A Discovery Channel video shows that dogs drink water with a reverse slurp. The video showing the dog drinking was recorded at thousands of frames per second. It's pretty interesting because when the dog is lapping up water they create a little pocket for the water to rest in with the back of their tongue.
Bernann McKinney wanted a clone of her lost pet so she turned to a Seoul biotech firm. McKinney paid $50,000 for clones of her lost pit bull. The Seoul company is claiming this is the first commercial pet cloning service. It sounds similar to the fictional RePet service from the science fiction movie The 6th Day that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. The BBC reports that embryos were created from skin cells taken from Booger's ear tissue.
"Booger was my partner and my friend," Ms McKinney said, as she appeared with the five identical copies of her pet.
Scientists at Seoul National University created a number of embryos from preserved skin cells taken from Booger's ear tissue before he died.
The embryos were then implanted into two surrogate mother dogs and, three months later, the puppies were born.
Among the scientists involved in the project was Professor Lee Byeong-chun, who was part of the team that created the world's first cloned dog - Snuppy the Afghan hound - in 2005.
Here's a video about the cloned dogs from the AP. Ms. McKinney seems very pleased with the results.
Remember Powder, the 44lb cat that lost his home when his owner foreclosed? Well, there's good news to report. 400 people applied to adopt Powder (aka Prince Chunk) and a family in south Jersey was selected to be Powder's new humans. You can watch the happy news in the video below or read it in this CBS News story.
If you think your veterinarian is the best you can nominate him or her for the second annual Thank Your Vet for a Healthy Pet contest. The contest deadline is August 31, 2008. The contest is conducted by Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) and sponsored by Hill's Pet Nutrition and Dog Fancy, Cat Fancy and Veterinary Practice News magazines.
Essays can be no longer than 300 words and should address four areas: 1) the veterinarian's outstanding care and treatment to clients, 2) commitment to the human-animal bond, 3) service to the community, and 4) devotion to the veterinary profession. You can find official rules and an online entry form at ThankYourVet.org. Entries can also be mailed to Morris Animal Foundation, Thank Your Vet Contest, 10200 E. Girard Ave., Suite B430, Denver, CO 80231. Entries must be submitted electronically or postmarked no later than 11:59 p.m. EDT, August 31, 2008. Entries must follow the official contest rules to be considered. To receive a print copy of the rules, call 800.243.2345.
"I've been fortunate to receive a number of different awards in my career, but this award is probably the most meaningful," said Dr. James L. Cook, last year's national winner and director of the Comparative Orthopaedic Laboratory at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "I want my work to make a difference in people's lives and animals' lives. This award helps me always remember that and be motivated by it."
Reuters reports that a British study has found that dogs find human yawns contagious. British scientists believe this may mean dogs have a "rudimentary capacity for empathy."
Dogs find human yawns contagious, suggesting they have a rudimentary capacity for empathy, British scientists said on Wednesday.
Although yawning is widespread in many animals, contagious yawning — a yawn triggered by seeing others yawning — has previously only been shown to occur in humans and chimpanzees.
It turns out, however, that man's best friend is highly sensitive to catching human yawns, with 72 percent of 29 dogs tested yawning after observing a person doing so.
The BBC also has an article about they study and they talked to the head of the study Dr. Atsushi Senju.
"Dogs have a very special capacity to read human communication. They respond when we point and when we signal," Dr Senju told BBC News.
The researchers explained that along with floppy ears and big soppy-eyes, humans have selected dogs to be obedient and docile. The results from this study suggest the capacity for empathy towards humans is another trait selected in dogs during domestication.
Dr Senju thinks that these traits would have been useful to humans when they began to live side-by-side with canines approximately 15,000 years ago.
There are many pet owners that could probably have told the scientists that their dogs yawn after they do and vice versa but the scientific study does offer some scientific proof. Some cat owners might even say that cats know what it means when their human is yawning and looking sleepy but this study was about the dogs.
If you think your veterinarian is the best you can nominate him or her for the second annual 
