Dogs

Dogged in December - wait, December?!!

Hi Julie,
Photo by Mel Travis | What About Charlie?

goodness me, what happened? I was at the amazing Working Dog Conference 2013, then launching the Global Poo Power! Challenge, I blinked and suddenly it's mid-December already? Huh?! Gosh!

Sorry for being absent for a few weeks, I've been focussed on getting as much content from the #workdogs13 event up on the Working Dog Alliance website as possible, so that everyone can access the fantastic content that was shared by a wide range of speakers. From the conference proceedings, to PDF of presentation slides, audio and even You-Tube clips combining them all, you can now share in everything from Dr Nicola Rooney's keynote presentations, to fresh new research on working dogs; unique stories about dogs used in conservation programs and rescue groups working to provide positive endpoint outcomes; practitioners views on breeding and rearing working dogs and insightful facts and figures about areas like greyhound racing and thoughts on why there is such high 'wastage'.

The half-dog selfie movement took off at #workdogs13

Check. It. Out: http://www.workingdogalliance.com.au/conference2013/

The Poo Power! Global Challenge went off with a bang...

(or is that a fart? LOVED your Scientific American Dog Spies pieces on why dog farts stink, Part 1: What are dog farts made of? here, Part 2: How to make dog farts less stinky here - captivating area of research and I do not envy the 'odour judge' who to had to decide if dog farts were scentless or unbearable, or somewhere in between!) and we enjoyed watching the photos get logged on the Global Poo Map.

Science For Life 365

The student competition part of the Challenge is now over, but don't worry - it's not too late to download the free App and start to map the crap! It's super quick and easy to do and I know the Poo Power! team would really love to see some international 'contributions', so to speak. All details about how to participate as a citizen scientist can be found here.

SciEngage

As for me, well, I'm looking forward to closing out 2013 with the fun times in the sun with family, friends and reviewing results from the meta-analysis - as you do.

What's on your list, Julie?

Mia

p.s. In case you were wondering, that gorgeous photo at the top of this post (it's my legs with my darling old dog Caleb, and my mother's dog, retired Guide Dog Haidee) - taken as part of a shoot done for this Dumbo Feather article

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