Every so often scientists, who Yours Truly generally respects, get it wrong.  This time someone with a Petri dish and too much research money has gone and released a press release claiming that cat owners are smarter than dog owners.  Actually, the study’s conclusions make some sense since they are based on cats being able to be left alone for longer periods while their high-achieving owners go off to work twelve-hour days.  Still, measuring intelligence is a tricky thing in both humans and dogs.  After all, I would argue that dog sensibility is a window onto a certain kind of intelligence that might not be captured by income levels or busy-ness.  The article can be found here, but there was one heartening piece of information for any who despaired that dogs themselves were losing on the intelligence front to cats.  Here it is:

The belief of many cat owners that the feline intellect is superior to that of the canine was dented last year by the publication of a study showing that they did no better than dogs at a simple reasoning task.

Cats presented with two pieces of string, only one of which was attached to a food reward, could not tell which one to pull for their treat.

Alas, the study also underscored our two species general incompatibility:

The traditional view of cats and dogs as incompatible rivals was borne out by the research, with only 7 per cent of households containing pets of both species.

In other news, J.F. has been kindly invited to guest blog a Manly Monday post on The Lipstick Chronicles, so you might chance a visit there to learn him discourse on “Writing A Woman.”   Of course, The Lipstick Chronicles is well-worth a visit anytime.

And, lest  we forget A Dog At Sea (pictured below) has been reviewed at Rhapsody In Books and Murphy’s Dog Blog.  (You can click on the image to go to Amazon if you have not yet obtained your copy)

The following story got Yours Truly’s attention.  I certainly hope Harry never tries to perform surgery on me.

Here is the story and the link:

Nestle, the dog on the left in the picture above, has been debarked because of a neighbor’s complaint…  I knew there was a reason I tend to remain quiet.

For more information on this disturbing practice of debarking, you might want to read this article from today in The New York Times.

This is not particularly diversionary, but apparently canine vocal cords are cut.

This is Oscar and he is waiting for someone to die.  He lives in a nursing home and has gained a reputation for showing up every time someone is about to pass into the great beyond.  Many people tend to imbue this behavior with superatural implications.  I, for one, being a Labrador of a more empirical leaning, think it has more to do with something Oscar finds attractive in the smell emitted by the dying.  I won’t go so far as to say Oscar has a Sidewalk Pate addiction of the worst kind, but readers of my books will likely come down on the side of the olfactories (though, perhaps, Oscar is also an empathetic fellow).

Here is a snippet from the article which may be found complete here:

The nursing home adopted Oscar, a medium-haired cat with a grey and brown back and white belly, in 2005 because its staff thinks pets make the Steere House a home. They play with visiting children and prove a welcome distraction for patients and doctors alike.

After a year, the staff noticed that Oscar would spend his days pacing from room to room. He sniffed and looked at the patients but rarely spent much time with anyone - except when they had just hours to live.

He’s accurate enough that the staff - including Dosa - know it’s time to call family members when Oscar stretches beside their patients, who are generally too ill to notice his presence.

If kept outside the room of a dying patient, he’ll scratch at doors and walls, trying to get in.

Nurses once placed Oscar in the bed of a patient they thought gravely ill. Oscar wouldn’t stay put, and the staff thought his streak was broken. Turns out the medical professionals were wrong, and the patient rallied for two more days. But in the final hours, Oscar held his bedside vigil without prompting.

Dosa does not explain Oscar scientifically in his book, although he theorises the cat imitates the nurses who raised him or smells odours given off by dying cells, perhaps like some dogs who scientists say can detect cancer using their sense of scent.

The latest, A Dog At Sea (pictured and purchasable above), has been out a month today.  I have only just now gotten my land legs back.

