Issue #13
Ever wonder why kibble companies put coloring in their dog food? In 2015, Mars Inc., the world's biggest pet-food company, conducted home visits and consumer panels that revealed people felt guilty feeding their pets the same food every day and were more likely to buy pet food that reminded them of their own meals. They compared the aroma and aesthetics of against those of human ready meals from Campbell Soup Co. to create their new line of wet dog food this year. They even had their food photographed in crock pots for advertisements, to evoke images of home-cooked family meals.
The fact is your dog can’t even see all of those vibrant colors on the label or bits of kibble. All those artificial colorings and flavors are all done in the name of marketing.
Did you know… dogs have just a tenth of the concentration of color-capturing cones in the back of their eyes that humans have? Dogs, like most mammals, are dichromats -- which means they have two types of cones in their retina for color perception and we, humans, are trichromatic, having three cones. So our pups can only see two colors: blue-violet and yellow, and blends of these colors. Although the rest of their world seems a bit gray, they are more sensitive to motion and able to see better than us in low lighting.
Your dog may actually “feel” what you’re feeling. A recent study investigating emotional contagion, a basic component of empathy defined as emotional state-matching between individuals and dogs, found that dogs react completely differently to neutral sounds, and demonstrate more negative reactions like whining and yawning when reacting to emotional sounds. Dogs also showed many more negative behaviors when hearing negative emotional sounds from both humans and dogs than they did positive sounds. This suggests that they can tell the difference between and relate to your happy and sad sounds.
Just 4 more days to get this box! This month’s Real Pet Food box has turkey gizzard, lamb lung, whole smelt, beef aorta, duck wings and pig ears. Does your pup have an allergy? Let us know and we’ll be happy to accommodate 🙂
You can now control your underground dog fence with your phone. The first “connected fence” of its kind, the DogWatch SmartFenceTM syncs with a mobile app that provides pet owners with information about their hidden fence system and displays hourly updates of your dog’s activity. Using FM radio-frequency technology, hidden fences transmit a signal from an underground wire to a receiver collar worn by the dog, allowing your dog to recognize the signal and stay within the fence’s boundaries. Technology these days...
BBC Two series, “Trust me, I’m a vet” gets slaughtered by fresh food proponents. Last week, the first episode aired claiming that a raw diet “trend” could be bad news for humans. The comments on the BBC video posted to facebook were filled with harsh criticism of biased journalism and inadequate research funded by a kibble corporation, Royal Canin. BBC responded to the allegations with more detail behind the methodology of the research and stood its ground as an independent reporting agency. Veterinarian Nick Thompson, President of the Raw Feeding Society shot back claiming bacteria is everywhere, including cooked or processed foods, and these are simply unfounded, unscientific scare tactics that can be resolved with good hygiene practices. What's your take?
Dogs are the new must-have office accessory. Nowadays, you’re as likely to find a dog in the office as you are a pot plant or watercooler. For startups particularly, including Google, Zynga & Amazon, allowing dogs is an easy, cheap way of attracting and retaining millennials - they are using animal magnetism to reduce stress in the workplace and hang on to staff. Around 8% of US employers allow dogs at work and the number is only rising. Would you love to bring your dog to the office?
Wolves have finally returned to Denmark. After two largely wolf-free centuries, researchers say that a pair of the wolves has moved into west Jutland, and that cubs are almost certainly on the way. Wolves, which once roamed all over Europe, were eliminated from the Western part of the continent thanks to centuries of hunting, much of it state-sanctioned. Looking forward, the Danish government has begun setting up a wildlife management plan, funding wolf-proof fences and compensating farmers for lost animals. Ever wondered how wolves affect our ecosystem? Check out what happened at Yellowstone!