Global Warming is Causing Dogs to Become Depressed

1919 image of a St Bernard, from the book "The Dogs of Great Britain, America and Other Countries".
1919 image of a St Bernard, from the book “The Dogs of Great Britain, America and Other Countries”.

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Pet behaviourists have claimed that dogs and horses are becoming bored and depressed, because global warming induced weather is stopping their owners from taking them out for exercise.

Leading pet behaviourists say the number of depressed and unsettled dogs they have seen in recent months is unprecedented

And they suggested that the spate of wet winters could be at the root of the problem, as owners cut down on the daily walks that are crucial to keeping dogs’ spirits up.

“I’ve been working with dogs for more than 20 years and I can’t remember a time when they’ve been this bored. I tend to see boredom in bursts but I’m seeing it chronically this winter,” said Carolyn Menteith, a dog behaviourist who was named Britain’s Instructor of the Year in 2015.

“They are just really, really, bored. People are quite happy to get their dogs out in frosty, hard weather but not when it’s muddy and horrible.”

“But we have over 200 breeds of dog in this country and an awful lot of them – especially family dogs like Labradors, retrievers and spaniels – were bred to do a job. So they are hardwired to work and need a lot of exercise.”

The lack of physical exercise – and mental stimulation that comes with it – is having noticeable consequences on the nation’s nine million dogs, she added.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/global-warming-could-be-causing-dogs-to-become-depressed-say-pet-behaviourists-a6854006.html

Even the IPCC doesn’t think climate change has any verifiable connection to extreme weather.

This winter, at least the early part of the winter was unusually wet – but lots of rain and mud is something you just get used to, or should get used to, if you live in Britain; particularly if you are a pet owner.

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February 5, 2016 2:37 pm

I thought this had to be a wind up, then I saw the words, global warming and Independent newspaper

george e. smith
Reply to  David Johnson
February 5, 2016 3:11 pm

Well dogs are supposed to be outside in the weather and the climate anyhow. If you don’t have the space, don’t have the dog. Dogs don’t need some human to walk them, they can walk themselves.
Dogs are not jewellery.
g
Don’t have a pet pig either. ( Unless it can already fly.)

Reply to  David Johnson
February 6, 2016 1:17 am

My concern is for people, particularly some well known AGW experts, whenever I see their photographs or cartoons by Josh, they look exceptionally lethargic or bored, their tweets and video appearances are incredibly boring.

Auto
Reply to  David Johnson
February 6, 2016 11:41 am

Menteith is advertising.
Auto

Paul Courtney
Reply to  David Johnson
February 6, 2016 1:02 pm

They’re so quick to reach for CAGW as the cause, they overlook the most obvious cause of “observed” dog depression-the smashing success of Mark Steyn’s cat album, Feline Groovy!

Felflames
February 5, 2016 2:40 pm

Sounds like a good area of study.
“How pet behaviourists are not competent to tell the difference between climate and weather.”
Should only take me 15 years and 50,000,000 dollars.
Think I can get a grant ??

Reply to  Felflames
February 5, 2016 9:00 pm

The trolling for grant dollars by studying a conjectured link to AGW…. part of the Climate Change gravey train that has corrupted science in many disciplines.

Johan
Reply to  Felflames
February 5, 2016 10:51 pm

Felflames, could you be so kind and add me to your application for, say, 12 million USD for an investigation called “Brain softening of Pet Behaviorists caused by Global Warming. A comparative and empirical study of the period 1530 – 2010”. The empiricacl part of the project would involve extensive stays at Ibiza, The Bahamas, St. Anton am Arlberg and possibly a few other places showing more substantial temperature differences. The analysis of the results and writing up the findings is proposed to take place in Nizza and e.g. Redondo Beach, Ca, to guarantee the availability of suitable ambient conditions.

Mike
Reply to  vukcevic
February 6, 2016 4:44 am

Though normally one of the main centres of interest in their lives, even dogs are getting sick of hearing these unprecedented piles of shyte !!

February 5, 2016 2:41 pm

Really? They’re gonna go with “sad puppies”? That’s a bold move. They risk a Social Justice Warrior backlash.

lance
February 5, 2016 2:41 pm

Where do we dig out these people? Shaking head….

February 5, 2016 2:44 pm

Yeah, Right. I have been raising dogs in Hawaii for decades. They do just fine. Maybe it is this silly author.

February 5, 2016 2:45 pm

How about this for a grant proposal:
Global warming is causing wackadoodle ecocondriatic imbeciles to become delusional.

timg56
Reply to  kamikazedave
February 5, 2016 4:11 pm

What is delusional is that we have pet behaviorialists in the first place.

TG
Reply to  kamikazedave
February 5, 2016 8:48 pm

Kami.
That study title alone is worth $100000.00

Reply to  TG
February 7, 2016 4:41 am

I’m rich!! I’m wealthy!! I’m socially secure!!

Val
Reply to  kamikazedave
February 6, 2016 11:47 am

I like the phrase “wackadoodle ecocondriatic imbeciles”……..

Reply to  Val
February 7, 2016 4:41 am

Glad to be of service, Val. Feel free to use it as you wish.

TA
Reply to  kamikazedave
February 6, 2016 4:56 pm

Global warming “theory” is causing . . .

OK S.
February 5, 2016 2:47 pm

And here I thought Sad Puppies was all Science Fiction.comment image

Christopher Paino
Reply to  OK S.
February 5, 2016 3:04 pm

Ha! I had to look Sad Puppies up, and when I found out what it was, I had to laugh. What a riot! Those pathetic sci-fi writers whinin’ and cryin’ about not getting Hugo nominations. I guess they all believe that popularity equals quality. All sci-fi these days are “young adult” or graphic novels. Not a drop of originality, and not even worth reading the cover.

