Owners can tell if their dozing dog or feline is dreaming by looking for these clues: whisker twitching, paw tremors, irregular breathing and — in dogs — occasional high-pitched yips. But what do our pets dream about? Researchers believe they know the answer. Older studies, done decades ago in cats, involved temporarily releasing the suppression of motor activity that happens during REM sleep so they'd act out their dreams. What researchers witnessed is sleepwalking cats doing things they'd normally do while awake — walking, swatting their forepaws, even pouncing on imaginary prey. Similar research showed the same held true for dogs.

In the scientific community, animals are often thought of as reflex machines, operating by instinct alone. But this view is slowly starting to change, noted Wilson, as new information about dreaming in animals is unearthed. Coren, a psychologist, agreed. He said that one of his heroes, Charles Darwin, "basically claimed if you can prove that an animal dreams, then, in effect, you can prove that's consciousness. Because after all, what is a dream other than a conscious image?"

Wilson's current work goes beyond analyzing dream content and relates to what's going on inside the brain during wakefulness. Using lab-built devices with an array of electrodes, he's found that rats appear to replay memories while doing normal, everyday activities like nibbling on food or sitting quietly. In other words, he said, they're thinking about the past, and possibly contemplating the future. "The idea that rats may actually be thinking — just as humans think when they're sitting, appearing not to be doing anything — suggests the full range of cognitive abilities that we have," he said.

July 3rd, 2010 By:Admin

An 33 year old Alhambra man has been arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism without incident for spray-painting images of cats throughout the Los Angeles area one June 30th. Rick Ordonez's alleged kitty artwork totaled about $15,000 worth of damage.

Police caught the man through informants and tips, after they had first noticed the appearance of the cats at the beginning of the year. The artwork consisted of mostly cartoon cats as shown in the picture above. Ordonez, who authorities described as a "cat-lover," is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail. One of Ordonez's alleged associates was arrested in April on similar charges. They both favored cat images and both men are graphic artists.

July 7th, 2010 By:Admin

VIENNA — Carolin Fabian jokes that the only thing her American Staffordshire terrier Tobias fights for is a place on the couch.  Sounds harmless. But now, Fabian and owners of 11 other breeds known as aggressive "fight dogs" will be under stricter scrutiny: a hotly debated new law requires Viennese and longterm visitors who own such dogs to carry a license proving they can keep their pets in check. Some say the measure will make public spaces safer, critics call it canine profiling.

Alexander Willer, a spokesman for Vienna's main animal shelter, said the list of affected dogs — which includes Rottweilers, pit bull terriers, Mastiffs, and others — was compiled "at random" and has made it harder for abandoned breeds of this kind to find new homes. "The image of these dogs has hit rock bottom," Willer said, adding that since Christmas, the number of "fight dogs" seeking refuge in the shelter increased from 123 to 170.

Dangerous incidents happen, said Valentina Simic, 21, whose young son narrowly escaped an attack by a Rottweiler. "Dogs are cute and all but if people can't handle them properly then they shouldn't be allowed to own them," she said.

If owners don't comply by this time next year and are caught without a permit, they face fines and could even see their pet confiscated by police.

"The animal doesn't have to know any tricks, fetch the paper or do a double back flip — all the owner has to do is show that he has it under control in a city setting," city councilor Ulli Sima said.

Elsewhere in Europe, the situation varies. Denmark on Thursday added 12 more dog breeds — the American Staffordshire terrier, Brazilian Fila, American bulldog and Dogo Argentino, among others — to an outright ban on dangerous dogs that already included pit bull terriers and tosa inus. Under a 2007 law in Portugal, owners of seven breeds identified as dangerous must get a license and can only do so if they are over 18, have passed a physical and mental aptitude test and don't have a criminal record. In the Slovak capital of Bratislava, regulations for about half a dozen type of "fight dogs" were axed a year after a successful lobbying campaign by owners of such breeds.

June 26th, 2010 By: Admin

In Downey California 60 dogs from the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority escaped certain death via a three-hour luxury private jet plane ride to Edmonton Alberta Canada in search of new forever homes. Seems a bit out of the ordinary for these shelter dogs to come from where they did and end up on a 11-seat Gulfstream III headed for Edmonton, so how did they get there? Jan Folk, a Canadian self made millionaire and philanthropist, helped to make it happen. Folk has sponsored four "Freedom Flights" in the last year, taking 312 small dogs to Edmonton, where she sits on the board of the humane society.

In Edmonton there just happens to be a severe shortage of small dogs, which makes the 60 terriers, cockapoos, Yorkies, Chihuahuas, bichons and other small breeds extremely adoptable. The dogs from Downy had all been at the Animal Control Authority for 13-30 days meaning their time was nearly up and would have had to be euthanized to make room for other dogs which arrive daily. The small breed dogs in Edmonton are in such demand that most from the previous "Freedom Flights" were adopted within two weeks of arriving in Edmonton. In fact, there was a line of potential adopters at the Edmonton shelter waiting for the dogs to arrive!

Reyes, a spokesperson from the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority states, "We are only mandated to keep them for three days per state law...We hang on because we know these little cuties are a hot item somewhere. These are not feral dogs. They are fluffy little cute things that are trained. It's mind-blowing that dogs so adorable can sit in an animal shelter and not be claimed or adopted."

ABOUT THE FREEDOM FLIGHT PROGRAM:

The animal transfer program was first launched to encourage people to turn to the Edmonton Humane Society first when looking to bring one of the extremely popular small-breed dogs into their family. Staff at the Central California SPCA and other animal shelters in the area continuously deal with large volumes of admitted and stray animals each day, and feel that they would have no other choice but to eventually euthanize the dogs if they were not transferred.

The Edmonton Humane Society finds that more people are willing to wait for the California dogs because they know that many of those sold in newspaper or on-line ads, or in pet stores may come from puppy mills or brokers where they often live in horrible conditions; and are often bred without considering the dogs' welfare.