Dogs: Big and Small (Documentary)

[Music] Canis familiaris the species first domesticated by humans and in this class the creature with whom we originally bonded the one destined to become our best friend the dog for thousands of years as we moved from the cave to the village City and suburb dogs have stood by us even when we didn't treat them in the most fetching manner yet we've also coddled and pampered them treated them royally recognized them as true heroes the best dogs serving as workers aides Guardians and companions have added incredible depth to our lives making us the lucky ones to know and love [Music] it's been thousands of years since canines evolved from predator to pet yet the dogs link to its primal forebears remains intact from the tiniest toy to the mightiest Mastiff the progenitor of the domesticated dog is the wolf [Music] in prehistoric times the initial contacts between human and wolf most likely were through hunting primitive man's kills may have been scavenged by wolves which gradually grew accustomed to living and moving in the presence of human hunting parties it actually is an amazing thing that these two species that are so different are so close they had similar social structures they hunted cooperatively they raised their young they educated their young as man developed a hunter took wolf pups from the wild back to his camp it's probable that the dog was domesticated through thousands of years of taming and selectively breeding wolves by weeding out the undesirables a worker a friend and ultimately a pet was being created there had to have been a certain amount of nurturing and empathy involved in order to imprint these animals on a human pack so to speak and that could only begin with very young animals and that task certainly would have fallen to the women [Music] Paleolithic men may have taken charge of weaned animals so it's likely that the first dogs principally served humans as hunting companions and as guards warned of enemies or predators later they would guard and herd livestock beside man as he began to tend to his own food unearth fossil bones of dogs suggest that domestication took place somewhere in the Middle East or Southwest Asia about 14,000 years ago which makes the dog the earliest domesticated animal this date marks the point at which dogs and wolves are thought to be noticeably different physically a fact that stands out in the fossil record the domesticated dogs teeth are smaller than those of the wolf the dog has a shorter muzzle the wolf's is elongated and the dog's forehead seems swollen in comparison to the wolf's gently sloped forehead startling new information however gives rise to a theory that dogs were domesticated not 14,000 but at least 100,000 years ago ladies repeated this one once researchers at the University of California Los Angeles have studied the similarity in DNA sequences between gray wolves and a variety of dog breeds there a great number of different sequences and all the different breeds that we studied and that suggests that a lot a lot of time has elapsed since the first domestication event to give rise to all this variety of sequences and domestic dogs this may mean that earlier populations of humans used dogs in new different ways than later cultures and that these early domesticated dogs may have closely resembled wolves and then about twelve or thirteen or fourteen thousand years ago they change in conformation very dramatically due to the effects of human selection humans selecting certain varieties and confirmations and sizes and then afterwards you get an explosion of different forms breeds most representative of the first prehistoric dogs include the wild Australian dingo the New Guinea singing dog known for the non doglike sounded makes the barkless vus in G that originated in Africa and the Mexican hairless dog called cholo it's qui play by the Mesoamerican Indian drawings and artifacts provide evidence of dogs in antiquity in Egypt dogs occupied all levels of society from pampered palace hounds to the working-class century and hunting dogs a lot of these dogs had names that ring very similar today Blacky spot useless cookpot there's another one so obviously the Egyptians felt great affection for their animals and their dogs they also believed in the mystical power of dogs Anubis an Egyptian deity who served as the watchdog of the Land of the Dead formed the heart of a religious cult in ancient Rome the huge battle trained molasses ancestor of today's Mastiff was death incarnate on the battlefield in civilian life these dogs served as bodyguards so some pompeii households displayed a warning cavae Canaan Latin for beware the dog as early as 1000 BC the Chinese imperial court coveted the hapa a type of stout little canine with a compressed nose this dog and the Maltese which arrived by way of the Roman Empire helped create the Pekinese as did royal servants who confined puppies in small cages to stunt their growth and crushed young noses with a stick this was a dog unlike any other ever seen in the world before and it changed the whole the whole idea about breeding small dogs before contemporary written standards of what a dog should look like the fundamental distinction of dogs around the world was simply a size big and little [Music] in an Arizona cave the mummified remains of two Native American dogs were discovered in 1905 their age is estimated at about two thousand years one is larger collie sized the other is smaller the size of a terrier you had large dogs which tended to stay outside and were more heavy-duty working dogs and you had small dogs which could cut hunt rodents could hunt small game but also live in the house and and be companions and that division occurred probably pretty early by the 12th century European royalty enforced through law this ancient and fundamental distinction of dogs only Nobles could keep large mastiff or Greyhound types for hunting and if you weren't royalty and you had a Mastiff you might get permission but that dog had to have its three claws cut off on the grounds that if a large dog lived in the forest it would bother the the stags of royalty the deer of royalty so a purebred dog world and a mongrel class began to be established this distinction was maintained throughout the Middle Ages into the Renaissance and the modern era as class structure was applied to dogs canine aristocrats were bred by the rich while a working class of dogs arose among the peasants you had a whole working class of dogs that toiled horribly alongside their masters turning wheels that turn roasting spits water pumps butter churns you had dogs pulling carts delivering milk and goods [Music] the first written effort to describe existing dog types appeared in 1576 in his a treatise of English dogs Johannes chaos an English physician categorized dogs by their function such as dogs for hunting for kitchen service for following prey into an underground den and for guarding and fighting large defending dogs Mastiffs proved especially useful to 16th century Spanish conquistadors in their conquest of the new world [Music] in the Americas scantily-clad Indians with their primitive weapons were no match for the Spaniards trained attack dogs one Mastiff vase a teal was instrumental in helping his owner Ponce de Leon conquer Puerto Rico soldiers kept the dogs ultimate demise in combat a secret because his legend was so powerful with the Indians they continued to tell them they would bring besa Rio down on them if they did not through hybridization beginning in the early 19th century an urban middle class began to form in Europe and America and with it would emerge a modern concept of the dog as pet [Music] modern-day dogs are mainly pets a practice that dates from the 19th century an urban middle class was created as peasants lured by tales of factory jobs and inexpensive housing moved from the country to the city and took their dogs with them the big dog that lived outdoor they took that animal and they brought it inside it suddenly became an indoor dog the middle-class enjoyed emulating the aristocracy by keeping dogs designed to serve simply as pampered pets physical appearance replaced function