Do You Believe in Dog One year of believing

Happy anniversary Julie!

Can you believe weve been exchanging blog posts about canine science for one year already? In some ways its gone so quickly and in others its hard to remember when we werent. I was going to do a highlights kind of post, but decided its all been so freaking fantastic, that I wouldnt know where to start or stop.

In all ways, its FABULOUS, and I thank you from the bottom of my everything for answering my first blog post with a big, fat YES!

#AAWS2013

I attended the 7th National Workshop for the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy this week. It was a busy few days with lots of learning and networking going on, everywhere you looked.

Stand out things you should know about:

AMRRIC do AMAZING work in rural and remote indigenous communities. You can follow them on Facebook, on YouTube and/or sign up for their newsletter. Check out details of their upcoming conference.


After calls for an independent office for animal welfare in Australia, minister Joel Fitzgibbon announced at AAWS2013 he is creating the role of Inspector General for Animal Welfare & Live Exports. This has been met with mixed reactions from the two main groups (primary production and animal advocacy bodies) involved. As we will be having a federal election very soon in Australia, it will be interesting to see what happens on this front in the coming months. The sceptics suggest, "not much".



Im now taking a weeks break with my family in sunny Queensland - much warmer than my home town right now. I hope you are enjoying your Summer. 
What have you been learning at all those conferences?

Thank you once again, for a year of believing in dog with me!

Big hugs,

Mia
© 2013 Mia Cobb

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Adventures in Aging Living with a Senior Dog

"Bear"

By Suzanne Alicie

The past year has opened my eyes to the joys (?) of living with an aging/elderly dog. Bear is almost 11, and she is showing her age.

As a fairly large dog, she is experiencing some arthritis and hip dysplasia symptoms. We’ve had to get her a thick comfy therapeutic bed, which she loves. The hard part is convincing her that she is too old and stiff to still go under our bed. It’s always been her favorite place. When she gets under there, I find myself having to pick up the bed enough for her to stand up and limp out.

When her hip locks up on her, I sit in the floor and massage her leg while she whimpers. This is a very emotional thing for me, because I can’t stand when she cries. Fortunately this is not a daily thing, and if I can keep her from going under the bed or jumping around and acting like a much younger dog, then she doesn’t hurt too much. So far we’ve been pretty lucky that Bear hasn’t developed more health problems like the ones Ruthie Bently discussed in Common Health Issues for Older Dogs.

With her old age, Bear has begun to be quite moody. If you’ve read some of my other posts about Bear you know that she is not a very social dog. She loves her family and is tolerant of our guests, but lately she makes it clear that she doesn’t like people visiting. When someone comes to the door she has always barked until we let them in. Once she saw us let them in and she was able to sniff them she’d be quiet and go lay down somewhere. These days when anyone comes over she barks and barks. They go into another room and she quiets down until she hears one of them laugh or talk and she barks some more. It’s almost like she forgets someone is here until she hears their voice, then she has to warn them that it’s her house.

She’s also become much more stubborn and demanding, as if she thinks that her age entitles her to whatever she wants. Rather than waiting for me to call her and have her sit and shake for a CANIDAE TidNips treat, she “yells” at me. She usually chooses while I’m in the middle of work to decide that I need to get up and give her a treat, and she won’t be quiet until I do. Needless to say, I feel as if I’m the one who is trained lately. I’m taking notes though, because when I get older I will need to remember these tricks to get my kids to wait on me hand and foot too!

Being finicky has never been an issue with Bear. She loves food and doesn’t care where or who it comes from, but she recently seems to have a serious problem with anyone but me feeding her. She was yelling at me a few weeks ago while I was watching television, and I knew it wasn’t a treat she wanted – her food bowl was empty. So I asked her Daddy to feed her. He went in and put the food in her bowl, petted her and came back to sit down. She didn’t eat; instead she ran to me and continued barking. I had to get up and go touch her food bowl before she would eat.

I thought parenting a child was difficult, but having an old dog is like having a toddler who is clingy, demanding, grouchy and in need of a nap. However, Bear is family so as she becomes a grouchy old lady we’ll just love her anyway. We know our time with her is limited, so we try to make sure every day is a good one for her and continue to fill her life with love and comfort no matter how moody and demanding she is. That’s all part of responsible pet ownership; dogs are a lifetime commitment, from the cuddly puppy to the destructive “toddler phase” to the joyous mature dog days and yes, even the old, aching and moody days of aging.

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Traveling with Your Dog

By Lisa Mason

Traveling with your dog is different from traveling with cats. If you have an upcoming trip and you want to take your dog along for the ride, there are a few things you should know first and that you should prepare for. Let’s explore this topic for a bit to help you prepare.