PiperPaul
Reply to  Christopher Paino
February 5, 2016 6:34 pm

All sci-fi these days…
Some storylines these days seem to start out with a decent enough premise but then inevitably degenerate into the predictable soap-opera-set-in-supernatural-environment so as to appeal to the widest audience.

Paul Courtney
Reply to  Christopher Paino
February 6, 2016 12:54 pm

“All sci-fi these days…”. Not Cli-Sci-fi!

TobiasN
Reply to  Christopher Paino
February 6, 2016 2:57 pm

I am not sure you looked it up completely. The Sad Puppies are conservatives who named themselves that ironically.
ASFAIK, they formed after the SF situation had morphed. Hugo winners were no longer perennial classics (that sold well) and people bought not knowing anything about the authors, and were more and more PC, partly due to SJWs had gotten control of publishing houses, and voters vetted books by the politics of who had written them
Who are the whiners? It depends on where you sit on various issues, I suppose

cmdocker
February 5, 2016 2:49 pm

I think they may be onto something here, lemming suicide is up too.

FJ Shepherd
Reply to  cmdocker
February 5, 2016 4:23 pm

The Disney myth strikes again.

Reply to  FJ Shepherd
February 5, 2016 4:31 pm

I think he was being sarcastic. 🙂

Mark from the Midwest
Reply to  cmdocker
February 6, 2016 6:54 am

lemming suicide rates are impossible to measure since there are no survivors to interview

February 5, 2016 2:50 pm

“The Friday Funnies” That is how these wacky claims should be featured. I wonder how much carbon tax it would take to make winter go away? What climate do they really want?

Reply to  onenameleft
February 5, 2016 3:02 pm

Oops…My mistake, they already do Friday funnies here. I don’t often read much of these posts so I didn’t know about it.

HGW xx/7
February 5, 2016 2:53 pm

I really must commend the Cultists. I mean, their vision and ability to find “evidence” of global warming’s effect on even the most mundane topic is truly awe-inspiring. They don’t let the fact that “correlation need not equal causation” – which occurs on multiple levels in this example – stand in their way! Nay, they truly are dreamers. Just consider the train of “thought” that occurs here:
“Researcher”: “Well, AGW is proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and we also know it will only bring bad weather…true…” taking a breath to scribble down these epiphanies in crayon, “and so whatever rain and such we have here is brought on by it, and folks hate the rain more than any other weather – especially here in the UK, meaning they, of course, will stay in and…that’s it!!”
Really top-flight stuff. Why stop here, though? Since we’re in the conspiracy theory business here, anyway, I’d say this is clear-cut evidence that the rawhide industry is behind global warming. Bored dogs have to chew on something, right? And they almost got away with it!
Time for the Attorney General to investigate this disgusting Milkbone-Exxon kabal and bring those bastards to justice! Excelsior!

H.R.
Reply to  HGW xx/7
February 5, 2016 4:21 pm

I’m eagerly awaiting my check from Big Rawhide, HGW xx/7. It should be here any day now.

February 5, 2016 3:03 pm

Sounds like the Pet behaviourists are becoming depressed themselves, being so negative. Perhaps they don’t realise that a really wet winter is just setting up everything for a glorious spring. Can’t have one without the other.

Klem
Reply to  kalsel3294
February 5, 2016 5:04 pm

Spring is only about 6 weeks away. Can’t wait.

Reply to  Klem
February 5, 2016 5:08 pm

Don’t be silly. Global warming has overtaken the world and it’s either too hot, or too cold. Just Summer and Winter now. No spring, no fall. 🙂

The Original Mike M
February 5, 2016 3:04 pm

Just what I needed, my dog suing me because I let him sleep too much.

James Bull
Reply to  The Original Mike M
February 5, 2016 11:09 pm

This is why we have a cat, it doesn’t need to be taken out for walks. It does like playing come in the back door and immediately want out the front door can keep that up for a good long time. It has it’s own exercise regime which involves lots of rest and naps with some serious sleeping between and many snacks to keep his energy levels up for the next little rest and no he is not overweight.
James Bull

Dodgy Geezer
Reply to  James Bull
February 6, 2016 3:10 am

Cats seem to have a wired-in requirement to check their territory at least twice a day by walking around it and, in particular, checking that narrow restrictive places like doors still work. They will also want to check places where food and drink are available, and will pay particular attention to places where their territory may abut onto another predator’s area. Finally, they will have favourite safe/surveillance points where they will remain for most of the time when they are not active on patrol…

February 5, 2016 3:31 pm

I think we just jumped the shark.

Marcus
February 5, 2016 3:31 pm

..OMG..WTF…Do we need any more proof that liberalism is a form of mental disability ??

Russell
Reply to  Marcus
February 6, 2016 1:52 am

Marcus: Kathleen Wynne is Ontario’s 25th Premier and the first woman to serve in that role. Is that the problem.

Marcus
Reply to  Russell
February 6, 2016 6:09 am

That’s a women ?? Ewwww…..

G. Karst
Reply to  Russell
February 6, 2016 8:24 am

Only for Ontario. GK

Editor
February 5, 2016 3:34 pm

No doubt the poor pooches had the same problems in January 1916 then!
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/record-warmth-in-january-1916/
Meanwhile my poodle Freddie loves nothing more than lying down in the mud, and ambushing poor unaware Llapso whotsits!

Rob
February 5, 2016 3:35 pm

Based on nothing more than my (and my wife’s) observations on our morning walks here in Ottawa, I can confirm fewer doggies this winter. The observations are controlled in that the general time of our morning walk is constrained (never before 7.45, very rarely after 8.30) and the same route both years. Of course, the doggies have altered, as have their owners, so it is not exactly a true experiment, but I am sure that I have at least as much evidence as the ‘dog behaviouist’ in this study who has merely surmised that the doggies are getting fewer walks based on her observation of bored dogs – has she actually measured them?

