred for their fur.

copyright University of York Department of Archaeology

Researchers at the University of York‘s Departments of Biology, Archaeology and Chemistry analysed the protein composition of 25 textile samples from 11 different locations.  These textiles were housed in famous collections like the Smithsonian Institution and some came from the expeditions of Lewis and Clark (1803-1806) and Wilkes (1838-1842).

The researchers didn’t find any garments that were made of purely dog hair.

There was evidence of dog hair in a robe of fur and six textile samples, primarily in a blend with goat hair.  The researchers concluded that the dog fur was used to supplement goat hair as a bulking material.

They have published their findings in the journal Antiquity.

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Dog intelligence

Posted on July 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

Most dog owners have an opinion about their dog’s intelligence.  I regularly hear comments like, “He’s so smart, he’s ahead of the rest of his obedience class” or “He’s not very bright, but we love him.”

 When I was working on my management qualification years ago, we were told to go home and ask our partner/flatmate about how they solved problems.  Ebony, my Labrador flatmate at the time, came up with these tips, which I thought were very intelligent:

  1. Remember that chasing your tail does not get you anywhere.  It also makes you dizzy and less able to focus on the task at hand.
  2. Eat regularly and often.  Problem solving is hard work and requires energy.
  3. Don’t underestimate the value of a nap.  A problem looks different after you’ve had a good sleep.
  4. If you stare at a problem long enough, it might move on its own.
  5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Try looking cute.
  6. If looking cute doesn’t work, try whining.
  7. If whining fails, loud retching noises are guaranteed to get the attention of those around you.
  8. Some problems soften over time.  Burying them in the garden hastens this process.
  9. Some problems require more immediate attention.  An immediate problem, if left unattended, is likely to result in a much more smelly mess to be cleaned up later.

There are many published works on the subject of dog intelligence.  Over the years, I’ve read countless research studies into this subject.  There are many institutions involved in the research.  All projects have the goal of understanding how dogs think.

Professor Stanley Coren of the University of British Columbia has authored several books about dog intelligence.  He states that dogs have the intellectual capacity of a two-year old and can understand more than 150 words.[1]

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have studied the ability of dogs to interpret human gestures.  When researchers hid food beneath one container in a group and pointed to the ‘right’ container, dogs consistently picked up on those cues better than even chimpanzees (a species widely studied because of the evolutionary link between apes and humans).

Earlier this year, a research team at the University of Otago reported on their study that showed that dogs could readily distinguish happy human sounds from sad or angry ones, suggesting an ability to understand human emotions.

Even the dog toy market has recognised that dogs need mental stimulation.  The Nina Ottosson range, for example, offers a range of skill level toys designed to make your dog think about how to reveal their food reward.

Daisy demonstrates her intelligence with a Nina Ottosson toy

Despite all of this evidence, including videos of my Daisy using her interactive toys, many of the non-dog people in my life remain unconvinced about the intelligence of dogs.  I believe that persistence will pay off.  Over time we will see more and more research about the intellectual capacity of our dogs.  The non-believers will become believers.

[1] Science Daily, 10 August 2009

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Of dogs, house dust and asthma…

Posted on June 27, 2012 | 1 comment

This is a tale of how owning a dog can help protect your child from asthma.  Strange, but true.

Researcher Dr Kei Fujimura used mice to test the impact of house dust from homes where a dog lived and from those that didn’t.  She found (and her study was presented at a recent meeting of the American Society for Microbiology) that the dust from households with dogs seemed to have a beneficial effect.

Mice who were fed dust from these households developed an immune response to RSV(respiratory syncytial virus).  Infants who contract this virus have a marked increase in their risk of developing asthma.  RSV affects 90% of children worldwide.  That makes this study significant.

Dr Fujimura says these results support the hypothesis that exposure to animals in early childhood stimulates the immune system to resist the development of asthma and other allergies.

Another reason to introduce your children to the wonders of dog ownership at an early age!

Source:  Discovery News

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The importance of pain management

Posted on June 14, 2012 | 1 comment

Whenever I take on a new client, I use a health questionnaire that covers current conditions as well as the dog’s health history.  One of the issues I address is any recent changes to the dog’s behaviour or living conditions.

What I am trying to ascertain is if a dog is in pain or having adjustment difficulties. There is a clear link between pain and aggression and this has been supported in a recent study by researchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain.

In the Spanish study, which has been published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 12 dogs that were brought in by their owners for ‘aggression problems’ were studied.  All were found to have pain-induced aggression with eight diagnosed as having hip dysplasia.

