• aFaustianBargain
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    11 months ago

    The article itself is over a decade old and based on questionable data gathering and a faulty analysis processes. If you read the article they published they essentially didn’t find anything, determined without providing evidence that other factors couldn’t be a determining factor, and then data-dredging when they could find anything statistically significant to match their hypothesis.

    SkeptVet article explaining the findings in detail.

    Basically it was just shitty science.

    • Johanno@feddit.de
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      11 months ago

      I mean my dog could be an exception but she shits always in the direction we walk. No exceptions.

  • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
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    11 months ago

    Studies like this have me confused.

    How do we know they use the magnetic field, and don’t just like… Look at the sun, or the shadows it casts.

        • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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          11 months ago

          I dont think there are many scenarios where a dog frequently shits inside a human dwelling. It is a valid point though, perhaps they tested that too (dogshit smells in an enclosed space, gotta envy those researchers)

        • BassTurd
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          11 months ago

          The text in the picture literally explains it’s in a free roaming environment not influenced by walls or doors.

    • gmtom
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      11 months ago

      Dogs still poop when they’re inside

  • Ignotum
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    11 months ago

    “what do you do for work?”
    “I watch dogs poop”

  • AnUnusualRelic
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    11 months ago

    So when you’re lost, just find a pooping dog to know where the North is. Or the south.

    Wait this is useless.

    • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      If you’re not in a hurry (and you know which hemisphere you’re in) you can make a sun compass to figure out whether the dog pooped north or south. Come to think of it, you can make a sun compass observing a pooping dog first.

  • Kokesh
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    11 months ago

    Don’t know about that… I’ve got 54 dogs and they shit in all directions.

  • Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 months ago

    If the study was re-attempted in-Doors with a mechanism to control the magnetic field, we could be able to verify that dogs are orienting by the magnetic field instead of, say, the position of the sun.

    • WeeSheep
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      11 months ago

      Or, like, have night mode exist on earth. One of these ideas should work.

      • Sconrad122
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        11 months ago

        New study suggests dogs capable of celestial navigation: “Columbus was a sucker for using an astrolabe when he could have just brought along a good boi and watched him shit”

  • ParabolicMotion
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    11 months ago

    I’m amazed. I am also amazed that someone was paid to observe dogs defecating in the wild.

  • sicarius
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    11 months ago

    I just got a new puppy and when she poops she starts facing one directing the turns 180 while pooping then scoots over to the side a bit to finish.
    Is she broken? Should I do an RMA?

    • nem@sopuli.xyz
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      11 months ago

      Might just need to be calibrated, try turning her in a figure eight in front of you a few times before the next poop and see if she aligns.

    • Buck
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      11 months ago

      Apparently we no longer need compasses. Just bring the dog out to the deck to figure out where we’re going.

  • Stupidmanager
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    11 months ago

    My 5 year old dog spins when she poos. Picking up her poo requires me to check the area she was in, as there are usually 3-4 spots it landed. But unleashed, she’s fine.The vet tells me this might be harness related. Something about the restraining leash and harness makes her spin.

    But now I have a morbid curiosity to see if she starts north or south.

    • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      My dog would walk around while pooping, with a weird gait that involved putting his back paws ahead of his front paws. I once saw another dog do a handstand to poop.

      • ickplant
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        11 months ago

        I used to have a dog that would do a handstand to poop. He would find a tree and essentially walk up the tree with his hind legs then poop. People would literally stop in the street to watch him do it. Poop would roll down his back sometimes. It was so weird. Tried to get him to change, but no.

    • MBM@lemmings.world
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      11 months ago

      Does she spin clockwise or counterclockwise, and does it change when you cross the equator? Important questions