Dog News from around the World

Two police dogs die in British heat wave

2009-07-03T12:01:00.001+12:00

A heat wave in Britain and other parts of Europe killed two British police dogs left in a cruiser, police said Thursday.

The German shepherds were left in a car Tuesday afternoon in the parking lot of police headquarters in Nottingham, about 140 miles north of London. Temperatures topped 84 degrees F that day.

Dont 'people get prosecuted for stupidity?

The dogs' police handler was on duty and had gone inside the building. Police did not say how long the dogs were in the car.

"This is a tragic incident and we value the important work our police dogs carry out on a daily basis," Nottinghamshire Police Assistant Chief Constable Peter Davies said in a statement.

MORE>>

Dog-eaten passport cancels US boy's trip to Peru

2009-07-01T22:10:00.001+12:00

EAU CLAIRE, Wisconsin - A Wisconsin teenager using a classic excuse for evading schoolwork missed a class trip to Peru despite his tale being true: The dog ate his passport.

Officials at Chicago's O'Hare airport told 17-year-old Jon Meier the chewed-on document was fine, but authorities in Miami rejected it and wouldn't let him board the southbound aircraft.

His family's one-year-old golden retriever, Sunshine, chewed a corner of the document, obscuring some numbers.

Meier couldn't get another passport in time to join the trip with his Spanish class from Eau Claire North High School. The 12-day trip ended on Monday.

Meier says he can't blame anyone, not even Sunshine: "I love her too much."

Smartest Dogs: Moscow Stray Dogs

2009-06-27T11:07:00.002+12:00

Russian scientists say that Moscow stray dogs became much smarter. The four legged oldest human’s friends demonstrate real smartness such as riding the Moscow metro every morning to get from their suburban places of living to the fat regions of Moscow center.

Once they arrive to they demonstrate different new, previously unseen for the dog skills. Those skills can include “the hunt for shawarma” for example, the popular among Muscovites eastern cuisine dish. This hunt scene can be seen as this:.....

(...)

Among some more amazing skill those Moscow dogs are the ability not to miss their stop while going on the subway train. Biologists say dogs have very nice sense of time which helps them not to miss their destination.

Another skill they have is to cross the road on the green traffic light. “They don’t react on color, but on the picture they see on the traffic light”, Moscow scientist tells. Also they choose often the last or the first metro car - those are less crowded usually.

They are fond of jumping in the train just seconds before the doors shut closed risking their tails be jammed. “They do it for fun, just they have enough food”, they conclude.
MORE>>

Woman trampled to death by cattle as she walked her two dogs was a vet

2009-06-24T10:43:00.000+12:00

A vet was trampled to death by a herd of cows as she walked her dogs in a field.

Liz Crowsley, 49, may have been trying to protect her two pet dogs, who escaped injury and were found running free near her body.

Cows are highly protective of their newly-born calves at this time of year and farmers warn walkers they may attack, especially if a dog is in their field.
(...)
She was surrounded by a herd of cows and calves and as a result of the dogs being present, the cattle reacted in an aggressive manner,' said a police spokesman.
MORE>>

Do's and Don'ts

DO make sure your dog follows the line of the path and DON'T let it wander. It’s an offence to allow a dog to attack, worry or chase livestock. By law, you must keep your dog on a short lead at all times near farm animals. You do not have to put your dog on a lead on public paths, as long as it is under close control.
DO move quietly and calmly.
DO walk around livestock, rather than through the middle of a herd, even if this means deviating from the line of the path.
DO leave gates as you found them.
DON'T hang on to your dog if threatened by livestock. If you are being chased, let it off its lead. (doh!)
DON'T get between a cow and her calf.
DON'T panic. Most cows and horses will stop before they reach you. If they follow out of curiosity, just walk on quietly. If cows get too close, turning quietly to face them with arms outstretched is recommended by Ramblers website.
DON'T raise your voice or brandish a stick as this can excite cattle.

White House Releases Official First Dog Photo

2009-06-24T10:41:00.003+12:00

Move over Fala and Checkers – Bo the first dog finally has his own official White House photograph.

Released over the weekend, the photo shows the Portuguese Water Dog sitting on the South Lawn of the White House, the building’s stone façade looming in the background. Bo stares obediently at someone standing behind the photographer, his tongue hanging out.

Looks like a dog that can't stop smiling....

Police Applaud Themselves For Raiding Innocent People and Killing Dogs

2009-06-24T10:32:00.002+12:00

Deadly Force

Acting on a mistaken drug trafficking suspicion, a SWAT team broke down their door, shot beloved pets and shattered a happy home. Was it an extreme reaction, or business as usual in America's war on drugs?
Read the MAYOR'S story here... about how the drug war is having a deadly effect to our dogs!!

