Many of you have seen the video below, but for those of you who haven't, here is a reminder that it is not just the people of Japan who are suffering. I don't want to break your hearts, and don't pretend that this is easy to watch, but I hope it does inspire some to do what they can to contribute to aid and rescue efforts in this horrific disaster. Even as Jim and I have been in New York City, and now Chicago, enjoying, almost guiltily, the stimulation and ridiculously easy access to amazing food, I have been obsessed with information about the disaster in Japan, and can't seem to tear myself away from the news channels. There is so much to think about here, but one of the things, related to this blog, that comes to mind is the progression of reporting, in disasters like this, from a Read More
We All Need a Laugh
I'll grant this is as much for me as it is for you all, but I imagine I'm not the only one who could use a good laugh around now. You may have seen this already, and you may have mixed feelings about putting animals in the place of humans . . . but, oh, oh, did I laugh at this video! Anyone know much about it? Meanwhile, enjoy! (I tried to upload the video itself, but the file is too big, so I'm stuck with just providing a link... (although on preview the video played directly, hope you can see it!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVwlMVYqMu4 It does bring up an interesting issue which we've been discussing in my UW class: that of putting animals in the place of humans for the sake of humor (or making ourselves feel superior?). I'm normally not a fan of such practices, it just Read More
The Model-Rival Method
I mentioned "The Model-Rival Method" earlier when talking about training dogs to associate words with objects, and I thought it'd be fun to illustrate what I was talking about. The video at the bottom of the post is an example of this method, famously used by Dr. Irene Pepperberg to train Alex the African Grey Parrot to label a large number of objects, materials, colors, etc. It was originated by the European scientist Todt, in contrast to the "Skinner Box" kind of training in which a parrot got a food treat from a mechanized box for vocalizing something similar to the sounds being played by loud speaker. Using that method, American behaviorists had concluded that parrots "can't be taught language," but Todt noted that it had little relationship to how our own children learn language. He Read More
Best Bird, Worst Song
I wrote this before I left for New Zealand, and I hope I can get on line to read the comments about this video. Many of you have undoubtedly seen the video of the now famous Snowball dancing to music on Youtube. Here's another one, which had me practically wetting my pants I laughed so hard. But in all due respect to Will Smith and his daughter, who wrote the song, this is not a piece of music that should live on forever. Watch at least to the middle though, the first part is funny, but about halfway in is when I started to lose it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YuLwJPhvYA MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Oh my, it's so far away--we're on a plane right now (or will be when this posts), flying LA-Auckland, 13 hours. Finally broke down and bought a Kindle--13 hours is a 2 book trip at Read More
Stay Training – Phase I; Willie’s First Herding Dog Trial
Thanks for the discussion about the use of Body Blocks for teaching Stay, and to re-iterate a comment I made, they work equally well with dogs of all breeds and sizes (but you have to be a bit quicker with some breeds and with small dogs). If your dog is getting around you to the left or right, then you might be too close. It's herding dogs that taught me that you have more control at a bit of a distance than if you are right up close. I got away with being quite close in the video in the last post, because the dogs were relatively easy to block, but if you are having trouble, try backing up a bit. It's also a great way to learn to read dogs (what body part moves first when a dog starts to get up?) and to perfect your timing. I mentioned in last week's post that the video showed me Read More