Archive for March, 2011
Yale U. library offers therapy dog for check out
Monty the therapy dog is part of a three-day trial at Yales law school library. Stressed-out students may check out the border terrier. One student told The New York Times that while hes not so sure about the dogs ability to alleviate stress, it will be nice to play with a dog.
via Therapy Dog Is In Circulation At Yales Law Library : NPR.
What’s the Best Way to Find a Lost Dog? | The Bark
Search the area. Call shelters. Place ads. Put up flyers. Even, hire a pet detective. In the last decade, technology has taken a growing role in the search. Craig’s List for one. Lost dogs are also posted on Facebook. And there are websites exclusively for posting lost pets, such as pets911.com. Community Leash is an iPhone app that sends out lost/found pet announcements. Several companies have created amber alert–type services, such as FindToto.com, that robocall all the phones in the area where your dog went missing. A recent entry into the business of keeping track of your dog comes from a company in my neck of the woods. PetHub, Inc., of Issaquah, Wash., has created the Link ID tag that is laser-etched with a 2D barcode that can be scanned and read by a smartphone. The selling point on the PetHub tag is that owners can create a profile that can more easily be kept up-to-date and provide more detailed information than old-fashioned printed tags or even microchips.
In Therapy, Easing the Way With the Aid of an Animal – NYTimes.com
The International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations insists that members limit service and therapy animals to domestic species trained for the job. And the Delta Society, which provides training programs for the animals, will not certify wild or exotic animals like snakes, ferrets, lizards and wolf-hybrids. However, the Delta Society says it “is constantly expanding the range of species included in the Pet Partners program” when there is adequate research to document the safety of their use.To help give the field a firmer scientific footing, the Mars company, a leading producer of pet foods, initiated a research partnership with the national institute branch of which Dr. Griffin is deputy director. Among continuing studies:
via In Therapy, Easing the Way With the Aid of an Animal – NYTimes.com.
NY Times: The Creature Connection
James Serpell, president of the International Society for Anthrozoology, has proposed that the willingness to anthropomorphize was critical to the domestication of wild animals and forming bonds with them. We were particularly drawn to those species that seemed responsive to our Dr. Dolittle overtures.
Whereas wild animals like wolves will avert their eyes when spotted, dogs and cats readily return our gaze, and with an apparent emotiveness that stimulates the wistful narrative in our head. Dogs add to their soulful stare a distinctive mobility of facial musculature. “Their facial features are flexible, and they can raise their lips into a smile,” said Dr. Horowitz. “The animals we seem to love the most are the ones that make expressions at us.”
Dogs were among the first animals to be domesticated, roughly 10,000 years ago, in part for their remarkable responsiveness to such human cues as a pointed finger or a spoken command, and also for their willingness to work like dogs. They proved especially useful as hunting companions and were often buried along with their masters, right next to the spear set.
