For Dogs, It's 'Survival of the Cutest'

[The Straight Story]

For Dogs, It's 'Survival of the Cutest'

Look at how cute and adorable Claudia and Johnny are! Don't they just melt your heart?

New research shows that how we value the "cuteness" of our pet dogs could influence a breed's survival, variation and overall evolutionary pattern.

The University of Manchester released a new study today that compared the skull shapes of domestic dogs with those of different species across the order Carnivora, to which dogs, cats, bears, weasels, seals and walruses belong.

Researchers found that the skull shapes of domestic dogs varied as much as other species across the whole order. In other words, a Collie's skull shape is as different from a Pekingese's skull as a cat's skull shape is distinct from a seal's skull.

The researchers believe that human intervention has played a powerful role in dog breed evolution and diversity.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/for-dogs-its-survival-of-the-cutest.html

[LostInAnomie]

1. Dogs are the best!

Yay Dogs!!!

[Hannah Bell]

2. researchers: "human intervention has played a powerful role in dog breed evolution and diversity."

wow, surprising news.

[SallyMander]

3. OMG Sam!!!

Hahahaha, he's so freaky. :rofl:

[The Straight Story]

5. I believe he has passed away

RIP Sam.

[SallyMander]

6. Awww, RIP Sam

I read an article on him a long time ago. I am glad he had a loving home despite his, umm, lack of charisma. :)

[dana_b]

4. k&r for Sam!!

that poor ol' ugly dog!

[jmowreader]

7. This does NOT explain how the Chinese Crested lasted as long as it has

[JuniperLea]

8. The Botany of Desire... Michael Pollan...

I read the book a couple of years ago... now it's a PBS program! It's killer! Inter-species intervention has driven evolution, no question.

http://www.pbs.org/thebotanyofdesire/

I love puppies...

[The Straight Story]

9. Is that a jack russel? (nt)

[JuniperLea]

10. I don't really know...

I found her in the middle of a four-lane street at rush hour... cowering in front of a huge pickup truck that screeched to a stop just in time. She is at least part some sort of terrier. My boss asked the same thing... he has a Jack Russel.

She jumps very very high (three to four feet, straight up), and digs, and when I take her to dog beach, she can run as fast as any dog there, and I mean ANY dog! She was about 7 mos when I found her... still had a couple of baby teeth. Got her spayed, chipped, and whoever let her get away is a fool! What a doll. She only weighs five pounds. She looks a lot like a friend's rat terrier.




Molly Myfanwy... she's really something.

[BrklynLiberal]

11. She is such a sweetie.

[JuniperLea]

13. She really is! And she's is so affectionate!

When I get home, she's a wiggling mass of kisses! She loves to snuggle and roll over for a belly rub... gosh, I can't wait to get home:) It's the last few minutes of the work day... waiting for the boss to pack it in, then I'll go get some Molly snuggles:)

I think someone may have mistreated her... she was very cautious at first, and would back off if you reached for her. She's better now:)

Everyone who can should rescue a dog! I have two rescues now... one from a rescue group, and one from the street. My little street walking sweetie:)

[BrklynLiberal]

15. I believe they know when they have been saved...

and return love with even more love.

[JuniperLea]

18. You must be right!

Sure seems that way.

[CitizenLeft]

33. absolutely agree.

They know. Especially when you take them out of a kill shelther or pound. My first pound rescue had to be neutered a week after I took her home, and she had to be neutered at the same shelter. When I took her out of the car, her whole body just fell... she thought I was taking her back. :( But when we entered a different door, the one to the clinic, she perked up, as though relieved. She knew the difference.

[CitizenLeft]

32. bless you! I have 3 rescues too, though they're getting old.

One of them, a Dalmatian, was terribly abused. I got her when she was 1 years old. She's 15 now, and fading, but her spirit is still strong. She's still got so much love in her. My other two are 15 (Dalmatian) and 11 (either Tibetan Terrier or Labradoodle mix, dunno). As much as I love puppies, I'll probably never have one again. It's rescues for me, they're so grateful when you take them home it breaks your heart. They steal you forever. :)

[JuniperLea]

45. I know what you mean...

My first rescue was Cooper... world's best dog. He's been gone six years and I'm still not over it!

I may need to call it quits at some point myself... just too-soft hearted for short-lifes!

Cooper...

Playing with my son...

[CitizenLeft]

49. I know what you mean backatcha. Short lives...

My two 15-year-olds... I can't even think about it. :-(

[The Straight Story]

14. Jack's are great escape artists

Had to give one up we (my x and I) had because she would escape daily.

Her son, half jack and mini dachshund, does the same - he has escaped from two different cages, four different yards (dug his way out with the help from a neighbor dog), escaped off the X's back porch many times - even though they closed it off with chicken wire/etc.

