Terrierman's Daily Dose

Mother Nature is a Cruel Bitch

2012-03-07T20:39:00.000-05:00

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In the real world, not everything is taught with positive reinforcement.

Related Posts:
** Life (and not yet death) in the African Bush
** The Hazards of Being an American Dog
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Actually, Gideon Wants to Produce

2012-03-07T05:00:00.001-05:00

Only a Jack Russell could star in this ad.
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No Nose, No Thermoregulation = No Welfare

2012-03-06T19:19:00.001-05:00

Photo thanks to Kate Price and Olive who stand together, in love and witness.

Professor Gerhard Oechtering, who works in the department of small animal medicine at the University of Leipzig, Germany, is one of the world's experts on brachucephalic breeds, and he recently appeared in Pedigree Dogs Exposed: Three Years On which aired on BBC4. In The Guardian he writes why "Show pedigree breeding is for tulips, not dogs":

Hearing our grandmothers read the story of Little Red Riding Hood we all know why wolves have big noses – all the better to smell you with! But the noses of wolves and dogs are not just for smell; they are an indispensable tool to control body temperature. Dogs are not able to sweat like humans or horses. They need the large mucosal surface of the nasal turbinate and a specific gland producing "water" in hot weather or when internal heat is produced after physical exercise. Vaporising this water on the large intranasal turbinate surface is the cooling principle; the tongue plays only a minor role in canine thermoregulation. This is the reason why dogs are obligatory nose breathers. No nose – no thermoregulation – no health – no animal welfare....

... The current method of breeding show dogs without any serious physical challenge incorporated into the selection process will inevitably lead to damaged health in all show breeds. Veterinary health control and genetic tests cannot redeem the present concept of dog shows.

Read the whole thing!

The Story of "Keep Calm and Carry On"

2012-03-06T08:30:00.003-05:00

Now I know why I never heard of the sign until a few years ago.
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Proper Sheepdog Work

2012-03-06T04:00:00.000-05:00

A hat tip to Donald McCaig for this one!
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Beware

2012-03-06T02:01:00.000-05:00

He will make you do irrational things and may restrict your diet.
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A 38 Pound Fox? Maybe...

2012-03-05T17:59:00.001-05:00

BBC Scotland is saying a fellow shot a 38 pound fox, and yes there actually is a picture (see above)!

Alan Hepworth, 69, from Rothiemay, Aberdeenshire said, "I could only hold it for a while because it was so heavy and was nearly as big as a roe deer." He added: "I'm 5ft 7in, and it was 4ft 9in. When I held it up, it was almost the same size as me."

Jonathan Reynolds, senior research scientist at the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), said: "A 38lbs fox would have been unthinkable a few years ago. We don't know why they are getting bigger, but one possible explanation is that they are getting better fed in urban areas."

Note: Note that of the 6,283 fox weighed here, the largest male foxes in Scotland weighed, on average, 7,380 grams (16.27 pounds) and the largest in Denmark weighed, on average, weighed 7,600 grams (16.75 pounds).

Related Links:
** "Largest Fox Ever" Underscores the Point
** Variation in the Body Size of the Red Fox

Ladies First?

2012-03-05T14:34:00.002-05:00

Aily Zirkle is the lady to beat.

This could be a good year for the Iditarod ladies.

Sure, four-time champion Lance Mackey pulled out of Finger Lake first, followed by 70-year-old Jim Lanier of Chugiak, but 2000 Yukon Quest champion Aily Zirkle of Two Rivers is running third.

Also in the game is last year's winner, 49-year-old John Baker of Kotzebue, the first Inupiat Eskimo to win, and the first Alaska native since Jerry Riley in 1976.

Another pair to watch are Wisconsin twins Anna and Kristy Berington. They are the first twins to ever run the Iditarod. Kristy came in ninth in this year’s Yukon Quest.
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Anna and Kristy Berington are likely to do very well.

We Need More Facts and Fewer Fat Cats

2012-03-05T11:05:00.000-05:00

Hank, the cat running for U.S. Senate seat from Virginia, has over-stated his credentials and now questions are being raised about his background by "Canines for a Feline Free Tomorrow Super PAC,” a watchdog outfit protecting our interests here in the Commonwealth.
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2012 IACP Conference

2012-03-05T05:00:00.040-05:00

I am one of the speakers at the 2012 International Association of Canine Professionals in Orlando, Florida, April 19th- 21st.

My topic: Why Good People Think Strange Things About Dogs. The summary:

Dogs are in trouble because so many good people think strange things about canine evolution, form, function, health, evaluation, and training.
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How did so many dogs get into trouble, and what do strange ideas about dogs have to do with the world of canine dysfunction?
Strange Ideas About Origins
Strange Ideas About Evolution
Strange Chestnuts from the Show Ring
Strange Celebrations of Defect and Deformity
Strange Evaluations of Health
Strange Evaluations of Work
Strange Ideas by Dog Buyers
Strange Ideas by Shelter Operators
Strange Beliefs About Training

How are dogs doing now, and why is there some glimmer of hope on the horizon?
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Where are dogs going, and should we — as advocates for dogs — be helping dogs go down that path?
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Patrick will explore canine history, how dogs are produced and sold today, and how the future of dogs may be shaped by a contentious debate that is ongoing right now in the Mother Church of pedigree dogs.

Other speakers include:

Martin Deeley asks: “Should there be any pendulum between total positive and total pressure? Should we pigeonhole canine professionals and criticize them by saying they only use one magic wand?”
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Chad Mackin will be talking about how to use a dog’s naturally strong social behavior to reduce stress and fear; build confidence and language skills, allowing for many common behavior problems to slip away.
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Dr. Jean Dodds will be talking about the function and importance of the thyroid in canine health in addition to the identification of the clinical signs and symptoms of canine thyroid disorders.
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Max Frayser will provide insight on the training methods used for K-9 search and rescue and share their experiences utilizing these skills to help find and save people

Still other speakers include: Debby Kay, Jennifer Funk, Tom Dokkin, Leslie Horton, Robin Hawn & Laura Potts, and Camilla Gray-Nelson. Check out the line up!

And if you're in Orlando at the conference, be sure to stick out a paw!

A Life Worth Living Comes With Risk

2012-03-04T17:38:00.001-05:00

In his book, Edible Wild Plants, John Kallas has a very nice disclaimer that I think is worth giving a tip of the hat to:

If you venture out of your nuclear-proof, earthquake-proof, asteroid-proof bunker into the real world, you might be at risk. Yes, it’s true! You may be hit by a bus or get E coli or staphylococcus poisoning from a church potluck. If you kiss someone, you may get herpes, mono, or worse—a tragic relationship. On the golf course, you may be hit by lightning. If you go ice skating, you may break your neck. If you go on a hike, you may trip on loose rocks, fall over a cliff, and die. Or you might be in the World Trade Center at the wrong time.

Look, you can either curl up under your bed covers and live a safe, dull, insulated life reading about other people doing things you wish you were doing. Or you can join the real world. If you venture into the real world, you risk living your life to its fullest. You risk the rush of climbing that mountain, of dancing all night, of scuba diving in reefs of mind-blowing color, of standing in the rain on an ocean viewpoint, watching huge waves crashing against the rocks, of meeting the partner of your dreams. You risk getting exercise and breathing fresh air. You risk making life worth living.

Perfect!

Kallas' book, by the way, is a nice read and available for the remarkably low price of $1.99 from Amazon's kindle store.

Whether you ever intend to forage or not, this book will at least let you know the names of some of the more common field-weed plants found everywhere in the U.S. and quite edible if harvested at the right time and in the righty way: Wild spinach, chickweed, purslane, sorrel, field mutard, wintercress, dandelion, mallow, and shepherd's purse, among others.
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Fish on Fridays

2012-03-02T15:41:00.000-05:00

Enjoy!
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The Lassie Method of Dog Training

2012-03-02T08:28:00.004-05:00

Rudd Weatherwax was the owner and trainer of Lassie, and back in 1971 he published a very basic dog training book called "The Lassie Method: Raising & Training Your Dog With Patience, Firmness & Love."

Unlike Victoria Stilwell, who leaned dog training from a correspondence school course and thrust herself out there as an expert when she did not even own a dog, Rudd Weatherwax started training dogs professionally as a boy in the 1920s, moving on to train the famous terrier Asta used in the Thin Man movie series staring William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Weatherwax grew up on a working ranch in New Mexico where collies were used to herd 3,500 Angora goats. When his family moved to Los Angeles in 1917, the first dog that the young Weatherwax got and trained was a Fox Terrier that showed up at his back door one day. That dog went on to star in movies, and the young Weatherwax himself began to apprentice with Hollywood animal trainer Henry East.

Rudd Weatherwax went on to train the dogs used in Old Yeller, the Dog of Flanders, Hondo, and many other movies including the Lassie movies and television series, all of which featured male dogs (which generally have better coats and better heads than females).

So how did Rudd Weatherwax train dogs? With a great deal of affection, of course. But also, as the book title suggests, with patience and firmness.

Weatherwax's book is pretty basic, and as a consequence it focuses on the kind of dog training that is known to work and has been proven to work by real dog handlers for generations. Weatherwax was not too enamored with fancy equipment, and he was not shy about telling a dog NO in a way that the dog understood but was also far from abusive. And, to be clear, Weatherwax was just fine with food rewards as well. Weatherwax, you see, was interested in what worked, and it turns out quite a lot of stuff does!

And guess what? Rudd Weatherwax trained Lassie with a simple slip collar or "choke chain" as seen below.

Of course, this is not too surprising.

A million happy and healthy dogs over a 1,000 years have been successfully trained with slip collars and "choke chains" and most dog trainers still use them today. As I noted in a recent article,

I would be wary of any dog trainer that says compulsion has no place in the world of dog training.

At its simplest, dog training is simply getting a dog to do what it will not do naturally and on your schedule, whether that is an entirely artificial act such as running weave poles or retrieving a shot bird to hand, or not chasing a cat or barking at the mailman...

In short, collars and leashes have a place in every training regime, as does both positive reward and certain level of compulsion.

If someone comes along and tells you otherwise, be extremely wary.

And if that same someone tells you everyone else has been doing it wrong for 2,000 years, walk away in the opposite direction.

Nothing good ever started with a lie.

Coffee and Provocation

2012-03-01T20:00:00.000-05:00

The political sniff test.

Pet Food Industry Lobbies to Kill More Dogs:
While dog food makers want you to think they care about shelter pets, be advised that their lobbyists are the same group of soulless brain-dead liars-for-hire we find in every industry. An example: the Pet Food Institute writes that they have expressed their "appreciation" to the West Virginia Senate Agricultural Committee for amending a bill to remove petfood tax provisions. PFI note that "The bill would have added a petfood tax provisions to fund a spay and neuter assistance program with supplemental money from a fee increase on petfood retailers and distributors. Now the money will come from the general budget and supplemental revenue is raised through an income tax refund checkoff." In short, God forbid we have a dedicated tax on dog owners that actually help dogs! Shame on the Pet Food Institute and their corporate funders for killing this dedicated tax. When people wonder why subsidized spay and neuter programs have too little money (and they will have too little money), be sure to mention this Pet Food Institute lobbying campaign as one causal reason. And let's remember what too little money for subsidized spay-neuter means: more dead dogs, especially more dead Pit Bulls.

Idiots with Guns, In the Government:
The geniuses in the Department of Interior have put forth a plan to allow government workers to shoot selected barred owls so that their spotted owl cousins will thrive. Barred Owl and Spotted Owl territories overlap and the birds interbreed, as I have noted in the past. The problem is that well-intentioned environmentalists have elevated the "Northern Spotted Owl" as a species (it is not a species, but a sub-species) and suggested it is rare (it is not) and so when it was pointed out that Barred Owls are naturally out-competing and cross-breeding with Spotted Owls, the Department of Interior decided killing success was the way to go. I sure there is a political metaphor in the somewhere; have at it.

Idiots with Direct Mail Permits, Not In the Government:
The $37 million a year taxpayer subsidized direct mail mill known as PeTA killed more than 1,911 mostly healthy dogs and cat last year at its headquarters in Norfolk, VA, finding homes for only 24. Since 1998, PeTA has killed over 28,000 mostly healthy animals at its Norfolk headquarters which, as I have noted in the past, is actually an illegal and unlicensed slaughter house and NOT a shelter.

Elk Return to Virginia:
Elk were once found throughout eastern North America, including Virginia, but were shot out by 1850. Now, Elk are going to return, thanks to a transplant from Kentucky which, in turn, got its elk from Utah through the good work of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The Kentucky Elk herd now has more than 10,000 animals, and will be sending 75 to the Commonwealth.

Return of a 32,000 Year Old Plant:
Scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences have taken a small bit of 32,000 year old frozen flowering plant discovered 38 meters down in a frozen and and fossilized squirrel burrow in Siberia and coaxed it back to life and flower.

Darwin Down Under:
In Australia a poisonous invasive plant protects Australian lizards from poisonous invasive cane toads. According to the March 2012 issue of American Naturalist, the toxins of cane toads and a plant called Mother-of-Millions are quite similar, and when native eastern blue-tongued skinks in Australia ate plants, they gained a resistance to the cane toad toxins.

Why No Starbucks In Two Biggest Coffee Drinking Countries?
Finland and Norway have the highest per-capita coffee consumption in the world, but until recently they had no Starbucks. Why not? According to NYU economics and business professor Stanley Zin, it's because the two countries have almost no dairy industry and also have some of the world's highest dairy tariffs. Combined, this causes the price of milk to be very high -- so high it makes the cost of most Starbucks lattes and cappuccino drinks prohibitively expensive. In addition, because Norway and Finland have restrictive immigration policies and low birth rates, labor is expensive, while Starbucks has a very labor-intensive method of making coffee, further driving up prices. Despite all this, Starbucks will be opening their first stores in the Helsinki and and Oslo's airport, catering to foreigners and air travelers. If Starbucks would like to send an American of Norwegian heritage to the Oslo opening, I volunteer to write an excellent piece about the experience!

The Place to Be in January of 1913:
In January 1913 alone, Josip Broz Tito, Sigmund Freud, Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky (the latter two being regulars) were patrons of Cafe Central in Vienna. A list of other famous coffee houses of the world can be found here. Last summer I had coffee at Café de Flore and passed by Les Deux Magots, both in Paris.

Making Waves with Neanderthals:
Neanderthals were ancient mariners, crossing the Mediterranean to Crete and the Greek islands of Lefkada, Kefalonia and Zakynthos in boats some 100,000 years ago.

Herring Farts or Commie Bastards in Miniature Subs?
The Swedish scientists who identified herring farts in Stockholm's harbor were awarded the 2004 Ig Nobel Prize in biology, sharing the prize with a team from Canada and Scotland who independently made a similar discovery about herring farts. However, there is some controversy. Sweden’s former Prime Minister, and current Minister for Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt says the scientists are wrong and that the herring farts are not herring farts at all, but Russians sneaking around in miniature submarines.

Sick Twisted Idaho Is the Home of Bait Dogs for Wolves:
Idaho is one messed up state. Not only is it home to a thriving population of Nazis (there is nothing "neo" about Nazis), but there is now a bill pending before the state legislature that would allow ranchers to use live bait, including dogs, to lure in wolves so they can be killed. And who is in support of this? None other than the Idaho Wool Growers Association.
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Remembering Andrew Breitbart

2012-03-01T17:33:00.002-05:00

This is Andrew Breitbart who died of a heart attack today.

This video is from February, so this is not ancient history.

Now a story, and perhaps a small lesson in civics and karma.

You see, "We the People" may end up supporting this man's kids and wife thanks to Social Security Survivor benefits.

It was these same Social Security Survivor benefits that kicked in when a 16-year old by the name of Paul Ryan (now a conservative Congressman from Wisconsin) found his father dead from a heart attack at age 55.

Paul Ryans and his three brothers and sisters were able to go to college because of Social Security Survivor benefits.

Just last year, Congressman Ryan turned around and attacked Social Security saying current and future benefits (i.e. all the money that most senior citizens actually live on) "will transform our social safety net into a hammock, which lulls able-bodied people into lives of complacency and dependency."

Right.

So Paul Ryan is a hypocrite and an ingrate. Surely you are not surprised to find such an animal in Congress?

But never mind.  Let us now turn our attention to the wife and dependent children of another very dead young father -- Andrew Breitbart.

Once again Social Security Survivor benefits will step up if they are needed.

Of course Andrew Breitbart's family can go ahead and decline them.

In fact, I hope they do, because God knows Andrew Breitbart never showed an ounce of compassion for anyone else.

In the hours immediately following Senator Ted Kennedy's death, for example, Breitbart called Kennedy a "villain", a "duplicitous bastard", a "prick" and "a special pile of human excrement".

And I guess Andrew Breitbart would know. After all, when it came to duplicitous piles of shit, Andrew Breitbart was the biggest load to ever swirl around the bowl.
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A Delight in My Email Box

2012-03-01T06:00:00.003-05:00

Sometimes small delights come in over the transom, such as this wonderful little poem from David Cunningham, a reader from Vermont who, like me, bemoans the slow but steady loss of old barns and farm outbuildings.

