Seems the smallest dogs ranked the highest when it came to human aggression, the top three being the Dachshund, then the Chihuahua and third, the Jack Russell Terrier.

The is the findings recently published by the journal of Applied Animal Behavior Science from a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania.

Dachshunds, originally bred to hunt badgers, do not have a fearsome reputation due to their size, but research found that one in five dachshunds have bitten or tried to bite strangers, and a similar number have attacked other dogs; one in 12 have snapped at their owners. This put them on top of the list of 33 breeds which were rated for their aggression, after academics analyzed the behavior of thousands of dogs.

Following closely on the heels of the Dachshund is the Chihuahua, a dog noted as the smallest breed of dog. Then the feisty Jack Russell.

Dr James Serpell, one of the researchers, said smaller breeds might be more genetically predisposed towards aggressive behaviour than larger dogs.

“Reported levels of aggression in some cases are concerning, with rates of bites or bite attempts rising as high as 20 per cent toward strangers and 30 per cent toward unfamiliar dogs,” he added.

Until now, research into canine aggression has almost exclusively involved analysis of dog bite statistics. But the researchers said these were potentially misleading as most bites were not reported. Big dogs might have acquired a reputation for being aggressive because their bites were more likely to require medical attention. (Telegraph)

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I don’t remember much from the place I was born. It was cramped and dark and we were never played with by humans. I remember Mom and her soft fur, but she was often sick, and very thin. She had hardly any milk for me and my brothers and sisters. I remember many of them dying, and I missed them so.

I do remember the day I was taken from Mom. I was so sad and scared, my milk teeth had only just come in, and I really should have been with Mom still, but she was so sick, and the humans kept saying that they wanted money and were sick of the “mess” that my sister and I made. So we were crated up and taken to a strange place. Just the two of us. We huddled together and were scared, still no human hands came to pet us or to love us.

So many sights and sounds, and smells!! We are in a store where there are many different animals! Some that squawk! Some that meow! Some that peep! My sister and I are jammed into a small cage, I hear other puppies whine. I see humans looking at me, I like the “little humans”, they look like they’d be fun, like they would play with me!

All day we are kept in the small cage, sometimes mean people will hit the glass and frighten us, every once in a while we are taken out to be held or shown to humans. Some are gentle, some hurt us, we always hear “AW they are so cute! I want one!” but we never get to go with any.

My sister died last night, when the store was dark. I lay my head on her soft fur and felt the life leave her small thin body. I had heard them say she was sick, and that I should be sold at a “discount price” so that I would quickly leave the store. I softly whined to mourn for her as they took her body out of the cage in the morning, I wondered where they put her?

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Here’s some great news if you’re in the San Diego area and are looking to add a furry family member this summer. All three of the San Diego animal shelters are waiving adoption fees starting today through August to ease seasonal overcrowding.

Any cats 6 months or older and dogs, 5 years or older, as well as any dog or cat that has been in the shelter for more than 30 days will qualify for the waived fees.

“Most of the dogs here are cooped up in cages, they need a home to go to,” Simony Lay, of the shelter, said. “What’s the point of spending thousands of dollars on a dog when you can come save a dog and give them a home?”

All dogs and cats will be spayed or neutered, microchipped and have all their shots prior to adoption.

So, save a life, adopt!!

The Horror of Puppy Mills

Puppy Mill-these are words that chill my heart and turn my stomach. Dateline, 20/20, NBC, Good Morning America, and The Today Show have highlighted problems at puppy mills, but some people still don’t know the horrors of a puppy mill or what they can do to end this national disgrace. If you can’t bring yourself to read about puppy mills, at least read the last paragraph! Everyone needs to be aware of what they can do to shut them down.

Puppy mills are found all over the U.S., but are concentrated in high numbers in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. It’s a multi-million dollar industry supporting 5,000 puppy mills found across the country.

A puppy mill is a business that mass-produces dogs for a profit with minimal regard for the quality and welfare of the animals. Thousands of dogs are bred for profit, valued not for their companionship or for improving the breed, but for the cold hard cash they bring.

The adult dogs spend their entire lives in tiny cages in deplorable filthy conditions that promote viruses and disease. These cages are often stacked on top of one another so that the waste from one cage falls into the cage below. Often the dogs go without food or water for days and are likely to be underfed and in poor health. Dogs’ lay and sleep in their own excrement on wire bottomed cages that cut into their feet. The most basic grooming care is non existent and their hair grows matted and is often infested with fleas. Skin infections, open wounds, ear and eye infections are common and usually not treated. There have been many reports of dogs rescued from puppy mills with toenails grown around in a full circle because they have never been trimmed. These dogs can barely walk.

