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We saw this story on Yahoo! News and thought.. “now tell us something we don’t know.” :) But the scientific evidence is very interesting:

The canine IQ test results are in: Even the average dog has the mental abilities of a 2-year-old child.

The finding is based on a language development test, revealing average dogs can learn 165 words (similar to a 2-year-old child), including signals and gestures, and dogs in the top 20 percent in intelligence can learn 250 words.

And the smartest?
Border collies, poodles, and German shepherds, in that order, says Stanley Coren, a canine expert and professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia. Those breeds have been created recently compared with other dog breeds and may be smarter in part because we’ve trained and bred them to be so, Coren said. The dogs at the top of the pack are on par with a 2.5-year-old.

Better at math and socializing
While dogs ranked with the 2-year-olds in language, they would trump a 3- or 4-year-old in basic arithmetic, Coren found. In terms of social smarts, our drooling furballs fare even better.

“The social life of dogs is much more complex, much more like human teenagers at that stage, interested in who is moving up in the pack and who is sleeping with who and that sort of thing,” Coren told LiveScience.

Coren, who has written more than a half-dozen books on dogs and dog behavior, will present an overview of various studies on dog smarts at the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting in Toronto.

“We all want insight into how our furry companions think, and we want to understand the silly, quirky and apparently irrational behaviors [that] Lassie or Rover demonstrate,” Coren said. “Their stunning flashes of brilliance and creativity are reminders that they may not be Einsteins but are sure closer to humans than we thought.”

Math test
To get inside the noggin of man’s best friend, scientists are modifying tests for dogs that were originally developed to measure skills in children.

Here’s one: In an arithmetic test, dogs watch as one treat and then another treat are lowered down behind a screen. When the screen gets lifted, the dogs, if they get arithmetic (1+1=2), will expect to see two treats. (For toddlers, other objects would be used.)

But say the scientist swipes one of the treats, or adds another so the end result is one, or three treats, respectively. “Now we’re giving him the wrong equation which is 1+1=1, or 1+1=3,” Coren said. Sure enough, studies show the dogs get it. “The dog acts surprised and stares at it for a longer period of time, just like a human kid would,” he said.

These studies suggest dogs have a basic understanding of arithmetic, and they can count to four or five.

Basic emotions
Other studies Coren notes have found that dogs show spatial problem-solving skills. For instance, they can locate valued items, such as treats, find better routes in the environment, such as the fastest way to a favorite chair, and figure out how to operate latches and simple machines.

Like human toddlers, dogs also show some basic emotions, such as happiness, anger and disgust. But more complex emotions, such as guilt, are not in a dog’s toolbox. (What humans once thought was guilt was found to be doggy fear, Coren noted.)

And while dogs know whether they’re being treated fairly, they don’t grasp the concept of equity. Coren recalls a study in which dogs get a treat for “giving a paw.”

When one dog gets a treat and the other doesn’t, the unrewarded dog stops performing the trick and avoids making eye contact with the trainer. But if one dog, say, gets rewarded with a juicy steak while the other snags a measly piece of bread, on average the dogs don’t care about the inequality of the treats.

Top dogs
To find out which dogs had the top school smarts, Coren collected data from more than 200 dog obedience judges from the United States and Canada.

He found the top dogs, in order of their doggy IQ are:
Border collies Poodles German shepherds Golden retrievers Dobermans Shetland sheepdogs Labrador retrievers

At the bottom of the intelligence barrel, Coren would include many of the hounds, such as the bassett hound and the Afghan hound, along with the bulldog, beagle and basenji (a hunting dog).

“It’s important to note that these breeds which don’t do as well tend to be considerably older breeds,” he said. “They were developed when the task of a hound was to find something by smell or sight.” These dogs might fare better on tests of so-called instinctive intelligence, which measure how well dogs do what they are bred to do.