PiperPaul
Reply to  Rob
February 5, 2016 6:51 pm

I hope you drew a precise chalk outline/installed stakes with crime scene tape using GPS coordinates indicating exactly where you saw doggies on one day so that you could come back at the same time the next day and observe if there are any doggies in your target observation district.

Adam from Kansas
February 5, 2016 3:43 pm

A few things wrong with this study
I have a beagle and the thing that usually prevents walks the most is cold weather, so a little global warming in the Winter would actually be a good thing to keep him trim. Not only that, but if he can’t get a walk he’ll have sessions where he runs around in circles and we play with him (of course he’s known to happily wag his tail if we do so much as walk towards him).

Kforestcatg
February 5, 2016 3:48 pm

More likely the dogs are bored of people who believe in global warming.

Reply to  Kforestcatg
February 5, 2016 9:08 pm

I used to see many younger adults with their faces glued to their smart phones. Now its the older folks too.
I think someone should do a linear regression between atmospheric CO2 and smart phone use since 2008.

michael hart
February 5, 2016 3:49 pm

aahh, those dog days of summer.

Marcus
Reply to  michael hart
February 5, 2016 3:53 pm

My cat is on the phone with her lawyer right now accusing you of Feline discrimination !! LOL

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Marcus
February 5, 2016 5:57 pm

Is that Mrs. Slocombe’s cat (No you can google what the character actually said)?

u.k(us)
February 5, 2016 3:52 pm

Boring.

February 5, 2016 4:00 pm

Come on! Someone actually JUST NOW notices that dogs in Britain are bored and don’t get out much? Really? In a country that has refined sitting around doing nothing but drinking tea and eating cookies to an ART form?
“But we have over 200 breeds of dog in this country and an awful lot of them – especially family dogs like Labradors, retrievers and spaniels – were bred to do a job.”
WHAT JOB??? Cattle ranchers than NEED dogs like that are STILL going outside with them even in the muck and the mud! It’s not like cattle owners take the winter off! And people who own dogs like that who are NOT cattle ranchers, or who lead sedentary lives, are going to have “bored dogs”.
I own a Jack Russel terrier…one of the worlds most hyperactive, adrenaline rushed breeds on the planet. He loves a good run in the back yard and walks make him float with joy, but he LOATHES, and I mean POUTS like a huge baby a serious way when we MAKE him go outside to pee/poop whenever there is snow on the ground, or mud or water, or anything that isn’t dry and warm. He would rather be inside and sleeping or “bored” than outside in conditions that are not optimal to him, and he’s a dog bred for hunting and tracking!
From the article-“We’re turning them [horses] out of their stables and they’re saying ‘Get me back in straight away’.”“They can’t settle, they look bored, but actually it’s to do with physical stress and mental boredom, they can’t go off quietly and graze because they keep sliding around the field,” Ms Fisher added.”
Oh. My. Word. I grew up in the Mountain West and guess what….very few people even put their horses IN STABLES at all !!! They live OUTSIDE, in the snow and the heat. They very rarely, if ever, get to “go off quietly and graze” because corals don’t grow grass, and there is no “grazing” with snow on the ground. We FEED them.
Maybe Ms Fisher should come over and talk to our horses. I’ll bet they’d tell her that British horses are spoiled rotten little Nancy boys who need to suck it up…oh wait….they’re horses. They don’t TALK!!!

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Aphan
February 5, 2016 5:11 pm

Cookies? Nah…we do biscuits, and we dunk too.

JCR
Reply to  Patrick MJD
February 5, 2016 6:20 pm

Or scones with cream and raspberry jam. Mmmmmm….

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Patrick MJD
February 5, 2016 6:28 pm

Get it right, clotted cream! Clotting your arteries lol…

RobertBobbert GDQ
Reply to  Aphan
February 5, 2016 7:59 pm

Aphan,
So Mr Watts is now giving… a voice …to a Mister Ed Denier.

Reply to  RobertBobbert GDQ
February 5, 2016 8:18 pm

Allan Lane was busy?

Reply to  RobertBobbert GDQ
February 6, 2016 8:24 am

Yes, since Mr Ed is a talking horse, of course.

February 5, 2016 4:08 pm

the thing of it is that whatever your field of research, be it koala bears or pets, your access to funding increases dramatically if you can tie it in with climate change. some people simply add “and climate change” to the research topic to access these funds; as in “the bronze age collapse and climate change”, “barley yields in germany and climate change”, and so on.

Steve from Rockwood
February 5, 2016 4:12 pm

This dovetails nicely with the recent announcement of pending layoffs at CSIRO.

Reply to  Steve from Rockwood
February 5, 2016 5:10 pm

“This dovetails nicely with the recent announcement of pending layoffs at CSIRO.”
Why? Are you suggesting that the animals in Britain are depressed about that too? (grin)

Latitude
February 5, 2016 4:17 pm

dog behaviourist…..!!!
Sounds to me like these morons are projecting a tad too much…I think it’s the people that are bored

u.k(us)
Reply to  Latitude
February 5, 2016 5:58 pm

You might have something there 🙂

Andy
February 5, 2016 4:18 pm

As far as I can tell, Global Warming as an issue is dead. The fact that cute videos of dogs are now the best the media can come up with is proof enough. I would also add that, despite being obliged to listen left wing students on occasion, I haven’t heard the subject come up in over a year.
Justas the price of peace is eternal vigilance, so it is right that WattsUp keeps going, but basically: Job Done!
Frankly, I’m pleased to say, it seems to have been the total failure of reality to co-operate with any of the previous decade’s apocalyptic predictions that did it.

