Essay by Eric Worrall
Whenever I think alarmists have hit peak stupid, someone always manages to set a new milestone.
Dogs could become more ‘hostile’ to humans as the planet heats up
By Charlotte Elton • Updated: 21/06/2023 – 12:58
Dog attacks could become more common on hot and polluted days, troubling new research has warned.
Climate change could make dog bites more common, new research has warned.
Dogs are 11 per cent more likely to attack people on days with higher UV levels, according to Harvard Medical School research.
Previous studies have linked high temperatures and air pollution to increased aggression in humans, rats, and monkeys.
Now, it appears warming weather could turn ‘man’s best friend’ against us.
“Dogs, or the interactions between humans and dogs, are more hostile on hot, sunny, and smoggy days,” the study authors conclude.
…
Read more: https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/06/19/dogs-could-become-more-hostile-to-humans-as-the-planet-heats-up
The abstract of the study;
The risk of being bitten by a dog is higher on hot, sunny, and smoggy days
Scientific Reports volume 13, Article number: 8749 (2023) Cite this article
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Abstract
Humans commit more violent crimes when temperature and air pollution is higher. Here, we investigate if also the day-to-day rates of dogs biting humans is influenced by environmental factors. 69,525 reports of dogs biting humans, sourced from public records on animal control requests and from ER records, were analyzed. The impact of temperature and air pollutants were evaluated with a zero-inflated Poisson generalized additive model, while controlling for regional and calendar effects. Exposure–response curves were used to assess the association between outcome and major exposure variables. We find that the rates of dogs biting humans increases with increasing temperature and ozone, but not PM2.5 exposure. We also observed that higher UV irradiation levels were related to higher rats of dog bites. We conclude that dogs, or the interactions between humans and dogs, are more hostile on hot, sunny, and smoggy days, indicating that the societal burden of extreme heat and air pollution also includes the costs of animal aggression.
Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35115-6
What is the heat hypothesis?
Hot years and serious and deadly assault: empirical tests of the heat hypothesis
C A Anderson 1, B J Bushman, R W Groom
Affiliations expand
- PMID: 9418277
- DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.73.6.1213
Abstract
Two archival studies examined the relation between year-to-year shifts in temperature and violent and property crime rates in the United States. Study 1 examined the relation between annual average temperature and crime rate in the years 1950-1995. As expected, a positive relation between temperature and serious and deadly assault was observed, even after time series, linear year, poverty, and population age effects were statistically controlled. Property crime was unrelated to annual average temperature. Study 2 examined the relation between the average number of hot days (> or = 90 degrees F) and the size of the usual summer increase in violence for the years 1950-1995. As expected, a positive relation was observed between number of hot days and magnitude of the summer effect, even after time series and linear year effects were statistically controlled. For property crime, the summer effect was unrelated to number of hot days.
Read more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9418277/
Sadly the full study is paywalled. But in my opinion this study doesn’t pass the smell test.
If dogs were especially vicious in hot climates, nobody in hot climates would own dogs. But pretty much every house on my hot climate street owns dogs – they’re a great deterrent against home intruders and burglars, and great with kids.
A more likely explanation for any weather related difference in the rate of attacks is people are more likely to be enjoying the beach or parks on hot days, creating more opportunity for vicious dogs owned by stupid people to attack. Obviously anyone who owns a dog so vicious they’re at risk of attack should have it re-homed with someone who can handle it. But we know in practice, that doesn’t always happen.
As the owner of a couple of excitable, bouncy staffies, I can assure you that with normal dogs, all hot days do is make the dogs want to play ball more – but get tired quicker. Then 5 minutes later they’re up again, having totally forgotten how overheated they got.
I admit they sometimes give me hurt looks when I insist they wait until later in the day for their walk, until the molten pavement has cooled enough to re-solidify.
Take a close look at those strong jaws and huge mouths full of teeth – more than enough dog to convince most burglars to move on to their next prospective target. But with family and friends, they’re unfailingly our loyal, loving companions.
Correction (EW): h/t Izaak – I inadvertently pasted in an old study on the heat hypothesis, rather than the latest study on dog bites. Both studies are now in the above article.
Woof ! Woolf ! Wolf ! Wolf !
😉
I haven’t had a bite all day.
The climate alarmists who cried wolf?
