And you thought road cyclists were weight weenies

[banerjek]

Apparently, some potential dog owners are interested in knowing weight expressed in precision down to 1/20 of a gram...

[hao]

This is what I imagine,

Wife: Absolutely not, that dog is too big! Remember the limit? 46.1900 lbs?
Husband: Ahem, she's 46.1875 lbs.

[patentcad]

interested in knowing weight expressed in precision down to 1/20 of a gram

Well, back in the late 70's perhaps, but we had our reasons.

[surgeonstone]

This is what I imagine,

Wife: Absolutely not, that dog is too big! Remember the limit? 46.1900 lbs?
Husband: Ahem, she's 46.1875 lbs.

I have a Golden Retriever and brought him to the vet. The assistant- a morbidly obese woman - weighed him at 90 lbs and with a voice of complete disdain said " Your dog is OBESE, DON'T you Know you are Killing him?

True story but at least my dog is now at 75 lbs.
I wonder about the assistant.

[LorenzoNF]

I have a Golden Retriever and brought him to the vet. The assistant- a morbidly obese woman - weighed him at 90 lbs and with a voice of complete disdain said " Your dog is OBESE, DON'T you Know you are Killing him?

True story but at least my dog is now at 75 lbs.
I wonder about the assistant.

That's golden.

[Jed19]

I have a Golden Retriever and brought him to the vet. The assistant- a morbidly obese woman - weighed him at 90 lbs and with a voice of complete disdain said " Your dog is OBESE, DON'T you Know you are Killing him?

True story but at least my dog is now at 75 lbs.
I wonder about the assistant.

I bet your dog snickered aloud when he heard that comment.

[billallbritten]

I bet your dog snickered aloud when he heard that comment.

If you watched the NOVA presentation last night on research into canine intelligence, you might not want to make that bet. :-)

[surgeonstone]

In doggie language...woof. In human language...look the f..k who's talking

[surgeonstone]

If you watched the NOVA presentation last night on research into canine intelligence, you might not want to make that bet. :-)

Did not catch it. In a nutshell?

[crhilton]

Did not catch it. In a nutshell?

Nutshell:
Dogs are smart. Humanity couldn't have gone agricultural without them. They understand pointing, unlike any other animal. They watch human eye movement. Dogs are breed to be more juvenile which invokes nurturing hormones in humans and makes the dogs more docile. You pump the same hormones while petting your dog as you do while feeding a baby, apparently. And the same part of your brain runs if you look at dogs as if you look at babies. Oh, and humans can accurately identify 6 emotions from dogs based on the sound of their bark.

The cool part though was the Soviet experiment with silver foxes. Long story short: They domesticated them in about 60 years. But while doing that, they also selectively breed for aggression in a separate group. And they have silver foxes that will go nuts the second they see a human. The domesticated foxes are a lot like dogs, in fact their appearance has changed to be more dog like.

The other cool part was the wolf domestication experiment. They took 5 day old wolf pups and raised them as dogs. By 8 months old they were unhandleable, afraid of new things (dogs apparently aren't), and didn't interact with people like dogs do.

It was actually a pretty good special. A lot of evidence that dog domestication is mostly breed, not nurture. Apparently after thousands of years of living together people and dogs are mutually beneficial and can communicate effectively. Big shocker there.

[bonz50]

Nutshell:
/snip

The other cool part was the wolf domestication experiment. They took 5 day old wolf pups and raised them as dogs. By 8 months old they were unhandleable, afraid of new things (dogs apparently aren't), and didn't interact with people like dogs do.

It was actually a pretty good special. A lot of evidence that dog domestication is mostly breed, not nurture. Apparently after thousands of years of living together people and dogs are mutually beneficial and can communicate effectively. Big shocker there.

funny you mention this, a few months ago I think it was history channel had a thing about evolution of dogs and basically stated that every breed of dog has evolved (naturally or via selective breeding) from wolves.

