Nazis were Barking Mad

[Elphaba]

The word "Nazi" evokes a sense of the bizarre, and now we have another example of why. From the article How Nazi Scientists Tried to Create an Army of Talking Dogs:

In his new book Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities, Cardiff University historian Jan Bondeson mines obscure German periodicals to reveal the Nazis' failed attempt to breed an army of educated dogs that could read, write and talk. "In the 1920s, Germany had numerous 'new animal psychologists' who believed dogs were nearly as intelligent as humans, and capable of abstract thinking and communication," he writes.

. . . .

According to the book, scientists envisioned a day when dogs would serve alongside German troops, and perhaps free up SS officers by guarding concentration camps. So to unlock all that canine potential, Hitler set up a Tier-Sprechschule (Animal Talking School) near Hanover and recruited "educated dogs" from throughout the country. Teachers claimed a number of incredible findings. An Airedale terrier named Rolf became a mythic figure of the project after teachers said he could spell by tapping his paw on a board (the number of taps represented the various letters of the alphabet). With that skill in hand, he mused on religion, learned foreign languages and even asked a noblewoman, "Can you wag your tail?" Perhaps most outlandish is the claim by his German masters that he asked to serve in the German army because he disliked the French. Another mutt barked "Mein Fuhrer" when asked to describe Hitler. And Don, a German pointer, is said to have imitated a human voice to bark, "Hungry! Give me cakes!" in German.

That just floors me.

Elphaba

[Mahone]

More on this...

Nazi talking dogs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[RipplecutBuddha]

and the men who stared at goats were 100% level headed? Lots of crazy stuff happens in life....war just turns up the volume on some of it.

[NeuroTypical]

The crap Nazis did, doesn't bother me. The fact that given the right conditions, the average person has good odds of making the same choices - now that's truth to freeze your soul.

[Elphaba]

The fact that given the right conditions, the average person has good odds of making the same choices - now that's truth to freeze your soul.

I completely agree.

Elph

[mordorbund]

I always suspected that Bush's Beans dog was Nazi spawn.

[pam]

Where in the heck do you come up with these things?

[Just_A_Guy]

I knew that Charles Muntz had some skeletons in his closet . . .

Nazi, indeed.

[slamjet]

And that answers questions about some of my dates.

[Guest mormonmusic]

I have seen a TON of movies about the Nazi regime, and read a couple biographies of Hitler. I don't understand how someone can have that much hate for Jews that they set out to exterminate so many million of them, and do it over a sustained period of time. And the fact that they laced it all with such cruelty and hatred and suffering....it loathes my bones.

[Jamie123]

I've heard stranger stories. For example, in 1940 the Nazis tried to invade Britain, but were driven back by some suits of armour brought to life by an apprentice witch. (The magic words she used were "Treguna, Makoidees, Trecorum, Sadis Dee"!)

[Vort]

I've heard stranger stories. For example, in 1940 the Nazis tried to invade Britain, but were driven back by some suits of armour brought to life by an apprentice witch. (The magic words she used were "Treguna, Makoidees, Trecorum, Sadis Dee"!)

Moral: The Nazis weren't the only ones who were barking mad.

[MarginOfError]

Moral: The Nazis weren't the only ones who were barking mad.

Yup. And since the Brits were on the winning side, they're still barking mad.

[mordorbund]

I imagine the program went down something like this:

Rolf the Dog: Bark! bark bark bark!

Bureaucrat: I will give you one minute to silence this dog, or you will lose all funding to your program.

Rolf: Bark! bark bark bark!

Administrator of the Animal Military Training Program: Quiet Rolf!

Rolf: Bark! bark bark bark!

Administrator: Say, you don't happen to have any notion of reproduceable results do you?

Bureaucrat: I haven't the foggiest what you just said.

Administrator: Good. We generally encourage this dog to bark because he is the Rosetta Stone of the canine language. We've learned to translate his barks into German.

Bureaucrat: You don't say!

Rolf: Bark! bark bark bark!

Bureaucrat: What did he just say?

Administrator: "Heil Hitler"

Bureaucrat: Remarkable! You can keep your funding, and we'll triple your budget.

Rolf: (I said he smells like squirrel)

Edited June 1, 2011 by mordorbund

[JudoMinja]

Actually.... Nazis aside, some dogs actually are extremely intelligent and capable of complex communication. There is a poodle that knows how to read- the owner taught it through "Hooked on phonics". They know the poodle can actually read and it's not picking up on cues like the horse they thought could count, because they've done a controlled study to eliminate all other possible cues. If you write words on cards, and ask the dog which one says "blah", the dog will tap the correct card with his paw. I can't find any links to the info about it online.. but I have it in one of my animal textbooks.

There is also an Australian cattle dog that knows over 1,000 words. You can read about ithere. The reason we typically don't see language development in other animals is partly because they don't really need it, and partly because they don't learn the same way we do. Changing teaching tactics to cater to the way animals learn is something that has been evolving for quite some time as scientists try to study animal intelligence. Right now, dolphins are believed to be the smartest animal (besides humans), and birds and pigs are also considered more intelligent than most primates.