dig by dog

Oh, social networking — how I love thee.
Yesterday, I saw a tweet that a had link to an article titled, “Dogs dumbed down by domestication.” Before I let my blood boil, I told myself to click the link and read the darn article.
It’s actually a pretty good article, but I still disagree.
First off, the headline “Dogs dumbed down by domestication” should have read, in my opinion, “Dogs dumbed down by co-evolution; humans too.”
I just finished reading Temple Grandin’s Animals in Translation and those of you who read this blog regularly are aware of that by now. I can hear all of you groaning, “Oh geez, here she goes on Temple Grandin again. Give it a break already!”
But I won’t, because she is brilliant and I think she is right. First off, there is hard evidence that the old adage of us domesticating the dog is just not true. Why? Because a sign of domestication is brain shrinkage and guess what? Both the human brain and the dog brain shrank when our two species came together, albeit in different areas. And that is called co-evolution, not domestication.
To read an inspiring blog post all about this and how the saying “Dogs make us human” is really, really true, click here.
Secondly, the subhead to this other article states, “That blank stare in your dog’s eyes could be the result of thousands of years of human intervention.”
OK, the blood is getting hot; almost to a boil now.
If your dog wears a blank stare around, then you have done a really crappy job of training your dog. Dogs who receive positive reinforcement training learn to problem solve quite well and I’ve never seen a dog with a history of positive reinforcement training have a blank stare.
If your dog is staring blankly, shame on you. My dog has never, ever had blank eyes. In fact, everyone who meets him comments on how he seems to “tell you everything with his eyes.”
Now from the dumb headline and sub-headline to the context of the article, which is a report on a study which found that domestic dogs do worse at problem solving situations than wolves and wild dogs.
Is this supposed to be a surprise? Scientists know and have known for a long time that the area of the dogs’ brain which shrank during co-evolution was the frontal lobes, a.k.a. the intelligence center. Of course pet dogs will perform more poorly on these tests than wolves and wild dogs. These are the type of skills that nature decided dogs didn’t need anymore, because of us.
That is not to say dogs can’t problem solve, though. Training is problem solving. They just can’t do it as well as their wild predecessors and that much makes sense. Dogs have us, wolves do not.
Lastly, what about the study that shows pet dogs have an ability to read human facial expressions in ways that wild dogs and wolves cannot? Temple Grandin — yes, back to Temple Grandin again — talked about this study in her book. It shows that things go both ways: you lose a little intelligence here, gain a little intelligence there.
The study this article centered around was not a bad one and its results are not surprising — in fact, they’re on par with everything we already knew about pet dogs vs. wolves and wild dogs.
But for the headline writer to infer that dogs have been dumbed down by domestication (co-evolution, please!) and that all dogs wear around these blank stares is just uneducated and goes to show how dumb the human race can be too.
And I am sincerely worried about that headline writer’s dog. In my opinion, a blank stare indicates a pretty bleak life.
Remember — when it comes to dogs and humans, if we’re going to use the term domestication, it applies to both of us. And it means we both got “dumber.”
I like to think, however, that we both evolved to maintain our most useful skill sets considering our new partnership with another species.

Find low prices for Temple Grandins book, Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior on Amazon.com by clicking here.

All summer long weve been waiting for our tomatoes to ripen and this looks like the week that the garden has started turning red. Tomatoes are high in Vitamin C, beta-carotene and lycopene that seems to always be in the news for its anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and heart healthy properties.

So today Jack went to his groomer Yankee Clipper. He loves his spa days and they all love him there too. The owner of the shop, Liz Czak, used to raise and show akitas herself so I have always felt very comfortable leaving him in their hands. I started taking him when he was just a pup so he got used to it gradually. (short visits initially) He goes for a bath and brush out regularly now and I have to admit I feel no guilt about not doing it myself. Being a longcoated akita makes for much more to groom. I did my other two akitas myself but it was never something I looked forward to. My poor back was always out of whack for days afterwards. Even when I used the humane societies raised tub. Bathing an akita is no picnic for me. It is well worth the cabbage it costs in my book. While I was there I also told her about Chloie so she could keep an eye open for a potential suitable home.

While Jack is away getting beautified my bath day routine consists of washing all the dog bedding and vacuuming the whole house, and mopping floors. No sense sending him out to get clean to come home and lay in dog fur dust bunnies. I made a busy day of it by also washing all the bowls, stuffed toys, chew toys, bones and even his collar too.

The girls had their spa day at home on Thursday night. The one best tip I have for anyone to bathe a dog at home is to invest in a shower hose long enough to use in their tub. It does wonders. Especially because rinsing out the soap is the most important part of any pet bath. If you dont, you risk having an itchy dog and the possibility of impending hot spots. (which can equal an unwelcome vet bill) The hose is so much more effective and faster than the old cup method. Baths, nail trims and even ear cleaning was all accomplished.

Even though grooming day still means work for me I love it. Jack comes home all pretty and fresh smelling and I have a clean house by the end of the day as well. Im certainly no clean freak by anyones definition but a clean house gives a certain satisfaction. Even for the domestically challenged such as myself.

When I went in my bedroom to put away some clothes and Jack followed me and put himself to bed. I guess bath day is a long one for him too.

There are a few dog feeders who foolishly insist that meat is the only thing a dog should ever be fed. Meat alone is entirely inadequate for a dog. The foremost deficiency in a diet of meat is its lack of calcium. lf the meat is trimmed of fat there is also likely to occur a deficiency in energy. There are numerous other deficiencies, but none as dramatic as these two.

Meat, nevertheless, is the single most important source of protein fed to dogs. Thousands of tons of horse meat and beef are used each year in producing commercial dog foods. Hundreds of tons more are fed as a supplement to commercial foods or in home-made rations.

When fed as an addition to a balanced commercial food, meat can be added up to 10 percent of the weight of the mixture. When added in any greater amounts it will dilute the commercial food to the extent that the diet will no longer be balanced or adequate. When used as the sole source of protein in a home-made ration, meat should constitute at least 25 percent of the total weight of the diet. However, home-made rations should ever contain more than 75 percent of its weight as meat

All meats except pork can be fed to a dog either cooked or raw, but will usually furnish more nourishment in the raw state. Vitamins are destroyed by the heat of cooking. Fat also is driven out of meat during cooking, and unless it is poured back into the ration, it will become lost as an energy source. The only real justification for feeding a dog cooked meat in a homemade ration is because it is pork, or because the dog does not like raw meat. Dogs having a genuine dislike for raw meat are few and far between.

The nature of the animal from which the meat comes does not seem to be too important where protein is concerned. Nutritionally, most proteins from different animals seem to be about equal. For years it was contended by some dog owners that pork could not be fed to dogs. Feeding experiments do not find this to be true. In fact, pork liver is probably among the most nutritious livers commonly available to dogs. The only restriction which pork has when being fed to dogs is that it be cooked.