Headline news in New Zealand today – Dog Saves Christchurch Woman From Sex Attacker. And this little beauty has only been in the family for two months!
copyright Fairfax NZ
Posted in Dogs, special dogs and awards
Tagged adopted dog, animals, Christchurch, sex attack
Research published in the journal of Animal Cognition shows that dogs pick out faces of other dogs, irrespective of breeds, among other faces. They can group them into a category of their own and do so using only visual cues.
The authors of the study have concluded “The fact that dogs are able to recognize their own species visually, and that they have great olfactory discriminative capacities, insures that social behavior and mating between different breeds is still potentially possible. Although humans have stretched the Canis familiaris species to its morphological limits, its biological entity has been preserved.”
Apparatus. a, b The dog sits in front of the experimenter, on a line between the 2 screens. c When hearing an order, the dog expressed his choice by going to a given screen and putting his paw in front of the chosen image. (Credit: Image courtesy of Springer Science+Business Media)
The authors of the research explored whether the large range of diversity in the size and shape of dogs presented a ‘cognitive challenge’ to dogs trying to recognize their species, when confronted with other species.
On a computer screen, the researchers showed nine pet dogs pictures of faces from various dog breeds and cross-breeds, and simultaneously faces of other animal species, including human faces. They exposed the dogs to diverse stimuli: images of dog faces; images of non-dog species from 40 different species, including domestic and wild animals; and humans. Overall, the dogs were shown more than 144 pairs of pictures to select from. The authors observed whether the nine dogs could discriminate any type of dog from other species, and could group all dogs together, whatever their breed, into a single category.
They did.
Source: Springer.com
‘Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.’
– Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher
…and Happy New Year to all my readers and customers.
Posted in dog quotes
Tagged animals, Arthur Schopenhauer, compassion, good character, good man, philosopher, quotes
For those in the northern hemisphere, Christmas is a winter holiday and why not enjoy it with your dog? Skijoring is a winter sport where a cross-country skier is drawn across the snow pulled by their dog. In some cases, skiers will skijor with more than one dog. In Norwegian, the term literally means ‘ski driving.’
Breeds like Huskies, Malamutes and Samoyeds are obvious choices for this sport, where the owner and dog get their exercise together. However Pointers and Pointer crosses are also good sled dogs (Daisy likes that idea – although at her advanced age she will be a spectator only).
In this sport, the cross-country skier provides power with skis and poles, and the dog adds additional power by running and pulling. The skier wears a skijoring harness, the dog wears a sled dog harness, and the two are connected by a length of rope. There are specialist suppliers of skijor equipment to get you started.
Of course, careful winter paw care is needed and some dogs may be fitted with protective footwear for the sport.
Christmas skijor anyone?
Posted in dog breeds, Dogs
Tagged animals, cross-country skiing, Huskies, Malamute, nature, Norway, outdoors, pointer, Samoyed, Siberian Husky, skiing with dogs, skijoring, winter
In this busy holiday season, remember that the affection your dog shows you is absolutely FREE! Don’t buy anything today – simply enjoy time with your dog.
I’m so proud of the SPCA Auckland (where I used to volunteer, when I lived up that way) for its imaginative holiday promotion for rescue dogs.
The SPCA teamed up with expert dog trainers to train three SPCA rescue dogs to drive a car – a Mini to be exact.
Monty, Porter and Ginny went through extensive training before being put behind the wheel of the Mini. Last night, on national television, Monty drove himself around a go-cart track. Porter took on the dubious task of having the reporter accompany him on his drive – and I think he suffered the nerves for it because he took a turn rather widely.
This video covers the dog’s training and moment of glory:
Monty, Porter and Ginny prove that rescue dogs are intelligent and trainable. If considering adopting a dog this Christmas, make sure you visit your local SPCA and rescue organisations.
You can read more about New Zealand’s driving dogs at www.drivingdogs.co.nz (which brings you to their Facebook page).
Posted in animal welfare, special dogs and awards
Tagged animals, car, cars, dogs driving, driving dogs, Ginny, Mini, Monty, Porter, rescue dogs, SPCA Auckland
His name is Zeus and he’s a three-year old Great Dane. Living in Michigan, Zeus is 44 inches (1.1 m) tall and 155 pounds (70 kg). He’s a very big dog but he’s fit and trim for his size which is great to see since we are seeing more cases of obesity in dogs.