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Dogs have been making great companions for centuries now. They are loved by all ages. Everyone has their own preference as to what dog best suits their lifestyle. When choosing a dog, this is an important aspect to consider, especially for seniors. Having a four legged friend can be comforting and can bring much joy to an older person. Studies have proven that having a dog around, improves the overall wellbeing of seniors. They can have someone to share their love with. Even nursing homes have grabbed onto the idea of having animals visiting or even living in the same venue.

What are the best picks for seniors though? The two most important areas to consider are the size and temperament of the canine. Smaller dogs tend to be less maintenance and easier to handle than larger ones. Smaller dogs are also beneficial for seniors because they make great lap dogs. Below are some top choices of breeds for seniors.

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Far too often rescue and shelter dogs and animals get a bad rap. People think because these animals were turned in to shelters there must be something wrong with them but what they don’t realize is that most often the ’something wrong’ was with the previous owner of the pet. Too often people get pets for the wrong reasons or maybe they’ve become ill or passed away, or have to move and cannot find adequate housing which will allow pets. The reasons are numerous and oft times have little to do with the pet.

Here’s a great article from Pet-Abuse.com dispelling some of the myths of adopting a shelter animal for a pet.

There are many misconceptions about the quality of animals found in rescue shelters. The stigma that shelter pets have been stuck with for many years is that they are “damaged goods”.

Myth: Shelter pets are obviously not good pets, or else their original owners wouldn’t have gotten rid of them

If the main reason why a pet gets brought to rescue shelters was because they were a *bad* pet, there would be thousands of empty shelters across the country. Animals are brought to shelters for a large variety of reasons, some of which are…

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I think most people who share their homes and lives with dogs tend to think their dogs are pretty smart. We know dogs sometimes do amazing things, rescuing people, working as companion and service dogs but how smart are they really?

Now we know that some breeds tend to be categorized as smarter than others and some fall further to the bottom of the ’smart list.’ Dogs such as German Shepherds, poodles and border collies tend to be ranked pretty high while beagles tend to rank relatively low, no offense beagles.

People can have their intelligence tests with standard IQ tests and now so can your favorite canine companion with a doggie IQ test!

“I think dogs are orders of magnitudes smarter than we give them credit for,” says animal behaviorist Dr. Karen Overall.

“Everybody wants to believe that some breeds are smarter than others,” Dr. Overall says. “And I would be in the camp that says breeds differ in how they show their intelligence.”

Stacy Stubblefield wanted to find a way to prove her dog’s mental mastery. So developed the pooch i.q. kit.

“We came up with different exercises that would test for the different things that are included in intelligence like problem solving and what not,” says pooch i.q. inventor Stacy Stubblefield.

We put her test to the test. We recruited three owners and their dogs to take the pooch i.q. first Enzo, a german shepherd, widely considered a highly intelligent breed.

“I think he’s very smart,” Enzo’s owner said.

Olive also took the test. She’s a beagle, a breed that falls to the back of the brainiac pack.

“I hope to show that they are very smart,” says Daisy Okas, Olive’s owner.

Finally, Stewie, a terrier mix, to represent the mutts of the world.

“Oh, Stewie’s going to beat him hands down. Much smarter,” says Stewie’s owner Harris Bloom.

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Flex-Petz who has offices in San Diego, New York and Los Angeles, planned to add to her money making enterprise by opening another in Boston by this summer but if Massachusetts legislators have their way, not there she won’t.

I’ve already made my thoughts and opinions on Flex-Petz pretty clear. I don’t like it and it seems the powers that be in Massachusetts don’t either along with many others, including many animal advocacy groups and trainers.

“This promotes dogs as disposable items,” said Bryn Conklin, an animal protection specialist at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“Dogs need stability in their lives, they need a long-term commitment and they need a secure environment,” said Ray McSoley, a dog trainer who called the company a “four-legged escort service.”

“It’s incredibly disrespectful to the dog, and it’s also disrespectful to the renter because it devolves the purpose of having a dog in your life. There is no commitment there.”

State Rep. Paul K. Frost, R-Auburn, and state Sen. Edward M. Augustus Jr., D-Worcester, filed legislation Feb. 21 to ban pet rentals in Massachusetts. Also signing were Sen. Robert A. Antonioni, D-Leominster; Rep. Bradford Hill, R-Ipswich; and Reps. John P. Fresolo, D-Worcester, Stephen R. Canessa, D-New Bedford; Cheryl A. Coakley-Rivera, D-Springfield; Thomas P. Kennedy, D-Brockton; Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton; Kay S. Khan, D-Newton; Denise Provost, D-Somerville; Jennifer M. Callahan, D-Sutton; and William N. Brownsberger, D-Belmont.