Should You Bring Him or Leave Him?

One of the first questions to ask yourself when traveling with your dog is if you should even bring him along or not. To find your answer, consider where you are going and for how long, what method of travel you will take, if your dog has traveled before and if he likes traveling.

If you consider leaving him instead, how will he be cared for in your absence? Do you have a dog sitter you can trust or will you be using a kennel service? Have you researched the kennel and the conditions your dog will be in?

If you plan on taking your dog, will your destination be dog friendly? If your dog has traveled before, how did he react? Are you prepared to handle any behavior issues that may arise while traveling to unfamiliar territory with your dog?

Driving with Your Dog

If you and your dog both like traveling by car, a road trip can be an excellent way to spend time together. Try to plan your route ahead of time with dog-friendly stops along the way (hotels that allow pets, dog parks, dog-friendly rest stops, etc.) and be sure to pack the car with your dog’s safety and comfort in mind as well.

Know that you are probably going to have to make more stops than you usually would. Give your dog plenty of potty breaks and chances to walk around and stretch if this will be a long car ride. Be sure to pack a secure leash and be sure he has his collar, tags and identification on. You don’t want him to go missing in an unfamiliar area.

Flying with Your Dog

If you will be flying with pets, there are some extra precautions and planning you should take. You need to book with airlines that allow pet travel and you will want to fully investigate the conditions and how your dog will be transported. Currently, public airlines have pets travel in the cargo area, not with the passengers, and you will want to ensure your pet is properly cared for.

Flying your dog can also be very stressful for your pet so it’s not recommended for short trips or situations where you could just leave him at home. In some situations, however, you may have no other choice so you want to make sure you fly as safely as possible with him.

Packing for Your Dog

To help make the trip more relaxed and comfortable for both of you, it’s important to bring along some things that are familiar to your dog. Don’t forget his CANIDAE dog food, because you might not be able to find a place to buy it along the way. Bring dishes for food and water and some bottled water in case you stop somewhere that does not have access to water for filling his bowl.

CANIDAE TidNips™ and Snap-Bits™ treats are great for packing along for the ride and when you get there. If your dog is in an unfamiliar place, you may need to resort to old training methods. It’s also helpful to have something familiar and tasty for your dog so she feels comfortable and safe.

If your dog has a favorite bed, blanket or toy, be sure to pack this and keep it close to her while traveling and once you arrive.

The truth is that sometimes it’s just not best to bring your dog along. A quick business trip where you will spend most of your time in meetings and your dog will spend most of her time alone in the hotel room is probably not the time to bring her along. If you could leave your dog with a trusted friend or family member instead, she’s sure to have a better time.

But family vacations, extended travels or just a long car drive to a neighboring city might be great times to travel with your dog, especially if she has shown she likes to travel. So pack properly, plan ahead and bring your canine friend along for the ride!

Top photo by Kirbie the Dorkie
Bottom photo by kdnewton  

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Attachment measuring our varying relationships with dogs

Hi Julie,

Right off the bat I need to say YES YES YES! 

Your last post about aggression and what we can learn from and about it WITHOUT the need to experience it was spot on. 

Are you THIS attached to your dog? (source)

You’re also right that my head is filled with glorious meta-analysis results right now, as well as perceptions and other measures (#allthemeasures!) as I start preparing my abstracts for submission to be part of the Canine Science Forum.

One of the small but quirky things I’ve noticed in the results of the perceived welfare of dogs survey, is that people seem to think their own pet dog has a much higher level of welfare than everyone else’s pet dog. Why would we think we take better care of our own dogs than anyone else? Now, this could be to do with the self-selected convenience sample of people who took the online questionnaire. Perhaps the 2,146 people who were interested and motivated enough to take the time to do the survey really are the very top of the pile of all dog owners, but I found it interesting all the same.

It got me thinking about our relationships with dogs (Ha! What’s new, right?!). I also happened to have a chat with Hal Herzog (while recording an upcoming episode of Human Animal Science) and, amongst many other things, we talked about how animals and pets aren’t universally beneficial for all people. Some people don’t even like their dogs. We know from extensive research into human psychology that our attitudes are major predictors of our behaviour. So are people who really love their animals more likely to take better care of them? (The answer is no, not always). Why is it that even people like us, who really find dogs fascinating and work with them daily, can feel more of a connection with one individual dog, but not so much another?

Definitely attached to dog (source)

When faced with a question like this, how do we measure these differences scientifically? We can look at (usually self-reported by the human) measures, such as time per day spent in the company, or interacting/sharing activities with pet dogs. This is valuable, but does not necessarily indicate emotional closeness of a person to their dog.

