Month: November 2013

Categories
Wildlife

Is a dingo a dog or wolf?

Is a dingo a dog or wolf?
Is a dingo a dog or wolf?

Dr Bradley Smith is a Research Fellow in Human and Animal Psychology at CQ University in Adelaide, Australia.

He has a fascinating research focus on the behaviour and cognition of dingoes.

Learn more about this amazing wild canid and how it fits into the dog-wolf-other landscape in this episode of Human Animal Science.

Is a dingo a dog or wolf? How does a dingo relate to a kelpie?

Let’s find out!

Podcast

Links

Dr Bradley Smith’s website: https://www.howlingdingo.com.au/
Dingo Discovery & Research Centre

Sterling the dingo demonstrating tool use:

Publications

Smith, B., & Litchfield, C. (2013). Looking back at ‘looking back’: Operationalizing referential gaze for dingoes in an unsolvable task. Animal Cognition, 16, 961-971.

Smith, B., Appleby, R. & Litchfield, C. (2012). Spontaneous tool-use: an observation of a dingo (Canis dingo) using a table to access an out-of-reach food reward. Behavioural Processes, 89, 219-224.

Smith, B., & Litchfield, C. (2010). How well do dingoes (Canis dingo) perform on the detour task. Animal Behaviour, 80, 155-162.

Smith, B., & Litchfield, C. (2010). Dingoes (Canis dingo) can use human social cues to locate hidden food. Animal Cognition, 13, 367-3

Dingo - dog or wolf? Or somewhere in-between?
Dingo – Is a dingo a dog or wolf? Or somewhere in-between?

Photos courtesy of Dr Bradley Smith

Categories
Behaviour Pets

A duty of care: shelter dog rehoming assessments + science

shelter dog rehoming assessments
shelter dog rehoming assessments

In this episode, Kate Mornement, PhD candidate from the Anthrozoology Research Group and Monash University, talks to Mia and Tim about her research exploring the science of shelter dog assessments for rehoming suitability.

Shelter dog rehoming is a topic with significant outcomes for everyone: our communities, shelter staff, and of course – the dogs.

Podcast

How many dogs are in shelters in Australia?

In Australia we do not have a national system for tracking the number of dogs in animal shelters or municipal council pounds.

An estimated 200,000 or more dogs enter a pound or shelter annually in Australia, and many of these dogs (approximately one in three) are euthanised.

Links

What Do Current and Potential Australian Dog Owners Believe about Shelter Practices and Shelter Dogs? (2012) Anthrozoos 25 (4): 457-473

A Review of Behavioral Assessment Protocols Used by Australian Animal Shelters to Determine the Adoption Suitability of Dogs (2010) Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 13(4): 314-329

Development of the Behavioural Assessment for Re-homing K9′s (B.A.R.K.) Protocol (2014) Applied Animal Behaviour Science 151: 75-83. 

Image credit: Flickr/DustinQuasar