Tag Archives: Dogs

Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Love & Relationships, Science & Health

Peak Cuteness, and Other Revelations from the Science of Puppies | The New Yorker

A new book explores how dogs and people grow up together.

By Rivka Galchen, September 18, 2022

Photographs by Peter Fisher

Alexandra Horowitz, the head scientist at Barnard College’s Dog Cognition Lab, has conducted a longitudinal observational study on the first year of life of a member of Canis lupus familiaris. In other words, like many others, Horowitz got a pandemic puppy. And she paid a lot of attention to that puppy, whom she and her family named Quiddity, or Quid, meaning “essence of.” She chronicles this in “The Year of the Puppy,” a book with an unsurprisingly adorable cover.

Since Horowitz already had two dogs, a cat, and a son, her motivation for getting a puppy is somewhat convincingly presented as being in the service of science. Horowitz has written several popular books about dogs and dog science: “Our Dogs, Ourselves,” “Being a Dog,” and “Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know.” In her new book, Horowitz’s goal is to think and write about dogs in a way that is distinct from usual pet-related fare about how to teach a puppy not to lunge at children and not to increase your household paper-towel budget. Instead, she aims to try to better understand a young dog, from Day One to day three hundred and sixty-five, as a being in transformation. She wants to write about puppies developmentally.

Source: https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/peak-cuteness-and-other-revelations-from-the-science-of-puppies

Books & Reading, Love & Relationships, Pleasures, Science & Health

What Do Dogs Know About Us? – The Atlantic

Man’s best friend is surprisingly skilled at getting inside your head.

By Alexandra Horowitz, September 16, 2022

Bruce Davidson / Magnum

Quid and I have struck a deal. Every morning she flies up the stairs, leaps onto our bed, and attacks my nose with her sharp little teeth. And I am awakened.

Oh wait, no; we don’t have a deal. She just does that. It is vexing and charming at once. Just at the moment of nose-attack I can smell the sleep collected on her breath and fur. It mingles with the odor of the other dogs in the room and is beginning to smell, to me, like home. It has been six months since she left her natal litter of 10 siblings and joined our family of three humans, two dogs, and one cat.

This article has been excerpted from Alexandra Horowitz’s forthcoming book, The Year of the Puppy: How Dogs Become Themselves (Viking)

And it has been a few months since she went from being a very young puppy to an adolescent, her brain trailing her body in development. Recently, she has become more interested in contact of any sort with us. She minds where we are, beating a hasty path after us if we rise from a chair to leave the room, sometimes licking our ankles as we go. She lies next to me on the couch, her body contorted to maximize body-to-body contact.

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/09/what-dogs-know-about-people/671454/

Current Affairs, Love & Relationships, Memories & History, Politics, Travel

Queen Elizabeth II’s corgis will go to Prince Andrew and his ex-wife : NPR

By Juliana Kim Twitter, September 11, 20224:56 PM ET

A float displaying corgi dogs with a crown is part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June. Queen Elizabeth II had a strong affinity with the breed, specifically Pembroke Welsh Corgis.
Alberto Pezzali/WPA Pool/Getty Images

The Duke and Duchess of York will look after Queen Elizabeth II’s two corgis, according to news reports.

Muick and Sandy are two young corgis that Prince Andrew, one of the queen’s sons, and his daughters gave her in 2021. The present was intended to lift her spirits after her husband, Prince Philip, died.

Elizabeth herself died on Thursday at Balmoral.

“The corgis will return to live at Royal Lodge [on the Windsor Estate] with the Duke and Duchess,” a source close to Andrew told the BBC.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/11/1122280385/queen-elizabeth-ii-corgis-prince-andrew

Food & Drink, Las Vegas, Love & Relationships, Nevada, Web & Technology

Bring Your Dog to These 16 Vegas Bars, Restaurants, and Cafes | Eater Las Vegas

Bring your dog with you to these Las Vegas restaurants

by Krista Diamond and Janna Karel, Updated Aug 22, 2022

Big Dog’s Brewing Co.
Big Dog’s Brewing Co./Facebook

Perhaps it isn’t surprising that Las Vegas has a selection of restaurants and bars that welcome customers’ dogs. The city has one of the highest dog park rates per capita in the country.

This is good news for dog lovers who know that the happiest hour at any bar takes place when both two-legged and four-legged patrons are served. Showing up to brunch with a canine companion might be a serious faux pas in some cities, but the places featured on this map welcome the presence of puppies.

From restaurants such as Town Square and Downtown Summerlin’s Lazy Dog, which offers chef-prepared meals for dogs, to breweries like Big Dog’s Brewing Co., a haven for local beers and local pups, it’s easy to find dog-friendly dining in Las Vegas. Know of another favorite dog-friendly destination? Hit up the tipline.

Source: Bring Your Dog to These 16 Vegas Bars, Restaurants, and Cafe

Love & Relationships, Pleasures, Science & Health

The 20 cutest dog breeds, according to science | Salon.com

What do Jack Russell Terrier and “The Batman” star Robert Pattinson have in common?

By Michele Debczak, Published June 26, 2022 8:00PM (EDT)

Gorgeous Samoyed smiling for photo (Getty Images/zhao hui)

Sorry, dog owners: Insisting your pet is the cutest creature on Earth doesn’t necessarily make it true.

Some dog breeds are objectively more adorable than others—at least according to a mathematical ratio that appears frequently in art and nature.

To quantify cuteness in dog breeds, MoneyBeach judged their face shapes against the Golden Ratio. This number (1.618 when rounded) shows up when the ratio of two quantities is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Put more simply, it’s when the smaller is to the larger as the larger is to the whole.

Even if you can’t grasp the math behind it, you likely respond to the Golden Ratio when you see it. It appears in such aesthetic marvels as nautilus shells, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man,” and Robert Pattinson’s face. The facial configurations of many dog breeds also approach this magic number.

Source: The 20 cutest dog breeds, according to science | Salon.com

Food & Drink, Love & Relationships, Science & Health

How much food should I feed my dog? How to keep your pup healthy | USA Today | Life

By Jacob Livesay, USA TODAY

Getty Images

So you’ve come home from the shelter with a new puppy — or maybe a scruffy, old dog showed up on your doorstep.

However you ended up with this four-legged friend, how to feed and take care of it properly is likely one of the first things on your mind.

According to Wag, your dog could face unnecessary weight loss, lower energy, nutrition-related medical disorders and even death if you’re not feeding it enough food.

On the other hand, Born Free Pet Food says overfeeding your dog can lead to obesity, which is linked to heart and respiratory problems, as well as a shorter life — not to mention the money you’d be wasting on all that extra kibble.

How much should I feed my dog?

All dogs are different, but the best practice is to simply follow the instructions on your dog food bag.

The American Kennel Club says dogs should generally be fed twice a day, with a portion size based on your dog’s breed, size, age and health condition.

For example, according to Zignature dog food, you should normally feed a puppy about twice as much as an adult dog, since they’re more energetic and need lots of nutrients to grow up big and strong. Pregnant dogs also require more food than other adult dogs.

To determine portion size and your dog’s ideal feeding schedule, it’s best to talk to your veterinarian.

Source: How much food should I feed my dog? How to keep your pup healthy.