A five day work and learning experince-- morning classes with Dr. Coppinger followed by your participation in his scientific exploration of "neighborhood dogs" in Mexico City: Dr. Coppinger has shown that the ways these dogs have evolved and adapted, partly independent and only loosely attached to people, provide important clues about dog behavior, critically important for all dog professionals. You'll track the dogs' behaviors and their responses to human encounters and environmental conditions.

Limited to 10 to 12 dog professionals. Each morning's tutorial will focus on the preceding day's findings and research objectives for the upcoming exploration. Each afternoon the group goes on-site investigating and observing the "neighborhood dogs". This is an up front and personal exposure to the natural history of the dog, and the scientific methodology of that field. Our hotel, the recently renovated Quality Inn Mexico Roma, is surrounded by restaurants, museums and a huge arts and crafts market. It is a short 15 minute ride from the airport.

Dogs exist in amazing numbers around the world. Most of them are classified by the World Health Organization as "neighborhood dogs". These are dogs that are loosely attached to people and are in continuous contact with the greater population of dogs. What this means is that most of the dogs in the world form a continuous population that feeds, reproduces and maintains their own lifestyles -- reasonably independent of people.

Exploring the behavior of this huge population of neighborhood dogs gives us not only the dynamics of how most dogs earn a living but also suggests how they evolved and adapted to civilization. It also provides an interesting insight into dog behavior.

We'll be studying and analyzing the dogs who populate the dumps of Mexico City: We'll categorize and measure the behaviors of a variety of groups of dogs looking for behavioral and other differences among these different groups:

1. owned dogs that spend their days at the dump unaccompanied, but return "home" at night;
2. owned dogs that spend days at the dump accompanied by owners searching for items of value;
3. true neighborhood dogs that spend their days at the dump and return "home" to neighborhoods where a number of families may provide some sustenance without "owning" any of the dogs, and
4. true dump dogs who are permanently attached full-time to the dump.

Ray Coppinger, PhD majored in literature and philosophy as an undergraduate at Boston University. His Ph.D. thesis in biology (at the University of Massachusetts) is on the effect of experience and novelty on avian feeding behavior. He joined the founding faculty at Hampshire College in 1969, where he is professor of biology. He teaches and does research on animal behavior, especially the behavior of canines.

Ray's first professional studies of dogs occurred on the runners of a dog sled. During a twelve-year mushing career, he progressed from a five-dog to a sixteen-dog team, won many races on the northeast (USA) circuits, and developed a new strain of fast, responsive sled dogs. Many of these were sold to drivers bound for the Alaskan championship races. His research projects with sled dogs include responses of racing dogs to the stress of heat retention, and the amount of energy required to pull a sled and driver.

In 1976, Ray and his wife Lorna founded the Livestock Guarding Dog Project at Hampshire College. This long-term investigation into the behavior of a new kind of dog for farmers and ranchers in the United States has resulted in greater understanding about early developmental behavior of dogs, and how early experience (or lack of it) can affect adult behavior.

For the past several years, Ray has turned his attention to assistance dogs. His first-hand knowledge of harnesses for dogs, the mechanics and physiology of pulling, and the relationship between experience, training and behavior give him a unique insight into the lives of the dogs which are being asked to enhance the lives of people with special needs.

Ray (and his colleagues and students) have published over fifty papers on his dog research. His favorite publication, however, is the book Fishing Dogs, a humorous and iconoclastic look at dogs, fishermen and professors. His latest book, co-authored with Lorna Coppinger, is DOGS: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution. His lecture trips around the world to talk about dogs are always supplemented by a day or two searching the waters for the perfect fish.

REFUND POLICY

Due to the extremely limited number of people that can be accommodated cancellations would place an extreme hardship on this seminar. Accordingly, the deposit and the balance due are non-refundable unless they can be replaced by another person's reservation fees.