War Dogs of World War II

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I am excited to announce that my latest book is now available. You can order it from my website at http://www.sbulanda.com for $24.98 + $4.75 shipping

Please check with me if you want to order the book from out of the U.S.A. the shipping rate above only applies to orders within the U.S.A.

I am very impressed with the publisher’s quality of printing this book. Casemate was a great team to work with.

Summary

Crawling through steaming jungles in the Pacific or hunkering down in frozen trenches, the loyal dogs of World War II stayed by their soldier’s side, no matter what. They saved lives, delivered messages when all forms of communication failed, they brought supplies when no one else could get through. These are the stories of the brave, loyal dogs who served. All armies had them, the Germans, Japanese, British, Russia and the United States. Civil Defense dogs in England searched for the victims of bombings, Coast Guard dogs watched the shores for enemies, some dogs guarded storehouses and equipment, some were taken prisoner and lived in POW camps, some were mascots, but all were loved. Some dogs gave all and some returned home. The War Dogs of WWII is their story. 

Pain sensitivity in dogs

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In an interesting study conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University showed that pain sensitivity is related to the breed and a dog’s temperament.  

The researchers studied both male and female dogs from ten breeds. They picked the breeds based on how veterinarians rated the breed for pain sensitivity or tolerance. The breeds were: Chihuahua, German Shepherd, Maltese, Siberian Husky, Border Collie, Boston Terrier, Jack Russell Terrier, Golden Retriever, Pitbull, and Labrador Retriever. A total of 149 dogs were tested.

Surprisingly the breeds did not respond as the veterinarians expected. They also found that temperament played a role in the dog’s tolerance for pain. The important fact that was learned from the study is that pain tolerance has a biological basis.

Sue’s Note: When anything such as pain tolerance is common in a breed, it means that selective breeding may, in part, correct the sensitivity. This is important because it makes the dog’s life more tolerable. Also, temperament is another genetic aspect that can be improved with selective breeding. It is also important to realize how pain sensitivity can make a dog dislike training. This is why harsh training methods are never a good idea.

Cat’s can detect odors as well as a dog

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Until now, no one has seriously studied a cat’s ability to detect odors. A collection of researchers found that when a cat takes in air, their nose divides it into two flow streams. One flow stream is cleansed and humidified which goes to the lungs and the other is sent quickly to the olfactory region. What the researchers found is that a cat’s nose is a highly efficient dual-purposed gas chromatograph. This makes the cat’s ability to detect odors equal with that of a dog.

The odor detection part of the cat’s nose acts very quickly so that the cat can determine what is food, foe or friend. The researchers feel that the discovery about how a cat can detect odors may inspire improvements to the gas chromatographs that are used today.

Journal Reference:

  1. Zhenxing Wu, Jianbo Jiang, Fritz W. Lischka, Scott J. McGrane, Yael Porat-Mesenco, Kai Zhao. Domestic cat nose functions as a highly efficient coiled parallel gas chromatograph. PLOS Computational Biology, 2023; 19 (6): e1011119 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011119

Cite This Page:

Ohio State University. “How the cat nose knows what it’s smelling: Study reveals function behind complex nasal structure.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 June 2023. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193238.htm>.

Slow walking in older dogs could mean they have dementia

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Because we cannot talk to dogs or give them the same type of cognitive tests that we give people, the latest research that shows how slow a dog walks could mean that he is suffering from dementia is a step in the right direction.

“Walking speed in people is strongly associated with cognitive decline,” says Natasha Olby, Dr. Kady M. Gjessing and Rahna M. Davidson Distinguished Chair in Gerontology at NC State and corresponding author of the study. “We hypothesized that the same might be true in dogs.”

The researchers tested 46 adult dogs (control group) and 49 senior dogs to determine if the speed that they walked corresponded with dementia. They had the dog’s owners fill out a questionnaire and in addition, the researchers did cognitive testing as well. They considered all factors that could influence the test results such as the size of the dog, possible joint pain, and the difference if the dog walked on leash or off leash.

They came to the conclusion that a senior dogs walking speed does correspond with dementia. 

Sue’s note: Since we cannot accurately give dogs mental tests, any other way to help owners recognize that their dog may be in mental decline is good. However, if you see signs of mental decline in your dog, do not assume that it is due to old age. Have your dog examined by your veterinarian since physical issues may be the culprit, not dementia or old age.