as the definition of a breed and new breeds were created through selective breeding what we've had in recent years is actually taking types of dogs and breaking them into more types there was a long-haired retriever for example that was turned into a flat coated Retriever which is black and a golden retriever which is red same dog different colors there's that sense of godliness about it you know I created this dog it is my breed I perfected by the mid 19th century the merchants and professionals who made up the middle-class dog fanciers required an outlet to show off their creations so beginning in 1859 the first official dog shows were held in Europe and then in the United States before that there had been dog shows but they'd been traditionally little affairs at the pubs involving the men in their hounds they were kind of drunken Affairs they wanted to change the whole aura of dog shows in the 1860s and so they went to this idea of more formal shows based on the pedigrees of the animals and the physical appearance of the animals soon Kennel Club's originated with their check lists of a breeds ideal physical features and the history and statistical data of a dog's lineage began to be kept in registries or stud books [Music] with the advent of World War one the peaceful lives of many European canines were interrupted some 75,000 war dogs hauled supplies and served as Centrex and scouts the united states unlike the other allied forces had no organized canine Corps however America's first canine war hero turned out to be a homeless mutt named stubby in 1916 he wandered into an army training camp in Connecticut and when the 102nd infantry went to war he was smuggled aboard a steamer headed for France stubby served on the frontlines for 18 months he took it upon himself to become a war dog in the most honorable sense of the term he warned the troops of incoming mustard gas attacks before they had any idea he warned the troops of incoming sniper attacks even caught a German spy it's reputed by the sea of the past just as the guy was going to smuggle out a camp a cache of tactical maps and other documents twice during the war stubby was wounded and sent along with injured soldiers to a Paris hospital where he continued to serve his comrades would get out of his little bed and hobble up and down the corridors visiting the soldiers in their beds and the physicians even remarked at the time what a therapeutic effect this dog had on people for the first time in United States history the army officially inducks dogs for war America's first official military dog program was established in 1942 to aid US soldiers in world war ii dogs for defense a volunteer organization coordinated a national recruiting drive for canine soldiers patriotic civilians donated some 20,000 dogs to serve in the k-9 Corps the new war dog regiment they'll do rescue work carry packs attack enemy parachutists faithful to the end army dogs proved again that they're man's best friend since World War two the United States has had some 50,000 dogs in military service and wherever they've served on the frontlines they've been credited with helping to cut casualty rates [Music] in Vietnam alone 3,000 scout and sentry dogs saved over 10,000 lives there is no modern technology yet that can replace the dogs their superior sense of hearing their sense of smell you ask the soldiers over and over again war after war they'll say the only way they could sleep peacefully at night was if they had dog standing on duty because they knew the dogs would detect any danger out there in the dark [Music] following World War two a tremendous growth in dog ownership occurred as returning soldiers with their young families acquired canine companions who begged to be fed hey dogs the first canned dog food good enough to be labeled games is here to serve the millions of new dog owners new industry dog food began to develop get new canned gains your dog a love it ad campaigns convinced dog lenders that scientifically formulated kibbles and canned goods are best for Fido gravy train makes its own gravy right in the bowl in just two generations of Education now we have a population that can't remember ever and as your gravy feeding their dogs anything but canned or or or bagged kibble mmm beef tasty flavor get new gravy train for your dog gravy train make your own gravy the following program is sponsored by the new york state republican committee to present Senator Richard M Nixon by 1956 man's best friend had become a part of a political controversy involving vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon in a televised public address Nixon explained about a gift he had received from a campaign supporter you know what it was it was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he'd sent all the way from Texas black-and-white spotted and our little girl Trisha the six-year-old named it checkers and you know the kids like all kids love the dog and I just want to say this right now that regardless of what they say about it we're gonna keep the dog is the sign somehow that the president of the politician is really human that he or she is just like us that he or she can really love nearly every American president since George Washington who owned 37 dogs has been partial to canines [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] why do politicians want dogs former president harry s truman once observed if you want a friend in washington get a dog as humans and dogs became beloved companions it was inevitable that they would share leisure time in the early seventies frisbee began to catch on as the national pastime for canines and their people the inspiration for the sport came from a dog named Ashley wippen who in his day was famous for a remarkable leaping ability [Applause] since 1975 the late ashley whippets legacy has been the canine frisbee disc championships a contest that highlights the dogs athleticism and ability to delight and entertain the truly successful owners have found ways to make this total fun experience and I think that's the key when you have fun with your animals there's no limit to what your animals will do for you a free-form and a distance event make up the world finals of the championships held each fall in Washington DC dogs earn points for leaping agility showmanship and degree of difficulty any breed or mix is eligible to enter the championships what's required is keen vision energy speed and lots of practice I tried to train her at least five times a week for at least one hour a day that way now keeps remain tanks or like athletes no you have to condition them before you do anything at this love you know just like an athlete would train for a triathlon or anything like that [Applause] [Music] in contemporary times people have continued to use dogs as they have through history for livestock work guard duty and is cherished personal companions they're also relatively new uses for dogs scent detection to seek out contraband at airports helping people with disabilities and therapy assistants work in which dogs break down the barriers of loneliness those are tremendous developments because we have a recognition of the inherent talents and abilities of the dog and that's been very positive and useful [Music] isn't she beautiful all they want from you is love they have a great sense of humor there is a breed for just about everybody big dogs little dogs plain dogs fancy dogs hot dogs and cool pooches dogs designed for function fashion and some just for fun with more than 400 dog breeds worldwide there exists a model to suit every taste and lifestyle the American Kennel Club the AKC provides a registry and showcase for just over 140 breeds of purebred dogs dogs with a lineage and his parents are of the same breed AKC breeds are organized into seven groups of dogs working sporting toys non-sporting terriers pounds and herding cattle dog take a lot of work at around this is a Puli the 40 has a Hungarian chicory now the hurting group contains some of the most ancient dog breeds and ranges in diversity from the familiar Kali and Old English Sheepdog to that unlikely short legged Wrangler the Corgi [Music] herding dogs were