[surgeonstone]

Nutshell:
Dogs are smart. Humanity couldn't have gone agricultural without them. They understand pointing, unlike any other animal. They watch human eye movement. Dogs are breed to be more juvenile which invokes nurturing hormones in humans and makes the dogs more docile. You pump the same hormones while petting your dog as you do while feeding a baby, apparently. And the same part of your brain runs if you look at dogs as if you look at babies. Oh, and humans can accurately identify 6 emotions from dogs based on the sound of their bark.

The cool part though was the Soviet experiment with silver foxes. Long story short: They domesticated them in about 60 years. But while doing that, they also selectively breed for aggression in a separate group. And they have silver foxes that will go nuts the second they see a human. The domesticated foxes are a lot like dogs, in fact their appearance has changed to be more dog like.

The other cool part was the wolf domestication experiment. They took 5 day old wolf pups and raised them as dogs. By 8 months old they were unhandleable, afraid of new things (dogs apparently aren't), and didn't interact with people like dogs do.

It was actually a pretty good special. A lot of evidence that dog domestication is mostly breed, not nurture. Apparently after thousands of years of living together people and dogs are mutually beneficial and can communicate effectively. Big shocker there.

Sounds like a great program. I have 2 boys, a 12 y.o. and a 14 y.o. We have 2 dogs, a yellow lab and the golden. The interactions between the boys and these dogs is a wonder. It brings out a tenderness that is amazing. Joe- my son, calls Louie- the golden, a hug machine.

[mazdaspeed]

Nutshell:
Dogs are smart. Humanity couldn't have gone agricultural without them. They understand pointing, unlike any other animal. They watch human eye movement. Dogs are breed to be more juvenile which invokes nurturing hormones in humans and makes the dogs more docile. You pump the same hormones while petting your dog as you do while feeding a baby, apparently. And the same part of your brain runs if you look at dogs as if you look at babies. Oh, and humans can accurately identify 6 emotions from dogs based on the sound of their bark.

The cool part though was the Soviet experiment with silver foxes. Long story short: They domesticated them in about 60 years. But while doing that, they also selectively breed for aggression in a separate group. And they have silver foxes that will go nuts the second they see a human. The domesticated foxes are a lot like dogs, in fact their appearance has changed to be more dog like.

The other cool part was the wolf domestication experiment. They took 5 day old wolf pups and raised them as dogs. By 8 months old they were unhandleable, afraid of new things (dogs apparently aren't), and didn't interact with people like dogs do.

It was actually a pretty good special. A lot of evidence that dog domestication is mostly breed, not nurture. Apparently after thousands of years of living together people and dogs are mutually beneficial and can communicate effectively. Big shocker there.

Very interesting

[Hot Potato]

TV usually tries to show how domesticated dogs are not as smart as wolves. Wolves will not give up easily, and will problem solve trying to get food. But the mistake is to equate that with intelligence. Survival, yes, but not the only measure of intelligence. Domesticated dogs use thier intelligence to fit in better with humans, particularly the human family unit. Being able to liberate some food from a difficult situation independently isn't very useful to a dog that can communicate its needs to the human, who will then do it for them, especially when the dog KNOWS the human will do it for them eventually.

But I was expecdting a link to micro purse dogs from the thread title.

[timeforheroes]

i love dogs. wait.. what is this thread about?? anyways.. sounds like an interesting program!!!

[Tunnelrat81]

http://www.amazon.com/Merles-Door-Le.../dp/0151012709

For the dog lovers, this is a really good read. Interesting discussion on their intelligence, behavior etc.. He sites lots of studies and compares the results to what he witnessed first hand in his own dog, Merle.

-Jeremy

[StephenH]

An ounce is a 1/16 of a pound, 3 oz is 0.1875 of a lb, they're just converting ounces to decimal lbs for whatever reason.

[Yaniel]

An ounce is a 1/16 of a pound, 3 oz is 0.1875 of a lb, they're just converting ounces to decimal lbs for whatever reason.

what happens when the dog drools and then weights .1873? do they update the site?

[frozone]

Speaking of Wolves, wolf-hybrids are the new upcoming breed to have.

crhilton - Informative post there. Wish I would have had the chance to watch that show. I bet it was interesting!