The Week in Tweets (5th May) | Some Thoughts About Dogs

As many of my regular readers know, I weekly (ish) present my Twitter links for your appreciation. This week, I’d like to introduce something new with a “Tweet of the Week” – that is, the favourite link I tweeted which I highly recommend that you have a read of. I hope this helps those of you who are time poor to have one good read a week. Of course, I recommend all my links! But I will try to pick out a favourite each week now.

Tweet of the Week

The Kick-Me Sign, a post by Nicole Wilde on her blog Wilde About Dogs.
It was actually very difficult to choose a favourite tweet, but I selected Nicole’s because its actually changed the way I talk about dogs. Working in boarding kennels, I often saw dogs that were, as Nicole puts it, sporting a ‘Kick Me Sign’ – that is, regardless of circumstances, these dogs got picked on! I’m glad to see that someone else has noticed this phenomena. I have started calling these dogs ‘Kick-Me Dogs’ and, when I’ve used this term, other people have instantly got what I’ve been talking about! Though this article is interesting in itself, it actually got awarded the ‘Tweet of the Week’ for its long reaching consequences on my vocabulary.

Now onto the other tweets!

South Australian Stuff

This is for cats, but I found a lovely video about Jackie’s Second Chance Adoption Centre in Reynella, South Australia. Jackie does a fantastic job.

I found this cool greyhound get together or social group in South Australia: Greyhound Get-Togethers SA.

South Australia’s first pet cementary to close its gates.

Seminars/Courses/Learning

I really enjoyed this video from AMRRIC called “The Chromosome Cuckoo“. This seminar shows Dr Ted Donelan and Dr Elizabeth Murhcison talking about manifestation, genetic analysis, and treatment of canine transmissible veneral tumour. This is an extremely interesting tumour – it is one of only two contagious cancers. A worthwhile watch.

Dog TAFE course available from the talented Vicki & Steve Austin in Sydney. Great for anyone with a thirst for knowledge.

Training and Behaviour

Open invite! Participate in a canine behaviour study (online survey).

Susan Garrett had some good ones this week! She wrote an blog post on how to Improve your dog training by playing like a dog and also explained how all training needs ‘joy’, even nail clipping, in “Does your dog training need a shot of joy?”

Is your dog well trained but badly mannered?

“Be True” from Reactive Champion – about choosing the right training methods for you and your dog.

“Would you get on the bus?” Debbie from FearfulDogs poses questions you should ask yourself when selecitng a trainer.

Loved this one from Jez Rose: Are dogs really pack animals? Do they live in packs? (Other myths busted by Jez Rose: Top 10 Dog Behaviour Myths Explained.)

Give buddy a break: more isn’t better for training your dog.

Denise Fenzi had some lovely posts this week. Firstly, she talked about “Balance – food and toys” in dog training. She also blogged about “What is a Relationship?“.

Dog Breeds

The Terrierman surprised me by teaching me something new (and something to ponder) about border terriers, in his post “The thin portfolio of the working border terrier“. (He also dismays over ‘dry land’ retrievers and ‘timid’ terriers – dogs that have migrated far beyond their original purpose.)

Just for fun: The Terrier Song.

Kids and Dogs

Dogs don’t like hugs – a video illustrating a number of stress signals displayed by a hugged dog. Disturbingly, many of the comments show an adult audience unwilling to accept the account of the video.

Don’t hug-your-dog day!

Be A Tree Education in Liberia to Teach Empathy and Discourage Pet Eating.

Dog Health

A well argued ascertion regarding the harms of inbreeding. I enjoyed this because most inbreeding arguements are likely to become emotional instead of factual; there was no such problem in this article, titled: “Inbreeding is Screwing Yourself“.

From the Worms and Germs Blog: Bali rabies update and (not dog related, but) Bat on a plane!

Rescue

Homeless cat and homeless man hit the bigtime.

From DogStar Daily: Who killed these dogs?

And then KC Dog Blog responded to this with a post on assessing blame vs focusing on solutions. (Brent also posted: Are shelters euthanising the wrong dogs for aggression?)

Other dog stuff

A news article on Freud’s dog companions.

Dogs who survived the Titanic.

Most people have probably seen this Texts from Dog (a blog), which is going viral. There is kind of a ‘best of’ collection at Failblog.

Cute video from 1902 of Miss Dundee and her performing dogs.

Barking Out Loud: Subaru is going to the dogs.

Questions