bred to work side-by-side with man as drovers driving cattle and sheep formatic and as herders keeping a flock under control good girl without the help of the herding dog world's great agricultural lands might never have been settled do those dogs that work for a living like the herding dogs enjoy their work I would say second only to food and sex they're not a high-energy dog when we come home they're really glad to see you for five or ten minutes then they'll just go lay down and be near you I like their mellow temperament they're really sweet they're good with kids she's a Newfoundland the dogs in the working group have been invaluable to humans they've served in rescues guarded livestock stood fierce watch over hearth and home today these intelligent animals continue to serve as fine companions and help mates the Mastiff is one of dogdom oldest breeds when Julius Caesar arrived in England he was greeted by an army of this dog's ancestors eventually the powerful Mastiff Caesar shipped back to Rome to fight in the Coliseum and with his army evolved into the modern-day Mastiff some of the newer breeds of working dogs however were absolutely man-made the Doberman Pinscher a hundred years ago was the work deliberately of a man called Lewis Doberman who lived in Dortmund Germany and who took a Rottweiler and the Greyhound and Spanish pointer and some Terrier and constructed building fences the dogs in the working group come from every corner of the globe and include such diverse breeds as the Samoyed from Siberian the Saint Bernard from the Swiss Alps the Great Pyrenees from France and the Akita from Japan [Music] the members of the sporting group are mostly dogs of European origin they're very smart they're very loving they're very loyal they're just great dogs sporting dogs have always been the dogs of the man of leisure with their innate instincts in the field water and woods setters pointers and spaniels were the essential accessories for the hunt before the development of the gun they were used to find the birds and then they would sink to the ground and the handle would throw the net over a net over both birds and dog and then catch everybody that way when gun hunting became popular in the 1700s Hunter's decided they needed a dog to retrieve the game they shot down and so they developed just retrievers they're a very new group of breeds because of the fact that they weren't really needed before them now the Labradors the number one in AKC registrations right now and the golden retrievers right up there wonderful house pets wonderful all-around dogs [Music] the Hound group contains the oldest breeds of dog known to man this engines are a very strange breed because they're a cat in a dog spot they're the only dog that doesn't bark in the whole world the person that owns a greyhound should have a big couch because they like to sleep a lot hound dogs are used for hunting and fall into two categories the scent hounds like the Bloodhound beagle and black and tan coon hound who hunt with their noses and sighthounds like the Afghan the greyhound and the Egyptian pharaoh and who depend on keen vision and great speed to capture prey some hounds were even designed to hunt specific quarry such as the tallest recognized breed the Irish Wolfhound it was so efficient at hunting wolves that nearly all wolves had been exterminated in Ireland by the late 18th century the Rhodesian Ridgeback was bred from the mastiff the Great Dane had a native African dog to hunt lions and the dachshund was bred long and low for crawling into badger burrows this is his 80th best-in-show and he's a number one well stare in the history of the brief they don't shed they don't have any doggy odor Bedlington Terriers are awesome dogs these are dandy did monter ears and they're one of the more mellow of the Terriers I like them because they're pretty independent and feisty and stubborn Terriers are the clown's of the dog world intelligent feisty and full of energy the Lord tarry erequest comes from the Latin Tarot which means earth and some of the early Romans again came over and wrote back to Rome saying that they've got some most peculiar dogs over in in Britain they have dogs to chase the game and then go right underground after them and that's when they stuck the name of Tarot no earth dogs on it most Terriers were bred to hunt vermin rats moles Gophers little pesky things that live underground some of them like the Fox Terrier are named for what they hunt others are named for their origins the west highland white the Welsh Terrier and the Scottish Terrier [Music] the smallest members of the dog kingdom belong to the toy group their ears are supposed to look like the wings of a butterfly swallows have fantastic dispositions this is a shih tzu and they serve no earthly purpose except their good kisser [Music] these are dogs designed with only one purpose to make their owners happy many like the Italian Greyhound the miniature pinscher and the Pomeranian have their origins in larger breeds the only thing all the members of the toy group have in common is diminutive miss there are toy poodles toy spaniels toy terriers during the Middle Ages these so-called lap dogs became quite popular you had these little toy dogs that you carried so the fleas wouldn't stay on you they'd go on a dog that was one of their functions in the Middle Ages which weren't very hygienic error so you could get rid of the fleas by having a pet dog to carry the Pekinese the Pug the Shih Tzu and some other toys were bred with a short pushed-in muzzle to affect a human face [Music] and then on little bits at night and then in the morning ion in Starling the non-sporting group originally consisted of all dogs who didn't hunt [Music] today it's the a Casey's catch-all category for dogs who don't quite fit into one of the other groups big dogs little dogs common dogs uncommon dogs and some of the finest companion dogs around the non-sporting group contains some of America's favorite dogs the Dalmatian the shar-pei the Bulldog and the miniature and standard poodle [Music] outside the standards and stud books of the American Kennel Club additional breeds abound many are recognized by other registries such as the United Kennel Club and the American rare breed Association [Music] included in these registries are the hairless Xolo dog of Mexico the Catahoula Leopard dog the so-called state dog of Louisiana thus Pannonia italiano the chart Polsky a Polish sighthound the Japanese Tosun and the squirrel hunting Feist from the southeastern United States with so many breeds choosing a pet can be difficult are their breeds which make good or bad companions there's no such thing as a good breed or a bad breed there are good dogs and bad dogs just like the good people and bad people and what about the choice between a pedigree pet and a mixed breed categorically the idea that purebred dogs make better pets than random prairie dogs is utter nonsense absolute nonsense and I urge anyone who is going to go get a purebred dog think about two dogs by all means if you have an absolute passion that you must own a golden retriever go get one then go to a shelter and adopt a dog to go with it and spread the good stuff around [Music] behavior is a window on the thought process of dogs by watching dogs we get hints of the feelings and instincts which motivate them if the dog's world seems a curious place that's because how dogs register the details of their world is very different from us for the first two weeks of a puppy's life behavior is governed by warmth and smell as their eyes and ears remain shut the next seven days are a transitional period eyes are open but vision is poor I always imagined that transitional periods being them learning to use the senses that they have been endowed with and then they're fully operational by about three weeks when they hit a socialization period and here they're learning about each other and they're incorporating all senses in a sight and sound and smell and touch and everything comes in at that point and they develop from there all dogs use their noses for everyday business much as humans rely on their eyes the sense of smell is especially