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    News — dogs

    Do dogs love us?

    Do dogs love us?

    By In case those licks and wagging tail weren't convincing enough, scientists prove what we already know. Our dogs love us. They really, really love us.

    The feats that dogs undertake for their owners are the stuff of legend. News stories are filled with tales of pups leading rescue workers to injured owners and heroic dogs protecting children from animal attacks, but a question often arises in these remarkable situations: do dogs help because they love us, or because they see us as a meal ticket?

    If the experts and studies are to be believed, dogs may actually love people more than food. 

    "I am completely convinced that our dogs love us. There's no question in my mind," Clive Wynne(opens in new tab), a professor of psychology at Arizona State University and the director of the university's Canine Science Collaboratory, told Live Science. 

    Of course, it's one thing to have an opinion about a favorite pet. Proving love — a feat that still dogs humans — is another thing entirely. But studies of varying sophistication, all conducted by inquiring dog owners, appear to back him up. 

    After the death of his beloved dog, Newton, Gregory Berns(opens in new tab), a neurologist at Emory University in Georgia and author of the books "How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain(opens in new tab)" (New Harvest, 2013) and "What It's Like to Be a Dog: And Other Adventures in Animal Neuroscience(opens in new tab)," (Basic Books, 2017), said he became curious about what dogs felt and thought. So, he trained his dog, Callie, and other dogs to tolerate the noise inside the imaging chamber of an MRI and then analyzed their brain activity. He then subjected the dogs to a variety of scents from familiar and unfamiliar dogs and people. While the smell-region of the brain lit up for all 12 dogs regardless of who the person or dog was, only the familiar scents lit up the caudate nucleus, a region tied to higher-level mental processes such as emotion, motivation and reward and romantic feeling, according to a 2015 study published in the journal Behavioural Processes(opens in new tab)

    In an additional study of 15 dogs, published in 2016 in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience(opens in new tab), Berns found that 86% showed a similar or higher level of caudate activation in response to praise than they did from food. 

    While it may not have used such sophisticated equipment, Wynne and colleagues also found that dogs may prefer their owners over food when they are left at home without food or human companionship for more than four hours, according to a 2022 study published in Peer J Life and Environment(opens in new tab). Researchers set up the experiment simply enough; in most cases it was in a suburban home with an attached garage. After the dog's owner arrived home, an assistant placed a bowl of food in a small circle in the garage 6.5 feet (2 meters) and off at an angle from the door while the owner stood in a circle that was 6.5 feet away from the door and off at an opposite angle.

    "Eight out of 10 times, the dogs chose their owner," Wynne said. 

    Takefumi Kikusui(opens in new tab), a researcher in the School of Veterinary Medicine at Azabu University in Japan and colleagues found that dogs will shed tears when reunited with an owner after a long absence, but will not show the same depth of response to the return of another human the animal recognizes, he reported in a 2022 study published in the journal Current Biology(opens in new tab).

    Wynne took the research one step further by seeing how far man's best friend might be willing to go to show their love. Inspired by stories of dogs digging up their owners after bombing raids in London during World War II, Wynne had the owners of 60 dogs climb into boxes and pretend they were in distress to see if their pets would rescue them. Roughly 1 out of 3 did so, according to a  2020 study published in the journal PLOS One(opens in new tab)

    "That might sound superficially disappointing. What about the other two [out of three] dogs? Don't they care?" Wynne asked. They might, he said, but they couldn't figure out how to get into the boxes even when they knew their favorite foods had been placed there.

    Before people go patting themselves on the back, however, Wynne was quick to point out that the love dogs feel isn't unique to humans. "Dogs are born with a remarkable capacity to form strong emotional connections with members of any species that they meet during the first three months of life," he said. So, if a puppy is born on a farm, it could have the same depth of emotion for a sheep, cow or even cat as it might for the farmer. 

    MRIs and controlled experiments aren't the only way to determine how a dog feels about its owner, though, Wynne said. 

    "I tell people, look at the everyday events" like when you come home at the end of the day. "If you have a dog, your dog will be there at the door and your dog will be wagging his tail. You're allowed to observe that behavior and believe what your dog is telling you. That is your dog expressing strong emotions at reuniting with you."

