Opening next month, Snoopy is coming to the big screen!
I like the look of the animations in this trailer; Snoopy and Woodstock look like the cartoons that I remember which were originally drawn by the late Charles M Schulz.
Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, Canine Catering Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand
Posted in dog breeds, Dogs
Tagged beagle, beagles, Charles Schulz, Snoopy, The Peanuts Movie, Woodstock
You’ve probably heard the terms ‘man up’ or ‘woman up’ – but how about ‘puppy up’?
That’s the origin of the name for the Puppy Up to Cancer initiative founded by the 2 Million Dogs Foundation. Through every Puppy Up walk, funds are raised to help with cancer research.
Walks are usually led by human and canine survivors of cancer and often dogs who are infirm or who can’t walk for long distances participate by riding in wagons and carts.
Dogs are often used in comparative oncology studies because their cancers have commonalities with human cancers.
I think this is a great idea and since we have many dogs in New Zealand who also fall to cancer, fundraising in this way would be a way of contributing to the body of knowledge.
Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, Canine Catering Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand
Posted in dog care, Dogs, research
Tagged 2 Million Dogs, cancer, comparative oncology, Puppy Up, research
In this video, the band OK Go is featured with 14 rescue dogs. The dogs were trained by firm Talented Animals.
On YouTube, you’ll also find videos of the production and behind-the-scenes takes.
Creative and entertaining!
If you are a greyhound lover, then a trip to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts is a worthy visit. There are a number of pieces in the museum depicting greyhounds. Here are just a few examples.
Sculptor Horatio Greenough (1805–1852) rendered his dog Arno in marble. Arno was named for the river that runs through Florence, Italy (Greenough trained in Italy).
Photo by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Photo by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Carousel greyhound by Charles Looff, photo by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
In the Folk Art Gallery, you will find a carousel figure in the shape of a greyhound. This figure was carved between 1905 and 1910 by Charles Looff. He only made about 12 greyhound figures for carousels and all were said to be modeled after his family’s greyhound.
When acquired by the Museum, the greyhound was painted dark brown and covered with a thick layer of varnish. A painstaking process of conservation removed about fourteen layers of paint (carousel figures were exposed to the weather and thus repainted frequently), revealing the original polychrome painted surface and other details.
Greyhounds Unleashed, a plaster sculpture dated 1928 by Katharine Lane Weems
And this English Regency bed features greyhounds inspired by medieval tomb sculptures, but anyone who knows greyhounds know that they love to sleep – so very appropriate to have them as embellishments on a human bed.
Photo by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Photo by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, Canine Catering Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand
Posted in dog breeds, Dogs
Tagged 50 Shades of Grey, Arno, greyhounds, Horatio Greenough, Museum of Fine Arts
If you are visiting New Zealand, you should stop at Tirau’s visitor centre, more commonly known as the Big Dog Information Centre. Located in south Waikato (North Island), the visitor centre is housed in a corrugated iron building – in the shape of a sheep dog.
The building was officially opened in September 1998 and is a landmark not to be missed.
Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, Canine Catering Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand
Posted in Dogs
Tagged i-Site, sheep dog, Tirau, visitor information center, visitor information centre
Domestic cats do not generally see their owners as a focus of safety and security in the same way that dogs do, according to new research.
Relaxed cat and dog. While it is increasingly recognized that cats are more social and more capable of shared relationships than traditionally thought, this latest research shows that adult cats appear to be more autonomous — even in their social relationships — and not necessarily dependent on others to provide a sense of protection.
Credit: © bodza2 / Fotolia
The study by animal behaviour specialists at the University of Lincoln, UK, shows that while dogs perceive their owners as a safe base, the relationship between people and their feline friends appears to be quite different.
While it is increasingly recognised that cats are more social and more capable of shared relationships than traditionally thought, this latest research shows that adult cats appear to be more autonomous – even in their social relationships – and not necessarily dependent on others to provide a sense of protection.
The research, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, was led by Professor Daniel Mills, Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine at the University of Lincoln’s School of Life Sciences, along with Alice Potter – who studied as a postgraduate at Lincoln and now works with the Companion Animals Science Group at the RSPCA.
Professor Mills said: “The domestic cat has recently passed the dog as the most popular companion animal in Europe, with many seeing a cat as an ideal pet for owners who work long hours. Previous research has suggested that some cats show signs of separation anxiety when left alone by their owners, in the same way that dogs do, but the results of our study show that they are in fact much more independent than canine companions. It seems that what we interpret as separation anxiety might actually be signs of frustration.”
The Lincoln researchers carefully adapted the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test (SST), which has been widely used to demonstrate that the bond between young children or pet dogs with their primary carer can be categorised as a ‘secure attachment’ – where the carer is seen as a focus of safety and security in potentially threatening (or unfamiliar) environments.
The study observed the relationships between a number of cats and their owners, placing the pets in an unfamiliar environment together with their owner, with a stranger and also on their own. In varying scenarios, it assessed three different characteristics of attachment; the amount of contact sought by the cat, the level of passive behaviour, and signs of distress caused by the absence of the owner.
“Although our cats were more vocal when the owner rather than the stranger left them with the other individual, we didn’t see any additional evidence to suggest that the bond between a cat and its owner is one of secure attachment.”
“For pet dogs, their owners often represent a specific safe haven; however it is clear that domestic cats are much more autonomous when it comes to coping with unusual situations.”
Tagged animal behavior, animal behaviour, cats, dogs, safe haven
A dog doesn’t have to be a certified therapy dog to brighten someone’s day – it just needs to be well-trained and sociable.
Here is Snowy, a Labradoodle, with my Mum. Snowy lives next door and makes visits for cuddles and treats (but especially treats).
If you have elderly people in your neighborhood, consider reaching out to them with your well-behaved dog. A visit by a friendly dog can really brighten the day.
Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, Canine Catering Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand
Posted in Dogs, special dogs and awards
Tagged assistance dogs, home visitation, Labradoodle, snowy, therapy dogs
Promises I make to my dog
Source: Best Friends Animal Society
Posted in dog ownership, Dogs
Tagged aggressive behaviour, behaviour, promises, socialization, veterinary care
Kida, a 110-pound Alaskan malamute, runs on a treadmill in Terrie Williams’ lab at UC Santa Cruz. Dogs are better adapted for endurance exercise than cats, and humans are more like dogs in that respect.
Photo credit: Caleb Bryce, UCSC
For over 30 years, Terrie Williams has been studying exercise physiology in wild animals: African lions and wild dogs, dolphins and whales, coyotes and mountain lions, as well as a few human athletes.
These studies have given Williams, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC (University of California) Santa Cruz, a unique perspective on exercise and health, which she presents in an article titled “The Healthy Heart: Lessons from Nature’s Elite Athletes,” published in the September 2015 issue of the journal Physiology.
In the course of her research, Williams has found that dogs and cats are opposites in terms of aerobic capacity and maximum heart rate, and humans are more like dogs, adapted for endurance exercise (chasing down prey), while cats are built for the short bursts of speed used in stalk-and-pounce hunting. This difference is reflected in heart size relative to total body mass (larger hearts in dogs and humans, smaller hearts in cats).
Heart disease is exceedingly rare in wild animals, but it is the leading cause of death in humans worldwide. There are many plausible explanations for this, but one factor stands out above all others: the difference in daily activity levels. “We just don’t ask our hearts to do very much on a daily basis,” Williams said.
For Williams, the main reason to study exercise physiology in animals is to better understand how much energy they have to expend to live in their environments, and how they might be affected by environmental changes and human activities.
Source: EurekAlert! media release
DoggyMom.com 