pronounced in the hound breed such as beagles the dog's physiology in terms of a sense of smell is more highly developed than ours because they have this huge nasal cavity and a lot of nerve areas to be able to detect what's in the air that they breathe in some physiologist reckon that the dogs sense of smell is a hundred thousand times greater than ours but basically dogs can smell a few molecular particles of certain scents while we and our best equipment car [Music] before dogs were domesticated hunting was their means of survival while contemporary canines have food served to them if the dog senses are still mostly geared towards the goal of locating prey around the edges of the field our deer of deer and coyotes and foxes and they are very interested in all of those creatures the low soft rustle of a small animal moving through the grass has captured the attention of these dogs a dog sense of hearing from very very soft signals to high-pitched sounds it's acute dogs can hear up to 75% more high-frequency sounds than we're able to detect a dog sense of sight is also geared to finding prey they're keenly aware of motion even in low-light however dogs have 25% less color receptors than humans so what a dog ordinarily sees would look muted to us much like a pastel painting from porcupines to cats and skateboards dogs pursue objects relentlessly sometimes without giving much thought to the outcome a dog's predatory instinct is to chase what it perceives as a moving target the primitive instinct to chase and pursue moving prey is hardwired and when some moving target comes and crosses their path it's almost like they kind of go snake eyed and lock on and are obliged to chase it for instinctive reasons much of what motivates dog behavior remains buried deep within their genes dogs in their hearts dogs have wolf hearts they have wolf characters we've physically altered them we've made them look like dogs and we've made them look like all kinds of things but deep down they're wolves still and they're gonna do well things dogs like wolves have a very powerful sense of hierarchy a clearly defined leader or alpha dog always rules the pack but unlike wolves dogs except humans as pack members and in the pack called the human family all members are happier when the human is packed leader if we're gonna live with dogs successfully we need to be in the number one position and the good news is once the dog understands that they're down here those dogs are relieved it's like finally somebody is taking over the position however in this house Kia a three-year-old Rottweiler and pit bull mix thinks she's in charge come on pull real hard we need this dog to take this owner much more seriously this dog is just running the show okay I would say this dog has to be shown that it's not the leader of this pack a head harness will help focus in a gentle way the dog's attention on the handler easy but more importantly this behavior problem can be corrected through obedience which sends a strong message about who's in charge yep good as we go out for the walk you have to sit go forward sit go forward she learns that these are things that make the owner happy kissing yes and therefore when the owners happy good things happen for dogs good a headstrong alpha dog may also be aggressive owners of dangerously mean dogs or other dogs with serious behavior problems can seek help from a veterinary specialist an animal behaviorist the number-one behavior problem that we see is aggression it accounts for about 50% of what we see and it isn't just one single condition the major component would be dominance aggression which is literally biting the hand that feeds you notice her to speak [Music] many dogs with behavior problems are abandoned by their owners who are unable to control them they often wind up in animal shelters by our estimate something like 7 or 8 million pet animals dogs and cats are taken to the nation of shelters pounds and even veterinary offices for euthanasia for behavior problems [Music] yet many behavior disorders do have solutions a behavior modification program may include changes in the dog's diet exercise and training we were treated with an obsessional medication plus a prescription for a mood altering drug such as Prozac and anti depression medicine also used to treat humans much of dog behavior is a vehicle for them to communicate with us or other dogs dogs bark for a variety of reasons Oh changes in pitch frequency duration and loudness indicate different nuances in meaning from hi there to stop that okay they bought for a number of different reasons they bought when they get excited sometimes will bark to draw attention they'll bark for aggressive reasons to know about to one people that they're there they'll bark to even more proactive to drive people away in other words to defend their territory we should think of territory in the dog psyche as its home base which is a place of security and therefore a place to defend it harks back to their behavior in the wild in nature where they have a home range where they find their food and then a home base their territory which they defend from potential rivals while dogs protect their territory through barking they define its limits through scent marking a practice of leaving urine on an object is a kind of calling card to other dogs the smell identifies the urinator it's sex age and health and then a dog who comes along behind feels obliged to mark over the previous dog's code with his name and his dressing his telephone number on it and the higher that a dog pees on a lamppost and next one's obliged to pee even higher so you end up with the proverbial pissing contest which is a form of in territorial behavior a dog also uses its tail eyes ears and mouth to communicate when the dog wants to play or make eye contact open its mouth in a play face it may pant excitedly - in the ears of forward and alert a dog that is depressed has virtually no facial expression just like a human being a variety of canine tail positions are an important indicator of social standing and mental state a raised tail is the sign of a top dog one who is confident dominant and in control a tail tucked between the legs indicates a frightened dog or one who is accepting of his submissive role in the dog or human pack tail wagging is often a sign of happiness it may also indicate anxiety or the anticipation of some event such as a fight many dog owners and experts believe the dogs experience a wide range of feelings and that this above all explains white dogs and humans form such intimate bonds they do have virtually the same emotions as we have pain pleasure joy fear anxiety jealousy etc some believe the master emotion of dogs is their unique ability to love unconditionally and without ambivalence [Music] in my view the dogs keenest sense is its hopped its ability to empathize to have feeling for others and to pick up other's feelings the canines ability to understand us is perhaps born out of a keen power of observation dogs are acute observers of our own body language and our body language expresses our emotions and intentions our tone of voice expresses also our emotional state so dogs are tuning in to all of this they are scientists of human behavior and living with us all day they learn [Music] wherever dogs and humans coexist a foundation in some form of training is essential for any task the dog is asked to perform dogs are not happy if they are doing things that are making their people angry those are not happy dogs they're happy dogs are the ones who know what is expected of them and who are able to fulfill the need dogs need to learn about everything in life that their well-rounded well-adjusted young adults [Applause] for dogs learning about everything in life involves being comfortable around other dogs and a variety of people and surroundings this is a process called socialization according to professional trainers one of the best ways to socialize a canine companion is through the sport of agility in which dogs are trained to navigate an obstacle course of jumps and barriers agility is fun it's fun for the door it has to be fun for the dog if you don't make it fun you're