Lucky for me, plenty of psychologists, including earlier members of the Anthrozoology Research Group have tackled this and worked hard to create scales that measure the human-animal bond. The Monash Dog-Owner Relationship Scale, or MDORS as it’s more affectionately known is a great example. MDORS is a series of questions that form a psychometrically sound and validated scale. 

This scale was developed with the assistance of over 1,000 participants and comprises 28 items (statements that you agree/disagree with on a 5 point likert-style scale) across three subscales: Dog–Owner Interaction (e.g. “How often do you play games with your dog”), Perceived Emotional Closeness (e.g. “I wish my dog and I never had to be apart”), and Perceived Costs (e.g. "It is annoying that I sometimes have to change my plans because of my dog"). A scale like this can be used not just to assess how attached people are to their pet dogs, but also to explore how these attachments might vary between dogs, and with different groups of people (e.g. from different countries, with different cultural, work experience or education backgrounds, etc.), making it a very powerful tool for researchers. 

(excerpt from Dwyer et al, 2006)

Used in conjunction with other questionnaires to investigate areas like grief at the loss of a pet, responsible pet ownership practices by owners, oxytocin levels in dogs, or human health benefits derived from pet ownership; attachment measures, like MDORS, can help us learn more about the importance of attachment to successful relationships for both human and dogs.

How many dogs are you attached to? (Flickr)

You might remember Tammie Kings research, that used a modified version of the Ainsworth Strange Situation to see what dogs did when separated from their familiar person  and approached by a stranger (in her case, helping to measure the canine trait of amicability through their reaction toward the stranger). Tammie also asked owners to complete the MDORS and used the results in interpreting the canine behavioural data analysis for her PhD.

So often in our research, its important to measure both sides of the story, because weve learned the experience of the human, or even the humans perception of the dogs experience, just dont match up to the dogs experience.

Im pleased to see youll be tackling topics like these this weekend in San Francisco at the Canine Science Symposium event - yet another great line up of fantastic canine scientists sharing science for everyone:

(Source: Photo Lab Pet Photography)

Meanwhile, Im getting back to my research and pondering if attachment might relate to perceived welfare of dogs.

Looking forward to your next update,

Mia

Further reading:

Dwyer F., Bennett P.C. & Coleman G.J. (2006). Development of the Monash Dog Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS), Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 19 (3) 243-256. DOI: 10.2752/089279306785415592

Rohlf V.I., Bennett P.C., Toukhsati S. & Coleman G. (2010). Why Do Even Committed Dog Owners Fail to Comply with Some Responsible Ownership Practices?, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 23 (2) 143-155. DOI: 10.2752/175303710X12682332909972

Archer J. & Ireland J.L. (2011). The Development and Factor Structure of a Questionnaire Measure of the Strength of Attachment to Pet Dogs, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 24 (3) 249-261. DOI: 10.2752/175303711X13045914865060

Handlin L., Nilsson A., Ejdebäck M., Hydbring-Sandberg E. & Uvnäs-Moberg K. (2012). Associations between the Psychological Characteristics of the Human–Dog Relationship and Oxytocin and Cortisol Levels, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 25 (2) 215-228. DOI: 10.2752/175303712X13316289505468

© Mia Cobb | Do You Believe in Dog? 2014

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How to Help Dogs with Compulsive Pica

By Langley Cornwell

We’ve all laughed over the old excuse “the dog ate my homework,” but even a phrase as innocent as that might not be funny to someone whose dog has compulsive pica.

Pica is characterized by a desire to consume substances that are non-nutritive, and it can affect not only dogs but also cats, as Julia covered in her article Does Your Cat Eat Strange Things? In fact, people can suffer from pica, too.

The first dog I had as an adult—a rescued black lab—had pica and I didn’t know it. When she was 10 years old she got very sick. My regular vet and an emergency vet had no idea what was wrong and, surprisingly, multiple x-rays revealed nothing. I lived in a college town with a well-respected veterinary school, so my vet took my dog to the school for examination. After more fluid-bags and pills than I could count, with my sweet baby barely hanging on, my vet said the only thing he could do was exploratory surgery.

I still credit that vet with saving Sadie’s life. Apparently she had an extreme case of pica. He had a quart-sized bag full of treasures that he found in my dog’s intestinal tract, including seashells, twist ties, rocks and the finger of a garden glove. He said her system had probably done a good job of passing these things in the past, but what got her in trouble this time was a pinecone with a piece of twine wrapped around it. The piece of twine was long and prohibited the pinecone from passing through.

