You will definitely want to unmute this one. And be prepared to freak out your dogs. Read the rest

Mysteries of the universe.

Via the NYT:

“I was getting a number of papers showing how remarkable the things were that dogs could do,” he said. When it came to other animals, though, scientific studies on intelligence barely trickled in, despite evidence to suggest that horses, chimpanzees and cats had tricks of their own. “Almost everything a dog claimed to do, other animals could do too,” Dr. Lea said. “It made me quite wary that dogs were special.”

Sure, there is Chaser, a Border collie from Spartanburg, S.C., who was trained to understand 1,022 nouns. (His owner, John Pilley, a scientist who studied canine cognition, recently died.) Before that was a Border collie named Rico who learned to recognize the names of 200 items. But beyond those examples, Dr. Lea wondered: Had dog lovers (and scientists, for that matter) imbued their pets with extraordinary capabilities they did not possess?

To be fair, Dr. Lea said he was a cat person. Still, he and Britta Osthaus, a senior lecturer in the School of Psychology, Politics and Sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University in Britain, set out to test the hypothesis.

They compared dog cognition with members of three similar groups: carnivores, social hunters and domestic animals. Among the animals they studied were wolves, cats, chimpanzees, dolphins, horses and pigeons. What they found, Dr. Lea said, was that “dog cognition does not look exceptional.”

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Kingsley is a famous internet weiner dog from Australia. Sometimes he gets to chase kangaroos. Sometimes he's just not sure about them. Read the rest

Somewhere in New Zealand, a seven-year-old boy had an idea to celebrate the spirit of the wolf. His mom shared it on Facebook. And over the course of just a few days, thousands of people, many desperate for something happy after a miserable week, joined the call to celebration.

This is Wolfenoot.

A holiday where we get presents and feast on roasted meat and cake for being kind to dogs?

YES, PLEASE.

I first heard of Wolfenoot when a friend shared author Jax Goss's Facebook post, and joined the enthusiastic chorus of people planning their Woolfenoot feasts. I reached out to Jax through Twitter to ask how her son created Wolfenoot.

There's not a huge amount of background really. I have a very imaginative child who is always coming up with stuff like this. I've been posting the crazy awesome and weird things he says for as long as he's been saying things. ;) This one just exploded.

I'm not sure where he got this from, to be honest. When I asked him, he said "from my brain". Hehe. Very helpful that. ;) But I am a writer, editor and publisher. I am also a folklore nerd, so he has grown up in a house with a lot of books and stories and fairytales. I have a masters in children's literature, so there are stacks of books in our house. He reads avidly - well above his age level. I think maybe just growing up among all that story has kinda seeped into his brain.

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🐶: I want your treat. 🐶: MY treat. Read the rest

Is there any doubt he is the goodest of boys? Read the rest

The Transportation Safety Agency makes use of dogs to track down contraband, bombs and other stuff that we're better off never seeing onboard an airplane. It takes a pooch with a particular temperament to be trained for this sort of work. Not all dogs are well-suited for the job. Unfortunately, while you can make broad guesses, based on breed, on which dogs may be a good fit for identification or tracking work, there's no way to tell if an individual doggo will be any good at it until you put them to the task. In instances where dogs are found to be less than desirable for the sort of work the TSA has in mind for them, they're pushed to the side -- almost like any other animal you'd find at a local shelter. The only difference is that the TSA's castoffs aren't nearly as visible, making finding them a good home a difficult task.

If you're thinking about adopting a pooch from a shelter, maybe take a look at the TSA Canine Training Center Adoption Program. Where the agency usually makes our lives a lot more difficult than they need to be, looking to them to find your family's new best buddy could make the process of discovering the perfect pooch dead easy.

In order for potential dog owners to qualify for a pooch from the TSA Canine Training Center Adoption Program, they'll have to be able to fulfill a few reasonable criteria:

From the TSA:

-- You must have a fenced in yard at the time of applying.

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This is absolutely the best pet watering dish we've ever had. Read the rest

The Caucasian Ovcharka is a member of the extremely large, very willful, and demonically intelligent tree of the dog family. This doggo decided silly kid shouldn't be allowed to play in the ocean without a life jacket. Canine Overlord immediately corrects the situation.

A CO is a bad choice for anyone who isn't an experienced large breed dog owner. They are guard dogs first and cuddly mountains of fur second. There is no known maximum size, they are fearless and extremely aggressive when the guard genes kick in.

