😲 Dogs can count?! Here's the proof...

Stop breaking treats in half! Dogs can count.

Dogs may not be able to count to 10, but even the untrained ones have a rough sense of how many treats you put in their food bowl. That's the finding of a new study, which reveals that canines innately understand quantities.

"It further increases our confidence that [these representations of quantity in the brain] are ancient and widespread among species," says Michael Beran, a psychologist at Georgia State University.

I trained my dog to count. Is that the same?

The ability to rapidly estimate the number of sheep in a flock or ripened fruits on a tree is known as the "approximate number system." Previous studies have suggested monkeys, fish, bees, and dogs have this talent…

…but much of this research has used trained animals that receive multiple tests and rewards. That leaves open the question of whether the ability is innate in these species, as it is in humans.

How’d they test this?

In the new study, Gregory Berns, a neuroscientist at Emory University in Atlanta, and colleagues recruited 11 dogs from various breeds, including border collies, pitbull mixes, and Labrador golden retriever mixes, to see whether they could find brain activity associated with a sensitivity to numbers.

The team, which pioneered canine brain scanning (by getting dogs to voluntarily enter a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner and remain motionless), had their subjects enter the scanner, rest their heads on a block, and fix their eyes on a screen at the opposite end (see video, below). On the screen was an array of light gray dots on a black background whose number changed every 300 milliseconds. If dogs have a dedicated brain region for representing quantities, their brains should show more activity there when the number of dots was dissimilar (three small dots versus 10 large ones) than when they were constant (four small dots versus four large dots).

Eight of the 11 dogs passed the test. Intriguingly, slightly different brain regions lit up in each dog, likely because they were different breeds, Berns says.

What does this prove?

"These findings support our understanding of the Approximate Number System; previously, these effects had only been demonstrated behaviorally in dogs, so this is an important contribution to our understanding of canine cognition," says Krista Macpherson, a canine cognition researcher at Western University in London, Canada. And, she adds, the study is likely to be of interest to dog trainers, because it suggests dogs may pay more attention to the number of items presented rather than the volume of items.

Dogs and humans are separated by some 80 million years of evolution, so this discovery provides some of the strongest evidence yet that most mammals are born to count, if not to do higher math.

So, now that that’s solved, we need to know…

Central Italy’s truffle hunting dogs are under attack!

There’s a reason your truffle pasta costs $50 at an upscale Italian restaurant.

Italian white truffles are some of the world’s rarest delicacies, and Central Italy’s “truffle hunters” are training their dogs to sniff them out. Last weekend, over 30 truffle hunting canines were poisoned…by humans. Welcome to the world of truffle warfare.

They’re targeting dogs?!

The dogs ate meatballs laced with what is believed to be metaldehyde and strychnine that were strategically hidden where the dogs would find them, out of sight of their owners.

Around 10 truffle dogs are killed across Italy each year on average, animal rights groups say. The number could be higher as many deaths go unreported, according to local hunting associations.

Hunters fear that killing three times the average in one go is meant to send a message.

All this comes at a time when changing weather patterns caused by the climate crisis is shrinking supplies of truffles, pushing prices ever higher. White truffles need damp, musty forests and fields to prosper, and record heat and stifling droughts have impacted this season more than ever in Italy.

A hunter with a skilled sniffer dog can earn thousands of dollars a day during the truffle season, which generally runs from September to November. In 2022, a half-pound truffle fetched $200,000 in an auction in Alba, Italy. At a current market value of $2,200 per pound, the white truffle is by far one of the most expensive foods in the world. Once turned into delicacies, they often sell for more than $400 for a tasting menu in cities such as San Francisco and London.

Who’s doing this?!

The mystery of who is behind the poisonings is the real bone of contention in this saga, with different players in the truffle supply chain blaming each other.

Police confirmed that the victims were all dogs from elsewhere in the country who had come to the area after large white truffles had recently been found.

An investigation has been opened over the deaths. But to date, not a single person has been arrested or convicted over previous dog killings.

Why aren’t truffle hunters more aggressive with pressing charges?

Some may not have registered, licensed or microchipped their dogs properly in accordance with hunting regulations, and in other cases, the dogs weren’t wearing the muzzles that are required of hunters, police say.

Others stay silent out of fear of retaliation. Slashing tires and even blowing up pickups is not uncommon in the truffle hunting world.

So far, none of the owners of the 30 dogs killed last weekend come forward to file a complaint, prompting calls from the Italian Association for Animal Protection and Environment, or AIDAA, for prosecutors to act.

It wants the area where the poisoning took place to be closed for a year to truffle hunting animals in case there is still poison hidden in the underbrush. It has also called on hunters to break their code of silence.

“We are concerned about the health of the dogs and the death of 30 of them must not go unnoticed as if it were an affair that only interests truffle hunters,” the group wrote in a letter addressed to the local hunters associations.

“Thirty dogs dying in a few days is a massacre and we believe it is appropriate for the truffle hunters to speak, because we think that some of them have more than one suspicion about the name of the author or authors of the massacre, therefore they put aside the silence and go to the prosecutor’s office to spill the beans.”

If they won’t speak up, what are they doing?!

“There are few controls in the world of truffle hunting,” the group told the local news. “And we need controls, the state doesn’t do it, so we have to do it ourselves.”

In a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture sent after the dog massacre, the group wrote, “The Italian truffle sector, one of our national excellencies, is suffering not only due to illegal and cruel practices, but also due to a lack of proper recognition and valorization.”

They’re calling for the installation of cameras to monitor areas where poisonings take place but says further measures must be put in place.

“It is essential that the government intervenes to ensure searching for truffles remains a sustainable and ethical practice and not a business for few criminals. This cultural and gastronomic heritage deserves greater protection and promotion, to preserve its integrity and secure its future.”

Enjoy that truffle pasta…

“The Squeeze”: Dog News In 60 Seconds

• 💊 Did an eye antibiotic just cure the mysterious dog illness sweeping the country?!

• 🏆 Take a bow, Stache! The Sealyham terrier is this year’s “Best in Show” at the National Dog Show! Where’s his mattress endorsement, Sealy?

• 🤔 Bella? Luna? Charlie? Max? Every dog’s name is perfect, but here’s what your dog’s name says about you.

• 🍝 Italy’s first dog restaurant opened in Rome. Grab your pasta bowls, mutts… Your Lady and the Tramp moment awaits.

• 🧑‍🚒 Dog? Check. Mason jar? Check. Indiana firefighters needing to get a dog’s head out of a mason jar?… errr… check.

• 💩 Pick up your dog’s poo, Michigan. If you don’t, this apartment complex is using dog DNA test kits to find you.

• 🚗 A dog walked onto a car lot and didn’t buy a Honda. Instead, it incurred over $350,000 in damages.

• 🙏 Two months after he was reported missing, Colorado hikers found Nova alive days before Thanksgiving.

Today’s Last Laugh:

LET ACE HAVE HIS CAKE POP!

@hoest

So it’s not just awkward for humans 😭😂 (@Ace the bully) #dog #dogsoftiktok #birthday #cute #wholesome #funny #hoest