Everyone on her healthcare team was amazed that none of these oddities showed up on her x-rays. The way the objects were located in the folds of her intestines masked their presence. She became a case study for the vet school, but more importantly, she recovered fully and went on to live seven more happy, healthy years. Of course, I watched her like a hawk after that, and made sure she stuck to eating only good stuff, like Canidae PURE dog food.

There are two key reasons why adult dogs eat non-food items: physical and behavioral. One physical reason is because a dog’s diet is lacking important nutrients. Another physical reason could be disease related, such as digestive disorders, parasitic infections or even poisoning. If your dog consumes inedible things, see your veterinarian first to rule out any physical causes for pica.

The behavioral reasons that a dog ingests non-nutritive items are usually because the dog is bored, anxious or seeking attention. If there is no medical reason your dog is eating weird things and his penchant for rocks and twigs is behavioral, then his condition is considered compulsive pica. The most common things dogs with compulsive pica eat are rocks, plastic bags, plastic containers, socks, gloves and wooden objects.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) reports that compulsive behavior isn’t something that just goes away. It requires special training to restrain this possibly dangerous activity. As in the case of my black lab, Pica can be a serious problem; items like rubber bands, socks, pinecones and twine can severely damage or block a dogs intestines.

Marthina McClay, a certified dog trainer in San Francisco, has helped plenty of rescue dogs with compulsive pica. Her therapy includes keeping hard chew toys on hand to keep her dogs busy, which keeps compulsive pica at bay. McClay also recommends being proactive with your pet. It’s a good idea to curb the behavior before it starts, by engaging your dog in activities that he finds fun and rewarding.

Another successful strategy involves spraying inedible objects with a deterrent designed specifically for this use. The ASPCA suggests that when first using a spray deterrent, apply a small amount to a piece of tissue and place it directly into your dog’s mouth to see if he finds the taste unpleasant. If so, he will begin to associate the smell with unfavorable things. Spray the deterrent on non-food objects that he usually eats, and reapply every day for two to four weeks to reinforce the avoidance behavior.

What about your pets? Do any of them eat things they shouldn’t?

Top photo by shoe the Linux Librarian
Bottom photo by ferrabone carlos

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Games With Your Dog!

Game of the week:

Ive decided to make Thursdays, Game Day! This week is Hide & Seek. This is a great game to play with your dog, and even better if you have kids! This game is an excellent way to build on your dogs stay command and also work on their recall (come command)! If your dog doesnt know how to stay, then you can simply have somebody hold your dog. Play this inside the house or outside in a fenced in area.

To start, show your dog something fun such as their favorite toy or a favorite treat. Get them excited about it. Now tell them to stay or have somebody hold them and go hide! If this is the first time playing this game with the dog, make finding you easy the first few times. Gradually make it harder over time. Call your dog. Stay quite for a bit, if your dog is having trouble you can call them again or make a sound. When they find you, praise them like they just did the best thing in the world, play with their toy or give them their treat! Now repeat! Great exercise and training practice!

Book of the Day: Raising A Champion : A Beginners Guide to Showing Dogs

If your into showing dogs, or thinking about getting your first show dog, this book is a great read! It covers a lot of ground, heres a list of contents;

• Introduction
  
• Understanding Your Goal
  
• Getting Started
  
• The Perfectly Stacked Dog
  
• Stacking a Dog
  
• Teaching a Puppy to Stack
  
• The Moving Dog
  
• Teaching a Puppy to Gait
  
• More About Gaiting
  
• The Exam
  
• Teaching a Puppy to be Examined
  
• Putting it All Together
  
• Adding Some Polish
  
• Matches
  
• Picking Your First Show
  
• Premium Lists
  
• Entering a Dog Show
  
• Entry Confirmations and Judging Schedules
  
• Before the Show: Time lines and Planning
  
• Before You Enter the Ring
  
• Showtime!
  
• Counting Championship Points
  
• Minoring Out and Finding Majors
  
• Keeping Dog Show Records
  
• A Well-Balanced Dog
  

Like I said, it covers a lot. It is a fun and easy read, yet very informative. If your into showing, check into it!

Question of the Day: How to find a breed of dog, best suited for our lifestyle?