The breeds in the study were:  a Giant Schnauzer, Irish Setter, Pit Bull, Dalmatian, two German shepherds, Neapolitan Mastiff, Shih-tzu, Bobtail, Catalan Sheepdog, Chow Chow and Doberman.

The researchers concluded “if the pet is handled when in pain, it will quickly act aggressively to avoid more discomfort without the owner being able to prevent it.”

So, when a dog is behaving differently or is “out-of-sorts”, a visit to the vet is recommended.  Behaviour changes can be the first indicator that something is wrong and your vet can help to run appropriate tests to see if there is an underlying health problem.

Dogs have a way of not telling us they are in pain until a problem is more pronounced because their natural instinct is to protect themselves by not exhibiting any noticeable vulnerabilities.  Therapies such as massage and low level laser (which I employ in my canine rehabilitation practice) are useful in helping to manage pain through appropriate stimulation of acupressure points and managing muscle, tendon and ligament condition.  I’m also a strong supporter of acupuncture and refer clients to a local vet who is trained in veterinary acupuncture.

These complementary therapies can be employed alongside traditional pain medications such as NSAIDs to support your dog’s quality of life.  When pain is managed, quality of life improves for everyone in the household.

Source:  Plataforma SINC. “If your dog is aggressive, maybe it is in pain.” ScienceDaily, 13 Jun. 2012. Web. 15 Jun. 2012.

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Dog dreaming

Posted on June 6, 2012 | 2 comments

We’ve all seen our dogs deeply asleep, with paws and legs twitching.  There have even been times when my dog puts her head up while sleeping and howls like a wolf.  (She usually wakes herself up, too).

Do our dogs dream?

All evidence points to an answer of ‘yes’.

Researchers know, for example, that the EEGs (electroencephalograms) of sleeping dogs show brain wave activity similar to humans during sleep.  There is a period of sleep known as REM sleep (REM means rapid eye movement) when breathing becomes irregular and the eyes twitch.  Sound familiar?

When humans have been wakened during REM sleep, they report that they have been dreaming and so there is no reason to think that our dogs aren’t dreaming. 

Matthew Wilson, Associate Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says that animals have complex dreams and are able to retain and recall long sequences of events while they are asleep. 

His work involved rats and monitoring their brain wave activity when they were asleep and awake.  He also tracked the effect of sleep on learning of repetitive tasks.

Professor Wilson has said of his work “dreams are the ultimate off-line experience. This work demonstrates that animals are capable of re-evaluating their experiences when they are not in the midst of them.”

By the way, dogs, cats and rabbits are crepuscular which means that they naturally tend to be more active at dawn and at dusk.  Humans are diurnal which means they are most active during the day (which explains why night shifts are so hard on people).  Dogs seem to adjust their own sleep habits to match those of their owners.

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Caring for Nunavik’s sled dogs

Posted on June 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

Andréanne Cléroux, a veterinary student at the University of Montreal International Veterinary Group, is conducting a project to design and deliver a first aid guide for dogs in northern Quebec.

A family with their dog in Nunavik. (Credit: Sylvie Ricard)

“The problem relates mainly to animal health care, immunization, and dog population control,” Cléroux explains. “We wanted to create a guide that would provide basic tools for pet owners so they can provide care to their animal while waiting to contact the remote veterinary consultation service to get advice from a veterinarian at the CHUV (University of Montreal Veterinary Hospital).” 

Cléroux spent time developing the guide before travelling to northern Quebec to work on the draft with residents.  One of the challenges has been to develop a product that was good for those unfamiliar with dog care and still make it useful to mushers, who tend to know more about their dogs.

Cléroux has also created a first aid kit that includes all the necessary material to provide the care described in the manual and delivered it to several villages, with a goal to make it more widely available to all 14 communities in Nunavik.

Source:  University of Montreal press release

 

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Re-thinking dog domestication

Posted on May 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

A research team led by the University of Durham has published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA).  This study shows that today’s modern breeds of dog have little in common genetically with their ancient ancestors. 

Dog domestication occurred over 15,000 years ago – and there is still much to learn!

Years of cross-breeding are the major influence on the genetic differences, although the researchers are quick to add that other effects on genetic diversity will include patterns of human movement and the impact on dog population sizes caused by major events such as World War I and World War II.

The research team analysed genetic data from 1,375 dogs representing 35 breeds. They also looked at data showing genetic samples of wolves because other research studies have concluded that the dog descended directly from the gray wolf.