Enjoy!

LEFT TO ROT

I look with sadness at this old barn,

Once proud upon its stone.

Now left to rot; bereft of cows,

So canted and alone.

Was it once red? Was it once square?

Was it once some farmer’s pride?

Did it once swell a young man’s heart?

This barn and his new bride.

A man once milked his cows in there,

Once stored his hay, his life.

This barn once meant much to that man,

This barn and his dear wife.

But time moves on, that man grew old,

His wife and life have gone.

His sons could not stay on the farm,

So they, too, have moved on.

So now the barn is left to rot,

The weather breaks its spine.

And I claim it would not be so,

If this barn, it were mine.

But soon I, too, will pass the way,

Of all things made of flesh.

The world moves on, but without me,

Replaced by something fresh.

Then who will tend my treasured barn,

Once I’m no longer here?

No one will care like I once cared,

No one will hold it dear.

No, in the ground we both shall go,

I sooner, like as not.

And in the end we’ll both be mold,

Both will be left to rot.

An Alpha Wolf Kills Another Alpha Wolf???

2012-02-29T14:38:00.000-05:00

What?

An "alpha" wolf kills another alpha wolf? But that never happens!

But, of course, it happens all the time.

Wolf-on-wolf violence is one of the most common reasons wolves die in the wild.

From today's edition of The New York Times:

[T]oday, the alpha wolf of the Chippewa Harbor Pack and I are most likely recalling memories of the same event, even if we experienced it from wildly different perspectives....

One year ago, minus four days, I hiked over this same ridge and then just a quarter of a mile beyond. It was warm and sunny, like today. On a sled behind me, I hauled the 85-pound carcass of the alpha male of the Middle Pack; two days earlier, he had been killed by the alpha male of the Chippewa Harbor Pack.

In the year since, the Chippewa Harbor wolves have not had to defend their territory, as they are the only surviving pack on Isle Royale....

Related Posts:
** Oops... There Really IS Dominance in Wolves
** Inbred Wolves Live with Pain
** Islands of Wolves, Rats, Lions and Dogs.

Grave-robbing Badgers Dig Up Cemetery

2012-02-29T11:35:00.000-05:00

We very occasionally have the the same problem in the U.S. with badgers, groundhogs, prairie dogs and groundsquirrels. I always give a wide birth to a rural cemetery tucked into the edge of a farm I hunt, despite the number of groundhog and fox settes located along the edge. No reason for me to face a false charge of grave robbing!

From the BBC comes this badger story from Swindon in the U.K.:

Badgers have burrowed under graves bringing bones to the surface at Swindon's Victorian Radnor Street Cemetery.

Frances Bevan, of the cemetery's preservation group, said the situation was "very distressing" for relatives.

Swindon Borough Council said: "Licences to move badgers are only granted in exceptional circumstances."

A spokesman said: "There have been occasions over the years where human remains have been found above the ground in the cemetery and we have reverently re-interred these as close to their original graves as possible."

Ms Bevan, from the Friends of Radnor Street Cemetery group, added: "It is quite a worry because the cemetery is pretty much left to its own devices and you just feel that there isn't anything you can do.

"The badgers are left to breed. I've no idea how many are up there but there are a couple of huge setts."

The site was designated a Local Nature Reserve in 2005, and under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 it is illegal to interfere with a sett.

Back to the Start... Back to the Garden of Eden

2012-02-28T13:06:00.000-05:00

Willy Nelson sings Coldplay's "The Scientist"on this video.

Back to the start... back to the Garden of Eden, which was not crowded with two.

Remember, factory farms are not the problem -- they are a symptom of the problem.

The problem is human over-population.

No one woke up this morning trying to ruin the world.

They woke up trying to feed all the children.

And to do that, they cut down the forest, plowed up the land, pumped water from the aquifers, and tried to raise more crops and more animals with greater efficiency.

They tried to make a profit, which meant they raced to the basement in terms of pollution control, and they tried to keep up with their next door neighbors who boosted their farm yields with fertilizers while suppressing weeds and bugs with herbicides and pesticides.

No one set out to ruin the world.

No one set out to be cruel or so far removed from nature. But without family planning and self-restraint, this is what happens.
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Urban Fox and Coyotes

2012-02-28T08:03:00.002-05:00

I got an email the other day from an outfit in the U.K. interested in doing a documentary on urban foxes. The were particularly interested in fox dens, and my description of den construction. How could they find a fox den, and perhaps take a cast of it?

I directed them to the work of David MacDonald who has tracked fox all over London, and suggested if they wanted to see a working fox den "any old gamekeeper should be able to help you but they are not going to be interested in wrecking the thing or in romanticizing the fox. Fox are generally harmless, and are valued, but like any thing they can be a nuisance in the wrong place. In short, fox are neither demons nor saint -- they are like feral cats, and in fact occupy that niche quite well."

I also noted that fox only den underground for a short part of the year, and that in an urban environment, that might not be in a dirt den, but in a crawl space under an outbuilding, under old roofing or detritus in a dump, under or inside an abandoned car, or inside a dry drain.

Of course, here in the U.S. we have urban and suburban fox almost everywhere, and I can get photos of them almost any night.

We now also have growing numbers of suburban and even urban coyotes.

In an essay called New Dog in Town, Christopher Ketcham writes that:

Wild Coyotes have settled in or around every major city in the United States, thriving as never before, and in New York they have taken to golf. I'm told that the New Yorker coyotes spend a good deal of time near the tenth hole on the Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course in the Bronx. They apparently like to watch the players tee off among the Canada geese. They hunt squirrels and rabbits and wild turkeys along the edge of the forest surrounding the course, where there are big old hardwoods and ivy that looks like it could strangle a man—good habitat in which to den, skulk, plan. Sometimes in summer the coyotes emerge from the steam of the woods to chew golf balls and spit them onto the grass in disgust.

Until recently, I couldn't quite believe that coyotes were established New Yorkers. Among neophyte naturalists it's an anomaly, a bizarrerie, something like a miracle. Coyotes, after all, are natives of the high plains and deserts two thousand miles to the west. But for anyone who takes the time to get to know coyotes, their coming to the city is a development as natural as water finding a way downhill. It is also a lesson in evolution that has gone largely unheralded. Not in pristine wilderness, but here, amid the splendor of garbage cans filthy with food, the golf carts crawling on the fairway like alien bugs, in a park full of rats and feral cats and dullard chipmunks and thin rabbits and used condoms and bums camping out and drunks pissing in the brush, a park ringed by arguably the most urbanized ingathering of Homo sapiens in America—here the coyote thrives. It seemed to me good news....

From California to Maine, there are more coyotes than at any time since records have been kept, their territorial expansion unprecedented in speed and scope....

That the coyote has expanded his range does not surprise biologists. What does confound is the suggestion, hotly debated, that the coyotes now taking over the eastern United States in fact represent a new subspecies of wild dog on the continent, the Canis latrans varietas. The western coyote is a smaller creature than the eastern cousin. The westerner weighs in at perhaps thirty pounds, looking somewhat like a fat fox. The eastern coyote grows as big as sixty pounds at his heftiest.... Chuck Jones, the animator, pegged the Trickster, in cartoon Latin, as Eatibus anythingus. Which is true: coyotes eat garbage, darkness, rats, air — they'd lap my beer if I let them.

How to Diaper a Chicken

2012-02-28T07:33:00.000-05:00

Your whiskey-tango-foxtrot of the day.
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Digging on the Dogs

2012-02-28T07:14:00.001-05:00

Clitter of shale dig out by groundhog.

Recycling deer.

My digging pal with the catch of the day and two white dogs.

When You Need Smart and Tough

2012-02-27T18:56:00.000-05:00

When you need smart and tough, you need a Jack Russell.

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Badger Theremin

2012-02-27T18:07:00.002-05:00

What the hell is a Theremin?

A Theremin is an odd electronic musical instrument that makes eery undulating noises without any apparent contact from the "player" who changes the tones of the instrument by simply moving his or her hands closer or father away from two antenna receivers. Named after Russian inventor Léon Theremin, the machine was patented in 1928 and it has never been very popular as sounds cannot be well controlled. Think "playing the saw" in electronic form, and you have the right idea.

Below we see a Theremin placed in the echo chamber of a taxidermy badger.

Why? Why not!

Pedigree Dogs Exposed: Three Years On

2012-02-27T07:28:00.002-05:00

Pedigree Dogs Exposed 2, aka Pedigree Dogs Exposed: Three Years On is scheduled for airing in the U.K. tonight at 9 pm.

It's the Pick of the Day in today's Guardian:

"Three years ago, Jemima Harrison exposed pedigree breeding practices that left many dogs with severe health problems. Since then, she's become a campaigner for canine welfare and now she revisits the issue to see if anything has really changed. Although there have been some improvements, she uncovers a depressing lack of progress. Flat-faced breeds such as pugs and bulldogs may look good enough to win prizes in dog shows, but sadly they're struggling to breathe."

Check it out!
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Oops. There Really IS Dominance in Wolves

2012-02-24T17:30:00.003-05:00

We all make mistakes. I make 'em every once in a while, and you do too.

The true test is not whether you make a mistake, but whether you own it, and by that test Lee Charles Kelley comes out alright.

I don't know Kelley. Never read him before. We might disagree on nothing, or disagree on almost everything. I have no idea. That said, I give him a small nod for cowboying up for a serious error. It would be nice if other dog trainers would follow suit.

Kelley writes in Psychology Today online:

A Mea Culpa to Mech, an Apology to Bekoff

When it comes to understanding canine behavior, Dr. David Mech — the world's leading expert on wolves — and Dr. Mark Bekoff — the world's leading expert on coyotes and canine play — are two of my biggest heroes. So imagine my chagrin to discover that they're both irritated with me....

I wrote a piece last week titled "Deconstructing the Dominance Myth (Again...)," which was a response to a personal blog post written by Dr. Roger Abrantes, posted on another part of the internet, far, far away. The main thrust of my article wasn't that dominant behaviors don't exist, but that the terms we're using to describe them are anthropomorphic, and that saddling dogs with these labels is harmful to any dogs whose behaviors may, in fact, be the result of stress or anxiety, not dominance. I now realize, and freely admit, that I made mistakes in my article, mistakes I wasn't aware of until Dr. Bekoff pointed them out to me here.

My first mistake was referring to the concept of dominance as a myth. That's a charged word, one that carries with it the implication that scientists who have dedicated their lives to understanding animal behavior are all operating under some kind of mass delusion. I deeply regret making that insinuation, however unintentionally. In recent years, it's become fairly common in the dog training world for some of us to talk about "the myth of dominance" in a somewhat cavalier way. What's generally meant by this is that the idea of dominating a dog, as the basis for a training system, isn't based on real science and can be harmful to the human-canine bond.

Dr. Bekoff also took me to task for the following passage:

"Dr. David Mech, the world's leading expert on wolves, says that in 13 years of studying the wolves on Isle Royale in Michigan he never saw any displays of dominance. In other packs Mech says that dominance displays are so rare as to be almost nonexistent."

I turns out that this isn't exactly true. I was basing what I said on the following passage from a 1999 paper ("Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs," Canadian Journal of Zoology.): "In natural wolf packs, the alpha male or female are merely the breeding animals, the parents of the pack, and dominance contests with other wolves are rare, if they exist at all. During my 13 summers observing the Ellesmere Island pack, I saw none." (I made another mistake by getting the geographical location of Mech's studies wrong.)

Dr. Bekoff apparently sent a copy of my post to Dr. Mech, who responded with the following: "A quick scan of the Kelley article reveals much misinformation attributed to me. This misinterpretation and total misinformation like Kelley's has plagued me for years now. I do not in any way reject the notion of dominance."

In his post, Dr. Bekoff pointed me (and other readers) to a 2010 paper written by Dr. Mech and H. Dean Cluff ("Prolonged Intensive Dominance Behavior Between Gray Wolves, Canis lupus") in which they write: "Dominance is among the most pervasive and important behaviors of wolves in a pack."

Clearly, I'm not keeping up on my research. So I was wrong to insinuate, here and in other pieces I've written on dominance, that Mech believes dominance is rare or doesn't exist at all in wild wolf packs. I apologize for my mistake and will attempt to make corrections to all the pieces I've written that contain this outdated view (there are a lot of them).

But wait. It gets worse!

My thesis about the cause of dominance and submission—as outlined briefly in my post—is that they're primarily the result of a wolf's internal tension and stress. But in the comments section of Dr. Bekoff's post, Simon Gadbois, from the Canid Behaviour Laboratory at Dalhousie University in Halifax, wrote: "My PhD thesis was on social stress in wolves... Jane Packard, that had done the stress studies with Mech in the 80's was on my committee. Here I can tell you that your interpretation is wrong because you are over-generalizing. We simply do not have enough data to jump to the conclusions that you get to."

Read the whole thing, but let me be clear that I am applauding Kelley for owning up to his error, setting the record right, and putting it in print.

Contrast that to another person who will remain unnamed, but who was the subject of a blog post about dominance (in which David Mech weighs in -- see the comments) authored by Dr. Mark Johnson. Read that post here: Is Dominance Always Bad?  And, of course, the answer is NO. I featured excerpts from Dr. Johnson's post on this blog two years ago (see here) and even featured video of wolf dominance filmed by Dr. David Mech and Dean Cluff (see here).  For those who like video-enhanced story, I put up a post entitled Dominance Creates and Maintains Wolf Packs which told the story of the rise and fall of the Druid Wolf pack -- the largest wolf pack in the world at the time it was being filmed.

And yet we still have this nonsense about dominance in wolves and dogs as a "myth." Why is that?

Mostly it's because a small slice of dog trainers have decided that in order to differentiate themselves in the world of dog training they need to brand what everyone else is doing as "abusive" while proclaiming "their" method (click-and-treat) as the only one that is "scientific."

This is the Internet School of Dog Training where Lee Charles Kelley has apparently been hanging out and drinking the Koolaid, and it seems he has simply not bothered (up to now) to actually read the sources that he and others have been referencing.

Even now he cannot quite let go of the nonsense, writing that what he meant "is that the idea of dominating a dog, as the basis for a training system, isn't based on real science and can be harmful to the human-canine bond."

Um. Mr. Kelley, you still don't get it. Dominance is not violent. It is not bad. It is simply taking control and establishing respect and leadership on your part and establishing respect and followship on the part of the dog. It is not a threat to the human-canine bond, it is the essence of it.  And, to be clear, dominance occurs every day and not only with wolves, but also with dogs, people, elk, bison, and pretty much every other animal that lives in social groups (as well as many that do not). Dominance makes the world go around.

Kelley, describes himself as as a "neo-Freudian" dog trainer. I have no idea what that means, but he seems to think it has something to do with prey drive. I guess I know a little about prey drive in dogs since I have working terriers with the scars to prove it, but I have never felt any need to quote Freud. Let us remember that the real experts on dogs have tails.

I have to say I find it amusing that Kelley says words like "dominance" and "submission" are "anthropomorphic" and then turns around and calls himself a "neo-Freudian" dog trainer. Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot. Not too much self-awareness there!

So what is this contrived and entirely fake controversy about dominance in dogs about?

It is about marketing.

Remember that dog trainers are trying to sell a service and so they are trying to differentiate themselves.

In order to differentiate themselves, a dog trainer may claim to be neo-Freudian or "gentle" or "natural" or "positive" or "holistic" or "balanced."

Casting about for a rationale for why people should choose their training methods as opposed to their competitors, many of these folks have done two things simultaneously:

Mis-characterized scientific work on wolves and dogs, including and perhaps especially the work of David Mech, and;
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Mis-characterized the training methods of thousands of years of dogs trainers, including and perhaps especially the work of Cesar Millan, who happens to be the most famous dog training personality on television these days (a spot previously held by Barbara Woodhouse).

Since the previous text straightens out much of this mis-characterization of Mech, let me address the second one -- the mischaracterization of Cesar Millan.

In Cesar's Rules, Millan and co-author Melissa Jo Peltier write about what Millan actually does and what he has actually written:

My co-author tells me that on occasion someone will say to her, “I don’t approve of Cesar’s training methods.” When she tells the person that what I’m doing isn’t dog training but dog rehabilitation, he or she often grudgingly admits to having watched only one or two episodes of the show or a one-minute clip on YouTube and typically has not read any of my books or seen my videos. When my co-author asks, “What do you think his methods are?” the answer invariably is something like, “Oh, all the choke chains and the e-collars and the alpha rolls.”

Well, any regular viewer of Dog Whisperer knows that these tools don’t fairly represent what such a critic would call “my methods.” Curious about this, our producers did a show-by-show breakdown, watching hundreds of hours of television and counting when a particular technique was used in any given episode. At the time the breakdown was done, we’d filmed 140 shows, covering over 317 separate cases of problem dog behavior.