The climate alarmists who cried “Woof!”
They’re pack animals. very obedient and extremely sensitive to their ‘leader’
We, cleverest critters that there ever was, have set ourselves up as their ‘leader’
So if me, you or anyone. as ‘leader of A Dog, is in a fractious & argumentative frame of mind for whatever reason, the dog will pick up on that and do all it can to appease its leader.
That’s you. Not anybody else. Not ’emitting’ people. You.
(need I say more)
The problems I have with pit bulls is that yahoos tend to own them. The ones owned by people who were not wannabee thugs were well behaved.
The other issue is that they are not inclined to do threat displays. If a German Shepherd or a retriever does not want you in their space, they make it loudly obvious.
Not always. Growing up a neighbors German Shepherd bit my brother with no barking or other display.
I am going off doing construction, and my experience with customer’s or their neighbors dogs. Dogs do vary.
That represents a clever way to bring pets into the climate crusades without offending the millions of pet owners. I was wondering how they were going to pull that off or stay with the silent treatment. The Climate AI bots must be on the combinatorial job now.
Typical propaganda technique. It’s always worse than you thought and did you know this? I do believe people are starting to see through all the “worse than you thought” and manufactured issues attributed to so called CC (really weather). So are you telling me if I take my dog to a warmer climate it will hate me? Really?
Albert Einstein once remarked, “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. And I’m not sure about the universe.”
He also noted, “Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.”
Here we can see two of them on full display.
We just had our Cairn terrier groomed yesterday for the South Florida summer. Coming from Scotland, her double fur coat (coarse guardfur over fine underfur) is unsuited for the weather here so off most of it goes. OTH, on it stays for winter at the Wisconsin dairy farm or a winter romp in Colorado at my daughters. Last time we were there for Thanksgiving we got 15 inches of new snow and the dog was in heaven playing outside in the powdery new snow in the fenced yard.
When living in San Diego, we had a 106° day and my Mastiff (not a warm climate dog) demanded his walk. He drank about a gallon when we returned but seemed quite happy about the whole event.
“… As expected, a positive relation between…”
No, this study is not biased at all.
“Dogs are 11 per cent more likely to attack people on days with higher UV levels” What BS, UV has nothing to do with temperature. We have plenty of high UV days in the winter during freezing temperatures in the Rockies.
For further funding and academic promotions, they will “study” your wolf and bear populations.
Or… people walk dogs on warm sunny days?
(Marginal walker being the one who would attribute a sub-optimal day to “not my problem, Fido.”)
Even as a biased “not a dog person” I can’t not see the article’s bad logic.
“As expected…”?
I am not sure why you have added a link to a study published in 1997 rather than the one referred too in the story which is at
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35115-6
But anyway neither “euronews” nor “scientific reports” are worth reading nor commenting on.
Thanks Izaak, corrected.
and yet you did???
This kind of %^$&% should automatically be blocked on the internet. Stupidist … I don’t want someone to tell me if I don’t like it I don’t have to read it. I propose that a fantastic use of AI is to do just that … stop sh** like this from even making it to the internet front gate. At my billing rate it also costs me money (for the time wasted). I won’t list a figure but a reasonable lot. Problem is that as in the US the government is stacked with dumb lib greenies with pea brains and this fits their story line and IQ mentality.
It’s only a matter of time before we get … “OceanGate Titan passengers succumb to Climate Change”
At least they were vaccinated.
Story Tip [‘it’s worse than we thought’ ‘climate alarmism’]:Ecological tipping points could occur much sooner than expected, study findsAmazon rainforest and other ecosystems could collapse ‘very soon’, researchers warn
(https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/22/ecological-tipping-points-could-occur-much-sooner-than-expected-study-finds)
Because UV = heat? Are they the same thing? And what studies show climate change is increasing UV levels?
In hot weather, my dog is most likely to be found lazing about in the shade of a tree or under the veranda.
Did they project a tipping point for “peak dog”?
Oh! And just in case no one has already said it:
“Global Warming has gone to the dogs!”