Answer: Finding the right breed of dog for you takes a lot of research. You should first think about what type of lifestyle you live. Are you active? Do you go jogging & Biking a lot? Perhaps you love to hike. Or would you rather just relax at home? You also need to look at where you live. If you live in a small home with no yard, a smaller dog will probably suit you better. If you live in a small home with no yard, but your active Everyday by jogging, biking, hiking and can provide daily exercise in these ways to the dog, then perhaps a medium or large dog would be okay for you. If youd rather relax on the couch, then a medium or large, hyperactive dog probably wouldnt be the best choice. A good website to check into would be the American Kennel Club. They list all of the recognizable breeds that are registrable. Keep in mind they do not list any of the designer breeds that are popping up now a days. When looking at breeds, take note on how much grooming & exercise they will need. How big will they get, and is the breed known to get along well with other dogs and/or kids? Write down any breeds that interest you, then research them further. Look up info online, research good, reputable breeders and ask them any questions you might have. Dog shows are another great way to get to know the breeds! Youll meet many knowledgeable people here and can learn a lot. Do your research! Good luck on finding the breed best for you!

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Why Does Doggone Safe Teach that Panting Dogs are Safe

Here is one of the most frequently asked questions about the content of the Be a Tree program:

Panting can be a sign of stress in a dog - why do you tell children that panting dogs are happy?

A panting dog is dealing with the stress by panting. A stressed dog that is not panting is much more dangerous because it has no mechanism to relieve the stress and is therefore more likely to react. Not all stress is bad stress. The dog might be waiting for a child to come and say hello. The waiting and wondering causes mild stress and the dog starts to pant. "Are we going for a walk?", "Are you going to throw that ball?", "Am I getting the cookie?" These are all circumstances that will cause panting due to mild stress and anticipation. We are trying to keep things simple for children and not providing an exhaustive course in dog behavior. Children obviously cannot be expected to tell the difference between a dog panting under mild stress or a dog panting with rapid frantic breaths that indicates extreme stress (still a dog less likely to bite than a highly stressed dog that is not able to pant).

Other things that the children learn during the program should prevent them from interacting with a dog panting out of extreme stress. They are taught to stand sideways and allow the dog to come to them to sniff their fist. A very nervous dog is apt to move away and not come forward to sniff - so they would leave that dog alone. They may also see the half moon eye, yawn, lick or the fore paw lift and realize that the dog is anxious. They are taught that if the dog stops panting if they come closer, that the dog does not want to meet or interact with them. Hopefully, handlers whose dog are very anxious will say no, when a child asks to pet the dog.

So for the most part a panting dog is a dog waiting with happy anticipation for something good to happen, or at least is a dog that is dealing with its stress. The panting/not panting differentiation is simple for children and immediately rules out many dogs that they may otherwise have wanted to pet and gives them a way to decide whether their own dog (who is the one most likely to bite them anyway) is open to interaction with them. We also teach that children should ask the dog handler to tell the dog to sit before they meet it. The cue "sit" is a stress reliever for most dogs because it is familiar and generally has a positive association and gives the dog some control of the situation. A dog that does not sit for the handler is not under sufficient control for a child to pet. An extremely anxious dog is unlikely to follow instructions and is ruled out on that basis, whether panting or not.

To summarize (so that a child can understand):

Panting and wiggly = safe

Not panting and stiff = dangerous

 

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Cat and Dogs seeking solutions with sniffing canines and science

Hi Mia and Julie, 

First of all, I LOVE your blog! 

After meeting at SPARCS this past summer (summer for us in North America.. I take it summer is just beginning in Australia!), I’ve followed it closely. 

You do amazing things for the promotion of  canine science. Serious love.

A bit of background for the readers: I’m currently doing my PhD at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, under the supervision of Dr. Simon Gadbois. 

Dr. Gadbois has an amazing amount of knowledge and experience in the science of sniffing (just check out Gadbois & Reeve, 2014 link below!). 

He’s trained sniffer dogs for the conservation of ribbon snakes and wood turtles, to track coyotes, and to detect invasive pests in lumber. He and I have taken on a different type of project and are studying the intricacies of biomedical detection dogs, specifically, the very interesting phenomenon of Diabetic Alert Dogs. 

Cat Reeve at #SPARCS2014 where she won the Best Emerging Researcher prize

I say interesting because there’s anecdotal evidence suggesting that some dogs alert their owners to hypoglycemic events (low blood sugar). In 2008, Deborah Wells published a series of case studies where dogs were reported as signalling (barking, licking, pawing etc. the individual) while their owners were awake, while they were sleeping, and even when their owners were in a different room with the door closed! And this is with no previous training! 

Isn’t this fantastic! Severe hypoglycemic events can be extremely dangerous for individuals with diabetes. If not treated, they can lead to seizures, comas, and even death. The fact that dogs may be able to alert an individual before a serious hypoglycemic event means less worry about hypoglycaemia unawareness, and blood sugar dropping over night when individuals are unconscious.

Given that dogs are signalling through closed doors, it is assumed that the dogs smell something that alerts them to a change in the physiology of their owner (as opposed to behavioural cues, as is believed to be the case with seizure alert dogs). There are many companies that have taken advantage of this supposed ability, and have trained Diabetic Alert Dogs (DADs) to sell to individuals with diabetes. 

