Why Do Dogs Sing Along to Music?

When I was 12, I began to play the oboe. Like any beginner, I was not good. And every time I held a long, out-of-tune note, my dog would instantly begin howling like some deranged four-legged backup singer. Dogs, of course, howl along to all sorts of music: the Law and Order theme song, “Let It Go,” and most ubiquitously these days, Adele's “Hello” among them.


Researchers have long been interested in this question. A student wrote in a January 1906 issue of Nature Studies on the subject of “Why Do Dogs Howl to Music” that writers for nature publications, “being mind-bound by the fetish of ‘evolution’ theories,” often look to the “primeval Dog” for answers. But evolution theory is actually a useful guide in this case: When dogs hear a human voice belting out a tune, their pack instincts kick in; they want to participate in the chorus. “It’s like a family singing,” animal behaviorist Peter Borchelt has said.

We can only wish we'd look this cute when someone comes into the room with a plate of cupcakes. Photographer Christian Vieler has captured the looks of wonder, anticipation, and determination on his subjects' faces as they're tossed scrumptious treats. And it's okay that their mouths go wobbly and their eyes all bulgy in the process, because his subjects are dogs.

The Animals Need More than Just Love at Times

Pets are lovable, there's no doubt about it. The reason why most people decide to adopt animals is the simple fact that they are the best companions one can have. Apart from sheer loyalty to the adopter, pets act as great stress busters. While people revel in the love they get from their pets, questions are there how much of the love is reciprocated back. Pets are responsibilities for the adopters who must make sure that their pets are in the pink of health and active as well. While the pets act as good stress busters, it is the human kind's responsibility to relive the pets from their stresses.

Regular checkups are musts for animals to live ailment free. Even if the animals do not show any palpable sign of ailment, one can never be too cautious. Some ailments in pets stay latent till the stage when they become life threatening. Proper and early diagnosis of these diseases is a must to ensure that the animals do not go through that treacherous fate. At Least in the matter of few months, animals must be taken for diagnosis and health checkups at the animal hospitals in the vicinity. The government hospitals in many countries offer consultation and checkups for animals at subsidised costs.

It is obvious from the death rate comparison among animals in different countries that some countries are better equipped to tackle animal ailments than the others. Canada, for example, is a trendsetter in veterinary science. Animal hospitals in Burlington are well known for their expertise in the field of vet medicine and operations. People refer to these facilities when their pets are suffering from life threatening diseases or ailment that needs emergency attention. Housing some of the best vet surgeons, the animal hospitals in Burlington are the point of reference for worried pet owners.

It goes beyond saying that veterinary science has evolved quite a lot in the last few decades. A number of ailments can be effectively avoided with remedies like simple vaccinations- something the yesteryears vet science was not equipped with. Effective diagnosis has also played an important part in felling the death rate of animals sharply in developing countries. The one aspect of vet science that still needs advancement is the one of emergency surgeries. Government entities involved with animal welfare invest heavily on new researches and development in veterinary science to usher in a brighter future for the animals in distress.

Why Do Cats Purr?

One important thing we do know about purring, however, is that it can be a highly beneficial act for the cat itself. Purring is thought to be very soothing and de-stressing for cats (and conveniently is the same for us feeble humans). This explains why cats purr when they are unhappy or nervous: It's a mechanism to help calm themselves and retain their cat-like composure. Purring also has numerous physical benefits, including tissue-regeneration. That's right: Purring can actually help a cat heal.



The low frequency of a purr (about 26 Hertz on average for a domestic cat) has the same muscular and bone-strengthening benefits as high-impact exercise on humans. That probably explains why they can jump from the highest bookshelf in your living room and not feel a thing.

Purring also has the benefit of releasing endorphins, a chemical that helps in pain management and overall happiness. Many cats will purr when pregnant in order to ease the aches. When the kittens are born, the purring continues as a necessary form of communication. As cats are born blind, a mother's purr is necessary in order for the newborns to find and communicate with her. Newborn kittens pick up on the technique when they are just a few days old.

Of course, the most important thing in decoding any purr is context. As it is a form of communication, it is up to us cat-lovers to discern exactly what our feline friends are trying to say. Whether they are hungry, scared, or just happy to see us — there are usually clues to indicate, and it's our job to be attuned to those clues (in order to best serve our kitten overlords, of course).

Britain's cleverest cats!

Carol Hack, 54, runs a scuba-diving centre and lives with her husband Dave, a 57-year-old scientist, in Middleton, Cumbria. She says:

Within a few weeks of getting Pinky as a kitten two years ago, I knew she was special. I’ve had Somali cats (a long-haired breed) for 15 years — I owned eight at one time but now I’m down to six — and she’s by far the most intelligent.

For one thing, she can open zips. I have a zipped washbag where I keep cotton buds, which Pinky loves to play with. Sure enough, she learned to open it. At first she could only do it when I’d left the zip slightly open — she’d put her nose in the hole and push the zipper along. But then she started biting the zipper and pulling it along. She’s incredible.

We first learned about her clever ways one night when I heard a crinkling sound in the kitchen. I investigated and found Pinky wolfing down a packet of cat treats.

I was confused — the packet had been in a biscuit barrel on a high shelf — but figured I must have left the top off accidentally. But after it had happened a few times I kept an eye out and saw Pinky, who’s small but incredibly athletic, leaping onto the rubbish bin and bouncing off it to get on to the shelf, which is about 5ft high. From there she nudged the lid off with her nose before tucking into the spoils.



We got a new container, with a seal around the neck which makes it hard to get open. She simply pushed it over and hit it against the wall with her nose and paws until the top popped off.

She’s the smartest cat I’ve ever known. I did some of the IQ tests from E.M. Bard’s book with her — such as covering her food to see if she could find it — and she passed with flying colours. Other than that, like all Somalis, she’s very vocal and loves to follow you round, but she’s also very affectionate and loves tummy rubs.

Dallas dog loyally stands by stray friend killed by car

A photo of one dog standing guard over another which was hit by a car on a roadside in south-west Dallas has warmed hearts across the US.

The dog, a Great Pyrenees, stood by his friend near the Dallas-Fort Worth national cemetery until volunteers rushed to rescue him, after a photo of the two surfaced on Facebook. Posted by Samuel Flores, the photo showed the dog standing over his friend, who was hit by a car and killed.

“He was just kind of sitting guard, like a statue, just sitting there watching over his friend’s body,” animal advocate Julie Fennell told a local NBC affiliate.

“It really looks like she was hit in the road, you can see the blood in the road, and it looks like he [dragged] her up on to the grass out of the road.”

Volunteers could not determine the dog’s history, or why he was dedicated to protecting the other dog, but said he was very calm and loving when rescued.

“He made a friend,” Fennell said. “Whether it was his companion in his yard at home or whether they met up as strays, but something made him stay by her side.”

The Great Pyrenees was taken to Dallas animal services. If no owners come forward, he will be released to SPIN Rescue, a group focused on the rescue of Great Pyrenees dogs.