The work appears in Frontiers in Veterinary Science and was supported by the Kady M. Gjessing and Rahna M. Davidson Distinguished Chair in Gerontology. Alejandra Mondino, postdoctoral researcher at NC State, is lead author of the study.

Journal Reference:

  1. Alejandra Mondino, Michael Khan, Beth Case, Gilad Fefer, Wojciech K. Panek, Margaret E. Gruen, Natasha J. Olby. Winning the race with aging: age-related changes in gait speed and its association with cognitive performance in dogs. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2023; 10 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1150590

Cite This Page:

North Carolina State University. (2023, June 27). Slow walking could be sign of dementia in older dogs. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 29, 2023 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230627123033.htm

Cats know when you are talking to them

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It is commonly understood that dogs and other animals recognize when their owners talk to them but do cats? A study conducted by Charlotte de Mouzon and colleagues from Université Paris Nanterre (Nanterre, France) found that cats do recognize when their owners are talking to them. The research showed that the cats did not react to other adults who spoke to them. The study showed that a one-to-one relationship with their owners is important for the cat to develop a strong bond with their owners.

Sue’s Note: For a long time, people did not feel that cats developed a bond with their owners, that cats were independent. However, studies of feral cat colonies show that cats have a very close-knit social relationship with members of their colony. This bond is often transferred to their human family. Just like other animals, cats have different personalities and can be independent or very attached to their people.

Journal Reference:

  1. Charlotte de Mouzon, Marine Gonthier, Gérard Leboucher. Discrimination of cat-directed speech from human-directed speech in a population of indoor companion cats (Felis catus). Animal Cognition, 2022; DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01674-w

Cite This Page:

Springer. “Cats distinguish between speech directed at them and humans, study finds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 October 2022. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221025090458.htm>.

A worthy product to promote health

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I do not often post articles about products but I feel this is important. So please forgive the departure from purely animal topics. Years ago, I purchased an Ecoquest air purifier. I ran it 24/7 for about 15 years before it quit, so no complaints on that part. When I told a few people about the difference it made in my house, I was surprised to learn that most of the people I talked to had no idea what this type of air purifier was.

It is not an air filter, this product does so much more. It kills germs, bacteria and odors in the house. It takes care of dust, dust mites, mold, mildew, and pollen, just to name a few things. No one has ever walked into my house and smelled what I had cooked, or that I had dogs, cats and birds. My husband and I rarely catch colds or other airborne illnesses and the house smells springtime fresh all of the time. Since I suffered for years with allergies and now asthma (I am even allergic to my cat) I find that this air purifier lessens my symptoms and often eliminates them. I feel that this product will also help animals that have airborne allergies and help to keep birds healthy.

You can google the air purifier but I highly recommend that you contact Don Coon, who can help you select the right model and save you quite a bit of money from the on-line prices. His contact information is: adcoon99@gmail.com or phone in the U.S. 406-360-0956. I do not get any credit for recommending him but offer this because it is a great product and he is a great guy.

Most wild dingos are pure, not hybrids

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In a University of New South Wales study led by Dr. Kylie Cairns, a conservation biologist, they discovered that most of the dingo population is pure and not crossed with dogs as previously thought. This is important because dingo’s and dingo crosses were considered “wild dogs” an invasive species, and were allowed to be hunted.

What is interesting is that Dingoes are genetically distinct from domestic dogs but they can interbreed.

Dingo – Google free image

According to Dr. Cairns, the old method of determining the purity of dingoes only used a small number of genetic markers (only 23) which overestimated the amount of dog ancestry, being inaccurate by over 30 percent. The new test allows them to look at 195,000 points across the genome.

Dr. Cairns feels that the dingo should be protected and not subjected to lethal control measures. If the dingo is removed the area can become overrun by kangaroos, foxes and feral cats which threaten other native animals and alter the vegetation. While dingoes are a threat to some livestock, they do play a crucial role in maintaining the ecosystem and biodiversity.

Sue’s note: This sounds very similar to past issues that we have had in the United States with wolves. This study also shows that because two species can interbreed, it does not mean that they are descended one from another. Many species that are not related are interbred, such as in the feline, equine and canine families.

  1. Kylie M. Cairns, Mathew S. Crowther, Heidi G. Parker, Elaine A. Ostrander, Mike Letnic. Genome‐wide variant analyses reveal new patterns of admixture and population structure in Australian dingoes. Molecular Ecology, 2023; DOI: 10.1111/mec.16998

University of New South Wales. “New DNA testing technology shows majority of wild dingoes are pure, not hybrids.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 May 2023. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230530125449.htm>.

