This sounds like an interesting radio show for Balloon Juice pet owners:
Professor Cat Warren joins us to discuss her book, What the Dog Knows. She and her German shepherd have spent the last seven years searching for the dead. Solo is a cadaver dog. What started as a way to harness Solo’s unruly energy and enthusiasm soon became a calling that introduced her to the hidden and fascinating universe of working dogs, their handlers, and their trainers.
Omnes Omnibus
Is Laika in a time out?
germy shoemangler
@Omnes Omnibus: A nice private place to poop with plenty of green toilet paper.
Linnaeus
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hm. I wonder if the Soviets gave Laika the ultimate time out?
trollhattan
I read that as Liz Warren and found myself wondering “Where does she find the time?”
It does sound interesting. A cop friend who was a city mounted patrolman found out on the 4th his former horse partner died earlier that day. He had great stories, and that’s with an animal that has a brain the size of a walnut. I can imagine the dog handler stories are pretty amazing.
germy shoemangler
Can someone please explain how Sarah Palin can have a PAC when she isn’t running for any political office?
Can I have a PAC?
trollhattan
@Linnaeus:
Ever see the Swedish film “My Life as a Dog”?
Josie
I love that picture. What kind of dog is Laika?
trollhattan
@germy shoemangler:
Yes, yes you may have a PAC and Steven Colbert will show you exactly how.
Linnaeus
@trollhattan:
You know, I haven’t. Though I’ve certainly heard of it.
DougJ
@Omnes Omnibus:
She likes the shade.
DougJ
@Josie:
Golden Retriever.
trollhattan
@Linnaeus:
It’s been a good long while but I remember it pretty distinctly. Wonderful movie.
schrodinger's cat
Is Laika an undercover spy doggie for the Russians?
Aleta
Laika looks to be a Goofballhund.
Linnaeus
@trollhattan:
Okay, it’s on my list.
Linnaeus
I remember reading somewhere that cadaver dogs have to be given breaks from time to time not just for physical rest, but because searching for dead people affects their temperament. I wonder if there’s any evidence for that.
Tommy
@trollhattan: What these dogs can do with training is just flat out amazing. My dad is friends with a guy with the Arlington Search & Rescue team. They are sent all over the world to help out. He has said over and over when he emails my father they almost couldn’t do their jobs without the dogs. They save countless lives. I am a cat guy myself but GO DOGS!
srv
I often wonder if Oliver is hiding in John’s back yard.
Tommy
@Linnaeus: That would surprise me a little. Everything I’ve learned from watching TV shows on service type dogs because a combo of their breed and training they almost have to work to be happy. Which when you think about it is pretty darn cool.
geg6
@Aleta:
If she’s a golden, that’s a given.
Pogonip
@Linnaeus: ARE they searching for dead people? Stephen Budiansky says that The usual training method is to teach the dog that if he points out a certain scent to his nose-blind trainer, he gets a lot of attention and a session with his favorite toy, and that during a real disaster, every so often someone has to play the role of toy-bearing “victim” so the dog doesn’t get discouraged and give up. However Budiansky’s book is several years old and maybe training methods have changed?
Karen in GA
It’s the S/He-Dog Cat-Hater’s clubhouse. No cats allowed. So there.
Linnaeus
@Pogonip:
Well, that’s why I was skeptical when I read what I mentioned upthread, because it sounded a little too pat.
MomSense
I hid a treat and my dog is hunting for it. She has to be given little challenges or she gets into trouble.
Pogonip
@geg6: I thought they were smart? I’ve never had one. I meet a lot of them, because they’re so popular. They’ve all been love bugs and most were leaners. They’re a lot heavier than they look!
Pogonip
@Linnaeus: I guess we’ll find out for sure when the professor gets on the radio!
