Monday, August 2, 2010

The story of a loving couple and their pet dog

That day Jenny was looking really delighted! Jenny is one of my close friends since my high school days. We, her friends, had gone for a lunch on that day in her house. When I raised the question her about the issue, she told me that she has merely come out of a big dilemma which she had no plan how to approach.

Robert, Jenny's husband had gifted a Coton de Tulear breed to her very recently on her birthday. But the dog seemed to like barking all the time; that can stop their hearts. They adore the pet and the breed gradually became the love of their lives, but that screaming bark every time anything moved outside their house was pushing their limits. . They did not need a completely silent dog, but they could not take that high pitched screaming also!

Then she met a lady in their neighborhood who also had a Coton who was as noisy as their dog was used to be; maybe even worse! But from the last few weeks, she had noticed that her neighbor's dog was no longer barking when Jenny or Robert walked by their home. Jenny asked the lady about the matter and she told her that she purchased the Bark Control Collar for her pet and it had changed her life- and truly it changed the life of everyone who used to walk by their home everyday.

Jenny discussed about bark collar with Robert. Firstly, he discouraged her but after a few days of no barking from the neighboring Coton; they were convinced that they should give it a try.

Then they had gone through the net to look for the best bark collar that might be suitable for their puppy. After searching through the net for bark collars, they summarized some categories of barking dog collars available in the market:

1.Petsafe bark collar,

2.Ultrasonic bark collar,

3.Innnotek bark collar,

4.Dog spray collar,

5.Small dog bark collar,

6.Multivet bark collar.

They analyzed even more deeply so that they could purchase the best no bark collar. Ultimately they settled down for Petsafe PDT00-10603 Yard-and-Park Remote Trainer because this simple to use, waterproof, adjustable, innovative shock collar can produce electrical stimulation up to a range of 400 yards and Petsafe likes to be one of the top manufacturers of pet training products. This model, they thought, would be the most capable solution for their pet's barking problem. So they purchased it online.

They were so happy seeing that the collar actually does a splendid job as they were reviewed in the net. This bark control collar has solved the pet's barking problem and their neighbors were mighty happy too! Knowing the reason of Jenny's joyousness, we also feel very glad for them and their pet.


By Linda Ray


Killing 200,000 Dogs Doesn't Halt Rabies in Bali

Officials have not been able to stop persistent outbreaks of rabies on the Indonesian Island of Bali.

Since the rabies outbreak was first announced in late 2008, there have been 78 reported deaths on the island - one of Asia's top tourist destinations. Many other deaths have likely gone unreported.
Now stocks of an anti-rabies vaccine for humans are low and could run out.
Hospitals across Bali have faced periodic shortages of free post-exposure vaccines, leaving poor residents with few options.

Government officials told the Jakarta Post that six of Bali's eight regencies - Karangasem, Tabanan, Bangli, Jembrana, Klungkung and Buleleng - had no supplies of anti-rabies vaccines. There was concern that poor patients would not be able to travel to obtain anti-rabies shots.

Animal organizations like the Australia-based Bali Street Dog Fund have vaccinated thousands of dogs in Bali, but health officials have also engaged in widespread campaigns to cull stray canines.

In a highly-criticized move, officials have killed about 200,000 dogs since the outbreak began, instead of initially conducting mass vaccinations as recommended by the World Health Organization.

According to Vets Beyond Borders, indiscriminate culling of animals is ineffective at controlling the disease.

Rabies kills some 55,000 people annually - mostly children - with nearly 60 percent of those deaths from dog bites in Asia.

Bali was once considered rabies-free.

Several countries, including the United States, have issued travel warnings advising vacationers to consider getting pre-exposure rabies vaccinations.



Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Dogs 'mimic movements of owners'

Dogs "automatically imitate" the body movements of their owners, according to a study.




This automatic imitation is a crucial part of social learning in humans. But Austrian researchers report that the phenomenon - where the sight of another's body movement causes the observer to move in the same way - is evident in many other animals. They say that it reveals clues about how this type of learning evolved.

The study, which was led by Dr Friederike Range from the University of Vienna in Austria, also suggests that the way in which people interact with and play with their dogs as they are growing up shapes their ability to imitate. "It's not a spontaneous thing," said Dr Range. "The dogs needed a lot of training to learn it." She and her colleagues investigated this imitation with a series of trials using a simple door-opening test. The team built a box with a sliding door on the front that could be opened with a knob. The owners demonstrated how to open the door by using either their hand or their mouth. "When the owners used the hand, the dog had to open the door with its paw to get a reward," Dr Range said. When the owner opened the door with their mouth, the dog had to use the same technique.

Dr Range explained to BBC News: "A second group of dogs had to learn the alternative method - if the owner used their hand, they had to use their mouth, and when the owner used their mouth, they had to use the paw."



'Mirror neurons'



The study suggests that the capacity to imitate is forged as a dog learns.The dogs that had to imitate the same action as their owner learned their task far more quickly. This showed that the dogs had a predisposition to imitate their owners' hand/paw and mouth/muzzle movements. She noted that, because dogs have a very different body shapes to people, they also had to interpret what they saw.

"This type of learning has obvious evolutionary advantages for animals," Dr Range said. "They can learn about certain aspects of life without having to learn by trial and error, which always comes with some risk."
The new evidence supports a theory of learning which suggests that a system of "mirror neurons" and the capacity to imitate are forged as an animal learns and develops, rather than this system being inborn.



By Victoria Gill