    David Volk is a Seattle-based freelance journalist/humorist whose credits include Reuters, USA Today, 
    fodors.com(opens in new tab) and a variety of alumni magazines. He writes about the lighter side of science, travel, food and business. He is the author of "The Cheap Bastard's Guide to Seattle" and "The Tribe Has Spoken: Life Lessons From Reality TV." He is currently collecting stories for a book he hopes to write about funerals gone wrong tentatively titled, "As I Die Laughing." You can find his regular humor posts on Medium(opens in new tab)



    A Style Pixie Loves ATA

    A Style Pixie Loves ATA

    We love when anyone wears our gear, but we also love when people feel the need to write about it on their social media! ATA was recently featured on AStylePixie.com. A Style Pixie is a Los Angeles based style blog created by Erika Fermina, stylist, model, feminist, and full time nerd. We just wanted to share the goods with you all. It can be seen here. Erika posted a Stormtrooper inspired look featuring out Cat-At Crew.

    Global Giant Helps Tiny Dogs

    When a person thinks about their ideal dog, or the best candidate for a future man’s best friend, they usually desire qualities such as loyalty, kindness and easy going attitudes. Beagles are routinely chosen for adoption by families all over the world because they are usually easy to train and are very sociable.

    The sad thing is that these are the qualities that researchers look for when searching for animals on whom to perform experiments. Beagles are one of the most desired and targeted breeds for laboratory testing because of their friendly, docile, trusting, forgiving, people-pleasing personalities. The research laboratories note they are adaptable to living in a cage and are inexpensive to feed; furthermore, these beagles are usually obtained directly from commercial breeders who specifically breed dogs to sell to scientific institutions. The chosen beagles are forced to spend half of their lives in a wire metal cage in order to be tested on for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and biomedical industries. And the worst thing is that after they are no longer needed for testing, the fate of these animals is left up to the laboratory directors; however, it should be noted that some of the better labs try to find foster or forever homes for the adoptable, healthy beagles.

    And that is where the Beagle Freedom Project steps in:

    Source: Beagle Freedom Project

    Working directly with these cooperating labs, this organization rescues, rehabilitates and finds homes for animals across the globe. Not only does Beagle Freedom Project rescue these helpless animals, but the organization also makes sure to tell their stories in an effort to educate the world about animal testing, find alternatives to using animals for testing and hopefully resulting in the advancement of animal and human welfare.

    Recently, Microsoft’s #UpgradeYourWorld Initiative has awarded the BFP $500,000 to help fund their rescue efforts. Along with the monetary donation, the organization will also receive Microsoft technology, services and promotional support.

    “Knowing that a company like Microsoft is using its position to help charities such as ours is a testament to its compassion for helping those in need,” said Shannon Keith, president of Beagle Freedom Project. “We look forward to working with Microsoft to grow our nonprofit mission of saving animals from laboratories and hopefully in the future replacing animals with more modern forms of testing that save human and animal lives alike.”

    This donation could not have come soon enough either because it is becoming mandatory for laboratories to hand these animals over to the rescue groups rather than automatically euthanize them.  These laws are pending in states such as Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Nevada and California, while there is one already in effect in Minnesota.

    Join us in supporting Beagle Freedom Project. To learn more about them and how they are saving the beagles ,check out their website at : http://www.beaglefreedomproject.org

     

    I Am Not A Monster

    First it was Rottweilers, and then the witch hunt for German Shepherds, and now  the media have raised their pitchforks and demonized the pit bull breed. Pit Bulls are said to be inherently dangerous with the lore of their strong locking jaws sending fear into the public. Though these breeds are no more aggressive than others, they are stronger and more powerful and have way more potential to injure and kill than smaller breeds. This is why a few untrained examples of these breeds are responsible for severe injury and even death from dog bites, earning them an awful reputation.

    Pit Bulls are not to blame for their negative reputation based on their biological make-up. The misconceptions about this breed is due to their popularity among  the “criminal elements” of our society, thus being used for dog fights and other acts of violence. 

    source: Huffington Post 

    According to What a Pittie, this breed is used for dog fighting due to their loyalty to the owner and strength. Many dog fighters also choose them because they are quick to learn, eager to please and easy to handle-- once a Pit Bull accepts you as their master, they willingly lay down their life to please you. These breeds have a massive sense of determination, so once they begin a task, they will not give up unless they can not physically continue or you step in to stop them. This breed is not inherently a monster, it is the owner or "master" who is. 

    So what problems do Pitt Bulls face? Well the first is the overcrowding of shelters because of the stigma and as a result, high euthanasia rates.

