ohmidog!

Most of us dog owners already know that our dog is as at least as smart, when it comes to both verbal and non-verbal cues, as a six-month old human infant.

Now, another study has confirmed that — this one from Hungary.

It’s one of those stories that keeps resurfacing and pretending to be breaking news – like Mitt Romney transporting his dog by putting him (in a crate) on the roof of his car.

Because humans don’t remember as well as dogs, and because we’re conditioned to thinking something labeled “news” is going to be new, we accept it as that. But that’s probably another study.

In this one, the Hungarian researchers, according to findings published  in the Cell Press journal Current Biology, concluded that dogs pick up on the words we say and on our intent to communicate with them — and that their receptivity to human communication is similar to that of very young children.

“Increasing evidence supports the notion that humans and dogs share some social skills, with dogs’ social-cognitive functioning resembling that of a 6-month to 2-year-old child in many respects,” said József Topál, Ph.D., of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

“The utilization of ostensive cues is one of these features: dogs, as well as human infants, are sensitive to cues that signal communicative intent,” he said. Those include verbal addressing and eye contact, he explained.

Folks, except for some of those big words, did we not already know that? Just as surely as we know it’s stupid to put your Irish setter, or any other dog, atop your car and take him on a trip?

Topál’s team presented dogs with video recordings of a person turning toward one of two identical plastic pots while an “eye tracker” captured information on the dogs’ reactions. It was the first study to use eye-tracking techniques to study dogs’ social skills

One of the videos showed a person who first looked straight at the dog, addressing it in a high-pitched voice with “Hi dog!” A second showed the person uttering a low-pitched “Hi dog” while avoiding eye contact.

Researchers discovered dogs were more likely to follow along and look at the pot when the person first expressed an intention to communicate: “Our findings reveal that dogs are receptive to human communication in a manner that was previously attributed only to human infants,” Topál said.

Topal is convinced that the receptivity is something that has evolved in the species in the time since its domestication: “Dogs have evolved to sharing their lives with humans. And they gained new skills that support their social interaction with humans.”

We’d agree with that theory, but we still think some of these studies are stating the obvious — and that it’s time to move forward and research whether dogs are not just smarter than babies, but maybe smarter than the average presidential candidate.

Let’s track their eyes and see what happens.

(Top photo: Punjapit)

There will always be a sourpuss or two who points out “it’s only a dog” and complains it’s a waste of taxpayer money, but I like this trend of rescue workers saving dogs — and capturing their own heroics on video.

It’s happened at least twice on Wednesday, so I can officially call it a trend.

In Fargo, North Dakota, a dog named Jake, clinging for dear life to a chunk of ice, was pulled from the partially frozen Red River by a fire department rescuer wearing a cam.

And in Lincoln County, N.C., the unidentified dog above was carried to safety after being stuck on a dam in the fast-moving South Fork River — all captured by a fire department member filming from the riverbank.

“This is B-Roll video that was shot at the scene of a rescue of a dog off of a low head dam in Lincoln County,” reads the description of the rescue.  ”Rescue crews successfully rescued this dog off of the dam and he was taken to a local vet for evaluation and treatment of a head injury and possible hypothermia.”

The video, like the one in Fargo, was posted on YouTube, for the public to see and the media to grab.

What with cutbacks to staff at newspapers and televisions stations, and an increasing reliance on reader/viewer-submitted news, this works out well all the way around. Citizens get served and protected and entertained. Firefighters, police and rescue personnel get some good publicity. The news media gets somebody else to do its work for free.

Come to think of it, it serves us bloggers pretty well, too.

So keep saving those dogs, and putting out those fires, and don’t forget to send us some B-Roll.

Editors note: Before shouting, screaming, crying or firing off an angry email or comment — as many have done – please read this entire post.

Examiner.com is reporting what it’s calling a “national outrage” — that Michael Vick has gotten a dog.

” …the latest cosmic injustice in the up-and-down saga of Michael Vick takes the cake … Judge Herman Wilton, who presided over Vick’s 2007 trial, has rescinded his order that Vick never again be permitted to own a dog. Vick is now the proud owner of a Beagle named HutHut.”

