Recently in Behavior Category

I happened upon this rather gorgeous little gem of a news story from the mid-1950s while browsing some dark and dusty corridors of the online newspaper morgue.

Thus begins the story of "The Case of the Stowaway Dog: Hector Finds His Master," from an actual newspaper article that I found in archives dated May 12, 1956 (which means the recounted incident took place in the early 1920s), and printed in the "Youngstown Vindicator" newspaper, though it was originally written for The Christian Science Monitor "in collaboration with the Readers Digest."

Now, there are many heart-tugging dog tales that I take with huge grains of salt. Huge. Grains. -- usually those of the "faithful dog who never leaves the master's/mistress' graveside variety," or others than require us to believe that the dog has mastered certain abstract and/or metaphysical concepts that are so very peculiar to the human species. Now, if the dog himself had buried the master's bones, I might be more inclined to go along with some of those stories, but poochy hanging out graveside for years (or by some other marker that could never be recognized by the dog as having anything to do with the owner in actual life)... well, no, not so much.

Yet this vintage story of a dog reunited with his master through what appear to be astonishing and epic machinations and maneuvers on the part of the canine somehow has the ring of truth for me. I can imagine the ways that a dog negotiates such challenges possibly ending in such a mythic way, and, also, the recounting of the specific behavior of the dog seems so very, very familiar to me as a dog owner... and the narration is attributed to a Capt. Kenneth Dodson, instead of, say, an ambitious reporter with a vivid imagination and a deadline to meet. Also, The Christian Science Monitor has long had a reputation as an upstanding journal.

Of course, Captain Dodson may have simply been an especially observant dog lover, with a penchant for romanticizing and telling tallish tales, but I'll rely on his honor as an officer and a gentleman. :) At any rate, it's a great story, a bit challenging to read in this old scanned format, but worth it, I think.

when they can have ours whenever they need them?
 


via MySmelly.com

Have you seen this popular video of a dog "faking his death"?



It's very cute -- as long as we feel that the dog is doing this on purpose: not exactly "playing dead," but enacting an exaggerated submission response, perhaps to encourage the reluctant dog: "see? ya got me! Come on and play and you can get me again!" But some of the people commenting on Patricia McConnell's blog post about this are speculating neurological disorder, although that's just one of the many theories. One commenter says:

"In my experience owning a pet resort and seeing hundreds of dogs play day in and day out...it looks like a very brief neurologic episode to me. I have seen these several times over the years. Some dogs bounce back extremely quick. (The head raise could have been "I want to get up, but my body needs another second to recuperate".) Some dogs take longer. I had a dog who collapsed just like the one in the video, and the only part of the body that she could move voluntarily was her head. I carried her to the car and rushed to her to the vet with her seemingly paralyzed in the back of my car. After driving 20 minutes praying she would not die on the way, we got to the parking lot and she sneezed. The moment she sneezed, all other body movement returned to normal. She trotted into the vet and all tests were normal. She never had another episode like that again. I also have had dogs in grooming which seem to have a "neurologic episode" which is not a seizure, but clearly the dog loses the ability to move and then rebounds quickly. I have had two vets equate these responses to the canine equivalent of a "panic attack-like episode" due to the heighten sound, smell and touch sensory stimulation in the grooming environment."

Hm. I've heard of panic attacks in dogs, but never fainting as a symptom... though there are several conditions that can cause a dog to faint. So... a bit of a mystery here about this "dog who played dead," but if you ever witness odd fainting or "frozen spells" in your pup, best to make sure it isn't a sign of illness.

PHOTO BY PER JENSEN

For dogs, urine is a sort of Facebook profile of their personal life. Before I comment, I'd just like to observe this may be the only article you'll ever read that cheerily states that  "the scientists documented 153 urinations and 199 urine investigations." Of course, I really don't know your reading habits, so perhaps I shouldn't presume. But, really, is that a lot of urine investigations? It seems like my dog does at least that many on a good day.

According to the report, scientists studied canine behavior regarding urine samples from other dogs in a controlled environment, as well as observing natural behavior at a dog park, and found that "both female and male dogs compete for status using the height, leg-lift angle, location and quality of their pee.

 "... For both experiments, the researchers also measured each dog's tail base position, which prior studies found signals status. It's believed that the higher a dog's tail is raised, the more status the canine generally enjoys ... Lisberg and Snowdon determined that males and females were equally likely to whiz next to an unknown dog's previous urine mark. High-tailed/high-status dogs, however, were far more active than other dogs at countermarking and investigating urine."

