Honoring K9 veterans

Today is National K9 Veterans Day in the United States. It's an annual observance on March 13, the anniversary of the date in 1942, when the Army started training for its War Dog Program.

Go to Military Working Dog Adoptions for more information on giving one of these retired veterans a forever home.

This is the header for the National K9 Veterans Day Facebook Page, by graphic designer Chris Crawford.

Chris Crawford, the designer of the National K9 Veterans Day Facebook group's composite illustration, added these notes about her illustration:

"The dogs depicted are the Belgian Malinois, Doberman, mixed breed, Labrador, and Husky and, of course, the German Shepherd in silhouette at the bottom. 

The breeds are commonly used working dogs. German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois are the most common working breeds now and in the past. The Doberman was used extensively In WW2, particularly in the Marine Corps, and the Husky and other northern breeds were used to carry equipment and pull sleds in WW2 and during the Cold War. 

The mixed breed dog in the center is Stubby, of WWI fame, but he's representing all the mixed breeds and unusual breeds used by the armed forces and civilian agencies."

I thought I should finish off this post with my all-time favorite tribute to Military Working Dogs and their handlers, by Josh Tannehill. You've seen it on this blog before, but it bears re-posting!

Image created by Josh Tannehill.

These magnificent animals have no choice in whether they will defend our country and our troops--but they give the full measure of their devotion and provide an important force-multiplying factor. We owe it to them to honor them, and make sure they are well cared for throughout their lives.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Tails of a Foster Mom for the "Honor our Veterans" adoption poster-image, to the National K9 Veterans Day Facebook Page and graphic designer Chris Crawford, for the inspirational composite image with the silhouette, and I am deeply appreciative to Josh Tannehill for the "I am the Sheepdog" image. 

Remember K9 Veterans!

IMAGE: Many thanks to Kristen Levine Pet Living for this image. And blessings upon every MWD, working or retired. Good dogs, all!

Working dogs: Canine enslavement, or a fulfilling life?

Iggies all round: two of mine, plus
two foster puppies.

I've almost never been without a dog in my adult life (and those few months were pretty grim). 

Dogs are easily my favorite kind of non-humans. 

This is perhaps not all that surprising: humans have lived in something of a symbiotic relationship with dogs since prehistory, and our two species have been cohabiting and co-evolving, literally for millennia (since the Neolithic). 

There's actually a pretty good case to be made that, without our dogs co-evolving with us to guard us and help us hunt, haul our stuff, and keep our livestock in line, we humans might not be as successful a species as we are. Indeed, from that perspective people who don't like dogs really seem kind of ungrateful, don't they? 

Couldn't resist this cartoon by Tony Hall, from a National Geographic article about the evolution of dogs and humans.

The ingratitude of humans notwithstanding, one could also debate whether hooking up with humans has ultimately benefitted the dogs. Certainly it has changed them, both outwardly and inwardly--from the way they look and act to what they can digest.

There's also a contemporary debate, among humans who DO value dogs, over whether they should be made to work or not. 

It doesn't exactly look comfortable, but is it animal enslavement?

Some people say that dogs with jobs--even dangerous jobs, such as sniffing out IEDs in Afghanistan--are happier and more fulfilled than dogs whose existence is mostly occupied with eating or sleeping. 

Too little stimulation and interaction can lead to serious problems.

In developed countries today there's a rising tide of difficulties for pets, especially if they're left at home alone for too many hours, and perhaps crated the whole time. They tend to develop issues, such as separation anxiety or neurotic behavior from too much idleness, and obesity that often stems from too little exercise or free-feeding that leads to overeating from boredom. 

Is a domestic pet (unfortunately prone to obesity and separation anxiety) really better off?

Please review that list I made above: guarding, hunting, hauling (sleds, travois, carts), and livestock-keeping. Those are all jobs that dogs have done for ages . . . and it's probably because some of their earliest ancestors more or less "volunteered" for those jobs. I don't buy into the idea that humans were so brilliant they could look at wolves out in the wild, and intuit that they could be domesticated to do all those jobs.

Some partnerships are a natural outcome.

No, the natural capabilities of dogs, and their basic nature--combined, I am convinced, with the bonds that develop between individual humans and the individual canines who live with them--led the members of both species to stumble, together, onto the idea of the dogs doing these jobs.

Resource Guarding: it's a Dog Thing.

Dogs are naturally territorial, "resource guarding" creatures--and we humans definitely fall into the category of "resources" for most dogs. From there it's a short step to a role as "Head of Ranch Security." Hunting and herding also stem from things dogs do naturally, even without humans around. 

On duty or off, a dog needs a purpose in life. Just like people do.

I guess you can tell I place myself into the category that thinks dogs benefit from having a mission in life. And now, if you'll excuse me, my personal trainer Jake (the tan-and-white IG in the front of the top photo) tells me it's time for a walk (of course, he's just doing his job . . . ). 

Do you have any "working dog" stories to share? please put them in the "Comments" section below!