Ian L. McQueen
Reply to  Andy
February 5, 2016 6:32 pm

Obviously you don’t live in Canada, where we have the CBC to keep global warming on the burner (or the UK where they have the BBC, or Australia where they have the ABC for the same function).
Ian M

Andy
Reply to  Ian L. McQueen
February 6, 2016 1:58 am

Actually, I am Canadian, but why on Earth would I be aware of what the CBC, BBC, etc are saying?
That’s left wing drive I CAN avoid 😉

TeeWee
February 5, 2016 4:19 pm

The only time our dog is depressed is when we go out to dinner. We recover quickly when we bring home goodies.

Reply to  TeeWee
February 5, 2016 4:26 pm

TW, remarkable. Our dog behaves similarly! Except we need bring home no goodies other than ourselves.

FJ Shepherd
February 5, 2016 4:25 pm

And here I thought I could get a grant to study why people with more birthdays live longer.

Bruce Cobb
February 5, 2016 4:26 pm

That dog won’t hunt.

Reply to  Bruce Cobb
February 5, 2016 4:36 pm

Now now, don’t bark at him. 🙂

Don K
February 5, 2016 4:27 pm

Pet Behaviorist? A possible future career path for sacked Australian climate scientists?

Alex
Reply to  Don K
February 5, 2016 5:44 pm

Nail polish consultant

Green Sand
February 5, 2016 4:28 pm

When I was quite young my brother, who was 11 years older, had a cap badge I coveted. I tried all sorts of trades and offers of chores to acquire that badge.
However it was not until I was also 11 years older did I fully appreciated a badge that declared ‘Happiness is a Warm Pussy’ – courtesy, of course, the Cats Protection League, god bless them!

February 5, 2016 4:39 pm

A survey of dogs has found that 97% think global warming is real.
But then they didn’t even know that there was such a thing a GHGs or that the Earth was a sphere or what that big bright thing in the sky was. They did, however, understand what “rabbit” meant.
My dog is a border collie who has not noticed any global warming in his lifetime but he has noticed I say those darn scamming climate scientists every now and again. This is a signal to go find a ball.

Tom Graney
February 5, 2016 4:48 pm

I’ve long suspected that I was a dog.

u.k(us)
Reply to  Tom Graney
February 5, 2016 6:31 pm

Funny

David A
Reply to  Tom Graney
February 5, 2016 8:07 pm

Let your wife accidently lock you in the garage all day on one of those hot global weirding days with no food or water, or beer or TV. When she comes open and finally opens the door if you curse in her general direction you are not a dog, however, if you wag your behind and lick her feet, you just may be.

Patrick MJD
February 5, 2016 4:51 pm

Nothing wrong with my friends poodle cross. He’s a nutter! Friendly, always welcoming when I get home. And then for no apparent reason goes mental and runs about the garden growling, dodging his chocolate coloured doggie nuggets, or tries to catch the birds that land on the garden.

February 5, 2016 5:00 pm

So, how’s Kenji doing? 🙂

February 5, 2016 5:02 pm

For those who don’t know, by the way, Kenji is Anthony’s dog, and is a member in good standing of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
As a paid-up member of the UCS, Kenji ought to be especially sensitive to AGW fallout.

Bart
February 5, 2016 5:17 pm

I have been talking to my dog about this and she doesnt agree, she is happier at the moment then she has ever been all of her life. And she is waiting for temperatures to rise since it makes alot more things possible for her.

February 5, 2016 5:20 pm

The post topic is perfect for another of Stephan Lewandowski’s centrally important studies of global warming rejectionism.
Here’s a possible title for his next paper: The Role of Doggyist Ideation and Worldviews in Predicting Canine Lethargy as a Response to Conspiracist Seepage.

Jerry Henson
February 5, 2016 5:24 pm

My Catahoula is in fine fettle and we walk daily. I find that dogs tends to reflect their
owner’s moods. Sounds like confirmation bias to me.

Tom in Florida
February 5, 2016 5:27 pm

“The lack of physical exercise – and mental stimulation that comes with it – is having noticeable consequences on the nation’s nine million dogs, she added.”
I wonder how long it took her to interview all nine million dogs.

H.R.
Reply to  Tom in Florida
February 5, 2016 7:56 pm

I think she took a random sampling of 8,897,663 of the dogs, or at least that was what the grant was written for, Tom.

Reply to  Tom in Florida
February 5, 2016 8:02 pm

Maybe she didn’t have to interview all nine million dogs….maybe she just talked to the chick who talks to horses and the horses talked to the dogs?

Reply to  Aphan
February 5, 2016 8:04 pm

I think they called it the Barking Chain on 101 Dalmatians…or something like that….

Tom in Florida
Reply to  Aphan
February 5, 2016 8:10 pm

Perhaps the one dog used in the study was named Yamal.

Reply to  Tom in Florida
February 5, 2016 8:13 pm

If she cut it in half and counted it’s rings….I hope they shoot her!

RobertBobbert GDQ
Reply to  Aphan
February 5, 2016 9:56 pm

Aphan.
With thanks.
Clarence The Clocker… The Horse Told Me Song.
‘Oh, the Owner told Clarence the Clocker
The Clocker told jockey McGee
The jockey, of course, passed it on to the horse
And the horse told me.’
Mr Watts. When I come here I, and all WUWT readers expect, like the university students today, ‘A Safe Space’ and when you allow rampant, life disabling and distressing Mister Ed Denial then our Safe Spaces cease to exist.
We are delicate petals.
Sing Along With Me. You know you wanna.
‘A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.’
Sometimes I get the slight notion that you WUWT people do not always take Climate Science seriously. I just cannot work out why!

Reply to  RobertBobbert GDQ
February 5, 2016 10:29 pm

We don’t have to take it seriously until climate scientists do!
There once was a stallion from Blaire
Who pranced about lighter than air,
Till one day old Dale
Done lift up his tail,
And shouted “This horse is a mare!”

Marcus
February 5, 2016 5:30 pm

..Thankfully, all this stupidity will end when ANY Conservative is elected to the White House ! This is the most important election in 200 years !

