Bark Blog

Happy Pup-Friendly Earth Day

Stain-repellant chemicals from the lining of a dog food bag, phtalates in toys, arsenic-treated deckwood, mercury in cat food--the environment our companion animals inhale, lick and slurp is often loaded with toxins and pollutants. One dog is mad as hell and not going to take it any more. (Although, he's too sweet to put it that way.) On this Earth Day, read Eddie's story and learn more about taking action for animals (and people) to better the environment in your home and beyond.

Lisa Wogan

New pet-cancer guide

The College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University recently launched an online video guide to cancer in pets. If you're facing this diagnosis in your dog (or cat) for the first time, or have a friend in that unenviable position, I'd recommend this clear, sensitive introduction to diagnosis, detection, treatment and research.

Lisa Wogan

They're Smarter Than We Think

Check out the wonderful story on the state of the study of animal cognition with luscious animal portraits by Vincent J. Musi in the current issue of National Geographic (April 2008). The report—which features a pair of smarty-pants Border Collies, of course—explores how more and more we realize "we are not alone in our ability to invent or plan or to contemplate ourselves—or even to plot and lie."

What I found especially interesting was how human cognition science reacts to discoveries in the animal realm. After one researcher complains that folks on the human side constantly raise the bar on what constitutes uniquely human cognition, Virginia Morell writes:

Whenever [animal researchers] find a mental skill in a species that is reminiscent of a special human ability, the human cognition scientists change the definition. But the animal researchers may underestimate their power—it is their discoveries that compel the human side to shore up the divide.

I wonder, why maintaining the divide so all-fired important?

Lisa Wogan

New hope for shelter dogs

Ever wonder what you'd do with $3 million? Well, The Stanton Foundation has given that sum to the Animal Rescue League of Boston to fund a Center for Shelter Dogs -- with the exclusive goal of improving the welfare and placement odds for dogs in humane societies, animal control shelters and rescue groups. Among some of the goals of the new center will be developing a better awareness of the shelter environment and the disruptive effect of the stress of homelessness and rehoming on dog behavior; improving methods of evaluating and mitigating stress in the shelter environment; and improving strategies for matching dogs with prospective adopters. What a great idea!

Lisa Wogan

PETA No Fan of Best In Show

Animal-rights organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is no stranger to stirring up controversy. In the past, some dog owners have questioned PETA president Ingrid Newkirk's canine devotion as a fundraising ploy or worse.

So it comes as no surprise that PETA debuted a provocative ad campaign (one commercial compares purebred dog breeders to the Ku Klux Klan) during Westminster Kennel Club's annual show, the Superbowl of dog shows. You can watch all three commercials through You Tube or the New York Times.

What do you think of the new PETA commercials? Are they fair? Or too over the top?

Julia Kamysz Lane

Dog Food Company Pays $3.1 Million Settlement

Two years ago, a New York veterinarian deteremined that her client's dog died due to tainted dog food. Soon thereafter, Diamond Pet Foods recalled 20 varieties of dog and cat food. The food was contaminated by aflatoxin, which naturally results from a fungus often found on corn. (For a list of ingredients to avoid and why, go to The Dog Food Project.) Diamond admitted that its plant in South Carolina failed to do internal quality testing and agreed to pay a $3.1 million settlement toward victims' expenses, including veterinary bills. Owners whose dogs died are eligible for up to $1,000 (a laughable number considering how priceless our canine companions truly are). For more info or to make a claim, go to Diamond's Recalled Pet Food Settlement Web site.

Julia Kamysz Lane

No more dog sacrifices in med schools

The new year began with a piece of good news. Case Western Reserve School of Medicine will end cardiology lessons wherein students examine the beating heart of a live dog, which results in the animal’s death. This brings an end to the long-standing tradition of using live dogs in all American medical schools.