not going to have a partnership with the door [Music] [Applause] [Music] sometimes those completely insane it needs to be socialized I'd like him to come and we call him and to stop jumping all over everybody our selves exploded okay let's go dogs in agility training must learn to be in perfect sync with a handler because ultimately there's no leash basic obedience and a desire to follow instructions are a must be fit dogs enjoy the freedom and speed agility allows but the real importance of agility training lies in providing dogs with a sense of self-esteem and accomplishment [Music] it's a real confidence builder it teaches the dog to come no matter what the obstacle it teaches the dog about life there are many things in life this dog is going to encounter that are sort of similar you know the a-frame is sort of like stairs the tunnel is like scary places they might go through some socialization is probably one of the most important things you can do with your dog [Music] should sue is a canine sport with a different purpose than Agility's [Music] the objective of shoots and instruction is to yield a highly trained firmly controlled animal is often used in police and guard work in German shoots and means protection dog [Music] shit's and training commands cuts such as sip calm way and stay are commonly spoken in German in fact shuts entrer tsa's its origins back to Germany in the early 1900s then German Shepherd owners wanted to test the breeding potential of their dogs so they designed a test that would test the dog's natural ability and that was in tracking the dog's ability to work with man which would be the obedience phase and the protection part of shuts in' which would be his strength his courage his hardness hudson training is extremely arduous for the dog as well as for the handler people that are really involved in the sport and are really competitive in the sport that's it keep them with you keep him with you good are people who are going to be working three four five days a week other breeds besides the german shepherd can also excel at the sport the requirements for a good shuts and aughh are large size and strength and confidence play low tech wedding now they must also have a huge play drive powerful because when these dogs do well they're rewarded with time to chase a ball or play tug-of-war of the three shoots and tests tracking delight obedience and protection the latter is perhaps the most demanding the exercises include finding a hidden person of human decoy and guarding that decoy while the handler approaches the dog is expected to pursue and firmly grip the decoy when he attempts an escape fighting allowed only on the padded sleeve must stop on command s or when the decoy gives up the fight the type of dog that says all right fine I caught you by your arm now I want to let go of your arm and rip your face off that's not what we're looking for we're looking for a dog that says I've caught you by the arm I'm holding you no matter what you do or how hard you try to pull away or whatever you try to do I'm gonna hold on to you until my dad tells me to let go of you I see they do the work so tough and strong and hard you'd think they were nasty but they're not really they're just giving you a good fight when the fight is over it's finished they're done [Music] pretty good work good boy let's go success in training is often a matter of understanding how to best use a dog's hardwired instincts and inherent skills I actually have a heart and head that is ruled by their nose so it's a great job for the beagles to do [Music] at Florida's Miami International Airport six-year-old abbath is on a serious mission for the US Department of Agriculture he's part of the exclusive Beagle Brigade which helps protect u.s. agriculture from foreign pests and diseases since 1984 the USDA has been training beagles to serve at international airports across America the dogs are the first line of defense against forbidden fruit vegetables plants and meat contraband which enters the u.s. inside international travellers luggage the beagles and their handlers are responsible for about 60,000 seizures a year items that may be infested with bugs and disease if we got that into the United States we don't have the natural enemies to combat it so would just fund wrap it here we go good boy Abbot is trained to sit every time he detects a restricted item in someone's bag when he's right he gets praise from me good boy and he gets a food reward he will not get up until he gets his reward his payday good boy here we go here we go find it good legal brigade instruction begins at the National Training Center in Orlando Florida the dog is asked to detect apples inside boxes a beagle sense of smell is estimated to be thousands of times greater than a human's when they sniff the box you place them into a sit position and you tell them to sit and as quick as you can get that food down to them and reward them for doing so they get their reward the beagles are instructed using patience and frequent positive reinforcement the trainees task is eventually made more difficult by adding some empty boxes they sniff it you don't let them sit you just encourage them on and you can see the wheels starting to turn why am I not sitting at this box and they start to put one in one together and realize one box does smell different from the next box [Music] this is such a wonderful job for these beagles to do chase after the smell of food all day long and then when they find it they're given a cookie and rewarded they love the work a lot we ask a lot of our dogs we want them to be friendly obedient hard-working and flexible while we may force them to live within our rules the amazing thing is most can do it and they do it wonderfully [Music] they make us laugh they make us cry they amuse us entice us and entertain us dogs have entertained man since the first canine companion chased a stick his owner threw out of the cave and with an inborn mastery of nuance and style opportunity was all that was needed for the dog to be recognized as a natural thespian dog certainly lend themselves very well to the acting career dogs as animals have a very rich culture of play I think there are some that really like to be the center of attention they definitely like to perform [Music] among the first contemporary canine entertainers were those who plied their trade in circus range beginning in the Victorian era by the turn of the century dogs were playing straight men to the latest vaudeville comedian everybody loves dogs I mean that brief you know they're really wonderful and when you have them doing something unusual something funny something unique it amazes people [Music] [Applause] dogs were waiting in the wings with their human co-stars ready to bound onto the silent screen while these dogs entertained they also gave audiences an excuse to unleash their emotions teddy one of film's first canine superheroes became central to a film's plot and even caused humans to change their behavior Petey with his hand-drawn bullseye from the our gang series provided comic relief before long Hollywood would become the place for the dog with star quality the dog is a happy exuberant dog that's gonna come across the camera and you know it's very difficult to quantify but if it's there it's there and you're gonna see it now children I'm gonna show you I'll rent it did make the leap for the man soaked in a picture are you ready ready all right put films first k-9 superstar was a German Shepherd named Rin Tin Tin [Music] at that time the german shepherd was still today the drug has the image of a hero dog a police dog this sort of thing so he's the kind of dog that would would save your life he's the kind of dog that would pull you out of the fire you know were there not though he's the kind of dog that would defend you against a robber or the burglar [Music] rescued as a starving puppy from the trenches of World War one the German Shepherd made his film debut in the early 1920s Rin DS films were so popular that he received thousands of fan letters each week and helped earn more than 5 million dollars for owner Lee Duncan [Music] by 1931 and after 25 movies