Monk

A South Korean dog meat festival has been cancelled following growls of protest from animal rights activists, one of the would-be organisers said Tuesday.

-- Park Ji-Hwan at Yahoo! News

I am not exaggerating terribly when I say that such a festival makes me a little queasy of stomach. It feels a little cannibalistic to me.

( article )

Apparently, a canine warrior may be have been a part of the elite team that went into Pakistan to expunge Osama bin Laden from the face of the earth. Liz Goodwin gives us a nice report on these doggy heroes putting it all on the line for their country and for freedom:

Americans are fascinated by the anonymous U.S. Navy SEALs who daringly raided Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad, Pakistan compound this week, but one canine commando is attracting especially fervent interest.

According to the New York Times and the British tabloid The Sun, a military dog (not pictured) was strapped onto one of the assault team members as he was lowered out of a Black Hawk helicopter and began the operation that killed the notorious terrorist on Monday.

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Dogs are increasingly important in America's combat operations abroad, and some have been outfitted with special (and adorable) "doggles" to protect their eyes, oxygen masks to protect their lungs as they parachute out with soldiers at high altitudes, and even waterproof vests that contain infrared cameras that transmit video back to servicemen watching a monitor yards behind them. Check out Foreign Policy's beautiful photo essay on military dogs here.

Bo would've been so jealous of those doggles that I might've had a tough time to keep him from signing up. I'd have to explain about the rigorous training and roughing it out in the field, but I'd probably have to look into buying a pair of doggles for him.

( a couple of the pics )

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A pet dog missed the family’s dead cat so much that he dug up his grave and brought the body back into the house.

When Oscar’s owners woke up the next morning they discovered the dog curled up beside Arthur, the late cat, in his basket.

His owners, Robert Bell, 73, and his wife, Mavis, of Wigan, Greater Manchester, believe that the dog had licked the cat clean before falling asleep.

Mr Bell said that the two pets were constant companions. Arthur, who was a large cat, used to help Oscar to climb on to the sofa.

Oscar, an 18-month-old Lancashire Heeler, had watched Mr Bell dig a grave in the garden and then lower the cat into the hole.Mr Bell said: “He had managed to climb out through the cat flap in the night, obviously with the intent to get Arthur back. Bearing in mind that Arthur was a huge cat, Oscar must have used all the strength he could muster.

“Then he pulled him into the basket and went to sleep next to him. Arthur’s coat was gleaming white. Oscar had obviously licked him clean. It must have taken him nearly all night.”

Arthur is now reburied in a secure grave. And Oscar has a new playmate, a kitten called Limpet.

-- Russel Jenkins for UK Times

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Every dog lover knows how a pooch expresses its feelings.

Ears close to the head, tense posture, and tail straight out from the body means “don’t mess with me.” Ears perked up, wriggly body and vigorously wagging tail means “I am sooo happy to see you!”

But there is another, newly discovered, feature of dog body language that may surprise attentive pet owners and experts in canine behavior. When dogs feel fundamentally positive about something or someone, their tails wag more to the right side of their rumps. When they have negative feelings, their tail wagging is biased to the left.

-- Sandra Blakeslee for The New York Times

It was thought that only humans have brain asymmetry. Now, not only dogs, but even simpler creatures are known to have this kind of asymmetry, including honeybees. Specialization pays, I suppose.

Though, I wonder if they got it backwards about dogs. Either that or Bo is more angsty and cantankerous than I thought.

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Mr. Dotdayev admitted that his interests were broader. He poured shots of vodka and said that dogfighting had an almost irresistible draw, and that studying fighting dogs can become a shepherd’s or mountain man’s obsession.

“The dogs teach us,” he said. “You cannot look at a dog and tell who it is. The dog is on the inside, not on the outside. It is in his spirit.”

“It is the same with people,” he added, and lifted his glass.

-- C. J. Chivers for The New York Times

We thought that we were suffering a culture clash with Islam. I think we may have it just as bad with Russia and their apparent love of volkodavs, the wolf-killers, or as we know it: dogfights.

They argue that it is harmless, and that dogs are seldom injured seriously:

Each fight lasts until one dog shows fear or pain — by dropping its tail, squeaking, whimpering, refusing to fight or snapping its jaws defensively, all grounds for instant disqualification. There is no scoring. There are only winners and losers or, in fights that continue for three rounds without an animal yielding, draws.

Judging by the pictures and video, I don't think such assertions would convince many Western animal lovers and protectors. Monk certainly does not care for it, but he appreciates the Hobbesian feel of such enterprises.

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At least Monk no longer has to struggle over whether to call Animal Control. A city or county employee has come by in a van to try to pick up some of the strays that have been accumulating since Christmas day. Monk was a little amused to see that a more politically correct title is now given to the operation. Instead of Animal Control, going by the printing on the van, they are now called Animal Care Services. Though, I presume that this care is still taking the usual form of killing them.

Monk had been concerned about these strays. He has seen one woman walking a dog getting threatened by the pack and there was a little tussle. Some of these dogs are big, and Monk has his paranoiac concerns about an aggressive dog leaping the fence; after all, Bo assumes a rather cocky attitude toward these canine passersby. Still, as I watched the old civil servant trying to lasso a dog, I could not help but cheer the dog to escape. Judging by the apparent ineptness of this old guy and that indifference common to government employees, one imagines that the dogs usually do escape, unfortunately.

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