Subway Dogs

[Lemur]

Maybe it's just me, but I find this article fascinating. Really drives home the point that dogs and humans co-evolved. If and when we run into alien life, I'll bet dollars to pennies that we will never understand them half so well as our canine symbionts.



Neuronov says there are some 500 strays that live in the metro stations, especially during the colder months, but only about 20 have learned how to ride the trains. This happened gradually, first as a way to broaden their territory. Later, it became a way of life. “Why should they go by foot if they can move around by public transport?” he asks.

“They orient themselves in a number of ways,” Neuronov adds. “They figure out where they are by smell, by recognising the name of the station from the recorded announcer’s voice and by time intervals. If, for example, you come every Monday and feed a dog, that dog will know when it’s Monday and the hour to expect you, based on their sense of time intervals from their #biological clocks.”

The metro dog also has uncannily good instincts about people, happily greeting kindly passers by, but slinking down the furthest escalator to avoid the intolerant older women who oversee the metro’s electronic turnstiles

[Fragony]

That is an internet-hoax Lemur, and a damned good one, right up there with Bonzai-cats. I do heard that there was a public transportation-cat in the UK though.

[Lemur]

Source, Frag? Checking Snopes.com, I don't see any reference to "moscow dogs" or "subway dogs." Even just searching "subway" doesn't turn up anything about this.

[Fragony]

Source, Frag? Checking Snopes.com, I don't see any reference to "moscow dogs" or "subway dogs." Even just searching "subway" doesn't turn up anything about this.

And then you wonder why that is?

video's are nice hehe https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...oq=subway+dogs

[Lemur]

Okay, let's get down to brass tacks: on my side I have the Financial Times and English Russia, complete with pictures, videos and firsthand accounts. Snopes, the #1 mythbusting source on the Internet Tubes, has nothing about this subject.

You have ... what? Cite your source, man!

[Fragony]

Okay, let's get down to brass tacks: on my side I have the Financial Times and English Russia, complete with pictures, videos and firsthand accounts. Snopes, the #1 mythbusting source on the Internet Tubes, has nothing about this subject.

You have ... what? Cite your source, man!

How about the lack of them, from what I know (well heard) it's a joke from Russian students.

http://www.englishrussia.com/?p=2462

Count the times you read 'russian scientist'

[Lemur]

Frag, I'm sorry, but you are making little to no sense. The internets are large. The source for refuting hoaxes are many. There are a large number of articles about Russian subway dogs, and no refutations. There's also a named source studying them, biology professor Andrew Poyarkov of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

And yet you seem to be arguing that a lack of refutation means this is a hoax. Explain, please?

[Rhyfelwyr]

It had better not be a hoax after I read the whole article!

If it's true, it was an interesting read. I love dogs. Never had any as a pet but I got to work with a lot of the police dogs on work experience, wouldn't mind getting one when I'm older.

[InsaneApache]

That cat that Frag was on about was squashed by a bus.

[Pannonian]

Animals on the London Underground - Quite a few stories about pigeons using the Tube. Talking about animals on the Tube, enjoy.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Frags is partially right, though. The metro dogs are 50/50 legend/truth - most of the stuff about them is greatly exaggerated, but they do exist. Mainlythe strays, though. Yes, stray dogs are comparatively *very* common in Moscow (for some reason Russians do not practise animal sterelisation that much), but the metro dogs are rather rare, and stories of their intelligence are a common fodder for sensationalist gossip; also, for instance, the story of Yulia Romanova is a well-known hoax.

It all began on the site pravda.ru, and once it hit teh Internets, the naive, trusting, and the PETA-junkies spread it through the blogs, due to the shock value as well as the well-spun tale of the 'evolved' Russian stray dogs. The result was that it even managed to get to the comparatively Respected FT - a shame for that newspaper, IMHO, although the story FT ran did not revolve solely about that specific event, so I have to give them a bit of credit for that.

Look, Pravda, the tangible newspaper, is (or rather, was) the most respected name in Russian news industry (founded in the first decade of the 1900s)- along with Komsomolskaya Pravda which took its place today. Yes. That much is true. But if you were a Russian, or an expert on the country, you would know that pravda.ru is utter filth, even by Russian online news (which tend to drift in the direction of yellow journalism slightly more so than in other Western nations). Pravda.ru is unaffiliated with the paper PRavda, and pravda.ru's main focus is sensationalist, right-wing stories with the most minimal credibility. The old Pravda has their own site, gazeta-pravda.ru. Two different etities. Especially since the old Pravda is left.