rin-tin-tin passed the torch to successive rent ease but the German Shepherd breed would be used lesson hero roles as its public image became that of an aggressive audiences were looking to cheer another time lassie story is a magnificent one you loved every bit of it the quintessential all-american dog arrived on the movie scene during the 1940s handsome and heroic lassie was the perfect celebrity lassie is the story of a dog and a boy lassie was a male colleague originally named pal who had been purchased for $10 by Hollywood animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax the boy's family was poor so poor they have to sell lessee in 1943 pal was hired as the double for a female collie starring in the film Lassie Come Home Pal got his break six weeks into filming when he had to perform in a crucial swimming scene the script says lassie swims river comes out exhausted so my father choreographed a shot and he trained the dog when he when he came out he would collapse and crawl and get on the side and it was quite heartwarming and the director saw that scene nieces I think pal swam in and lassie swam out so they went shot the whole movie again and my father's dog pal being the star lassie went on to star in numerous films and then in popular television shows beginning in the 50s Lassie quickly became the kind of canine every owner wanted his own dog to emulate lassie became the figure to whom members of the family could all turn for rescue and from the time of lassie the dog is the sort of confirming member of the family that suggests that the family is really a family it's that the extra member that makes the family really the place at home [Music] all lassies including number eight have been males which are larger and supposedly less nervous than females that avoid all lassies have been descended from pal which ensures the creation of the perfect Lassie the one that maintains the unique lassie look he has to have this full white blaze the full white collar and two front white legs and that's what makes a lassie they've all looked individual and looks because they're different but generally they're all the same in markings take a big bow bob Weatherwax the son of Rudd Weatherwax is under pressure to produce lassie number 9 each generation of parents wants to know if lassie will be around for their children we hope so don't we Lassie hi I'm Charley the pooch and I want to say it got pretty hectic on our street the data boss and I brought home the newest of Chevrolet's the new Chevy 2 [Music] while using canines to pitch a product has been commonplace for decades one of televisions first and most popular doggy pitchman turned out to be a canine crafted from wood beginning in 1956 the unique delivery of a puppet named farfel helped chocolate sales soar was that snap of the jaw that seemed to do it when they try and sing it today they try and snap the jaw it hurts you know you know I think you can ruin your teeth doing that you really can so we ran for 10 years consecutively doing the Nestle commercials and I think that's what people remember mostly about farfel farfel whose name means little noodle was born quite by accident we were working a club in Wichita Kansas he somebody stuck a little stuffed dog on the piano between shows we came out for the last show and farfel was not yet born sorry about that yeah and I picked up this little stuffed dog and started talking with him we had about a half a dozen tables in the audience you know and people started laughing and I figured if I can get Lance on straight lines I better make a character out of this and that was back in 1950 I've been around ever since [Music] since farfel canine commercial endorsements have become increasingly popular the use of dogs is very popular because it adds a tremendous amount of charm to the commercial if it's a car commercial it gives you an idea as to the size of the car and relationship to the dog it convinces you that the dog can get in there with his muddy feet need you're not he's not gonna rip up the upholstery because it's good good upholstery in the 1950s and 60s television canines bike Stoppers Neal helped popularize their breeds on a variety of sitcoms oh you forgot the most important thing [Music] sorry old boy he just hung himself with a telephone one TV dog a basset hound named Cleo regularly upstaged her human co-stars [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] but it was Higgins a terrier mutt from the 60s sitcom petticoat junction who hit super stardom as Benji in the 1974 film in 1990 it was presidential pup Millie Bush who caused a stir when a book she wrote sold more than a million copies Millie would not be the last canine to approach celebrity from a literary point of view [Applause] a Rottweiler named Karl has caused a sensation with the preschool set for the star of the Karl book series meeting his public is all in a day's work it always amuses me that people when they see him say gosh he looks just like the dog in the book because of course he is the dog in the book because I use it for a model [Music] he does like children very much all the choral books share a basic premise a mother goes away leaving the family dog in charge of the child the dog and child then have a little adventure kids like a number of things about Karl one of the things they like is that he's funny children do like humor another thing they like is he's so reliable he takes care of the baby I think they like that a lot and I think the children like to feel that that this dog in the story in this baby are truly comrades I think that's a very powerful thing for children for adults too for that matter [Music] one of contemporary televisions most popular k9 stars is a nine year old Jack Russell terrier named soccer professionally he's known as wishbone [Music] television audiences are transported weekly to the pages of the classics via the fantasies of a literature loving dog a Daytime Emmy winner and master of his own merchandising empire wishbone following in the tradition of that 50s TV canine Clio is never at a loss for words perhaps I didn't make myself clear I am Robin Hood there was over a hundred dogs that went and auditioned for the part of wishbone and I think it was some of the behaviors that he already knew that they liked the personality they could create with his personality and that was scratchy flea scratchy scratchy flea the bakflip ready God hide your eyes I just hide rise all right take a bow bow he had a lot of things that showed expression cheer to Bob for apples bobbing for apples what is it like for Gabe yes I think I will try actually whether bobbing for apples Ichabod Crane courting a lovely maiden is pilgrim John Alden you like them are just hanging out with his standing this is one Terrier who clearly enjoys his work when I take him out of the truck in the morning and I'm going to work he's always like let's go let's go oh I'm so glad to be here while soccer has adapted well to his fame as wishbone sometimes even a celebrity dog just has to be a dog whether they're telling a tale performing an amazing stunt or selling us something celebrity dogs have always proven popular the reason is simple and the nutty love dogs [Music] more American households have dogs than children with some 55 million canines in the United States the dog care industry is ballooned into a multi-billion dollar business the dog industry is an eighteen billion dollar cash dog for want of a better term people are crazy about books about dogs clothing with dogs on it we're really living in a dog crazy society right now I can't find the perfect toy [Music] dogs have really become members of the family I can buy them everything here people who have not had children yet or their children are grown and gone they tend to use the dogs as their substitute and pamper them as they would their children Sony's tell us that the average owner spends about nine hundred and seventy six dollars a year on their dogs have a nice day there's apparel like fancy sweaters and denim jackets there's houses that are insulated huge beds that are as comfortable as what we sleep on high-tech toys that they can - for hours and the