Newspaper

USA Today / The Indianapolis Star

Dogs’ lives may offer answers

By Dan McFeely
Purdue University researcher David Waters hopes a bunch of old dogs will be able to teach scientists news tricks about aging and cancer. Waters has embarked on a 23-day trek across the country to meet face-to-snout with 15 of the oldest-living Rottweilers in the United States. Waters, head of the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation at the Purdue Research Park, West Lafayette, Ind., has been leading a research team that studies aging and cancer in pet dogs. Over the past three years, the team has compiled a database of scientific data on 140 Rottweilers through breeders and fan clubs. Only 15 are still alive, prompting Waters to put together his “Old Grey Muzzle tour.”  ”These dogs have lived 30% longer than average,” Waters said. “They have dodged cancer and we believe studying them can shed light on what it takes to live well (more)

St. Louis Today

FDA looks into complaints about dog treats made in Mo.

The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing concerns that a Missouri-produced pet treat has caused serious illness or death in dogs, a spokesman said Thursday.  The FDA is looking into complaints about Real Ham Bone for Dogs, sold throughout the U.S., an agency spokesman said. If warranted, he said, it will take appropriate action and notify the public. The product — a smoked pig femur sold as a dog treat or chew bone — is distributed under the Dynamic Pet Products label of Frick’s Quality Meats in Washington, Mo (more)

The Guardian

Hachiko: A Dog’s Tale

Philip French

Richard Gere is a musicologist in Lasse Hallström’s saccharine shaggy-dog story . . .There’s a statue in Edinburgh to Greyfriars Bobby, the Skye terrier who sat by his master’s grave for 14 years in the 1860s. His tale has been filmed, as has that of his Japanese equivalent, an Akita dog called Hachiko, whose years of waiting for his late master at Shibuya station in the 1930s is also commemorated by a bronze statue. For no very good reason Hachiko’s story has been re-created in an idyllic Rhode Island community, where a Japanese puppy turns up one day by accident and is adopted by commuting musicologist Richard Gere and his wife (more).

Magazine

PC World

FujiFilm’s Latest Camera Aims at Dogs, Cats

Martyn Williams - ‎Mar 12, 2010‎

If you own a dog or a cat then there’s a good chance you’ve spent hours with a camera trying — and probably failing — to get a perfect picture of them. Now, technology is coming to the rescue.  FujiFilm’s Finepix Z700 features a face-detection function that can recognize canine and feline faces, and it can snap a picture automatically when they look towards the camera lens. . .