Study Finds Dog Yawning Is Contagious -- Because Dogs Love Us

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden rigorously studied the behavior -- when they could have just asked us.

Scientists recently discovered that dogs can catch yawns from their humans, a finding that many dog owners knew already. 

The findings are important to scientists because it means dogs feel empathy toward humans, a finding that many dog owners knew alre -- wait, scientists didn't know this already? 

What the heck have scientists been doing all this time? 

Many of you, of course, know full well that dogs have empathy and can catch your yawns -- often you catch each other's yawns and collapse into a heap and sleep through the afternoon. 

The study, conducted by Lund University in Sweden, exposed 35 dogs -- puppies and adults alike -- to various people yawning over a period of time, according to ABC News. (What we wouldn't have given to be a part of that study!)

“We showed that the dogs were yawning contagiously," says Elainie Madsen, a doctor of psychology at Lund University, who co-wrote the study. "Not just yawning; they also took on the emotion that yawning usually signifies, which is usually sleepiness and tiredness.”

“For those of us who have dogs, we often feel this very close connection with them, and we feel that they must understand or sympathize with our emotions and our emotional states,” says Madsen, surprising not a single dog owner. 

One new thing to us that the study did reveal was that puppies do not catch yawns -- just like infants and young toddlers don't catch yawns. Empathy is a learned trait, and puppies are as cruel and unyielding as babies.

"Oh, you've got to wake up at 7 a.m.?" your puppy says to you at 2, 3, and 4 a.m., licking your face with full-tongue kisses. "And that concerns me ... how?"

“[Dogs] go through what seems to be an empathy development that somehow mirrors humans’ empathy development," the study concluded, "so it’s just obviously on a very different time scale.”

The study found that puppies start to display empathetic yawns at 7 months, while children don't start until they reach an age of 4 years. Hahaha, parents. 

Oh, and cats? They don't contagiously yawn, but we knew that already.  

Via ABC News

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People Giving Up Pets Because They Can’t Afford Them

January 5, 2012 at 5:40 pm

I’ve read several articles in the news about people giving up their pets because of the tight economy. More than 80 dogs have been dropped off at a single shelter in West Virginia. Other shelters have seen a sharp increase in people dropping off pets because they can no longer afford them. And, because of the economic scares, fewer people are adopting pets.

It’s hard to understand giving up a family pet because money’s tight. I’d have to be missing some meals before I could give up my fur-kids.  I know there are situations in which the pet truly cannot remain with its owners, and for them I am deeply sorry. Knowing that adult pets are far more difficult to find homes for - and many of them are put down at shelters - I hope that if there’s no money for pet food, there’s also no money for cell phones, cable television, clothes, bottled water, movies and sweets. If there’s money for that stuff, there’s money for your dog.

The decisions we make in the emotional moments after losing a job or filing for bankruptcy are sometimes life-and-death decisions for our pets, who have no say in the decision making process.

Let’s not toss them aside too quickly.

Before you drop your dog off at a shelter, please think about what it really costs to keep your dog. If you already have a leash, collar and crate, what does it really cost? For a healthy dog, it only costs food and heartworm/flea medication. There may be areas in which you can save money that are often overlooked. Do you mow your own lawn? Do you have bottled water delivery? Can you reduce your cable/satellite or Internet service package? How often do you go to Starbucks?

In other words, are the discretionary things you spend your money on worth your dog’s life?

Our dogs give so much, and they don’t ask for much in return. Let’s at least provide a safe home for them with the people they love.

Entry filed under: In the News. Tags: afford, budget, can't, dogs, drop off, economy, expensive, give up, no longer, owners, pets, shelter, surrender, tight.

View the original article here

People Giving Up Pets Because They Can’t Afford Them

January 5, 2012 at 5:40 pm

I’ve read several articles in the news about people giving up their pets because of the tight economy. More than 80 dogs have been dropped off at a single shelter in West Virginia. Other shelters have seen a sharp increase in people dropping off pets because they can no longer afford them. And, because of the economic scares, fewer people are adopting pets.