Winter is coming...but these animals are ready

While some people might not be ready for that, the animals at the Potawatomi Zoo are more than ready.

"Just like us, they can go outside as long as they have a heated place to come back to," said Josh Sisk, the general curator at the zoo. "You can come to the zoo and see tigers, see lions, you can see them running through the snow. Even in the environments they come from, there are nights that get pretty chilly as well."

"When it gets cold and snowy, they will go outside sometimes," said zookeeper Gretchen Pitser. "They'll run out there in the mornings and make a couple of laps, but for the most part they'll stay inside. We only have to lock them up inside when it gets below 20 degrees."

Of course, not every animal necessarily needs to come inside, but every animal has the option.

Some of them are actually well suited for cold weather, but if they want, they can stay inside a nice heated barn.

"We have procedures set in place for each species," Sisk said. "Some animals may be have to have access [outdoors]. Some may be completely locked into a barn. It all depends on the species."

"These guys are not the smartest creatures you'll run across," said zookeeper Erink Brunk, nodding towards three ostriches. "But they do know that if it's cold, they go in where it's warmer."


That instinct, and the option to stay inside, makes it a bit easier for zookeepers to know if the animals should stay in, or if they should go out and stretch their legs for a bit.

Do animals recognise themselves in mirrors?

Admit it, you've probably tried showing your dog or cat a mirror, just to see what would happen. And chances are they either completely ignored it, or freaked out thinking it was another dog or cat to attack - or play with. There's no shortage ofadorable videos starring puppies versus mirrors, but the antics don't really explain whether an animal can actually recognise itself in the mirror.



At first the chimps treated their reflections as they would another chimp in a social setting. But within a few days, their behaviour changed. "They’d use the mirror to look at the inside of their mouths, to make faces at the mirror, to inspect their genitals, to remove mucous from the corner of their eyes," Galluptold Chelsea Wald at Nautilus.

In other words, the chimps appeared to have learnt to recognise their reflections. To be sure, Gallup tested this notion by going one step further - each animal was gently anesthetised and received some markings in the shape of red paint on one of their eyebrow ridges, and a tip of the ear. "It seemed pretty obvious that if I saw myself in a mirror with marks on my face, that I’d reach up and inspect those marks," said Gallup.

The removable red dye couldn't be smelled or felt by touch (the team actually tested this by painting their own faces first and waiting for 24 hours to see if they could feel it). Once returned to their mirrors, the chimps went on to do exactly what Gallup predicted - they inspected their new markings, even rubbing them with their hands and then checking their fingers to see if whatever had been painted on them was coming off.

Ecotourism May Negatively Affect Animals

A paper published on Friday in the scientific journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution raises questions about how the presence of humans affects wild animals and their susceptibility to predators. For the paper, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) examined data of observed animal behavior from scientists around the world. Dan Blumstein, professor and chair of the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA, is the corresponding author of the paper, “How Nature-Based Tourism Might Increase Prey Vulnerability to Predators.”



With ecotourism, or nature-based tourism, Blumstein told Outside on Monday, there is evidence that animals can become more tolerant of humans. “The question we’re asking is, ‘Does this mean they become more vulnerable to predators?’” he said. “The degree to which animals become dumb around humans is a really interesting question.”

The paper examines the link between wild animals’ gradual domestication through interaction with humans in high-traffic areas like wilderness preserves. Due to their close proximity to humans, these animals live in a kind of protective net from predators. As they breed, they pass down domestic traits, changing the species generation by generation. Blumstein’s paper asks whether this poses a danger to the animals both immediately and in the long-term, especially if the protection that human presence provides from predators is removed.


While these changes may not seem as critical for species like deer or squirrels, the stakes are higher when dealing with already-stressed populations, specifically endangered species. For at-risk populations, the loss of several animals (due to domestication and its impact on the animal’s ability to escape predators) could result in a stable population moving into decline, Blumstein said. He also said that the paper’s results call for additional research to discover a timeline of when these changes take place.

A special badger – with very special protectors

Despite the whispering, our excitement was palpable. “There’s a white one,” one of the volunteers from the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust said. Not white, as it turned out, although in the half-light of a misty pre-dawn it seemed that way.

Standing closer, the badger appeared more gingery brown, the head’s usual contrast of humbug stripes almost absent. The eyes were a marmalade colour, pretty and rather gentle. This wasn’t an albino but an erythristic badger, lacking black pigment in its fur through a genetic mutation. Their distribution in Britain is patchy; there are more in north Shropshire, for example, but very few in Derbyshire; this was the first badger experts in the county had heard about.

Badgers in humane traps react in all sorts of ways, sometimes hissing or growling; later that morning I’d see one fast asleep. This one remained still, head cocked, waiting to see what would happen next. The head was slim, even a little elongated and the tail somewhat stubby and round, the hallmarks of a female.

Debbie Bailey, taking a career break from nursing to help protect badgers, was busy around the trap, wiggling the fingers of one hand near the badger’s face while the other guided a hypodermic needle towards the badger’s ample rear end, vaccination against tuberculosis. The badger didn’t react as the needle went in but as Debbie clipped fur from the badger’s back, it finally complained. applied a dot of stock spray, so that if this badger were trapped again she would know it.

I could only stand and marvel: at the badger, but also at the dedication of those working on her behalf. It had taken days of patient effort – and lots of peanuts – to treat this badger with the minimum of stress. Procedure complete, Debbie opened the trap and gently coaxed the badger backwards. It paused, tawny snout sniffing the air, and then was off, sprinting in a wide arc round the back of us, bustling through a stand of trees into undergrowth.

Call for ban on wild animals in travelling circuses

Campaigners calling for a ban on wild animals in travelling circuses say quicker action is needed amid "inconsistent" rules across Britain.



England, Scotland and Wales all have different regulations when it comes to beasts such as lions and tigers going on show in the big top.
The UK Government is currently mulling over draft legislation about a ban - which could also include Wales. Scotland is set to have a public consultation on the matter first.

But Animal Defenders International (ADI), who say using wild animals in circuses is outdated and cruel, say less talk and more action is needed.
Charity bosses have highlighted the case of one circus act who has been stopped from putting on a show in Hereford but is allowed to perform across the border in Wales.

ADI President Jan Creamer said: "No circus or travelling show could ever provide conditions that satisfy the complex needs of wild animals, nor do the acts contribute to conservation or education.

"The UK Government must fulfil its promise to ban all wild animals from circuses and travelling shows or be held responsible for their continued suffering."
Using a Freedom of Information request, ADI said Britain's last lion tamer Thomas Chipperfield was not granted a circus licence by the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Documents show officials expressed concern about the living space for his lions and tigers - saying they were less than half the size recommended.

Mr Chipperfield branded Defra's decision as confusing and said his set up was identical when passed by inspectors on five previous occasions.

However, he has since taken his show An Evening With Lions And Tigers to Wales instead - prompting several protests in the process.

Mr Chipperfield insisted his animals were well looked after and argued his shows drew attention to the plight of endangered species.