In my own searches, I have found no company that publicly provides information as to how they train their dogs. However, according to recent studies (see Gonder-Frederick et al., 2013 and Rooney et al., 2011 below) these trained DADs dogs contribute greatly to the families of individuals’ with diabetes; they signal consistently and, consequently, significantly reduce the number of hypoglycemic events an individual experiences. 

Now, if it is in fact an olfactory cue that dogs use to identify a drop in blood sugar in their owners, one would expect that if you presented one of these trained DADs with the “scent” of hypoglycemia without the individual present (just like having the owner with diabetes on the other side of a door), the dog would still signal. 

Dehlinger and colleagues recently tested three DADs in a lab setting, presenting the dogs with human biological samples that were obtained identically to the way the samples used to train the dogs were obtained. In this study, none of the three dogs could pick out a hypoglycemic sample from a normoglycemic sample! DARN!

So what is it that these dogs smell? How is it that some DADs are accurate at signalling hypoglycaemia but evidently cannot signal in the lab? 

Enter ME! This is what I’m trying to figure out!

One possibility is that, at least in the study outlined above, the use of sweat samples was misguided. Maybe the volatiles are more strongly present in an individual’s breath. I am currently in the process of testing whether there is one channel more likely than others to expel the volatiles needed to detect a change in blood sugar, i.e. breath, sweat, or saliva. 

So far we’ve found that, after being trained to detect extremely low saliency scents, our dogs can detect and discriminate between human breath samples with incredible ease and accuracy (see the video of Koda discriminating between breath samples). 

Little Koda discriminating between breath samples. The jar that has the check mark on it is the target sample. The jar with the x+ is a different breath sample. When Koda first enters the room, he smells a jar that is the “sample” (it matches the target sample)... This is the smell we want him to find amongst the three jars that are closer to the camera. He chooses the right one!

Preliminary tests with patient samples suggest that our dogs can also tell the difference between breath samples taken from the same individual when their blood sugar was low, when it was normal, and when it was high (unpublished). 

Also, it’s possible that in the Dehlinger et al. (2013) study, the sample collection procedure was simply not sufficient enough to contain the volatiles produced during a hypoglycemic event. With the help of a fantastic chemist at Dalhousie (Dr. Peter Wentzell), we have perfected a procedure that coats cotton balls in silicone oil. This is believed to help contain the volatiles through the *magic of chemistry.  

*may actually be science, not magic - check with the chemists

Another potential is that these DADs are simply responding to a general stress response in the body. It’s possible that DADs (and untrained dogs who signal to their owners) are picking up on the physiological change associated with stress (changes in cortisol, adrenaline etc.). Kind of how people say animals can smell when you’re scared. 

If this is truly what’s happening, you would expect to see DADs giving a lot of false alarms. 

And in fact, personal communication with friends of friends who own DADs tell me that their DADs alert to not only hypoglycemic events, but to asthma attacks, anxiety attacks, etc. If you read carefully, few studies ask owners of DADs if their dog gives a lot of false alarm signals (dog signals to their owner and after the owner checks their blood sugar, they discover that they are not low). 

Isn’t this fascinating? 

The dogs I work with are incredible (shout out to the amazing owners that let me work with their dogs every week), and have incredible work ethic and sniffers. 

Our dogs are extremely motivated to work (because we make it super fun!). This is Nutella on her “break”. She doesn’t want a break. She wants to keep working! She’s whining and pawing at the door of the work room.

With the assistance of these amazing dogs, hopefully Dr. Gadbois and myself will be able to shed light on how exactly DADs do their job in the near future - Ill let you know how we go!


Cat Reeve
PhD Candidate
Dalhousie University
CANADA

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Further reading:

Brown S.W. & Strong V. (2001). The use of seizure-alert dogs, Seizure, 10 (1) 39-41. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/seiz.2000.0481 

Dehlinger, K., Tarnowski, K., House, J.L., Los, E., Hanavan, K., Bustamante, B., Ahmann, A.J., & Ward, W.K. (2013). Can trained dogs detect a hypoglycemic scent in patients with Type 1 Diabetes? Diabetes Care (Observations), 36, 98-99. 

Fier, B.M. (2004). Morbidity of hypoglycaemia in type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, 65, 47-52. 

Gadbois, S., & Reeve, C. (2014). Canine Olfaction: Scent, Sign and Situation. In A.  Horowitz (ed.). Domestic Dog Cognition and Behavior. New York: Springer. 