According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), which tracks “live dog labs,” med students overwhelmingly supported finding alternatives to live animals. It’s hard to know if the ethical concerns alone would have turned the tide, but advances in medical simulation technology and computer-based interactive learning, plus a push for human-based models sealed the deal.

Learn a little more about the recent history of using of live animals, and particularly dogs, in medical schools.

Lisa Wogan

Does Rabies Vaccine Last Seven Years?

Thanks to a grass-roots effort of dog lovers who raised much-needed funding, the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine is conducting the first long-term challenge studies on the canine rabies vaccine. Dr. Ronald Schultz, Chair of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences, is overseeing five- and seven-year challenge studies that will determine how long the rabies vaccine truly immunizes dogs. For more info or to learn how you can help your dog be healthier, go to the Rabies Challenge Fund.

Julia Kamysz Lane

Taboo Treats & Chocolate Chart

Do you give your dog a grape every now and then? How about the occasional chocolate-chip cookie? If so, pick up the October issue of National Geographic and get the scoop on why these seemingly harmless treats can be dangerous. The feature story, "Canine Taboos," focuses on foods toxic to dogs, such as grapes, chocolate, coffee, onions and more. You might be surprised to find what's on the list.

Unfortunately, I have first-hand experience with this kind of food scare. Several months ago, I came home to discover an open bag of semisweet chocolate chips on my kitchen floor. One of the dogs had managed to open up the pantry door and get into my baking supplies. At first, I wasn't too concerned because we have four dogs and I figured the chocolate was divided among my entire pack. But then I realized that if only one of them ate all of the chocolate, s/he would be in trouble. I called my vet and she recommended we make all of the dogs vomit. Turns out that one dog -- our Dalmatian, Darby -- did indeed eat the entire 8-ounce bag of chocolate chips all by herself. Fortunately, she was fine but it was frightening nonetheless.

If you're concerned about the effects of chocolate on your dog, National Geographic also provides an interactive "chocolate chart." You can adjust the weight of the dog and the amount of chocolate ingested to determine the real-life symptoms. It can also help you determine if a vet visit is in order.

Julia Kamysz Lane

Let's Play

Revisit the amazing photos of a sled dog at play with a polar bear, taken by Norbert Rosing, at American Public Media’s Speaking of Faith website (link to the SoundSeen slideshow “Animals at Play”). It’s part of a presentation by Stuart Brown, director of the National Institute of Play, which promotes pleasurable, purposeless play for it’s own sake. Brown and others at the institute believe that play, like nutrition and sleep, is a central element in determining your health, well-being, creativity and intelligence. Since living with a dog is an open invitation to play, it’s just one more way they make our lives better.

Thanks to Active Canines blog for this tip.

Lisa Wogan

Canine Rabies Going, Going, Gone?

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the canine rabies virus no longer exists in the United States. But don't throw out your dog's rabies tags just yet. While a dog cannot transmit rabies to another dog, the deadly, untreatable virus can still be found among raccoons, skunks and bats, who in turn can infect dogs with rabies.

Sound confusing? I'll say. I was hoping this news meant we'd no longer have to vaccinate our dogs for rabies period. There has been a lot of discussion about the possible harm of overvaccinating our pets. Some of my friends choose to blood titer to determine if their dogs have enough of the protective vaccine in their system rather than automatically get the annual (or in some cases, three-year) rabies shot. Titering is more expensive, but why add more chemicals to my dog's bloodstream if he doesn't need them? For more info on overvaccinating and an important future rabies study headed by Jean Dodds, D.V.M., check out Rabies Challenge Fund.   

Julia Kamysz Lane 

Little Dogs

Bark's science editor, Mark Derr, re-examines his position on small dogs, although he has been a champion of large dogs, he is "embracing the changing dog demographics."  Mark wrote about this in an op-ed commentary, The Little Dog Has His Day, in the New York Times on Saturday. He noted that not only has the Yorkshire Terrier "nosed" out the Golden Retriever for the second spot on the AKC list of popular breeds, but the recent genetic discovery of the insulin-like growth factor gene that is responsible for doggy smallness makes it that much more "natural" that dogs have evolved in so many varying sizes. As Mark says, "this single variation is ancient enough to support the theory, to which I have long subsribed, that the earliest division among dogs was between large ones and small ones."