Image via gfycat Read the rest

Steve Tamblyn of Adelaide, Australia was frustrated at his neighbors that didn't pick up after their dogs. So he set up a security cam, captured an image of a dog and its lazy walker, printed out the evidence, and posted it by the poop. So far, the funny but passive aggressive technique hasn't actually led to the individual cleaning up the mess but he's hoping it will deter others from shirking their responsibility. (ABC)

Steve from Mitcham has had enough of dogs leaving surprises on his front footpath. He told @ali__clarke he captured this video & printed the image to display on his front lawn, in a bid to encourage dog owners to clean up after their dogs 🐶 #Adelaide #Dogs pic.twitter.com/7MWjKYZxKE

— ABC Adelaide (@abcadelaide) August 16, 2018

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In the below video, Redondo Beach police officer Kyle Lofstrom pops the weasel and police dog Ammo responds accordingly.

A post shared by Redondo Beach K9 Team (@redondobeachk9team) on Aug 9, 2018 at 5:28pm PDT

"I can’t tell if this means he likes his new toy or hates it," Lofstrom posted on the K9 team's Instagram.

(via Laughing Squid) Read the rest

Rex worked hard for this field. He was still making payments. To find lions laying there, rent-free, in his paddock? That simply would not do. A dressing down was in order. Read the rest

DogEden (DogeDen, surely?) is a doghouse designed to be mostly buried, with a tiny entrance above ground and a cavernous space beneath grade level. That way, the temperature is kept cooler in summer and warmer in winter, ensuring doge a more comfortable snooze. And when the fascist death squads come for you, they'll be a great place to hide the children!

Smart engineering coupled with good common sense. Dogs weren't meant to live above the ground in a wood or plastic box, they instead prefer a den-like home dug into the ground, away from the sun, wind and rain and extreme cold. No other doghouse on the market takes this into account, only the DogEden. We thought long and hard on this and designed our doghouse to intelligently take advantage of what dogs instinctually desire; they desire a comfortable den, integrated into the earth. Read below where we discuss the temperatures our doghouse maintains, and other smart features and benefits no other doghouse on the market has.

DogEden 60 [Amazon Link] Read the rest

All dogs should come with their own GoPro camera. Every. Single. One. Read the rest

Sombra is a drug-detection dog with the Colombian National Police who is apparently responsible for hundreds of arrests and the seizure of nine tons of drugs. As a result, drug traffickers the Urabeños have put a bounty out on Sombra. From the Washington Post:

Reports vary on the price tag for killing the dog, between 20 and 200 million Colombian pesos — or about $7,000 and $70,000 in U.S. currency. But the threat is serious enough for the National Police to take extra precautions for Sombra’s security...

Sombra came to Colombian law enforcement from a kennel in Antioquia, the region of the country that’s home to the city of Medellin, the springboard for Colombia’s fearsome cartels of the 1980s and 1990s. Outfitted in a neon-yellow vest, the dog is tasked with thrusting her trained snout into luggage and packages in Colombia’s ports and airports along the country’s Gulf Coast....

In response to the bounty on Sombra’s life, General Jorge Nieto, head of the national police, has ordered the dog transferred to Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport, outside the Urabeños’ territory on the coast.

Nuestro can "Sombra" fue la mejor durante los entrenamientos en detección de drogas ilícitas, en los últimos tres años se convirtió en el tormento de "Otoniel" incautandole 9 toneladas de cocaína #ConozcaMás a "Sombra" en el desfile #20DeJulio #COLOMBIAunasolaFuerza pic.twitter.com/a6tWpjkdiQ

— Policía Antinarcóticos (@PoliciaAntiNar) July 20, 2018

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In Canada, on October 17 of this year, it’ll be legal to use pot medicinally or for recreation, without having to worry about getting into trouble with the cops. This is great news for users of marijuana products, those looking for a legal route to selling them, and for the police, as the possession of legal dope means that they can forget about it and deal with higher priority issues. Unfortunately, not everyone’s gonna come out of this with a win: a number of cops will lose their jobs as a result of decriminalization.

From the CBC:

Earlier this month, the RCMP threw a retirement party in St. John’s, N.L., for a Labrador retriever named Luke.

As the saying goes, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, and as cannabis legalization approaches, that puts Luke and other dogs like him out of work.

Luke, who sniffed more than five million of dollars’ worth of drugs during his time on the force, is one of 14 canines across the country who will be out of a job before October 17.

Traffic and interdiction dogs like Luke are trained to detect cannabis, but once the substance is legal, they can no longer be used to establish grounds for search in a traffic stop.

Luke and his fellow former police service pups will no doubt be trotted off to caring homes where they’ll be able to enjoy their retirement from active duty. In the meantime, the RCMP are going to have one hell of a time training new drug dogs with marijuana excluded from their nasal vocabulary. Read the rest

"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.” - Roald Dahl

(via DIGG)

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