While police dogs are typically treated well by their handlers, they don't have the best life a doggo could imagine. While much of their training is framed as play and through task/reward, stuff pups live for, they're all too often exposed to loud, stressful situations and violence. The Spanish city of Madrid has 22 dogs serving on its police force. While nothing can be done to keep their dogs away from the stresses of police work, the city is going through a whole lot of trouble to ensure that their downtime will be as enjoyable as possible.
According to The Guardian, the city of Madrid has taken the time to figure out how to de-stress their police dogs at the end of their shift and has spent three months modifying their kennels to increase the animals' quality of life.
At the end of a long day of police work, the dogs can now return home to heated beds, toys and a play area. What's more, all of the dogs will be exposed to music therapy in order to bring down their stress levels:
The type of music and the amount to which they are exposed will depend on what tasks to which the dogs are assigned. While all the dogs are classified as detectors, each is specialized in a particular field, such as detecting drugs, explosives and counterfeit money, while some are dedicated to rescue operations.
No matter what classification the doggos are assigned for the work that they do, they share one thing in common: heavy metal music is off-limits. Read the rest
A war hero who saved American lives under fire deserves the best care our government can muster. It's the very least they deserve for bravely serving overseas. Unfortunately, not all soldiers returning from active duty have been paid this respect. Nor have the canine soldiers in their ranks. Read the rest
While bopping around Italy's Abruzzo National Park, zoologist Paolo Forconi witnessed a pack of three young wolves assaulting a garden variety house pooch. While it takes a few nips from the wolves, their young jaws, according to Forconi, weren't able to do much damage. Tthe dog was able to make its escape through a small hole in a fence. Read the rest
In 1986, a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near the Ukrainian town of Pripyat, lost its shit. Flaws in the reactor's design caused a steam explosion, resulting in a fire that spewed plumes of radioactive material into the atmosphere. The Soviet government mobilized its armed forces to evacuate the area surrounding the accident site where the risk to human life was the greatest. Families were forced on to buses and military transports with little more than the clothes on their backs. Without exception, the evacuees were forced to leave the pets behind. There was simply no time, or space, to include them in the rescue. Later the same year, Soviet troops were sent into the 30-mile wide Chernobyl exclusion zone to cull what animals they could find left still alive. Live stock, wildlife and deserted family pets were eliminated.
But they didn't get them all.
Largely free of people for over three decades, the exclusion zone has become something of a haven to a thriving (albeit, irradiated, in some cases) miscellany of wild animals. Most heartening of all, the dogs who survived the '86 cull, bred, increased their numbers exponentially and survived. As work began on a new, permanent include to house the still radioactive ruins of Chernobyl's number four reactor, many of the descendants of the abandoned, domesticated pooches began showing up at the construction site, looking for scraps and refuge from the wolves and other predators that pray on them in the wild. The workers at the Chernobyl site began making a habit to save scraps from their meals for the dogs. Read the rest
David McCandless meticulously charted dog breeds by six scores: intelligence, costs, longevity, grooming, ailments, and appetite. The big loser: bulldogs. Read the rest
Every dog is the best breed if you are the person who loves'em.
Perhaps it is their great size, their extremely loud bark, all the fur they shed, or the 2-tons of poop? My best buddy Nemo's breed strangely lands at 67th on the AKCs 2017 list of most popular breeds. Zuul, and her family of Cavalier King Charles, comes in 19th.
Wonder what kind of standardized test they give the dogs?
The full list is here. Read the rest
Doggosaurus Rex: Origins. Read the rest
He's got those crazy hungry Corgi eyes. Read the rest
This doggo is living life to the fullest. Read the rest
Classic tactics in canine Passive Resistance. Read the rest
Samurai Age has created a line of samurai armor for kittehs and doggos, allowing them to show off their noble nature as honored warriors. Read the rest
SciShow digs into this little-researched but utterly adorable phenomenon. Read the rest
This umbrella cockatoo is a very good puppo. Read the rest
“For all those that don't have a valentine date or partner, here is some doggies for you to fall in love with instead.” Read the rest
Like you do. Read the rest