Claudia K.

SPEED GENE

Scientists at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) discovered a genetic mutation that explains why some racing dogs are faster than others. According to the study, published online May 1, 2007 in PloS Genetics, one copy of the mutated myostatin gene increases muscle mass and enhances racing performance in Whippets. However, a Whippet that carries two copies of the mutated gene – known as a “bully” Whippet -- will be too bulky to race and likely euthanized by the breeder. Researchers tested 14 other breeds, including Greyhounds, Rottweilers, Bulldogs and Bull Terriers, and believe that this mutation might be limited to Whippets. Nevertheless, research team leader Elaine O. Ostrander, Ph.D., said, “Our work is the first to link athletic performance to a mutation in the myostatin gene and could have implications for competitive sports in dogs, horses and possibly even humans.” For more info, go to NHGRI. - Julia Kamysz Lane

DNA Scan Sold to Mars

Update on the DNA testing kit that might help you tell what dog breeds are in your mixed breed dog. The test which was developed by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle was recently sold to Mars, Inc. (who also makes pet foods such as Royal Canin, Pedigree and Sensible Choice). For more see
Claudia

New Use for Old Rubbish?

On the front page of the SF Chronicle today was an article heralding the coming of a new form of energy: dog poop. Some Bay Area cities have set a challenging goal for themselves of depositing zero waste in landfills by the year 2020. Toward that end, San Francisco has asked Sunset Scavenger, a garbage-collection and recycling company, to find a use for the animal waste that makes up almost 4 percent of San Francisco's residential waste. Norcal, Sunset Scavenger's parent company, plans to collect the dog poop by placing biodegradable bags and special carts in the ever-popular Duboce Park.

While converting animal waste into methane energy is realistic on a large scale, it seems unlikely that  individual homes would produce enough animal waste to power themselves. A more likely scenario would be that a city would use methane digestion and would then supply that energy to individual households.

It does make you think, though, about all those plastic bags filled with dog poop that we send to the landfills every day. Interestingly, according to Carolyn Jones' article in the Chronicle, waste experts say that "the most ecologically sound way to dispose of [dog waste] is to flush it down the toilet, where it can be treated in the sewage system."

Food for thought

Salon has a thoughtful piece out on home-prepared meals for pets. You have to view an ad to read it if you're not a subscriber, but it's well-worth your time. -- G.S.

Dogs trained to sniff cancer

From this morning's New York Times:

In the small world of people who train dogs to sniff cancer, a little-known Northern California clinic has made a big claim: that it has trained five dogs - three Labradors and two Portuguese water dogs - to detect lung cancer in the breath of cancer sufferers with 99 percent accuracy.

The study was based on well-established concepts. It has been known since the 80's that tumors exude tiny amounts of alkanes and benzene derivatives not found in healthy tissue.

Other researchers have shown that dogs, whose noses can pick up odors in the low parts-per-billion range, can be trained to detect skin cancers or react differently to dried urine from healthy people and those with bladder cancer, but never with such remarkable consistency.

The near-perfection in the clinic's study, as Dr. Donald Berry, the chairman of biostatistics at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, put it, "is off the charts: there are no laboratory tests as good as this, not Pap tests, not diabetes tests, nothing."

The rest of the piece is here (need a log-in?). Also, I've been remiss in posting this link to Bark Contributing Editor Mark Derr's take on the cloning scandal; specifically: Is Snuppy real? -- G.S.

Heartworm horror

Callie, a Katrina foster brought to Northern climes, was treated for severe heartworm disease. She was treated with the standard protocol with one injection of Immiticide -- an arsenic derivative -- followed a month later by two injections of Immiticide given 24 hours apart a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday. Over the long weekend, Callie threw a lung embolism, a potentially fatal complication of heartworm treatment. Days later, Callie is not stable and is spending the entire week at the vet’s. Her foster family is deeply worried.

