It’s been 12 years since I had a contest, and I’ve learned a little since then. Back in 2013, I challenged people to match a ridiculous number of photos to descriptions of the situation by observing my dog Summer’s facial expressions. Some truly good sports gave it a try.
Let’s see if I can do a better job. This contest is different, a comparison of two videos of the same dog with but one question to answer. I have no idea how hard it will be since I have the Curse of Knowledge, but at least it isn’t 31 photos with insufficient context!
The prize for the winners will be electronic copies of both of my books: Remember Me? Loving and Caring for a Dog with Canine Cognitive Dysfunction and Puppy Socialization: What It Is and How to Do It with Marge Rogers. I’ll explain below how the contest will work.
Zoomies Aren’t Always Happy
In 2017, I published a blog post called “Is That Zooming Agility Dog Stressed or Happy? Wrong Question!” A video circulating at the time prompted my post. There was a runaway dog at an agility trial who was circling the course, making stupendous jumps—and avoiding her handler for all she was worth. There was plenty of discussion about whether the dog was happy, as the handler claimed (the video was set to the music, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”), or stressed. It was not black and white, but I came down on the side of distress, or at least displacement behavior. But I also pointed out her avoidance of the handler. Whether or not the dog was in distress or eustress, this was not a safe situation. The handler called her dog 10 times and the dog didn’t come 10 times in just about a minute of zoomies.
I think the question of distress versus eustress is a good one and I have a good pair of videos to try that on.
My Contest Videos
I have two videos, taken four days apart in May 2023, of Lewis zooming around the back yard. I know for certain that one is escape behavior; he is trying to get away from something. In the other, the running seems to be automatically positively reinforced. In other words, he is doing an innate doggie behavior and is likely having fun. But they look similar in a lot of ways.
In the following video, you will see each of the two clips at full speed with sound, then the clips in the same order in slow motion. They will be labeled Clip A and Clip B.
Link to the video for email subscribers.
How to Enter the Contest
Use the form below. Include your full name and email address, say whether A or B is the escape clip, and give a reason why (that relates to something you observe in the video). The reason you give will not affect eligibility, but you must include it. If you choose the right clip, you are eligible for the winners’ drawing, whatever you give for a reason. Please enter only once, but you can give multiple reasons. I’d love to get your observations!
If the “Prove you are human” captcha section makes the form inaccessible, please message my personal account on Facebook Messenger and I’ll give you an email address where you can send an answer. I’ll be checking for message requests in case we are not friends there.
If I love your answer to the “why” question, I may ask permission to publish it in the followup post.
The people who select the escape clip correctly (and include a reason) will be entered in a drawing and I will draw two winners. Both will receive both books.
Enjoy!
Enter the Contest!
Related Posts
Photo
Thank you to Marge Rogers for the photo of joyful Rounder!
Final Note
I’m keeping comments closed for now, since it will be hard not to discuss things relevant to the contest.
Copyright 2025 Eileen Anderson
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