Dog Yawning News

Bone Tired: Study Shows Yawning Dogs Empathizing with Owners

We’ve all heard that a dog’s bark can be worse than its bite, but what about its yawn?
It turns out that aspect of canine behavior may provide evidence that dogs really are man’s best friend. A study out of Lund University in Sweden found that our canine companions often yawn in reaction to seeing a human do the same thing.
The phenomenon, known as contagious yawning, is prominent among many groups of animals, humans included. However, the process, which is believed to indicate empathy and help contribute to group mentality and social structure, has been less studied between species.
Elainie Madsen, a doctor of psychology at Lund University who co-authored the study, told ABC News dogs were chosen because “they spend so much time with us, and we spend so much time with them.”
“For those of us who have dogs,” she said, “we often feel this very close connection with them, and we feel that they must understand or sympathize with our emotions and our emotional states.”
The study took 35 dogs between the ages of 4 and 14 months and exposed them to various yawning human beings. Madsen found the results fascinating.
“We showed that the dogs were yawning contagiously – not just yawning but they also took on the emotion that yawning usually signifies, which is usually sleepiness and tiredness,” she said.
As with humans, age proved to be a significant factor in whether or not a dog exhibited contagious yawning.
“They go through what seems to be an empathy development that somehow mirrors humans’ empathy development, so it’s just obviously on a very different time scale,” Madsen said. “Human children don’t begin to yawn contagiously until they’re about 4 years old. Below that age, they seem pretty immune to others yawning at them. In dogs, this happens when they’re about 7 months old. Dogs below that age don’t seem to yawn, either.”
So what does this mean for dog owners?
According to Madsen, it’s a reason to rest assured that your dog really does love you as much as you love it.
“Dogs really have a close emotional connection with people,” she said, “with owners as well as with other people.”

Dog Saves Brother

Dog rescues brother trapped in Cape Cod woods

SANDWICH, Mass. A golden retriever who was trapped with his brother for two weeks in the woods on Cape Cod managed to find his way back home and lead his owner back to his sibling.

Baxter and Bailey were tied together with a double leash in front of their owner's Sandwich, Mass., home when they got loose on Sept. 26.

Owner Penny Blackwell put up flyers and appealed for help on Facebook, but after two weeks passed with no sign of the dogs, she began to lose faith that she would find them.

"I had pretty much given up hope that they were going to come home," Blackwell said.

• Beagle survives 70-foot leap off of N.J. bridge with only a few bruises
• Desperate dog makes 2-mile trek to find owner

Then, when Blackwell was out of town on business, she received a text message from a friend saying one of the dogs had been found. A family who had seen Blackwell's Facebook posts spotted Baxter wandering near their home.

And when Blackwell took Baxter back to where he'd been found, the golden retriever seemed to be on a mission to save his sibling.

"Baxter kind of led me off the side through the woods. I had twigs in my eyes and leaves in my hair," Blackwell said.

The dog led his owner right to Bailey, whose leash had become ensnared in bushes.

"I could hardly get him untied because he was jumping on me and jumping on Baxter because he was so happy to see us," Blackwell said.

The dogs each lost 8 to 10 pounds while they were missing but are otherwise in good health. And their owner is grateful to have them back.

"Baxter's a hero for taking me there," Blackwell said.


THAT DOG REALLY IS A     RETRIEVER!!!!

Pets and POT

‘Stoner dog’ epidemic sees dramatic rise in number of hospitalized pets

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By Eric Pfeiffer

Getting your dog high on pot may be more akin to abuse than entertainment. (CBS4)Colorado veterinarians have a message for medical marijuana users: Don't get your dog stoned. Marijuana is toxic in a dog's system, they say, and has even resulted in some canine deaths.

"There are huge spikes in the frequency of marijuana ingestion in places where it's become legal," veterinarian Dr. Debbie Van Pelt told local CBS affiliate WTSP. "They basically have lost a lot of their fine motor control, they have a wide-based stance and they are not sure on their feet."

Before medical marijuana was legalized in Colorado, local vets say they saw only a handful of cases of dogs exposed to the substance per year. But now, those numbers have more than quadrupled.

The vets say most of the dogs are getting high from medical marijuana edibles left out in the open by their owners. Marijuana edibles are cookies, brownies and other foods prepared with a butter laced with THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot.

And while some pet owners may think it's funny to get their dogs high, the vets say pot is actually toxic to a dog's system. Cats are similarly vulnerable to negative effects from inhaling second-hand marijuana smoke or eating edibles. Cat experts say many owners inaccurately believe that marijuana will have a similar effect on their cats as catnip.

"I just want dogs, kids to be safe. It needs to be treated like any other drug. If you came home with a prescription of Vicodin from your doctor you wouldn't just leave it sitting there," veterinarian Stacy Meola told the station.

In fact, Dr. Meola said that two dogs recently died after ingesting a lethal amount of marijuana. Such deaths are rare, but even in cases in which a dog's life is not threatened, the dog may still be subjected to painful symptoms, including vomiting and even comas.

"We need people to realize it is potentially toxic and potentially fatal to their pets," Van Pelt said.