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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Animal Studies

"Leads" To Expanded Social Networks, Increased Civic Engagement And Divisions Within A Community: The Role Of Dogs, Catherine Simpson Bueker Dec 2013

"Leads" To Expanded Social Networks, Increased Civic Engagement And Divisions Within A Community: The Role Of Dogs, Catherine Simpson Bueker

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Dogs play a distinct role in their impact on human relationships and processes because of the unique role they play in American society, existing in a liminal space of "almost" human. Both the level of emotional attachment and the requisite daily care make dogs important players in bringing humans in contact with one another and mediating human relationships. This study examines the role that dogs play in mediating relationships between and among humans. By analyzing 24 in-depth interviews, as well as Letters to the Editor, editorials, and other items in a local newspaper, and observing public meetings around dog usage …


Discrimination Of Familiar Human Faces In Dogs (Canis Familiaris), Ludwig Huber, Anaïs Racca, Billy Scaf, Zsófia Virányi, Friederike Range Nov 2013

Discrimination Of Familiar Human Faces In Dogs (Canis Familiaris), Ludwig Huber, Anaïs Racca, Billy Scaf, Zsófia Virányi, Friederike Range

Recognition Collection

Faces are an important visual category for many taxa, and the human face is no exception to this. Because faces differ in subtle ways and possess many idiosyncratic features, they provide a rich source of perceptual cues. A fair amount of those cues are learned through social interactions and are used for future identification of individual humans. These effects of individual experience can be studied particularly well in hetero-specific face perception. Domestic dogs represent a perfect model in this respect, due to their proved ability to extract important information from the human face in socio-communicative interactions. There is also …


Puppy Mill Closure: The Economic Impact On A Local Community, The Humane Society Of The United States Aug 2013

Puppy Mill Closure: The Economic Impact On A Local Community, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL REPORTS

When a substandard dog-breeding facility (a puppy mill) closes, removing the dogs can drain the financial resources of a community, local animal welfare entities, and large humane organizations. Towns rarely derive any benefit from puppy mills, as they employ few staff, often don’t pay required taxes or license fees, generate much animal waste and pollution, and cause unpleasant odors and noise. Once a major puppy mill enterprise is discovered, many communities don’t have the necessary resources to handle the situation. Prevention is the key, and communities should discourage large scale breeding facilities from locating in their area.


Conceptualising The Impact Of Arousal And Affective State On Operant Conditioning, Melissa J. Starling, Nicholas Branson, Denis Cody, Paul D. Mcgreevy Jun 2013

Conceptualising The Impact Of Arousal And Affective State On Operant Conditioning, Melissa J. Starling, Nicholas Branson, Denis Cody, Paul D. Mcgreevy

Animal Training and Obedience Collection

Animal training relies heavily on an understanding of species-specific behaviour as it integrates with operant conditioning principles. Following on from recent studies showing that affective states and arousal levels may correlate with behavioural outcomes, we explore the contribution of both affective state and arousal in behavioural responses to operant conditioning. This paper provides a framework for assessing how affective state and arousal may influence the efficacy of operant training methods. It provides a series of three-dimensional conceptual graphs as exemplars to describing putative influences of both affective state and arousal on the likelihood of dogs and horses performing commonly desired …


Environmental Impacts Of One Puppy Mill Among Many: A Case History, John A. Gill Jun 2013

Environmental Impacts Of One Puppy Mill Among Many: A Case History, John A. Gill

Puppy Mills Collection

In recent decades, the animal welfare aspects of irresponsibly-managed commercial dog-breeding businesses have attracted national attention, prompting legislative and regulatory actions. However, the environmental impacts of such businesses, also known as puppy mills, have received far less attention. Most puppy mills are secretive; therefore, it is hard to get documented information about their environmental impacts. Although the former Whispering Oaks Kennels near Parkersburg, W.Va., also kept secrets, reliable environmental information regarding its operation became available because in the summer of 2008, Wood County cited the facility for violating the State’s water pollution and solid waste statutes. This report is based …


A Horrible Hundred 2013: Problem Puppy Mills In The United States, The Humane Society Of The United States Jan 2013

A Horrible Hundred 2013: Problem Puppy Mills In The United States, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL INFORMATION

This report is a list of some of the nation’s dog breeding kennels that are of high concern to The HSUS due to repeated problems with animal health or animal care. It is not a list of all puppy mills, nor a list of all problematic facilities. The list does not include other problematic puppy mill dealers, such as brokers and pet stores, unless the operators are also breeding dogs.


Puppy Mill Brokers, The Humane Society Of The United States Jan 2013

Puppy Mill Brokers, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL REPORTS

A puppy mill “broker” is a pet dealer engaged in the business of re-selling puppies who were bred elsewhere. Unlike retail pet stores, brokers are middleman dealers who obtain puppies from breeders and puppy mills, and then transport and resell them. Brokers typically sell puppies to pet stores, but sometimes to research facilities, often travelling great distances to do so. In some cases the term is also used loosely to describe people who re-sell litters directly to the public that they themselves did not produce, for example, by posing at the original breeder and selling them through websites or classified …


Environmental Impacts Of Puppy Mills, The Humane Society Of The United States Jan 2013

Environmental Impacts Of Puppy Mills, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL REPORTS

A puppy mill is “a dog breeding operation in which the health of the dogs is disregarded in order to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits.” Avenson v. Zegart, 577 F. Supp. 958, Dist. Court, Minnesota (1984). State and federal inspection reports reveal that a common method employed to maximize profits includes irresponsible waste management practices that are harmful to the environment. Impacts may be caused by improper disposal of feces, urine and carcasses.


Fact Sheet On Puppy Mills And Flea Markets, The Humane Society Of The United States Jan 2013

Fact Sheet On Puppy Mills And Flea Markets, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL REPORTS

Flea Markets are meccas for problematic puppy sellers. Since the USDA is now regulating commercial breeders who sell puppies sight-unseen over the Internet, flea markets are one of the last unregulated marketplaces for questionable puppy sellers, many of them unlicensed and uninspected. As a result, there has been an increase in the number of operators selling puppies at flea markets across the country—likely in an effort to escape government regulation.


Texas Puppy Seller Investigation, The Humane Society Of The United States Jan 2013

Texas Puppy Seller Investigation, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL INFORMATION

Over a five-month period in 2013, HSUS staff visited 16 pet stores and three flea markets across the state with hidden cameras to find out where they get their puppies and to check on the puppies’ conditions. HSUS staff also studied hundreds of shipping documents representing more than 1,400 puppies shipped into Texas between May 2012 and August 2013 from out of state, representing just a sampling of the thousands of puppies shipped into Texas every year for resale. Between the document research and in-person visits, investigators studied a total of 34 pet stores and flea markets. HSUS investigators found …


Investigation: Many Maryland Pet Stores Found In Violation Of Puppy Mill Disclosure Law, The Humane Society Of The United States Jan 2013

Investigation: Many Maryland Pet Stores Found In Violation Of Puppy Mill Disclosure Law, The Humane Society Of The United States

PUPPY MILL INFORMATION

An undercover investigation by The Humane Society of the United States and ReLove Animals, Inc., found most of the pet stores in Maryland that sell puppies are apparently not fully complying with a law designed to provide shoppers with information about the origin of their puppies. In September 2013, investigators visited 12 puppy-selling pet stores in Maryland. Specifically, investigators checked to see if the stores were fulfilling the requirement that they “post conspicuously on each dog's cage” the “state in which the breeder or dealer of the dog is located” and “the United States Department of Agriculture license number of …