Strummer participated today for the third time in studies at the Canine Cognition Lab at Harvard University. Here she is outside William James Hall—the home of the Canine Cognition Lab—with Dan, a summer intern who is studying Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania. For her contribution, she was awarded a Certificate of Canine Achievement (see below).
Strummer participated in two experiments, one studying whether dogs are reading the intentions of a human pointing, and another exploring whether dogs have a sense of fairness. Of course, because of her training and good manners, Strummer, again, didn't get past the warm-up exercises.
I would have been really interested to see Strummer performing in the experiment on fairness. When I give another dog a treat in Strummer's presence, my sense of equity prompts me to offer her a treat, too. If Strummer has a sense of equity, however, I don't think it's as simple as if-another-dog-gets-a-treat-it's-only-fair-that-I-get-one-too. For one thing, she doesn't necessarily accept a treat that is offered just because I offered one to another dog. On the other hand, when we are visiting my parents, if my father gives his younger, larger male German Shepherd Dog, Shadow, a treat, Strummer will cock her head and raise her ears. But then my dad is a pez dispenser, so it may not be so much that Strummer thinks it's fair that he give her a treat, too; she may have been trained to expect one.
I wonder if Strummer would feel that a young male didn't deserve the food as much as she deserved it. Would she use access to food to demonstrate her seniority to another female? I expect that she would probably defer to another dog if she felt the food were his—just as she always defers to other dogs when chasing balls or sticks: When she's playing it doesn't matter who gets the toy as long as everyone gets to keep playing.
But, alas, Strummer is not the dog that will reveal the secrets of canine cognition in a controlled experiment.
I did appreciate learning that one of the papers that the Lab is trying to get published is about dogs' behavior during the warm-up exercises as a predictor for their behavior in the experiments. I'm sure that Strummer's work is central to that study!
Also, when I told Dan that I would be posting (and had posted before) about the Canine Cognition Lab on the somerville dog weblog, he mentioned that a lot of Somerville dogs participate in the studies! Somerville dogs are contributing to science!
Somerville dog owner and local artist, Annie Smidt, welcomes guests inside the Powder House to see how her camera obscura—the biggest camera in Somerville—works.
On Saturday, June 26, participants in the Powder House Camera Project had their portraits taken by (not next to, but by means of) the powder house.
Smidt had covered all openings through which light could enter with the exception of a "pinhole" (about one-inch square) in the window of the powder house door. Through the pinhole the scene outside was projected on a screen inside.
Inside the powder house, as our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we could see the scene outside projected (upside down and backwards) on the screen. First the dark trees against the bright sky, then the park sloping down to College Avenue where, occasionally, cars would pass by. Finally the eerie figures of people outside the powder house appeared, their voices, muffled by the stone walls, moving in the opposite direction of their bodies.
Jake, an Irish Setter who lives in Ten Hills, had his photo taken with his people Alan and Elaine. Inside the powder house Smidt took digital photos of the image on the screen. Each photo had a six-second exposure.
Annie's photos—the ones she took using the Powder House Camera—will be available soon on the Powder House Project website.
Biggest Camera Ever Built in Somerville by a Dog Owner
UPDATE 29 August 2009: POSTPONED Due to the forecast for rain this weekend, the Powderhouse Camera Project is postponed.
Have your dog's picture taken by a camera bigger than you are!
Or your kids' pictures, or your friends' pictures, or anything you'd like to pose with!
On Saturday afternoon, August 29, from 1:00 to 4:00, Somerville artist and dog owner, Annie Smidt, is taking over the historic Powder House in Nathan Tufts (a.k.a. Powder House Park) and turning it into a camera!
Check out the website for the Powderhouse Camera Project to learn how Annie will turn the Powder House into a camera obscura. Annie explains,
I'll darken the window and the door with cloth or plastic, blocking almost all the light in the structure. There will be a small hole in the covering over the door. Across from the door, I'll hang white sheets on the wall. Images of whatever's outside the Powderhouse, on the hole side, will project onto the sheets. I'll capture these projected images with a digital camera.
You will pose outside the Powder House, in the park, but will also be able to come inside and see how it works!
The photo here is of Annie's dog, Sheep, in front of the Powder House.
This is a video I took at the Nunziato Off-leash Recreational area on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 19.
