Pit bulls, history, & sociology • Pit hags, rescue angels, crazy cat ladies, dog men & chicken fighters: what’s in a name? • Unleashed: The Phenonena of Status Dogs and Weapon Dogs, by Simon Harding, reviewed by Alexandra Semyonova • A black-and-white issue that the humane community has yet to face • Pit bulls, bunnies, […]
The science of how behavior is inherited in aggressive dogs
by Alexandra Semyonova Probably most people recognize that every dog breed results from human manipulation of inherited physical traits. Until recently, most people probably also recognized that much dog behavior is also a result of manipulating inheritance: if you want to do sheep trials, you get a border collie. If you get a beagle, he […]
Police dogs should be trained as officers, not equipment
by Alexandra Semyonova On Friday, October 24, 2014, in Hustisford, Wisconsin, seven-year-old Logan T. Meyer was mauled to death by a Rottweiler ‘family protection dog’, trained by Vohne Liche Kennels. Less than eight weeks later, on Sunday, December 21, in Douglas County Colorado, a police dog trained and sold by Vohne Liche Kennels leaped from […]
Pit bulls, immigrants, & the alleged Islamic jihad against dogs
Alexandra Semyonova comments from The Netherlands: Every once in a while allegations that Muslim immigrants to Europe are anti-dog erupt again in the media, sometimes due to a real declaration by a radical Muslim group, but more often due to a widely publicized incident involving someone who happens to be Muslim objecting to the presence of a dog somewhere. […]
The 2011 Dutch “animal police” plan, viewed in 2014
by Alexandra Semyonova The politics of assembling the present Dutch coalition government were expected to put 100 new “animal cops” on the beat in the Netherlands by the end of 2011, and to eventually increase the Dutch animal police force to 500 officers, according to election […]
Review: Decoding Your Dog, edited by Debra Horwitz & John Cirbassi
Decoding Your Dog: The Ultimate Experts Explain Common Dog Behaviors and Reveal How to Prevent or Change Unwanted Ones Edited by Debra Horwitz & John Cirbassi Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company (215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003), 2012. 347 pages hardback, $27.00. The study of animal behavior has been around for a long […]