“The judge’s reasoning, if it can be called that, is (1) that Vick has been thrilling football fans with his play, (2) that he has won over the hearts and minds of the people of Philadelphia, and (3) that his young daughters really wanted a dog.”

The source for the Examiner report? The Weekly World News. The same people, or at least the latest incarnation of the publication, that brought us Bat Boy, Elvis sightings and predictions of an apocalypse at least every month.

Apparently, the Weekly World News and its playful reputation are fading from public memory — at least enough that a blogger for Examiner.com saw this report and took it at face value.

Even with such clearly doctored photos as this one, many people bought it — judging from the comments both on the Weekly World News piece and the Examiner’s. (The Examiner piece has since been taken offline.)

This proves three things. One, there is no limit to how gullible some people are. Two, legitimate newspapers had their place (bring them back). Three, this Internet thing, all this cutting and pasting and regurgitating what other people have said — at least when the original source is not one to be trusted, when the facts are not checked – is giving truth a beating.

In its paper version, on the grocery store checkout line, it was always clear to most people that the Weekly World News was a purveyor of hoaxes, sometimes mean spirited, sometime delightful.

I once went to its Florida offices to do a story on the collection of characters that put it out, in a backroom of the National Enquirer. They were a fun and creative group — from the grizzled editor to the artist who came up with Bat Boy, and insisted of course, like a professional wrestler, that the monster was real.

On the Internet, though, which is the only place where a semblance of it still exists, the Weekly World News pops up in searches just like any other publication, with no indication that it’s dispatches are meant in fun — and a slogan that even reads “The World’s Only Reliable News.”

The Weekly World News report quotes  William Tacatoo (no such person), president of the Humane Society of the Pennsylvania (no such organization), as saying he has been around Vick a good deal over the last two years and feels confident Vick would be a great pet owner: “He loves dogs, he really does.”

It quotes West Virginia Judge Herman Wilton (no such judge) as saying he lifted the order banning Vick from owning dogs in the interest of the quarterback’s daughters:  ”Ah, come on, we can’t deny the girls a dog.”

It reports that, as soon as the  judge announced his decision, “Vick immediately went out and bought a cute, little beagle.”

Vick, though he has expressed a desire to have a dog, doesn’t have one.

The world is not coming to an end next week.

Elvis is still dead.

Bat Boy, though? I’m still not sure he’s not real.

(Photos: Weekly World News)

Robert Cottingham was duck hunting when he took a shotgun blast to his buttocks — fired, from all indications, by Piper, a yellow Labrador that belonged to a hunting companion.

The 46-year-old resident of Brigham City, Utah, was was hunting Sunday with his son and brother-in-law at the north end of the Great Salt Lake near a bird refuge, said Box Elder County Sherriff’s Chief Deputy Kevin Potter.

The victim told Fox 13 that the dog was in a marshy area of the lake and jumped into the boat, triggering a 12-gauge shotgun resting inside of it.

Cottingham was taken to the hospital where 27 birdshot pellets — most but not all of those he was struck by – were removed from his backside.

About five hours after she was featured as “Pet of the Day” on a Raleigh TV news program, Sassy, an 8-month-old Lab mix, was euthanized by the Wake County Animal Center.

Sassy appeared on WRAL’s noon news Tuesday.

She was euthanized Tuesday at 5:30.

Wake County Deputy Manager Joe Durham released a statement several hours later saying that “it was a mistake” for Sassy to have appeared on TV as an adoptable dog.

“Sassy appeared to be healthy when she left the center. That evening, a kennel technician reported Sassy was demonstrating a ‘honking cough and green nasal discharge,’” he said. “At that time, Sassy was identified as a dog that needed to be euthanized, based on her demonstrated symptoms.”

Animal Shelter Director Dennis McMichael, who started the job Monday, was scheduled to do an interview with WRAL News Wednesday to talk about Sassy’s death, but later canceled it, the station said.

