When You Feel Blue, Does Fido Too?
June 11, 2012 by Michael Mountain
When you’re feeling down in the dumps, does your pooch want to comfort you? If so, does she really know what’s going on with you, or is something else going on? Enquiring minds want to know. Some new research suggests that dogs do indeed respond specifically when they can see that you’re upset. But it’s [...]
How Dogs Have Saved an L.A. Neighborhood
June 5, 2012 by Michael Mountain
In downtown L.A., pet-friendly policies have revitalized entire neighborhoods. In The Atlantic, Marissa Gluck writes: Walking dogs drove residents out of their homes and into the street at least twice each day. Elsewhere in Los Angeles, where single-family homes predominate, dog owners often have the luxury of sending Fido out to the yard to do [...]
Do Dogs Feel Guilt?
May 31, 2012 by Michael Mountain
After a stressful day at work, you come home, only to discover that Rover has raided the trash and left a disaster all over the kitchen floor. “You bad boy,” you say in your sternest voice. Rover lowers his head, whines and backs away. “Yes,” you say in a slightly more conciliatory tone. “You are [...]
Fido’s Mysterious Ancestors
May 22, 2012 by Michael Mountain
Dr. Larson and his colleagues conducted a detailed analysis of DNA 1,375 dogs of 121 breeds, along with 19 wolves. They found that all the modern breeds of dog had been so mixed that their early genetic history was impossible to see.
Did Dogs Help Us Beat the Neanderthals?
May 16, 2012 by Michael Mountain
That means that the bond between humans and dogs was much stronger than simply the old “guarding the cave and getting a bone in return” idea, and that humans recognized an enormous dependence on their new best friends.
Dogs Play Fetch Underwater
April 26, 2012 by Michael Mountain
Photographer Seth Casteel specializes in lifestyle pet photography. So he got in the pool with a series of pets diving for balls, and the results are amazing. The photos have been being e-mailed around the Web, but without attribution. You can find the whole gallery on Casteel’s website here. He says that a book, Underwater [...]
Welcome Home from War!
April 26, 2012 by Michael Mountain
In Homer’s Odyssey, Argos the dog waits for 20 years for Odysseus, to come home from the Trojan War. Unable even to stand up any longer, he refuses to take his last breath until he’s been reunited. Here’s a more joyful compendium of Welcome Home videos.
The 10-Million-Ton Scoop on Poop
April 23, 2012 by Michael Mountain
There are 78 million dogs living in the United States and they’re dropping 10 million tons of doggy-doo every year. That’s roughly 274 pounds per dog. What happens to all this? Much of it ends up creating a huge pollution problem.
Romney Donor Barbecued Dog
April 16, 2012 by Michael Mountain
Fred Malek, the president of Marriott Hotels, is a big donor to Mitt Romney. But Dogs Against Romney, a grassroots organization, has dug up a story first reported in the Washington Post six years ago, to the effect that Malek and a group of friends were arrested at at a park in Peoria in 1959 [...]
Do Dogs and Cats Like (Human) Music?
March 22, 2012 by Michael Mountain
Animal psychologist Charles Snowdon explains that while nonhumans do experience and enjoy music, it’s of a very different kind, depending on the species.