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5 North Carolina ‘Dognition’ app helps owners understand their dogs’ behavior and intelligence A new app called Dognition is challenging people to assess their dogs’ intelligence while contributing to scientific knowledge of dogs’ behavioral and cognitive patterns. According to Mother Nature Network, Dognition encourages dog owners to take a
survey about their pets’ behavior, then play a series of games with their dogs that are designed to assess five dimensions of intelligence: empathy, communication, cunning, memory and reasoning. Owners will gain a better understanding of their dogs’ behavioral tendencies and
6 4 Ohio
Fake veterinarian found guilty of multiple charges in Ohio A 36-year-old Ohio woman was found guilty of allegedly performing surgeries and issuing pre- scriptions without a license while pretending to be a veterinarian. According to Fox 8 News, Brandi Tomko faced
13 counts during her trial, including practicing without a license, identity fraud, theft, forgery, and assaulting or harassing an assistance dog. Tomko was an employee at C&D Animal Hos-
pital, which provided low-cost veterinary services and operated as a no-kill animal sanctuary, Fox 8 News said. When the clinic’s owners and veterinar- ians abandoned it, Tomko reportedly stepped in and began portraying herself as a veterinarian or veterinary assistant to clients. Prosecutor Gregory Peacock alleged in his
opening statements that Tomko performed surgi- cal procedures such as declawing kittens, leading to deadly consequences for some of the hospital’s patients, the media reported. Tomko was found guilty of ID fraud, cruelty to
animals, drug possession, forgery and practicing without a license, and was scheduled for sentenc- ing on March 15.
individual intelligence, but in the larger scheme of things, they will be providing valuable data that the scientific community can analyze to advance future studies, said the app’s designer, Brian Hare. Hare, an associate professor in evolutionary at Duke University and director of Duke’s
Canine Cognition Center, said Dognition will help dog owners gain a deeper understand- ing of what makes their dogs tick. “Maybe you find out your dog doesn’t have very good memory compared to other
dogs,” he said. “Or maybe your dog is incredibly wily and is judging when you’re watch- ing them or not. Some dogs know the difference between a person’s eyes being open or closed.”
6 Florida
Broward County outlaws cat hoarding and dog tethering Broward County, the second most-populated county in Florida, added new bite to its laws aimed at protecting animals from abuse. The county’s commissioners passed a largely revised animal care law that issues guid-
ance over how Broward pet owners need to care for their animals, according to the Sun Sentinel. The new law officially classifies animal hoarding as illegal abuse—a first for the county. In addition, Broward commissioners passed a law prohibiting owners from tether- ing their dogs. While the new law doesn’t specifically mention a number of pets that qualifies as
hoarding, it does lay out how the county will define hoarding. According to the Sun Sentinel, the county defines hoarding as “the intentional accumu-
lation of a group of animals which has overwhelmed a person’s ability to provide minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation and care to the animals, coupled with an inability or refusal to acknowledge that the condition of the animals is deteriorating.”
Note: The articles on this spread are from AAHA’s online newsletter, NEWStat. Trends magazine, May 2013
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