Pogonip
I just noticed that I forgot the cottage cheese when I went to the grocery. Crumbs.
gogol's wife
@Pogonip:
I think they are smart, but they’re goofballs too. The two are not mutually exclusive.
gogol's wife
Is anybody watching Poldark? I’m enjoying it. The storytelling is rather diffuse, but the actors are quite appealing and the scenery is fab. And Phil Davis as Poldark’s servant steals every scene he’s in, just with facial expressions.
ETA: I guess this isn’t an open thread, but Demelza has a dog, so it’s okay.
Tommy
@Pogonip: Well you have to go back don’t you! My favorite meal/lunch is a roast beef and swiss on seven grain bread. About half a cucumber. A huge spoonful of cottage cheese topped with either raisins or sunflower seeds.
Scamp Dog
@Aleta: is that related to the Doofundland? I used to have one of those…
gogol's wife
@gogol’s wife:
I guess this isn’t an open thread, but Demelza has a dog, so it’s okay. (Somehow this edit was moderated.)
My Poldark comment is being moderated. Whatever.
trollhattan
@gogol’s wife:
Generally among most top-five intelligent dog lists but definitely distractable. Very fetch and food-driven. The next mean golden I meet will be the first–they LOOOVE people to death.
JPL
When my first golden became ill, the vet agreed to meet me, even though, it was nine at night. I called a neighbor to watch my sons, and she called another neighbor to watch the sons so she could come with me. Golden’s are special.
My neighbor was special too.
Pogonip
@Tommy: Ha! I’m too lazy to go back, I’ll get it next time. I am glad to meet another cottage cheese fan. Most people only eat it when they are dieting–I actually like the stuff!
trollhattan
We’ve seen this story already. I’d like to stop, now.
Tommy
@Pogonip: I love the stuff and I responded to your comment because it is my experience we are a very small minority of the population that likes it.
JPL
@trollhattan: Whether or not they get charged will have to do with the color of their skin. Sad but true.
? Martin
More people tuned into the women’s World Cup match than either the NBA final game or game 7 of the World Series last year. But women’s sports aren’t commercially viable because reasons.
Pogonip
@trollhattan: Did you see the video of the golden retriever on a sort of dog obstacle course? Distractions, food and toys, were laid out on each side of the run; the dog was supposed to go straight to the handler ignoring the distractions. The first two dogs did it perfectly. Then the golden is up; it tries every toy and eats every dish of food. The handler finally has to grab its collar and retrieves it; it wags its tail cheerfully as it’s pulled away, as if it’s thinking, “This is a great smorgasbord! We should come here more often!”
Tommy
@? Martin: How about it. As I said yesterday I enjoy international women’s soccer and hockey more than the males playing. And although baseball is my core sport, go Cardinals, softball is pretty fun to watch.
Pogonip
@Tommy: Those with impeccable taste have always been a very small minority.
Tommy
@Pogonip: I used to be almost 100 pounds heavier. I am now 5’4 and 132 pounds. I am so anal about what I first buy, because I don’t have self control if I bring “bad” foods into my house. And then what I eat. Cottage cheese first gets me dairy and it is also something I really, really like. When I find foods that are both good for you and think tastes good. Well clearly that is a win/win.
shell
“searching for the dead’
For a split second, I thought the dog took part in seances.
trollhattan
@Pogonip:
Loved it! Had me on the floor, both for the utter violation of Proper Working Dog Etiquette and for the unselfish-conscious manner in which the dog harvested the yummy snack. And you know all the border collies were hanging back going, “Yeah, we may nip people but we’d never do that. What an embarrassment!”
trollhattan
@Tommy:
And tennis. I never bother with men’s tennis. “And, another hundred-eighty mile an hour ace, adding to his total of fifty-seven.”
TaMara (BHF)
@DougJ: I thought she might be in there because she didn’t want to see dead people.
mai naem mobile
I bet Laika laika lots of chasing Republican balls and treats.