_________________

The following excerpt is what is known as The Police Investigating Their Own, and Finding NO FAULT with killing dogs in the 'name of saving our children from drugs!" pathetic!

Police in Prince George's County, MD have completed their internal investigation of the botched raid on the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo. Their disgusting, though unsurprising, conclusion is that they did a terrific job:

The findings of the internal review "are consistent with what I've felt all along: My deputies did their job to the fullest extent of their abilities," Sheriff Michael Jackson said at a news conference.
…
"I'm sorry for the loss of their family pets," Jackson said. "But this is the unfortunate result of the scourge of drugs in our community. Lost in this whole incident was the criminal element. . . . In the sense that we kept these drugs from reaching our streets, this operation was a success." [Washington Post]

MORE>>

Dogs, cats are infecting more pet owners with MRSA

2009-06-24T10:31:00.000+12:00

Cats and dogs are infecting more pet owners with a staph infection resistant to certain antibiotics, according to the results of a study released this week.

Doctors from the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa say that the transmission of MRSA is on the rise, due to animal bites and scratches. The results were released in the July issue of "The Lancet Infectious Diseases." MORE>>

Poll: What's the deal with all the dog laws?

2009-06-20T12:44:00.002+12:00

(Opinion piece) Finally police are cracking down on criminals! Unfortunately, the offenders in question are our furry four-legged friends, and their crime is wanting to burn some excess calories. In recent months, police at certain parks in West Hollywood have taken to ticketing residents who allow their dogs to run or fraternize with fellow canines while off-leash. Residents have responded by complaining about the lack of parks that allow dogs to cavort sans leash and what they feel is a pick-and-choose enforcement of the law.

Simply telling these residents to bring their pets to Los Angeles parks that allow dogs to roam unshackled might not be the best solution either. Frequenters of those parks are undertaking their own battles with The Man. A December law restricting the number of dogs a person may walk at one time is at the center of the dispute. The dog walking community is upset with the law, but seems undeterred by the threat of getting cited for a misdemeanor punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine. MORE>>

That's going a bit too far, I'd say !! $1,000-- And I thought our $500 fine was a lot !

Pampered pets ignore recession

2009-06-20T12:42:00.001+12:00

(Australia)Luxury goods may have lost their luster for many people due to the recession, but some Aussie pets are still living the good life.

Online luxury pet store Pets Palace was launched eight weeks ago as the economy was taking a battering from the global credit crisis and unemployment rose.

And, according to its managers, business is booming.

Marketing director Diana Costa is reluctant to give out sales figures, but says the site started out with one order every two days and now fill outs at least 15 orders a day.

"We've been inundated. People are looking for ways to make themselves feel good that doesn't cost very much and our items don't cost a lot," Costa told Reuters. MORE>>

"Australians love their animals, they're becoming more a part the of the family, so I think that's why they don't mind spending on their pets during this time."

Dog runs off, finds drugs, gets high

2009-06-20T12:40:00.001+12:00

A dog that ran off from its owner in a Seattle park found and ate some marijuana and got high.

Owner Jen Nestor Waddell told KING-TV the 11-year-old black Lab mix named Jack was "just stoned" May 12 after they returned home from the park. The dog's eyes glossed over and he had trouble walking.

The vet said Jack had swallowed a large amount of dried, harvested marijuana. After some medication to induce vomiting and a night of rest Jack was back to normal.

Waddell told police about the drugs and joked they could borrow Jack to find them if they paid the US$1,500 vet bill.

What?! US$1,500to induce vomiting !! That's outrageous.

What works for humans if you take too much of the stuff is to drink sugared water/fruit juice. The sugar helps ease the effects!

China's one pooch policy

2009-06-18T23:27:00.002+12:00

Mrs Chen can't imagine abandoning one of her two best friends - her scruffy terrier mutt and a white fluffy Pekingese mix with buggy eyes.

But that's what the government in a southern Chinese city wants the middle-aged housewife to do when a one-dog policy takes effect in Guangzhou.

Beginning July 1, each household can raise only one pooch. The regulation won't be grandfathered in, so families with two or more dogs will apparently have to decide which one gets to stay.

"It's a cruel regulation. These dogs are like family. How can you keep one and get rid of the others?" said Chen, who declined to give her full name because she feared the police would track her down and seize the dogs.

The regulation appears to be part of an effort to control stray dogs in Guangzhou, once known as Canton.

Kid flushes dog down toilet (+ video)

2009-06-18T23:24:00.001+12:00

LONDON - A British pup had a narrow flush with disaster after his 4-year-old master decided to give him a bath in the toilet.

