Using 'dominance' to explain dog behavior is old hat

Contrary to popular belief, aggressive dogs are NOT trying to assert their dominance over their canine or human "pack", according to research published by academics at the University of Bristol's Department of Clinical Veterinary Sciences in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, Clinical Applicatio...

Sugar, spice and puppy dog tails: Developing sex-typed personality traits and interests

A new longitudinal study of children's personality traits and interests tells us that sex-typed characteristics develop differently in girls and boys. The study, by researchers at The Pennsylvania State University, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Purdue University, appears in the March/Apri...

A recipe for dog bite injuries: Kids, dogs and warm weather

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- If you and your child are romping in the park or enjoying a stroll on a warm spring day and a dog approaches, be ultra vigilant. Children, warm weather, and dogs, even family dogs, don't mix well, according to a study conducted by pediatric otolaryngologists from the Universit...

Prairie dog research promotes caring, conservation

The Northern Arizona University biology professor states the case for protecting the species in Prairie Dogs: Communication and Community in an Animal Society , recently published by Harvard University Press. The book, featuring the research of Slobodchikoff and co-authors Bianca Perla, a Uni...

If you're aggressive, your dog will be too, says veterinary study at University of Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA - In a new, year-long University of Pennsylvania survey of dog owners who use confrontational or aversive methods to train aggressive pets, veterinary researchers have found that most of these animals will continue to be aggressive unless training techniques are modified. The study...

Researchers genetically link Lou Gehrig's disease in humans to dog disease

COLUMBIA, Mo. An incurable, paralyzing disease in humans is now genetically linked to a similar disease in dogs. Researchers from the University of Missouri and the Broad Institute have found that the genetic mutation responsible for degenerative myelopathy (DM) in dogs is the same mutation that c...

A dog in the hand scares birds in the bush

New research showing that dog-walking in bushland significantly reduces bird diversity and abundance will lend support to bans against the practice in sensitive bushland and conservation areas. Until now, arguments and debate about the ecological impacts of dog-walking have remained subjective ...

Dog owners more likely to share germs with pets by not washing hands than by sleeping with dog

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- Dog owners who sleep with their pet or permit licks on the face are in good company. Surveys show that more than half of owners bond with their pets in these ways. Research done by a veterinarian at Kansas State University found that these dog owners are no more likely to sha...

Researchers identify gene involved in dog size

An international team led by researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has identified a genetic variant that is a major contributor to small size in dogs. The findings appear in the April 6, 2007 issue of the journal Scie...

Dogs keep dying: Many owners unaware of toxic dog food

Even though Diamond, Country Value and Professional brand dog foods have been recalled for containing highly toxic aflatoxins, they have caused at least 100 dog deaths in recent weeks, say Cornell University veterinarians, who are growing increasingly alarmed. Some kennels and consumers around the ...

Scientists fetch useful information from dog genome publications

Today a plethora of dog genome-related materials are published, including a new book entitled The Dog and Its Genome and a series of primary research articles in the journal Genome Research . These publications, concomitant with the publication by Nature of a high-quality draft sequence of th...

Researchers develop 'brain-reading' methods

...ts before they actually know they are looking at a dog or a cat." Unlike most research that has focuse..., memorizing a list of words that include the word dog is likely to draw up a memory of a pet, the same as reading a story about a dog would. Using machine learning techniques (a suppor...

URI researcher sheds light on 'man-eating' squid; finds them timid, nonthreatening

..." and says the squid's man-eating reputation is seriously overblown. For years Seibel has heard stories claiming that Humboldt squid will devour a dog in minutes and could kill or maim unsuspecting divers. "Private dive companies in Mexico play up this myth by insisting that their customers wear...

URI researcher sheds light on 'man-eating' squid; finds them timid, non-threatening

..." and says the squid's man-eating reputation is seriously overblown. For years Seibel has heard stories claiming that Humboldt squid will devour a dog in minutes and could kill or maim unsuspecting divers. "Private dive companies in Mexico play up this myth by insisting that their customers wear...

