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Time to Relax by www.dogscanbark.com

Interesting Links

Look What the Cat Lady Dragged in
“…the phrase crazy cat lady is still lobbed to and fro with regularity; I’ve used it myself on various occasions. Cat ownership, or what it represents, seems to be legitimate grounds on which to innocuously attack femaleness, to gently mock female emotions gone haywire.”

Rodents Require Protection

In the United States the main protection offered to animals used in research is the Animal Welfare Act. However the most frequently used research animals–birds, mice and rats–are explicitly excluded from this act. This occurs by the definition of “animal” provided in the act as:

“…any live or dead dog, cat, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or any other warmblooded animal, which is being used, or is intended for use for research, teaching, testing, experimentation, or exhibition purposes, or as a pet. This term excludes birds, rats of the genus Rattus, and mice of the genus Mus, bred for use in research; horses not used for research purposes; and other farm animals, such as, but not limited to, livestock or poultry used or intended for use as food or fiber, or livestock or poultry used or intended for use for improving animal nutrition, breeding, management, or production efficiency, or for improving the quality of food or fiber. With respect to a dog, the term means all dogs, including those used for hunting, security, or breeding purposes.” (Emphasis added).

This exclusion was hardened by a 2002 amendment to the Farm Bill.  This is therefore considered a settled legal manner.  It is does, however, remain a gaping moral lapse.  The ongoing inability–for reasons of cost–of North American regulatory agencies to provide and accounting of, and explicit protection for, the most commonly used animal in research should be an embarrassment to the industries and educational insititutions involved… and to the nation. 

 See also:
–Poll: Should rats and mice be added to the Animal Welfare Act for research?
–Animal Welfare Act: An Act for All
–Regulating Mice, Rats and Birds: ”The Scientists Center for Animal Welfare promotes excellence in science coupled with excellence in animal welfare.  Therefore, we consider AWA coverage of all animals appropriate.  SCAW has always included these warm-blooded animals in our educational programs.  SCAW supports the principle that laboratory-bred rats, mice and birds should be included under USDA regulations.”

Breeding, Ballet and the Drift to Extremes

Recently I have been thinking about the role of breed groups devoted to the preservation and improvement of pedigree dogs. I think my essential problem is with the idea that preservation and improvement are contradictory goal. And improvement general related to what is better my modren and largely aesthetic standards.

As such, I was very interested to read Daprati, Iosa & Haggard’s (2009) paper “A dance to the music of time” (full text here). In this paper they essentially trace the ballet positions performed by the Royal Ballet of a sixty year period. You may wonder what the contection is, but hang in there and I will explain.

As the authors note: “Classical ballet is traditional and conservative: dancers today use the same positions that were codified in 1760″ (pg. e5023). Likewise, pedigree show standards are written descriptions of how a dog should look, intended to be conservatively adhered to across time.

When photographs and video of the same ballet were analysed it was shown that not only have the positions changed, they have changed in a consistent way cross time–with positions becoming more extreme. Over time legs have become more elevated, hips turned out more and lifts higher. And even to the untrained eyes these changes are easy to see, with positions that once invloved the leg raised are 130 degree in the 50s now being lifted almost vertically into the air.

These more extreme position were found to be more appealing even to naive viewers, and they requires fitter and more expert dancers, as such they can be seen as “improved”. At the same time they are a distortion of the original tradition, and much more demanding–and potentially damaging–for the dancer who is working at the very limits of their biomechanical abilities.

I would argue that the improvement of dog breeds may sometimes share similar qualities. It will tend to select for more extreme positions, sizes, colors and coats–to meet our aesthetic tastes and demonstrated the ability of the breeder. But doing so must distort the tradition conformation of the breed, and potential also its behavior and temperment–sometimes placing a strain on the health of animal near the limits of their phylogentic range.

I think the question needs to be whether the goal is to preserve, or to distort–and are the distortions deemed desireable by the show ring or the market place also desireable for the dog? Because as the audience we must come to realise that an aesthetic that destroys that which is beautifies is a perversion of the art, or of the breed.

Reference:
Daprati, E., Iosa, M., & Haggard, P. (2009). A Dance to the Music of Time: Aesthetically-Relevant Changes in Body Posture in Performing Art PLoS ONE, 4 (3) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005023

See also:
Ballet postures have become more extreme over time

Simon’s Cat ‘Snow Business’

I love these :)

JEAB

I am getting back to my behaviorist roots and subscribing to JEAB again. I thinks it’s time to sharpen the ol’ operant knowledge. (Use it or lose it?)

At least some one’s enjoying the snow….

Service Animal Clips

Friends indeed: “People experience great benefits from living or working with therapy animals, and we must make sure that the animals benefit from working with us,” Patterson-Kane says. “The real power of the human-animal bond is that people and animals can make each others’ lives richer and more meaningful.”

Stuff About the Symposium

AVMA’s International Educational Symposium on Animal Welfare
Excerpt: “Much of the animal welfare work is done in the field by animal scientists or behaviorists, not DVM’s, but DVM’s seem to have the credibility. The Animal Science people say they don’t mind this; their body language says otherwise.”