Being the author and the subject of a series of book while gratifying can also be quite tiring and at times, frankly, a bit disheartening when one suspects that one’s work is not always quite understood.  Fortunately, I have a corp of stalwart fans who frequently remind me that they “get it” and appreciate Yours Truly and the books.  Thank you!  There are also, from time to time, those reviewers and critics who courageously brave the dangerous shallows of the misleading “cozy” label and champion the depths they find in my books.  Today, I would like to link to Detectives Beyond Borders and his insightful and brave writings.  His blog is well worth a visit at any time –it is a lively place and raises the bar for all of us who value writing.  He found fit to pick out a few excerpts from my books and make some excellent points:

2) I also like a couple of bits inside the book, including:

and

“His reputation in the writing life had been launched and sustained by this pedigree of mid-twentieth-century entitlement and superiority, which by the time of his death in the twenty-first century, was anachronistic.”

and, for what it says about Randolph as a palatable contemporary vehicle for sentiments that might seem precious, dated or eccentric in the mouth of a twenty-first-century human fictional detective, this:

” … the detective is the last true humanist, standing at that intersection where observation and reason meet emotion and intuition revealing the secrets that measure our fragile, inconstant, but extraordinary beings.”

Recently there has been some mumbling (just within earshot of Yours Truly) about a future trip to Australia.  In keeping with my habit of looking before I leap (not always successfully as is borne out by my plunge from the Nordic Bliss into the Caribbean), I decided to do a bit more research into this continent.  As I mentioned in my recent post about Bronson (the Labrador pictured below with a snake wrapped around his snout), Australia is home to some of the most venomous creatures on the planet.  This wouldn’t be so worrisome if those venomous creatures were enormous and either made a racket when they approached or skittered away into the bushes when you approached.  Naturally, when I first heard of the Irukandji jellyfish, I assumed that we were speaking about a large creature.  As you can see from the photo above, this is not the case.  The Irukandji has nearly invisible angel hair pasta tentacles matched with a nearly invisible body the size of a pencil eraser.  Not only will you not see or hear this one coming, you will probably not know that you have encountered him until Irukandji Syndrome develops twenty minutes later.  Which syndrome is defined (by Wikipedia) as: Irukandji syndrome is produced by a very small amount of venom and includes severe pains at various parts of the body (typically excruciating muscle cramps in the arms and legs, severe pain in the back and kidneys, a burning sensation of the skin and face), headaches, nausea, restlessness, sweating, vomiting, high heart rate and blood pressure, and psychological phenomena (such as the feeling of impending death).

Perhaps I should stage a boycott (or sleep-in) in my sunlit corner.

The photograph above of Bronson, the Labrador, with a copperhead snake around his schnoz is yet another reason for Yours Truly to give thanks for his urban surroundings.  Here is Bronson’s tale from the Herald Sun (it is almost pointless to remind my good readers that this latest dangerous-animal-encounters-dog story comes to us from Australia that rugged country which boasts 17 of the world’s most venomous creatures):

HE’S never had a nose for trouble before but black labrador Bronson sure knows how to turn heads with his retrieving tricks.

The champion obedience dog stunned his Victorian owners when he recently returned to them to proudly show off his latest find.

Locked firmly in his jaws and coiled around his snout was a long, live snake, believed to be a deadly copperhead.

“He’s normally an excellent duck dog but he’ll pick up absolutely anything and return it to us, hanging on to it until we say ‘give’,” Deborah Allen said.

“My husband Peter didn’t know he’d lost his mobile phone out in a paddock recently until Bronson returned with it in his mouth.”

The couple were lucky to be at home together at their property at Yarragon on January 4 when Mr Allen called out to his wife: “Hey, come and look at this.”

“There was Bronson with the snake hanging out of his mouth and the snake’s body wrapped around his nose,” Ms Allen said.

“We weren’t sure if it was alive or not and we touched its head which was down at ground level and it moved - it appeared slightly stunned.”

As they grappled with a plan to deal with the snake, Mr Allen told his wife to quickly take a photo first.

“He didn’t reckon anyone would believe it,” she said.

With a camera always by her side, Ms Allen captured the stunning sight as perfectly obedient Bronson, 11, remained totally rigid, trained not to move his head while carrying anything he had retrieved.

“But he had a real forlorn look on his face like he was saying ‘Hurry up and take this thing’,” Ms Allen said.

Ms Allen said their second labrador, Madeline, usually tried to steal anything Bronson was carrying.

“But this is the first time ever she wouldn’t have a bar of him. She kept well away.”

Ms Allen found a chaff bag and lowered it to the ground, pulling the bag up and over the snake while at the same time releasing its body which remained wrapped around Bronson’s snout.

“And as soon I said ‘Give’ he dropped it right into the bag and we sealed up the ends.”