And common sense by itself reveals the lack of veracity in the story. 'Top-model' carrying a kintchen knife in her purse, and viciously attacking a dog with a presumably unweildy, short kitchen knife (I doubt she had a dagger). Really? Would the dog not attack her back? Bite her? All she has is a short knife. ANd the motivces? WTH would a woman, a model of all (stereotypically such demgraphic would be rather sqeumish) be so aggressive to an animal who was simply barking at her? Really?

So yes, there is much myth in the article, Fragony, but Lemur has his points as well. Like I said, Moscow has an unusually large amount of stray dogs, and yes, they do make their way into the metro. But no, the dogs are not very special, and no, they do not ride the subway all the time. PErhaps isolated occurences, but not as common as any articles would suggest.

I personally lived much of my European life in Nizhniy Novgorod, Moscow, and Kiev (Ukraine) up until 2005 - when that incident supposedly happened. I have not seen any dogs in the actual metro carriages. Neither have I seen them in Kiev, where the number of stray dogs, incidentally, is also very high. That fact by itself is highly suspicions, as one would expect similar parallel development, given nearly identical conditions. I have used the Kiev metro later in my life, so I remember it better. I can assure you, there are no dogs there. There are checkpoints barring unrestricted entry into the metro and subway lines themselves are only accessible through (usually) an escalator system - which is very much long, as the subway is very deep. Former Soviet subways are build as secondary bomb shelters, with the vehicles travelling deep down, while an upper underground level exists for all sorts of sores, shops, boutiques, restaurants (rather rare compared to the quantity of various shops) and other commercial venues. I cannot account for all stations, but that were my overall impressions. Not much potential for a sizeable dog infiltration.

Whatever it may be, the dogs are probably not that numerous (or simply have increased in the past years), since I fail to recollect any from my personal life there. But yes, the strays are appallingly common, no denying of that.

[Vladimir]

Didn't we have a thread on this last year?

[Lemur]

Didn't we have a thread on this last year?

I don't remember it, and as an obedient mod I attempt to read just about every thread in the Frontroom (although I can only take so much Word Games and three-word-stories). But if you can find it, PM me the link and I'll do another Epic Thread Merge.

[Vladimir]

I'm pretty sure we did, but it's still a great story. If it is a repeat there is no one else I'd rather have post it.

[Megas Methuselah]

But if you can find it, PM me the link and I'll do another Epic Thread Merge.

Someone has to quote this in their sig if they have enough room.

[Thermal]

Didn't we have a thread on this last year?

It would appear that this could be the case.

In order to determine this, we would need to decipher the pages on the org, look for specific key terms and identify if they match the thread title that this thread withholds, then we should, if that fails, increase our intellect about this subject to suggest other search terms we could write in order to find it, of course your memory could just be playing tricks on you and deja vu isn't completely out of the question.

If you are correct, this shows that Lemur, Moderator, and proud parent of children and other beings, has re-posted a topic, which as you can imagine is not a problem at all, I therefore declare that we investigate this issue more over whilst I admire your heretic avatar over a cup of tea.

First, I want to know, what made you think of replying to this in such a way? If I were to ask for 3 words from you, which three first came to mind when your read this? And what three came to mind when you read the OP and title, 'Subway Dogs'. Overall I think we should also look for the date of this article and whether it is exact to the other, were you here when the other one supposedly was posted or is this from an eye-witness or assumption.

Perhaps your playing a prank, that is also very possible in which case I think it is rather irresponsible of you, if your telling the truth I think you deserve a pat on the back for good memory and helfful annoying criticism.

If we were to discuss in more depth was the article you think you saw match the same issues as this? are the pictures of the dogs the same? And who posted it? If someone strange posted it we may find that the topic needed a refreshment and a re-continuation, reincarnation of a topic is never good so either way Lemur had certain forum rights to continue a debate on a singular thread, even if hes lying about not knowing there was already a thread, unless there isn't a thread, or Lemur didn't know about it, or both.

Vladimir, I wish you wouldn't make me type so much, and HA! none of you expect that awful rant to be posted!


Now I leave, like the wind on a day that isn't windy.

[Owen Glyndwr]

A very interesting article, regardless of whether it is factual or not. Initially I thought the dogs were in New York, not Russia

[Aemilius Paulus]

Initially I thought the dogs were in New York, not Russia

Lol, yeah, what a surprise - the Russians also have subways.

