But a couple of newsy items crossed my cell phone the other day. One had to do with a pioneering project out of Emory University in Atlanta that is using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans on dogs for the first time to map dogs brain activity. The other study out of the University of California, San Diego, considered whether or not dogs exhibit jealousy when confronted with a rival.
Dogs are smart. That's a given, right? I mean, they are WAY better at reading body languages--human as well as other animals--than people are. They alert us to dangers before we are aware a threat is imminent, they know from three rooms away when the fridge is opened, and they know when the outside world has kicked us in the teeth as soon as we walk through the door.
Dogs are smart. But just how smart? What exactly does canine intelligence look like, and how does it operate?
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| Dropping in unannounced is all a part of a day's work for Navy SEALs and their expertly trained war dogs. |
Gregory Berns, Distinguished Professor of Economics and director of Emory’s Center for Neuropolicy, was inspired by Cairo, the Belgian Malinois, member of Seal Team Six who aided in the execution of Osama bin Laden, to learn how dogs "think". Berns was astonished that a dog could learn to be hurled from a perfectly good airplane at 30,000 feet, encased in pounds of gear, strapped to his handler's chest, and seemingly enjoy the experience! Thus was Berns' "Dog Project" launched.
Follow the above link to learn more about the project, but I do want to add that no dog was 'forced' nor even coerced into a fMRI scanner. The initial step in the project was to train dogs through positive reinforcement to willingly enter the scanner and place their heads on a chin rest. Each test subject was unrestrained, free to leave the scanner at any time and provided with ear protection against the high decibels generated inside the fMRI.
For readers wanting to learn more about Berns' ground-breaking work on mapping neuroactivity in dogs, I recommend his book How Dogs Love Us.
Dogs and the green-eyed monster
Anyone who has more than one dog at home no doubt has seen behavior that certainly appears to be jealousy. Give attention specifically to one dog and here comes the other to nudge and paw at you for her share, right? Annie and I not only have experienced apparent jealousy in both Beano and Lazlo, it has exhibited in every single dog we have fostered.
But is it really what we humans know as jealousy? Well, the short answer is, yes, it is.
Obvious to anyone who lives or has lived with dogs, right? However, the issue apparently has been one of some controversy among scientific circles. There is, it seems, one or more camps who hold to the notion that jealousy requires levels of cognition not attainable by mere dogs; i.e., human bias and hubris when it comes to "lower" animals is alive and well, even among the scientific sets.
So UC San Diego psychology professor Christine Harris and former honors student Caroline Prouvost set out to determine if dogs do indeed experience jealousy as we humans know it.
The study enlisted households with dogs willing to be video taped while interacting with their respective dog companions, with a plush puppy robot, with a plastic Jack-O-Lantern pail and while reading a book.
The plastic pails and the books did not show much response from the dogs in question. Nearly eight out of ten dogs, however, definitely reacted to the animatronic toy dog with jealous behavior. Most even went so far as to sniff the toy dog's butt!
Again, nothing we who live with dogs did not already know, but at least now our dogs' jealous fits are scientifically grounded. Further reading on this study may be found here.
"Bring him home."
In closing, I want to commend to you an NPR report, Advocates Say Military Dogs Aren't Pets — They're Veterans.
When U.S. forces left Vietnam untold numbers of American war dogs were left "in country" to fend for themselves. President Bill Clinton passed legislation that says our war dogs "may" be brought back stateside when their foreign duties are finished. Earlier this week a group of former canine combat vets and their advocates went to Capital Hill, asking that the law be amended from "may be brought home" to WILL be brought home.
America's military forces pride themselves on "No one left behind." This policy needs to apply to our canine veterans, as well as extending veterans' benefits to surviving combat dogs. If you agree, please write or call your representatives in Congress and ask them to recognize our canine heroes as fully deserving veterans.
Thank you on behalf of Cairo and all his surviving brothers and sisters in arms.