Speaking to the Tivyside Advertiser ahead of a show in Cardigan, he said: "There's an estimated less than 4,000 tigers left in the wild and I believe by people seeing them and learning about them sparks an interest in protecting them."

Top 10 Funny and Cute Dog Videos

Tropical Fish Keeping Made Easy

Not a big fan of furry animals? Want pets that won’t pee on your carpet? Then fish might just be the pets for you. Keeping fish has many variations. You can make it easy, or hard on yourself depending on what kind of fish you want. There’s quite a lot of choice involved. For the sake of this guide, we’re going to say you’re keeping tropical fish indoors.



Choosing A Tank

You have to know the size of the tank you want. Likewise, you need to have the appropriate space to fit it. Don’t buy a large tank if you know it won’t fit in the room you’re placing it in. Once you’ve determined the tank size you want, you first need to find a stand for it.
Be sure to get a stand specifically for the tank though. You need to know it can hold the weight of the tank filled with water. You also need to make sure the storage cabinets should have openings in the back so you can run wires from the pump up to the tank.

Getting The Equipment

Tropical fish require a few bits and pieces to make the tank habitable for them. We’ve already mentioned that a pump is required, for the purposes of keeping the water oxygenated. You’ll also need a temperature control system and thermometer to ensure the water is warm enough for them to survive.
Other aquarium supplies are needed to ensure the tank is adequate for the fish. You’ll also need a device to measure chemical levels in the water, such as nitrate. You’re also going to want a filter to help cultivate the right amount of bacteria in the water.

Filling The Tank

Before you start filling the tank up with water, you need to lay down some gravel on the bottom. While not required, it gives a more authentic aesthetic to the tank. If you want plants to take root in the tank too, you’ll need a fairly deep gravel base. You can also add a faux-rock wall to the back of the tank if you have it pushed up against a wall.
Next, fill the tank with cold water. Switch all your systems on, and leave the tank for a little while. You may need to monitor the tank’s temperature and nitrate levels for a few days before it settles into something habitable.

Fish


Finally, get some tropical fish you like the look of from a local pet store. Be sure to get the appropriate food for their type too. Some fish are bottom feeders and need specific food in the form of dissolvable tablets.

'Wild' animals in travelling circuses benefit no one

The suggestion by a committee of MPs on Tuesday that zebras, camels and several other wild species are appropriate in travelling circuses will cause dismay, outrage and some measure of agreement.

Whether transportation causes animals unacceptable stress, or circuses represent an environment ripe for abuse, can be argued back and forth. But why does a debate about this even exist?

There is an eternal tension between humans and the rest of the animal world. Our existence relies on some measure of exploitation. Animals are routinely killed and enslaved to further the human purpose. And, apart from cases of inhumane treatment, much of this relationship has a necessary evil argument in its favour.

We engage in these ethical debates, and sometimes fall on one side or the other, every time we pull on a leather jacket or eat a leg of lamb. But where does the line between essential and unnecessary get drawn? Somewhere, I would say, around travelling circuses.

Travelling conditions for animals in circuses cannot be as good as not travelling at all. An animal cannot be abused in a circus if it isn't there. This is a problem that comes with a fairly simple solution.

There is no compelling human interest argument here. Just our insatiable desire to be entertained.

It's important to consider the prospects of the operators of these institutions. Two of them still exist in Britain and they hold licences for 21 animals between them. This is their way of life and undoubtedly there are entertaining aspects to their shows.

But sometimes you get caught on the wrong side of history ploughing an archaic furrow and then it's time to innovate or relocate. Plenty of circuses now exist animal-free. Couldn't the government spend the money set aside for regulating these operators on helping them to hire strikingly talented, well-remunerated humans to entertain crowds and reinvigorate the spectacle?

The argument that circuses give children the opportunity to see animals that are exotic and special is true. And they surely display certain species' physical prowess. But this arena also encourages children to view animals in a decontextualised and subordinate way. There is little educational value here such as exists in zoos.

We should be presenting the natural world to our children as something supra-human and untameable. How can they value an animal as wild and supreme when it performs, no matter how impressively, simply for giggles?

To call these animals "wild" is a misnomer. In this context we define wild as anything not normally domesticated in Britain. But let's not kid ourselves, this is a caricature of wildness. A bit of casual, family-friendly barbarism in which we are encouraged to subjugate principle for the sake of entertainment.

So next time the circus comes to town, save your money, buy a Life on Earth DVD and settle in with the kids to be spellbound by what is truly the greatest show on Earth.

Saskatchewan animals preparing for fall

When it comes to priorities in Saskatchewan's animal world these days, finding enough food and a warm home for the winter are at the top of the list.

Kenton Lysak explained what large animals including moose and bears are searching for to Saskatoon Morning's Leisha Grebinski. Lysak is the Senior Interpreter at Beaver Creek Conservation Centre near Saskatoon.

"At this time, these animals are just looking for a place to hang out and eat a ton of food. They're trying to gain as much weight as possible."

Lysak has spotted a moose in the conservation area and said he has heard reports of moose sightings in recent weeks.

"These moose are looking for tasty treats and trying to get their fat and protein content up so they can survive the harsh winter months."



Birds preparing for flight

Birds are also looking to stock up on food as the temperature begins to fall in the province. 

Lysak said most birds are looking for food to help them prepare for the long migration south to warmer temperatures.

But he also pointed out that some birds stay and brave the cold prairie winter.

"The birds that stay here need as much protein and fat as possible to get through the winter months. So feeding those chickadees and other animals in your backyard do them a big benefit."

Senate backs call for urgent federal funding for cassowary rehab centre

The Senate has backed a Greens push for the federal government to consider urgent funding for a struggling far north Queensland cassowary rehabilitation centre.

Greens senator Larissa Waters called on the federal government to help the state government keep the centre open and to expand its operations to treat adult birds. Photograph: Robert Tidey/AAP/Rainforest Rescue

The Garners Beach Rehabilitation Centre at Mission Beach had been earmarked for closure but the state government this week stepped in with up to $50,000 interim funding to keep it open for another three months.

Only chicks will be admitted during that time, prompting concerns that injured adults would have to be put down at the roadside.

In a Senate motion submitted on Wednesday, Greens senator Larissa Waters called on the federal government to help the state government keep the centre open and to expand its operations to treat adult birds.

Waters said the government needed to update and commit funding to a national recovery plan for the endangered species, the last of which was published in 2007.

“Not only do we have a duty to protect the cassowary for its intrinsic value but this iconic species is also an important tourism drawcard,” she said.

“If passed, it [the motion] will send a powerful message to the federal environment minister about the need to work with the state government to properly fund the rehabilitation centre.”

The motion was carried on the voices, despite the government maintaining it is already taking action to save the endangered cassowary through the threatened species strategy.

“In response to the motion, the federal government said it would write to the state government about funding,” Waters said.

Outspoken far north Queensland vet Dr Graham Lauridsen, who is involved with the centre, said the facility would not need federal funding if the state government did “its job”.