I mentioned this a few days ago – the problem is not the heat but the explosion of dog ownership, during lockdown, by people that simply have no idea how to look after, care and train a dog. My neighbours are a case in point – they have 2 beautiful, calm, husky bitches; they yell at them, chain them up with a 2-inch heavy chain, then kick and punch them when they don’t do what they want. Those dogs are cowed and beaten down, frustrated and confused – that’s a bad combination in an untrained dog as you simply don’t know what they will do when they meet people during the warmer weather.
There really should be a basic qualification for anyone wanting to own a dog – covering training, care and simple dog behaviours.
Puppy preschools aren’t just to train the dog 🙂
Exactly. It really should be compulsory to go to something like that.
Luckily, we in the States have a build in permanent pet-behavior measurement system. Maine runs about 20 degrees F colder than Florida on average. Are the dogs in Florida more nasty than those in Maine? I anxiously await the results of careful research.
When the other side puts out crap like this why should anyone believe a thing they say?
They believe because is another fake “datapoint” that supports the narrative.
It does not matter how ludicrous it is if it supports the narrative it’s good.
First it will be dogs attacking their owners for feeding them fake meat. Next, butterflies will turn carnivorous and eat people’s eyes out. All due to globull warbling. amazin’ ain’t it!
The dogs went crazy because the fish forgot their gender.
Stupid just rolls on
And
Every animal including humans and dogs, when exposed to higher temps will scale back activity until they adjust, and they always adjust, then they carry on as before.
My first day in Hawaii in February I have a chill day
Because I need to adjust.
Of course, I evolved in far higher temps than we see in calgary, hence why we are the naked ape.
None of this should be hard.
They have nothing on cats?
I can’t believe it!
Since when do cats ever need an excuse to attack something?
I guess that is why the hot times of the year are called the “dog-days of summer” 🙂
Clearly, these researchers have never heard of Noel Coward
Published in 1931, long before CO2 was the killer molecule, Noel Coward observed:
Because on warmer days more people stay inside with dogs rather than go out and enjoy the conditions…..
It’s a correlation looking to attach itself to pretty well anything.
I have zero respect for scientists now. The fact this dogs*** study could be performed let alone published shows you how fraudulent the whole system is. The number of confounding variables that could exist, it isn’t explored, is enormous. On top of that, the absurd leap to climate change is mind boggling. UV is going to increase? How? It’s going to be more sunny? Isn’t the whole point CO2 back radiation?
These aren’t scientists – scientists, by definition, follow the scientific principle – these idiots are just making stuff up for the hell of it.
From their abstract:
Once again, fools assume simple associations are correlations which to them means causation.
N.B., these fools didn’t even bother to identify numbers of human/dog interactions, instead preferring to believe warm/hot weather’s greatly increased human/dog interactions are all caused by some conditions identified by their confirmation bias.
e.g., PM 2.5, that is, Particulate Matter 2.5 microns size. A specific PM size where America’s EPA was unable to accrue any evidence proving PM 2.5 as harmful. And this is after the EPA was caught purposely exposing people to inhaled PM 2.5 in abundance.
Dogs do not sweat, they cool off by breathing through their mouths, panting.
Part of a process similar to sweating in that hot dry air is inhaled and hot muggy air is expelled to help cool off the canine.
Overworking dogs on hot days is a possibility, especially if the pooch doesn’t have access to plenty of water. Shade would be nice too.
My English Setter comes inside on hot days and immediately runs to the dining room and it’s marble floor where he completely splays belly down on the cool marble. Afterwards, he goes to his drinking bowl and drinks heartily.
I once babysat a friends Golden Retriever while she and her hubby were on holiday for a few days.
While I rototilled my garden, On a 93°F (33.9°C) hot summer day, I threw a branch for the dog to fetch, for 3 hours.
We had a plastic kiddie pool filled with water for some ducks we owned. At that point in summer, the pool was green from algae. Ducks not being known for keeping water clean.
After 30-45 minutes of fetching, Sky would jump in the pool, stick and all on his way back to me. He’d laze in the water long enough to cool off, then trot over to me and offer me a slimy stick.
As long as I could throw the stick, Sky would fetch it. He never once tried to growl or bite me.
Yes, I washed the dog off before returning him. Otherwise, I might’ve been bitten or excoriated by his owner.
I have lived most of my life in the tropics and the middle east,,, and this utter BS,,, the dogs lie down in any available shade in the heat and pant…. and they avoid humans who can be quite nasty at all temperatures…