(We also brush our teeth and ride cars )

...and when you cut us, we bleed. Blood. Red blood. I know. weird.

Shhh! - just do not tell this to anyone...

[Thermal]

You don't bleed, you leak glue.

[Aemilius Paulus]

You don't bleed, you leak glue.

What was that? I mean, what sort of humour is that? Did I miss anything, such as some obscure reference?

Why not just say I leak vodka, or thermal paste?

[Thermal]

I leak vodka, or thermal paste?

You leak glue.

[Major Robert Dump]

In New York they have this weird thing where homeless people ride the subway, which really shows how much the homeless have evolved and how they are learning human ways. There is also an Ostrich working at the liquor store by my house.

[Aemilius Paulus]

You leak glue.

Yes, but why so?

In New York they have this weird thing where homeless people ride the subway, which really shows how much the homeless have evolved and how they are learning human ways. There is also an Ostrich working at the liquor store by my house.

Heh, sounds like something I would read from The Onion..

[Ice]

Lol, yeah, what a surprise - the Russians also have subways.

(We also brush our teeth and ride cars )

...and when you cut us, we bleed. Blood. Red blood. I know. weird.

Shhh! - just do not tell this to anyone...

I thought teeth brush you?

(yeah I'm leaving)

[Aemilius Paulus]

I thought teeth brush you?

(yeah I'm leaving)

Yes, the Soviet Russia paradox.

But actually, the reason why I posted that one was because it happened to be one of the questions my classmates asked me, when I informed them I was Russian. Yeah, in high school. I believe my freshman year... Sad . American kids are smart enough, but geography is the number one weakness. Never have I seen a nation so rich (in both senses) and multicultural; likewise, I have yet to meet a peoples so ignorant of where and how others lived.

If you believe National Geographic, around 53% of US HS graduates cannot find US on the world map (however, I read that in the 1991 - or was it 1992?) issue, so I have no idea how bad is it today... All I know, is that I went through all junior high (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) without ever having as much as a single geography course. And only one non-American history course. Ugh, enough of that.

[Crazed Rabbit]

In New York they have this weird thing where homeless people ride the subway, which really shows how much the homeless have evolved and how they are learning human ways. There is also an Ostrich working at the liquor store by my house.

Lol!

...and when you cut us, we bleed. Blood. Red blood. I know. weird.

*gasps* Commie!

If you believe National Geographic, around 53% of US HS graduates cannot find US on the world map (however, I read that in the 1991 - or was it 1992?) issue, so I have no idea how bad is it today... All I know, is that I went through all junior high (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) without ever having as much as a single geography course. And only one non-American history course. Ugh, enough of that.

Yeah, geography is lumped in with history often.

CR

[Vladimir]

It would appear that this could be the case.

etc...


Now I leave, like the wind on a day that isn't windy.

Well played. But no, I was serious. When I first read I wondered how the dogs would associate different smells to different trains. I know we use seeing eye dogs but they rarely rely on their natural vision.

[Thermal]

Well played. But no, I was serious.

Only messing about wit ya head :]

Yes, but why so?

The picture told me.

[Cyclops]

I want to believe in the Subway Dogs (initially thought this story was about a new kind of healthy fast food) but my head says its a trap.

...
If you believe National Geographic, around 53% of US HS graduates cannot find US on the world map (however, I read that in the 1991 - or was it 1992?) issue, so I have no idea how bad is it today... All I know, is that I went through all junior high (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) without ever having as much as a single geography course. And only one non-American history course. Ugh, enough of that.

There's a gag on the Chaser (Australian comedy news, copy of Daily Show etc) where they wandered the streets of Anmerican cities with joke maps labelling mainland Australia as North Korea and Tasmania as South Korea, or France and Germany or Iraq and Iran whatever, and they got dozens of people nodding wisely and making silly observations about how big each country was.

Of course they didn't show the poeple who realised it was phony but they got dozens of normal respectably dressed/behaved people with 0% geography, not loonies or anything.

I guess the US is such a big place you can spend your life thinking about it and not have time for other countries.

[CountArach]

In New York they have this weird thing where homeless people ride the subway, which really shows how much the homeless have evolved and how they are learning human ways. There is also an Ostrich working at the liquor store by my house.

This site would not be the same without you

EDIT: Sigged now...