Meaningless Valentine's Day

It’s Valentine’s Day today.   More than 700 $ are spent every year in the US on gifts for pets.  Because Valentine’s Day is associated with love, affection, red roses, romantic breaks, nice dinners, Champagne, perfume, jewellery, fluffy stuff preferably pink - the list  is endless - , we feel we have to shower our pets with gifts too because we fear they might miss out.  But what does a dog get out of it?  The simple answer is NOTHING.

A dog does not know Christmas from birthdays or school holidays or Easter or Labour Day in the US or August Bank Holiday in the UK.  So by giving gifts to a dog on a special human occasion, you are rewarding it but for doing what?  You create confusion. 

When training a dog, you have 3 seconds for rewarding it correctly. 

You ask your dog to sit for instance.  He does so.  Give him the treat straightaway.  The treat can be your most gentle voice saying: “good girl or good boy” or a toy or a crumble of cheese or a dog biscuit or a pat on the head.  Something nice. 

So the dog is rewarded because he has done what you asked him to do. 

Beyond the 3 seconds slot, it has no meaning other than “yummy” I am eating something nice. 

Remember dogs are scavengers.  They’ll eat anything you give them.

A dog does not have human emotions or human feelings or a human time table.  A dog is a pack animal and understands pack rules. 

Dogs have human emotions

Using MRI technology, scientists at Emory University ( Atlanta, USA ) set out to determine how dogs' brains work, and they discovered that dogs experience emotions in a way comparable to humans.

For two years researcher Berns and his colleagues have trained dogs to enter an MRI scanner while awake and unrestrained. Typically, animals are anesthetized so they won't move during a scan, but you can't study brain functions like perception and emotion when an animal is asleep.

Another reason Berns chose not to anesthetize his canine participants is because he says wanted to treat the dogs like people.

All the dogs in the study have consent forms signed by their owners, and only positive training methods are used to prepare the animals for the MRI.

Berns' own dog, Callie, was the first dog to have her brain scanned. With the help of a dog trainer, Berns taught Callie to enter an MRI simulator.

Callie learned to enter the tube, place her head in a chin rest and sit still while wearing earmuffs to protect her ears from the machine's noise.

After a few months of training, Callie was ready for her first MRI, and Berns and his colleagues got their first maps of canine brain activity.

Other owners soon volunteered their dogs for research, and Berns has now scanned more than a dozen of their brains. The more data he gathers, the more he's convinced that dogs aren't that different from us.

The canine brain maps showed Berns that dogs use a region of the brain known as the caudate nucleus in a similar way to humans.

These findings don’t necessarily mean that our dogs love us, but because many of the same things activate both the human caudate and the dog caudate, neuroscientists say this could be an indication of canine emotions.

Dogs in Las Vegas

Las Vegas has it all as far as dogs go.  25 dog parks where dogs can be off the lead which per capita is third best in the US. Sin City is not so good for dog walking because of the extreme heat though. Vegas is home to a dog-themed radio program, “a show about things all dog”  called The Las Vegas Hot Diggity Dog Show, hosted by Stacy “Doxie Diva”. It is also a Dachshund rescue group with the slogan “Saving the World One Wiener at a Time.”
According to Dog Jaunt, a blog for people who want to travel with their small dogs, many of the casinos allow dogs as guests.
Local law states if a neighbour shoots your dog for barking in your own yard you are legally allowed to hang them!! 

Dog versus human

Here are some interesting facts:

1. Body Temperature

Canine normal body temperature is between 38° to 39.2° Celsius.  The commonly accepted average body temperature in humans is 36.8° Celsius.

2. Respiratory Rate

Dogs: 10-34 breaths per minute, unless panting.  In human adults over 18:  12-20 breaths per minute.
Normal respiratory rates are assessed when the dog/person is at rest. Pain, heart or respiratory problems, heatstroke will usually increase respiratory rates.

3. Heart Rate

Dogs: beats per minute: 60 – 100 for large breeds, 100 – 140 for small breeds.  In human adults 60-80 bpm.

Larger dogs have slower rates than small dogs, and dogs that are in good physical shape will have lower heart rates than dogs of similar age and size who are not physically fit. Puppies typically have higher heart rates, up to 180 bpm; this is normal up to one year of age.  Normal heart rate in children is variable and depends on the child’s age.

4. Duration of Pregnancy

On average, canine pregnancy lasts 63 days.  In humans: 9 months say 274 days.  Elephants: 624 days.   The larger the animal, the longer the gestation period.   

5. Number of Teeth

Puppies have 28 teeth; adult dogs have 42 teeth.  The loss of baby teeth usually starts at about 3 months and ends by 6 to 9 months.
A child has 20 baby teeth and they start falling out at about age 6.  An adult has 32 teeth including wisdom teeth.
Silly question: do dogs have wisdom teeth?  I must ask our vet.