How old is your dog, really?

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The old rule that one dog year equals seven in human years is not true. What the researchers found was that dogs age differently than humans. For example, Trey Ideker of the University of California, San Diego pointed out that a nine-month-old dog can have puppies. If you do the math, it is obvious that the 1 year equals seven does not work out. They studied Labrador Retrievers to see how they age on a molecular level by comparing changes in the methylation pattern. They discovered that dogs age rapidly at first and then slow down later in life.    

According to the article “The comparison revealed a new formula that better matches the canine-human life stages: human age = 16 ln (dog age) + 31. Based on the new function, an 8-week-old dog is approximately the age of a 9-month-old baby, both being in the infant stage where puppies and babies develop teeth. The average 12-year lifespan of Labrador retrievers also corresponds to the worldwide life expectancy of humans, 70 years.”

The researchers noted that they need to do more studies because different breeds age at different rates. Having a more accurate way to measure a dog’s age will help both dog owners and veterinarians better appreciate and care for dogs.

Journal Reference:

  1. Tina Wang, Jianzhu Ma, Andrew N. Hogan, Samson Fong, Katherine Licon, Brian Tsui, Jason F. Kreisberg, Peter D. Adams, Anne-Ruxandra Carvunis, Danika L. Bannasch, Elaine A. Ostrander, Trey Ideker. Quantitative Translation of Dog-to-Human Aging by Conserved Remodeling of the DNA Methylome. Cell Systems, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2020.06.006

Cite This Page:

Cell Press. “How old is your dog in human years? New method better than ‘multiply by 7’.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 July 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200702113649.htm>.

The fountain of youth for animals and people

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In an interesting study conducted by researchers at the USC Leonard Davis School of gerontology it was determined that humanin, a peptide encoded in the small genome of mitochondria which is the powerhouse of the cell, is responsible not only for longevity, but for good health.

The study found that children of centenarians had higher levels of humanin then children of non-centenarians. They also found that people with Alzheimer’s disease had lower levels of humanin.

In animals, humanin is found from worms to mammals. The naked mole rate has a very high level and lives up to 30 years. What is also interesting, the researchers found that for both people and animals, those who had higher levels of humanin had fewer offspring.

Researchers are looking into ways to use this information to help people have longer and healthier lives. What I wonder is if they will find a way to increase the lives of animals as well as make them healthier. Imagine being able to help those breeds of dogs that have shorter life spans and medical problems live a longer, healthier life. Both people and animals would benefit.

Journal Reference:

  1. Kelvin Yen, Hemal H. Mehta, Su-Jeong Kim, YanHe Lue, James Hoang, Noel Guerrero, Jenna Port, Qiuli Bi, Gerardo Navarrete, Sebastian Brandhorst, Kaitlyn Noel Lewis, Junxiang Wan, Ronald Swerdloff, Julie A. Mattison, Rochelle Buffenstein, Carrie V. Breton, Christina Wang, Valter Longo, Gil Atzmon, Douglas Wallace, Nir Barzilai, Pinchas Cohen. The mitochondrial derived peptide humanin is a regulator of lifespan and healthspan. Aging, 2020; DOI: 10.18632/aging.103534

University of Southern California. “Protein in mitochondria appears to regulate health and longevity.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 June 2020. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200624151613.htm

Note that Science Daily has changed their format. To find this article google the name of the article with “science daily” after it.

Do animals have beliefs?

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Based on the research by Dr. Tobias Starzak and Professor Albert Newen from the Institute of Philosophy II at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, yes, they do. Although it is not easy to prove, the research shows that chimpanzees, dogs, and some birds have beliefs. It stands to reason that if these animals do, others do as well.

According to the study for an animal to illustrate that they have beliefs, they must meet certain criteria. They must have information about the world; the animal must be able to use the information in a flexible manner; then that information is then internally structured into a belief with different aspects of that information being processed separately; and they must be able to recombine the components of the information in unique ways.

According to Albert Newen, flexible behavior which can be interpreted as caused by beliefs has been observed in chimpanzees, rats and Border collies.

Journal Reference:

  1. Albert Newen, Tobias Starzak. How to ascribe beliefs to animals. Mind & Language, 2020; DOI: 10.1111/mila.12302

Cite This Page:

Ruhr-University Bochum. “What it means when animals have beliefs: Chimpanzees, some dog species and even scrub jay and crows have beliefs..” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 June 2020. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200617145957.htm