Huck

07/22/2022

06/29/2022

Paws to consider, please.

06/28/2022

The friendly pup had to be carried off after he demanded pats at a Chile-Venezuela game.

05/19/2022

05/05/2022

This is Huck's human, Annie, with news I've been putting off posting about...
Huck has gone over the Rainbow Bridge and left us behind. He was almost 14 and he got real sick & couldn't seem to come back from it. He had a good run.
We are very sad, but we are glad he's no longer suffering.

04/13/2022

Dog Texting Codes.

🐾

04/05/2022

Ma shot a new picture of me ...

04/04/2022

04/04/2022

32 Shocking Dog Facts🐶Guaranteed To Leave You Shocked😳... https://www.dogtipsfordoglovers.com/2022/04/32-shocking-dog-facts-guaranteed-to.html

04/02/2022

Yep

01/08/2022

Citra's mom shared this with us lol!

11/06/2021

I've signed on with the dogs.

10/25/2021

09/11/2021

09/04/2021

The other day I was walking with Oswald and received a text. While I was reading it, Ozzy stopped walking and I walked right into him. He yelped and then quickly looked up at me to see if it was an accident or intentional.

He looked at the expression on my face and assured of my contrition, trotted off again happily without a care in the world — except of course for what he believes (wrongly) to be the threat of a growing squirrel menace.

Of course, I still apologized profusely for running into him and covered his little nose in kisses, but could Ozzy really tell it was an accident?

A new study says he can.

Researchers tested pet dogs who “volunteered” to eat treats. (Not surprisingly, they had plenty of enthusiastic volunteers.) Each dog was given treats through an opening in a plastic partition and then subjected to three scenarios:

1. The researchers started to hand them a treat, but “accidentally” dropped it;

2. The researchers tried to hand them a treat but “couldn’t” because the opening in the glass partition was closed and set the treat down; and,

3. The researchers started to hand them a treat, but “intentionally” changed their mind by pulling it back and setting it down.

In all three scenarios, the treat ended up on the floor in the same spot on the researcher’s side of the partition.

Could the dogs tell the difference between the accident (number 1)? The researcher’s desire to give them the treat but their inability to do so (number 2)? And the researcher intentionally deciding not to give them the treat (number 3)?

Yes.

When the dogs saw that the researcher wanted to give them the treat but dropped it, they quickly ran around the partition and ate the treat on their own.

When the dogs saw that the researcher wanted to give them the treat but couldn’t because the partition was closed, they waited (presumably to see if the researcher would figure it out?), but when the treat was not forthcoming, ran around and ate the treat, too.

When the dogs saw that the researcher started to hand them the treat but then decided not to, they stopped wagging their tails. They also tried to be good boys/girls in order to get the researcher to change her mind by sitting or laying down.

“Thus,” concluded the authors, “dogs were able to distinguish between the experimenter’s intentional and unintentional actions.”

Of course, the dogs ultimately went around and ate the treat anyway in the third scenario, too, but not until they first tried (and failed) to convince the researcher that giving them the treat was both necessary and proper because they were good boys/girls (by sitting or laying down). Were they supposed to just let a perfectly good treat go to waste sitting there on the floor?

No.

They may be good dogs but they aren’t dumb. Researchers need to stop acting surprised that they aren't.

The study, “Dogs distinguish human intentional and unintentional action,” is here: https://go.nature.com/3mXTZpK.

-------------------------------------------------------------
I've launched a new column on Substack. Please join me there: https://nathanwinograd.substack.com/.

08/13/2021

Can you save a dog locked in a hot car? In CT, the answer is Yes! Please share this important info with your friends and family:
Public Act 18-164 Section 16 provides ‘Good Samaritan’ protection for those who remove an animal from a car, if the animal is in “imminent danger of serious bodily injury” and uses reasonable force to rescue the animal during extreme weather conditions.

08/12/2021

Horrifying 😲👻

07/14/2021

Holy Laughter

06/27/2021

Are you doing it right?

🐾❤️To learn more about our awesome dogs go to www.thedogrescuersinc.ca ❤️🐾