Reply to  Marcus
February 5, 2016 8:02 pm

Marcus I adore you, but I fear you underestimate the power/number of the idiots. 🙂

R Shearer
February 5, 2016 5:35 pm

Sounds like absolute proof of the global warming paws

nigelf
Reply to  R Shearer
February 5, 2016 6:11 pm

Good one!

Reply to  R Shearer
February 5, 2016 7:20 pm

That’s a real howler!

Gary Pearse
February 5, 2016 5:36 pm

I joked some years ago when Ace Ventura, pet dectective came out. I told my wife, watch, this will be come a new industry. Well!… specialists in bipolar dogs is even worse. Were it true that dogs were down in the dumps because of fewer walks, I would first suspect that a total bolix-up of the world economy by the trillions disposed of on a non problem and the taxes and fuel costs hikes to their masters. Probably the expensive animal food sales have been declining and the poor pooches have to rely on table scraps again and these are of a lower quality.
I can’t help but think this is a pitch for her services. I recall a famous psychological experiment set up to have a cheery person coming into work and being asked, “how are you feeling?” with a suitable concerned look. They changed the person greeting every day for three or four days with variants of the question. He wound up taking several days off. So tell your client when he comes in with his dog to see the vet, that his dog looks depressed, yeah that’ll do it.

Patrick MJD
February 5, 2016 5:48 pm

Cats next? What about rabbits, gerbils and hamsters? Budgies? I knew someone that mice and rats as pets, them too? What about fish?

February 5, 2016 5:58 pm

A good dog’s job is to take it’s master for a walk. Refusal of master to allow this causes doggie depression.

Reply to  verdeviewer
February 5, 2016 6:02 pm

Oh, darn! I hate inappropriate apostrophes.
A good dog’s job is to take its master for a walk.

u.k(us)
Reply to  verdeviewer
February 5, 2016 6:12 pm

You do realize you’re talking to yourself, right ?
I hate it when I do that 🙂

Reply to  verdeviewer
February 5, 2016 6:16 pm

“I hate it when I do that”
You must not be as old as I am.

clipe
February 5, 2016 6:11 pm

Yes, this is the worst in recorded history, or 20 years, whichever comes first.

Horses that have lived happily outside before are saying ‘I actually can’t cope with this mud and wet anymore</blockquote
For me, the unprecedented thing here is the talking horse.
Jo Nova

clipe
February 5, 2016 6:15 pm

Yes, this is the worst in recorded history, or 20 years, whichever comes first.

Horses that have lived happily outside before are saying ‘I actually can’t cope with this mud and wet anymore

For me, the unprecedented thing here is the talking horse.
Jo Nova

u.k(us)
Reply to  clipe
February 5, 2016 6:18 pm

You done ??

Reply to  clipe
February 5, 2016 6:38 pm

You’ve obviously never met Mr. Ed.

Reply to  clipe
February 5, 2016 8:06 pm

I’m not sure it’s all that unprecedented…after all…congress is full of talking arses….

PaulH
Reply to  clipe
February 6, 2016 12:57 pm

I’ve been riding horses for the better part of 15 years, and one of the rules emphasized to me by my various coaches is to never ascribe human attributes to a horse. This is known as anthropomorphizing, and you will always end up making excuses. Horses (and dogs) are not 4-legged people.

rogerknights
February 5, 2016 6:24 pm

So now they’re Crying Canine!

Crispin in Waterloo
February 5, 2016 6:43 pm

““They are just really, really, bored. People are quite happy to get their dogs out in frosty, hard weather but not when it’s muddy and horrible.””
So they used to get no exercise in spring and fall, correct? Now it is only wet and soggy in winter. For shame.
It is strange to hear that for the first time Ye Olde England is foggy, muddy and damp. Curse you, global warming! England used to be sunny, dry and warm all year. Nothing’s the same as it used to be…sniff!

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Crispin in Waterloo
February 5, 2016 6:48 pm

Too funny. It’s one reason I exported myself to New Zealand and then Australia. The bugs and spiders really give me the sheets.

Reply to  Patrick MJD
February 6, 2016 8:34 am

Yeah, I don’t like spiders and snakes either:

February 5, 2016 6:53 pm

Cry HAVOC set loose the hounds of WAR!

Reply to  fossilsage
February 5, 2016 8:11 pm

Can’t. They’re too depressed for battle these days.

willhaas
February 5, 2016 6:59 pm

“Global Warming is Causing Dogs to Become Depressed” Not any more. The Paris Climate Agreement has ended all forms of climate change for now and for all time. It is a done deal. That means no more global warming, ever.

February 5, 2016 7:25 pm

Reblogged this on Climatism and commented:
From the department of 0.8 degrees of global warming in 150 years causes everything and anything….
Be afraid. Very afraid.

Steve in SC
February 5, 2016 7:27 pm

Maybe the sad dogs are the ones who lost the poker game.

H.R.
Reply to  Steve in SC
February 5, 2016 8:07 pm
Reply to  Steve in SC
February 5, 2016 8:07 pm

Oh. Ouch…..laughing my butt off…but…ouch Steve!

Gerald Machnee
February 5, 2016 8:19 pm

It is not the dog’s fault. The AGW (97%) owners are spending too much time in front of the TV or computer and not exercising the dogs. Us skeptics have no problem, we are out enjoying the cool, fresh air.

gnomish
February 5, 2016 8:38 pm

the lizards like it.

TG
February 5, 2016 8:44 pm

It’s 8.30pm on a cold, windy rainy night, My 2 dogs are REFUSING to go out for their evening sniff, poo. pee and run session – NOT.
What a load of BS.

Rascal
February 5, 2016 9:09 pm

Anybody ever stop and think of other distractions such as TV, and the Internet that just might be having the same effect as so-called warming?