We’ve all heard how difficult it is to treat dogs for heartworm, but until it becomes reality instead of just theoretical, we’re clueless. The dog is in physical pain, even for treatment of mild cases like my Katrina foster, Bella. Bella looked at me to alleviate the pain and I couldn't help her at all.

An acquaintance at the dog park lost his beloved Airedale to kidney failure, and the breeder of his successor puppy insisted that heartworm preventive was the cause of the kidney failure. The breeder insisted that he not give either the puppy or his other adult Airedale any heartworm preventive. I would like to give that breeder a piece of my mind for her recommendation, which I believe is not only ill-informed but heartless. No one who has seen how awful this treatment is could honestly say it’s preferable to the relatively low risks of heartworm preventive.

Make no mistake: either heartworms or heartworm treatment can kill a dog. The bigger the worms, the worse off the dog is. Worms live in the arteries of the lungs and in the right side of the heart. According to The American Heartworm Society:

Heartworm disease may cause a combination of medical problems within the same dog including dysfunction of the lungs, heart, liver and kidneys. The worms are found in the right side of the heart and in the major vessels that bring blood to and from the right chambers, where they cause inflammation and interfere with blood flow. This primarily causes pulmonary thromboembolisms (clots in the lungs) and congestive heart failure. It can also lead to liver or kidney failure. Death can be caused by one or a combination of these problems.

The two Immiticide injections are given in muscle in the lumbar region (back) with a big thick needle. The night Bella came home from the overnight hospital stay and the second injection she could not find a comfortable place to lay down, and got up and moved restlessly, unable to find a comfortable position or place. Some dogs experience what vets call muscle soreness for wo to four days; for Bella, that meant screaming like a banshee if anyone or thing touches her back area. She can’t be picked up without screaming; she can’t have another dog back into her without screaming; she could, however, go up a few stairs like a sidewinder, slowly and gently.

For several nights, Callie has been unable to find a position that is comfortable, and falls asleep while sitting up because that’s the most comfortable position; sadly, she awakens when she falls to the floor and thus does not get any healing rest.

The ongoing death of worms lodged in the heart and arteries causes dogs to become gaggy and cough a bit. This is normal; as the worms die and dissolve, they are passed through the bloodstream and lungs and she coughs it up as phlegm. Some signs, like the blood that Callie coughed up, are life-threatening and must be treated as an emergency, in which case a dog may remain hospitalized for a week. Pulmonary thromboembolic complications can happen up to four to six weeks after treatment with Immiticide; the complications are usually worse in dogs with severe heartworm infection and those whose activity is not restrained.

According to Debra Eldredge, DVM, even if you live in a region with a low or virtually nonexistent amount of heartworm, if you have rescue dogs coming in, such as those from Katrina dogs coming in, your area potentially now has heartworm. Once you add a heartworm-positive dog to mosquito populations, the disease will spread a bit as the mosquitoes in your area move from animal to animal. Parts of the country have just had a warm, wet fall, keeping mosquitoes alive and well.

“If my area was relatively heartworm-free and several Katrina or Rita dogs moved in, I would take some precautions,” said Dr. Eldredge. “Those dogs should all be tested. If they are positive, treatment should be started. In the northern half of the country where winter is coming up, you have more time as we won’t have mosquitos all over. If I took in a heartworm positive dog, I would have my pets on preventive. If you choose not to use preventive, I would test twice yearly.”

Through X-rays, it was determined that Callie must have had heartworms for quite a while, as her heart was enlarged and her lungs were scarred from the worms. Callie's heart and lungs, assuming she makes it through the treatment, will repair somewhat but that having had heartworms will likely shorten her life span. -- Phyllis DeGioia, editor, VeterinaryParner.com

Editor's note: The animal organizations involved in hurricane rescue estimate that up to 80 percent of the dogs are infested with heartworm. Here's more on preventing further spread of the disease with foster dogs spread throughout the country, and here's information on a special fund to pay for heartworm treatment in the Katrina dogs.

