I went to a presentation that showed by thousands of years of breeding weāve bred a bit of our own selves into dogs and made them the most human companions of man.
Pearl, the deaf and blind dog, plays with her best friend, Pete.
I really like this video. Not only is it cute, but itās a great example of how dogs with physical disabilities are still capable of engage with other fully-abled dogs – and you can also see to some degree how innate play behavior is, since Pearl is still giving off entirely appropriate social signals even though she may never have been able to see well enough to observe them in other dogs. (This last is an educated guess – although I donāt know this dogās specific hisotry,Ā double merle dogs that are totally white are frequently born entirely blind and deaf.)Ā
The white dog – the blind and deaf double-merle – is reflexively falling back into play-bows when sheās not sure where they other dog is. You can see that at first, Pete is a little bit unsure whatās going on (thereās some lip-licking and displacement sniffing from him) but heās then happy to engage with Pearl when she initiates play behavior. Her behavior is very measured, for all that itās energetic, and sheās stopping frequently and reassessing the situation and letting Pete re-engage with her.Ā
It turns out that Border Collies are an ideal breed for this specific type of job. Bounding through miles of forest terrain requires not only speed, intelligence, and endurance, but also a willingness to stay focused and not get distracted by wildlife. Border Collies were bred to herd sheep, so theyāre not as likely to run after or hurt other animals in the forest.
This system is also more efficient than having people spread the seeds manually. These speedy canines can race through a forest and cover up to 18 miles a day. Humans, on the other hand, can only cover a few miles each day. These pups can scatter over 20 pounds of seeds, depending on the terrain. While robots or drones might be able to disperse seeds too, dogs arenāt as pricey to handle. Most importantly, they leave a lighter carbon footprint.
Francisca and Constanza put special backpacks on the dogs, fill them with native seeds and then itās off to the races. Once the dogs have emptied out their bags, Francisca and Constanza give them plenty of treats, refill their bags, and release them again to dash around the destroyed forest, sprinkling more seeds in their wake. The end goal of all this, of course, is to restore the damaged ecosystem and have the wildlife return to the forests.
hey guys, remember winnie? i have an exciting update ā winnie has a new brother (and they have the same parents so itās an actual, for real brother)!
My doggo, Ezri, who rarely barks and mostly borks.
When I got her, sheād been abused and would cower and pee at almost everything, and had been mistreated when sheād barked, so she never would. One day months after I had her she got excited on a walk and borked at a bird, and then immediately cower-peed. I had to re-teach her to bark by gathering her whole human pack and having everyone bark and howl and feed her treats and pet her till she got excited enough to join in, and then got more treats. Took a while but I was able to teach her to bork on command (and sheās gotta be excited or she just stares at me like āSorry, the bork system needs chargingā) and sheāll do it happily when sheās excited to go for a walk or upon seeing a friend, and at birds. I love her croaky borking, especially when she started off terrified of making a joyful noise.
What kind of dog is Ezri? I love her!!
Iā¦ did not expect this post to blow up this much but I am delighted at all the tags and replies and Ezri has been told the internet thinks sheās a Very Good Dog. š
Sheās a German spitz – in the same family as keeshonds and pomeranians. She might be crossed with something else as her freckled coat, non-pointy nose, and personality are not standard for her breed (theyāre usually a lot more high energy and excitable – sheās super laid back and chill). Sheās a bit less fluffy than breed-standard too, mostly because sheās grown out from her spring/summer trim (not usually necessary/good for her type of coat but she gets terribly itchy otherwise). It also makes her look like a puppy of a large breed:
Ezriās best friend is Murder Cat, who is a gentle friend to humans and Ezri, but does things to mice that would make Hannibal Lecter goĀ āIsnāt that a bit much?ā
I got Murder Cat as a kitten, and she used to try to nurse on everything when she was small. Eventually, she settled on her favouriteĀ thing to nurse on, Ezri, who has never had puppies and a little confused at first but eventually went with it. She grew out of it, but they have stayed snuggly buddies ever since.
New Years here is full of fireworks outside and Ezri gets Vry Scared. I usually set her up somewhere with a snuggly spot right by me, and Murder Cat comes and does this all night:Ā
She goes everywhere with me in my bakfietsĀ (cargo bike) and lets me warm my hands in her fur on cold days.
And her ears disappear if I say her name to get her attention.
ok so great thanks for coming to my TED talk about my dog, good night, drive safe
if it happened at all, it happened like that 