It’s hard to understand giving up a family pet because money’s tight. I’d have to be missing some meals before I could give up my fur-kids.  I know there are situations in which the pet truly cannot remain with its owners, and for them I am deeply sorry. Knowing that adult pets are far more difficult to find homes for - and many of them are put down at shelters - I hope that if there’s no money for pet food, there’s also no money for cell phones, cable television, clothes, bottled water, movies and sweets. If there’s money for that stuff, there’s money for your dog.

The decisions we make in the emotional moments after losing a job or filing for bankruptcy are sometimes life-and-death decisions for our pets, who have no say in the decision making process.

Let’s not toss them aside too quickly.

Before you drop your dog off at a shelter, please think about what it really costs to keep your dog. If you already have a leash, collar and crate, what does it really cost? For a healthy dog, it only costs food and heartworm/flea medication. There may be areas in which you can save money that are often overlooked. Do you mow your own lawn? Do you have bottled water delivery? Can you reduce your cable/satellite or Internet service package? How often do you go to Starbucks?

In other words, are the discretionary things you spend your money on worth your dog’s life?

Our dogs give so much, and they don’t ask for much in return. Let’s at least provide a safe home for them with the people they love.

Be the first to like this post.Entry filed under: In the News. Tags: afford, budget, can't, dogs, drop off, economy, expensive, give up, no longer, owners, pets, shelter, surrender, tight.

View the original article here

People Giving Up Pets Because They Can’t Afford Them

January 5, 2012 at 5:40 pm

I’ve read several articles in the news about people giving up their pets because of the tight economy. More than 80 dogs have been dropped off at a single shelter in West Virginia. Other shelters have seen a sharp increase in people dropping off pets because they can no longer afford them. And, because of the economic scares, fewer people are adopting pets.

It’s hard to understand giving up a family pet because money’s tight. I’d have to be missing some meals before I could give up my fur-kids.  I know there are situations in which the pet truly cannot remain with its owners, and for them I am deeply sorry. Knowing that adult pets are far more difficult to find homes for - and many of them are put down at shelters - I hope that if there’s no money for pet food, there’s also no money for cell phones, cable television, clothes, bottled water, movies and sweets. If there’s money for that stuff, there’s money for your dog.

The decisions we make in the emotional moments after losing a job or filing for bankruptcy are sometimes life-and-death decisions for our pets, who have no say in the decision making process.

Let’s not toss them aside too quickly.

Before you drop your dog off at a shelter, please think about what it really costs to keep your dog. If you already have a leash, collar and crate, what does it really cost? For a healthy dog, it only costs food and heartworm/flea medication. There may be areas in which you can save money that are often overlooked. Do you mow your own lawn? Do you have bottled water delivery? Can you reduce your cable/satellite or Internet service package? How often do you go to Starbucks?

In other words, are the discretionary things you spend your money on worth your dog’s life?

Our dogs give so much, and they don’t ask for much in return. Let’s at least provide a safe home for them with the people they love.

Be the first to like this post.Entry filed under: In the News. Tags: afford, budget, can't, dogs, drop off, economy, expensive, give up, no longer, owners, pets, shelter, surrender, tight.

View the original article here

Because Nothing Says “Merry Christmas, Kids!” Like a Pooping Toy Doxie

Anyone know what the wacky announcer is saying about Kackel Dackel (Literally: Poop Dashchund, I think)? The way the initial cartoon guffaws about the neighbor slipping on the dog’s poop is — well, it’s unique. And that little boy in the middle looks positively possessed when his TV brother is squeezing the handle of the extendo-leash to make the dog poop. It’s 18 seconds of bizarre German commercial fun you won’t want to miss.

By the way, since seeing the commercial yesterday morning, I’ve tried squeezing the handle of Jake’s extendo-leash to make him poop faster on his walks, but he just won’t cooperate. Maybe he needs new batteries…

View the original article here