I love living with my dog in Somerville. Because Somerville offers safe and legal opportunities for people to come together and share our mutual interest in our dogs, Somerville has a strong community of dog owners. Because Somerville has a strong community of dog owners, dog owners feel like we are a part of the larger community.
In some other towns, people who own dogs feel like second-rate citizens. The following are actual quotes from dog owners who live in other Massachusetts cities and towns:
# # #
I have found the attitudes of the people who posess authority so disturbing, the loathing and discust which they have no hesitation to express in their condemnation of dog owners has left me utterly deflated.
# # #
We are treated dismissively by certain town officials, and by many in the public.
# # #
Employees “warned” dog owners in a very menacing way: they drove their trucks right onto the field, close to dogs and children. Certainly makes dog owners feel like criminals.
Viewers of City Tails on City Cable are familiar with a regular segment in which host Rob Auffrey asks people around the city to guess a local mutt's breed background.
Max had two DNA tests: The Canine Heritage XL Breed Test, which which detects 108 breeds and is conducted by a painless cheek swab, and the Wisdom Panel MX Mixed Breed Analysis test, which detects 134 breeds and requires a simple blood test by a participating vet.
What breeds are in Max?
a) Samoyed, Alaskan Malamute, Greyhound
b) Pomeranian, Keeshond, Poodle
c) Dachshund, Miniature Schnauzer
d) English Bulldog, German Pinscher, Harrier
Strummer is the only excuse I need to take a walk, but in order to get the inertial member of our pack moving, sometimes we need to dangle a proverbial carrot in front of his nose. On Sunday the carrot was Kickass Cupcakes in Davis Square (378 Highland Avenue).
I asked the friendly young man at the counter to recommend their most kickass cupcake. With only a momentary concession to individual tastes, he recommended the limited-edition Green Monster, which had already attracted my attention with its dark-green frosting and "Made with Sam Adams Cream Stout" label.
Another kickass thing about Kickass Cupcakes: they're dog-friendly: They make Carob Peanut Butter Pupcakes, and they put out fresh water for dogs.
Putting a bowl of fresh water out for dogs is such a neighborly thing for a local business to do. It's not surprising that the owner of Kickass Cupcakes, Sara Ross, is a dog owner. She and her husband own two rottweilers.
Welcome to Somerville, Kickass Cupcakes, and thank you for helping to make Somerville more dog-friendly!
Every year since 2005, Somerville dog owners have walked our dogs in the City's Memorial Day Parade to honor our veterans.
The weather was perfect last year! Finn's owner, Leah, took pictures of the dogs while we were waiting in the queue to start the parade at City Hall. Finn is enjoying the breeze!
Last year was the first year that som|dog organized a group of people to wait with their dogs in Davis Square and file in to the Parade so that there would be fresh dogs to walk in the second half of the parade.
The previous year had been so hot! Even though we had extra water in the "waggin' wagon", by the time we got to Davis Square, the dogs were too tired to go on. Three Somerville dog owners remained in the parade (without their dogs) and carried the som|dog banner to Veterans Memorial Cemetery.
Here's Dunkin with his owner, Haley, waiting in the Parade queue before getting under way in 2006.
2005 was the first year that Somerville Dog Owners walked in the parade. That was before we had the waggin' wagon and before we had the idea to arrange for reinforcements to join us in Davis Square. Fortunately, we had a beautiful day, as you can see in this picture taken by Jessica, who owns the Lotte, a greyhound (not pictured).
The Somerville Dog Owners Group welcomes all dogs that enjoy the company of other dogs, that are licensed and up-to-date on vaccinations, that walk well on a loose leash and that are in good physical condition to walk in the Memorial Day Parade this year. You can start the parade with us at City Hall or you can join us when we get to Davis Square.
For more information and to walk your dog in the Memorial Day Parade with the Somerville Dog Owners Group, please contact Michele at somdog * AT * somervilledog.com; 617-290-9107.
I had a lot of fun putting together this amateur video of Strummer meeting and greeting and socializing with other dogs at the Off-Leash Recreational Area at Nunziato Field here in Somerville. My analysis of the dogs' behavior reflects my personal observations as an attentive pet owner.