February 5, 2016 9:42 pm

” because global warming induced weather is stopping their owners from taking them out for exercise.”
Who knew? And silly me thought it was the 4 ft drifts and the fact that the park where people take their dogs and horses is closed because of snow. Ohhhh, the snow which is caused by global warming!

AndyG55
February 5, 2016 10:34 pm
simple-touriste
February 5, 2016 11:09 pm

Leading pet behaviourists say the number of depressed and unsettled dogs they have seen in recent months is unprecedented

should be:
Leading pet behaviourists behaviourists say the number of depressed and unsettled pet behaviourists they have seen in recent months is unprecedented.

rtj1211
February 5, 2016 11:46 pm

You do realise that Global Cooling causes Russians and Finns to become vodka-addicted alcoholics during those desperately dark, cold nights of winter, don’t you?
it’s sure time to engineer a change in the earth’s tilt in NH winters to cure this terrible consequence of planetary reality……

Jaime Jessop
February 6, 2016 12:14 am

Somebody just came up with a new excuse to let lazy, irresponsible couch potato dog owners off the hook – global warming is preventing them from getting off their backsides and dragging them away from the telly to give their pooches a good walk (or two) each day. Fair weather dog walkers are a familiar sight in the UK on those rare occasions when we get ‘novelty’ weather, e.g. crisp, cold, dry and very sunny in winter or very warm, sunny and settled in summer. On such days, you can’t get away from them (and often their kids) shouting and screaming at their dogs who are running around excitedly enjoying the fresh air and new smells, thinking Christmas has come early (or late, or whatever). But, when it’s cold, wet, windy and not so pleasant, you’re virtually on your own – just you and your own dogs to enjoy the great outdoors whatever it throws at you weather wise. Pet behaviourists are to genuine pet behaviour what alarmist climate scientists are to climate change.

indefatigablefrog
February 6, 2016 12:54 am

Just to clarify – dogs are not upset by the actual weather, which remains consistently changeable with no overall trend.
Dogs are primarily upset by the model predictions of an increase in extreme rainfall.
Those model predictions have upset their owners and dogs can smell fear…

February 6, 2016 1:35 am

yesterday I walked over to see a friend.I saw two doggies.Usually I only see one! I conclude therefore that increased CO2 makes happier doggies
I will expect to be nominated for a Nobel Prize.

February 6, 2016 1:36 am

The continuation of this silly sort of nonsense about CO2 induced global warming effects from Pet behaviourists, with claims about dogs and talking horses, is beginning to depress and bore me too.

Reply to  ntesdorf
February 6, 2016 11:18 am

*as per article’s suggestion, Aphan tosses ntesdorf a ball to play with and hides a sandwich somewhere in ntesdorf’s home for him to find and thus feel a sense of accomplishment and happiness.*

Russell
February 6, 2016 2:12 am

The reason is because that more than half the population of Adults in the United States are Obese. Updated September 21, 2015: According to the most recent data, rates of obesity now exceed 35 percent in three state. and diabetics type 2 is now out of control . PS including dogs and cats all sick. Thanks to the USDA and UN’s world health organization food guidelines.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwX8Ip_RAq0 Please Watch

Reply to  Russell
February 6, 2016 11:22 am

Russell,
The article is about dogs and horses in Britain, not the US. And in order to blame the USDA and the UN’s WHO food guidelines for the obesity/diabetic problem, you’d have to FIRST prove that more than half of the adults in the US were actually FOLLOWING those food guidelines. And you can’t.

Jeremy Poynton
February 6, 2016 2:18 am

FFS. As any fule kno, if you have a dog, then you go out whatever the weather. One of the reasons for having a dog, indeed. Don’t these cretins have anything better to do with their time. Horses too – granny up the road and her grandson just rode past our house in pouring rain and wild wind.

LarryFine
February 6, 2016 3:00 am

They’ve misinterpreted the results.
What they actually discovered was that dogs owned by people who believe in Global Warming are depressed because their owners are depressed by their belief in Global Warming.
Wake up, people!
http://www.truthrevolt.org/sites/default/files/styles/content_full_width/public/field/image/articles/dumb.jpg?itok=wkcf_3NE

LarryFine
Reply to  LarryFine
February 6, 2016 3:01 am
Russell
Reply to  LarryFine
February 6, 2016 3:16 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL5-9ZxamXc parallels are incredible CLIMATE AND HIGH CARB Diet. Please Watch

Russell
February 6, 2016 3:14 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL5-9ZxamXc parallels are incredible CLIMATE AND HIGH CARB Diet. Please Watch