The person who doesn’t approve of my “methods” might be surprised to learn that the number one thing I advocate nearly every show is simply leadership (in 98 percent of the episodes), which I teach as the calm-assertive energy that any leader, teacher, parent, or other positive authority figure projects to her followers. I’ve used the word dominance to describe the energy of leadership, but in the animal world dominance doesn’t mean “brutality,” and assertive certainly doesn’t mean “aggressive.” I believe that good leadership never involves bullying or intimidating; instead, it depends on confidence, knowing what you want, and sending clear, consistent messages about what you want.

The number two method I advocate, according to the producers’ breakdown, is body language (91 percent), which is a primary way in which leadership is projected in most animal species. My third top “method” is exercise — walk your dog properly at least twice a day (72 percent). And what is the fourth most common “method” I’ve used on Dog Whisperer episodes?

This one may shock a few people. I used positive reinforcement in one form or another 67 percent of the time in the first 140 shows. As Barbara De Groodt reminds us, positive reinforcement doesn’t have to mean cookies. It can mean anything that a dog likes and that becomes a motivator or reward for the dog.

Personally, I don’t think I have a specific “method” or “system” that I apply in order to change or improve a dog’s behavior. For me, there is no magic formula. I believe in trusting my instincts and in treating each dog as an individual.

So there you go: those are Millan's "methods," and if you oppose them, then you are telling me and the world that you oppose leadership, exercise, body language, and positive reinforcement.

There is much more in the book of course, but you will have to actually buy the book and read it. Since a quick glance through Lee Charles Kelley's previous writings tells me he has not actually read Cesar Millan either, he might take a hint and do a little reading there too.

Does reading books (and not just Internet bulletin boards and Facebook posts) make me an "old school" dog trainer?

If so, then I am very old school, and I have the T-shirt to prove it!

Fish on Friday

2012-02-24T14:30:00.000-05:00

A nice array of properly aged Striped Bass.
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The GOP: Kicked in the Crystal Balls Again

2012-02-23T18:33:00.001-05:00

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The entire nation is laughing at the hysterical histrionics of the Republican hype machine.

But to review reality for those who like to keep score:

When Obama came into office, General Motors was dead and Osama Bin Laden was alive.
Today, Osama Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is the largest car maker in the world.
Yesterday the Dow hit 13,000 -- a 24% increase in the last 4 months.
Al-Qaeda is on life support.
Muammar Gaddafi is dead and we did not lose a soldier thanks to Obama's correct leadership.
The war on fraud in Medicare and Medicaid is racking up record recoveries thanks to enforcement efforts we did not see under Bush.
Wall Street is terrified Dodd Frank will force them to not cheat.
A new proposed tax restructuring will end tax subsidies to companies that move manufacturing jobs overseas, even as it lowers tax rates on companies than manufacture here in America.
National health care legislation means that since everyone will get sick someday, everyone has to now pay for insurance, and the insurance industry has to treat us like a large group; no more cherry picking!
Illegal immigrant entries have cratered thanks to massive law enforcement at the border and increased enforcement of employer sanctions at the job site.
More oil and natural gas is being drilled in the U.S. now than before Obama came into office.
Obama has saluted the 2nd amendment as an individual right, has gone trout fishing on the Gallatin River (and he got a new fly rod for his birthday), and taken wolves off of the Endangered Species List.
Obama has not cheated on his wife, has not written many years of racists newsletters, and has not embraced a Taliban-like Big Government Program to patrol what goes on in your bedroom.
Compare and contrast. Choose or lose. Remember in November.

How Much Is That Jack Russell in the Window?

2012-02-23T06:00:00.005-05:00

I've happily plundered the web site of Embrace Pet Insurance in the past to write about the true cost of Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, English Bulldogs, and Dachshunds.

Now it's time to talk about the Jack Russell Terrier. l love this write up from Embrace Pet Insurance.

Right at the top, Embrace Pet Insurance says most people do not want one. No you do not! Please do NOT get this dog if all you want is a cute lap dog. Jack Russell Terriers are prey-driven hunting dogs. They bark, dig, and they are a complete pain-in-the-ass. Or as Embrace Pet Insurance puts it in their opening paragraph:

No matter how enamored you were of Eddie on Fraser or PBS' Wishbone, the fact is this: The Jack Russell Terrier (or the Parson Russell, as he's known in AKC circles) is almost certainly not the breed for you. That's not because Jack Russells are bad dogs. He was created for active work, and it's what he loves and what he is driven to do. If you have a job in mind for him that will push his limits and engage his full and enthusiastic attention, then you may be that rare person who is right for one of these dogs.

Bingo. And, on behalf of the dogs, THANK YOU Embrace Pet Insurance. The description goes on:

If you're wondering why your Jack Russell isn't as well-behaved as Eddie or Wishbone, it's because the dogs that portray those characters have full-time trainers on staff to keep them in line. More to the point, those dogs had full-time jobs, which is what the JRT wants and needs. His endless desire to be digging, barking and investigating can't and shouldn't be squelched. It should be celebrated by someone who loves the very traits that drive many JRT owners insane.

Bingo again. And again, on behalf of the dogs, THANK YOU Embrace Pet Insurance.

So what about health? Embrace Pet Insurance gets it right there too:

If you look at the list of diseases on the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America website, you'll decide this has to be one of the unhealthiest breeds around. Not so; it's just that most breed clubs aren't as relentlessly thorough about even the rarest health conditions that can affect their dogs.

Yep. Bingo again.

In fact The Jack Russell Terrier is just about the healthiest and longest living "breed" around, but that's not something those of us who love the dog are going to tell everyone, because we do not want people rushing out to acquire a Jack Russell terrier before they have gone into a quiet room to take inventory about themselves -- not who they want to be, but who they really are.

A dog is not a hat to try on and discard with fashion and mood; it is a commitment for life.

Let me suggest to you a simple truth: most people who want a dog need a cat and deserve a gold fish. Damn few people need a Jack Russell Terrier.

The health care costs of a Jack Russell are going to be pretty low, but you might find the fencing costs staggering (this little dog both digs and climbs), and they may eat your furniture if they are bored.

Still thinking about getting one of these dogs? Then please visit Jack Russell Rescue after reading this article twice. And if you are thinking about breeding a Jack Russell (please do not!), be advised that JRTCA members routinely test their breeding dogs for vision, hearing and other health problems, and so should you if you ever hope to find a place for your dogs in the marketplace. And no, Jack Russells do not sell for much money, so there's no big dollar puppy business to be had here. If that's your dream, can I suggest AKC toy poodles rather than JRTCA Jack Russells?

The Jack Russell Terrier Club of America (JRTCA) stands for the dogs, it stands for canine health, and it stands against the puppy peddlers who oversell other breeds. The JRTCA runs ads in almost every all-breed magazine every month telling people NOT to buy a Jack Russell terrier, with links to the "Bad Dog" page.

This is what a breed club should be doing, but so far as I know, the JRTCA is the only dog breed club in the world that actually does it.

If your take-away message from reading this little post is that Jack Russell terriers owners are fierce about protecting their dogs as healthy working dogs and keeping them out of rescue, then I have only two words to say to you: Damn right.
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This Obit Is Better Than Yours Will Ever Be

2012-02-23T05:00:00.002-05:00

John Fairfax

This obituary is better than yours will ever be unless you lie very, very convincingly. From The New York Times:

John Fairfax, Who Rowed Across Oceans, Dies at 74

He crossed the Atlantic because it was there, and the Pacific because it was also there.

He made both crossings in a rowboat because it, too, was there, and because the lure of sea, spray and sinew, and the history-making chance to traverse two oceans without steam or sail, proved irresistible....

At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle.

At 20, he attempted suicide-by-jaguar. Afterward he was apprenticed to a pirate. To please his mother, who did not take kindly to his being a pirate, he briefly managed a mink farm, one of the few truly dull entries on his otherwise crackling résumé, which lately included a career as a professional gambler.

Mr. Fairfax was among the last avatars of a centuries-old figure: the lone-wolf explorer, whose exploits are conceived to satisfy few but himself. His was a solitary, contemplative art that has been all but lost amid the contrived derring-do of adventure-based reality television.... In recent years, Mr. Fairfax made his living playing baccarat, the card game also favored by James Bond.

Perfect, but there's actually more as this is the cut down version suitable for church goers.

New York Times obit writer Margalit Fox told Jim Romenesko that her published piece was actually a condensed and conservative version of the original, and that the bio on the Ocean Rowing Society website, which provided nice details about Fairfaxes' many whorehouse dalliances, was a little too much for modest Times readers.

All the better! A life too much for family newspapers? Let us aspire to that.

Kill It With Fire

2012-02-23T02:31:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to Heather Houlahan for finding this one. Best comment so far: "It's harvest time at the Donald Trump toupee orchard."
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You're Not an Abusive Dog Trainer, Are You?

2012-02-22T06:40:00.000-05:00

My column from the March issue of Dogs Today.

Have you noticed that the "instant experts" have decided that every kind of dog collar is the wrong one?

A flat collar, after all, does not stop the dog from pulling, while a slip collar can choke! Surely no one would greenlight either one!

A pinch collar pinches, while an e-collar shocks. Surely no one would greenlight either one!

What about a constriction harness or a head halter?

Good lord NO! The former squeezes the dogs insides and does nothing to stop the dog from pulling, while the later can scrape against the eye and cause corneal damage and neck injury.

After hearing this, if you are terrified that you might "do it wrong," with your new dog, then the message has worked.

You see, so much of this nonsense comes from dog trainers who are intent on selling their services, their books, and their CD-roms.

Their main message is that you are probably incapable of training your own dog without their input.

If you go it alone with a book from the library, you might injure your dog!

Never mind that hundreds of millions of dogs have been trained for thousands of years on six continents without the advice of professional dog trainers.

Modern professional dog trainers want you to know they are here to Save the Day ... provided, of course, you have a credit card.

Part of their pitch is fear.

You aren't an ABUSIVE owner are you? Because they want you to know they do not believe in ABUSIVE dog training.

You don't believe in OUTDATED training methods do you? Because they want you to know they believe in only the LATEST, MODERN methods.

Surely you want to be modern and non-abusive?

All right then -- sign up with any of the trainers to be found in the directory!

Now there is nothing wrong with going to a dog trainer (I am all for it), and there is nothing wrong with click-and-treat dog training (I am all for that too).

But do me a favor eh? Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining!

Example one is the simple slip collar. It's been used for a thousand years and it works. I am past 50 years old and I have never seen a dog injured by one, and I bet you haven't either.

I have seen dogs injured by cars, fences, broken glass, hot tar, excess body weight, and roofing nails, but never by a slip collar.

Have you not noticed that your own vet puts a plastic slip lead on your dog before leading it out to the waiting room?

True! Is your vet an “abusive” veterinarian? Probably not!

Now to be clear, I am not advocating one kind of dog training over another, or one kind of collar over another.

I am all for click-and-treat dog training, and I have no hesitation saying that it works, and that it works well for most dogs in most situations. If you want to proceed with clicker training, then do so by all means and with my full encouragement!

That said, I would be very wary of any dog trainer who shows too little respect for the very real on-the-ground succcesss of thousands of other dog trainers who have employed dozens of other diverse techniques over hundreds of years. Konrad Most, Barbara Woodhouse, William Koehler, Cesar Millan, and very fine dog trainers training police dogs, military dog, search-and-rescue dogs, herding dogs, bird dogs, and fox hounds all over the world are proof that obedient and enthusiastically happy dogs can be had using a wide variety of methods.

I would also be wary of any dog trainer that says compulsion has no place in the world of dog training.

At its simplest, dog training is simply getting a dog to do what it will not do naturally and on your schedule, whether that is an entirely artificial act such as running weave poles or retrieving a shot bird to hand, or not chasing a cat or barking at the mailman.

Yes, earned reward and praise is core to training.

Yes dogs and children need love, support and praise. But both dogs and children also need time outs and an occasional jerk back to the straight and narrow as well. Leashes and collars exist for a reason, same as curfews and police stations. Anyone who tells you otherwise, is deluded.

Yes, by all means, teach your dog what it needs to do in order to get a reward.

Part of training, however, is also to train your dog what NOT to do.

Not every signal you send will be positive, and on rare occassion your signal may not be entirely gentle. There is no place for cruelty or anger in the world of dog training, but there is most certainly a place for clarity and some high-drive dogs are, truth be told, a little tone-deaf to mere suggestion.

If your goal is to take your dog off leash, your NO signal has to be every bit as strong as your dog’s GO signal when it comes to prey drive, sex drive, play drive, and food.

Who among us wants to become an international YouTube sensation for screaming out our dog’s name (“Fennnntttton!”) as it bounds over four lanes of traffic chasing a herd of deer? No one!

In short, collars and leashes have a place in every training regime, as does both positive reward and certain level of compulsion.

If someone comes along and tells you otherwise, be extremely wary.

And if that same someone tells you everyone else has been doing it wrong for 2,000 years, walk away in the opposite direction.

Nothing good ever started with a lie.

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Are You Throwing Money Down the Drain?

2012-02-21T05:04:00.004-05:00

Most of the common antibiotics prescribed for humans are exactly the same as the ones used for dogs, and the pill, capsule and gel-caps versions of these antibiotics are good for many years past their expiration date.

The fact that expiration dates on pill antibiotics are a marketing fraud has been widely know for years. In an article entitled "Drug Expiration Dates - Do They Mean Anything?", The Harvard Heath Letter summarizes a 20-year study done by the FDA for the U.S. military:

It turns out that the expiration date on a drug does stand for something, but probably not what you think it does. Since a law was passed in 1979, drug manufacturers are required to stamp an expiration date on their products. This is the date at which the manufacturer can still guarantee the full potency and safety of the drug.

Most of what is known about drug expiration dates comes from a study conducted by the Food and Drug Administration at the request of the military. With a large and expensive stockpile of drugs, the military faced tossing out and replacing its drugs every few years. What they found from the study is 90% of more than 100 drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, were perfectly good to use even 15 years after the expiration date.... So the expiration date doesn't really indicate a point at which the medication is no longer effective or has become unsafe to use.... Is the expiration date a marketing ploy by drug manufacturers, to keep you restocking your medicine cabinet and their pockets regularly? You can look at it that way.

The Wall Street Journal put this story on their front page a few years back. But don't take my word for it: You can read the article, in its entirety, right here.

Do drugs really stop working after the date stamped on the bottle? Fifteen years ago, the U.S. military decided to find out. Sitting on a $1 billion stockpile of drugs and facing the daunting process of destroying and replacing its supply every two to three years, the military began a testing program to see if it could extend the life of its inventory. The testing, conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ultimately covered more than 100 drugs, prescription and over-the-counter. The results, never before reported, show that about 90% of them were safe and effective far past their original expiration date, at least one for 15 years past it.

In light of these results, a former director of the testing program, Francis Flaherty, says he has concluded that expiration dates put on by manufacturers typically have no bearing on whether a drug is usable for longer. Mr. Flaherty notes that a drug maker is required to prove only that a drug is still good on whatever expiration date the company chooses to set. The expiration date doesn't mean, or even suggest, that the drug will stop being effective after that, nor that it will become harmful.

Medscape has posts here and here (PDF).

The U.S. Department of Defense has a post here.

The AMA has noted that antibiotics are good for years past their shelf life and has raised questions about how much medicine is being tossed down the sink.

So how come so few veterinarians seem to know this?

The answer, I think, is illuminating.

You see, on some important issues, veterinarians are often taught very little. The entire "course" given on canine nutrition, for example, may be a single lecture from a dog food salesman. The lecture on flea and tick remedies may be a lecture from a Merial salesperson who will detail "the spread" to be made from selling non-prescription Frontline as if it were a prescription drug (hint: it's not).

As for antibiotics, vets will learn by heart the branded and generic names of various drugs, and what they treat, but they may not learn other essential information.

And, as alarming as it may sound, that's true for many human doctors too.

Pharmacist and U.S. Army Colonel George Crawford, who used to be in charge of the Department of Defense's pharmaceutical Shelf Life Extension Program (SLEP) notes :

"Nobody tells you in pharmacy school that shelf life is about marketing, turnover and profits."

Right. Apparently no one does in veterinary school either.

You would think veterinarians and doctors might learn about this stuff in a Continuing Medical Education (CME) course, right?

Except there is a little joker in the deck.

You see, those CME courses are heavily subsidized by drug and vaccine makers, who help pay the speaker fees and travel costs for many of the lecturers.

Drug and vaccine makers make money when people throw good medicine down the drain, and they make money when dogs are over-vaccinated.

The business of canine health care is business, and good health and integrity often take the hind post.

Everyone in the system -- vets, pharmacies, and manufacturers -- profit when dogs are over-vaccinated and non-expired medicines are thrown down the drain.

Billions of dollars are wasted every year as a consequence.

The problem with over-vaccination and flushing good medicines down the drain is more than money, of course.

Throwing good antibiotics down the drain unnecessarily adds to the antibiotic load in our sewers, streams and rivers -- the very kind of thing that can help establish a beach head for real pathology in our own communities.

For those looking for information on antibiotic type and dosage to treat simple flesh wounds, urinary tract infections, and ear infection on your dogs, see this link on the main web site.