With the snake safely stored, the pair rushed Bronson to the West Gippsland Veterinary Centre where a coagulation blood test confirmed Bronson had copped a bite.

Four days in hospital followed on a drip, but Bronson is now happily at home.

Australian Veterinary Association president Peter Gibbs said an alarming number of pets had been brought to clinics this summer for treatment of snake bites.

“Snakes tend to be at their most active towards the end of day, with snake bites usually happening in late afternoon or early evening,” Dr Gibbs said.

“Dog owners should avoid snake-prone areas.”

Symptoms of snakebite include seizures, vomiting, bleeding around the bite, weakness in the limb and paralysis. The animal will collapse with laboured breathing.

Urgent treatment is needed but call ahead so they have antivenene on standby.

Here is the link…the comments seem to suggest that this sort of thing is a regular occurrence over there (I think I’ll stay put on the Upper West Side).

A friend of Yours Truly just sent me word of the new “bowlingual” device.  Apparently, you can now buy equipment that will translate your dog’s barks.  Here are some snippets from the website:

The Bowlingual dog translator translates your dogs barks. You’ll know if your dog is:

• happy
• sad
• frustrated
• on-guard

How this marvel is accomplished is (vaguely) elaborated upon in this interesting chart:

Emotion	Symbol	Translation
Happy		I’m excited I’m ready to play I love you! Great…Let’s go! I’m on top of the world.
Sad		I miss you. I feel sad. Remember me? Please dont forget me! Please take me out of here!
On Guard		You can’t beat me! I don’t like it. Leave me alone That’s bad! Just try it!
Showing Off		Look at me! I want to help you! Show me more! I feel great! I’m OK- how are you?
Frustrated		This is too much! I want some fun! Please play with me! Please be quiet! Please listen to me.
Needy		Please play with me some more! Spend more time with me. We need some quality time together. Let’s play more together. I need a friend.

Is it for real?  I have no idea.  Here is the link for you to explore for yourself.  I’ll be roused from my Labrador slumber if they launch a translator that translates an intelligent dog’s musings on Dante.  If this happens, you might just see me hit the lecture circuit (even if it means wearing one of those goofy plastic collars).  Expressing frustration or my earnest desire for more food (something that the translator doesn’t seem to handle) I can manage on my own.

Yours Truly is always a bit reluctant to talk about animal consciousness and intelligence (since as he often thinks “To be underestimated is to remain free.”), still this particular story about research showing that fish don’t have the poor memory that many have thought is well worth a glance.

SCIENTISTS SAY FISH NOT HALF-BAKED

Ben Cubby
January 16, 2010 - 12:03AM

FISH are much smarter than we think, say Australian researchers who have spent years probing their hidden depths.

And, just when you thought it was safe to buy an aquarium, the enduring myth that goldfish swim happily around because they have a three-second memory span has been thoroughly debunked.

”That fable has been totally put to bed now,” said a Macquarie University behavioural ecologist, Culum Brown. ”It’s well established that fish have relatively long memories and to be honest it was ludicrous that anyone ever thought otherwise. They’re intelligent creatures that learn and adapt.”

The research underpinning this view will feature in a new edition of the fish expert’s bible, Fish Cognition and Behaviour, to be published this year.

As well as editing the book, Dr Brown has carried out original research of his own on allegedly-forgetful fish. In one experiment, fish in a tank were assailed by a trawler-like mechanism and had to figure out an escape route. It took about five attempts until the fish mastered the art of escape, but when they were subjected to the same experience a year later, they remembered what to do the first time round.

”This was for fish that live about two years in the wild, so the evidence is that the memory was ongoing for much of their lifespan,” Dr Brown said. ”That was about the record for fish memory findings so far, but the results are limited more by the difficulty of repeating the experiment years later than it is by the memories of the fish.”

The animated film Finding Nemo, which features an absent-minded fish character named Dory, divides fish researchers.

”I suppose I’m a glass half full kind of guy, but I really loved that film because I think it demonstrated how absurd it is that anything could live without a memory,” Dr Brown said.

I came across this video and am treating it as at least tentative evidence that dogs can sense earthquakes.  I will note that while Sophie bolts out one door, all of the humans go in the opposite direction (hopefully a safe one).  As with any talent or additional sense, the addition of what Rabbit called “brain” is important.