Issue #42

Did you know… dogs have 18 muscles in their ears that allow them to tilt and rotate them toward a sound they hear? The dog ear's shape allows the sound to be heard more accurately. The hearing ability of a dog is dependent on breed and age, though the range of hearing is usually around 67 Hz to 45 kHz, much higher than humans at 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Just like humans, some dog breeds' hearing ranges decrease with age.

Speaking of ears... Available until October 7th, here’s the lineup of the current box: 🐄 Elk, 🐖 Pork Liver, 🐟 Anchovies, 🐓 Chicken Feet, 🐑 Lamb Ears, 🦃 Turkey Neck

🐶 Super Chew this box:

🐖 Pig Trotter

🔥 Peep the unboxing!

A new technique could help dogs detect illegal ivory and rhino horns. The system, introduced by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) charity TRAFFIC and the Kenya Wildlife Service, is being trialed at Kenya’s Mombasa port, the biggest wildlife trafficking hub in Africa. The technology is called Remote Air Sampling for Canine Olfaction, or RASCO. RASCO helps make searches faster and allows dogs to do their sniffing in climate-controlled rooms, instead of outside in the hot weather for prolonged periods. They can work detecting ivory in at least 2,000 containers a day. Dogs are trained to sit and smell air that is suctioned out of a shipping container then passed through a filter to detect rhino horn, ivory and other illegal wildlife products.

CRISPR gene editing fixes muscular dystrophy in dogs. Are humans next? Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have reported to have successfully used CRISPR to correct the genetic defect responsible for Duchenne muscular dystrophy in four beagles bred with the disease-causing gene. It’s the first use of CRISPR to treat muscular dystrophy in a large animal. The team “fixed” the mutated dystrophin gene in four dogs by splicing out an offending section of the gene using CRISPR. CRISPR” (pronounced “crisper”) stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. Try saying that 3 times fast!

Gene therapy stops dog vision loss. Scientists funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, have reported a novel gene therapy that halts vision loss in canines suffering from a blinding condition called autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP). Gene therapy introduces genetic material, like shRNA, into cells to compensate for abnormal genes or to make a beneficial protein. The strategy could one day be used to slow or prevent vision loss in people with the disease.

Shelters might be getting the breed wrong. Using genetic testing, scientists have identified breed heritage in over 900 shelter dogs. They found widespread genetic diversity: 125 breeds in the sample and an average of three breed matches per dog. This means that only 10% of shelter staff have accurately identified breeds up for adoption. They also found that just 5% of the shelter dogs were purebred, even though it is commonly assumed that up to a quarter of dogs in shelters are purebred.

Are cranberries and beets in your dog food just a new marketing strategy? Animal nutritionists have discredited the “exotic ingredients” like beet pulp and cranberries found in expensive pet foods as a marketing strategy designed to impress human owners while doing little if any good for dogs at all. While what’s good for us is probably good for our dogs, our anatomy isn’t quite the same. Veterinarian, Karen Becker explains our co-evolution with dogs and more importantly why processed foods aren’t good for either of us. This TedTalk is worth a listen. #backtothebasics

#RealX Challenges. You may have seen these challenges floating around on Instagram. It turns out, teaching your dogs new tricks isn’t just for poops and giggles. It gives you an opportunity to spend some quality time with your pup, works that little noggen of theirs and helps you build a better bond with your dog. It also gives you an chance to win your pup some free treats. Win-Win. Check out our latest challenge - #treatbowling

Well-behaved dogs may have happier owners. While this may not seem surprising, a new study that looks at links between how dog owners perceive their pet’s behavior when they are away, suggests there can be a negative spiral whereby stressed owners do not respond well to their dog’s misbehaviors, causing more stress or anxiety in the dog. “Owners with higher levels of stress may not have a relaxed relationship with their dogs, which can contribute to their annoyance about their dogs’ behavior, so they spend less time with them, increasing the anxiety in the dogs. In turn, a dog’s behaviors may annoy the owner and may be a source of stress for him or her, which affects his or her perceived happiness.”

Dogs reportedly keep dying after being groomed at PetSmart. Over 30 dogs have died after being groomed at PetSmart stores across the country since 2015, according to an investigative report last week. The report also says the company offered heartbroken owners non-disclosure agreements in exchange for hush-money payments. This was an independent investigation by NJ Advance Media and here is Petsmart’s response.