Shelter volunteers told WRAL News that at least one caller saw Sassy on TV and wanted to adopt her. “She was such a great dog and very adoptable, and it’s just sad that this is her outcome,” said volunteer Julie Powers.

Sassy, a Labrador/hound mix, appeared to be in good health Tuesday afternoon when she appeared on the news program with a shelter staff member who pronounced her immediately available.

“She’s already spayed. We went ahead and did it earlier, so we can go ahead and send her home today,” the staff member said.

The county-run shelter also posted Sassy’s TV appearance on its Facebook page:

“Check out Miss Sassy on WRAL! She is sweet as sugar and all ready to go.”

Since the dog’s death was made public, the Wake County Animal Center — which has come under criticism in recent months for its soaring kill rate — has seen its Facebook page inundated with angry comments.

In January, the Wake County animal center euthanized 131 dogs, or about 18 percent of those brought in. By August, it euthanized 327 dogs, or nearly 42 percent of the intake.

“I don’t understand how Sassy … can be ‘Pet of the Day’ on WRAL at noon and then dead by suppertime,” said Hope Hancock, executive director of the Wake County SPCA, which also operates a shelter in Raleigh.

Tony, the Siberian tiger who has spent the last 11 years as a tourist attraction at a truck stop outside Baton Rouge — either suffering or living the cushy life, depending on your point of view – will likely be leaving Louisiana.

Judge Michael Caldwell has ruled in favor of the Animal Legal Defense Fund in its lawsuit to free Tony from the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete.

Judge Caldwell agreed with ALDF’s argument that the permit that allows the truck stop to keep Tony was unlawfully issued by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. (Perhaps that fiasco in Ohio was in the back of his head, too.)

The judge ordered the department to revoke the current permit and prohibited it from issuing any new permits to the truck stop.

“We are thrilled that the court made the right decision,” said ALDF Executive Director Stephen Wells. “We will continue to do everything we can to make sure Tony’s next home is a reputable, accredited sanctuary that can give Tony the life he deserves.”

Of course, not everybody sees it that way, including Michael Sandlin, owner of the Tiger Truck Stop, whose point of view is seen in the video above, and probably a lot more Louisianians, who take their tigers — the species being the LSU mascot — pretty seriously.

The ALDF — you can find its article on Tony here — says the tiger was subjected to highway noise and diesel fumes 24-hours a day, frequently harassed and taunted by visitors at the truck stop, and spends his days pacing, a sign of stress.

The court originally granted ALDF’s original request for a permanent injunction in May 2011, but in August, the Louisiana Court of Appeals ruled that Sandlin and the Tiger Truck Stop must be named as defendants in the lawsuit and ordered a new trial, vacating the trial court’s earlier decision.

Since ALDF filed its original lawsuit in April 2011, it has argued that the wildlife department violated state law in granting the permit to Michael Sandlin. In yesterday’s hearing, the ALDF argued that Sandlin’s permit to own and display Tony should be invalidated, and that Tony should be released into the custody of ALDF or an accredited animal sanctuary where he can receive care and treatment and live out his life in a more natural environment.

Tony has been on exhibit at the Tiger Truck Stop since 2000. Other tigers were there when he arrived, but since 2003, he has been the only one.

ALDF’s lawsuit to free Tony has drawn the support of celebrity advocates like Leonardo DiCaprio and True Blood’s Kristin Bauer, seen in the ALDF video below.

Thanks to a newspaper and a good samaritan, a Chihuahua named Boo’kie was returned home last week after the pickup truck he was in was stolen from a Wal Mart parking lot in Winston-Salem, N.C.

John Jenkins, a 67-year-old cancer patient who’d gone to the store to fill a prescription, spent two sleepless night after Boo’kie, his 7-year-old Chihuahua, disappeared.

The dog had helped him through the death of his wife, in 2009, and his battle with throat and esophageal cancer.

He and friends had searched all last Monday and Tuesday for the dog.