Celebrating a survivor

A day I once thought we might not make has come after all:  Fred has turned 13. What a day to celebrate! About year and a half ago Fred finished treatment for cancer; adenocarcinoma of the apocrine gland of the anal sac, to be specific. The whole kit and kaboodle, referred to in medical circles as multi-modality treatment, consisted of surgery to remove the anal sac, radiation for three weeks, and chemo. I live 10 minutes away from one of the best veterinary oncology departments in the country, the School of Veterinary Medicine at University of Wisconsin, Madison.

I didn't think I'd ever treat a dog for cancer. But it was Fred, my baby, my therapy dog who visits the Childrens Hospital. He's tolerant, we caught it early during a monthly anal gland express, and I was working a lot at that point. I didn't even think about a decision, so I can't say I made one. I treated him, despite the gloom and doom from the oncology resident.

Dogs are supposed to handle chemo better than people do. That's what everyone said. It's easier on them than it is on us. Everyone I talked to who had given their dog chemo said it wasn't that bad.

Except for some very, very rare dogs.

Like Fred.

A sensitive soul, Fred is also sensitive to chemo. His first dose of adriamyacin - the "Red Death" - caused horrible bloody diarhhea and bone marrow suppression. He ended up in ICU for a couple of days. I cried endlessly, my tears streaming with his blood.

He got a few days off from radiation, and I nursed him at home. Second dose of chemo was a different drug, which he didn't get until after the 15 treatments of radiation. He did fine on mitoxantrone. At least, he did fine the first dose. The second dose also caused a terrifying bone marrow suppression episode, which required another ICU stay. I was ill with worry, berating myself for my painfully drawn out decision to continue with chemo, a decision based on multiple second opinions from veterinary oncologists around the country. Each of them said if it was their dog, they'd continue. Two bad reactions is something most veterinary oncologists only hear about but don't experience in their careers.

Several of them experienced it with Fred. That's probably it for their career. One veterinarian said it was the kind of luck people have winning a $90 million lottery, but the luck was in reverse.

Fred did not get the fourth and last scheduled dose of chemo. I would no more have given it to him than I would have taken a sledgehammer to his head. I have no doubt another dose would have killed him. The oncologists had no doubt either.

So after surgery, he received all the radiation appropriate for his condition, and three of four chemotherapeutic doses. As a bichon/westie mix, he does not shed, so he lost most of his hair on chemo, not to mention the permanent loss from the radiation. At least the hair has grown over his hind end so he no longer looks like a baboon butt. But he did, especially when it was red like a blazing sunburn.

His treatment was horrible, painful, expensive, and successful. Studies show a 2.5 year median survival rate after treatment. Hopefully, that means I should have him until his next birthday, his 14th. But I'm not betting on it. I've learned my luck with the lottery. A few months ago I had to interview a veterinary oncologist for an article about some other type of cancer, and he said that he wasn't sure Fred's treatment was the right approach. "He must have felt like he was shitting fire," said the academic.

So we celebrate. He has a Pet Pals shift in the afternoon, where the kids at the local children's hospital rub his belly for an hour. Because of this shift, he will, sadly, have to have a bath on his birthday, but such is life. Then after the hospital, I think he and I will take a quick trip to the "magic window" for a hamburger. Then we'll go to the dog park with some friends and I'll bring biscuits and we'll party under the warm sun and the fall colors.

I love my boy so much...he is my joy, my love, my heart dog. My survivor. Happy Birthday, Fred. May God let you share one more with me. -- Phyllis DeGioia, editor, VeterinaryPartner.com

Deadly dog flu

The New York Times (need a log-in?) is reporting this morning on the spread of a new strain of canine influenza. So far it has killed dogs in the New York metropolitan region and in Florida:

The virus, which scientists say mutated from an influenza strain that affects horses, has killed racing greyhounds in seven states and has been found in shelters and pet shops in many places, including the New York suburbs, though the extent of its spread is unknown.