If he were on alcatraz he could find his way off and back home.

[JuniperLea]

17. He sorta looks like my other dog, Jack!

Jack and Molly share the kitchen sun spot.

[Arkansas Granny]

41. I also have a Houdini dog. I've finally managed to secure her with

2 X 4 welded wire nailed all around the deck from the ground to about 7' and a 6' chain link enclosure that attaches to the deck. She isn't bad about deliberately digging under the fence, but she has managed to tunnel out by accident a couple of times. She can easily jump anything under 5' tall.

[tridim]

20. I see some rat terrier in there.

Super cool dog!

[Demoiselle]

24. Myfanwy? Really? Named after my favorite bartender? Awwwww.

[Ignis]

28. Great catch.

[Demoiselle]

36. Well you don't run across Mfanwys every day! (I love that show.)

[Ignis]

37. Try Wales. The place is filthy with them.

;)

And yes, I love the show too.

[JuniperLea]

40. The song is very cool too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIgW7sMIDMU

[Ignis]

52. Tom Baker's narration is what does it for me.

Just plain awesome.

"Britain, Britain, Britain. Why would you ever want to leave? Anybody who goes on holiday abroad is a traitor! I bloody love it here! Bloody love it! We produce the best films, the finest cuisines and our dogs are relatively rabies free. And this is all thanks to the peoples of Britain. Let us look at them in this program in which we now look at them now. Boom, boom, shake the room!"

:rofl:

BTW, if you like Little Brittan, check out The League of Gentlemen. Sick, sick, sick and twistedly funny.

[JuniperLea]

54. I love League!

It's a local shop, for local people! Ha!



My father's family was originally from Wales, and on my mother's side, Mary Chilton (fabled first female to step off the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock) is my 11th great-grandmother. I agree! Traitors! I should be there now!

:)

[JuniperLea]

38. Well, after the legend and song...

But the barsteward from Wales, who pours for Daffyd, the only gay in the village, is such an awesome character!

[JetCityLiberal]

48. Good on you JuniperLea

My neighbor and her husband foster abused and abandoned dogs of all shape and size and lots of health problems.

And every time I go over there it is a high energy pack of love, those pups are still so sweet after such horror in their life.

You rock Juniper, you are a keeper.

Paul

Myfanwy is one of my all time favorite names.

[JuniperLea]

53. Thanks, JCL!

I have a friend who rescues abused pit bulls. She's amazing. The dogs she gets are so mean when she gets them, and it takes a while before they can be trusted around her other dogs... most were raised for fighting... :cry:

She's only had to put one down that couldn't be socialized, and I don't think she'll ever get over it.

I love that name too:) One side of my father's family is originally from Wales... I love the history and culture. Beautiful place! And the people there appreciate literature, singing, story telling, and good whiskey! I belong! Haha!

[JetCityLiberal]

56. My neighbors got into this because they rescued

their two current pits that are their own dogs 10 years ago.

Yesterday we watched a couple carrying a small son and a leash into her house. When they came out the son was walking holding the leash and the Mom was holding the small pit they had just adopted.

The son was so excited and jumping around the Mom and dog and when they turned to get into their car we could see that pups tail wagging like crazy. My neighbor waved and cried as they drove away. She said that was a great match, the couple was active in stopping breeding/fighting of pits. One happy ending.

like Molly Myfanwy.

My wife and mine's best friend has a daughter named Myfanwy. Our friend is from Ireland and her husband was from Wales. The parties at their place were legendary.

Thanks again for making my day with that pic of that cutie and your other posts on this thread, you are a keeper.

Paul

[BrklynLiberal]

12. There was show about a study of Russian breeding foxes.

They tried to get them to be sort of domesticated....so they could kill them for their fur more easily...yuck.

The strangest things happened. As they got friendlier and more domesticated..their shapes and colors and tails, etc changed.

So interaction...and selection for friendliness DID change their physical appearance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox
The experiment was initiated by scientists hoping to produce easier to handle fur animals and who were interested in the topic of domestication and the process by which wolves became tame domesticated dogs. They saw some retention of juvenile traits by adult dogs, both morphological ones, such as skulls that were unusually broad for their length, and behavioral ones, such as whining, barking, and submissiveness.

In a time when Lysenkoism was official state doctrine, Belyaev's commitment to classical genetics had cost him his job as head of the Department of Fur Animal Breeding at the Central Research Laboratory of Fur Breeding in Moscow in 1948. During the 1950s, he continued to conduct genetic research under the guise of studying animal physiology.

Belyaev believed that the key factor selected for domestication of dogs was not size or reproduction, but behavior; specifically, amenability to domestication, or tameability. More than any other quality, Belyaev believed, tameability must have determined how well an animal would adapt to life among humans. Because behavior is rooted in biology, selecting for tameness and against aggression means selecting for physiological changes in the systems that govern the body's hormones and neurochemicals.