For those looking to obtain antibiotics without prescription, simply look in almost any dog supply catalogue in the country (see here, here, here, here for example) or simply go to Amazon.com (see here) and order.

Antibiotics without prescription have been sold to treat common farm and kennel ailments for years, and they work fine with a few caveats: know what you are dosing for, know how what you should be dosing with, know how much to dose, and know how long to maintain the dosing regime. A barbed-wire flesh wound or cut foot is a pretty simple thing to diagnose, but some others are not. If you are in doubt about what is going on with your dog, go to a vet.
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Digging on the Dogs

2012-02-20T05:47:00.001-05:00

I've had some shoulder problems which, combined with the warm weather, has kept me out of the field. Two weeks ago I got out to one of my farms to find a mounted hunt pack with about 40 hounds and a number of horses unloading and an ambulance blocking the road as one of the riders had fallen and broken his shoulder. I stopped and talked to the huntsman a bit, and then crossed over the river to hunt the other side.

It was supposed to snow yesterday, but by the time morning showed up, that was pretty clear nonsense. I loaded the dogs and hit the farms, and was about half way out when I realized I had no coat, no vest, nothing but a long-sleeve shirt over a T-shirt. Oh well, at least I had a decent hat! I checked the temperature, and it was 33 degrees, so it would not be too bad. Serious walking at 30 degrees and a shirt is about perfect. If there was going to be much wind or standing around I would be in trouble, but that would be a problem I would deal with if it came up (though I was not too sure how).

The dogs bounced out of the truck, and very quickly it became apparent that the groundhogs were moving about. This is mating season for them, and the males will roam looking to find as many females as they can. The females will clean out their dens a bit, evacuate their bowels, and then bunker back down with a dirt plug in the mouth of the den to keep out intruders and water. I like this time of year, as I can find new dens before they disappear under the vegetation that starts to spring out in early April.

I was headed to a fox sette I have worked a few times in years past. The huntsman I talked to a few weeks ago asked me if I had seen coyotes on the farm. I had not, but he said they were there (no surprise) and that he had found a vixen with her throat torn out by one a few weeks earlier. Yow!

As I headed to the fox den, Mountain and Gideon crowned over a slight rise and disappeared. When I got to the sette, I stopped and listened. Nothing. I waited and then I heard a barking below. The sound was a bit illusive, but I eventually found the dogs about 30 feet from the fox den, and down a wooded slope thick with multiflora rose. Gideon was inside baying up a storm, and Mountain was working two different holes trying to get in along an alternate route.

I leashed up Mountain and put her at a hole that she was interested in, but I thought an unlikely pipe to support an exit. It was probably where Gideon had entered.

I downed tools and boxed for Gideon. He was not deep, and very near another exit. Looking good. Ten inches down I hit solid rock. A bit of soil removal and I ascertained that it was an enormous rock that had cracked into three pieces, with the edges still firmly together. I got out the smaller one, which was about the size of my head, with some difficulty. Then using the the bar and and post hole handles as a lever, along with the shovel, I managed to get out the second stone which was about as big as a sofa cushion.

Things moved quickly and easily after that. I managed to snare the groundhog, take his picture, and let him go for another day ("and now with your third hand...") while keeping Gideon underground by kicking a blocking rock into the hole.

Once I was sure the groundhog was good and gone, I let Gideon out, but leashed him up immediately, as I was not interested in him going to ground on the same animal again. I packed up, and with the dogs on lead, headed back to the truck. It was going to be a short day. No need to push the shoulder early in the season.

It looks like the farmer is repairing the old barn, which makes me happy as it is a massive structure and I hate to see old barns left to fall in on themselves.

I got back home in time to see my son off to college. It's a four-hour drive down to Blacksburg, and he located the snow that never reach us on his way up the valley, sending me this picture from his cell phone along the way.

Lassie Could Not Have Done It Better

2012-02-19T17:52:00.000-05:00

Zulu

Donald McGregor age 62, who lives on the isle of Kerrera, off Oban, Argyll, Scotland flipped his car in the dead of night and suffered a punctured lung, a fractured vertebrae and broken ribs while coming down a remote farm track in the dead of night. He probably would have died if his faithful patterdale terrier Zulu, who was unhurt in the crash, had not it raced to Donald's daughter house nearby to get her attention.

Coffee and Provocation

2012-02-18T05:30:00.049-05:00

Medical Breakthrough Could Change My Life... and Yours:
Two Penn State University doctors have developed a free iOS app called "Caffeine Zone" which tells folks the perfect time to take a coffee break to maintain an optimal amount of caffeine in their blood, and when to stop drinking coffee so caffeine doesn’t interrupt sleep. This is Nobel Prize-worthy stuff!

How to Genetically Modify Yogurt to Make Prozac:
Yes, there's real instruction here.

You Want Fierce Looking Dogs?
We got 'em. Very cool.

How About a Living, Growing Cathedral of Trees?
Check it out.

True Story (maybe):
A British man was bitten "down under" by a venomous Tiger snake while answering a call of nature in the Australian bush. The reptile sunk its fangs into Jackson Scott's testicle as he squatted in the dark, but when he begged best mate Roddy Andrews to suck the venom out, his friend refused. Instead he drove Jackson 40-minutes to Hobart, Tasmania, where doctors gave him an antidote to the "deadly" tiger snake poison. For the record, a Tiger snake is a great deal less hazardous to humans than most people realize. In fact, every year far more people die in Australia from bee stings and horses than from all the snake bites combined!

Longest Horns in the World:
It's a Texas Longhorn in Australia. The horns have a 9 foot 1 inch spread. Check out the picture.

Signs of Economic Recovery at Cabela's:
Cabela's says it plans to add 5 new stores in FY 2012, including their first stores in Ohio and Kentucky.

Not Dead Yet:
Bryan’s Shearwater, a species of burrow-nesting birds recently discovered from a misidentified museum specimens, still has a remnant population that is breeding on islands off of Japan.

Rat Island, Alaska Needs a New Name:
After a couple of tons of poison, the rats are all dead and now the locals and natives want to return the island to its old name.

America Needs This:
A school bus that is pedal-powered by children. To hell with gym class!

Gomer the Cooper's Hawk:
Isaac is back blogging with a new URL and a new Cooper's Hawk he caught in January.

14% More Oil Was Always There:
In the last four years, new cars have gotten 14% more efficient. You want to find more oil and more jobs? Here they are, and there's a hell of lot more to be had through conservsation and innovation.

First New U.S. Nuclear Reactor Since 1978:
It's in Georgia. Eventually, others are likely in South Carolina and Tennessee.

Get Your (Chicken) Shit Together:
If you do, you can heat your hen house for free, and get eggs even in winter.

The Sad and Romanic Richard Fenyman:
Nuclear physicist Richard Feynman's wife died in June of 1945, after succumbing to tuberculosis. She was only 25 years old. Some 16 months later Richard wrote here a love letter that remained sealed in an envelope until it was opened after his death in 1988. Read the whole thing. By the way, the web site this is from is a small gold mine. Have fun.

A Use for the Westminster Winner

2012-02-17T18:16:00.001-05:00

Compare the picture of the Westminster dog show winner with this sporran for sale on Ebay.

Now read these "25 Descriptions of the Strange Beast that Won the Westminster Dog Show".

Hat tip to Sean O'Q for the comparison!
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Fish on Fridays

2012-02-17T17:50:00.001-05:00

Carpe diem.

A Real Dogman

2012-02-17T08:30:00.031-05:00

The Dog Man Movie Documentary from The Dog Man Movie.

Joshua M. wrote me last week and asked me about the term "dogman".

I've heard the phrase, or title, "Dogman" used in a few encounters. In my experience, the people who have called themselves dogmen are of ill repute as far as I have seen. Basically being breeders of pitbulls in low income areas where I've lived. ... I have great passion for my dogs, and dogs in general, and make my living training people's dogs in the best way I can. I like the sound of Dogman, but I feel like I would be casting a negative stereotype on myself if I used the moniker. Any input you could throw my way would be greatly appreciated...

My reply was written before someone posted a link to the excellent video, above:

I understand your point....

My two cents are that words are just words. They only have meaning in context. The world has true dog men, whatever they call themselves, but they are for the most part people with WORKING dogs, not pet people. Show people are never dog men in my mind and neither are mere typists and most "trainers" whose experience is running sit-stay classes. A man who has run 40 hounds for 40 years in the field is a dog man whatever he wants to call himself, while a man who has yet to bury his first dog is not, no matter how much he may toss the title around.

A true dog man takes care of his dogs, thinks like his dogs, and respects the dogs at the level of animal, carnivore, canid, breed, individual. A true dog man puts the welfare of his dogs front and center, and that is not only their physical welfare, but also their intellectual and spiritual welfare as well.

No fighting dog man is a true dog man in my book, and neither are the breeders with 50 screaming dogs in a kennel that never see a moment's work, or the show people who put rosettes and ego before canine health. I do not believe the owner of a lap dog breed can ever wear the mantle of a dog man (or woman), but some will disagree I suppose.

A dog man's goal is to have the dogs have a self-actualized life. He lives for the dog; the dog does not live solely for his needs.

The good news is that there are a lot of people in America who are honest dog men and women. Not poodle poofters, dog fighters, frustrated vet techs, dog groomers, or failed actors with marketing plans, but honest dog men and women who put their dogs first, and who might even have a little to teach other people if someone were to slow down and ask or watch.

Some train trick dogs, some hunt dogs, some breed dogs, and some work dogs. Almost no one does it all, as the world of dogs is too big and each breed has its own idiosyncrasies and getting good at even one thing can take most of a lifetime.

If someone tells me they are a dogman, however, I will generally raise an invisible eyebrow. It's the kind of thing someone else might say of someone else, but a dogman will rarely say of himself. He or she knows how little they know. The real experts have a tail.

My favorite part of this clip is when Dick Russell asks if his audience know he's a world famous dog trainer and then follows on... "because honestly, until four or five months ago, I was not aware of it."

Perfect. That's a real dogman.
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David Lee Roth, Border Collie Man

2012-02-17T07:56:00.002-05:00

DLR Dog World from David Lee Roth on Vimeo

He's pretty good with the dogs, and has a nice sense of humor. These are self-actualized dogs with as good a life as a dog can get -- real work with an owner that can laugh. "You ought to hear them howl when they hear my truck pull up." I bet!
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Getting OFF the Boat of Defect and Disease

2012-02-16T17:05:00.000-05:00

The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) has put out a press release noting that:

During the past two years, UFAW has been developing a website to provide clear and comprehensive information about the welfare consequences of hereditary problems in companion animals: to explain how these problems affect the quality of animals’ lives. While undertaking the work it has discovered that the levels and extent of adverse welfare effects is even greater than was anticipated....

"Preparing descriptions of all these genetic conditions for the website," said James Kirkwood, UFAW’s Chief Executive and Scientific Director, "has really brought home to us the extent and severity of the welfare problems that have arisen as a result of selection for arbitrary aspects of appearance....

For example, when breeders first selected for the curly tails of pugs – because they liked the look - no one suspected that this could cause serious disease. But we know now that they achieved the curly tail by selecting for deformed tail bones and that the mutation that causes these can also affect the bones of the spine in the chest or back. In these cases, the affected spine bones do not align properly and this can result in very painful injuries to the spinal cord. The spinal cord damage can also cause partial paralysis of the hind limbs and incontinence due to loss of bladder control. This condition is considered a common problem in Pugs and other short-nosed breeds with screw-tails (it is estimated that the UK population of Pugs alone is around 30,000).

... [I]t has been estimated that each Great Dane has a 40% chance of developing gastric torsion. This acute disease typically occurs after a meal. The stomach twists – perhaps because it is inadequately anchored within the cavernous bodies of these large dogs – such that the oesophagus at one end and the small intestine at the other are twisted shut. As a result, it becomes massively distended with gas and fluid causing intense pain and leading to death if surgery is not performed urgently. It has been estimated that around 16% of Great Danes die from the condition.

Right. It seems not everyone is rushing to "get on the boat" with Kennel Club dogs that are raised in a closed registry where health and performance count for zero.

Imagine that!
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Get on Board With the Kennel Club?

2012-02-15T18:01:00.003-05:00

The Westminster winner: a dog that cannot breathe. It's own death will be its own relief.

A dog that cannot herd won the herding group.

This is the winning bitch for the Neopolitans. Say no more!

This is the winner of the hound group.
Neither judge, owner or dog has ever hunted anything but rosettes.

This English Bulldog was given an "award of merit for breed."

It's the morning after the Westminster Dog Show, and the litter and trash are being swept up at Madison Square Garden.

In the newspaper Victoria Stilwell tells us that we have to get on board with pedigree dogs and dog shows:

"We can't ignore dog shows, For one thing, they're so popular. So, I say 'get on the boat.' I don't think the world is going to exist without pedigreed dogs. I don't think the world should exist without pedigreed dogs. I love pedigreed dogs as much as I love the mutt. If there is no responsible breeding, what will happen to the dog? But I am talking about breeding that must be responsible."

Right.

Responsible breeding of the English Bulldog?

The Pekingese? The Pug? The Neopolitan Mastiff? The Basenji?

The Lundehund? The Chinese Crested? The Boston Terrier? The Shar-pei?

How can one have responsible breeding when the breed standard calls for intentional selection for defect and the Kennel Club calls for breeding pedigree dogs within a closed registry that affords ZERO points for health?

In fact, Victoria Stilwell is bit clueless as to the issues here, which is not a complete surprise since she has never actually shown dogs and has only had a dog herself for a few years.

She supports adoption and mixes (good!) but she is also a celebrity-chaser and would not want to piss off any big names or big money which might advance her career.

Like so many before her -- veterinarians, dog handlers, breeders, trainers, book authors, and magazine editors -- she has simply looked past the institutionalized violence done to dogs by the show ring. Now she cages the debate as being between "responsible" breeders and "irresponsible" breeders.

In fact, the debate is not about vague terms like "responsible" and "irresponsible," or "good" and "bad," but about measurable terms such as health and work.

You will never have either when you select for defect and mandate breeding within a closed registry that ignores temperament and coefficients of inbreeding.

You will never have health or work if the show ring affords zero points for health and work, and if you celebrate fantasy, celebrity, cash and ego over what is good for dogs.

Get on board with the Kennel Club and the show ring pretenders?

Sorry, but in America we are going the other way and we are voting with our feet and our wallets.

The AKC has seen a 70 percent decline in registrations in recent years, and the decline is speeding up, not slowing down.

If Victoria Stilwell wants to cuddle up next to Martha Stewart and her Chow, she is free to do so, but that's about celebrity- and fame-chasing, not dogs.

If you stand for dogs, you do not stand for the Kennel Club.

You do not 'get on the boat' -- you get off the boat and tell everyone on the dock to avoid the Titanic mistake that has been the 120-year venture called the Kennel Club.
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A Celebration of Defect, Disease and Deformity

2012-02-15T08:03:00.003-05:00

The poofters at the Westminster Kennel Club have chosen and this is what they chose:

An ugly dog that looks like a cross between a dust bunny and a badly trimmed three-toned nylon wig from the 1960s.
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A flea magnet. Yes this is the "function" that this dog was bred for.
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A dog that has a smashed in face so severe it cannot breathe.
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A dog so incapacitated by its smashed face that it had to be carried to ringside.
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A dog visibly panting with its tongue hanging out from simply walking across the carpet.
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A dog so overheated from walking across the carpet that it had to be placed straight away onto a bag of ice in order to cool it down so it did not pass out ringside.

Welcome to the Westminster freak show where the ignorant, the incompetent, and the pretenders show up to "celebrate" dogs by cooing over the deformed, the diseased, and the dysfunctional.
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The Comedy of Dog Shows

2012-02-14T04:31:00.003-05:00

The cast and characters of "Best in Show".

Across the world, but especially in America, people congregate in social tribes, and most of these tribes seem to have an occasional "pow wow" of one sort or another.

For motorcycle freaks, that pow wow might be Bike Week in Daytona, or Sturgis in South Dakota.

A certain type of fundamentalist Christian cannot pass up a tent revival, while folks with other interests may flock to Renaissance Fairs or Civil War re-enactor events.

Gun enthusiasts have their gun shows, while still other Americans are attracted to tractor pulls, car shows, or rodeos.

Whatever the group -- from wine connoisseur to reformed alcoholic, from Star Trek fan to opera aficionado-- each has its own gathering, its own customs, and its own set of odd-ball characters.

The writer and producer Christopher Guest has made a living crafting "mock-umentaries" about such American subcultures.

His first foray into the genre was a movie entitled This is Spinal Tap -- a wonderful send up of the bloated pretensions of heavy metal music.

This movie was so well done -- and done with such seriousness and affection -- that some people actually thought it was a documentary about a real band. Reality blurred a bit more when Guest and his actor "bandmates" toured and played their instruments on stage -- never cracking a smile or leaving character as they sang faux heavy metal lyrics such as "as Big bottom, big bottom. Talk about bum cakes, my girl's got 'em."

