Help Has Arrived

The State of California is in a right mess but as you can see, they have a new Top Dog. (From the SacBee)
His name is Sutter and he takes his servant Jerry Brown for regular walks. (From the LA Times). Don't worry, with a corgi in charge we know that

Everything

is under

control.

The Wolf In Me

I know that I am one foxy dude.

But it turns out that my legs are a dead giveaway for my TUFF GUY ORIGINS. My legs come from WOLVES. SCIENCE has declared it is so! Unlike my BO-RING sibbies who are regular ole dogs, I have a special wolf gene! Read about it here!

Here you see my wolfy side coming out as I hunt the wild hosta. Here's how science explains my untameability:

They found short-legged dogs all had a slightly altered extra gene that produces a growth protein called fibroblast growth factor 4 or FGF4. It appears to be copy of a wolf gene that got spliced back into the dog genome some time after modern dog breeds diverged from wolves.

It appears to be copy of a wolf gene that got spliced back into the dog genome some time after modern dog breeds diverged from wolves.

You better not mess with me when the moon is full! Here you see my ferocious corgipants in all their floofy glory. Wait, what is this sentence starting the story?

Dachshunds and corgis have short stubby legs because they were dealt an unlucky ticket in the evolutionary lottery, scientists say.

Unlucky??? Take that back, science!

Dogs On Trains!

The Financial Times has an AWESOME story about the dogs who live--and travel on--the Moscow Metro. Some just live in the stations while others actually take the train and travel to different stations, often on a regular schedule. A Russian biologist is studying how, in the last 30 years, the dogs have begun to develop their own unique doggie culture, noting that as dogs grow more wild they still lack aggression while remaining socialized to humans, uninterested in affection but willing to coexist and understanding how to use humans for food (ie, using their big brown eyes.) And, as it turns out, our pack has something in common with the Russian dogs!

A pack of dogs, however, can hold a dominant position over other packs and their leader will often “patrol” the other packs by moving in and out of them. His observations have led Poyarkov to conclude that this leader is not necessarily the strongest or most dominant dog, but the most intelligent – and is acknowledged as such. The pack depends on him for its survival.

I am most impressed with these dogs, who now have their own site, Metrodog, where people post pictures and videos of the dogs they come across. I have decided that I need to get out and see the world myself so I am going to learn to ride the train. I plan to enlist the help of my local stray/ train enthusiast and ride the rails:

But before I start my life as a rambling dog, I think I'm due for a nap. The world can wait.

One for the Sheps!

We are the PEPPYSHEPPYS blogging as ONE because here is a NEWS STORY about a PEPPY SHEPPY (really a Belgian Malinois). His name is DIABLO and he is a police dog. He is in the hospital because he got shot by a jerkazoid while he (Diablo) was working. He looks like OBST if OBST was a black and tan. And could do work HAHAHAHA (Shouldn't have let me type OBST. -ETHEL JEAN, MEAN QUEEN).

Get better, Diablo!

And this is a good excuse to post pictures of peppy sheppys!

Someone needs to rake our lawn!

And clean up the trash HAHAHAHAHAHAHA (--ETHEL JEAN).

Also here is Wally waking up after we put him in a scarf GranNE sent. He looks like a Russian peasant. HAHAHAHAHAHA.


-OBST and ETHEL JEAN (former secretary in chief of the PEPPY SHEPPYS)

Dogs are Good For You.

The New York Times has a story about how AWESOME dogs are for human health. They have an anecdote about how a child with autism was coaxed into speaking more after he got a dog.


The child health institute is now commissioning stories about how AWESOME dogs are. Duh. Here is a video that illustrates why dogs are so awesome. It is a highly scientific study on dogs that I found on YouTube.

Wally's Umwelt

This review of Inside a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know has been near the top of the NYT Most E-mailed stories all week. And why not? Who doesn't want to know what's going on between our ears? For some of us it is a theme park of thinkerating. For others, grey space. (Ahem, OBST.)

There was interesting stuff like this

A dog’s vision affects its sense of time, too. Dogs have a higher “flicker fusion” rate than we do, which is the rate at which retinal cells can process incoming light, or “the number of snapshots of the world that the eye takes in every second.” ... This is more than a game of fetch; it is a profound, existential realization: “One could say that dogs see the world faster than we do, but what they really do is see just a bit more world in every second.”