WereBear
Actually, the dogs get upset by their handler’s all too human reactions to finding dead bodies. I also don’t put it past them to know these are formerly alive people. This depresses the dog.
satby
@Linnaeus: during disasters with lots of cadavers, occasionally a volunteer will hide under rubble so that the dog can locate a living being. It’s been shown to keep the dog’s spirits up, they recognize that they are locating dead people and that everyone is excited and happy when a live victim is found.
Edit: or what WereBear said.
trollhattan
@shell:
History Channel on line three would like to talk about further development of your series proposal.
“‘Dog Medium’, the medium-size dog who converses with the dead.”
Tommy
@trollhattan: Welll can’t see how I didn’t list tennis since I played it most of my life. I MUCH prefer women’s tennis.
Pogonip
@shell: “I scent dead people…”
TaMara (BHF)
@trollhattan: We had an incident this weekend where a grandfather was shot dead at the picnic table while in Pike National forest with his family. Stray bullet from people illegally shooting in the area.
Tommy
@trollhattan: I am old enough to recall when the History Channel, you know ran shows about history.
Scary thing, I could see them running that show. Like yesterday.
Pogonip
@trollhattan: I bet even the owner will be laughing by the time she shows her grandchildren the video.
That one, and the owl and the pussycat, are my two favorite pet videos. I still think little Marimo is cutest when she falls over while trying to lick her hind leg. Her expression is indescribably cute. She’s cute playing with her owl buddy, of course, but not AS cute.
Marmot
@trollhattan: Goddamn. My mom keeps a .38 in her bedside table, and this is exactly what worries me.
Tommy
@TaMara (BHF): How freaking tragic. Said as a huge hiker/camper that thinks National Parks are one of the coolest things about our nation. Outside of my house a National Park is one place I feel totally safe. To think I could get shot and not be stupid and harm myself in one, can’t wrap my mind around it.
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
Story doesn’t say whether the home where this happened was the grandparents’ house or if they were babysitting him at his own house while his parents were away. Either way, terrible and, of course, 100% predictable and preventable and an unnecessary waste of a young life. I want to feel sorry for the adults responsible for leaving loaded guns lying around where little kids can find them and play with them — oh, wait, no, I stopped feeling sorry for them a long time ago. That degree of negligence? They might just as well have pulled the trigger themselves.
SiubhanDuinne
@mai naem mobile:
I thought we were all pretty much in agreement that Republicans have no balls.
TaMara (BHF)
@Tommy: Oh it gets better. A few weeks ago, a 20-something year old shot a bull elk at Rocky Mountain National Park because he felt “threatened”. He was white, the elk was brown. So you can see how this happened. /snark
SiubhanDuinne
@Tommy:
Oh yeah. I also remember when you could actually learn something on The Learning Channel (TLC), when there were entertaining arts programs on Arts & Entertainment (A&E), and when you could discover cool and interesting stuff on The Discovery Channel.
Of course, I also remember when Cable News Network (CNN) bore some slight resemblance to the second word in its name.
Tommy
@SiubhanDuinne: I say something like this all the time here. I have never owned a gun. Never will. Fired one twice.
My dad did have guns and everybody I know does. They are under lock and key. As a kid I could never get near one. Well there was a 150 year old musket on display in the house, but not sure, and this was pre-Internet days, I could have figured out how to fire it even if it would fire.
And my friends. Guns you can’t get to as well. Asked them to take me hunting and they tell me, “dude you know nothing about guns. If you are serious you will take and pass a gun safety class. Then we can talk about it.”
Who are these people that leaves guns laying around? Also can people not recall being young/kids. That you might have gone through the drawers in your parents house or bedroom.
TaMara (BHF)
@SiubhanDuinne: A&E did some great theatre. I had Romance Romance on video forever.
Pogonip
@SiubhanDuinne: Yep. People who leave loaded guns around where small children can find them should be charged with murder when something happens. And I say this as a Responsible Gun Owner (tm, all rights reserved).