premium foods are something that is very very good for the dog's health [Music] there's a little bit of articular change up here what did the blood profile what did the echocardiogram [Music] the health of dogs is becoming increasingly important to owners as the human canine bond grows stronger even at one-tenth the cost of human health care pet care can still cost thousands of dollars at a medical facility such as Southern California's all care animal referral center here top medical and surgical specialists treat a variety of canine illnesses [Music] very small incision I think each month we find out that there are options that we can take from the human field and applied to to the dog and dogs do quite well arthroscopy which has been used in the human field for years it's just being introduced into our field we're also seeing clients that want their dog be treated more and more like a child it's the most important thing in the world to them and in that way they will spend what it takes to save that child receive that pet each year the center cares for nearly 40,000 patients who receive everything from routine checkups to intricate canine surgery here huge strides in canine health evaluation are made possible via state-of-the-art medical equipment we've come a light year in the past ten years we're doing more and more work on the brain with the cancer work we're doing a lot more radiation therapy years ago a dog was old at 8 to 10 now dogs are old at 14 to 16 and I've seen some going at 19 or more [Music] the total dog located in Los Angeles California is a one-of-a-kind rehabilitation and fitness facility for canines overweight dogs can run on a treadmill and swim laps in the jacuzzi hydrotherapy sessions are offered to dogs recuperating from surgery and specialists are on hand to provide acupuncture and chiropractic services I felt the need to create a facility where dogs could go for rehabilitation if you spend a tremendous amount of money for a hip problem or whatever problem there might be and you don't give it the proper care afterwards you're not going to realize the full effect of what that operation was all about [Music] kula is a 150 pound Rottweiler who is currently undergoing acupuncture a treatment with neither's to alleviate his pain from arthritis I'll distract them as I'm putting it in pinched the skin or something and it goes in really quickly this is about his eighth treatment and he's learned to associate the treatments with feeling good because once the needles are in the endorphin levels in the body start to rise and so it's like he's kind of stoned [Music] I check your neck so we can see what we need to adjust a Basenji named Baroody has a neck injury so she's being treated by a chiropractor she fell from her bed and she injured her neck very badly and when her neck is out of alignment then she has a difficult standing and her legs become very weakened so we've been adjusting here this is about her sixth or seventh adjustment and she's responded beautifully and she's done very very well good each chiropractic session is costly but Baroody zoner feels this is a small price to pay for her comfort I spend the kind of money on this little dog because she's my princess this will dog picked me at the rescue she came right at and jumped in my lap and she's been my dog ever since what can I say that's what that's why it's worth it to me you know to make sure she feels better [Music] there comes a time in every dog owners life when it's time to say goodbye to a cherished companion about 900 people a year or lay their dogs to rest at Hartsdale Cemetery in New York one of several cemeteries in the world devoted strictly to pet burial most people when they come here for the first time simply are overwhelmed they had no idea that a cemetery like this exists existed for the family pet Hartsdale offers a full range of burial services similar to those at human cemeteries we tried to provide something for everybody for a small pet let's say a pet the size of a poodle buried in a simple casket it would be approximately five hundred and fifty dollars pet the size of a German Shepherd in a simple casket it would get to about seven hundred dollars when they lose their pet I feel that a little portion of your life is over and when you come to a place like this you remember the good times that you had when that pet was a member of your family [Music] millions of people believe their dogs feel complex emotions that the animals experience joy love despair so to better understand their animals some owners spend from twenty five to two hundred dollars to consult one of dog domes newest experts up pet psychic I [Applause] [Music] basically step into the animal become them for a few minutes I feel physical sensations in my own body and I pick up from them through their eyes and their viewpoint what things are happening with them emotionally physically and spiritually this owner wants to know why Bianca her 13 year old daughter Minh pincer often refuses to eat there are some times where she said she has pretty intense nausea and so what you could try for that is unsweetened applesauce a tablespoon before you're gonna offer her food she said I'm not doing it to get attention I actually don't feel good [Music] these one-year-old Standard Poodles Popeye and olive are brother and sister olives the black one their owner discovers some basic personality traits she said that she's the brains of the operation she also said that she has better eyesight than him she shows me a picture of him walking into one of the sliding doors almost walking through the glass because he doesn't see very well and what'll happen is you agree with that okay he said sometimes she is a little pushy but he does like her and he said I don't know what I do really without her she certainly is the instigator but she also is so interesting to be around because he said I'd miss out on a lot I don't mind people being skeptical because once I give them a piece of information that there's no way I could have known and that's something I really strive for and they go wow that's really incredible that's what they remember I think that it's made me a little bit more sensitive I guess to what's going on with them and I'm happy too happy to know that so that we can pay a little more attention to their signals because I think they do give up [Music] some dog lovers go to eccentric lengths to please their canine pets certain that the animals have the emotional depth to appreciate their efforts Hollywood halves is a total canine concept we are the ultimate in dog care from Pet Sitting services to dog boutique Hollywood hounds in Hollywood California caters to pampered pooches here owners may arrange for festive canine gatherings such as this birthday party to honor boo boo the Yorkshire Terrier if your birthday after all join the celebration for boo boo and her puppy pals of weight and expectation we can tailor a birthday party to fit anyone's needs a birthday party can cost $200 $2,000 it just depends how extravagant they want to go so join us now in puppy fun for boo boo celebration will bark a lot and jump and sing m'kay [Music] while some may criticize spending exorbitant amounts on a mere dog others feel it's impossible to put a price tag on the benefits derived from keeping company with canines so for many it's well worth it at any cost to take good care of and perhaps spoil their dogs my feeling is that kindness to animals is directly linked to kindness to people and people who treat their animals as members of the family are more likely to be sympathetic to other human beings we certainly need that in our society today if we had more people falling in love with our dogs could make for a wonderful world [Music] in today's hectic world a dog's love seems to be cherished more than ever a canines unconditional devotion provides emotional support that is at times difficult to find elsewhere I think we're living in a society today where so many of us are isolated from our friends and our families and dogs give us that sense of family in that sense of belonging they keep us going they give us a reason to go on [Music] many dogs literally keep