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Angelina Jolie recently revealed she underwent a double mastectomy; a prophylactic measure to combat the risk of breast cancer associated with BRCA1 gene she carries. Like many other ‘disease’ genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 show evidence of positive selection, suggesting a … Continue reading
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“It is ironic to think that man might determine his own future by something so seemingly trivial as the choice of an insect spray.” – Rachel Carson, Silent Spring Now that summer is around the corner, many people will take … Continue reading
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Ruled by Fear. Rules by Fear. There is one recurring theme in Brad Pattison’s Puppy Book- FEAR. Fear dominates every aspect of Pattison’s interaction with the world. Fear infects this book and runs rampant like an unchecked disease; a pox … Continue reading
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No. I haven’t abandoned this blog. I finally came up for air after literally eating and sleeping in the lab for over a month. Other than people at work and the takeaway/delivery guy I haven’t seen anyone outside that circle … Continue reading
The innovative development of Karl Deisseroth was instrumental to the work summarized in Frozen by Punishment and Lighting the Pathways of Reward and Punishment, the team that includes Deisseroth has developed a new imaging technique called CLARITY.
I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.
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The Society for General Microbiology (#sgmman) is on for one more day so here is another quick post on viruses. Canine Distemper virus has a wide host range which include lions, tigers, hyenas, wolves, coyotes, raccoons, seals, martens, badger, bears … Continue reading
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The Society for General Microbiology (#sgmman) is holding a conference in Manchester (March 25-28)so a short report on a new canine virus is on the menu. A previously unknown bocavirus has been isolated in the post-mortem examination of a dog’s liver (Li … Continue reading
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You hear your mother’s voice from behind a curtain but as the person comes into view there is a stranger standing before you. A moment of confusion flashes through your brain as you struggle to integrate conflicting memory elicited by the … Continue reading
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I was pleased to hear that Lee Charles Kelley will no longer be a blogger at Psychology Today. It was a decision that PT should have made long, long ago. Psychology is science, and while their standards may not be … Continue reading
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Before the development of modern diagnostic equipment, doctors had to rely on their senses to make a diagnosis; diabetes is marked by fruity breath; the breath of patients with cystic fibrosis smells acidic and typhoid smells like baked bread (Stitt 1995). The … Continue reading
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“The lower animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery.” – Charles Darwin in ‘The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals’ Training a dog to heel through jerks often turns into a frustrating and self-defeating … Continue reading
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“Positive reinforcement results in lasting behavioral modification, whereas punishment changes behavior only temporarily and presents many detrimental side effects.” B.F. Skinner (1970) Balanced and dominance trainers tend to present reward and punishment as opposite sides of the same coin, as … Continue reading
For the sake of argument, let us imagine that Cesar Millan is right. We will imagine a universe where punishment causes no adverse psychological effects. In Millan’s reality punishment does not elicit fear and it does not cause aggression; punching … Continue reading
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A paper in Nature Scientific Reports documents that dogs displaced by the Fukushima disaster (March 11 2011) show persistent signs of stress and symptoms of PTSD. The authors compared dogs displaced by the disaster in Fukushima to abandoned dogs in … Continue reading
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For the sake of honest disclosure, I will admit to owning “purebreds” (the ‘pureness’ of purebreeds is a discussion for another time) but I also have mutts. All the dogs I’ve had since childhood had a few things in common, … Continue reading
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Another example of Brad Pattison’s twisted view of dogs seemed appropriate before the upcoming book review. When is submissive behavior an attempt at dominance? In an episode of At the End of My Leash, Pattison meets a black GSD with … Continue reading
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For those of you who have never heard of Brad Pattison, I apologize because I am about to make your world a little uglier. Let me state right away that I think Brad Pattison is an idiot. Let me qualify … Continue reading
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Dr. Marc Bekoff has jumped into the Cesar Millan abuse controversy (that there is a controversy baffles me) with an article titled “Did Cesar Millan have to hang the Husky” Dr. Bekoff makes an excellent case and I won’t go … Continue reading
Thoughts of a Computational Biologist
A dog trainer with an ethological perspective
Positive help for fearful dogs
Random and Abstract Lines
Learning and Living with Our First Dog
Language, literacy and learning for dog people . . . and people with dogs
