Animals Unfolded

It's been ten months since my 15 year-old St. Bernard/shepherd mix Gretchen died, and though it sounds clichéd, I can say with complete confidence that she was a delight to everyone that she came into contact with, even those not terribly fond of dogs. Despite coming home with me much earlier than she should have—Gretchen was 5 weeks of age, and in a situation no dog should have been in—she was a joy to unfold from house training and learning cues to understanding what was cool and what wasn't in terms of how she behaved. It was a challenge at times, but what puppyhood-into-adulthood isn't, right? She was a major chewer as her second set of teeth came in and I would get lax about ensuring her chew toys were at her disposal, so I lost a pair of shoes and other things, but lesson learned! She developed a brief penchant for digging, which we got under control easily by working together, but her love of rummaging through any trash can could not be tamed. In the latter c...

As one who works with and writes about animals every day — along with those in the fields of veterinary medicine, animal behavior, ethology and dog training – being accused of anthropomorphism is a regular occurrence. I don’t think that it necessarily bothers any of us, and if anything, propels us to work more on behalf of creating a better life for animals. An opinion piece that was published in the New York Times’ online edition over the weekend echoed much of what I’ve written over the past few years: animals – in this case dogs – have emotional needs that deserve more care and consideration. Last year, I wrote about a study that the author of the piece , Gregory Berns and his colleagues conducted by way of using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner to get a glimpse into the canine brain. In the NYT piece, titled, ‘ Dogs Are People, Too ’, Berns expands on the findings of the study and proposes that the way we view dogs needs to change. The study yielded in...