Gonder-Frederick L., D. Warren, K. Vajda & J. Shepard (2013). Diabetic Alert Dogs: A Preliminary Survey of Current Users, Diabetes Care, 36 (4) e47-e47. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/dc12-1998  

Rooney N.J., Morant, S. & Guest, C. (2013). Investigation into the Value of Trained Glycaemia Alert Dogs to Clients with Type I Diabetes, PLoS ONE, 8 (8) e69921. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069921

Matyka K.A. (2002). Sweet dreams? - nocturnal hypoglycemia in children with type 1 diabetes, Pediatric Diabetes, 3 (2) 74-81. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1034/j.1399-5448.2002.30203.x   

Wells D.L., Lawson S.W. & Siriwardena A.N. Canine responses to hypoglycemia in patients with type 1 diabetes., Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), PMID: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19040375

© Cat Reeve | Do You Believe in Dog? 2014

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Do You Believe in Dog A New Ball Game

Hello Do You Believe in Dog(ers)!

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After two years of mostly pen-pal style blogging, were excited to share our new direction!

When we first decided to create Do You Believe in Dog?, we committed to blogging back and forth about canine science for two years. We were able to celebrate achieving that goal at the recent 4th Canine Science Forum in Lincoln, UK and also reflect on the future of Do You Believe in Dog?

The DYBID blog, Facebook and Twitter feeds have become vibrant places to access canine science studies and thoughtful commentary. We are pleased and proud of the space we have created and the community who enjoy it. Were as committed as ever to helping people access the canine science conversation, and moving forward, weve decided to open up DYBID as a space where other canine science practitioners can share their findings and thoughts. 

What you can expect

Guest contributors 

Following the format youve enjoyed in earlier guest posts (like Dog training: do you get the timing right?, Take a walk on the wild side: dingo science  and Black dog syndrome, a bad rap?) researchers and students of canine science are welcome to submit short posts to DYBID based on peer-reviewed research. Were hoping posts will focus on research either presented at academic conferences or published in scientific journals. If you have an idea for a post, check out the Contributors page for more details, and be in touch! 

Canine science highlights 

Well continue our usual presence on Facebook and Twitter, and here on the DYBID blog well post fortnightly updates highlighting the canine science that weve been following in the previous two weeks (blog posts, scientific studies, websites, etc.). 

This slideshow is our first attempt at sharing Canine science highlights. We have used Storify so you can quickly flip through and click on anything you want more info about.

Where in the world are Mia and Julie?

To simplify our Twitter presence:

• Mia will primarily manage the @DoUBelieveInDog feed
  
• Julie will continue being active on @DogSpies, as well as at her Scientific American Blog, Dog Spies, and her dog research group @Dog_Cognition
  
• You can also stay in touch with Mia at @AnthroZooRG (her research group), @HumanAnimalSci (a podcast featuring the latest from Anthrozoology) and @WorkDogAlliance (an organization to improve the welfare of Australias working and sporting dogs)

Maybe you dont think weve simplified our Twitter presence?!
For us, this is simplified ;)

Well both be posting things on the DYBID Facebook feed and welcome your continued contributions and conversations there.

We hope youll enjoy this new direction! We look forward to your feedback as we share canine science highlights and add more voices to the DYBID space.

Thanks again for your support over the past two years -- Now, lets play ball!
(Go Yankees! That was Julie)

Mia & Julie

Further reading:

Dijk E.M.V. (2011). Portraying real science in science communication, Science Education, 95 (6) 1086-1100. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sce.20458

Nosek B.A. (2012). Scientific Communication Is Changing and Scientists Should Lead the Way, Psychological Inquiry, 23 (3) 308-314. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1047840x.2012.717907

Fischhoff B. & Scheufele D. (2013). The science of science communication, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110 (Supplement 3) 14033-14039. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1213273110

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Cooking With Dogs

Cooking with your dogs can be an excellent bonding experience and fun for both you and the dog! Your dog might not be able to actually help, but hes just fine with eating them after you do all the work. No worries! There are several dog food recipes and treat recipes you can cook for your dog.

While cooking your recipe, to let your dog feel included in this process, you talk to them and even let them have a taste of the ingredients before they are done. Your dog will love this! If your worried about your dogs picking up begging after this, just be sure there is a fine line between when your cooking for him and when your cooking for yourselves. Have a good, out of the kitchen, command or a Go lay down command. When cooking with your dog, invite him over and let him in on the fun. Hell love these times!

Cooking with your dog isnt only fun for you and the dog, its also beneficial. Most dog food recipes or treat recipes are much healthier for your dog than the store bought ones. I bet they are a better tasting too! If you want to really feed a healthy food to your dog, Cook for them!

