Ever felt hopelessly bonded to your pooch when it stares at you lovingly? It turns out that man’s best friend may have hijacked a uniquely human bonding mechanism, ensuring that we love and care for it. Knock-on chemical and behavioral effects occur when humans bond: eye contact leads to release of the “love hormone” oxytocin, … Read more
Children who grow up with pets reap a variety of benefits. Studies show they have reduced rates of allergies and asthma, and they’re more compassionate and emotionally intelligent. And recently, researchers discovered yet another benefit to having pets in the home: They may reduce childhood anxiety. During an 18-month study in upstate New York, researchers … Read more
Animals can sustain brain damage or even die from heatstroke in 15 minutes, so even a brief stop at the store could be deadly. In 2012, Ernie Ward, a veterinarian at Seaside Animal Care in Calabash, North Carolina, spent 30 minutes in a hot car to demonstrate how dangerous it is to leave your pet … Read more
Human happiness is a shabby thing compared with a dog’s. For eons, humans benefitted from the canine gift for happiness and favored happy dogs, who thus passed along their happy genes, producing a species that is now besotted, almost deranged, with happiness. Of course, many other animals take pleasure in being alive—eagles soaring, otters skidding … Read more
Can dogs tell when we are happy, sad or angry? As a dog owner, I feel confident not only that I can tell what kind of emotional state my pets are in, but also that they respond to my emotions. Yet as a hard-headed scientist, I try to take a more rational and pragmatic view. … Read more
When DJ Thomas Neil Rodriguez learned earlier this year that his 16-year-old dog had only weeks to live, he was devastated. He’d adopted Poh as a puppy from a New York shelter in 1999, but the once-healthy pit bull-lab mix now had numerous tumors as well as kidney failure. “They were like, we can’t tell … Read more
“Serie Freestyle” by German photographer Julia Christe is an imaginative series that catches various dogs in midair as they jump for an object outside of the photo, making the dogs look both incredibly powerful and incredibly vulnerable at the same time.