Issue #18
Did you know… dogs have up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses? Compared to only 6 million in our noses... When we inhale, we smell and breathe through the same airways. Dogs have a fold of tissue just inside their nostrils, so when they inhale, they can actually separate smelling and breathing. And when dogs exhale, the spent air exits through the slits in the sides of their noses, allowing dogs to sniff almost continuously.
So-Cal Peeps - CineReal presents its first screening: Planet Earth II. Join us for a special outdoor presentation of the first episode, Islands. Like all of our events, this one is dog-friendly, so feel free to bring your canine critics, since wildlife documentaries such as this one are often visually captivating to them, too! We'll also be hosting our own Yappy Hour at 7:30 pm with special guest Zoe Sandor of Zoe's Dog Training and to keep things fun and interesting, we’ll also have some trivia throughout the evening with some great prizes, including our highly-anticipated new Super Chews. Click here for details.
Scientists find key 'friendliness' genes that distinguish dogs from wolves. A study, published this week in the journal Science Advances, found that structural variations in three genes on chromosome 6 are correlated with how much canines socialize with humans. An analysis of DNA from two dozen animals revealed that these genes look very different in dogs than they do in wolves, which explains why dogs are a bit more willing to cuddle than wolves.
New evidence suggests dogs all descended from late stone age wolves in Europe. Previously, it had been thought that dogs came from two populations of wolves living thousands of miles apart. Researchers recently analyzed the DNA sequence of skulls and fossils of 5,000-7,000 year-old-dogs (found in Germany and Ireland) and were able to determine that the genome of a modern dog was very similar to the genome of these ancient dogs, suggesting a single origin of wolves domesticated into our household pups today.
Rover raises $65M to expand internationally. The Seattle-based pet-sitting start-up wasn’t looking to raise more cash, but venture firm Spark Capital (who’s invested in companies like Slack, Twitter, Oculus, Warby Parker and Trello, kept knocking. The company plans to use the funds to fuel international expansion, drive more marketing, and launch new services for pet owners and sitters.
Apparently, paid pet-sitting without a license is illegal in NYC. According to long-established city regulations, anyone offering pet-sitting for pay must be licensed to board animals and do so in a permitted kennel, not a home. A seemingly trivial rule has only come to light as app-based companies like Wag and Rover become more popular - and it comes as no surprise that Rover is fighting to get the law overturned. Only 2 violations have been cited thus far, with fines starting at $1,000.
A pet pharmaceutical company sold for more than $100M to Zoetis, the world’s biggest animal healthcare company. Nexvet, founded in Melbourne, Australia, develops pain medication for pets using monoclonal antibodies, which are commonly used to treat human cancers. Zoetis, based in New Jersey, was spun out of US pharmaceutical Pfizer in 2013. It’s unclear what this means for animal healthcare and the future of pet pharmaceuticals, but it’s clear that “people are now willing to give their pets the same level of care that they would give themselves.”
Dogs could sniff out Parkinson’s disease years before symptoms appear. Researchers at Manchester University are trying to discover which odor molecules are linked to the disease so that dogs can be trained to spot the illness. Dogs’ ability to detect prostate cancer and changes in blood sugar levels were discovered a few years ago and testing has been underway. It’s estimated that the part of the brain we use to analyze odors is 40x larger in dogs.
Dog harness that can signal messages for help from passersby. A research group at Georgia Tech has been equipping dogs with active sensors that a dog can bite, nudge or tug to activate a signal or screen message. Imagine a service dog tugging at its harness and a message sounds: "My owner needs help — please follow me." Meanwhile, scientists at North Carolina State are working on a smart harness that monitors dog activity to detect stress and anxiety, that will eventually help dogs communicate through computer translators.