Or this:

Countering the currently fashionable alpha dog “pack theories” of dog training, Horowitz notes that “in the wild, wolf packs consist almost entirely of related or mated animals. They are families, not groups of peers vying for the top spot. . . . Behaviors seen as ‘dominant’ or ‘submissive’ are used not in a scramble for power; they are used to maintain social unity.”

So let's see how much you have learned. Below you must study my pictures and guess what my expression tells you about what is going on in my noggin...

A. Robert Reich's column in the NYT was an informative defense of a single payer system, though I do believe he is overly optimistic about the political possibilities for passing said legislation.
B. Mmmmm.....bacon.
C. I should recite a little Seamus Heaney, ahem,:
Up, black, striped and damasked like the chasuble
At a funeral mass, the skunk's tail
Paraded the skunk. Night after night
I expected her like a visitor.
D. Oscar's looking at my butt, isn't he?
E. I wonder if I'm taller than Robert Reich. And also, he's looking at my butt again, isn't he?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Match 'em!

It's for Glaucoma, I swear

Last week's vet visit was prompted by an incident in which I was glassy-eyed and disoriented. The vet couldn't find anything physically wrong but my ma ape saw something on the news today that she thinks might explain the whole incident.



Now she thinks I'm bogarting a stash.



I have no idea what you're talking about dude.

Makin' Stains!

Joe Stains gives out regular stain awards to dogs who excel in making stains in a very public way. What Joe may not realizing is that he is rewarding behavior that is a finely-tuned product of evolutionary progress! You can read about it in the MSNBC article quite nicely titled "Wolves (and dogs) are in your face poopers."

Wolves do not do their business in any old place, but they instead choose locations that maximize visual impact and odor distribution, according to a new study that may also help to explain why dogs frequently relieve themselves on fire hydrants and other prominent urban landscape features.

As photographic evidence of my evolutionary advancement, here is me with some mighty fine in-your-face pooping--I'm pooping on Notre Dame! One of my many football nemeses!!!!

Yes, this picture is six years old and I have posted it several times before. But I will never tire of pooping on Notre Dame.

That's the nooz!

Hope-i-ness!

I haven't been blogging because I blogged like all day on Tuesday on my Pawlitical blog because I was so excited to see my new moms-to-be on the TV.

And to keep up the optimism, here's a great story from the Big Apple, home to ASTA! They're doing amazingly well in making NYC a no-kill city like San Fran!

The euthanasia rate for stray and abandoned cats and dogs that are taken to New York City’s animal shelters has steadily fallen to a projected 38 percent for 2008, down from 74 percent in 2002, giving advocates for animals hope that they will be able to meet an announced goal of bringing the rate to zero by 2015.

Apropos of nothing, here I am eating a bone:

Also my friend Narra sent me this article from Slate about the most disloyal dog breeds. It was measured by attachment to owner and dislike of strangers. Narra and I ROCK on the loyalty scale because we are total snobs and tend to dislike (or in Narra's case ignore with extreme prejudice) strangers or even people that we see all the time who try to bribe us with snacks and we are mama's boys and daddy's girls, respectively.

On the other hand, my ma ape scores VERY low on the loyalty scale not only because she clearly neglects me but also because she obviously has been gettin' around:

I'm afraid my ma ape might be with Neo.

Ditzy Dogs

My bud Tuchuck sent me this article about how purebred dogs are getting dumber when they're being bred for looks and not brains.

Scientists in Sweden have found strong evidence that breeding for appearance has led to a decline in intelligence. Report author Kenth Svartberg, an ethologist from Stockholm University, said the changes had happened over the course of just a few generations. "Modern breeding practices are affecting the behaviour and mental abilities of pedigree breeds as well as their physical features," he said.

I am inclined to believe this given that we have two mutts and one purebred in our house and only one is properly called a Himbo:

Animal Newz

Sometimes you naked apes have good ideas. And other times you have bad ones. Mostly bad ones. Here are two stories from this week about naked apes and the animal kingdom. And I will leave it to you to decide who is at the top of the evolutionary scale.


From CNN, here's a story about how the British Kennel Club is overhauling their breed standards to ensure better health for the dog-a-boos, especially the English Boo-dog who has been bred to have such exaggeratedly large heads that they can't give vaginal birth and their wrinkles are so bad they can't breathe. Gosh, setting standards on health rather than impossible and dangerous aesthetic standards? Preposterous! Now, when can we get around to doing the same for naked ape ladies?