Michael Oxenham
February 6, 2016 3:17 am

This sort of nonsense is not surprising to me. The modern profession seems to have swallowed the CAGW propaganda hook, line and sinker!
Below is my letter to the Veterinary Record responding to an Editorial ’28-11-15′, in which the profession was urged to ‘raise awareness’ of their clients to the dangers of AGW caused by CO2 and CH4 emissions from agricultural processes; adding that we should eat less meat. My letter was censored, a good example of the modern scientific method by a science-based journal.
The Editor
Veterinary Record
30 November 15
Dear Sir
Are we a Science-based Profession?
I feel bound to ask this question after reading the VR Editorial Comment (28th November). This stated, in effect, that the profession was in a good position to support the IPCC’s dogma on catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW), due to man’s emission of so-called greenhouse gases (mainly CO2 and CH4). There was a similar editorial (VR 5th October 2013) entitled “Curbing Emissions”, which was a response to the IPCC AR5 report. My letter was published (9th November 2013), in which I commented that “there was no published empirical data or verifiable experiments that suggested either of the gasses (CO2 and CH4) had ever caused or driven global warming”. I also suggested that curbing these emissions will have no measurable effect on global temperatures and the ‘economic effects’ are dubious. Recently Dr Patrick Moore, Ecologist (2015) gave a lecture in which he produced robust evidence which suggested that, far from causing CAGW, more CO2 would be highly beneficial to the biosphere and agricultural crops.
In order to clarify the scientific method, I need to refer to Dr Craig Idso and others (2013), quote, “The hypothesis implicit in all IPCC writings is that dangerous global warming is resulting, or will result, from human-related greenhouse gas emissions. In considering any such hypothesis, an alternative and null hypothesis must be entertained, which is the simplest hypothesis consistent with the known facts. The null hypothesis is that the currently observed changes in global climate indices and the physical environment, as well as current changes in animal and plant characteristics, are the result of natural variability. To invalidate this null hypothesis requires, at a minimum, direct evidence of human causation of specific changes that lie outside usual, natural variability. Unless and until such evidence is adduced, the null hypothesis is assumed to be correct”. I respectfully suggest, therefore, that the 28th November Leader does not follow the scientific method which was well defined by Popper (1965). If we are a science-based profession, it would make no sense to support the IPCC’s pseudo-scientific political dogma.
There are other disquieting aspects. Dr Tim Ball (2014) makes a compelling case that climate science has been, quote, “deliberately corrupted by deceptions, misinformation, manipulation of records and misapplying the scientific method and research”. Much of this is also revealed in the emails from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in November 2009, which have been fully recorded and analysed by Andrew Montford (2012). He shows, regrettably, evidence of international malpractice.
One of the main platforms of the IPCC hypothesis is its reliance on un-validated Global Climate Models (aka General Circulation Models) in projecting global temperatures about 100 years ahead. Global climate is far too complex and chaotic for GCMs ever to be programmed correctly. Furthermore many of the known natural factors affecting the global climate have been omitted from the GCMs. It is not surprising, therefore, that the projections made for the last 20 years differ wildly from the actual lower troposphere temperatures as shown by the RSS (Monckton 2015) and UAH (Spencer 2015) datasets. Both of these show there has been no statistical rise in global temperatures for nearly 20 years.
One is bound to wonder whether the Leader Comment exhorting us to “raise awareness of our clients to these issues” of a pseudo-scientific myth, will soon ask us to raise awareness of the importance of homoeopathy.
References
MOORE, P., (2015) GWPF Lecture http://www.thegwpf.org/gwpftv/
IDSO, C.D., CARTER, R.M., SINGER,S.F., (2013) Climate Change Reconsidered ll. Physical Science. http://www.nipccreport.org/reports/ccr2a/pdf/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
POPPER, K., (1965) Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge.2nd Edition: Harper and Row.
BALL, T., (2014) The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science. Stairway Press.
MONTFORD, A., (2012) Hiding the Decline. Anglosphere Books
MONCKTON, C., (2015) RSS Dataset http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/08/06/a-new-record-pause-length-no-global-warming-for-18-years-7-months-temperature-standstill-extends-to-233-months/
SPENCER, R., (2015) UAH Dataset http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/V6-vs-v5.6-LT-1979-Mar2015.gif
Yours sincerely
Michael Oxenham

ozspeaksup
February 6, 2016 3:43 am

the fairly recent trend is to dose the hapless pets with SSRI meds
thereby ensuring the pets and owners are on a lifetime of addictive meds,
nice extra bonus profit for big pharma!

Russell
Reply to  ozspeaksup
February 6, 2016 4:35 am

ozspeaksup: the only reason I became interested in this Climate Change FRUD; was because I developed Type 2 Diabetics. I was on 6 different Meds rushed to hospital 4 times in 7 month my heart rate 3 of those times was 150/165 for 9 hours. The other time after a lung exam for pneumonia and told to report emergency room immediately. Meds were costing 2k per month that was 3 years ago. Today absolutely complete cured No meds, no health problems at all. All this on a high saturated fat diet No wheat, corn and rice and no sugar.Conclusion USDA/UN world health org., are behind this to make us all sick. Follow the Money does this sound familiar.

February 6, 2016 3:44 am

Who should know more about dog’s psychology than grandson of the great Sigmund Freud
https://youtu.be/W7n0uwxpEnI

Craig Loehle
February 6, 2016 6:37 am

They can detect a trend based on “recent months”? I can tell you when the fewest people take their dogs out around here–when it is cold and there is snow on the ground. Not when it is hot. Hot weather? Dogs all over the place. How about the number of owners over-indulging their pets is at a recent high? How about pets are bored because people are too lazy to take them outside? Idiots.

February 6, 2016 6:45 am

Michael Mann I’ve heard, is “depressed” about the rejection he’s been receiving in the last few years.
Does that mean that he’s no longer a “mann” but rather a “dog”?

Tom in Florida
Reply to  Max Hugoson
February 6, 2016 6:50 am

Maybe the dog ate his emails.

Reply to  Max Hugoson
February 6, 2016 11:26 am

These depressed dogs are Mann’s best friends….:)

Logoswrench
February 6, 2016 7:46 am

You have to be @$!# kidding me.

February 6, 2016 8:19 am

Sad Dogs?
But aren’t ducks happier? or otters?

February 6, 2016 8:20 am

Sad dogs.
I can think of no better reason to dismantle Western prosperity.

Bob Weber
Reply to  RobRoy
February 6, 2016 9:36 am

It’s not fair if all the dogs aren’t equally sad! Social ‘equality’ and ‘climate justice’ is for the dogs, doggone it!

Bob Weber
February 6, 2016 9:25 am

In other words climate science has gone to the dogs… now every day under ‘global warming’ is like a dog day in August… and those climate dogs can’t learn any new tricks either, so no wonder they’re bored, especially after spending most of their lives chasing their tails and howling in unison at every perceived hobgoblin…

An Observer
February 6, 2016 9:26 am

Why was the original headline “Global warming might be causing..” changed to “Global Warming Is Causing..”? Could it be to exaggerate the position so that it will be easier to ridicule? I am reminded of Cook’s exaggeration of his original finding when he changed “is partially causing global warming” to “is the main cause of global warming”.