    For shelters in areas where breed-specific laws apply, 40 percent of workers said they would purposefully identify a dog as something other than a pit bull. Even in places without the ban, where renters and homeowners might run into problems with landlords and insurance companies, shelter workers have an incentive to keep the title pit bull off of a dog’s tag. This is all to keep these dogs away from euthanasia and give them a chance at life.

    In fact, banning potentially dangerous breeds to eliminate a few bad apples in the group has proven to be counterproductive. According to One Green Planet, owners don’t want to surrender their forbidden pets, so they tend to keep them in hiding while not giving them veterinary care and time outdoors. The resulting lack of exercise, socialization, and health care aggravate any aggressive tendencies-- thus continuing the vicious cycle at no fault of the dog.  

    So what can we do to help end the mass genocide of these inherently loving dogs? Put the responsibility of injuries onto the owners, who poorly train or care for their pets. The good news is that some states, such as Maryland,have passed the bill HB 73, into legislation. The bill holds owners liable for their dog's injuries, regardless of the breed. HB 73 also removes liability for landlords, unless the landlord knew or should have known that the dog was actually dangerous. Injuries committed while a dog is running loose will still incur owners' strict liability.

    Pit Bulls, also known as "nanny dogs" are a wonderful addition to your family. Like all other breeds, they need love, training, proper vet care, and socialization in order to thrive. To learn more about adopting, rescuing or fostering a "bully breed", please contact our partners at Fresno Bully Rescue or visit your local shelter and help save these animals! 

    Adopt Don't Shop!

    Imagine the population of Chicago being killed annually entirely for the idea of population control-- that is how many animals enter shelters and are euthanized every year.

    Approximately 2.7 million (1.3 million dogs and 1.4 million cats) are euthanized annually. Let that fact sink in for a little while we explain some other harrowing statistics.

    Of the dogs entering shelters, approximately 35% are adopted, 31% are euthanized and 26% of dogs who came in as strays are returned to their owner; furthermore, of the cats entering shelters, approximately 37% are adopted, 41% are euthanized, and less than 5% of cats who came in as strays are returned to their owners.

    If you are planning to adopt a furry buddy, make sure you are prepared to take care of that animal for it’s lifetime. Too many animals are given up because of mounting vet bills or other external factors, a solution that should of ended when the pet was adopted. You are all your pet has in its life- it is important to uphold that responsibility for the welfare of your fur-ever friend.

    When you adopt a pet, you are saving a life-- but when you buy a pet, you not only deny a homeless pet a home, you are supporting an industry who’s foundation is harming the welfare of animals. The puppy and kitten mills that sell to pet stores are in business to make a large profit, so they breed animals as quickly as they can. According to Best Friends, these animals are often in ill health, have problems such as poor socialization skills due to lack of human companionship, and genetic defects due to inbreeding.

    Photo courtesy of Barks of Love 

    However, if you don’t find your ideal companion at your local shelter or breed rescue group, you may choose to purchase a puppy or kitten instead of adopting one. In this case, it is important to be certain you are buying from a responsible breeder that breeds and sells only healthy well-socialized animals. According to American Humane, responsible breeders typically do not sell their puppies or kitten to the terrible pet stores. These breeders actually will want to meet and screen prospective owners to ensure that their puppies are going to good homes.

    How can you help other than adopting? If you do have an fur-ever friend, it is important to get him or her spayed or neutered, as this ends the threat of unwanted litters. Especially with outdoor cats who roam freely, it is imperative that you get your fur friend fixed at the proper age.

    To conclude our plea to consider pet adoption rather than shopping, we give you positive news that 2.7 million dogs and cats are also saved from euthanization each year due to people opening their hearts and homes for a furry friend. It is important as to stay on the path of emptying the animal shelters before reaching into our wallets to shell out the big bucks for a pure bread.

    Posted below are shelters that are not only near and dear to our animal-loving hearts, but that we have actually helped in the past. Due to the public’s interest in the welfare of these fur-babies, these shelters continue to thrive today:


    Adopt, don’t shop.


    www.pricelesspetrescue.org

    www.barksoflove.org

    www.strangestangels.org

    www.fresnobullyrescue.org

    www.blindcatrescue.com

    www.nybullycrew.org

    www.dfwpugs.com

    www.almosthomeanimals.org

    www.thecatterycc.org

    www.rabbit.org