Daniel Blair was quoted as telling Britain's Daily Mirror tabloid that he tried to clean the muddy one-week-old cocker spaniel because he was muddy, and he flushed him down the drain.

His mother Alison was quoted as saying she thought the dog was dead, but a drainage firm was able to locate the beleaguered animal in a pipe 18 metres away from the house using specialist camera gear.

Pictures of the wet, frightened-looking puppy trapped in a pipe were posted to the firm Dyno-Rod's website and broadcast on British television yesterday.

The company says the dog is now fine.

video>>

China: Dogs clubbed to death

2009-06-18T23:23:00.000+12:00

Officials in a northern Chinese city have clubbed 37,500 dogs to death since May to contain an outbreak of rabies amid an online outcry over animal cruelty.

Killing the dogs was necessary to control the epidemic, which has killed 13 people this year in Hanzhong, said an official from the local agriculture department.

Wow, 37 thousand!! that's a lot of dogs... I guess they don't go for neutering, hein?

9/11 search dog cloned for Canadian owner

2009-06-18T23:22:00.000+12:00

LOS ANGELES - Scientists in California say they have cloned a dog that helped with search-and-rescue after the New York terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Five German shepherd puppies cloned from a dog named Trakr have been delivered to owner James Symington, a former police officer in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who now lives in Los Angeles.

Before Trakr died in April at age 16, Symington entered a contest sponsored by the California company BioArts International that offered to clone a pet dog for free.

Symington took Trakr to New York after the World Trade Center collapsed and said Trakr helped find one woman who was still alive.

Symington was briefly in hot water for working at the Trade Center while he was supposed to be on medical leave.

The last word: Why old dogs are the best dogs

2009-06-16T21:15:00.000+12:00

They can be eccentric, slow afoot, even grouchy. But dogs live out their final days, says The Washington Post’s Gene Weingarten, with a humility and grace we all could learn from.

Not long before his death, Harry and I headed out for a walk that proved eventful. He was nearly 13, old for a big dog. Walks were no longer the slap-happy Iditarods of his youth, frenzies of purposeless pulling in which we would cast madly off in all directions, fighting for command. Nor were they the exuberant archaeological expeditions of his middle years, when every other tree or hydrant or blade of grass held tantalizing secrets about his neighbors. In his old age, Harry had transformed his walk into a simple process of elimination—a dutiful, utilitarian, head-down trudge. When finished, he would shuffle home to his ratty old bed, which graced our living room because Harry could no longer ascend the stairs. On these walks, Harry seemed oblivious to his surroundings, absorbed in the arduous responsibility of placing foot before foot before foot before foot. But this time, on the edge of a small urban park, he stopped to watch something. A man was throwing a Frisbee to his dog. The dog, about Harry’s size, was tracking the flight expertly, as Harry had once done, anticipating hooks and slices by watching the pitch and roll and yaw of the disc, as Harry had done, then catching it with a joyful, punctuating leap, as Harry had once done, too.

Harry sat. For 10 minutes, he watched the fling and catch, fling and catch, his face contented, his eyes alight, his tail a-twitch. Our walk home was almost … jaunty. MORE>>

MU study shows promise for early detection of OA in dogs

2009-06-16T21:14:00.001+12:00

Columbia, Mo. -- In a study that could have applications in human medicine as well, researchers at the University of Missouri are studying potential biomarkers in dogs that could lead to early diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA), helping identify patients at higher risk for the disease.

Because OA is most often diagnosed in later, irreversible stages, treatment usually is limited to slowing disease progress and decreasing pain. "By developing methods for earlier diagnosis, prevention or even curative treatment strategies ... become more realistic," says James Cook, professor of veterinary medicine and surgery at MU. "Biomarkers could detect the disease before pain and swelling occurs, and owners could take preventive measures, such as modifying the pet's activities or diet, helping them lose weight and strengthening their joints." MORE>>

Black dog, hard sell

2009-06-16T20:51:00.001+12:00

Big black dogs are among the last animals to be adopted, but local shelters are trying to turn that around with makeovers and a little better marketing.

Sometimes, all it takes is better lighting, a brightly colored collar, or even a unique squeaky toy in its cage for an animal to be noticed, shelter workers say. Black dogs just need a little help standing out.

Employees at local shelters said they have problems finding homes for black dogs. MORE>>

Dog spends 18 hours in mine shaft after rabbit chase

2009-06-12T11:07:00.000+12:00

A dog had nothing more than a few scratches to show for his ordeal after spending 18 hours in the depths of a West Coast mine shaft.

Hokitika couple Graham Kirby and Rosemary Lawry were walking their two dogs near Blue Spur outside Hokitika last week when a rabbit sent the dogs racing into the undergrowth.