“Why reinvent the wheel when it was working fine a year or two ago?” he said.

Queensland’s environment and heritage protection minister, Steven Miles, has written to Lauridsen to assure him the department is working to reinstate normal ranger services amid a number of staff movements.

But the vet said he was still concerned his staff would have to pick up the slack after he was told the rangers were not to respond to calls outside normal work hours.

10 Breathtakingly Beautiful Albino Animals

1. This sleeping bundle of koala.



2. This beautiful little Kiwi bird.

3. Migaloo, the humpback whale.

4. This proud baby.



5. This precious, little ferret.



6. This grandiose peacock.



7. And this tiny little wood frog.



8. This amazing killer whale.

9. This ghostly alligator.



10. This chillin’ muskrat.

10 Years, 10,000 Dogs and Cats

What can you say about a group of people who’ve been so dedicated to animals that in ten years they’ve made life-changing (and sometimes life-saving) differences in the lives of over ten thousand animals? What is in a number anyway? Not much maybe, unless you’re one of the ones being counted. And for those dogs and cats in the lucky group that have been rescued and rehomed by Almost Home Foundation – it makes all the difference in the world.
I can’t think of a better organization when it comes to people who are working to be the change for animals, than the one I’m proud to have been a part of the past decade. From the beginning, it was a group of people who focused solely on the welfare of pets. A Chicago-area rescue organization committed to no-kill, no-harm, nothing-but-respect for our furry friends.


      Chuck Hanson, President and Co-Founder, Almost Home Foundation

In its very first year of existence, Almost Home Foundation made a name for itself in neighboring towns. Aggressively seeking out volunteers, foster homes, and innovative ideas that would afford the greatest number of pets to be rescued, AHF also became known and trusted by local police departments for its reliability in assisting with homeless and abandoned pets. The network grew quickly, and so did the number of people willing to volunteer and donate.
Also in its first year, Almost Home Foundation sent a team to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The folks who went on that mission told me they were permanently affected by what they witnessed there. They were brave souls; and they brought back dogs (including a pregnant mama and her soon-to-be-born puppies) that would find homes and new families here in the Chicago area.
One dog was even reunited with its original family, who had been displaced by the hurricane and were devastated over having to leave their dog behind. The dedicated efforts of the foster family in finding the dog’s missing family helped in a historic national discussion about the importance of including family pets in official disaster plans.


Rescued by Almost Home Foundation from Puppy Parlor backroom breeding.

Over the years, Almost Home Foundation has championed causes such as spay/neuter, declawing, TNR and feral cat communities, breed discrimination and breed-specific laws, and puppy mills. AHF even rescued dogs from Puppy Parlor – a pet store with a puppy mill setup. If there was an issue that involved the welfare of cats and dogs, chances are AHF has worked to further it.

The organization has rescued many a homeless pet found in the surrounding towns. It has also provided a lifeline for many pets that were facing grim futures in high-kill shelters in downstate Illinois, as well as in southwestern states where shelters are overflowing and funds are scarce.

Lose the puppy fat: study has a bone to pick with Crufts' dumpy dogs

Basset hounds at Crufts earlier this year. The breed is one of those most likely to be overweight. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Image

The pampered pooches on show at Crufts are billed as the finest doggie specimens – but one in four is overweight, research has revealed.

Analysing 960 images of 28 different breeds of adult dogs placed between first and fifth in their class between 2001 and 2013, researchers found just over a quarter were overweight.

And widespread dissemination of pictures from the world’s largest dog show may be normalising obesity in the animals, the study published in the journal Veterinary Record said.

Pugs, basset hounds, and labrador retrievers were the breeds most likely to be too chubby, with 80% of pugs analysed by the researchers found to be overweight. All three of those breeds are renowned for being prone to obesity.

Pugs were originally bred to be a companion dog, but basset hounds and labradors were bred for hunting and fieldwork respectively, so being larger would not be advantageous, according to the researchers.

Labradors were originally used for hunting and fieldwork, so like this pair at Crufts their ideal weight should reflect this. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

Overweight dogs can suffer limited lifespans and are more prone to diabetes, breathing problems and orthopaedic issues, as well as certain cancers.

Standard poodles, border terriers, Rhodesian ridgebacks, Hungarian vizslas and dobermanns were the least likely to be overweight. None were underweight, which the researchers said suggested “judges are more aware of the characteristics associated with underweight condition”.

Obesity among show dogs is, perhaps unsurprisingly, less prevalent than in ordinary pet dogs. But researchers said it was still a cause for concern that 26% of dogs at Crufts appear to be above their ideal weight.

Labradors were originally used for hunting and fieldwork, so like this pair at Crufts their ideal weight should reflect this. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

“These dogs showcase the ideal characteristics of the pedigree breed, and there is a danger that widespread media exposure might adversely influence owner perception of optimal body shape,” the report said.

“Given the proportion of show dogs from some breeds that are overweight, breed standards should be redefined to be consistent with a dog in optimal body condition,” its authors suggested.

The Kennel Club, which runs Crufts, said its new judging criteria had policies to emphasise the importance of good canine health, including weight.

“Further effort is now required to educate owners, breeders and show judges so that they can all better recognise overweight condition, thus helping to prevent the development of obesity,” the organisation said.

Poachers shift to hornbills as rare animals decline

Because of decreasing numbers of rare wildlife species in Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL), located in North Sumatra and Aceh provinces, poachers have recently started catching the rangkong, or hornbill.

“Hornbills are currently being targeted by poachers because they are rare and hard to catch, partly because their population is further declining,” TNGL center head Andi Basrul told The Jakarta Post on Monday. Basrul said the hornbill was highly valued on the black market, and was being sought by poachers only as of this year. He added that based on the accounts of poachers arrested by officers, the price of a hornbill beak was around Rp 9 million (US$690), or Rp 90,000 per gram. Basrul said officers confiscated 12 hornbill beaks, which had been cleaned and prepared for sale overseas, from the two poachers. He said poaching suspects could face five years in prison and be fined Rp 100 million in accordance with Law No. 5/1990, which covers the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems. Meanwhile, a suspect who traded in hornbill beaks, Jamas, 37, said he had only recently traded in the bird. Jamas said that he used to poach other animals, including elephants and tigers, in TNGL. However, as the endangered animals became harder to find, Jamas said that he switched to trading hornbills. According to the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Indonesia Program, the population of rare animals in the park, including Sumatran tigers, rhinos, elephants and orangutans, has continuously decreased over the last 20 years.

Florida law threatens jail for falsely sneaking pet around as service animal

People who try to sneak their pets into restaurants, airplanes and other public places by claiming they are specially trained service animals could face 60 days in jail under a Florida law taking effect on Wednesday.

Falsely claiming your pet is a guide dog could land you in jail under a new Florida law. Photograph: Guide Dogs for the Blind Association/PA

Under the law, judges could also make the pet owners spend a month working with organizations serving people with real disabilities.

