Woof Woof Wednesday

It's Woof Woof Wednesday here on our blog, which means you get a dose of pup Astrid.

That there is Astrid in what appears to be her usual pose in her usual window. That's not just any ol' pose this time, though. That's the pose Astrid uses when she's just been told her Pawpaw (this here human's dad) is coming over to visit. Pawpaw lives just down the street from us, and she knows to watch out the window to see him walk up. 

And that there is the look on Astrid's face when she first catches a glimpse of her Pawpaw walking toward our house. Though it's subtle, you can see a charge in pup Astrid's expression when she sees Pawpaw approaching out the window. What you can't see is her tail wagging. I tried to get a shot of Astrid when she excitedly left the window and ran to the door, but she simply moved too fast. This girl can go from 0 to 60 in half a second when it comes to her Pawpaw.

Happy Wednesday!

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Doodle of the Day

Today's doodle in our log cabin series takes us to the kitchen. 

Our tuxie kitty log cabin tour guide is gazing at quite a mess in that kitchen, isn't he?

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Did you know?

Did you know that our furbabies recognize us not only with their extraordinary senses of smell and hearing, but also by sight? It is true and widely known that dogs and cats have a heightened sense of smell, especially when compared to us humans. This allows them to know and recognize the smell of their favorite humans, among other things. Dogs and cats also hear quite well, of course, and so they can also recognize their humans by the sound of their voice, as well as by other recognizable sounds they associate with their humans. Even though our furbabies' senses of smell and hearing are significant ways they recognize their humans, they can also indeed use their sight for recognition.

Various studies have led to the conclusion that dogs and cats have evolved to recognize certain human faces, expressions, and body language. In all honesty, it would seem that some studies have concluded that dogs tend to recognize the sight of their humans more than cats do. Results of a study performed in 2005 indicated that when shown images of strangers versus their owners, cats displayed recognition of their owner's face over the stranger's face 54% of the time. On the flip side, the results of a study performed in 2010 indicate that dogs do readily recognize their humans' faces. In this study, dogs watched as humans walked back and forth in a room, and when dogs saw their particular owners, they typically watched them more intently and excitedly. The next part of the study, though, involved the humans putting on face masks. When the humans were wearing these masks, the dogs had more difficulty recognizing their owners as they walked around the room, and the dogs therefore displayed little to no preference for the sight of their owners.

Though it depends on which studies and information you find, there is proof that dogs as well as cats recognize their humans in various ways. They of course use their impressive sense of smell as well as their hearing. In addition, though, dogs and cats can to some degree use their sight to recognize their owners, such as by recognizing their face, behavior, body language, and so on.