Dogs, humans, put heads together to find cure for brain cancer

... of DNA that code for more than 500 genes. "The dog has been man's best friend for centuries, and now the genome of the dog could well be man's next best friend," says Dr. Ma... areas of a human chromosome with related areas on dog chromosomes. This works because dogs and humans ar...

What really prompts the dog's 'guilty look'

... Amsterdam, 11 June 2009 - What dog owner has not come home to a broken vase or other valuable items and a guilty-looking dog slouching around the house? By ingeniously setting...here the owner was misinformed as to whether their dog had really committed an offense, Alexandra Horowit...

UF makes gene therapy advance in severe genetic disorder

... GAINESVILLE A dog born with a deadly disease that prevents the body ...e therapy the day after it was born, Mah said. The dog improved at first, often going as long as two to t...eral weeks later the progress stopped. When the dog was 5 months old, the researchers administered ano...

Mites on hissing coackroach may benefit humans with allergies

...ction in molds. "The number on each insect is based on the food available," Benoit said. In captivity, Madagascar hissing cockroaches thrive on dog food and fruit. Benoit said they tend to slobber on themselves when they eat, leaving saliva and organic debris in crevices along the lower middle por...

NC State researchers find soy may aid in treating canine cancers

...rchers at North Carolina State University are looking to soy as a way to make traditional canine cancer therapy more effective, less stressful for the dog and less costly for the owners. Dr. Steven Suter, assistant professor of oncology, and NC State colleagues studied genistein - a molecule found in ...

American carnivores evolved to avoid each other, new study suggests

...x of information, they were able to tease out broad patterns of strategies employed by each family. For example, their map showed that the bear and dog families shared ranges with the greatest number of potential competitors. Most species in these families are omnivores, which helps reduce competition...

'Freaks' help scientist unravel nature and nurture

... In 1940, a Dutch goat born without front legs learned to walk upright. So did Faith, a two-legged dog in Oklahoma. Johnny Eck, a "half-man" born without legs, grew naturally into a graceful hand-walker. And in Minnesota, conjoined twins Abigail...

Biologists solve mystery of black wolves

...the scientists said. "My main interest is to describe the genetics of dog domestication the geographic location of domestication and the genetic cha... said. "I'm able to use a genome approach and look at many points along the dog genome to find interesting regions and whether these regions contain genes ...

Hope for a rabies eradication strategy in Africa

...ion programme. The team analysed 182 samples of dog rabies virus from 27 African countries taken over ... as there is strong geographical clustering of the dog rabies subspecies and the time-scale for diffusion...rican countries to eliminate rabies by controlling dog rabies" ...

Pigs and dogs can bridge gap between mice and humans in developing new therapies

...ical rodent models and application in the clinic," said Schnieke. "In view of the close genetic, anatomical and physiological similarities between dog and pig on the one side and human on the other, large animal models are likely to catalyse drug development." As Schnieke added, large animals would a...

100-meter sprint world record could go as low as 9.48 seconds

...e Kentucky Derby since the 1940s and two other major US races since the 1970s, while dogs' performances also levelled out in the 1970s. The increasing dog and thoroughbred populations hadn't improved the animals' performances. However, 'chance might still turn up a faster animal,' says Denny and he predi...

Winter brings flu, summer brings bacterial infections

... CORVALLIS, Ore. In the same way that winter is commonly known to be the "flu season," a new study suggests that the dog days of summer may well be the "bacterial infection" season. Researchers have discovered that serious infections caused by gram-negative bacteria c...

Innovative surgery by MSU veterinarian provides new lease on life to dogs

...ng a unique and innovative surgery at Michigan State University, Jake part dog and now part machine spends his time working out on an underwater treadmil...pain free. Jake, an 11-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, was the first dog in the Midwest and only the 11th in the world to undergo surgery for a new,...

World's rarest big cat gets a check-up

...sidering legislation called the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act, which would directly benefit the Far Eastern leopard and over a dozen big cat and rare dog species by creating a fund for research and monitoring, law enforcement training, and other conservation efforts. This bill has received support from ...