“I love my cat,” said Florida state representative Jimmy Smith, a Republican who sponsored the legislation. “But I’m not taking my cat everywhere I go.”
Smith said some pet owners are abusing the Americans with Disabilities Act by putting a guide dog harness or insignia on their animals and taking them into places that normally bar animals.

Pet owners can easily obtain service animal vests and registration documents, even for untrained pets, by sending as little as $75 to otherwise legitimate training facilities.

“To imply that you have a medical or service animal defrauds those who really need their service animals,” Smith said.

Smith noted that some service animals are trained to sense impending seizures or other conditions such as trauma that do not meet the eye, as well as more traditional duties helping the blind and deaf.

He said some restaurants, hotels and other public facilities turn away people with guide dogs if the patrons are not blind or do not have other readily apparent disabilities.

In addition to a 60-day jail term, Smith’s bill provides for offenders to perform 30 hours of community service for an organization that serves people with disabilities.

Palm Beach County OKs animal control rules

Palm Beach County Commissioners on Tuesday passed a range of animal control rules, key among them a tougher dog leash law and a spay-
                                                     

and-release plan for cats that some wildlife groups will lead to even more deaths of birds and small animals.

The vote was 6-0; County Mayor Shelley Vana was absent.

At its May 19 meeting, the commission tentatively adopted several new rules for animal control as part of “Countdown 2 Zero,” an ambitious program to reduce euthanasia of adoptable animals by 2024.

Wildlife groups then wrote to say house and feral cats kill 8 billion to 26 billion birds and small mammals and “we should not respond to one tragedy by creating another.”

In the proposed rule, any roaming cat collected by county Animal Care and Control that appears to be cared for would be sterilized, microchipped, and vaccinated for rabies, and its left ear clipped for identification. And it would be set free back in its neighborhood.

Dianne Sauve, director of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, has told commissioners the alternate would be for thousands of acts in shelters to be euthanized.

Why This Strange-Looking Animal Has A Nose Like A Penguin's Foot

This weird-looking thing is a Sichuan takin. It’s what happens when you let a bunch of sheep loose on the mountain ranges of Tibet for a few thousand years. It has a huge schnoz for the same reason the penguin has a unique set of

                                               

feet. Find out what these unique animals have in common.

A takin weighs over six hundred pounds and has horns like butcher’s hooks. It would probably be a lot scarier if its nose didn’t look like it was wearing a bigger, plusher version of itself as a nose-cozy. These animals have giant schnozes, and when scientists looked into the matter they found that the noses have something in common with an animal as unlike the takin as it is possible to be.

Penguins spend their days placing their bare feet directly on ice, without those feet freezing off. Although there are fish that manufacture a kind of “anti-freeze” in their blood to keep from freezing solid, penguins don’t have the same internal chemistry. Instead both penguins and takins have internal plumbing. By constantly circulating blood through their feet, penguins can keep their feet a couple of degrees above freezing. The real problem is what happens when that blood comes back into the body. Heating it up again will drain the penguin of energy, and fast. So before the penguin’s blood rushes from their feet back into their body, it passes very close by the network of other blood vessels going out into the feet. These outgoing vessels are full of warm blood which cools down, and transfers its heat to the incoming blood. The cooled blood keeps the feet just-barely-warm-enough, while the incoming blood is warmed enough to not slowly drain the penguin of both heat and energy.

The takin, meanwhile, is insulated with hooves and hair. It doesn’t really have to circulate much of its blood in an area that’s exposed to the cold. However, it is vulnerable to the cold in a different area – its lungs. Taking in huge lungfuls of oxygen-poor, freezing-cold air could drain the takin of its energy or its body heat, or both. When scientists looked inside the takin’s giant nose, guess what they found? Again, there was a network of blood vessels. The blood in these vessels kept the takin’s nose at a tolerably warm temperature. More importantly, it heated the incoming lungfuls of air, keeping the takin as warm as possible.

Chinese tourism board criticised for animal cruelty after pushing pigs off bridge

A Chinese tourism board has made pigs fly.

                                     

The animals, each with a bright number painted on its side, were herded onto a ramshackle bridge overhanging Shiyan Lake in the popular tourist province of Changsha and pushed off.

Online users have been upset by the “cruel” stunt, organised by Shi Huang as part of local May Day celebrations, with many criticising the event after photos were published on state broadcaster CCTV’s Facebook page.

"They look like they were pushed not jumping through choice. Cruel,” wrote Hayley McDonough.

Another user, Kay Khine S L, wrote: “This is animal abuse!” Jo Metcalfe added: “This is beyond sick. What did these sentient beings do, to deserve such punishment”?

Organiser Mr Huang, who plans to make the event weekly despite reports that the local tourism board received complaints, claims the piglets are “carefully trained” to perform the “special stunt”.

He continued: “They get well rewarded with food and once they get over their nerves they clearly enjoyed it.

“Anybody who says it is cruel is clearly not well informed that pigs like water,” he told the Mail Online.

Out of plaice: popular UK fish at risk from rising temperatures

Some of the UK’s most popular fish may be driven from the North Sea, and the UK’s dinner plates, by rising temperatures, scientists warned on Monday.
Fishmonger favourites plaice, lemon sole and haddock are being pushed out of their traditional feeding grounds by rapidly warming sea temperatures. The waters of the North Sea have warmed by 1.3C in the past 30 years, four times faster than the global average. Since the 1980s landings of cold-adapted species have halved.
Flatfish, such as plaice and sole, live on the shallow, muddy bottom of the southern North Sea. As the sea warms some species are being driven further north. But the rockier, deeper seas to the north are unsuitable habitat for these bottom feeders. With North Sea temperatures set to increase another 1.8C in the next half century, a team of scientists from Exeter University believes the fishing industry for these species is likely to collapse.

“For flatfish there’s really not anywhere to go. They’re kind of squeezed off the edge of a cliff,” said study author Dr Steve Simpson who is a senior lecturer in marine biology. “In terms of being commercially viable, I doubt these fisheries can continue for much longer.”
For haddock, the North Sea is already its southern limit. Their fishery, and much of the UK’s supply, is increasingly coming from Norwegian, Faroese and Icelandic waters.
The study assessed future distributions of 10 common North Sea fish species and predicted a general trend of decline. By including habitat requirements into its modelling, the new research confounds previous assertions that fish species will simply be able to shift northwards as the oceans warm.
Dr Peter Richardson, biodiversity programme manager at the UK’s Marine Conservation Society, said the study “rightly questions the assumption that species can simply head polewards as waters warm” and called for stronger catch limits to ensure the North Sea’s native species remained sustainable for as long as possible.
“Our fisheries are worth billions, providing an important and healthy source of protein, yet European governments (including the UK) consistently fail to follow scientific advice and set total allowable catches over and above the sustainable limits advised by their fisheries experts. We cannot continue to be so cavalier with such a valuable resource and expect it to be resilient to the impacts of climate change,” he said.
The Exeter team has previously found that sardine, anchovy, squid and cuttlefish are likely to become staples of the UK fishing industry.
Simpson said their study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, had confirmed the changing ecology of the North Sea.
“We will see a real changing of the guard in the next few decades. Our models predict cold water species will be squeezed out, with warmer water fish likely to take their place. For sustainable UK fisheries, we need to move on from haddock and chips and look to southern Europe for our gastronomic inspiration,” he said.
Separate research released last week found cod increased dramatically in recent years. Cod is an apex predator and a heavily-fished species. These interactions confounded modelling, said Simpson, and the study could not predict its future under a warming climate.
Angus Garrett from seafood industry body Seafish said the new research was valuable, but the future for many fisheries remained uncertain.
“Temperature change is clearly influencing fisheries and ought to be considered in fisheries management. How temperature is considered and the modelling of impacts is likely to be a continuing debate but we welcome this contribution to the evidence base,” he said.

