Dog Natural History

Babies do it by the age of a year-and-a-half and, as studies have shown, so do capuchin monkeys. Now, in the continuing effort to understand canine psychology through science, researchers think that dogs can do it, too. So what is this mysterious “it?” It is the tendency to judge others based on their altruism. That is, babies, monkeys, and dogs will all favor humans that they see helping other humans, especially when that assistance is given to their own humans. A Sense of Fair-Play In short, dogs seem to have a built-in sense of fairness and will shun people they

Currently, there are almost 400 different domestic dog breeds that are different enough from each other to be classified as unique. However, recent genetic studies have shown that there may only really be 23 different groups, or clades, into which all of these dogs can be sorted. Just as human DNA testing, like Ancestry or 23AndMe, can show people where their ancestors came from and ultimately in what part of the world they originated, the same testing is now giving a bigger picture of the origin of dogs, and how various breeds are related. A “clade” is defined as a

More than 20 years ago, California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, and in 2018 permitted recreational use of the fabled weed. Given marijuana’s success in alleviating human pain, stimulating appetite, or reducing anxiety, it was only a matter of time that its use would spread to our canine companions.   Medical marijuana states As of 2017, 28 states have legalized medical marijuana, and 16 have legalized cannabidiol. Naturally, almost as soon as marijuana was made legal for medical use, people started to find loopholes in order to obtain it for recreational use, which has unfortunately obscured the fact