This was all especially fascinating to me, because my spayed female overmarks like a crazy thing. She overmarks like a professional, not a hobbyist. I don't even know how she manages to ration out her urine to mark as much as she does; by the end of the walk, she marking with droplets. She's also a leg-lifter, and a hightailer -- which apparently means she's a high-status dog. Who knew? I thought she just saw the boys doing it, and thought it looked really cool. And pee-sniffing? No peepee goes unsniffed in our neighborhood, I can tell you that much. Well, the canine variety, anyway; I don't want you to think that this is a family activity.

However, I'll have to observe more carefully when there are other dogs around; it's possible she's more a legend in her own mind during our walks. According to the article, "studies on other animals that also mark with urine suggest that it's risky for a submissive individual to even fake an overmark by standing on tiptoe while peeing or just lifting a leg with nothing coming out. Lisberg suggests that if a dog chooses to 'throw its chemical hat into the ring,' the canine better be able to deliver on the status it conveys via its pee and leg lifting power move."

Okay, this video made me laugh 'til I cried. Poor Denver. Really, who could resist delicious kitty party mix? Certainly not Denver.

Or so it would seem. But how reliable is your dog's "guilty face"? According to scientists, not very reliable at all. This article relates an experiment that tricks dogs and owners alike, and shows that dogs will often act guilty when they are scolded -- even if they didn't do anything wrong: "The dogs offered significantly more 'guilty' behaviors when they were scolded, regardless of whether they'd eaten the treat. And -- drumroll -- dogs who didn't eat the treat showed as many guilty-looking behaviors as dogs who did eat it. In other words, how guilty the dogs acted had no connection with their actual 'guilt.' In fact, the dogs who acted guiltiest of all were the 'innocent' ones being scolded." (However, the scientific community is still out on the question of doggy whistleblowers: video.)

Also, see The Myth of the Guilty Dog, and you may want to have a look at this PDF checklist of canine stress indicators, and read Dog Communication and Appeasement Gestures.

And for the love of Dog, please somebody give Denver some delicious party mix.

Perhaps you've heard about the recent internet firestorm regarding domain registrar Godaddy CEO Bob Parsons posting a video of himself killing an elephant in Zimbabwe as a part of his holiday activities. Animal lovers and animal rights activists are condemning the action, while Parsons defends himself as a humanitarian who helps the poor farmers of Zimbabwe. My personal feeling is that he has an awful lot of money he could dedicate toward efforts to help starving villagers... that don't necessarily depend on him flying down every once in a while to shoot an elephant and pose by the body while adorning everyone with Godaddy hats.

At any rate, to counter the bad taste this left in my mouth, I present you with something totally different, and very, very sweet: the story of Tarra and Bella, a rescued elephant, and the stray dog she "adopted." Here is the CBS report about the inseparable friends:



Here is a brief update from CBS, and another lovely little video update from the Elephant Sanctuary from last summer. "The Bark" has nice article about the couple, and you can find out more about the Elephant Sanctuary on their site. Here's Tarra's bio page, and here's the Tarra and Bella page. The site also offers the "Elecam," live, streaming video from various points in the compound. From the site's news update section, it looks like there will be a feature on Tarra and Bella on "Dateline" (which has been postponed due to coverage of the Japan earthquake), so if you have fallen in love with these two, you can keep your eyes peeled for that.

Are your pooch's table manners as good these doggy diners? If not, heed this article: Train Your Dog to Sit Stay when Feeding. Even though it is perhaps one of the most impressive-seeming behaviors for others to view (hungry doggy + delicious nibbles = perfect manners? Wow! ), this was actually one of the easiest things to train my dog to do. A couple of times of having her bowl removed if she moved from the sit position before I gave her the okay made quite an impression, and once she grokked the idea of waiting for her meal, I had no trouble at all teaching her to Sit or Down and Wait while I placed any kind of treat on the floor in front of her. I am now working on teaching her to leave a 15% tip.

Speaking of tempting treats and perfect manners, have a look at one of the most famous faces on the internet: the irrepressible Stains, who really, really loves cupcakes, and his expression of anguished, naked desire. If Stains can do it, your pooch can, too!