“The dogs that are the brightest dogs in terms of school learning ability tend to be the dogs that are much more recently developed,” Coren said. He added that there’s a “high probability that we’ve been breeding dogs so they’re more responsive to human beings and human signals.” So the most recently bred dogs would be more human-friendly and rank higher on school smarts.

Many of these smarty-pants are also the most popular pets. “We like dogs that understand us,” Coren said.

We also love the beagle, which made it to the top 10 list of most popular dog breeds in 2008 by the American Kennel Club. That’s because they are so sweet and socialable, Coren said. “Sometimes people love the dumb blonde,” Coren said.

And sometimes the dim-wits make better pets. While a smart dog will figure out everything you want it to know, your super pet will also learn everything it can get away with, Coren warns.

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Sorry Beagles, I guess we do know exactly what you’re thinking!

For the last few weeks we’ve been reading stories in the news about Michael Vick’s release, and how he is awaiting a decision from the NFL about his future career, and waiting to see if a team will be offering him a position. Simultaneously we have been reading stories on BestFriends.org about how the dogs that they acquired after the raid on Michael Vick’s dog fighting ring are now finally beginning to be adopted into new forever homes.

We are happy to report now that Best Friends Animal Society has  received a National Award from the U.S. Justice Department for its “outstanding work with the dogs on the Bad Newz Kennels (the Michael Vick case).”

Best Friends took in half of the dogs that were seized, dogs that would have otherwise been destroyed. Instead they have spent two years in beautiful Angel Canyon in Kanab Utah to be rehabilitated under the amazing, loving care of the workers and volunteers there who dubbed them the “Vicktory Dogs.” And recently, finally some of them have been declared adoptable!

Managers at Best Friends hope that this will bring more attention to the issue of dog fighting (just as another, even larger dog fighting ring was exposed recently); as well as bring a new perspective on American pit bull terriers.

Michael Vick will now have to begin his “community service” working with the ASPCA on their anti dog fighting campaign. But can he be rehabilitated as well as the dogs that he is responsible for torturing?

Time will tell, but we certainly hope they won’t make it easy for him.

Yahoo! News confirms what you’ve always suspected.. yes your cat is controlling your mind!:

If you’ve ever wondered who’s in control, you or your cat, a new study points to the obvious. It’s your cat.

Household cats exercise this control with a certain type of urgent-sounding, high-pitched meow, according to the findings. This meow is actually a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry. While people usually think of cat purring as a sign of happiness, some cats make this purr-cry sound when they want to be fed. The study showed that humans find these mixed calls annoying and difficult to ignore.

“The embedding of a cry within a call that we normally associate with contentment is quite a subtle means of eliciting a response,” said Karen McComb of the University of Sussex. “Solicitation purring is probably more acceptable to humans than overt meowing, which is likely to get cats ejected from the bedroom.”

They know us

Previous research has shown similarities between cat cries and human infant cries. McComb suggests that the purr-cry may subtly take advantage of humans’ sensitivity to cries they associate with nurturing offspring. Also, including the cry within the purr could make the sound “less harmonic and thus more difficult to habituate to,” she said.

McComb got the idea for the study from her experience with her own cat, who would consistently wake her up in the mornings with a very insistent purr. After speaking with other cat owners, she learned that some of their cats also made the same type of call. As a scientist who studies vocal communication in mammals, she decided to investigate the manipulative meow.

Tough to test

Setting up the experiments wasn’t easy. While the felines used purr-cries around their familiar owners, they were not eager to make the same cries in front of strangers. So McComb and her team trained cat owners to record their pets’ cries – capturing the sounds made by cats when they were seeking food and when they were not. In all, the team collected recordings from 10 different cats.

The researchers then played the cries back for 50 human participants, not all of whom owned cats. They found that humans, even if they had never had a cat themselves, judged the purrs recorded while cats were actively seeking food – the purrs with an embedded, high-pitched cry – as more urgent and less pleasant than those made in other contexts.

When the team re-synthesised the recorded purrs to remove the embedded cry, leaving all else unchanged, the human subjects‘ urgency ratings for those calls decreased significantly.