their people going by assisting them in the tasks involved with day-to-day living dogs who act as someone's eyes arms or legs are much more than companions they're an essential part of a human life happy and eager to learn the dogs at canine partners for life near philadelphia pennsylvania are instructed in helping people with mobility impairments attention these assistance dogs aid their partners in a variety of ways by picking up dropped options opening heavy doors even paying cashiers these everyday tasks taken for granted by many are real challenges for the disabled dog is taught skills needed to assist a specific human partner if we have someone who has no use of their hands the dog needs to be taught to retrieve a little differently bringing things to the person's mouth placing things more carefully on the person's lap so each skill is chosen according to what that specific person finds that they need help with in their lives to be more independent [Music] many special dogs have been trained at the kennels of k9 partners but there is one in particular that staffers fondly recall Watson's kind of a character right here he has quite a reputation this Labradors original owners had requested he be put to sleep because they couldn't afford the medical costs for an injury he had suffered but a volunteer brought in two k9 partners and this volunteer just thought that Watson was very special and she asked if we would evaluate him to be a service dog and brought him to us and we evaluated him and we felt that he just had so much personality and character that there was absolutely no way we could not take him Watson was destined to play a special role in the life of a little girl named Emily one year after Emily Ramsey was born she was diagnosed with epilepsy a malady that causes a variety of seizures by the time she was three years old Emily's seizures had become horribly debilitating she was having many days with many many seizures and she really couldn't she couldn't go to the movies she couldn't do a lot of things that the normal child can do and her fear of waking up and finding a paramedic standing over her was very very very great Emily's parents didn't know if she could ever have a normal life but then they were told about seizure alert dogs these animals are able to sense when a person is going to have a seizure before it happens there's no scientific evidence to explain how seizure alert dogs function we believe that the dogs are picking up on a scent that's created by the electrical and chemical changes that are going on in the body prior to the seizure that's probably actually part of the seizure before you ever see the clinical signs of the seizure while the skill of seizure alert cannot be taught to dogs there seems to be a certain type of animal which has this potential the typical seizure alert Doug is a Doug that drives us nuts it's a very intense dog who has a high activity level it's a very intelligent dog there the dogs that have already figured out how to communicate with people they usually have to experience several seizures before they kind of figure this out and start learning k9 partners believe that Watson fit the profile of a seizure alert dog so at age 11 Emily Ramsey began training to learn how to work with him success however depended on Watson seeing Emily experience a seizure when it finally happened Watson was confused he had a look on his face like nobody ever told me about this eventually he would see that she would come out of these and be fine and so he just picked up that when before she would have them he would bark and eventually he kind of refined it himself - it's a low deep throaty whine we know that that she will have a seizure Watson now alerts 45 minutes before Emily has an especially strong seizure this gives her plenty of time to prepare okay let's go and Watson stays with her every step of the way [Music] now a teenager Emily enjoys many activities that would not have been possible without Watson however being a seizure alert dog isn't enough for Watson who's appointed himself Emily's guardian angel for example if Emily over does it during swimming lessons Watson becomes upset fearing for her safety he'll also forgo his daily walk with a family dog Tasha if he feels that Emily needs to stay close to home he is worried about my seizures Watson taught Watson to be this protective I think Watson loves Emily as much as any animal has ever loved an owner and she certainly loves him as much as any person I've ever seen and this is just the bond between the two of them it's just amazing what he's done for her and and how he's enriched her life and our lives and helped her to grow into a beautiful young woman [Music] a dog doesn't have to actually belong to someone for a bond to form the dogs often bring unconditional love to those who need it most [Music] lacy is a three-year-old Basenji mix [Music] their owner Katy Henthorn lacy regularly calls on the residents at a Southern California convalescent home sometimes visitors feel awkward or uncomfortable in a medical facility but not Laci she greets everyone with her own special enthusiasm leaving smiles in her wake [Music] thanks to the happiness that lacy creates around her family members can see the improvement in their loved ones health and well-being I have my mother here she's got terminal cancer Lacy's brought something out in her that I've just never seen before she's got like a soul in her that otherwise would have been locked inside and lacy just brings it out and I see that with all the the patients here it's wonderful to see what lacy does to these people she's just a sweetheart and I can't see this place without her [Music] Vanessa McKay treasures the time she has with lacing and make sure that a reminder of the dog is always with us in the morning when I go and hook up there and see her happy face excites my day out right now that I see [Music] this program sponsored by the SPCA Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is called animal assisted therapy the goal is to provide physical as well as emotional benefits to those confined in institutions there are clinical studies that actually show that having an animal stroking the animal can sometimes provide an incentive and a relief of depression that many people who are confined or feeling ill or sometimes just feeling old can use this type of benefit we have seen senior citizens who have gone into deep depression who haven't spoken in years will speak to the animal assisted therapy dog the homes residents are not the only ones who benefit from Lacey's visits I didn't know that getting into this program would be that rewarding I didn't think emotions and feelings would be involved is this how can they not be what was I thinking you know that's that's that's it that's the key that's what this is about it's about love and caring and and good feelings that's what these people [Music] [Applause] [Music] ever since prehistoric humans bent down to scratch their furry companions ear there has existed a bond between people and canines the reason is simple dogs provide things people want in their lives I have a dog because it connects me to the world in a way that other things don't I don't have wild animals around me so I have the next best thing I have this dog that bridges the gap between the wolf and the human only one animal the dog not only helps in our work but also has a place in our recreation and shares in our lives life without a dog is unthinkable life without a dog would be for me would be black and white the world would go flat there like a spiritual equivalent of oxygen for me love comes in all kinds of forms there's all kinds of dimensions and having a dog to which you were bonded maybe have been Mary thousand years like I am and have kids and many kids and so go fetch you the door there is more this more love to be had and I don't think really good enough for my dear [Music]

Channel: DocSpot

Views: 240,610

Rating: 4.6410646 out of 5

Keywords: Dogs, Dog, Pet, Pets, Animals, Wildlife, History, Canines, Canine, America

Id: qTR7H7754vw

Length: 95min 22sec (5722 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 23 2017