In Londonderry, NH, Winston, a miniature pinscher/chihuahua pulled his owner out of danger from a falling branch in an ice storm. ("Rescued pooch hailed a hero during ice storm" by Julie Huss, Derry News Online) Winston was adopted less than a month ago from All Dog Rescue. He was fostered here in Somerville, MA!
Check out the fine raincoat Winston is wearing: it was made by the owner of Fonzie, a Chinese Crested and Somerville dog!
The Gobshites, acousticelticore band beloved to Harpoon Brewery's Brewstock and those who celebrated the summer birthday of the owner of Somerville dogs, Granby and Chloe, are playing a pet-friendly show Saturday, September 9, to benefit the Mansfield Animal Shelter: the 11th Annual Celebration of Animals.
The 11th Annual Celebration of Animals takes place from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday, September 9, in the South Common, South Main Street, Mansfield, MA (map). Acousiticelticore by the Gobshites from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Leashed dogs welcome!
Eight Somerville Dogs walked with twenty-two human companions comprising team somervilledog.com in the twenty-fourth annual MSPCA-Angell Walk for Animals on a chilly but sunny Sunday morning, October 17, in Boston Common. Somervilledog.com thanks the people and dogs that walked on our team, everyone who bought team T-shirts, our top (and only) corporate sponsor, Pet Spa, and our co-workers, friends and families for their generous contributions to support MSPCA-Angell!
As Yukon's human companion explained, when I apologized for the team's getting separated when the Walk began at 10:00, "once the walk started, we just started walking. That's what he likes to do and it was his day!"
Team somervilledog.com (from left to right) Shannon with Cinder (a Lab/Pointer mix), Peter (from Blue Hill, ME), Genevieve, Stuart with King (a Greyhound), Adrienne, and Michele with Strummer (a Standard Poodle). Not pictured are Deborah and Rob and their two children with their dog Anna (a Husky/Shepherd mix); David and Nora with Austin (a Pomeranian); Janice with her dog Patsy (a Shepherd mix) and her nieces with their Corgi, Winnie (from Lexington); and Michael with Yukon. The following Somerville dogs had to stay home but were with us in spirit: three-legged Dash, Stu's second Greyhound, who is recovering from chemotherapy; Rosie, Genevieve's Pit Bull, whom she adopted last month from a shelter in Rhode Island and who is still getting used to being a beloved pet; and Willy, a Miniature Poodle whom Adrienne adopted last year and who was recently treated at Angell for heart problems.
Yukon (Siberian Husky) and teammates meet and greet.
Strummer: "I thought this was supposed to be a Walk for Animals."
A team member checks out some early Halloween costumes.
UPDATE 31 October 2004: Added the Team somervilledog.com picture.
Strummer participated today for the third time in studies at the Canine Cognition Lab at Harvard University. Here she is outside William James Hall—the home of the Canine Cognition Lab—with Dan, a summer intern who is studying Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania. For her contribution, she was awarded a Certificate of Canine Achievement (see below).
The previous year had been so hot! Even though we had extra water in the "waggin' wagon", by the time we got to Davis Square, the dogs were too tired to go on. Three Somerville dog owners remained in the parade (without their dogs) and carried the som|dog banner to Veterans Memorial Cemetery.
The 
Dogs helping dogs
Team somervilledog.com (from left to right) Shannon with Cinder (a Lab/Pointer mix), Peter (from Blue Hill, ME), Genevieve, Stuart with King (a Greyhound), Adrienne, and Michele with Strummer (a Standard Poodle). Not pictured are Deborah and Rob and their two children with their dog Anna (a Husky/Shepherd mix); David and Nora with Austin (a Pomeranian); Janice with her dog Patsy (a Shepherd mix) and her nieces with their Corgi, Winnie (from Lexington); and Michael with Yukon. The following Somerville dogs had to stay home but were with us in spirit: three-legged Dash, Stu's second Greyhound, who is recovering from chemotherapy; Rosie, Genevieve's Pit Bull, whom she adopted last month from a shelter in Rhode Island and who is still getting used to being a beloved pet; and Willy, a Miniature Poodle whom Adrienne adopted last year and who was recently treated at Angell for heart problems.
Yukon (Siberian Husky) and teammates meet and greet.
Strummer: "I thought this was supposed to be a Walk for Animals."