June 30, 2005
The Dogs of War
For two and a half decades, police in the turbulent Indian state of Andhra Pradesh have been battling Maoist insurgents. Now, according to a Reuters article, Pradesh-ian pups are helping out:
Police in the turbulent region are using rice and meat to lure and befriend street dogs after the barking of one helped them fend off an attack by rebel fighters this week....
I started reading up on battlefield dogs and found a pre-Iraq war newsletter describing the lives of working dogs in the US military. These doggies are helping keep us safe!
Today [late 2001 - ed.], Army and Air Force military dogs are deployed in the Balkans and in Southwest Asia, serving as sentries and explosives detectors. In other missions, they may also be called upon to support the U.S. Customs Service or Drug Enforcement Administration in counter-drug activities and even the Secret Service when extensive President travel or a presidential political campaign overwhelms that agency's own four-legged assets.
I feel compelled to mention here that, since that terrible time, dogs have appeared alongside prisoners in certain controversial photos I won't link to or even think about here.... Enough said. I do not want to besmirch the character of our fine pups in uniform....
LINK: [Reuters AlertNet]
LINK: [deploymentlink.osd.mil]
posted by miranda at 07:58 PM
Pregnant dog photo archive
The introduction to this rather disturbing site begins:
My name is Simon 'Skunky' Morrison, and I very love animals. Probably it looks bizarre, but I very much like to see pregnant animals. I very much love to look at their huge, distended bellys. I have female dog named Marta, and each year she becomes pregnant, and I very like to observe her and touch her inflated belly. It's great!
The archive so far numbers around 1400 dog images. There are also sections devoted to horses, primates, cates, and "wild cats."
LINK:[wolfbar.servemp3.com/preganimal/]
posted by miranda at 09:38 AM
June 29, 2005
Zombie dogs!
The unbelievable dog news of the day, if you haven't heard already, is that scientists have resuscitated dead dogs in a grisly cryogenic procedure which they plan to use on battleground soldiers. From news.com.au:
During the procedure blood is replaced with saline solution at a few degrees above zero. The dogs' body temperature drops to only 7C, compared with the usual 37C, inducing a state of hypothermia before death.
Although the animals are clinically dead, their tissues and organs are perfectly preserved.
Damaged blood vessels and tissues can then be repaired via surgery. The dogs are brought back to life by returning the blood to their bodies, giving them 100 per cent oxygen and applying electric shocks to restart their hearts.
So I started Googling for photos of these resuscitated dogs, and found some incredible zombie dog images created by computer game designer Toby Marvin (see graphic in this post). His website also has flattened-out images of the pieces of texture from which the CGI dogs were assembled - they look like flayed pieces of skin. Don't miss this grisly demonstration of technology!
LINK: [news.com.au]
LINK: [sneakmedia.com]
posted by miranda at 08:57 PM
Pimp pups
I know animal cruelty is against the spirit of Puptastic, but I just thought that this pimp dog costume (on sale!) was so adorable:
... that I went looking for more of the same, and found this sad old guy.
"Why the long face, Mr. Hound?"
"Because this (discontinued) cape makes me look more like Sherlock Holmes than anything a self-respecting pimpin' pup would actually wear!"
But for pure pimpin' realism, nothing beats the world-weary eyes of this sleazy-looking pup, decked out in what appears to be 100% genuine, velvet-and-leopard pimp skin.
LINK: [brandsonsale.com]
LINK: [brandsonsale.com] (out of stock)
LINK: [costumeshopper.com]
posted by miranda at 12:39 AM
June 27, 2005
Acupuncture for dogs
Slate's Jon Katz wrote an intriguing article about how a "holistic vet" helped change the personality of his Border Collie:
"When we go to see Stephanie now, he bounds out of the car, darts into her office, jumps up on her platform, and lies down for his needles. Within minutes, he is dozing peacefully. When the last needle is removed, he hops off the table and sits eagerly by the cabinet where Stephanie stores the treats. Then he lies down under her desk while I pay for the visit."
The UIUC Veterinary School quotes one of their second-year students' experiences with acupuncture for her dog, who suffered from lumbo-sacral disease: "It was great! Before acupuncture, he couldn't even make it up the stairs. We had to carry him, and that was quite a feat considering he is an 80-pound dog! Now, after acupuncture, he runs and jumps up those steps."
I'm still skeptical, mostly because acupuncture for me has been mostly painful and unhelpful. Then again, my acupuncturist never gave me treats!
LINK: [Slate]
LINK: [uiuc.edu]
posted by miranda at 10:49 PM
nanodog!
Hard to take care of, but oh so cute! Shufeng Bai's entry in Princeton's 2005 Art of Science Competition.
posted by ranjit at 07:10 PM
June 25, 2005
Is your dog suffering from alopecia?
You can get all kinds of disgusting things for free on Craigslist. From an anonymous Seattleite:
"This 'item' is a big pile of his hair. All 'harvested' last night. Seriously, this all came out of his undercoat LAST NIGHT. I was just going to throw it away, but Kai seemed to be trying to tell me something as I headed for the garbage. 'Don't be wasteful... we can help other less fortunate dogs,' his eyes seemed to say."
I know lots of pups who are smaller than that crazy dog's hair-pile.
LINK: [Best of Craiglist]
posted by miranda at 06:36 PM
June 08, 2005
hot dog buns
I'm not really one for dressing dogs up, except at Halloween, but hot dog buns have always been my favorite costume for dachsunds. They look pretty cute on pugs too!
Thanks to Steph Hugh for sending in the link!
posted by lia at 01:24 PM