McComb said she thinks this cry occurs at a low level in cats’ normal purring, “but we think that cats learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans.” In fact, not all cats use this form of purring at all, she said, noting that it seems to most often develop in cats that have a one-on-one relationship with their owners rather than those living in large households, where their purrs might be overlooked.

The results were published in the July 14 issue of the journal Current Biology.
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If you’re interested in a custom cat (or dog) portrait to portray what’s really on your pet’s mind, check out our collection of Comic Style portraits and order yours today!

July 4th is next weekend and it can be a very stressful time for pets. We found a variety of great tips from experts on about how to prepare your dogs and cats for the upcoming noisy festivities, including exposing them to loud cd’s with thunder or fireworks noises for several days prior:

The Fourth of July is next weekend, bringing with it sparklers, Roman candles and loud fireworks. Several fireworks and pet companies are encouraging people to prepare their pets for the loud noises.

Phantom Fireworks, based in Youngstown, Ohio, advises that pets might experience stress and anxiety when they hear the bangs and whistles of fireworks.

Janet Tobiassen Crosby, a doctor of veterinary medicine and writer for the Veterinary Medicine Guide, said pets are at risk when they hear loud fireworks and become upset.

“Animals that are frightened or stressed can hurt themselves and possibly escape if left alone,” Crosby said. “And the results can be fatal. Frightened animals running loose are in great danger of being hit by a car.”

Fireworks.com advises people to consider moving their pets inside when setting off fireworks. 

British Web site Canine Concepts suggests pet owners desensitize pets to loud noises by playing a compact disc with thunder or fireworks noises for several days leading up to the holiday. While the CD plays, the owners can distract their pets by playing with them, training them or giving them a chew toy.

If a pet becomes stressed, Canine Concepts recommends not comforting the animal, because that can encourage unwanted behavior it exhibits while stressed. The Web site www.canineconcepts.co.uk offers more information.

Phantom Fireworks has created a K-9 Calming Vest for the Fourth of July holiday. The vest fits snugly around a dog to give the animal a feeling of safety and security.

The vest comes in different sizes and retails for $36. The product is sold at fireworks.com and in Phantom Fireworks.

The company also suggests feeding pets an hour before fireworks begin going off and feeding animals snacks while explosions are happening, as well as using music or the television to drown out the sound and playing with the pets.
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Whatever you think will work best for your animals, we encourage you to consider their concerns before you plan to celebrate with your patriotic pet!

Who looks out for soldiers’ pets when their work carries them away from home to look out for us?  We found this article in the Denver section of examiner.com about a wonderful volunteer organization called GASP that does just that:

The men and women of the U.S. military are often forced to rely on family or friends to care for their pets while they are away fulfilling their patriotic duty.  For someone without loved ones willing or able to help, or when even the best laid plans go awry, dropping off his beloved pet before leaving for war has often been the only alternative for some soldiers.

For more info: If you are a soldier in need of a foster home for your pet, or if you would like to donate or volunteer your time to help soldiers’ pets, you can obtain more information about Guardian Angels for Soldier’s Pet at guardianangelsforsoldierspet.org.
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If you’d like to find out how you can help with a donation or by volunteering as a foster family for a soldier’s pet, please visit GASP’s website.

The ASPCA has the answer for concerned pet parents:

Don’t worry! The recent, rapid outbreak of the H1N1 virus, previously known as swine flu, appears to present little risk of infecting our furry friends. In the past few weeks, only humans have been affected by the new virus, and it’s still unknown how the virus will impact other species.

“Currently there’s no data demonstrating any risk of dogs and cats contracting this strain of the virus,” says Dr. Louise Murray, Director of Medicine at the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Hospital in New York City. “However, owners of pet pigs, as well as farmers, should monitor their animals’ health more closely and take steps to limit transmission from humans to pigs and vice versa.”

If you do count a pet pig as your animal companion, please consult with your veterinarian about a Type A influenza vaccine, which is available and recommended for all healthy swine.

