ohmidog!

Purebred dogs are getting dumber and less agile because of the focus by breeders on appearance, scientists in Sweden say.

According to a report in the London Telegraph, the researchers say the change has taken place over the course of just a few generations.

While 19th century dogs were selected for breeding based on their strength and skills — such as guarding homes, retrieving quarry or watching over livestock — today’s dogs are more likely to be chosen strictly for their appearance. As a result, the researchers say, the are less responsive to commands and not as alert or attentive.

“Modern breeding practices are affecting the behavior and mental abilities of pedigree breeds as well as their physical features,” said Kenth Svartberg, an ethologist from Stockholm University and author of the research report.

Dr. Svartberg tested 13,000 dogs on characteristics such as sociability and curiosity to help him rate 31 different breeds. He found that those bred for appearance, and especially for shows, displayed reduced ability levels. He also found that attractive appearance was often linked with introversion and a boring personality.

The worst affected working breeds were smooth collies, once a herding dog, and Rhodesian ridgebacks, which were used for hunting.

(Image from My Dog’s Brain, by Vermont artist Stephen Huneck)

A Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Friday that a state animal cruelty law is too vague and confusing to be used to prosecute people for shooting and killing their dogs or cats.

The Superior Court overturned the conviction of a northeastern Pennsylvania woman on conspiracy to commit cruelty to animals in the 2006 shooting outside Weissport of her 6-year-old pit bull-chow mix, named Bouta.

“If the Legislature wishes to make it criminal to shoot one’s own dog or cat, it must do so in a clear, unambiguous manner to give reasonable notice that the act is criminal,” wrote Judge Richard B. Klein for the majority. “It did not do so in this case.”

It was the second time in less than a year that the appeals court ruled in favor of Wendy Colleen Kneller of Carbon County, according to an Associated Press report. A decision last February was issued by only three judges, but the court agreed to hear it argued again and on Friday issued an 8-1 ruling.

The dissenting judge, Correale F. Stevens, wrote, “A sweeping policy conclusion that a dog owner can shoot a healthy, happy dog for no reason … would replace the call of ‘Lassie, come home’ with ‘Lassie, run for your life.”‘

The court said Kneller told a state trooper that the dog had bitten her child. Prosecutors said Kneller gave her boyfriend a .40-caliber handgun and told him to shoot the dog. Her lawyer, Paul Levy, said Friday that some people do not have the money to have their pets euthanized at an animal clinic.

In a cost-cutting move, Yahoo has done away with ”Yahoo Pets,” a resource for pet owners and animals lovers since 1999.

“Yahoo Pets may be no more, but don’t fret; you can still find great info about Pets on Yahoo, even by some of the very writers you’ve enjoyed on Pets,” Yahoo announced. Visitors to the old site are redirected to a new animal lovers area on Yahoo’s women-oriented property, ”Shine.”

The closing is the latest of several at Yahoo over the past couple of years and part of an effort to avoid duplication and focus its main business amid slowing growth and layoffs, according to The Tech Chronicles, a San Francisco Chronicle blog.

Our comment of the week comes from TSG, in response to our post about PETA’s banned Super Bowl ad, which showed attractive female models enjoying their vegetables a little too much for NBC’s taste.

“I’m a little confused ….” TSG wrote “does PETA stand for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals…OR…People for the Erotic Treatment of Agriculture????”

TSG will receive an attractive and functional ohmidog! sports bottle for the remark.

A lawsuit by a coalition of animal rights’ groups against the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus is scheduled to begin Wednesday.

The complaint — filed by American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Fund for Animals — claims the Asian elephants in the circus sleep and travel in cramped, filthy quarters and are routinely prodded with special clubs or “bull hooks.”

The organizations are seeking a federal injunction barring the circus from engaging in a number of practices they call cruel, including chaining the elephants for long stretches, according to the New York Times. The case will be heard in Washington.

The idea that the animals are happy “and allowed to roam free and to socialize” is an illusion, the plaintiffs say. They plan to introduce videotape documenting mistreatment and will call several experts on elephants, as well as some current or former Ringling Brothers trainers.

The circus say the elephants are “healthy and well cared for” and that they are attended to by veterinarians around the clock. The elephants’ quarters are roomy and well ventilated, heated when necessary, and that  the club or “guide” used by a trainer is no more cruel than a leash on a dog or a bridle on a horse.

“In effect,” the defense says, the plaintiffs “are hoping to put an end to circus elephants.”