WA shark policy allowing killing of great whites will not be reviewed

The Environmental Protection Authority will not review Western Australia’s policy of using drumlines to catch sharks that pose a “serious threat” because it is unlikely to have a significant effect on the environment, the authority’s chairman has said.
WA Greens MP Lynn MacLaren referred the policy to the EPA in January.
It grants fisheries officers an exemption to kill great white sharks, which are protected under federal laws, in the event of a shark attack or when a “high hazard” shark is reported to have a continuous presence near a popular beach.
The definition of a high hazard shark incident was broadened last year when the “imminent threat” policy, introduced in 2012, was rebadged as a “serious threat”.
Conservationists said the new policy could potentially kill more great white sharks than the now-defunct shark cull, which caught 172 sharks before the EPA declared it environmentally unacceptable and it was dumped.
But EPA chairman Paul Vogel disagreed, saying the policy was “a discrete and different proposal” to the shark cull, under which drumlines would have been strung across beaches along WA’s south-west coast every summer for three years.

Vogel told Guardian Australia MacLaren’s referral was not valid because the serious threat policy did not qualify as a “significant proposal” under the Environmental Protection Act.
Under the Act “significant” referred to environmental impact, not “the level of community or other interest”, Vogel said.
He said the policy was “not considered significant”, in part because it had been invoked to authorise the use of drumlines only 11 times in the past two years.
It has killed sharks only once, when drumlines deployed after Bunbury surfer Sean Pollard was attacked in Esperance in October resulted in the death of two juvenile great whites.
“The EPA also noted that deployment of capture gear in accordance with the policy has been undertaken for a limited duration; and further, its implementation is responsive and temporary in nature,” Vogel said.
“Therefore, based on the existing level of impact and implementation under both the 2012 guidelines and the 2014 guidelines … the EPA considers the policy, implemented in accordance with the 2014 guidelines, is unlikely to have a significant effect on the environment.”
MacLaren’s office received the response, dated 23 March, on Thursday, more than 60 days after submitting the referral. The process was paused for 10 days while the WA Department of Premier and Cabinet provided the EPA with more information.
MacLaren said she disagreed with the rejection and would seek a meeting with Vogel.
“I’m no more confident, in spite of this two-page letter, about the environmental impact of this policy or whether the EPA has assessed it,” she said.
“The new policy, I would have thought, would suffer the same rejection by the federal authorities that the previous one did.”
MacLaren said it was concerning that the EPA had sought information only from the department, rather than any scientific sources, in determining the impact of the proposal. She also questioned why her referral was not opened up for the usual seven-day public comment period.
She said there were significant differences between the 2012 policy and the 2014 policy and it was not appropriate to assess the impact of the latter based on the implementation of the former.
One change was that the 2014 policy removed a clause that specifically recommended against the destruction of scientifically tagged sharks.
That clause was used in December, when the WA government authorised the culling of a tagged great white shark at Warnbro Sound, about an hour south of Perth, after it was repeatedly detected on acoustic receivers in the area. The government denied it had targeted the tagged shark.
Both the shark cull and the imminent threat policy were introduced as a public safety measure in response to a spike in shark attacks. There have been 14 fatal shark attacks in WA waters since 2000.
The serious threat policy has not been invoked since 31 December, when drumlines were deployed for three days following a fatal shark attack near Albany.
Natalie Banks, from No Shark Cull WA, said it was disappointing that the EPA had rejected the referral and urged WA to follow the lead of re-elected NSW premier Mike Baird, who has promised to investigate non-lethal shark hazard mitigation methods.
“It is a shame that we can’t get the same forward-thinking vision in Western Australia,” Banks said. “We clearly need non-lethal alternatives before we wipe out the white sharks completely.”
Vogel said the EPA was investigating “non-lethal alternatives”.

Rare leatherback sea turtle rescued off South Carolina coastal beach

A rare leatherback sea turtle, nicknamed Yawkey and weighing an estimated 500 lbs, was being treated at the South Carolina Aquarium on Monday after being rescued on a remote coastal beach – the first leatherback known to have been stranded alive in South Carolina.
The turtle was spotted on Saturday on a beach on the Yawkey-South Island Reserve in Georgetown County and brought to the aquarium.
Leatherbacks, an endangered species, are the largest sea turtles and one of the world’s largest reptiles. Adults generally can weigh 800 to 1,000 lbs although some have been reported as large as 2,000 lbs .
They get their name because, instead of a shell, their backs are covered with leathery, oily tissue.
It’s the first leatherback to be treated at the aquarium, said Kelly Thorvalson, program manager for the aquarium sea turtle rescue program. During the past 15 years the aquarium has treated and released more than 150 sea turtles.
Thorvalson said Yawkey’s weight is just an estimate because the aquarium scale was not large enough to weigh it.
The turtle has low blood sugar and is being treated with fluids and antibiotics.
Thorvalson said it’s possible Yawkey may have eaten marine debris such as plastic which can appear to a turtle to be jellyfish, their favorite food. Eating plastic could cause a buildup of gas in the digestive tract, making the turtle buoyant and washing it to shore.
The aquarium hopes to release the turtle as soon as possible because leatherbacks don’t do well in captivity. Since they live in the deep ocean they don’t sense boundaries so they tend to swim into the sides of tanks and bruise.
Leatherbacks migrate offshore of South Carolina
“We have seen them stranded and dead,” Thorvalson said. “It’s not that they never wash up. It’s just that we have never had one wash up alive.”
She expects Yawkey to be able to get back to the ocean quickly.
“Sea turtles are tough. They are really tough animals,” she said. “This turtle is in good enough condition that we can give it a good head start and release it. I do feel good about its prognosis.”

