Dogs! In the News!

Winner of the National Dog Show

What better dog news, than news about a dog winner? Newton, a Brussels Griffon won Best in Show at the National Dog Show this year. Newton, officially known as GCH Somerset Wynzall Hashtag, beat back more than 2,000 other dogs at the canine competition in Philadelphia.

A lot of people on the Interwebs say he looks like Chewbacca the Wookiee from Star Wars.

Whoever he looks like, he’s a cutie.

The National Dog Show is sponsored by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia. It airs every year on NBC right after the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade broadcast. Read all about this year’s show here at the Washington Post.

Dogs Owners Live Longer

My ticker is certainly happy to hear this dog news: according to a recent wide-ranging study done in Sweden, owning a dog is associated with a twenty percent lower risk of death from any cause and a twenty-three percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease. The study outlines many reasons for this, chief among them: people who own dogs tend to be more active than non-dog owners.

Here’s another interesting note from the study:

The effect was stronger with certain breeds, particularly pointers and retrievers. The senior author, Tove Fall, an epidemiologist at Uppsala University, suggested that this may reflect different kinds of owners: picture the owner of a Labrador retriever, and then one who has a Pomeranian.

Bodhi is a Pointer! I’m gonna live forever!

You can read more here from The Verge and here from the New York Times.

Oldest Images of Dogs

Scientists have discovered cave paintings in Saudi Arabia they think are the oldest depictions of domesticated dogs. The researchers believe the art dates back to 9,000 or 8,000 B.C.

According to National Geographic:

Rock art carved into the cliffsides of archaeological sites at Shuwaymis and Jubbah shows images of dogs aiding human hunters. Compared to the adjacent carvings of people, the canines are medium-sized, with short snouts, pointed ears, and a perky, curled tail. They resemble the modern-day Canaan dog breed. The rock art has an intriguing detail that shows an early effort to use dogs as hunting partners. What appear to be leashes tether the dogs to their human companions. Extending from the dogs’ necks, rope-like lines run to human waists. In one scene, the image of a human is shown poised to use a bow to shoot an arrow, with tethered dogs flanking his sides.

The enhanced image below shows the dogs more clearly. I am not sure I can see the tethers, can you?

This is a Canaan Dog.

Click here to read more from National Geographic.

Kenny Chesney Helps Dogs Get to Big Dog Ranch

Country singer Kenny Chesney was instrumental in getting 100 dogs from the USVI to PBI. According to the Palm Beach Post:

It was a very Floridian welcome when dozens of soon-to-be adopted dogs arrived Thursday evening to Palm Beach International airport from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Rain showers poured around 5:45 p.m., soaking volunteers and the media as they welcomed the lovey bunch. But a little rain is nothing to these animals. They survived two major hurricanes, Irma and Maria, this year. This was a total of 100 dogs that were rescued by Big Dog Ranch Rescue (BDRR) along with Victory Air, country music star  Kenny Chesney’s “Love for Love City,” whose home in the St. Johns was destroyed this hurricane season.

To help Big Dog Ranch, click here. And to read more about Urban Dog’s hurricane coverage click here.

The Tail: Howling Husky Puppy Runs out of Air

This cutie-patootie is learning how to howl. But he needs to work on his air supply. Wait till you catch the look he throws the person taking the video!