The smaller dog, a labrador, soon returned, but Jag, their four-year-old former police dog, did not.

The german shepherd had fallen 11 metres down a disused mine shaft but hours of searching by his owners failed to find him.

"I thought he was gone," Ms Lawry told The Press. "but Graham was determined to find him regardless." MORE>>

Government Admits Dangerous Dogs Act Mistake

2009-06-11T15:24:00.000+12:00

(just a shame they haven’t actually done anything to fix their error all these years on!)

Twelve years on and thousands of dogs later….

Today is a special day for anti BSL campaigners within England, Scotland and Wales as 12 years ago our government did something amazing. They held their hands up, said “We made a mistake” and took the first step towards correcting that mistake by amending the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, a piece of legislation that has cost thousands of innocent lives. MORE>>

Will the New Zealand government read this !!

In That Tucked Tail, Real Pangs of Regret?

2009-06-05T21:44:00.001+12:00

If you own a dog, especially a dog that has anointed your favorite rug, you know that an animal is capable of apologizing. He can whimper and slouch and tuck his tail and look positively mortified — “I don’t know what possessed me.” But is he really feeling sorry?

Could any animal feel true pangs of regret? Scientists once scorned this notion as silly anthropomorphism, and I used to side with the skeptics who dismissed these displays of contrition as variations of crocodile tears. Animals seemed too in-the-moment, too busy chasing the next meal, to indulge in much self-recrimination. If old animals had a song, it would be “My Way.”

MORE>>

another interesting read... I love reading these types of intelligental findnigs... about animal stuff...

Gender Gap: Do male and female dogs learn differently?

2009-06-05T21:42:00.001+12:00

“If you want a good dog, get a male. If you want a great dog, get a female and cross your fingers.” That old saying has been passed down through generations in a variety of fields from retriever training to sheepdog handling. But is it true? Are there significant sex-related differences in the training and performance of the domestic dog? When the editor of Bark asked me that question, I had an answer right away: “I don’t know.” Trying to find a legitimate answer began a fascinating quest, which continues to this day. MORE>

Interesting read

BTW. Patricia, the author of the article is coming to New Zealand !! Ask me when?

Dog fighting fears for stolen pet

2009-05-28T16:34:00.002+12:00

The owner of an English Bull Terrier stolen from her flat fears he may be trained and used in illegal dog fights. Two-year-old Hugo was taken from 22-year-old Laura Patch's east Reading flat near Cemetery Junction on Saturday night.

He was taken a week after a man wearing a hood tried to steal him from stables in Warfield, police said.Ms Patch, who has offered a £200 reward for his safe return, said: "Hugo's my life and I really miss him."

I was absolutely hysterical when I got home and realised Hugo had been taken and just broke down in tears," she added. MORE>>

Siberian child 'raised by dogs'

2009-05-28T16:32:00.001+12:00

Russian officials have taken a five-year-old Siberian girl into care, saying that she had apparently been "brought up" by cats and dogs.

The girl, who is unable to speak, was discovered living in a squalid flat in the Siberian city of Chita.

Police said she had never been allowed outside and had adopted the behaviour of the animals she lived with.They said she now "barked like a little dog" and jumped at the door when her carers left the room. Police are questioning the girl's mother, but her father has not yet been found.

MORE>>

This will be the stuff for child development specialists to get their teeth into... language development therapists and the like!

EarthDog Denver Dog Park: more bark than park

2009-05-28T16:31:00.001+12:00

EarthDog Denver Dog Park advertises "a huge swimming pool" and other fun obstacles among which your dog can romp. This description can prove to be a bit misleading.

This location is not only home to a dog park but also a doggy daycare. The park is open to the public on weekends and evenings for a five dollar fee. MORE>>

What a doggy day care!!

Welfare woes

2009-05-27T13:59:00.000+12:00

JILL GALLOWAY talks to Massey University animal behaviour specialist Kevin Stafford about pigs, layer hens, sheep, and cattle, as well as dog and cat welfare.

Sow stalls are on the way out. So are the smallest cages for layer hens. But they're not going fast or far enough for animal welfare lobbyists.

However, an industry can't change overnight, rather there is a phasing out of the old, says Massey University veterinarian and animal behaviour consultant Kevin Stafford.

(...)

"Dogs incapable of functioning breeding, running around, having fun. Breeds such as the english bulldog, the daschund. They have extreme characteristics.

The good news, Prof Stafford says, is that the kennel clubs are moving to alter their breed show characteristics, to avoid such nightmares.

And cats the SPCA would say that there are too many breeding that are unwanted. There are too many feral kittens. MORE>>