Belyaev decided to test his theory by domesticating foxes; in particular, the Russian silver fox. He placed a population of them in the same process of domestication, and he decided to submit this population to a strong selection pressure for inherent tameness.

The result is that Russian scientists now have a number of domesticated foxes that are fundamentally different in temperament and behavior from their wild forebears. Some important changes in physiology and morphology are now visible, such as mottled or spotted colored fur. Many scientists believe that these changes related to selecting for tameness are caused by lower adrenaline production in the new breed, which causes these physiological changes in a very small number of generations, thus allowing for these new genetic offshoots not present in the original species.

The project also investigated breeding vicious foxes to study aggressive behavior. These foxes snap at humans and otherwise show no fear.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________


http://cbsu.tc.cornell.edu/ccgr/behaviour/Index.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0208_050208_foxes.html

[JuniperLea]

19. They're so cute!

I love this sort of thing... I watched something similar on PBS recently. Thanks for posting this! I'm going to save the link and read more!

[Ignis]

25. Wow, neat study, thanks for the link!

:hi:

[Ignis]

26. That's an amazing book, but ...

I can't concentrate on the damn book when your dog is so cute! :D

[JuniperLea]

39. Isn't she?

I can't stand it! LOL!

[Ignis]

50. I had a roommate with a JR Terrier once...

She nearly kicked me out of the apartment because I couldn't stop feeding her dog, and I was making him too fat.

:spank:

[JuniperLea]

51. How can you resist?

They are so stinking cute!

I know... I really have to watch it with the treats. I buy little bags of "gourmet" dog food and dole it out in little bits as treats. They think it's really special:)

I'm a sucker for dogs, just a softy and a sucker!

[liberal N proud]

16. We just rescued a dog last weekend

Went to the animal shelter. This dog is a mutt around 2 years old, but they are usually the best behaved.

She was very shy and scared at the shelter. She is taking time to come around. All they can tell us is where they found her.

She loves the leash and very well behaved, house broken. She loves to cuddle, once she warms up to you.

This is our 4th rescue dog, the others all lived a very comfy life.

[arthritisR_US]

21. reminds me of someone I once dated...it was a bad year. n/t

[tridim]

22. Ri Rill Rur-rive!

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

27. LOL, your boston is anti-cross-eyed.

Bostons are the cutest little things. I love mine (Spork). Sleeps in the bed with us under the covers @ our feet and loves to lick you to death. For little dogs they have some the biggest mouths I've ever seen. And they fart alot too... it's actually quite funny. They also don;t hardly bark, which is nice for a small dog.

[EndersDame]

23. New Puppies are little Hell Demons the cuteness is a counterbalance

Cats on the other hand are always pleasant to deal with ;)

My neighbors abandoned their puppy and I took her in. She stole my heart and I decided to keep her. I would say that cuteness is a good survival tactic and helps counterbalance their hell demon qualities

[kenny blankenship]

29. cuteness is a good survival tactic

Never has seemed to help lambs, though.

[exboyfil]

30. They are tastier than dogs

Of course the old rule is that you can't eat something which you have named.

I adopted our last two dogs (Border Collie and other herding breed mixes perhaps - not sure) at a year old which I find to be the best age at which to adopt. Love them both the death. Of course both are very cute.

My in-laws got a Black Lab at 9 mos. I wanted them to get a Corgi. The dog at 1 1/2 years is still crazy and still filling out.

[EndersDame]

35. If I am crazy enough to get another dog it will be a DOG not a puppy

[EFerrari]

31. Both of my Labs actively try to make themselves puppylike

when they really want something and don't know if they will get it. They curve their ears back and try to look smaller. It works, too. :)

[EndersDame]

34. They are manipulative bastards

:) but we love them

[xchrom]

42. Recommend cause I love cut boys and cute dogs.

My experience is they are much the same.

[lumberjack_jeff]

44. "Cut boys"?

:wtf:

[xchrom]

46. Cicumcision thread!!!

My bad -- cute.

[ddeclue]

43. people too or Tyra Banks would be extinct long ago.

[old mark]

47. Our dog was put in a pound by his first humans - He is mainly black, and he is near giant sized -

down to 109 pounds now. The fear of large black dogs gets a lot of them killed.
FWIW, he is a very smart sweet dog who is almost 10 and recovering from serious thyroid surgery - he has about a 16" incision on his chest closed by staples. He is still going strong.

mark

[JuniperLea]

55. You're a good man, old mark!

It takes a good person to go through that with a dog!

My big, black Cooper was the best dog ever. I'll probably have to get another 111 lb lap puppy some day:)