Spinal Tap was followed up by A Mighty Wind (a parody of folk music), and Waiting for Guffman (a parody of community theatre).

In A Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman, as with Spinal Tap, Guest's comedy depended on his movie audience recognizing that his characters had very close approximations to real types.

In A Mighty Wind, for example, estranged folk musicians are modeled on the likes of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Mamma Cass and Denny Doherty, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

In Spinal Tap, the repeated demise of drummers in freak accidents is a reference to the untimely deaths of such rock percussionists as Keith Moon, John Bonham, Eric Carr, Nicholas Dingley, and Dennis Wilson.

For his entry into the dog show world, Christopher Guest created "Best in Show," in which dog show archetypes are dissected with the precision of a surgeon and the cultural sensitivity of an anthropologist.

The thread that holds the tapestry of characters together in Best in Show is not dogs, so much as the recognition that many of the people that attend dog shows seem to be "working out" their issues through the world of dogs. We laugh at the joke because it is so often true, and everyone in the audience knows it and "gets it."

A repeated theme in the movie is dysfunction -- sexual dysfunction, social dysfunction, and emotional dysfunction.

The fact that many dogs show obsessives are driven by a hole in their soul, and that that they seek to fill this hole through the surrogacy of dogs and dog shows is faced head on.

Many of the "normal" people that frequent dog shows are slightly odd, and more than a handful seem to be trying to compensate for the absence of children in their lives by dressing up their dogs, dancing with their dogs, or -- as in this case -- singing to them. Frustrated maternal instincts from both straight and gay couples are worn on the sleeve for anyone who takes the time to look for them.

A recurring theme in Best in Show is the large number of openly gay and closeted gay people that can be found at dog shows. In the clip below, a sad and powerful story is told in a single line: "I asked my ex-wife ... who's that?" The painful laughs that follow are triggered because almost everyone familiar with dog shows knows a character who fits the story. This is a story about lost lives.

Another recurring theme in Best of Breed is that people of moderate financial means often seek personal recognition and an improved social position by participating in the world of dog shows. Or, to put it more succinctly: "Make Fern City proud" !

The role of the dog show judge as part-and-parcel of the scene gets a delightful send up when color-commentator Fred Willard and his side-kick come together to steer the TV public through the judging process. The judge, "a retired school teacher from New Jersey," is initially mistaken for a man, and Willard cannot help but blink at the way she will spend her day.

Following the success of Best in Show, Bravo-TV did a "reality" show knock-off of the movie. It says quite a lot that they had no problem finding a ready cast of real people to populate their series: Showdog Moms & Dads.

In this series, a cast of "real dog show people" were followed around to canine events across the country including a woman with no kids who freely admitted to displacing her maternal instincts on to her German Shepherds; a married man (and former AKC judge) who came off as a closeted version of Liberace; two screaming queens and their Toy Fox Terrier; a woman whose relationship with her Weimeraner appeared to be much stronger than her relationship with either her husband or reality, and; a "normal" person who was a single-mom and dog trainer trying to raise her son in a dog show world -- and with dog trainer commands.

I suspect Best in Show and Showdog Moms & Dads made some people in the dog show world uncomfortable, if for no other reason than rooms full of people were laughing out loud at scenes not so very different from reality.

Is this what we look like to the rest of the world, they wondered? Others protested that not everyone at a dog show is dysfunctional ... or gay ... or controlling ... or ego driven.

To which we can reply: Of course not. Not everyone at a Star Trek convention was unpopular in high school. Not everyone at a gun show is a Republican. Not everyone who listens to "Peter Paul & Mary" is a Democrat.

But that's the way to bet.

The bottom line is that tribes do share cultures, values, backgrounds and experience. And the people at dog shows are a tribe every bit as strong as those at a Star Trek convention, a gun show, or a "Peter Paul & Mary" concert.

The success of Best in Show, and Christopher Guest's other movies, is based on his understanding that obsessive groups do differ from us and each other, and those differences make the people in those groups both interesting and amusing.

Certain "types" are "over-represented" at almost every convention or tribal gathering. The result is that if you want to see tattoos, Bike Week is not a bad place to start, and if you are studying psychological dysfunction, a dog show is not a bad place to collect test subjects.

Of course, if you are looking for plain crazy, you can also do pretty well at the local dog park! As Cesar Millan's show, The Dog Whisperer, suggests, a lot of people have very dysfunctional relationships with their dogs outside of the show ring.

A commonality here, as I have noted in the past, is that a lot of people with "dog problems" treat their dogs as if they are human children rather than what they really are ... which is a dog.

Too often, the result is a dog that thinks it is "top dog." These confused "top dogs" believe they must discipline the humans in their pack and also protect their packs (human and non-human alike) from outside intruders. The result is a disaster, as Showdog Moms and Dads captures so humorously on film.

Paradoxically, this little bit of "reality" turns out to be more surreal -- and at least as comical -- as anything dreamed up by Christopher Guest.

In an interview with an Australian publication, Christopher Guest explained how he got the idea for the movie:

"I got the idea for Best in Show six years ago when [wife Jamie Lee Curtis] and I were taking our mutts to the dog park in Los Angeles. I noticed a real dynamic that existed between owners and their pets. The pure-breeds looked down on our mutts in the same way their owners looked down on us. I started attending dog shows to meet the people and to see just how serious this all could get at the top level."

And so, you see, it really did start in a dog park!
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At Westminster, Health and Work Get ZERO Points

2012-02-14T03:20:00.000-05:00

The logo of the Westminster Dog Show features a pointer, but don't let that fool you, as honest field work is counted for ZERO points at Westminster.

As for the Scottish Deerhound that won last year it is likely to be dead by age eight and a half, a fact that is also a "never mind" at Westminster where health is afforded ZERO points.
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Keeping It Classy at the AKC

2012-02-13T18:46:00.002-05:00

Pedigree dog food was told "thanks, but no thanks" by the AKC because their sponsorship ads for the Westminster dog show “had become too focused on adoptions,” Senior Brand Manager Lisa Campbell told the Associated Press.

Melissa Martellotti, a brand communications manager for Pedigree’s parent company, Mars Petcare US, told The New York Times that dog show officials “felt that our advertising was focused too much on the cause of adoption, and that wasn’t really a shared vision.” She said the Westminster Kennel Club is “focused on the purebred mission, including the adoption of pure breeds as opposed to mixed breeds.”

In short, not killing healthy dogs was getting in the way of selling defective, diseased and deformed pedigree dogs.

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Wilderness from the Empire State Building

2012-02-13T14:00:00.001-05:00

John McPhee may one day write a crappy book, but he hasn't done it yet.

This is a small section from The Pine Barrens:

New Jersey has nearly a thousand people per square mile — the greatest population density of any state in the Union. In parts of northern New Jersey, there are as many as forty thousand people per square mile. In the central area of the Pine Barrens — the forest land that is still so undeveloped that it can be called wilderness — there are only fifteen people per square mile. This area, which includes about six hundred and fifty thousand acres, is nearly as large as Yosemite National Park. It is almost identical in size with Grand Canyon National Park, and it is much larger than Sequoia National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, or, for that matter, most of the national parks in the United States. The people who live in the Pine Barrens are concentrated mainly in small forest towns, so the region’s uninhabited sections are quite large — twenty thousand acres here, thirty thousand acres there — and in one section of well over a hundred thousand acres there are only twenty-one people.

The Pine Barrens are so close to New York that on a very clear night a bright light in the pines would be visible from the Empire State Building. A line ruled on a map from Boston to Richmond goes straight through the middle of the Pine Barrens.

New Freaks on a Leash at the AKC

2012-02-12T12:39:00.007-05:00

The Kennel Club Freak Show continues next week with more dogs fit for the side show, and more gawkers paying their quarter to see the bizarre, strange, and twisted people that glory in breeding defective, diseased and deformed dogs.

Below are three of the newest breeds to be pulled into the American Kennel Club where dogs registrations are falling so fast that the AKC may be out of business entirely by 2025.

The Cesky Terrier - inbred, non-working, often sickly

The Cesky Terrier is a deeply inbred dog created by simply crossing two Sealyhams and a Scottie and then inbreeding the whelp for 60 years with two more Sealyhams tossed in on top back in the 1980s. Supposedly created as a working dog this dog has, in fact, never worked past the first cross, and the dog's silk coat is totally unsuitable for earthwork. Today this dog is not worked in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, England, Ireland, the US, Germany, Canada, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France or anywhere else in the world. In fact, there are more pictures of the Loch Ness monster than there are of working Ceskys! The good news is that the world has not proven too stupid so far as this dog is concerned, and today this dog is about as rare as a panda because it is ugly, useless in the field, and has some serious veterinary liabilities (a UK health survey found the average age at mortality to be just over 8 years). Who wants any of that? Not many! The hand and vanity of many "creates" many breeds, and many are failures. Instead of purging the failures, however, the Kennel Club pulls them in and dips them in amber so they will be failures for all time.

Norwegian Lundehund - inbred, diseased, mutant

The Norwegian Lundehund is a dog famous for a freakish mutation. In this case we have a very undistinguished-looking small Spitz-like dog whose claim to fame is that it has six toes and a rather serious genetic disorder of the digestive tract (Lundehund gastroenteropathy) in which the dog loses its ability to absorb nutrients from food, resulting in malnutrition or even starvation in extreme cases. The cause of the polydactylism and the digestive tract disease are the same: inbreeding. To be clear polydactylism is NOT useful to the Lundehund in climbing cliffs -- the extra toe is an extra elevated dew claw that is more likely to cause injury when ripped than to provide much more purchase when scrambling over rocks or going into holes -- tasks working terriers do every day with normal feet and often with their dew claws removed. The mutation that causes polydactylism is fairly common, but so unuseful in nature that Mother Nature weeds it out through earyl mortality. Humans, however, like freaks and oddities and in the case of the Lundehund, when a freak spitz dog with six toes showed up, it was easy enough for isolated Norwegian islanders to double down on that dog and inbreed a six-toed dogs even as they cocked up a reason for its existence. Though the Lundehund is supposed to be a puffin-hunting dog, puffins are typically hunted with nooses and nets on long poles -- an ancient technology -- and there is no real evidence the dogs were actually required for puffin hunting, and they were certainly never very common. When several waves of distemper swept through Norway's seacoast island communities in the 1930s and 40s, the Lundehund population dropped down to six dogs, of which five were from the same litter. The dog has remained heavily inbred since then, and with no real work to do, and rather plain features, this dog too remains rarer than the Giant Panda, with less than 1,000 worldwide..

Xoloitzcuintli - deformed, defective, mutant
The Xoloitzcuintli (aka "Mexican Hairless"), Peruvian Hairless and Chinese Crested Dogs all share the same gene mutation, and all are believed to be descended from a single-dog mutation which occurred in the New World some 4,000 years ago. Hairless dog breeders are intentionally breeding defective dogs for canine ectodermal dysplasia (CED), a mutation of the FOX13 gene that not only results in hairlessness, but also results in fairly serious dental issues (i.e. loss of teeth).
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A Battle of Peregrine vs. Starling

2012-02-11T12:01:00.000-05:00

Guess who wins?
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When Did Your Breed Show Up at Westminster?

2012-02-11T04:00:00.000-05:00

45% of Scotties die of cancer. A Scottie is twice as likely to die at two years of age as live to age 16.

AKC registrations have declined more than 70 percent over the course of the last 17 years, but the show must go on, and this year the AKC will be adding more defective, diseased and deformed breeds to the parade of dysfunction known as the Westminster Dog Show.

Here's a list of when each breed showed up at Westminster:

Bull Terrier (Colored) 1877
Bull Terrier (White) 1877
Dandie Dinmont Terrier 1877
Fox Terrier (Smooth) 1877
Manchester Terrier (Standard) 1877
Scottish Terrier 1877
Skye Terrier 1877
Pointer 1877
Retriever (Chesapeake Bay) 1877
Setter (English) 1877
Setter (Gordon) 1877
Setter (Irish) 1877
Spaniel (Cocker) Black 1877
Spaniel (Field) 1877
Spaniel (Irish Water) 1877
Beagle 12 In. 1877
Beagle 15 In. 1877
Dachshund (Smooth) 1877
Foxhound (American) 1877
Greyhound 1877
Harrier 1877
Scottish Deerhound 1877
Great Dane 1877
Mastiff 1877
Newfoundland 1877
Saint Bernard 1877
English Toy Spaniel (B&PC) 1877
English Toy Spaniel (KC&R) 1877
Italian Greyhound 1877
Japanese Chin 1877
Pug 1877
Bulldog 1877
Dalmatian 1877
Poodle (Standard) 1877
Collie (Rough) 1877
Spaniel (Clumber) 1878
Bloodhound 1878
Yorkshire Terrier 1878
Irish Wolfhound 1879
Chihuahua (Smooth) 1879
Maltese 1879
Airedale Terrier 1881
Irish Terrier 1881
Fox Terrier (Wire) 1883
Chow Chow 1883
Bedlington Terrier 1884
Basset Hound 1884
Pomeranian 1886
Welsh Terrier 1888
Collie (Smooth) 1888
Old English Sheepdog 1888
Borzoi 1891
Foxhound (English) 1891
Schipperke 1891
Whippet 1893
Spaniel (Sussex) 1895
Boston Terrier 1895
French Bulldog 1897
Spaniel (Cocker) A.S.C.O.B. 1899
Spaniel (Cocker) Parti-Color 1899
Poodle (Toy) 1900
Brussels Griffon 1902
West Highland White Terrier 1906
Papillon 1906
Samoyed 1907
Pekingese 1907
Belgian Sheepdog 1907
German Shepherd Dog 1908
Otterhound 1909
Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 1911
Doberman Pinscher 1911
Sealyham Terrier 1912
Cairn Terrier 1914
Boxer 1914
Spaniel (English Springer) 1916
Kerry Blue Terrier 1922
Retriever (Labrador) 1923
Norwegian Elkhound 1925
Standard Schnauzer 1925
Manchester Terrier (Toy) 1925
Retriever (Curly-Coated) 1926
Retriever (Flat-Coated) 1926
Miniature Schnauzer 1927
Afghan Hound 1927
Shetland Sheepdog 1927
Retriever (Golden) 1928
Saluki 1928
Briard 1929
Border Terrier 1930
Dachshund (Wirehaired) 1930
Giant Schnauzer 1930
Miniature Pinscher 1930
Dachshund (Longhaired) 1931
Keeshond 1931
Bouvier des Flandres 1931
Poodle (Miniature) 1932
Siberian Husky 1933
Bullmastiff 1934
Great Pyrenees 1934
Lakeland Terrier 1935
Brittany Spaniel
Pointer (German Shorthaired) 1935
Kuvasz 1935
Rottweiler 1935
Welsh Corgi (Pembroke) 1935
Alaskan Malamute 1936
Lhasa Apso 1936
Welsh Corgi (Cardigan) 1936
American Staffordshire Terrier 1937
Norwich Terrier 1937
Spaniel (English Cocker) 1937
Puli 1937
Affenpinscher 1938
Komondor 1940
Weimaraner 1943
Bernese Mountain Dog 1943
Spaniel (American Water) 1945
Basenji 1946
Black and Tan Coonhound 1947
Chihuahua (Long) 1951
Spaniel (Welsh Springer) 1953
Rhodesian Ridgeback 1957
Pointer (German Wirehaired) 1960
Silky Terrier 1960
Australian Terrier 1961
Belgian Tervuren 1961
Vizsla 1962
Belgian Malinois 1967
Shih Tzu 1970
Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier 1974
Akita 1974
Bichon Frise 1974
Tibetan Terrier 1974
Staffordshire Bull Terrier 1976
Bearded Collie 1978
Norfolk Terrier 1979
Ibizan Hound 1980
Australian Cattle Dog 1981
Pharaoh Hound 1985
Portuguese Water Dog 1985
Tibetan Spaniel 1985
Finnish Spitz 1989
Petit Basset Griffons Vendeen 1992
Chinese Crested 1992
Miniature Bull Terrier 1993
Chinese Shar-pei 1993
Shiba Inu 1994
Australian Shepherd 1994
Greater Swiss Mountain Dog 1996
American Eskimo Dog 1996
Border Collie 1996
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel 1997
Canaan Dog 1998
Anatolian Shepherd Dog 2000
Havanese 2000
Lowchen 2000
Parson Russell Terrier 2001
Spinone Italiano 2001
Polish Lowland Sheepdog 2002
Retriever (Nova Scotia Duck Tolling) 2004
German Pinscher 2004
Toy Fox Terrier 2004
Glen of Imaal Terrier 2005
Black Russian Terrier 2005
Neapolitan Mastiff 2005
Plott 2008
Tibetan Mastiff 2008
Beauceron 2008
Swedish Vallhund 2008
Dogue de Bordeaux 2009
Irish Red and White Setter 2010
Norwegian Buhund 2010
Pyrenean Shepherd 2010
Boykin Spaniel 2011
Bluetick Coonhound 2011
Redbone Coonhound 2011
Cane Corso 2011
Leonberger 2011
Icelandic Sheepdog 2011
American English Coonhound 2012
Cesky Terrier 2012
Entlebucher Mountain Dog 2012
Finnish Lapphund 2012
Norwegian Lundehund 2012
Xoloitzcuintli 2012

The High Cost of Poodle Poofing

2012-02-11T03:28:00.001-05:00

An article at Slate makes clear that to win at Westminster or most shows, it's not enough to have a good dog; you also have to have the right breed and a massive amount of cash or a lot of "sugar daddies" to foot the $100,000 or more annual bill to campaign a top dog.