Here’s a brief video of Zeus at home:
Posted in dog breeds, special dogs and awards
Tagged animals, great dane, Guinness Book of World Records, tallest dog
Weeks after Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of New York and New Jersey, animal rescue efforts continue.
In the affected areas, shelters were hit hard with damage and loss of power. And because people are busy trying to recover from the storm, potential adopters just aren’t coming through the doors like they used to. Through donations to a range of charities such as Best Friends and the Humane Society, animals are being re-located to safer areas of the country for adoption.
Earlier today, for example, 60 cats and dogs were flown to California on a plane donated by Southwest Airlines. Crew members donated their time and BP donated the fuel.
You can help The Helen Woodward Animal Center by making a donation in support of the Hurricane Sandy refugees.
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In other rescue news, the ASPCA has established a new emergency boarding centre in Brooklyn thanks to a $500,000 donation by television personality Rachael Ray. The boarding facility will help families care for their pets because their homes have been destroyed or badly damaged.
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And the Best Friends Animal Society continues to help through grants to a range of animal welfare organisations in the area. Here’s their latest update:
Thank you for the outpouring of support for rescue groups and shelters in need after the tragedy of Hurricane Sandy. Your generosity has been astounding.
Because of you, Best Friends has—in a very short time– been able to award nearly $50,000 in grants to groups in need throughout the region. Here’s just a sample of some of the organizations we’ve been able to help.
Groups like Liberty Humane in Jersey City NJ were able to get help after the roof of their kennel was blown off! They had no power for eight days, their medicines were destroyed, and despite it, they were working to distribute pet supplies to displaced residents in their area. Thanks to you, we were able to offer financial assistance to help them rebuild.
Groups like Little Guild of St. Francis in Connecticut who took in 88 animals from areas affected by the floods were able to get some relief from those extra costs.
Road Runner Rescue in Upper Fairmount, Maryland had rescued more than 5,000 animals from high kill shelters over the past seven years, when suddenly, all of their medical supplies were wiped out from the storm.
“The supplies we lost were not just for our animals, but we also share them with our local county facilities,” said Sue Nevins, Road Runner’s founder. There are a lot of homeless pets depending on us….Our budget is already very tight and we recently had a costly cat surgery that was stretching our funds. Thank you Best Friends for supporting us in our time of need. We’re all in this together and it’s wonderful to be part of a great effort to save more lives.”
All in all, 14 animal groups and shelters so far have received desperately needed assistance, thanks to your support of Best Friends’ disaster relief. Thank you for pulling together for all of the victims of this storm at a time when it means so much to so many.
We’re continuing to give out grants to organizations affected by the storm, and we’ll keep you posted as shelters and rescue groups continue to rebuild. Your kindness is truly appreciated.
Posted in animal welfare
Tagged animals, Best Friends, BP, Helen Woodward Animal Center, HSUS, Hurricane Sandy, shelters, Southwest Airlines, transportation
My mother was never happy when our dog got too close and managed to lick her on the mouth. In the Snoopy cartoons, you might remember when Lucy would run around yelling ‘Get the iodine, get the hot water. I’ve been kissed by a dog.’
It turns out that there is need for caution when considering the mouth-to-mouth contact with your dog.
Researchers from Japan have tracked a microbe that is very common in dogs but rare in humans. In dog owners, 16% of them had the microbe and it appears that they share close contact with their dogs – including kissing.
The researchers also found ten human strains of periodontitis-related bacteria in the dogs’ mouths. And they found that low levels of contact were enough to transmit mouth bacteria either way.
In considering the research, Dr Paul Maza, of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, told America’s Fox News: ‘Many of the different types of bacteria in dogs and cats are the same type of bacteria as in humans. If owners practice oral hygiene on their pets, such as brushing their teeth, a pet’s mouth can actually be even cleaner than a human mouth.’
Read the full story in the Daily Mail.
As we start the Labour Day weekend here in New Zealand, I thought I’d share these photos of a Mastiff who is helping to raise a chimpanzee in Russia.
The chimp didn’t bond with its mother and so a zookeeper took it home because her Mastiff had just given birth to pups. As you can see from the photos, the chimp settled right in and mimics the puppies’ behaviour.
Enjoy your weekend whether it’s a long one or not!
Posted in Dogs
Tagged animals, chimp, chimpanzee, inter species adoption, labour day weekend, mastiff, science, zoo
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