WereBear
@TaMara (BHF): A&E was where I first saw the Cracker series with Robbie Coltrane. They were once the place to find British mysteries.
SiubhanDuinne
@Tommy:
That’s the thing. The gun doesn’t actually have to be lying out on top of the coffee table, or nestled next to the remote in the sofa cushions (although far too many are). Every child on the planet wants to explore and open drawers and poke around and try things out. Mama’s lipstick? Cool. What happens if I put this bra on my head? Hahaha, I look funny! Ooh, wonder what happens if I pull this little tab on this metal thing with the handle? I’d better look inside the hole at the end of the tube so I can see what happens when I pull th.
Tommy
@TaMara (BHF): Fuck. Guns in National Parks (and yes that was Obama). When you go to a National Park there is wildlife. Some of it that can harm you. But there is this thing called the Internet and even if you are not used to being out in nature you can educate yourself in minutes. A bull moose. Bear. They can mess your world up. Kill you.
But I wonder if this guy just wanted to kill something. Like Trayvon Martin worried me, I shot him.
WereBear
@efgoldman: It’s funny, because there are other hunting breeds who are more starchy and fussy about rules. But different dogs were shaped for different tasks. And different personalities as they go about these tasks.
Pogonip
@efgoldman: The good old days!
Tommy
@SiubhanDuinne: I agree with you 110%. I will only recall one thing. I think I was 7-8. Grandparents had got me a toy gun. I pointed it at my father. He quickly took it out of my hand and put me on the ground. Told me to NEVER point a gun at somebody if you don’t plan to use it. And if you do, plan to kill them. This was the 70s, have we not progressed?
I think more than anything I recall that when I think about guns.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
I always thought it was Crappy News Network
satby
@WereBear: if you stream with Roku, get Acorn TV. Best of British series, and they have the Robby Coltrane Cracker on now!
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Yes. Glory days, they were.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ruckus:
That came later, after Ted left. At first they were Chicken Noodle Network, when they didn’t have a clue about much of anything. Then came Gulf War I and they earned their reportorial stripes getting footage from Baghdad that none of the traditional broadcast networks were able to get. CNN was actually a very decent news network for a while. But once that whole AOL-TimeWarner thing happened and Ted Turner was forced out, the whole thing went to hell in a handcart and has never recovered.
WereBear
@satby: Thanks! We got the Amazon Prime box. But Netflix has a nice lineup of good British stuff.
Tree With Water
A cadaver dog in New Mexico recently went crazy after being trapped on the grounds of an old folks home.
Capri
@satby: I’m pretty sure there are dogs who are trained as cadaver dogs, to find something that smells dead and people-finding dogs, who are trained to find live people. Since dogs don’t generalize very well, if at all, it would 2X the work to train a dog for both. The folks who handle them no doubt find it depressing work, but it’s a big leap to say that dogs get upset by what they have been trained to find.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
Lynne Russell!
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack:
Yes! My old employer used to have offices in CNN Center, so we would see all the star announcers and execs all the time in the atrium, on the escalators, etc. I don’t claim to know Lynne Russell at all, but many’s the time we stood in the same line in the food court, waiting for our salads or sandwiches — frequently enough that we started recognizing each other and began exchanging greetings, the way one does.
jayackroyd
@Linnaeus: I’ll ask, if that question isn’t answered by the time I finish. But this a volunteer, episodic kind of thing, so I’d be surprised.
BruceFromOhio
Your hastas are awesome. Relentless mowing by the deer herd laves me envious.
jayackroyd
@satby: Is Acorn the same price on a Roku stream? 50 bucks a year?
Platonicspoof
Hosta ‘Sum and Substance’?
My neighbor’s guinea fowl will eat them as soon as they sprout and as fast as they’ll grow.
They ignore most of the other dozen or so species/cultivars she grows.
Just in case you were thinking of getting guinea fowl . . . .