If you spend a few weekends attending dog shows, you’ll pick up some surprising kibbles of knowledge along the way. You’ll learn, for instance, that any white dog is likely to be covered in powdered chalk. Or that certain breeds — bulldogs, for one — are incapable of reproducing without human intervention. You’ll also discover that the exorbitant expenses required to put a successful show dog on the road aren’t paid by the dogs’ owners. Yes, all the top dogs have backers, sometimes several of them...

Scott’s background was in Yorkshire Terriers, a breed he fell into through his ex-wife. One dog turned into a breeding and showing hobby that very quickly consumed both of them. Scott came to love the competition, and especially winning, but soon winning breed ribbons wasn’t enough. He wanted Groups, and then Bests in Show. And he found that it was very difficult to win Best in Show with Yorkshire Terriers.

If Scott wanted to compete for titles, the choice seemed rather obvious. “Poodles do very well,” he explained. “There are probably more Bests in Show in one weekend by poodles than all the Flat-Coated Retrievers would have in an entire year. And you could say that about a lot of breeds. It’s just the way it is.”

... All told, Scott says the range of campaigning a dog over a year varies: “You’re dealing with $100,000 to half a million.” Some people, of course, campaign multiple dogs.

And even then, you don’t know.

“People have spent millions and millions to win the Garden and have never won. Lots of people,” Scott said. “The stars have to align. The year we had Vikki we won 69 Bests in Show but the judge we had was going to put the beagle up, and he did.”

... Once you have a conversation with Ron Scott, you start to wonder if a regular person, with a great dog, could ever have a chance at competing for show wins. Hastings, the handler and trainer who knows as much about dog shows as any human, could recall just a few recent dogs that did well despite lacking a wealthy backer. She remembered a Yorkie, owned by a family that wasn’t rich, and shown by their daughter, that won Westminster.

I looked it up. That was in 1978, when Higgins became the first and still only Yorkie to win at Madison Square Garden. Handled by Marlene Lutovsky, Higgins’s care was indeed a family affair. Marlene’s mother Barbara reported that she was the one who got up every morning at 5 a.m. “to clean his teeth, brush and oil his coat, change the wrappers and give him clean booties.”

If you have someone like Ron Scott behind you, it means that you don’t have to rise before dawn, let alone brush your dog’s teeth. But more important than that, having a backer allows potential champions to be trained by the best professional handlers and to be advertised in all the major show dog magazines—week in and week out, for however long it takes.

I asked Scott if he thought it was possible to win without having someone like him pay the bills. He thought about it for a second. His reply: “It would be very difficult.”

If all of this sounds like the dog is just an after-thought to winning at any cost, then you have the right idea. Even winning is not really about dogs; it's about money and handlers and relationships and advertising. The dog is just a means to the end, and whatever that end is, it has very little to do with dogs and a great deal to do with the need to compete and fill some cavernous hole in the soul that is not being filled by family, God, craft, service, or nature.
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Fish on Friday

2012-02-10T16:49:00.004-05:00

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This song could be sung with almost the same lyrics, but with "gone digging" as a substitue.

Made in America

2012-02-10T04:01:00.003-05:00

You should see the boned ones that are not inverted!
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Rectum? I damn near ate 'em!
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Product of USA? You mean someone is importing these?

Ralph Stanley Would Be Proud

2012-02-10T04:00:00.004-05:00

Brothers Jonny Mizzone age 9 on banjo, Robbie Mizzone age 12 on fiddle, and Tommy Mizzone age 14 on guitar playing Dr. Ralph Stanley's How Mountain Girls Can Love.
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Pedigree Dogs Exposed - Three Years On

2012-02-09T16:34:00.003-05:00

The BBC has announced that it has slated Pedigree Dogs Exposed - Three Years On for show sometime later this month, almost certainly to air the week before Crufts.

In 2008 Pedigree Dogs Exposed lifted the lid on the true extent of the health and welfare problems faced by pedigree dogs in the UK.

The startling expose of harmful breeding practices generated a massive reaction from the public and from those involved in dog breeding.

Now the programme’s producer Jemima Harrison returns to explore what has happened since she made the original film. Deeply affected by the issues that she uncovered, Jemima has become a campaigner on dog welfare.

In this programme she takes a personal look at the positive changes that have been introduced since the first film and investigates areas of continuing concern, particularly among breeds like the German Shepherd, the Bulldog and the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Jemima hears from dog breeders and a range of experts, many of whom express grave worries about the future of some of our best loved breeds.

No doubt the Kennel Club will now start up a full parade of lies and disinformation, with poodle poofters and breed club matrons wringing their hands about how unfair it is that anyone would talk about the Kennel Club breeding deformed, diseased and defective dogs in a closed registry system for more than 100 years.

The 'Baghdad Bobs' of the Kennel Club will say there is no reason to take more action, and besides they were already well on their way to reform all on their own, don't you know.

Right. Heard it all before, and for decades now.

Still breeding dogs in a closed registry system are they? Check.

Still giving rosettes to dogs that cannot breathe and cannot mate or whelp on their own, are they? Check.

Still counting health and work for zero at Kennel Club dog shows, are they? Check.

Still ushering in "new" breeds with incredibly small gene pools, are they? Check.

Right. So what's the Kennel Club done that is truly new and substantive?

A list of 14 breeds to watch and worry over?

A few word changes to a few standards?

Is that it? Is that all there is to Kennel Club reform three years on?
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Fair Chase for the Fox

2012-02-09T15:07:00.005-05:00

Sometimes someone says the right thing and I am pretty thrilled.

An example is Lt. Col. Dennis Foster, executive director of the Master of Foxhounds Association and Foundation, quoted in this excellent editorial in the Fredericksburg, Virginia Star:

THE BOND between man and dog has existed for thousands of years. Forged initially from mutually beneficial survival activities, the link has evolved into a satisfying symbiosis involving food, love, protection, care, and, sometimes, sport, including, from time immemorial, hunting and chasing game. But when does "sport" cross the line and become cruelty? Right at the gate of the fox pen.

The foxhound is the Virginia state dog, a noble breed born and bred for one thing: to chase foxes. Watching a fox hunt over free and open countryside with riders on galloping horses and hounds baying is a beautiful thing. Ol' Reynard is often crafty enough to find a tree stump, a hole, or a small nook in which to hide, and hounds return without prey, tongues lolling, happy just for the chase.

In years past, some people would train foxhounds on public lands, with a permit. This evolved into a different sport, foxhound field trials, in which the numbered dogs would be judged by their ability to find and chase the fox.

But public lands have begun disallowing this use, and in the last few decades another practice has grown: Private acreage is fenced, foxes are trapped and placed inside, and the hounds are released. Although the practice is regulated by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and hiding places are mandated, the deck is ultimately stacked against the fox, which generally ends up at the mercy of a pack of exhilarated dogs. This cannot be called "sport."

Lt. Col. Dennis Foster, executive director of the Master of Foxhounds Association and Foundation, draws a firm line between fox-hunting and fox-penning. "We don't consider [fox-penning] a sport," he said. "We forbid our hunts" to hold meets at fox pens. He points out that in fox-hunting, "chasing them is the point, not killing them."

Legislation in the General Assembly would ban fox-penning in the state. In fairness to the fox, that's a good idea.

The legislation is shelved for this year, but will be back.

It's principle problem is not that a ban on fox pens is not a good idea, but that the Humane Society of the U.S. is the entity pushing it.

Most knowledgeable people in the world of dogs and hunting have a reflexive loathing of HSUS as it is little more than a direct mail mill that will use any emotionally volatile issue as an excuse to separate little old ladies from their wallets. No one who really knows how HSUS works thinks for one second that they care a whit about wildlife or about hunting ethics of even canine welfare. They care about direct mail returns, period.

That said, the fact that HSUS stinks like a dead fish on the beach does not make fox pens an idea worth defending. Fox pens are NOT part of America's fox hunting tradition and they need to be put out of business, and the people to lead that charge in Virginia should be traditional mounted fox hunters who have a legitimate interest in keeping their sport clean and above-board. Time to saddle up and ride for this just cause. If folks want to kick HSUS in the ass while they go about that, I will only applaud!

Related Links:
** Hunting as Contest
** Virginia Fox Pens Under the Gun
** Canned Hunts Shame Us All
** How to Train a Scent Hound

Raccoon Nation

2012-02-09T14:56:00.000-05:00

Watch Raccoon Nation on PBS. See more from Nature.

I saw this last night (very good!) and Paul H. sent me a link (thank you!).

I had no idea Japan had an American raccoon population as well as a Tanuki population. Germany has an American raccoon population too, of course, as I have noted in the past.
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What Two Skulls Can Tell You

2012-02-08T05:30:00.003-05:00

Skulls will tell you a lot if you will take the time to look and learn.

For example, these two skulls are from my collection and both are bulldogs.

One is an English Bulldog, and the other a large American Pit Bull.

Look at these two skulls carefully and pay special attention to the area where the brain would sit (I will measure true cranial volume in another post).

Look at the smooth dome on top of the English Bulldog as compared the occipital and saggital crest that comes with the American Pit Bull.

What's that mean?

What does it tell you about the relationship between brain size and jaw strength?

I am adding another skull for comparison -- two pictures of the same skull, below. This is an average-sized red fox skull. Notice the relative size of the brain case and the lack of a saggital crest. What does this tell us about the brain to jaw-strength ratio?

Charles Dickens Goes to a Couple of Dog Shows

2012-02-07T19:59:00.001-05:00

In The Dog Wars, his terrific book about the Border Collie's battle to keep out of the clutches of the American Kennel Club, Donald McCaig includes a nice little story from Charles Dickens who wrote "Two Dog Shows" for the August 2, 1862 edition of the journal All the Year Round.

This article was instrumental in helping fund what was to become the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Do you want to read the entire Charles Dickens piece on the 200th Anniversary of this great writer's birth?

The good news is that you can, at this link, but let me also suggest you simply shell out a few bucks for a copy of The Dog Wars. I promise you will not be disappointed!

For those who are tight with dollars and time, however, I give you this:

“Within a mile of that great dog show at Islington, there existed another dog show of a very different kind, and forming as complete a contrast to the first as can well be imagined. For this second dog show is nothing more nor less than the show of the Lost Dogs of the Metropolis – the poor vagrant homeless curs that one sees looking out for a dinner in the gutter or curled up in a doorway taking refuge from their troubles in sleep.”

Right. Some things never change.
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A Charles Dickens-era Dog Show

2012-02-07T07:50:00.001-05:00

Today is Charles Dickens' 200th birthday.

Believe it or not, Charles Dickens was editor of a magazine that wrote one of the first descriptions of a dog show back in 1844.

The squib below appeared in Bentley's Miscellany. Bentley's was a literary magazine started by Richard Bentley, and it was published between 1836 and 1868. Charles Dickens was its first editor. The author of this particular contribution was a fellow by the name of John Fisher Murray in a section he called The Physiology of London Life.

As you can tell from the description, dog shows were a very novel idea at the time. In fact, the first formal dog show was not held until 1859. My guess is that this dog show was a tented side-line to a larger generalized stock show.

Apparently the push was already on to create freakishly odd dogs -- in this case a miniature or "tea cup" breed.

Bentley's Miscellany By Charles Dickens, William Harrison Ainsworth, Albert Smith
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Budweiser Goes to the Dogs

2012-02-06T18:33:00.001-05:00

I don't drink and don't follow organized sports, but I like a good ad as well as the next guy, and Budweiser has a hit with this one, which was shown during last night's Super Bowl.

Weego is some sort of odd terrier cross. Some more action with him here.

This is not the first time that Budweiser has gone to the dogs, of course. My favorite of all time is below, and it too features a terrier in the hero role.

E.B. White vs ASPCA

2012-02-05T07:38:00.000-05:00

Over on the Letters of Note blog, they include this letter from E. B. White, author of Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and One Man's Meat to the ASPCA, the New York entity charged with collecting "dog taxes."

12 April 1951

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
York Avenue and East 92nd Street, New York, 28, NY

Dear Sirs:

I have your letter, undated, saying that I am harboring an unlicensed dog in violation of the law. If by "harboring" you mean getting up two or three times every night to pull Minnie's blanket up over her, I am harboring a dog all right. The blanket keeps slipping off. I suppose you are wondering by now why I don't get her a sweater instead. That's a joke on you. She has a knitted sweater, but she doesn't like to wear it for sleeping; her legs are so short they work out of a sweater and her toenails get caught in the mesh, and this disturbs her rest. If Minnie doesn't get her rest, she feels it right away. I do myself, and of course with this night duty of mine, the way the blanket slips and all, I haven't had any real rest in years. Minnie is twelve.

In spite of what your inspector reported, she has a license. She is licensed in the State of Maine as an unspayed bitch, or what is more commonly called an "unspaded" bitch. She wears her metal license tag but I must say I don't particularly care for it, as it is in the shape of a hydrant, which seems to me a feeble gag, besides being pointless in the case of a female. It is hard to believe that any state in the Union would circulate a gag like that and make people pay money for it, but Maine is always thinking of something. Maine puts up roadside crosses along the highways to mark the spots where people have lost their lives in motor accidents, so the highways are beginning to take on the appearance of a cemetery, and motoring in Maine has become a solemn experience, when one thinks mostly about death. I was driving along a road near Kittery the other day thinking about death and all of a sudden I heard the spring peepers. That changed me right away and I suddenly thought about life. It was the nicest feeling.

You asked about Minnie's name, sex, breed, and phone number. She doesn't answer the phone. She is a dachshund and can't reach it, but she wouldn't answer it even if she could, as she has no interest in outside calls. I did have a dachshund once, a male, who was interested in the telephone, and who got a great many calls, but Fred was an exceptional dog (his name was Fred) and I can't think of anything offhand that he wasn't interested in. The telephone was only one of a thousand things. He loved life — that is, he loved life if by "life" you mean "trouble," and of course the phone is almost synonymous with trouble. Minnie loves life, too, but her idea of life is a warm bed, preferably with an electric pad, and a friend in bed with her, and plenty of shut-eye, night and days. She's almost twelve. I guess I've already mentioned that. I got her from Dr. Clarence Little in 1939. He was using dachshunds in his cancer-research experiments (that was before Winchell was running the thing) and he had a couple of extra puppies, so I wheedled Minnie out of him. She later had puppies by her own father, at Dr. Little's request. What do you think about that for a scandal? I know what Fred thought about it. He was some put out.

Sincerely yours,

E. B. White

A Construction Story

2012-02-04T07:27:00.000-05:00

Watch the whole thing! Thanks to Teddy for sending this one! Most amusing.
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Coffee and Provocation

2012-02-03T18:27:00.004-05:00

Bluegill's for Homeland Security?
In Washington, D.C., New York, and San Francisco, the United States Army uses bluegills as swimming "canaries in a coal mine" to detect attempts to poison the local water systems.

The High Cost of Invasive Species:
If we don't fight them at the border, we'll have to fight them closer to home. Carp that is. The latest analysis suggests it will cost $9.5 billion to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

An Audubon Bird Guide for $7.9 Million:
A copy of John James Audubon's The Birds of America, which has 435 hand-colored, life-size prints of nearly 500 bird species on pages measuring 39 by 26 inches, was recently sold for $7.9 million.   There are only 119 copies of the book left, and the last copy sold for $10 million before the economic downturn.

Promises, Promises:
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised, once again, to to allow a free vote on the repeal of the Hunting Act in Parliament, describing the existing ban as a “bizarre” law. He keeps talking, but still no action. Typical politician!

Terrierman for the Cure:
The pink ribbon folks at Susan G. Komen Foundation have sold out women and wrecked their own brand by moving to insult and defund a Planned Parenthood breast cancer-screening program. It's the Susan G. Komen Foundation's brand to wreck, of course. For those who want to "advance in a different direction" and stand up for the basic message of Planned Parenthood, however, here's a link to share; a  Field Guide to Contraceptives. Contraception is a cure for quite a lot of things that ail Mother Earth.

A Slave Writes a Letter That You Must Read:
Here's a must-read letter from former slave Jourdon Anderson to his old master   Read the whole thing. Double dipped in awesome. Jourdon Anderson was still living in Ohio at the time of the 1900 census as "Jordan Anderson". At that time, Anderson and his wife Mandy were in their 70s and had been married for 52 years. Mandy had borne 11 children, six of whom were still living. Anderson's death at the age of 79 was recorded in the Dayton Daily News on April 19, 1905.

