dogs to protect bandicoots

The Age newspaper recently had an article about a program hoping to train Maremmas to keep predators away from eastern barred bandicoots. These bandicoots are extinct in the wild, and previous release programs have been disappointing, because foxes and cats had killed many of the native animals when they were restored to their natural habitats after being bred in zoos.

Apparently the maremma pups will initially sleep with bandicoot bedding. The photo accompanying the article shows a dog with a toy bandicoot. Cute!

An interesting aspect of the program is that the dogs need to learn which animals are 'friends' - e.g. kangaroos - as well as which ones are a danger to their proteges.

Sounds like a great idea. Donations can be made here, if you wish to help out.

I've blogged in the past about dogs helping to conserve the spotted quoll and hunting enemies of penguins.

Aren't dogs wonderful?

disgusting bokashi compost tastes great...to a dog

Little Princess Goody Two-shoes Penny has blotted her copybook! She was caught in flagrante delicto this very afternoon, digging away with her supposedly sore front paws in the patch of soil where I had just buried some really stinky bokashi compost.

I think the nearest equivalent to this great Latin phrase 'in flagrante delicto' would be red-handed, but since she doesn't have hands, I'd say she was caught black-mouthed.

Penny is caught black-mouthed after snaffling compost

 I was so smug last time I posted about how I keep Penny from digging up delightful messy bokashi.

BetR2 commented that her Lucy would make short work of this barrier. I should have listened, lol. I guess Penny just pushed her way through my little fence, by the look of the skew-whiff way the bamboo sticks are standing now.

A not so dog-proof  fence around the bokashi

Digging for treasure in the bokashi

The next picture shows the new set-up. The problem is that our soil is clay and I don't want to break up the structure by digging a deep hole, so the bokashi is only a tantalising ten centimetres underground. What self-respecting dog could resist?

A challenge for Penny to think her way around the coiled up wire. Will she solve the puzzle?

Another attempt to keep the dog out of the bokashi

I hope not.

pet dogs can help prevent allergies

There's an interesting article in The Age newspaper today. It says that having a pet dog that comes inside the house can protect very young children from developing egg allergies.

I've often heard it said that owning a dog can strengthen children's immune system, but this is the first time I've read of an actual research project that shows it's best if the dog lives in the house with the family.

Here's a quote from news.com.au:

Allergy experts from Melbourne's Murdoch Childrens Research Institute studied more than 5000 babies and found those with young siblings and infants exposed to a dog inside the home were less likely to develop an allergic reaction to egg...

Lead researcher Dr Jennifer Koplin said the risk of developing a food allergy seemed to be a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

She said the immune system evolved at a time when people were exposed to more bacteria in food and the water supply, and infections through crowding and larger families.
Dr Koplin said it was possible developing infants were now not exposed to the right environmental factors to teach their immune systems how to react appropriately.
"They are reacting inappropriately to something that they should be able to tolerate which is in this case, food allergens, or food proteins," Dr Koplin told AAP.
The research suggested the protective effect of a family dog on egg allergy could be due to exposure to endotoxin, a type of bacteria.
Dr Koplin said endotoxin stimulates the immune system to attack bad bacteria and in doing so, is distracted from attacking harmless things in the environment like foods.

How great to read that we can benefit from treating our dogs as they'd wish - letting them live inside with the pack, instead of leaving them to languish in the backyard away from the family.