Here's a blog discussion of the bias against black dogs. Three characteristics that make a dog hard to adopt: black coat, medium size, 2-3 years old.
Washington Post article about research into dog play and whether it indicates that dogs have a moral sense. (Big dogs "self-handicap" when playing with small dogs, for example.)
Swedish scientists are working on a way to read your dog's thoughts. They hook an EEG up to the dog's head, and a computer interprets the brain activity and translates that activity into a short phrase which can be played through a loud speaker -- a phrase such as "I'm curious about that."
An interesting example of how to design and interpret a controlled experiment.
Researchers asked dog owners to take their dogs into a room and instruct the dog to stay away from a tempting treat. Then the dog owners left the room. In some cases, if the dog obeyed, the researcher removed the treat, so that when the owner returned it appeared as though the dog had disobeyed, even though the dog had obeyed. In other cases, if the dog disobeyed, the researcher replaced the treat, so that when the owner returned it appeared as though the dog had obeyed, even though the dog had disobeyed.
The result? Dogs appeared to be guilty, regardless of whether they had disobeyed and taken the treat, or obeyed and the researcher had taken the treat. Dogs appeared to be not guilty regardless of whether they had obeyed and not taken the treat, or disobeyed and the researcher replaced the treat.
The dog's behavior was triggered by reading the reaction of the owner. When the treat was gone, the owner assumed that the dog had disobeyed; the owner's disappointment registered with the dog, who then acted guilty, regardless of whether he (the dog) was guilty of not. When the treat was present, the owner assumed that the dog had obeyed; the owner's happiness registered with the dog, who then acted not guilty regardless of whether he (the dog) was guilty of not.
Do thunderstorms make your dog tremble with fear? A new study shows (alas) that comforting a dog does not relieve the dog’s stress (as measured by levels of a stress related hormone in the dog’s saliva)\. Dogs in “multi-dog households” are less likely to be frightened by thunder.
“The story started a few years ago when Giorgio Vallortigara of the University of Trento, in Italy, and his colleagues, established that dogs wag their tails to the right when they see something pleasant, such as a beloved human master, and to the left when they see something unpleasant, such as an unfamiliar dominant dog. What Dr Vallortigara did not establish then was whether such signals are meaningful to other dogs. Now, he and the team from the previous study have done just that.