For other tips on teaching polite behavior, see Teach Your Dog Manners Using Everyday Commands,and for tips about how you should handle feeding, Expert Tips On How to Feed Your Dog. Most of it is probably stuff you know, but tips like elevating feeding bowls to help avoid bloat, and reminders not to exercise your dog after eating are examples of some info that can be forgotten or overlooked.

PHOTO BY KEVIN STEELE

Does your cat have mysterious recurring cystitis that isn't related to infection, bladder stones, crystals in the urine,or other specific malady? If so, he or she has probably been diagnosed with Feline Idiopathic Cystitis (or possibly Interstitial Cystitis), which basically means "we don't know!" VetInfo.com says this: Feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) is an inflammation of the bladder of unknown origin. The name is often used interchangeably with Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD). Research suggests that FIC is often a stress-related condition. In some cases, FIC may be viral, dietary or genetic.

Symptoms of FIC:

• Frequent urination
• Cat has blood in urine
• Straining to urinate
• Inappropriate cat urination

Now, before we go on, I have to emphasize that it's absolutely vital to rule out more common causes of feline urinary tract problems, like crystals, uroliths, etc., because in some cases these may be life-threatening, especially for male cats, and in no case should they go untreated. However, once the Vet has decided that these are not at issue, you should consider research that indicates that some cats develop inflammations of the bladder in response to stress factors which can be eased by an approach that is called Multimodal Environmental Modification, or MEMO (here is a PDF of a clinical study), which sounds complicated, but mostly just means reducing or eliminating things that are stressful for kitty. These stressors can be various: upsets in the household, problems with other cats, boredom, holiday excitement, traveling, frustration, etc.  The Indoor Pet Initiative site has a section that addresses various feline stressors (see the list on the left side), that can be helpful in your efforts to create a low-stress environment for your sensitive kitty.

The good news is that the MEMO approach is good for a lot of other feline problems as well, according to the clinical study linked above: "In conclusion, MEMO resulted in significant improvement of LUTS [lower urinary tract signs] in cats with idiopathic cystitis, as well as improvement of signs referable to some other organ systems. Indoor housing and stress have been associated with a number of common disorders of cats, including behavioral problems (Heidenberger 1997), diabetes (Rand et al 2004), dental disease, hyperthyroidism, obesity, separation anxiety disorder, and urolithiasis (Buffington 2002). Given the increased disease in indoor-housed cats, and the ease and safety associated with MEMO, we recommend that this approach be offered to all clients with indoor-housed cats as part of preventative health care."

One more white paper on FIC (PDF). As indicated here and elsewhere, a high quality wet diet is almost always better for cats with urinary tract problems, but it should be noted that even a food change can be stressful, so it's probably a good idea to try to introduce new food gently. I can't place it now, but one item I read suggested placing small amounts of both old and new food on separate saucers and allowing the cat to sample both over time (and, with luck, gravitate toward the better wet food). Others have suggested replacing the regular dry kibble just a half-teaspoonful at a time with the new wet food, until kitty is eating all wet food.

How good are you at understanding Dog? To help you find out, PBS' Nova has a nice interactive page that allows you to hear various canine communications and choose what the message is. According to researchers, even non-dog-owners are very good at interpreting Doggish, at least when it comes to barks -- so imagine my embarrassment on not doing so very well at all on this test. Perhaps it's because I kept being distracted by the images, or that in some cases that the timbre of the bark didn't seem to match up with the size of the dog they pictured. Or perhaps it's because my dog only barks about twice a week -- when I'm a little slow for her preference, and it's always the same message: "Let's go walkies! Walkies! WalkWalkWalkWalkWALKIES!"

In fact, this is a popular theme in dog language, according to the people who have actually created dog translation software. "Walk" ranks right up there with "stranger," "fight," "alone," "ball," and "play" as the most frequent topics of canine conversation, according to these scientists from Hungary. You can see their site here, which includes not only information on canine acoustics, but a variety of other subjects, such as social learning and social cognition in dogs, and wolf-dog comparisons. The sections contain brief overviews, with links to PDFs for further reading. Woof!

Is it too early to declare this the best ad of 2011? Was it even made in 2011? Who cares, it's super cool:



Why Dogs Love Us: In his new Duke Canine Cognition Center, evolutionary anthropologist Brian Hare explores the bonds that, over thousands of years, have linked dogs and humans.