Story #2 is about the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals who have decided to launch a campaign to rename fish SEA KITTENS. Ahem:

A lot of people don't realize that fish are capable of feeling fear and pain, that they develop relationships with each other, and even show affection by gently rubbing against one another," says Ashley Byrne, PETA's sea kitten campaign co-ordinator. "Knowing that the fish sticks in the school cafeteria are really made out of tortured sea kittens makes most kids want to lose their lunch."

While the depletion of fish in the world is a serious problem, PETA has once again managed to minimize a serious problem in a shameless orgy of self-promotion. Well done! On a stupid scale from Dubya to Lobotomized Squirrel, I give this a Sarah Palin!

And had I known I was eating goddamn cats, er, goddamn sea kittens, all along I would have enjoyed it much more. NOM NOM!

A Day for Bassets!

I was SO RELIEVED to check the Five Happy Hound's blog and see that my main lady Sam was feeling better. She's been under the weather and I've been so worried. I hope you continue to get better (but still get loads of extra attention!). Here's a picture to help you feel a bit better; I hope it doesn't make your fever worse!

Also I saw this story in the Telegraph about a basset and an owl who are best buds who like to watch telly together.

I like my stories, too, though I'd rather not watch them with a bird perched on my back, thank you. I would most def watch them with a basset bud, though.

Newspaper Gets It Right: Old Dogs ARE the Best Dogs!

My GraNE sent me this photo essay from the WaPo entitled Old Dogs are the Best Dogs.

There's an accompanying story about an old dog. This was my favorite part:

Some years ago, the Style section invited readers to come up with a midlife list of goals for an underachiever. The first-runner-up prize went to:

"Win the admiration of my dog."

It's no big deal to love a dog; they make it so easy for you.

Thanks for sending the story, GraNE. It has gotten me loads of sniffly snuggles and snacks! Way to go! Though I don't know who around here is old?

Dogs rule!

This video might make my ma ape reconsider teaching all this ethics and law crap and get on board with calculus! Surely there is a way she could incorporate ME into her work? Um, but I would like to chase apes. Not balls. Maybe if I chase naked apes and bite them it is still ethics?

Shepherd Saves Owner (ie, Dogs Rule!)

My friend katem sent me this story about a service shepherd who saved his person. The person he owns has seizures and the dog knows how to get out the special phone and call 911. I thought this story was especially cool because one of MY apes has seizures and maybe he should take me around with him as his service dog!


The shepherds in this house think they're something special but I could get out a phone and call 911, though first I'd get out the ape's plastic and order a pizza. Then call 911. I mean, I can't do my job if I'm weak with hunger.

Dog News!

Look at this dog who saved a baby:

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A newborn baby abandoned outdoors in winter by her 14-year-old mother was found safe in a dog pen with a mother dog and her brood of puppies near the city of La Plata, Argentine media reported on Friday.

Farmer Fabio Anze found the naked baby girl on Thursday, being kept warm among his dog China's puppies, La Nacion newspaper said. Anze called the police and the baby was taken to a hospital.

In a related story, scientists are claiming that domestication has made us (dogs) more intelligent and moral. Uh, dudes, wrong directionality. We have made you apes smarter, more moral, and less boring. Which isn't saying much because you've never been all that, in spite of what you tell yourselves.

Dr Friederike Range, of the University of Vienna, who led the study, said: 'Dogs show a strong aversion to inequity. I would prefer not to call it a sense of fairness, but others might.'

Neither of these stories is actually about me but here is a picture of me nonetheless. YOu might call it egoism. I call it giving my audience what they want:

Dogs in the News!

I was reading CNN.com today and it was crap as usual, except for the news about DOGS! Here is a story about Ten Dogs Who Changed the World. No Wally mention, though I suspect it is probably because they're saving that for the dogs who changed the UNIVERSE.

Here are my favorites:

No. 9. Peps, Wagner's harshest critic

Without Peps, composer Richard Wagner's Cavalier King Charles spaniel, that helicopter scene in the film "Apocalypse Now" (scored to "The Ride of the Valkyries") might sound very different. Wagner would have Peps sit on a special chair as he played his latest compositions and, based upon the dog's reactions, he'd keep or toss each passage.

and

No. 7. Newfoundland saves Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte owed his life to a nameless Newfoundland. As Bonaparte fled the island of Elba in 1815, where he was exiled, choppy seas pitched him overboard. A fisherman's dog jumped in after the drowning despot and kept him afloat. Napoleon lived to experience his own defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.

And (to explain the picture above) also, Willie Nelson is helping out the dogs of Georgia by lending his support to a law to stiffen penalties for dog fighting. Go Willie! That's like Wally only different.