Lead author Dr Greger Larson, an evolutionary biologist, says the study demonstrated just how much there is still to understand about the early history of dog domestication.  “We really love our dogs and they have accompanied us across every continent.  Ironically, the ubiquity of dogs combined with their deep history has obscured their origins and made it difficult for us to know how dogs became man’s best friend.”

The study also refutes claims of previous researchers that genetic differences in breeds such as the Basenji, Saluki and Dingo were evidence of an ancient heritage.  The Durham team’s study shows that these dogs are genetically different because they were geographically isolated and were not part of the 19th Century Victorian-initiated kennel clubs that blended lineages to create most of today’s breeds.

A Saluki (copyright Keith Dobney)

Source:  University of Durham press release

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Aggressive dog? How agreeable is the owner?

Posted on May 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

Research from the University of Leicester’s School of Psychology  has revealed that young people who are more disagreeable are likely to own an aggressive dog.

‘Agreeableness’ means being less concerned with the needs or well-being of others.  Such people may be suspicious, unfriendly and competitive as well.

Participants were given personality tests and  indicated their preference for different types of dogs  . The dogs were independently rated according to how aggressive people perceived them to be. Bull terriers were rated as most aggressive, followed by boxers; retrievers and cocker spaniels were seen as least aggressive.

The study’s results also show a small effect suggesting that those who liked aggressive dogs showed signs of conscientiousness – being careful, reliable and thoughtful about their actions.

Whilst this finding (about conscientiousness) contradicts a long-held perception that owners of aggressive dogs are always irresponsible, Dr Vincent Egan, the study’s lead researcher suggests caution before reading too much into the conclusion:

“These results with Conscientiousness were unexpected, but the effect is a small one, and needs to be repeated in a different group of people. Studies of this kind tend to only look at a restricted age ranges, which may exaggerate findings which do not occur across the entire lifespan, so we believe a stereotype is always true, whereas it may only be true under certain conditions. Our study employed a broader age range.”

Dr Egan’s study has been published in the journal Anthrozoos.

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What is your dog thinking? Researchers are on the case!

Posted on May 7, 2012 | 4 comments

Researchers at Emory University have published new research into canine cognition.  Entitled Functional MRI in Awake Unrestrained Dogs, the paper outlines findings of research that required two dogs to remain motionless in an MRI machine.

Yes – that’s right. Motionless.  The two dogs were outfitted with special ear muffs to protect them from the noise of the MRI and trained to rest their heads on a chin rest inside the machine.   As the MRI took scans of the dog’s brain activity,  hand signals were used to show the dogs whether there was or wasn’t a food reward.

This is a first-ever study on awake dogs, rather than those that have been sedated.  Importantly, part of the animal ethics of the study was to ensure the dogs were willing participants.

The findings show a definite brain activity response when the hand signals indicated a food reward.  Those dogs are paying attention!

The lead researcher, Professor Gregory Berns, says “We hope this opens up a whole new door for understanding canine cognition and inter-species communication. We want to understand the dog-human relationship, from the dog’s perspective.”

Professor Bern’s dog Callie in training in a mock-up of the MRI scanner (copyright Emory University)

Listen to Professor Berns talk about this project in the Emory University YouTube video:

Source:  Emory University press release 4 May 2012

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With age comes greater success (in hunting, at least)

Posted on April 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

At the meeting of the Society for American Archeology this week, two University of Cincinnati professors, Jeremy Koster and Ken Tankersley,  presented their results of research into hunting dogs in lowland Nicaragua.

The indigenous communities of the Mayangna and the Miskito in Nicaragua survive on subsistence hunting in the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve.  The reserve is part of the largest unbroken tracts of neotropical rainforest in Central America, north of the Amazon.   85% of the mammals that are hunted are caught with the assistance of dogs.

Nicaraguan hunters and their dogs on a hunt, photo by Jeremy Koster, University of Cincinnati

The research team found that as both male and female dogs reach three years of age, they tend to increase their hunting success.  Older, male and female dogs in the study population returned more game to their owners than did younger dogs.

Bigger dogs are able to track and corral bigger prey, which increases their hunting return rates.  Since male dogs are generally larger than females, the males had the greater success rates.

As far as sustainability is concerned, the researchers found that  dogs are more suited to wildlife sustainability than other hunting options available.  Hunters with firearms tend to disproportionately hunt prey that lives in trees, including slow-breeding primates.  Hunters with dogs tend to harvest relatively fast-breeding animals such as agoutis, pacas and armadillos.

Their main conclusion:  With age comes greater success!

(Let’s hope the same applies to us; I could use all the help I can get :))

Source:  University of Cincinnati press release

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