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Not sure why I haven't seen this before.













Some gratuitous comments on the video above:

1. Aggression in foxes and wolves is genetic and cannot be nurtured out and is in fact passed on to offspring. What's that say about human sociability/aggression and nature vs. nurture?

2. Some people get dogs so they can have someone around the house to fetch them their slippers but I think what this show is saying is that they could just get a two year old child to do that stuff.

3. If I was that monkey in the cage doing that pointing experiment I'd be like I'm going to do the exact opposite of what you want until you let me speak to my lawyer.

4. Not to accuse the dogs of cheating or anything but how did the experimenter know the dogs weren't just following their noses, as opposed to the woman's finger or eye direction, to figure out which bowl the treat was under? If I were a dog, I'd follow my nose. I don't trust other people's fingers.

5. That bit with the foxes looking more like dogs as they were bred to be tamer was interesting. That must mean if we start breeding nicer people, they'll start growing fur all over their bodies, walk around on all fours and bark a lot more?

6. The Russian fox breeder may have mistaken aggression on the part of the foxes with "I'm effin pissed because I don't want to spend my short life in this damn cage only to have my brain dissected and my skin peeled off for someone's coat collar".



2 Comments to “The Beeb's "The Secret Life of Dogs"”

  1. GoLightly says:

    ROFL! and thanks, Fred!
    snork.. Russian foxes... classic... What doesn't occur to animal scientists can itself be so hilarious..
    Psychology people, please, don't hate me, but c'mon! We have enough of you already! Why would a scientist WANT to record high aggression rates in severely over-crowded caged rats? Oh, right, to see what people would do! Lookit THAT, they are killing each other!
    Weird. It's just weird.
    Off to watch the videos, on slow rural net. Wish me luck! Your synopsis kinda says it all, though, thanks again for the LOL!

  2. Joanne says:

    So, for all their contributions from the inception of agriculture to extending our lifespans, we are so grateful we kill them by the millons. Yup, in large part, human kind is a real nice species.

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A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.
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