Death Drones With Magic Bullets are Coming:
No one is talking about this yet, but they will. You see, cheap invasive drones are soon going to be everywhere. There will be swarms of them (video) peeping in people's windows and flown by perverts, and swarms of them flown by cops who will use them to peek over fences to catch folks growing a little backyard reefer. There will be thousands of them run by the County tax folks who will use them to look for tax delinquent cars in commercial parking lots, and there will be others hovering over our highways snapping pictures of speeding cars and sending the tickets (with photos) straight to our cell phones. And then, there will be the war drones -- the little sniper drones that will fly around war-torn cities, hover at windows, and then fire self-guiding bullets (video) into people before zipping off as anonymous as a bumble bee. All of this is very-near possible now!

Pour Gasoline On Them and Set Them on Fire:
Despite $41 billion in profits last year, Exxon pays a lower tax rate than you.

The Darwin Project on Wheels:
This is an amazing video of stupidity and bravery on wheels, with a dash of awesome American landscape on top. Of course when it all comes apart (and you know it eventually will) your tax dollars will have to MedEvac this moron out and pay for his medical care as well. So enjoy the video -- you're definitely going to be paying for it one way or another!
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Happy Birthday to Me!

2012-02-03T05:00:00.002-05:00

With Jack Russell Terriers, Size Matters

2012-02-03T03:00:00.027-05:00

Related Links:
** Cracking Tired Chestnuts About Form and Function
** Never Too Small a Chest
** The Limits of Flexibile Chests
** Form for Function: Span Quarry, Not Just Dogs
** The Good Stuff
** A Wrench that Doesn't Fit
** Out of the Ring and Into the Den
** Artificial Dens, Big Dogs and Fair Chase
** The Measured Size of Red Fox
** Measurement Informs, Exaggeration Deforms
** What Flint Can Tell Us About Working Terriers
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Feed Me Like a Wolf

2012-02-02T19:35:00.002-05:00

"The preferred diet of the wolf is not cooked backstrap from the pride of the herd, but raw flesh ripped from the diseased rectum of a downer cow."

I am always a bit surprised at how many people have strong opinions about dog food, and how few of these opinions are actually supported by common sense.

For example, most dog food dogmatics are focused on dog food quality rather than quantity.

And yet, quality hardly matters as most dogs in this country (even most working dogs!) can easily have their nutritional needs met by grocery store kibble or carefully selected table scraps.

Which is not to say that everything is fine in the world of dog food.

The problem, however, is not too low a quality of food; it's too high a quality of food, and too much of it too.

Most dogs in this country are overfed.

Fat dogs are not only losing years off of their lives, but they are also costing their owners (and this nation) billions of dollars in unnecessary veterinary bills.

Most of the problem, of course, is that people are over-feeding their dogs out of guilt for spending too little time with them.

Another factor, however, is that many modern dog foods are packed with calories which means "just a little more" may end up putting on real pounds.

Add in the chronic lack of exercise that most dogs receive, and you have the same prescription for fat pooches as for obese humans.

It's not just too many calories, of course. Modern dog food is also loaded up with vitamins and calcium, and this triple combination means many large-breed dogs are growing up faster than God intended, and as a result they are suffering from increasing amounts of nutrition-related dysplasia.

Are canine web sites and list-servs abuzz about the need to feed dogs less in order to keep them in proper weight?

They are not. Up to 40 percent of the dogs in this country are over-weight, and obesity is the number one killer of dogs and people in this country, but that conversation tends to strike a little too close to home.

Put three people in a room and talk about obesity as a health issue, and at least one of those people is going to cop an attitude: Are you talking about me??!

Which circles back to the issue of dog food. What should you feed your dogs?

My standard answer has never varied: Whatever you want!

When people ask me when I feed my own dogs, I tell them grocery store kibble. What brand? I feed Purina at the moment, but what brand does not really matter so long as it's the house brand of a major manufacturer like Purina or Pedigree which work hard to control their supply chain.

Almost none of the "boutique" dog food companies make their own foods; they contract out with a nameless, faceless companies like Menu Foods or American Nutrition, Inc.,. which have no brand or history to protect, and are entirely mercenary when it comes to production.

Purina and Pedigree, by comparison, have their own manufacturing facilities, important historical brands to protect, and a decades-long track record with most suppliers.

Why do I feed my dogs kibble? Simple: Kibble has been treated with fire.

While cooking does not cure all ills, it cures most, and that is especially important with meat. The more you know about meat -- any kind of meat -- the more likely you are to order your steaks "well cooked."

I recommend buying from a grocery or "big box" store, because unlike food bought at pet stores and veterinary offices, the dog food at a grocery or big box store is rarely older than two weeks, and also tends to be cheaper.

Whatever brand of big-name kibble you choose to use, one thing is almost guaranteed: your dog will end up eating better than you do.

Not only is most grocery store dog food balanced for proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, but it has probably been tested under longitudinal trials involving thousands of dogs over many years.

Can most dog owners say that about the food they eat? I think not!

As for dog food being full of snouts, lungs, udders, and shin meat, it most certainly is. It also has chicken feet ground up in it, as well as bones and beaks, and pieces of tail, testicles and cow privates.

All of this is excellent food, and most of it was "human quality" until very recently.

Of course, we Americans now turn up our nose at such stuff. We demand that all meat be the very choicest cut served on a white napkin placed on top of a foam plate. The meat must be dyed the right color to make it pleasing to the eye, and the whole thing must be shrink-wrapped, dated, bar-coded and placed in a cold packing crate near the pass-through aisle in the super markey.

Only then will we buy it.

Blood and guts? Testicles and snout? Entrails and feet? Most Americans shudder at the parts of a pig or cow that nurtured our grandparents not so long ago.

Go overseas into the markets of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, however, and people are still eating everything, including the squeal.

Ox Tail soup? Bones for Ossobuco? Udders for sausage? Stomachs and lungs for Haggis? Testicles for breakfast? All good food.

What is laugh-track funny are the folks who pop up in every dog food debate to talk about the diet of wolves.

Now a wolf is not a dog -- a point I have made in several posts before -- but let's let that go. Let's talk about what wolves do eat, instead.

You see, whether wolves are chasing caribou in the Arctic, pulling down elk in the Yellowstone, or stalking buffalo in Kansas, they are all doing the same thing: they are looking for the young, the sick, and the infirm.

A downer cow? To a wolf that's the dinner bell ringing.

Yes, that's right: The preferred diet of the wolf is not cooked backstrap from the pride of the herd, but raw flesh ripped from the diseased rectum of a downer cow.

Funny how that fact never makes it into all these conversations about "natural" dog foods.

Nor is it ever mentioned that wolves eat a lot of rabbit, deer and rats riddled with round worms and other parasites. Disease? A wolf likes nothing better than a diseased animal; they are so much easier to catch.

Unlike your kibble-fed dog, wolves are not eating nice bits of flesh from healthy animals that have been given vaccines, regular vet checks, dosed with antibiotics, and given unlimited amounts of high-quality feed and clean water.

But that's what our dog food is made out of.

And then, to make it even better, we stir in corn, rice, and wheat in order to increase fiber and add carbohydrates. We also add in vitamins and micronutrients, as well as preservatives to keep the whole thing fresh. Then we grind it all fine, cook it, extrude it, fire it hard into bite-sized nuggets, and put it in hermetically-sealed stay-fresh bags.

Poor dogs! If only they had quality foods!

On the other side of the forest, far from freeway and factory, the wolf is gobbling down the worm-filled intestines of his downer cow elk. He will eventually eat nearly everything -- ears, eyes, genitals, anus, snout -- but right now he is focusing on the nice soft bits in the stomach cavity.

After his first meal, the carcass will be dragged under a bush to hide it from scavengers. Later, the wolf and his kin will return to gnaw on the rotting flesh that is now flyblown with maggots.

This is the "natural whole foods" of the wolf, and it is the ideal that the food romantics trot out on almost every occasion.

No doubt these folks are also Rousseau-romantics who think the Indians and the aborigines lived pristine lives without war and "at one with nature." Never mind the evidence to the contrary!

As for dogs, if they are not overfed, and are regularly exercised, they are probably fine with any store-bought food or carefully-selected set of table scraps.

Dried chicken mixed with rendered chicken fat is probably no worse than any other kinds of meat protein. Never mind that asian jungle fowl is not a natural diet for any canid -- it will do just as well as beef, lamb, deer, fish, horse, kangaroo or beaver.

As for millet or barley or pumpkin or potatoes, they are probably no worse (and no better) than corn, soy, rice or wheat.

If spending more on exotic-recipe dog foods makes you feel better about your dog and yourself, go ahead and do it. It will probably do the dog no harm.

That cannot be said if you feed your dog too much, however.

Remember it's generally not food quality that kills a dog, it's food quantity.

Too much food and too little excercise kills more dogs -- and more humans -- than anything else in this country.

And that's not about the FDA or the dog food companies; that's about us.

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God, Groundhog Day & Government

2012-01-31T04:50:00.000-05:00

The roots of Groundhog Day go back to the Bible and perhaps even earlier.

The Romans considered February [the name comes from februa, to purify] as "a time of cleansing in preparation for a fresh start" because the month comes halfway between December 21, the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and March 21 (the Spring or Vernal Equinox).

The connection to the Bible is that in Hebrew tradition mothers were required to purify their children in the temple 40 days after giving birth.

Mary, mother of Jesus, purified Jesus on Feb. 2nd, 40 days after Jesus's birth, establishing the tradition of the "Feast of the Presentation."

The early Christians, working off of an earlier Roman tradition, associated February 2nd with the lighting of candles (i.e. "the bringing of new light") and established "Candlemas" as a Christian tradition. In the ancient Pagan world, Groundhog Day was known as Imbolc.

A Candlemas rhyme was developed to mark the occasion of the turning of the seasons, and the rhyme suggested that Candlemas itself was a kind of weather predictor:

Somewhere along the way the weather-predictive power of Candlemas came to be associated with badgers. No one is quite sure why, but it is probably due to pre-Christian Germanic tradition that associated the romantic roamings of this large weasel with the start of a slowly lengthening day.

In any case, when German and Dutch immigrants came to Eastern North America there were no badgers to be found, and so they transposed their badger tradition to the groundhog, which also burrowed in the ground and which also came out of hibernation at approximately the same period of time.

In 1887, Clymer H. Freas, city editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania came up with the idea of a "Punxsutawney Groundhog Club" as a kind of boosterism for his ill-begotten city (the name Punxsutawney means "place of sand flies").

It was a crazy idea, but perseverence paid off. Over the course of several years, story and ritual were heaped up, and the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club stoked the flames of a myth, claiming that "Punxsutawney Phil" was a legendary groundhog that never died and could predict the weather for six weeks in advance. If Punxsutawny Phil can see his shadow, so the legend goes, then six weeks of winter are supposedly at hand. Of course, that's not too big a leap: six weeks is approximately the time of the Spring Equinox (March 20th.)

In December of 2004, the 100-year-old civic boosterism of Clymer H. Freas came to its latest fruition when Congressman John Peterson (R-Pa.) managed to snake $100,000 in Federal funding out of Congress for a "Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center".

The "grand opening" of the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center was Groundhog Day, 2006, but (you will be relieved to hear) it already has a home on the Web. Just >> Click here.
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"If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again."

Martin Scorsese on Doberman Discrimination

2012-01-30T12:01:00.019-05:00

Martin Scorsese knows movies and he knows a bit about dogs too. In a letter to The Los Angeles Times, he writes that:

One recent morning, I turned on the television, and imagine my surprise when I heard the nominations for the first Golden Collar Awards for Best Dog in a Theatrical Film. After all, we had Blackie the Doberman in our movie. How could she not be nominated?

I listened in vain for Blackie's name to be called, and then to all the hullabaloo over a certain Jack Russell terrier named Uggie. Actually, Uggie is so adorable that he received two nominations for two separate pictures. Well done.

OK, let's lay all our cards on the table. Jack Russell terriers are small and cute. Dobermans are enormous and — handsome. More tellingly, Uggie plays a nice little mascot who does tricks and saves his master's life in one of the films, while Blackie gives an uncompromising performance as a ferocious guard dog who terrorizes children. I'm sure you can see what I'm driving at....

I detect... deep-seated prejudice at work. Jack Russell terriers were bred in the 19th century for the purposes of fox hunting by an Englishman, the Rev. John Russell. Dobermans were bred by a German tax collector who was afraid of being bludgeoned to death by the citizenry. But does that mean we must condemn the entire breed? Must we forget the magnificent physical achievements of such legendary Dobermans as Bingo von Ellendonk (who achieved a perfect score in the storied Schutzhund competition), Borong the Warlock, Baracuda Liborium or Caravelle Drillbit?

No Mr. Scorsese, we have not forgotten, and that's the problem.

You see, it was Doberman's that ate Gregory Peck in The Boys from Brazil.

There was an entire movie with trained Dobermans's as bank robbers (The Doberman Gang), and Magnum PI was always being intimidated by Higgen's dogs, Zeus and Apollo.

And then there's They Only Kill Their Masters. The plot is right there in the title.

As for the magnificent physical achievements of Bingo von Ellendonk, that was for Schutzhund, in which a dog is instructed to attack a human, albeit a human clothed in a lot of padding to soften the rather formidable bite.

So have we forgotten the Doberman? No we have not!

But is the world going to salute a tax-collector's dog designed to intimidate and rip into human flesh, rather than a Jack Russell terrier who redeems human life and makes us all laugh?

No, probably not.

The world still loves happy endings.
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The Wolf in the Dog House

2012-01-29T09:00:00.001-05:00

Iditatarod Sled Dog

A reader writes to ask about the putative origin of dogs.

It seems she was listening to Science Friday and they referenced this story from PlosOne: Evidence of the Earliest Domestication Disrupted by the Last Glacial Maximum

She wonders how the transformation from wolf to dog could have occurred in so many diverse geographical areas. If one wolf pup was taken in by humans in Nome, Alaska another in Brittany, France, and another in the Fertile Crescent of Iraq, wouldn't they have a lot of genetic differences?

Here's an interesting question!

Let's start with a simple point: DNA and mDNA are not as good as license plate numbers on cars. Dog DNA tests that are supposed to be able to tell you what mix your mixed-breed is are a complete scam. Yes, DNA can tell you if this blood or hair came from that animal, but population DNA is a little more complex and a little less clear, and that is especially true for animals that routinely make 1,000 mile migrations and which can jump human-constructed taxonomic fences as if they were little more than chalk lines on a black board.

So what are all these papers about that are proclaiming some scientist or another has just discovered "the first dog"?

Mostly, nonsense.

What is going on here, is that some underfunded and overlooked dirt scraper in some God-forsaken location has across a canid skull in a cave.

That's it.

But, of course, there has to be more, and so measurements are taken, tests are run, and speculation runs rampant as people desperate for more funding look for a headline, a first, a discovery, a whole new way of looking at the world.

Carbon dating will be done, of course, and in the paper they will note the presence of a possible fire pit nearby, the bones of dozens of other animals, and maybe a few cut marks on a few bones. The scientists will measure the teeth and claim the animal they found has teeth ever so slightly different from some putative "norm" for wolves, and they may also say the muzzle was ever so slightly shorter than some other putative norm.

This "study" has been done again and again, all over the world, with only slightly different wording. So far scientists have boldly proclaimed that the first dogs came from China, the Middle East, France, Ethiopia, Oregon, and ... wherever.

It is all nonsense. They have no idea, and in fact the folks making these claims have no real understanding of wolves, dogs, species or even evolution. Hard to believe, but absolutely true.

Let's start with the basics: The differences between wolves, dogs, Coyotes, and Golden Jackals are so slight that they can ALL interbreed and produce fertile young.

Let's take a look at a few pictures:

Coyote

Tibetan wolf

New Guinea Singing Dog

Red Wolf

Negev Desert wolf

Italian wolf

Arctic wolf

Australian Dingo

Golden Jackal

Egyptian stray dogs

Greenland sled dog

Ethopian wolf

Romanian wolf

Chinese village dog

Philippines Village Dog

Coyote

French wolves

Shave these animals down to account for coat differences due to climate variance, and color them all the same, and there is not a biologist in the world that can reliably say which is dog, wolf, jackal or coyote based on simply looking at them. There are differences in size, but those differences are arrayed on a continuum and there is no obvious break moving from one animal to another.

This is not to say dogs, Coyotes, Golden Jackals, and wolves are not different.

Wolves and coyotes howl and almost never bark, while dogs bark and almost never howl.

Male and female alpha wolves lift their legs to pee, while all other wolf pack members squat to pee. With dogs, almost all males lift their legs, and almost all females squat.

With wolves, estrus occurs only once a year in January or February, while with most non-primitive dogs, estrus occurs twice a year, and can occur at any time.

There are other differences too -- physical differences. Wolves have a pre-caudal gland while dogs do not, and there is also a very small bone difference in the feet of one wolf sub-species.