Crufts mystery: dog world asks whodunnit over death of Irish Setter

In its 123-year history, Crufts has attracted a few controversies, from arguments over eugenics to rumours of dog-nobbling by slipping laxatives into food or chewing gum into the fur of a prettily primped rival.
Things may have taken a more sinister turn this year, however, after police were called in over the death of an Irish Setter who competed at the show, after claims it was poisoned.
Three-year-old Thendara Satisfaction, known as Jagger, collapsed at his home in Belgium on Friday, the day after showing at the NEC in Birmingham. According to his owners, a postmortem examination revealed that beef cubes in Jagger’s stomach were the source of the poison.
Dee Milligan-Bott, a dog breeder for 30 years, told the Guardian that she and Jagger’s co-owner, Alexandra Lauwers, were devastated, and the suspicion was that the poison could have been administered while the dog was left alone on the bench at Crufts while their other dogs were being judged.
As the Kennel Club pledged to co-operate with any Belgian police investigation, breeders and owners were horrified as news of the death swept through the halls and arena at the NEC on the final day of the world-famous show.
Although the highly competitive world of dog-showing is no stranger to claims of skullduggery, a whodunnit of such magnitude was off the scale.
Underhand tactics, such as deliberately placing a bitch on heat near a male to distract him, or the subversive snipping at a competitor’s coiffure, are said to be employed as breeders battle for the prestigious Crufts’ rosettes.

Now, some wondered, whether the dog world truly could have plummeted to such depths.
“It does make you think. Jealousy comes into it. The stakes are very high. If you have got a winning dog, people would become jealous,” said Daniel Marsden, co-owner of Ozmilion, a Yorkshire Terrier, who won a reserve CC (challenge certificate) for best dog.
On the bench next to him, lovingly brushing the fringe of her Yorkshire Terrier, Andelalie, who won the yearling class, Angela Wiegand, from Airdrie, agreed. “It’s terrible to think anyone could got to lengths like that. It’s got to a stage where you’re frightened to go away and leave your dog for more than a few seconds.”
A postmortem examination has been done, indicating poisoning, but a full toxicology report is awaited. Jagger was one of several dogs taken to Crufts by the two women and took one CC and was second in limit. Milligan-Bott, from Leicestershire, said: “[The Lauwers] got home on Friday night and the dog was ill … By the time the vet got there he was dead.
“The vet did an immediate autopsy because the death was very suspicious. It was found the dog had beef cubes in his stomach that had been poisoned. The only day the dog had been left alone all week was … on the bench at Crufts while the judging of our other dogs was taking place.”
Earlier Milligan-Bott had told Dog World that the dogs were benched together, but changed places after one became agitated by being near a bitch in season. Noodle, Jagger’s half-brother, won best in breed and there was speculation he might have been the intended target. She told Dog World she felt she would be unable to continue showing. “It is turning into such a nasty sport,” she said.
But, she stressed to the Guardian, she did could only imagine “some awful random person” had done it and did not want to believe it to be the work of another dog owner.
Caroline Kisko, secretary of the Kennel Club, said it would co-operate with any investigation by Belgian police, and CCTV from the NEC would be provided if requested. She had spoken to both owners to express the club’s sympathies. “We are extremely upset to hear that the dog died,” she said.
But, she added: “I will just point out that it was 26 hours after leaving Crufts, from what we understand from talking to the owner.”
The Kennel Club was keen for their vet to talk to the vet in Belgium, but had been told this was not possible until the results of the toxicology report were released. She added that it was “largely speculative until we have got that report”.
A spokesman for the Kennel Club said they could think of no previous allegations of poisoning at Crufts.
Meanwhile, amid the pampering, brushing and blowdrying on the dog benches, paranoid owners were taking no chances.
“If it turns out to be true, then things have gone too far,” said Sue Smith, from Chatsworth, Derbyshire, whose nine-month-old Pomeranian won first in class. Smith, who has entered dogs in Crufts for 30 years, said: “I take no chances. I am just wary. I don’t trust anybody.”
Avril Cawthera-Purdy, from Gloucestershire, last year’s top Pomeranian breeder, said: “I’ve been showing for 40 years and its hugely competitive. But I would not believe that somebody involved in this would be that malicious. We are all considered to be dog lovers and at the end of the day you take home your pets and love them, whether they won or lost.
“I never let my dogs out of my sight.”
Had she ever experienced any problems? “Once, I had one dog that was given a hallucinatory drug 20 years ago. It wasn’t at Crufts, and it took her out of that show.
“We don’t know how. We can’t prove anything, We can’t say. But, that was just one incident, in 40 years,” she said.

Lovable and Fun Monkey

Due to Belize's slow development major habitat loss is not much of an issue. Actually one issue to the destruction of habitat is from nature itself as hurricanes are known to damage the rainforest canopy and put the monkeys in danger, though major hurricanes are fairly infrequent. Howler Monkeys do not make good pets. It has been said that Howler Monkeys are the only Central American monkey to have never been kept in captivity by Native Americans.

She had a huge bite wound at her throat and it was very unpleasant looking and smelling. I wiped it clean and the fur came away leaving a hole in her skin about the size of a quarter. I did surrogate EFT on her for several days to aid the healing and the hole closed up with no problems and no vet visits.

There are little bees, and frogs and lobsters and of course doggies and kitties. It continues to amaze me just how many wonderful adorable Baby Halloween costumes are available at such affordable prices. One includes a soft plush brown body with a yellow stuffed belly that looks precious on a baby. The little monkey tail is enough to melt your heart. It has a furry trim, a matching brown hood topped with the cutest little round monkey ears.

This is one of the infant baby bunting costumes for sizes 0 to 6 months. You and your family will have a barrel of fun seeing baby in this cherry red bunting with barrel style bottom and a detachable character hood. This is an officially licensed Barrel of Monkeys product. Well there is a Sock Monkey infant costume which includes a bodysuit with a snap closure pant and attached boot covers. The tail is also detachable. A matching hood completes this costume.

Blue’s Lee Ryan says ‘I had a dream’ – and sparks a million feline nightmares

Lost in Showbiz doesn’t mind admitting that it has recently felt bereft, oddly incomplete, nagged day and night by the suggestion that something was missing from its life. It feels free to confess this to you because it suspects that you have felt the same way too, and that we all know full well what the problem is. We’ve been pining for Lee Ryan, absent from public life since his appearance last year on Celebrity Big Brother. Even that offered a relatively subdued performance from pop’s leading seer and savant, overshadowed by the admittedly diverting sight of seeing Daily Mail columnist Liz Jones being handcuffed to Dappy from N-Dubz. While resident in the CBB house, Ryan offered no news as to what had happened to the “revelation of spirit” he previously predicted being visited upon the human race around the time of Blue’s appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest: “People and their minds are going to change. I don’t think the end of the world is the end of the world. I think there’s a spiritual evolution coming. You can feel it.”

Well, pine no more. Ryan is back, announcing his reappearance in inimitable style via an interview in Heat magazine. Regretfully, there’s little in the way of his trademark philosophising: no mention of the revelation of spirit, no suggestion the government is trying to prevent him from sharing vital information about aliens with us. Yet, even without that, still offers much thought-provoking material, not least the moment when he answers a question about recent dreams. “I had a dream a cat came on to me, and I had a sexual relationship with a cat,” he offers. “That was a weird one. Not that I’m into fiddling with animals or anything,” he adds, presumably lest he receive a knock on the door from a kind of zoophile wing of Operation Yewtree – Operation Mew-Tree, if you will. “But it was really weird, because this cat was really seductive, coming on to me.” Happily, he offers further clarification of the dream-cat’s unique brand of seduction entailed: “It was purring and shit.”
There, sadly, he draws a discreet veil: no mention of what happened when he finally succumbed and yielded his all to the nonexistent feline temptress. Nevertheless, LiS feels obliged to turn to Ryan in salutation and say: thank God you’re back, all is right with the world once more. Then it turns gratefully back to the interview and reads him completing the sentence “People don’t expect me to …” with the words “… be intelligent.”