“The legislation is in the House Committee on Rules. It prohibits the business of renting dogs and cats. I have not heard of a legitimate business like this. The MSPCA and dog officers in other towns oppose this business,” Mr. Frost said. Guide dogs and working dogs are exempted. Mr. Frost said he is a dog lover and owner of a chocolate Labrador retriever named Reeses and a golden retriever named Snickers.

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A recent study out of Saint Louis University compared a therapy trained dog, Sparky, and a robot dog, Sony made Aibo, to find out the effect on nursing home patients and the result of the study said that the robot dog eased patients loneliness as well as the real dog.

Now, I can understand that initially the novel effect might be amusing to people; the little robot dog wags its plastic tail, barks and can even learn basic commands.

The study broke into three groups over a 6 week period at three separate nursing homes, one group got visits from Sparky, a 9 year old trained therapy dog, the second group got visits from Aibo, the robot dog and a third group received no visits.

The group visited by Sparky got cuddles from a warm, furry, tail-wagging pup and took to him immediately. The group visited by Aibo took longer to warm up to the robot dog but after a week they were petting it and talking to it and it responded by tail wagging, vocalizing and blinking lights.

After the study, participants were asked a series of questions about how lonely they felt and their attachment to Sparky or Aibo. Both groups showed a noticeable decline in loneliness compared to the control group.

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Dogs have been trained to assist people is all walks of life for decades and beyond. This is not a new concept.

Some brief description of the more well known types of service dogs are:

• Guide Dogs - they assist blind or sight impaired persons by guiding them safely around obstacles, through traffic and sidewalks, up and down stairs, etc.
• Hearing Dog - they alert the hearing impaired to sounds such as the phone, doorbell, microwave, alarms, etc.
• Mobility Assist Dog - they can do such things as pull a wheelchair, carry things in a specially designed backpack, pick up items and open and close doors
• Seizure Alert Dogs - these dogs are trained to help when their handler has a seizure by staying with them or going for help as need be. Many are trained to call 911 for assistance through an already set up system. Many of these dogs can even alert their handler or help when a seizure is coming on due to the fact that they can sense the chemical changes.

And then there are the Ssig Dogs, dogs trained to work with autistic partners.

How do service dogs help children with autism? Service dogs for autism assist children in several ways: Service dogs provide the child/adult challenged with autism an opportunity to safely access different environments which result in improved communication and social skills. The autism service dog’s presence offers a calming influence and provides a sense of security to the child and the parents. Abstract and concrete thinking advance, focus improves, and the length of attention span increases. Emotional outbursts occur less often. The important role of an autism service dog is affording the individual more independence and autonomy, helping those individuals become a viable part of the community at large. Here’s the story of how one child’s life was changed by one of these incredible dog heros! Read more… »

I’m a little puppy, so cuddly, sweet and small
I live inside a cage, you see at a Pet Store in the mall.

I’m not an only puppy, my sisters are all here.
My brothers, too, except for Ralph who died coz he was scared.
It’s lonely here at nighttime when all the lights go dark,
We tremble in our cages and we whimper and we bark.
But no one comes to hold us or pet our fears away.
We sit all night in terror til the store opens next day.
We don’t remember mama, left so far behind.
She did the best she could for us til Man said “It is time.”
He crammed us all in cages too small for us you see.
We rode for hours; we could not help but lay in poop and pee.
And now we sit in a Pet Store where kids come taunt and squeeze.
They do not hear our whimpers or understand our pleas.
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It wasn’t all the long ago that disabled dogs; deaf, blind, crippled, were routinely put down because it was thought they were too much trouble and they weren’t worth the extra work because they would never lead fulfilling or useful lives anyway. Thankfully times have changed and now there are many people; rescues and dedicated organizations, that specifically work with and care for ’special needs’ dogs.

Deaf dogs are just like any other dog, just as smart, just a playful, just as loving and giving and loyal. The only difference is that they lack hearing. This does not make them deficient, it just means that you need to learn to communicate with them differently.

Dogs are notoriously more attuned to learning by visual signals then voice commands anyways and in a deaf dog this ability is even more attuned. Think of your dog, think of how he or she reacts to your actions. A dog will often cower at a raised hand if it has been hit before. A dog that has been raised around smiles will actually become more animated when he or she sees you smiling. This I know from my own experience as I have a ’smiling dog’ who reacts to my smiles by returning the gesture.

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