There are some great books out there with good recipes, such as; The Healthy Dog Cookbook: 50 Nutritious & Delicious Recipes Your Dog Will Love, Another great one is Woofing it Down: The quick & easy guide to making healthy dog food at home. These two alone will have your on your way to cooking with your dog and enjoying extra time together. Two others to check into would be Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs: The Definitive Guide to Homemade Meals and Everything Cooking for Dogs Book: 150 Quick and Easy Healthy Recipes Your Dog Will Bark For (Everything: Cooking). All of those will get you on your way to feeding your dog healthier food. Start out with one and see what you think or if its really something your into, check into them all.

To top this off, since Tuesday is Recipe day, heres a fun treat recipe and actually my favorite to do with my dogs;

Dig NCheese

Youll need;

• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  
• 2 tablespoons softened margarine
  
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 1/2 cup milk
  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together cheese and margarine. Add milk and flour. Mold mixture into ball and roll dough to 1/4" thickness. Cut dough with cookie cutter and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until edges start to brown.

Makes 1 1/2 dozen

This recipe is from the book: The Small Dogs Doggy Bone Cookbook

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Geocaching with Your Dog

By Langley Cornwell

When I was young, I used to love scavenger hunts. I think I was first introduced to hunts at Girl Scout Camp and from then on, I was hooked. I remember asking my parents to organize a scavenger hunt for my birthday party that year and the trend took off. Several of my friends followed suit, and we had loads of fun racing around gathering random things. Eventually we got too cool to run around the neighborhood gathering stuff, and the scavenger hunt craze fizzled out among my pals.

I had not given my scavenging days much thought until I ran across an article about Geocaching. According to The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Website, geocaching is a free real-world outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Players try to navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. Players may then share their experiences with an online community of cachers. Currently, there are about 122,615 active caches in more than 210 countries.

Geocaching is a compound word including GEO for geography, and CACHING, which refers to the process of hiding a cache. This is not to be confused with cache in computer terms, which usually refers to information stored in memory to make it faster to retrieve. In this context, cache refers to a term that is also used in hiking/camping as a hiding place for concealing and preserving provisions. Geocaching containers are usually weather-resistant vessels holding a logbook along with an array of coins, plastic toys, key chains and other small items for trade.

Geocaching enthusiasts are including their dogs in the adventure, according to an article in The Bark magazine. Years ago, Sandi Pearce and her Border collie hid a treasure in Dublin, California. Since then, about 40 people, many with their dogs, have gone in search of the cache. The pair enjoys geocaching so much that they’ve hidden 15 boxes so far. Pearce fills her boxes with dog-related items and hides them in places where she and her dog like to hike.

After learning about geocaching, I was curious if any of my friends were into it. The responses surprised me. One friend had a geocaching coin that she put into circulation in the USA years ago. The coin made it to England and then moved to remote parts of the world, turning up here and there for quite some time. Nobody has logged her coin in a while so she’s lost track of it, but she still enjoys the activity. 

Not surprisingly, many of the game’s participants take their dogs along while caching. Dog lovers know how satisfying it is to have a hobby that you can include your dog in, and geocaching is that magic combination of treasure hunting, playing outdoors, and bonding with your best friend.

You and your dog can participate in the game regardless of where you live; caches are hidden in rural and urban areas. There are some that require hiking and some that even require climbing, swimming or boating. Even so, each cache is rated for difficulty, based on how hard the cache is to find and on the terrain in which it’s hidden, so you can choose your level of comfort. At this time, there is no official dog-friendly rating in the cache descriptions, but since the activity is on the rise with dog-people, many cachers are now putting notes about dog-appropriateness in the online log.

If you are a seasoned cacher or just starting out, here are some tips for caching with your canine companion:

• Abide by local laws. Know whether a leash is required. Additionally, it’s important to clean up after your dog whether the law specifically outlines that or not. Be sure to tote the proper supplies.

• Know your dog. If your dog is easily distracted, you probably won’t enjoy caching with him in urban areas. If you’re caching in rural areas, respect your dog’s physical fitness level. Know if your dog is willing to get wet crossing a stream and if not, whether you can carry him over it. Take time to consider the possibilities before striking out.

• Bring water and snacks for you and your dog – something easy to carry like trail mix for you and CANIDAE PURE kibble for your dog.

• Dress appropriately. If you’re caching at night, be safe. Florescent or illuminated vests and/or collars are a good idea.

• If you hide a cache, consider mentioning in the log if it is dog-friendly.

For more information about geocaching, visit Geocaching—The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site.

Top photo by Alex Pearson
Middle photo by Nick Ellis
Bottom photo by Jon Hurd

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