Dr. Cynda Crawford, an immunologist at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine who is studying the virus, said that it spread most easily where dogs were housed together but that it could also be passed on the street, in dog runs or even by a human transferring it from one dog to another. Kennel workers have carried the virus home with them, she said.

How many dogs die from the virus is unclear, but scientists said the fatality rate is more than 1 percent and could be as high as 10 percent among puppies and older dogs.

Here's a link to the entire piece.

Defending the Afghan

A lot of the jokes being made about the cloning of a dog in South Korea seem to focus on the Korean idea of dog meat as a delicacy. The rest seem to be at the expense of the poor Afghan hound, judged by author Stanley Coren to be the most stupid of all breeds, based on his version of what constitutes "smart."

In Nature Blog, Steve Bodio contributes this thoughtful post about how we assess "intelligence" in dogs, how sighthounds such as the Afghan rank, and how the sighthounds bred for looks are different than the hunting hounds they came from. -- Gina Spadafori

The dog-cloner speaks

From Newsweek, and interview with Dr.  Hwang Woo-suk, the stem-cell pioneer behind the cloning of a dog:

NEWSWEEK: So why a dog? What is different about dogs from the other animals already cloned?
Hwang Woo-suk: Dogs have a very different physiology from the other animals that have been cloned so far. Dog eggs don’t mature in their ovaries, while the other species of animals’ eggs mature in the ovaries. In the end, we had to use 1,095 dog eggs and we tried to implant them into 192 dogs. It was very inefficient. With more than 400 dog breeds displaying remarkable behavioral traits and diverse disease predilections, canine [cloning] holds promise for both veterinary and human health discoveries. Canine genome studies may have wide-ranging applications, from anthropology through narcolepsy and sensory physiology.

Where do you hope this research leads?
This research is not about copying people’s pets at home. It can be applied to treat human diseases with dog models.

The rest of the interview is here.

Another perspective, from Dr. Autumn Fiester, Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics, can be found in this chat transcript from the Washington Post's Web site.

Cloned dogs ... more

As the news of the cloned dog filters through the blogsphere and main stream media, we're going to look for thought-provoking writing on the subject. Here's an excerpt from the first, an op-ed from the Los Angeles Times by Wayne Pacelle of the HSUS:

Behind the cloned puppy and kitten are far grander schemes to clone animals for use in agriculture and research. Before such projects become the norm, we should all pause and think carefully about where it is all leading — for animals and for humanity. ...

... Congress and regulatory bodies must weigh in; many of the ethical concerns raised by human cloning apply here too. Such questions should not be left entirely to scientists and corporations, with their intellectual and commercial stakes in these projects.

Humanity's progress is not always defined by scientific innovation alone. Cloning — human and animal — is one of those cases in which progress is defined by the exercise of wisdom and of self-restraint.

The entire piece is here (need a log-in?).

On the lighter side, here's what Andy Borowitz thinks about the subject.

Cloned Canine

The Bark's editor-at-large, Mark Derr posted the following comments on the successful cloning of a dog last evening on his blog, Dog Bytes:

We have bamboo in our backyard, and, like all bamboo--as far as I know--it reproduces clonally. Each new shoot is genetically a carbon copy--except for the glitches, an unknown number--of every other shoot in this stand and others. But each one is different, not only because of those errors in copying but also because they were formed and broke into light of day under different circumstances. I think of that bamboo whenever I read a new article about the next animal or plant that some hotshot geneticist somewhere has cloned. Today's news is full of the South Korean scientist, Woo Suk Hwang, and his lab at Seoul National University. They cloned an Afghan hound, no less, and named it Snuppy [Seoul National University puppy--cute]. The scientific communication is in Nature  (subscription required).