On Tuesday night, Vanessa Calvery, a personal chef, was driving home from delivering meals when she saw a Chihuahua standing in the middle of a road in the rain near her home in Rural Hall.

Calvery, who has two Chihuahuas of her own, stopped her car, bundled the dog up, brought him home, cooked him chicken and made him a bed in her TV room.

The next day, Calvery, who was laid off from her full time job on Jan. 1, took the dog to the Animal Care Clinic in Rural Hall, where she takes her own dogs, because one of his  paws seemed swollen.

One of the veterinarians at the clinic, Preston Roberts, recognized Boo’kie from a story about his disappearance that ran on the front page of the Winston-Salem Journal on Wednesday.

That story, by reporter Laura Graff, noted Boo’kie had one paw larger than the other, a result of frostbite when he was a puppy. The vets office called Jenkins, whose number was published in the story.

By then, Jenkins had gotten his truck back, after it was found abandoned. He got the call just after returning home from getting new keys made.

When he picked the dogs up, he saw that the animal clinic had given Boo’kie a new collar, and implanted a microchip under his skin.

“They done everything, and they charged me nothing,” he said.

Jenkins, according to the Journal’s follow up story, also by Graff,  had offered a $500 reward for Boo’kie’s safe return.

He tried to give it to Calvery when he met her at the clinic.

She turned it down.

(Photo by David Rolfe / Winston-Salem Journal)

A four-year-old Pomeranian named Mango slipped out of her collar and brought Interstate traffic to a standstill in Portland, Oregon, this week.

Police dispatchers began getting calls from drivers around 4 p.m. Monday reporting a dog on the loose along 1-405.

Video captured by Oregon Department of Transportation cameras show drivers blocking the road to protect the dog as cars came to a halt, and both the dog’s owner and others tried to catch Mango.

After 15 minutes, Mango exited the highway and entered a neighborhood.

Owner Dan Dowdy — who Mango didn’t appear eager to return to — said the dog is closer to his wife, whose companion she has been since suffering a stroke two years ago.

Dowdy had brought the dog with him that afternoon to pick up his wife from first day of school at Portland’s Mount Hood Community College.

Eventually, animal control officers realized Mango would only respond to Linda. When she showed up, Mango ran into her arms.

Tucson Greyhound Park CEO Tom Taylor was put in an awkward spot late last year by a local TV reporter — but as GREY2K sees it, that’s exactly where he belongs.

GREY2K, a national organization seeking to end greyhound racing, combined pieces of the TV news report with its own material and subsequent photos taken during a county inspection, and is circulating the ensuing video widely.

It’s an attempt to show how those who defend the sport will go to great lengths — possibly in the opposite direction of the truth — to spin things their way.

When a TV reporter showed Taylor undercover video footage taken by GREY2K investigators of the less than luxurious living conditions of the park’s greyhounds, he responded that it’s a subjective thing:

“I could show you a picture of the Mona Lisa, and you could say ‘Oh, that’s horrible,’” he said.

In the interview last December with KOLD television, Taylor called Tucson Greyhound Park an “ideal place for dogs.”

Then he refused to allow reporters to see the kennels for themselves, saying that that the TV station would “show it to thousands of people, and we don’t know how they’re going to take it.”

GREY2K says more recent photographs taken at the Tucson track over the past year by Pima County investigators confirm their findings: greyhounds living in warehouse style kennels, in wire cages barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around, many of them muzzled.

Actress Mary Tyler Moore sported a brave but battered face earlier this week when she attended an opening night performance with a cheek left swollen from tripping over her golden retriever.

Photographers — can’t sneak anything by them — were quick to notice when she arrived for  “Follies,” featuring her friend Bernadette Peters.

Her face was clearly swollen as she arrived on the Broadway red carpet — a result of tripping over her dog as she left her home, according to the World Entertainment News Network

An “insider” told  WENN: “She’s such a trooper. She tripped over her dog and took a really bad fall, but insisted on being there for her friend.”

Moore, who earlier this year underwent brain surgery to remove a benign tumor, was named recipient of the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

(Photo: World Entertainment News Network)