Baby talk: The roots of the early vocabulary in infants' learning from speech

...ct. In this way, researchers can change the sound of the words slightly (for example, instead of "dog" say "tog") and see if the baby will look at the dog the same amount, as if indifferent to the change, or less, as is the case with adults who know that "dog" cannot be said as "tog." The results of thos...

Iowa State researcher develops new treatment method for canine eye diseases

... owner to get the drops in. It is a hassle for the dog as well," he said. By putting this small p...dogs Grozdanic is working with is Gora, a military dog working for the Department of the Navy in Washingt...n got worse, she said. Gora is a highly trained dog that works around high-profile people and needs to...

Scientists achieve first tracking of salmon from headwaters in Rockies through Pacific to Alaska

...implanted the new tags in 1,000 juvenile Chinook salmon ( www.eol.org/taxa/17154704 ) roughly the same length and half the weight of a frankfurter hot dog - 14 centimeters long, 20-30 grams weight - and followed their journeys in the Columbia and Fraser Rivers. Among the many studied, two tagged juv...

Running on rocket fuel

...for irregular meals, and which maximize returns by having low foraging costs, the dogs' evolved a unique plan. Now highly endangered, the African wild dog opted for extreme metabolic adaptations to running, thus ensuring they caught a regular supply of food, and by forming packs, had many runners to redu...

Moths with a nose for learning

... Much like Pavlov conditioned his dog to salivate in anticipation of food when a bell rang, insects can be traine...ction is perceived among mental representations. In Pavlovs experiments the dog was taught to understand that the ringing of the bell meant food. In this c...

Lessons from the Iditarod

...re best known for their "mushing" each March during the Iditarod Trail Sled dog Race, the world's longest sled race. They are the premier ultra-endurance c... to 12,000 kilocalories per day (kcal/day). This means that a 55-pound sled dog will consume the equivalent of 24 McDonald's Big Macs to fuel their run on ...

U of M researchers identify gene linked to common ailment in labrador retrievers

...ive out, and in rare cases the dogs may die. Labradors are the most common dog breed in the world and an estimated 3-5 percent of Labradors have this cond...e. "The test can not only help confirm the diagnosis, but it can also help dog breeders ensure that no dogs inherit two copies of the mutated gene," said ...

The truth about cats and dogs

...ing to the study, if the cat is adopted before the dog and if they are introduced when still young (less ...cond one of the opposite species." Talk Like a dog After interviewing almost 200 pet owners who o...re was a reported indifference between the cat and dog in 25% of the homes, while aggression and fighting...

Great Ape Trust graduate student's paper sheds light on bonobo language

...' lives." In the video that is the subject of Pedersen's publication, Panbanisha was in the forest with Savage-Rumbaugh and an assistant, who had a dog in tow that Panbanisha didn't like. Though Panbanisha and Savage-Rumbaugh moved from topic to topic in the conversation, Panbanisha repeatedly used...

Outdoor enthusiasts scaring off native carnivores in parks

...e San Francisco Bay Area that allow only quiet recreation such as hiking or dog walking with nearby nature reserves that allow no public access. Evidence o...the native gray fox and the non-native red fox in unvisited areas, and more dog and cat droppings in visited parks. Reed said she did not expect these f...

DNA study unlocks mystery to diverse traits in dogs

...June 22, 2008 What makes a pointer point, a sheep dog herd, and a retriever retrieve? Why do Yorkshire ...more than 350 distinct breeds that make up today's dog population. Until now, the genetic drivers of thi...tide Polymorphisms, or SNPs, to find places in the dog genome that correlate with breed traits. Because ...

Technique used in human ankle injuries modified to treat dogs' knees

...dogs run, play or traumatize the joint before the knees were ready," Cook said. "A successful operation is dependent on postoperative care so that the dog can heal well and build muscle for long term function. The Tightrope CCL technique is designed to allow this to happen with less surgery and less risk...