Why Japan prefers pets to parenthood

Some of Japan's pampered pet dogs. Photograph: Alamy

In a smart and expensive neighbourhood of Tokyo, Toshiko Horikoshi relaxes by playing her grand piano. She's a successful eye surgeon, with a private clinic, a stylish apartment, a Porsche and two pet pooches: Tinkerbell, a chihuahua, and Ginger, a poodle. "Japanese dog owners think a dog is like a child," says Horikoshi. "I have no children, so I really love my two dogs."
Many Japanese women like Horikoshi prefer pets to parenthood. Startlingly, in a country panicking over its plummeting birthrate, there are now many more pets than children. While the birthrate has been falling dramatically and the average age of Japan's population has been steadily climbing, Japan has become a pet superpower. Official estimates put the pet population at 22 million or more, but there are only 16.6 million children under 15.
Tinkerbell and Ginger have their own room and a wardrobe full of designer clothes. They have jumpers, dresses, coats and fancy dress outfits, neatly hung on jewelled hangers; hats, sunglasses and even tiny shoes. Horikoshi says she shops for her dogs most weekends and they get new clothes each season.
In Japan designer labels such as Chanel, Dior, Hermès and Gucci offer luxury dog products. This canine couture doesn't come cheap. A poodle pullover can cost $250 (around £160) or more. In many parts of Tokyo, it is easier to buy clothes for dogs than for children. Boutiques sell everything from frilly frocks to designer jeans, from nappies to organic nibbles, and smart "doggie bags" and buggies or pushchairs to transport them in.
Japan has arguably the world's most pampered pooches. Tiny lapdogs such as miniature dachshunds, poodles and chihuahuas are particularly popular because most people in Tokyo – one of the most densely populated cities in the world – live in small apartments. And there's a growing market in services and treats for pets.
The pet industry is estimated to be worth more than ¥1tn a year (around £8.2bn) and has expanded into gourmet dog food stores, hot spring resorts, yoga classes and restaurants where dogs sit on chairs to eat organic meals.
In his one-room flat in a Tokyo suburb, Jiro Akiba feeds treats to his dog Kotaro, a miniature dachshund, weighing only 3.4kg. His name means "first-born son". "He's like a first baby for us, so that's why we decided to call him Kotaro," says Akiba. "It's good to have a dog if you don't have a baby, because it is quite fun to take care of him like a baby."
Dog nappies on sale in Japan. Photograph: Ruth Evans Akiba, a cameraman, would have liked children, but his partner (a freelance editor) wants to keep working. "In Japanese society, it's really hard for women to have a baby and keep a job … so my girlfriend decided against having a baby, and that's why we have a dog instead." Akiba says he thinks this makes economic sense, given the cost of living in Tokyo, high taxes and static salaries following two decades of recession.
Despite the economic stagnation, people seem happy to spend any spare money on photo sessions, massages and treats for their four-legged "babies". The average fertility rate is now 1.39 children per woman – well below the number needed to keep the population stable. Japan has, in effect, a self-imposed one-child policy. Government projections show if current trends continue, today's population of 128 million will fall to 43 million over the next century.
"The most important reason for Japan's declining birthrate is less sex," says Dr Kunio Kitamara, director of Japan's Family Planning Research Centre. His annual surveys indicate that the nation's libido has been lagging in the last decade. The birthrate has declined, but fewer contraceptives are being used and there are fewer abortions and lower rate of sexually transmitted diseases. "Why?" asks Dr Kitamara: "Less sex!"
His research shows that almost half of married couples have sex less than one a month, and "young people dislike sexual intercourse". His latest data from 2010 showed that 32% of young men dislike sex because "they are afraid of failure and rejection by women." Sixty percent of women in their mid- to late 20s are single, and 70% of unmarried women don't have a boyfriend. In Japan marriage is still more or less a prerequisite for having children – only 2% of children are born outside wedlock.
One young man we spoke to had dressed his dog up in a white hoodie and jeans, shoes and sunglasses because, he said, he wanted his dog to look "cute, cool and tough". His proud owner said he hoped his dog's look might attract young women, but so far he hadn't met anyone to share his life with. "I wish I could meet someone like that," he said.
Economic stagnation has hit young men particularly hard. More than 10 million people aged between 20 and 34 still live with their parents. They can't afford to get married and start a family, but for the odd luxury or treats for their dogs, they can – and do – splash out.
Designer clothes for dogs. Photograph: Ruth Evans Smart buggies and designer doggie bags are essential for any self-respecting dog like Kotaro. "My dog really hates to go out with his feet," says Akiba. "Kotaro doesn't like walking at all."
For dogs in urgent need of exercise after a lifetime being pushed or carried around, there are spas and onsens (hot springs), which look identical to the ones for humans. For $100 (£65) a session, an attendant in a wetsuit will give Kotaro one-to-one swimming lessons, relaxing bubble baths, body massages using aromatherapy oils, deep-pore cleansing and mud packs, and even flossing or manicure services. Many dogs are "regulars" who come at least once a week – running up annual bills of $5,000 (£3,200) or more.
In Tokyo, it is easier for Horikoshi to find a canine daycare centre for Tinkerbell and Ginger than it would be to find a nursery place for a child. If Akiba and his partner decide to go on holiday, they can pay $100 a night to leave Kotaro in a dog hotel.
When the unthinkable happens, there are even temples where dead dogs are laid to rest with full Buddhist rites: a deluxe funeral and cremation ceremony can cost $8,000 (£5,000) or more. "I find these days people grieve more for their pets than for parents or grandparents," says a monk at a 1,000-year-old temple in a Tokyo suburb. "It is because pets are just like their child, so it is like losing a child."
Japan's population fell by a record number last year and in the wake of the earthquake and nuclear disasters, the National Institute of Population Research is expecting there to be a further decline in births this year, says deputy director Ryuichi Kaneko. "We realised that we are living in dangerous times," he says. "Many young people are even more hesitant to have children now."
Akiba says that although the government has tried to encourage young couples to have babies, many of the incentives, such as child benefit, are too inconsistent and subject to frequent political change. Japan's population has the longest life expectancy in the world, which – coupled with the falling birth rate – means a pensions timebomb looms. "We all – companies, the government, people young and old - need to think seriously about this problem," says Kaneko, "or Japan will have a very hard time."
One thing is certain: everything Japan has tried so far – introducing maternity leave, increasing child beneft, providing nursery places – has failed to arrest its demographic decline. Fresh thinking will be needed to persuade more Japanese people that in the long-term, man's best friend can be no substitute for man himself.