Dr. Miranda Spindel, Director of ASPCA Veterinary Outreach, adds: “Swine influenza or swine flu is one of the leading causes of respiratory disease in swine throughout the world. Like most influenza A viruses, swine flu generally causes high levels of illness in pigs, but fatalities are uncommon.”

For the latest information about the outbreak and your pet’s health, please visit the Center for Disease Control (http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu). If you suspect your pet is ill or if he exhibits any sudden changes in behavior, please contact your veterinarian immediately.

Pet Airways, the airline that will fly pets ONLY will be ready to taxi down the runway in July. That means dogs of any size can now ride in the cabin, not in cargo! Here’s the complete story from news.com.:

A US company has launched the world’s first pets-only airline dedicated to animal-friendly travel.

Pet Airways will cater for people who loathe the idea of their pets being stored in the cargo hold area during a flight by offering their pet-only service.  From July the new airline will fly dogs and cats in the main cabin of a turbo-prop Beech 1900 passenger plane which has furnishings such as the seats and bins removed, with animals placed in their private pet carriers and locked into a restraint system.

The plane can hold up to 50 dogs or cats. A pet attendant checks on the animals and makes sure they have regular toilet breaks during the flight.

“Pet Airways is the world’s first airline exclusively dedicated to the safe and comfortable transportation of pets,” the company’s website says.

“With Pet Airways, your pet will be safe and comfortable flying in the main cabin – not in cargo.”

Pet Airways will fly to 42 US cities including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington. Fares start from $149.
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Hmmm.. I wonder if they’ll show in-flight movies?

We found this nearly unbelievable story on Yahoo News. You have to read it to believe it:

A pet dog that fell overboard in rough seas off Australia has been reunited with its owners after surviving alone on an island for four months, reports said.

Sophie Tucker, apparently named after a late US entertainer, fell overboard as Jan Griffith and her family sailed through choppy waters off the northeast Queensland coast in November.

The dog was believed to have drowned and Griffith said the family was devastated.

But out of sight of the family, Sophie Tucker was swimming doggedly and finally made it to St Bees Island, five nautical miles away, and began the sort of life popularised by the TV reality show “Survivor.”

She was returned to her family last week when Griffith contacted rangers who had captured a dog that had been living off feral goats on the largely uninhabited island, in the faint hope it might be their long-lost pet.

When the Griffiths met the rangers’ boat bringing the dog to the mainland they found that it was indeed Sophie Tucker on board.

“We called the dog and she started whimpering and banging the cage and they let her out and she just about flattened us,” Griffith told the national AAP news agency.

“She wriggled around like a mad thing.”

Griffith said that when the dog was first spotted on the island she had been in poor condition.

“And then all of a sudden she started to look good and it was when the rangers had found baby goat carcasses so she’d started eating baby goats,” she said.

Sophie Tucker, a member of the Australian cattle dog breed, had been quick to readjust to the comforts of home, complete with airconditioning, Griffiths said.

“She surprised us all. She was a house dog and look what she’s done, she’s swum over five nautical miles, she’s managed to live off the land all on her own,” Griffiths said.

“We wish she could talk, we truly do.”
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We’re not so sure they would like to hear what Sophie would have to say to them if she could talk!

We found this story on Yahoo about service animals remarkable. (just click the image below to view the video)

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Last year we told you about a new product called Zoombak – a GPS locater for your dog, which we thought was pretty ingenius.

Interestingly, almost exactly one year later MSNBC has reported on the same item. They have an evaluation from a family who loves it for their three year old pup and is considering it for their soon-to-be-teenage daughter. They also included an evaluation from a therapist who says, “she’s concerned that parents who use such a device for their children are taking the easy way out.”

Hence the title of the article, GPS: Good For Pets, Questionable for Kids

The Zoombak costs about $200 plus a $15 monthly monitoring fee.

We’re just proud that we scooped MSNBC by a whole year!