But can a scientist, anywhere, pick up the skull of an ancient canid and definitely and reliably say this one is a coyote, and this one is a red wolf, and this one is an Arabian wolf, and this one is a dog, and this one is a Golden Jackal and nothing has ever been crossed?

No.

The morphology and biology of dogs, wolves, coyotes, and Golden Jackals is simply too plastic for that kind of facile work based on single skull samples.

In fact, the very nature of the claim being made is flawed at its core.

The assumption is that dogs were created from wolves. It's far more accurate to say dogs ARE being created from wolves. The world of canids is one in which speciation is occurring and has not yet fully occurred. It is still a process, not an event.

And it is a process in which man is still very much stirring the pot.

In Alaska, Kazakhstan, Spain and Romania, there are still wolf pups being snatched from the wild and raised as dogs. These animals are so unreliable as pets that there are laws in almost every country prohibiting their ownership, but their ownership is so common that there's also a entire lexicon of language where the dogs are described as "Malamutes." In fact, many of the animals bought as wolves are Malamutes! Such is the plastic nature of dogs and wolves.

In Italy, Alaska, Minnesota, Spain, Ethiopia and the Middle East, wolves are occasionally crossing with dogs to create small unstable hybrids with the result being mostly wolf, but with sizable doses of dog coursing through the bloodstream.

Here in the U.S. no one knows what to make of the giant coyotes that have appeared in New York and Maine. They appear to be mostly wolf, but there's a little dog in there too.

And, of course, there is the Red Wolf, which has always been nothing more than a stable and self-replicating hybrid of a wolf and a coyote.

The point here is that the world needs to stop saluting this notion that there was a "magic moment" when a wolf became a dog, or that there is even a bright-line morphological difference between Wolves, Dogs, Coyotes, and Golden Jackals.

Bones, by themselves, do not actually tell us all that that much in this instance.

Malaysian feral dog

Native American dog, Sioux

Leonhard Sepalla and his sled dogs

Golden Jackal

Turkish Wolf

Dog Shows in the Age of Dog Show Ridicule

2012-01-27T09:00:00.002-05:00

I sometimes read something on a handheld device, send it to email, and forget it's there. Trolling through some old files while looking for something else, I came across this old gem from 2009: Bitch Please; Dog shows in the age of dog show ridicule.

If you're looking to mock, a dog show is an easy target. You could note how many of these people pursuing perfection in dogs are themselves fairly overweight, and eat too many funnel cakes, and dress in a way that would kill any chance of a social life were they actually in high school. Spending time at the dog show, however, the group came less to resemble some kind of wacky subculture, and more just the culture. A common trait of Americans — blue and red, gay and straight, X and Y, whatever — is that they largely want to be good at something, to be recognized for doing at least one thing well, and maybe that's at the expense of everything else. Poetry writing, bass fishing, cooking, competitive eating, you name it. So you spend months or even years in triathlon training. You juggle Family Feud and reality TV and dog show gigs. You learn about breeds and how to groom and how to rub your dog in just the right family unfriendly way to make its tail stand straight up for judging.

I think this piece has it exactly right: these are just people with limited talents trying to get good at something. And yes, in order to get good at this something, they are willing to give up quite a lot -- money, time, time with family... and even the health of dogs.

This is the dark little secret of dog shows: they are not about dogs. A dog will not cross a room for a rosette, much less drive 300 miles across two states and spend two nights in a bad hotel for the privilege.
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Coffee and Provocation

2012-01-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

Public Lockable Dog Crates?
What do you do when you have your dog with you, and you want to go into a store? In Norway, at leas one place has a "Hundehiet" box where you can stick your dog inside until you’re done. I am not sure I like the idea, for reasons that seem obvious: abandonment, heat, cold, sanitation.

Here's a List of 20 Ancient Living Things:
The youngest is 2,000 years old, the oldest about 500,000 years old. And yes, they are all living.

Something Is Brain Damaged
Christie Carr, a 39-year-old woman from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, nursed a partially paralyzed and brain damaged Red Kangaroo back to heath after it suffered a fractured neck, and now the animal shares her bed at night. ‘He’s always stealing my pillow,’ she said.

Three Million Lakes
Canada has at least 3 million lakes. Other odd geography facts here.

Guns for Less?
A shipment of 86,00 M1 Garands and 770,00 M1 Carbines held by the South Korean military since the Korean war in the 1950s, will soon be coming to the U.S. after an objection by the State Department was overturned.

What Percent Are You?
Want to know where your household income ranks? Punch in total household income and see.

A Dog Tag for Your Keys?
I have a dog tag on my keys with my cell phone number on it. This seems like a nice version and you get two numbers, so one tag can actually go on the dog!
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Fearless Beauty is on Duty

2012-01-26T04:15:00.001-05:00

"Beauty" was a wire haired terrier who belonged to a People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) officer and who led the Animal Rescue Squads during the bombing of London in World War Two.

Beauty received the Pioneer Medal from the PDSA for all the lives she saved; a medal usually reserved for humans. She also received a silver mounted collar with the inscription, 'For Services Rendered'. She was awarded the Dickin Medal in January 1945.
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Six People and a Dog Commute on 50CC

2012-01-25T13:42:00.001-05:00

And you drive your SUV to work all alone!
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Too Close for Comfort

2012-01-25T05:30:00.001-05:00

This is an ad for some sort of breath-freshener for dogs, but it says quite a lot that so many Pugs actually look like this now. Cut off a dog's face, and a dog's head is not that different from a dog's back end.
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Only in America

2012-01-25T04:00:00.001-05:00

The Nonsense of "Pull Dogs"

2012-01-24T07:22:00.002-05:00

In The Working Jack Russell Terrier Eddie Chapman writes:

"Something that makes my blood boil is when I hear terrier men talk about dogs they call Caesar dogs. They will show you a Russell type that has been bred too big and say, 'I use him as a Caesar dog'. If I ask what a Caesar dog is, they say it is a dog which will hold the badger, he won't let go,' they say. I have never heard such rubbish in my life. Besides being unnecessary, it is invariably cruel to the dog and more often than not he will be badly bitten for his pains. Besides that, it is unnecessarily cruel to the badger and the sort of behavior that got badger digging banned. I have tried to explain how to remove badgers from a sett without injury to dog or badger. There is nothing clever about getting a hard dog smashed up by a badger. On the contrary, it shows ignorance and a lack of responsibility and feeling. Bravery in a terrier should never be exploited."

I found it quite refreshing to read this passage, as I have often noted that there is little reason to own a "pull dog" if you actually know how to handle things at the end of a dig. The use of "pull dogs" damages dogs and quarry alike and is wasteful as it often necessitates time out of the field and expensive veterinary work.

In the U.S., the use of pull dogs (what Chapman and some others call "Caesar" dogs) is to due to the prevalence of too many over-large terriers that cannot go to ground in a real earth. To say you have a "good pull dog," is to say you do not have a dog capable of actually going to ground.

If you have followed the Kennel Club dictates, and embraced a 14 inch tall dog with a 17" or 18" chest (or larger!), you are forced to rationalize a job for it. No matter that it is a stupid job forged in pain. Most people would rather see their dog injured than swallow their pride and admit they have drunk the Koolaid offered up by the Kennel Club know-nothings who think a fox den is as big around as a go-to-ground tunnel.

Another factor is that many people simply have no idea of how to handle quarry and so use the dog to to do the job. Having gotten to the end of a dig, they do not know how to get the animal out of the pipe, nor do they know how to dispatch it. In such a situation, the use of a "pull dog" is ignorance in motion.

The simplest way for a novice to handle quarry is with a snare. You can make your own for about $5, or else buy a pig snare from a feedstore.

Groundhogs can also be tailed out alive -- it is not hard if the groundhog's tail is presented, as it so often is. If very much of the pipe is remaining, however, you may find yourself in a tug-of-war with the groundhog who can jamb up inside a pipe so tightly that even a large man can have difficulty pulling one free.

Always use a snare for raccoons -- they can twist all the way around on their short fat bodies. They can grab you with their hands and have crushing bites. Rabies is not uncommon in raccoons, especially on the East Coast.

If you have entangled a fox in a net, be carefully when extricating the fox. The best advice is to pin the animal to the ground under your boot while removing the net. Work the net off the fox in sections, and then release it to hunt another day.
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Learning About Dogs by Watching Dogs

2012-01-23T11:05:00.003-05:00

In the January issue of Earth dog-Running Dog magazine, Colin Didriksen has a nice article about picking a pup. Didriksen is raising Teckels these days -- working dachsunds -- and the piece starts out:

There was roughly one hundred years of doggy experience between the three men standing in the garden watching a litter of Teckels do what seven week old Teckel pups do.

Their mother was with them and now and again one of the pups would push her too far and receive first a growl and if that didn't convince it to stop then the nip that followed did. It's a pity that some human parents don't take note of the way other animals correct the wrongdoings of their young and act similarly; it would mean fewer badly behaved children and incidents of unsocial behavior would be diminished. Areas where some young people delight in causing aggravation to old people would disappear. A degree of respect is often brought about by a tiny tinge of fear.

Watch any non-human mother and its young. Cats, dogs, foxes, ferrets and the like, usually after a verbal warning in the guise of a growl or a hiss, will all discipline their young physically either with a nip, by swatting them with a paw, or both.

You will have to buy a copy to read the rest, and I encourage a subscription, as it's a good magazine with fine pieces from Didriksen, Richard Christian (the title of his piece this month is Civilization and Syphilisation and very amusing), David Harcombe and others.

I always find it amazing that the pet and show ring people are always quick to wax nostaligic and romantic about the history of dogs, but seem entirely blind to the fact that canine history is being written every day by men and women who actually work their dogs above and below ground.

And guess what? Take my word on this: true working dog men and women have something to say and to teach.

The fox in his burrow and the sheep on the hill do not judge up the leash, do not care about some scrap of pedigree paper, nor are they concerned about coat color, nose color, or "expression."

But, of course, people are people, and how is it that we choose a pup from a litter at eight weeks of age?

Ah well, you will have to buy the magazine and read the piece. But yes, it's very amusing.
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The Impact of Ebola in the Forest

2012-01-23T06:03:00.001-05:00

In three essays in Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, David Quammen profiles the work of Mike Fay who did a 2,000 mile walking "megatransect," with pygymy porters, through the wildest and most inhospitable parts of the Central African Republic and Congo, ending up on the coast of Gabon after 18 months of walking through poacher-infested forests and leech-infested swamps.

Quammen writes of what they found -- and did not find -- in the Minkébé National Park in Gabon:

They found spectacular zones of forest and swamp, stunning inselbergs, networks of streams, all rich with species and virtually untouched by human presence. They also found — as Mike Fay has been finding — a nearly total absence of gorillas and chimpanzees. It wasn’t always so. In 1984 a paper appeared in the American Journal of Primatology, by Caroline Tutin and Michel Fernandez, in which the authors described their census of gorilla and chimpanzee populations throughout Gabon. Using a combination of field transects, habitat analysis, and cautious extrapolation, Tutin and Fernandez estimated that at least 4,171 gorillas lived within the Minkébé sector, representing a modest but significant population density. Something seems to have happened to those apes between 1984 and now. It may have happened abruptly in the mid-1990s, when three Ebola epidemics burned through villages and gold camps at the Minkébé periphery, killing dozens of humans. One of those outbreaks occurred in early 1996 at a village called Mayibout 2, on the upper Ivindo River. It began with a chimpanzee carcass, found dead in the forest and brought to the village as food. Eighteen people who helped with the skinning, the butchering, and the handling of the chimp flesh became sick. Suffering variously from fever, headache, and bloody diarrhea, they were evacuated downriver to the Makokou hospital. Four of them died quickly. A fifth escaped from the hospital, went back to Mayibout 2, and died there. That victim was buried in the traditional way—ceremonies were performed, and no special precautions were taken against infection.

By early March, thirty-one people had fallen ill, of whom twenty-one died, for a mortality rate of almost 68 percent. Then it was over, as abruptly as it started. Around the same time, according to later accounts, dead gorillas were seen in the forest.

... [Fay] spends hours in his tent, collating the latest harvest of data on his laptop. Within the past fourteen days, he informs me, we have stepped across 997 piles of elephant dung and not a single dung pile from a gorilla. We have heard zero gorilla chest-beat displays. We have seen zero sprigs of Marantaceae chewed by gorilla teeth and discarded. These are numbers representing as good a measure as now exists of the mystery of Minkébé.

See National Geographic's interactive web site for more information.

Mary Chapin Carpenter :: Come On Come On

2012-01-22T08:00:00.003-05:00

video url

Down the River Road is not a metaphor. River Road is a real road. Mary Chapin Carpenter used to live in the D.C. area near me. I drive down the River Road quite a lot when I go hunting.

Back about 13 or 14 years before this song was recorded at Wolftrap, Mary Chapin Carpenter would perform for beer money at Food For Thought on Connecticut Avenue, and I was a $5 and $10 tipper when she passed the hat. I remember her well as I thought I was being extraordinarily generous with my money considering that $10 back then could buy two pitchers of Tuborg beer, and I was making less money than the receptionist in my office.
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The Lessons On Mountain's Muzzle

2012-01-21T11:05:00.002-05:00

Mountain is curled up in her bed next to me. There are a couple of scars running down her nose from a few fox encounters in her youth, and if you look carefully, you can see the very tip of her nose is cut off from a groundhog bite. A front canine is broken -- a little something to remember from a sette with double raccoons.

Mountain works a little differently now -- she will stand back and bay a little more. Now she knows butt from breath. Old dogs know more than young ones do.

And yet this dog wakes up every morning to check what pants and shoes I am wearing. She lives for Carrharts and boots.

My point here is that this dog has not "bellied over" from a few natural aversives, and neither have any other dogs that I have owned. She has not been too cowed by bites, barb wire and brambles.

For that matter, neither are the cows who seem to be very happy living behind their electric fence. They are not too traumatized by having been nipped by the wire a few times in their life.

All of this is a wind-up to a truly excellent piece from Ruth Crisler about real world aversives and the fomented fear and contrived crisis fanned by certain dog trainers who seek to browbeat the world into thinking there is only one way to train a dog. Read the whole thing.

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Remember When We Played Outside?

2012-01-21T06:34:00.001-05:00

The irony here is at the end...
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Home Defense?

2012-01-20T17:53:00.001-05:00

Don't tell me you have a gun for home defense, when you're not doing a thing to help save the home planet.
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We Are All Marianne Gingrich

2012-01-20T17:26:00.004-05:00

We are all Marianne Gingrich (from Newsweek):

".... the Republican right continues to promote the virtues of traditional marriage, espousing conventional gender stereotypes that conform to Christian dogma by relegating wives to subordinate status while giving familial authority to their husbands. Other evergreen conservative refrains include the criticism of feminists and working mothers for supp...osedly abandoning their domestic duties in favor of paid work outside the home.

"But what happens to the woman who adheres to this retro feminine mystique? If she becomes a homemaker and depends on her husband for support, what if the family breadwinner turns out to be a guy like Newt Gingrich? The wife who sacrificed her ability to earn a living finds herself in deep trouble when hubby rewards her trust by running off with a newer, younger, blonder babe.

"... If Republican men want women to follow such a dangerous course, they should have to answer for how they lived up to their end of that deal in their own personal lives.

"And if they want us to elect them to high office, they should also be required to explain how voters can reconcile their private conduct with the consequences of their public policies.

"Because if we elevate them to the White House, the rest of us are also going to have to live with the gap between what they say and what they actually do. And in that scenario, we all become Marianne Gingrich.

Nature's Viet Cong

2012-01-20T06:00:00.002-05:00

In Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, author David Quammen writes about one of the world's most despised insects:

"...the mosquito is taking a bad rap. It has been victimized, I submit to you, by a strong case of anthropocentric bias. In fact, the little sucker can be viewed, with only a small bit of squinting, as one of the great ecological heroes of planet Earth. If you consider rainforest preservation. The chief point of blame, with mosquitoes, happens also to be the chief point of merit: They make tropical rainforests, for humans, virtually uninhabitable

So as Europe was being stripped of its virgin woods, and India and China, and the North American heartland, the tropical rainforests largely escaped, lasting into the late twentieth century—with some chance, at least, that they may endure a bit longer. Thanks to what? To a concatenation of accidental and deterministic factors, no doubt, among which should be included this: 10 million generations of jungle-loving, disease-bearing, bloodsucking mosquitoes—the Culicidae, nature’s Vietcong.

A Coffee Cup Quote Starbucks Missed

2012-01-20T04:00:00.004-05:00

The chief mate of the Pequod was Starbuck, a native of Nantucket, and a Quaker by descent....

"I will have no man in my boat," said Starbuck, "who is not afraid of a whale."
. - Moby Dick, by Herman Melville

The Coolest Man in the World Has Throat Cancer

2012-01-19T18:52:00.001-05:00

Over at the Querencia blog, Steve Bodio mourns that his mongolian friend, Aralbai, who was deemed to be "the coolest man in the world" by Field and Stream magazine, has throat cancer at the very young age of 54, and he is refusing chemo and radiation. Read the rest here.
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