February 6, 2016 9:27 am

Dogs have been depressed since the Middle Ages when they were excluded from sainthood. Read here, the sad account of Saint Guinefort:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Guinefort
Banned by the Church from canonization, and fated to eke out their sickly existence in that warm Medieval miasma, the nadir of canine depression clearly was reached in the middle of the 13th Century.

Reply to  Bill Parsons
February 6, 2016 9:31 am

The High Middle Ages, to be precise.

Reply to  Bill Parsons
February 6, 2016 9:40 am

Re: “…excluded from sainthood…”
= NOT a fate awaiting le scientists du climat, who: lead a “model” life; display evidences of miracles almost daily; (and) are martyrs to their cause

ulriclyons
February 6, 2016 11:21 am

“Ms Menteith spends much of her time outside walking dogs and has noticed a significant change in the weather in the past five years or so – as cold, crisp winters gradually give way to “constant wet dreariness”.
She – like many scientists and meteorologists – puts this down to climate change and expects to see more bored dogs in the future as global warming unleashes increasingly frequent and intense bouts of winter rainfall.”
That really takes the biscuit, “climate change” didn’t predict the LIA type cold we had both ends of 2010, early Feb 2012, and March 2013. There have been two milder-wetter winters since then, this winter is not over yet.

Tom Judd
February 6, 2016 11:56 am

This is God yet once again. And, as I’ve explained before, since I exist in the spiritual realm I have to enter a human’s body so as to come down from the heavens and physically communicate with you people. Since I’m on a tight schedule (you have no idea how much work it is, managing a universe) and I’m familiar with it I, once again, chose TomJ’s decrepid body.
Now, do you have any idea how goddamed (oops) annoying that is? No; not entering TomJ’s lice infested, intestinal worm devoured body (although having to do that’s pretty annoying too). No; I’m talking about having to come down and talk to you saps about global warming, climate change, dirty weather, or whatever some goddam (there I go again) charlatan calls this scam.
Now, I’ve gotta’ admit, being in TomJ’s body makes my skin crawl. Ick. It’s annoying alright. Jesus (I like to use his name that way ’cause he hates it – what’s a parent for?); anyway Jeez, TomJ’s really gotta’ be annoyed by that body too – and he’s been in it for 60 years.
Anyway, you’ve all probably heard that ‘dog’ is ‘God’ spelled backward. I INTENDED IT THAT WAY. I didn’t give you all a ‘best friend’ so that some goddamed (no oops this time – I meant that) con artist could use it to dupe you people. Got it!
And, if somebody thinks they’re seeing increased storms; well, anybody who uses man’s (and woman’s) best friend for ulterior purposes is gonna’ be seein’ storms alright, but they ain’t comin’ from climate, those bolts of lightning and sheets of hail are gonna’ be comin’ right outta’ my fists!
Oh, and one more thing: I promise never ever again to give a child an older sister; a younger sister, yes, but not an older one.

u.k(us)
February 6, 2016 12:30 pm

Dog stories;
There are suburban dogs that come on mean, but really just want to play.
Then there are city dogs that are mean, but eventually come around after you have proven yourself to not be a threat.
I’ve had to work around all these types, you can kinda tell by their barks if they are serious or not.
Which leads me to the time I was walking down a busy Chicago street, I walked next to a K-9 police car, the window was down but there was a wire cage inside.
The bark that that german shepard let out, moved me 2 feet sideways, there was no doubt about its seriousness.

Robert Wykoff
February 6, 2016 12:49 pm

Canines? And all this time I though women and minorities would be hardest hit

Resourceguy
February 6, 2016 1:53 pm

They are running low on effect stories and victims. We have reached Peak Effect Mania. They will now need to make a push for quantum computing excuse generator engines to overcome the decline at the margin.

February 6, 2016 5:53 pm

Makes so much more sense when you replace the literal definition of “dogs” with “GW alarmists” … the depression is understandable given the extreme cognitive dissonance they would be experiencing!

TRM
February 6, 2016 10:41 pm

SNL Puppy Uppers?

Patrick MJD
February 7, 2016 2:14 am

This is one of the funniest videos of a dog I have seen.

Bruce Cobb
Reply to  Patrick MJD
February 7, 2016 6:16 am

That one cracks me up every time.

rocdoctom
February 7, 2016 8:55 am

Jumped the shark.

Khwarizmi
February 7, 2016 4:18 pm

The St Bernard of 1919 was a healthier specimen:
=========comment image
Once a noble working dog, the modern St. Bernard has been oversized, had its faced squished in, and bred for abundant skin. You will not see this type of dog working, they can’t handle it as they quickly overheat. The diseases include entropion, ectropion, Stockard’s paralysis, hemophilia, osteosarcoma, aphakia, fibrinogen deficiency.
https://dogbehaviorscience.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/100-years-of-breed-improvement/
=========
Some dogs are specifically bred to be miserable and aggressive – similar to police or military families in human societies.

CaligulaJones
February 8, 2016 11:04 am

Well, my empirical evidence is quite to the contrary: here in Toronto we have had a very, very mild winter. We’ve had just under 14 cm of snow, and that was in four or five “snowfalls”, as we used to call them. It was 16C on Feb 3rd. Etc.
We have been owned by a (now) six-month old jackabee (beagle/Jack Russel mix) for a month now, and I can’t imagine a better winter to have met his high-energy acquaintance. Those 4am trips to the backyard are a paradise compared to the last few winters, where there was almost a meter of snow piled from my driveway. Trust me, he is getting way, way more outdoor exercise than he would have in “traditional” Toronto winters.
I guess we can put “pet behaviourist” in the “softest of soft science” category…