IMAGES: Many thanks to my daughter Signy for the photo of me in my favorite recliner with four Italian Greyhounds. Many thanks to National Geographic and cartoonist Tony Hall, for the "campfire moochers" image. Many thanks to the HumorHub Subreddit, for the "Wolves Once" image, to Pete Somers' Pinterest Board for the "holstered attack dogs," to Stamp Right Up's Pinterest Board for the "bored so took up scrapbooking" meme, and to Dog Medicine Info, for the photo of the bored dog. Thank you to Darwin Dogs for the "Shepherd/Sheepdog Conspiracy" image, to Boredom Kicker's Pinterest Board for the unworried kid with three German Shepherds, and to Payton Phillips' Pinterest Board for photo of the Gizmo-snuggling terrorist-hunter. It's been a pleasure finding these images, and I greatly appreciate their creators!

Artdog Image of Interest: Step aside, Batman!

After all it was just Halloween recently! I found this photo on the K9s4Cops Facebook page, and couldn't resist. 

Here's the story behind the picture: “Officer Shawn Burger and K9 Rocky of the Milwaukee Police Department snapped this photo during training one night. Step aside Batman....there's a new hero in town.” 

This is what Rocky looks like, when not doing spooky SFX.

IMAGE: Many thanks to K9s4Cops and the Milwaukee PD.

Artdog Photo of Interest: K9 Needs Backup!

Sometimes it's just too much . . .

This is a wonderful photo. I've also seen it captioned "Who forgot to feed the cat???" What other accompanying messages could you suggest?

IMAGE: Many thanks for this particular photo/message combination, to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Facebook page. 

Artdog Photo of Interest: An Early K9 on Patrol

I couldn't learn much about the origin of this photo. I thought the sidecar for the dog was a nice touch.

 

IMAGE: Many thanks to the OklahomaBureau of Narcotics Facebook Page.

Artdog Photo of Interest: Continuing Education

A little K9 humor for your Saturday:

IMAGE: Many thanks to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Facebook Page, for this image.

Artdog Image of Interest: Showtime!

This image is from a wonderful organization called K9s4Cops, which I actively support. It is the goal of K9s4COPs to fund the purchase of highly trained K9 partners for law enforcement agencies needing assistance. 

A trained K9 can cost $10,000 or more. Most public safety organizations can't afford them, but they can make a major difference. Please consider including K9s4Cops in your giving plan!

IMAGE: Many thanks to the K9s4Cops Facebook Page!

The Evolution of an Internet image

A recent "IMAGE 
CREDITS" example.

If you follow this blog regularly, you'll know that I try to document my image sources as scrupulously as possible, using link-backs and attribution as a "default rule." I always have a bold-face paragraph at the end of every post, for IMAGE CREDIT(S). 

This is in keeping with my "Internet Intellectual Property Philosophy." I think anyone who is on the Internet a lot realizes that any image that is published on the Internet is available for re-use, whether we want it to be or not. 

Screen-capture programs abound, and most images can be clicked on and dragged to a file very easily. Copyright law has not yet caught up to this reality.

I use TinEye to help track down
the origins of images I use.

Consider it publicity, if you like, curse the reality if you're so inclined, but there it is. The only way to keep your images truly "safe" from re-use is NOT TO PUBLISH THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. If we publish it, it's available. 

The photos, design images and other things we can so freely and easily download were created through the skill and work of an artist. Someone bought and learned to use the camera, the illustration program, or whatever, and spent time (sometimes many hours) creating it. I believe that, as intellectual property, these creations (and their creators) deserve respect and acknowledgement, so I publish image credits. 

I recently started a new Saturday Serial feature called the "Photo of Interest." In preparing a post I'd originally intended for the Saturday before Veterans Day, I used my old friend TinEye to help me locate the source for an image I'd found on Facebook in September.

I've posted this large, in the hope you can read the words.

 I found an interesting evolution. The oldest version TinEye could find dates to December, 2012:

The oldest version of this image shows ONLY the image,
which is pretty cool on its own.

The next major change came last May: 

First Change: Words added. But not the words I found,
when I saw it on Facebook.

Next Change: a border. Still not the version I found.

The image above has borders added--still clearly not the one I found. 

It seems to me that this is exactly the kind of boundary-blurring "collaborations" the Internet facilitates best. A person who wishes to express an idea with the perfect image doesn't necessarily always have to create it "from scratch" and in fact may not even have the idea until s/he has one part (for example, a poem) and then stumbles across the perfect match (in this example, a photo). 

Oddly, TinEye didn't find the Facebook image I tried to match. Worse, I myself didn't note the source when I first downloaded the photo (for private use, several months ago). I've scrolled through the photos of my favorite K9 and law enforcement Facebook pages for several hours, looking, and I've come up empty.

So--whoever you are, who found the perfect image to match your poem, I can't track you down at this time. But I appreciated your "Dedication to a Fallen K9," and I hope my readers have, too.

IMAGE CREDITS: The snippet from the Oct. 29, 2014 "Artdog Adventures" post is my own screen-capture image. Thanks, TinEye, for the logo and also for all your help! As noted, I have lost the trail to the source of "Dedication to a Fallen K9." And the final three images are screen captures of parts of my TinEye search.