Dogs follow human cues even without training; could this be the key to solving India's rabies problem?
5 years, 2 months ago

Dogs follow human cues even without training; could this be the key to solving India's rabies problem?

Firstpost  

You may be proud when your dog can fetch, roll-over, play dead, sit, bolt, stay, bark and stop eating on command. They designed an experiment to study if stray dogs with no prior behavioural training responded to directional clues such as pointing: it turned out that 80% of the dogs who approached the experimenters chose correctly when pointed in the direction of hidden food. The researchers said that studying the behaviour of stray dogs may assist rabies interventions and offer more humane alternatives. The study With 160 stray dogs chosen randomly, in the first stage of the experiment, the researchers “familiarized” the dogs to plastic bowls with food in them. While further research needs to be done, this study is suggestive of the capability of street dogs to innately follow human cues.

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History of this topic

Challenging dogma: On the threat from stray dogs
2 years ago

Challenging dogma: On the threat from stray dogs

The Hindu  

The newspaper rule of thumb is that ‘dog-bites-man’ stories are not newsworthy. However, with a nearly 1.5 crore stray dog population, and a dubious distinction of being the world’s dog-bite-and-rabies-capital, India’s ‘stray dog menace’ has a steady presence in the media ecosystem, to the point of being anaesthetising. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the Animal Birth Control …

Rabies stalks India with its 30 million stray dogs
10 years, 11 months ago

Rabies stalks India with its 30 million stray dogs

India Today  

A stray dog stands right at the entrance of a grocery store. The Animal Welfare Board of India, a statutory body under the Environment and Forests Ministry, is struggling to rope in NGOs and animal welfare groups to implement the recently-approved National Rabies Control Pilot Project. "We have been begging the Central government to provide us with funds for carrying …

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