Dogs are widely used in all kinds of search and rescue activities, including finding people under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

One research team is looking for ways to enhance what dogs can offer, by fitting them with Canine Augmentation Technology (CAT) — cameras, video, wifi and other tech:

The primary goal of the project is to improve the performance of trained Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) dogs in finding and facilitating the rescue of live people who are trapped in the rubble of buildings that suffer a structural Collapse. Our goal is to create assistive technology so that others might live.

… At the moment, the project consists of 5 separate subcomponents that are based on the theme of finding trapped people faster in order to save lives.

We all know the image of the Saint Bernard dog delivering a small barrel of brandy to those trapped in the snow. How much more useful it would be if rescue dogs could deliver food, medicine, water and communications:

The Canine Remote Deployment System (CRDS) is a remotely operated release mechanism worn by the dog and triggered by the handler using a wireless handset. When the handler hears the bark indication of the dog, they can release a bag (called the “underdog”) that can contain medical supplies, a radio, food, water or other sensors very close to where the trapped person is located. The technology has been awarded a provisional U.S. Patent.

The team are working on 5 areas:

1. Canine Augmentation Technology (CAT)
2. Canine Remote Deployment System (CRDS)
3. Canine Pose (CP) (sensors indicate what the dog’s doing)
4. Canine Work Apparel (CWA)
5. Canine Brain Function (CBF)

Let’s hope they gain enough funding to continue this important work.

The boy was gathering firewood; the cougar was advancing:

Cougar (via Wikimedia Commons).

A family dog saved his eleven-year-old owner Saturday [in Boston Bar, B.C.] when he stepped between the boy and an advancing cougar, according to the RCMP.

[Via : Dog saves 11-year-old from cougar attack.]

The dog received some minor injuries; the cougar, unfortunately, was killed. The boy was fine.

In 2009 The Vancouver Sun collected information on registered dogs and then made a database readers can search:

Vancouver Sun Dog Name Database.

…101,556 registered dogs from 15 Metro Vancouver cities whose name, breed and neighbourhood were collected by The Vancouver Sun through Freedom of Information requests to local city halls.

The newspaper used the electronic data to create a searchable database (www.vancouversun.com/dogs) of local canines.

Along the way they discovered some interesting facts about breeds:

The data shows Labrador retrievers are the most common breed in Metro. The total number of Labs in the database (13,516) include 8,080 purebred while the rest are hybrids.

Labs are followed in popularity by terriers, shepherds, shih tzus and collies.

And information about names:

Max is widely reported to be the most popular dog name on the planet and The Vancouver Sun’s 100,000-entry dog-name database shows that local dog owners are true to the trend. There are 1,347 dogs named Max registered in the 15 municipalities that contributed data to the project, good for first overall.

[Via : Names increasingly reflect dogs' integration into the family.]

What breed of dog do you have, and how did you choose its name?

There’s some interesting debate in the comments on an article about how dogs are banned from most parks in Gatineau. It seems many owners are just unaware their dogs aren’t allowed in most of the area’s parks:

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Dogs in Gatineau will be told to keep their paws out of city parks, as the municipality begins putting up “no dogs allowed” signs next week in about 350 parks, from Aylmer to Buckingham.

The $10,000 initiative, which should be complete by August, is meant to reinforce an existing, but often ignored, bylaw that bans dogs from all but 29 designated city parks.

[Via : Gatineau unleashes $10,000 ‘no dogs’ campaign in parks.]

As usual, the problems seem to cluster around dog poop and off-leash dogs approaching people on the one hand. On the other hand, the dog owners want properly appointed areas where they can provide their dogs safely with socialisation and exercise.