Gina Kolata, writing in the New York Times, calls their feat, "the Mount Everest of cloning." Initially, I thought the statement what I called in my editing days "hyperbolic exaggeration"--bad writing of the worst sort--but then I realized that it was, in fact, a runaway metaphor, one of those cases where the author says something they don' t intend, and that something, although the opposite of what they intended, is right on. Thus, Kolata presumably meant to praise the Korean work as heroic, forgetting that George Mallory when asked in 1924 why he wanted to climb Everest, reportedly replied, "Because it is there." Nothing "heroic" about that--maybe imperialistic, but not heroic.

Mallory died on the mountain's slopes, and now, 52 years after Tenzig and Hillary made the summit, the well marked routes to the top have become thoroughfares cluttered with climbers, littered with garbage and corpses. Similarly, the path toward a cloned dog is littered with rejected eggs, embryos, and expectations, not to mention dogs.

There are now more reasons not to climb Everest than there are to climb it, yet each year, base camp becomes more crowded because as "the world's highest peak," it remains the "ultimate" climbing challenge in the eyes of many. Call it the homogenization of experience--the end of diversity in adventure and exploration--as surely as cloning is an assault on genetic diversity--the driving force behind evoluion for most plants and animals, including humans. Sexual reproduction, involving, as it does, the mixing of genes is, at times, a sloppy process. but slop is more interesting than sameness.

Cloning is the genetic equivalent of having to wear the same clothes as everyone else; it's the scientific manifestation of the unfortunate trend of putting the same"branded" shops in every community in the world. Cloning is the enemy of diversity. Most people in the media can't even begin to make that connection.

What's the point to cloning a dog, then? First, bragging rights for the people who did it--no small thing. Second, refining the techniques for cloning humans. A world-class geneticist told me some years ago that the only reason for learning to clone the dog, was to master techniques for cloning a human, and to make cloning more acceptable! If my beloved Dawg, why not me? Hwang Woo Suk and his colleagues say that they want to use cloned dogs to study diseases in humans and dogs and that they would never clone a human. The Koreans might not, but people elsewhere want to be the first on their block to clone humans, for both the glory and the notoriety.

There is no reason to clone, where it is not the natural form of reproduction. Cloning is the ultimate limit on diversity. Selling it as some sort of resurrection of a lost pet is wrong; it plays upon people's naive genetic notions and nostalgia, for like my bamboo shoots, the two will not be the same. Claiming that cloning the dog will lead inevitably to the cure for diseases common to humans and dogs is bogosity, a play on people's emotions to justify something that shouldn't even merit a "yuk test." There certainly are no grounds other than propaganda for saying it will have any lasting scientific merit.

People want to clone in order to prove they can manipulate the forces of evolution. They probably can't, but even if they could, it must be said that judging from the mess people have made of purebed dogs, there are more good reasons to ban cloning of any sort, than to allow it.    

Dog days start early

Perhaps summer is a slow time to start a Web log. Are we all out enjoying our long summer days with our dogs? I know I am. In the evenings I fill up the kiddie pool for the retrievers to wallow in while I sit in a hanging chair (just slightly less indulgent than a hammock) and read novels until the twilight gives way to the warm summer night. (Just finished: "Three Junes," by Julia Glass, a wonderful read made even more pleasurable by the presence of border collies and an eclectus parrot among the characters.)

Since I'm in more of a reading than writing mood, I thought I'd start sharing some pointers to some thoughtful and provocative Web posts (on dogs, of course!). First up: Christie Keith's essay on the limitation of holistic care:

The idea that if you just feed your animals right and get out of Mama Nature's way your animals will never know serious disease is a seductive one. It's  also a big fat lie, for more reasons than one. But the first reason is probably the biggest: Mama Nature is a bitch. She doesn't give a damn if your dog lives or dies.

Check it out. In the meantime, I'll search for more good reading. -- Gina Spadafori