Anybody Want to Adopt an Adorable Blind Dog AND His Seeing-Eye Dog?

These fellas come as a pair. One is blind. The other helps him get around. They're best friends.

Meet Jack and Chico, two Australian Cattle Dogs who found themselves at the MaxFund Animal Adoption Center in Denver after their owner passed away. Jack and Chico would very much like to be adopted as a pair. 

You see, Chico is blind, and Jack is his seeing-eye dog. Jack accepts no payment or praise for his job. He does it because Jack is his best friend. He's known him all his life -- eight years now, for the both of them. 

"They're inseparable, basically. We walk them together. It's very easy," shelter volunteer Kathy Kelly-Weston told USA Today. "They're housed in the same room together and they really don't like being apart, especially Chico. It makes him kind of nervous."

As Chico writes in his MaxFund adoption blurb, "You see, I've used dog doors, the scent of treats, and other friendly dogs like Jack to help me get along just fine despite my loss of vision."

He's a very intelligent dog, too.

"I'm smart and can open gate latches even though many 'sighted,' dogs couldn't master such a feat!" he writes. "I'm easygoing, friendly, love walks, car rides, water, know 'sit' and 'come,' and I'll brighten your days and make you smile. So come meet me, okay?"

Jack, for his part, chimes in on his own MaxFund adoption blurb, making a play for Chico: "I'm easygoing, playful, and hoping my buddy, Chico, another friendly cattle dog, can come with me to a new home, too. I think you will find that the two of us will be just about as easy to care for as one!"

So if you or anyone you know would like two pretty great dogs who need a home, visit the MaxFund Animal Adoption Center and take a closer look at Chico and Jack. Spread the word, too! 

Via USA Today

View the original article here

Ouch: Jack the Dog Eats 111 Pennies with His Bagel Crumbs

He really only wanted the bagel crumbs, but the pennies were in the way. What a meal.

In Manhattan the other day, a Jack Russell Terrier named Jack (nice!) had a problem. He wanted to eat a bunch of bagel crumbs, but they were scattered in and around a whole bunch of pennies. 

Wait, let's back up, about two minutes. That's when Jack was on the floor looking longingly at a bag containing a bagel on a desk. Jack was going to get that bagel, so he jumped up on the desk, knocking the bag and a bowl of pennies to the ground. Jack ate his bagel. Then he noticed the crumbs scattered amongst hundreds of pennies. 

What to do, what to do ... 

Jack made a decision. He just ate everything around him, just hoovered up whatever pennies were unlucky enough to be alongside a bagel crumb. You get the good with the bad, you know? The important thing was that he got the good: bagel crumbs. 

“He’s like a voracious Tasmanian devil -- if there’s food, he’s got to get it,” Tim Kelleher, Jack's owner, told the New York Daily News.

"He'll eat anything he can get himself into, whether it's garbage or whatever," he told Today.com.

The problem, of course, is that Jack inhaled 111 pennies. Dogs shouldn't eat 111 pennies. Jack's owner realized as much when Jack wandered up to him and began vomiting. Kelleher didn't know what Jack had gotten himself into, so he simply monitored the dog. Once Jack started vomiting up blood, he quickly took him to the vet. 

That's where he saw the X-ray of 111 pennies in his dog's stomach. And the 111 pennies had enough zinc in them to pose a lethal threat to Jack's liver and kidneys. 

“If Jack would not have had the pennies removed, the consequences would have been fatal,” said Jack's vet, Dr. Amy Zalcman.

So they operated, fishing out the coins during a two-hour procedure. It went well, and Jack is back to his old self. 

“He’s doing great,” Kelleher said. “He’s driving me crazy again.” 

Via the New York Daily News

View the original article here

Dogs Make It Better: Goldendoodle Puppies Bring Joy to Sandy Hook Survivors

The pups, who were born on the day of the tragedy, find homes with school staff.

Three weeks after the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, Laura Feinstein, a teacher at the school, received a letter from a breeder in Texas. She had a litter of nine Goldendoodles. They were born Dec. 14 -- the same day as the massacre. The breeder wondered whether there were any "Sandy Hook staff, families, victims' families, first responders, or anyone in the community affected by the tragedy who might find some comfort in taking on a pup."

There were. Feinstein responded to the breeder, saying that survivors would be delighted, according to a story she wrote about the affair for WTOP.

"I just knew this was going to be a new beginning for my family," she writes. 

Photos were sent, and people picked out their dogs. Feinstein and her family chose a male pup and named him Zeus, "Protector and Ruler of the Heavens."

As the staff waited for the pups to grow up enough to be adopted, the breeder, who is unnamed in the article, sent weekly updates and photos. These offered a bright spot in a school and community under such strain. 

"Those of us on staff who had agreed to take pups were often found huddled during our lunch period sharing photos, a temporary distraction from the struggles we faced adjusting to our new location and our new lives," Feinstein writes. "Whenever I was having a bad moment, I found myself going to the camera roll on my iPhone to sneak a peek at Zeus, who was the positive association I used to overshadow negative thoughts."

On Feb. 16, when the pups were nine weeks old, they arrived at a local airport, where "the reception emotionally overwhelming. It was simply beautiful to see smiling faces and tears of joy."

"I have to say when Zeus was handed to me I smiled like I hadn't smiled in more than two months. His puppy breath and warm little body all snuggled up to you puts you in instant relaxation mode."

Watch a video of Zeus playing with Fernando, Feinstein's black Labrador Retriever:

Feinstein now cares for Zeus with her college-age daughter, and doing so has brought them closer. She ends her article by thanking the breeder for her kindness, and for reaching out: 

"We will never forget what happened on Dec. 14, but a very special person, who had a team of others to support her efforts, did a kind and generous thing for a community of people who were in tremendous pain. I will be forever grateful for that."

Via WTOP

View the original article here

Unthinkable! Couple Caught Selling Hundreds of Dogs to Labs

The illegally purchased dogs came from shelters, the street, even "free to a good home" pet ads. What the hell?!

You might have never given much thought to how medical researchers get dogs for their labs. The truth might be worse than you imagined. 

On Thursday, according to a story by Philly.com, Floyd and Susan Martin pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally purchasing dogs to sell to research facilities. How many dogs? Hundreds of them. To what institutions? Big ones, like Johns Hopkins and Columbia University.

And they received hundreds of thousands of dollars for those dogs, between 2005 and 2010.

The case throws light on the sordid world of dog-dealing for biomedical research. 

According to the Philly.com, the Martins, who are "random source" dog dealers, "bought their animals by the hundreds from shady individuals known as 'bunchers,' who collect dogs from auctions, shelters, the street, theft, and 'free to good home' pet ads."

Authorities say that two bunchers bought hundreds of dogs from different sources in 10 states, then sold them to the Martins for $50 to $75 each. The Martins then sold the dogs to labs for hundreds of dollars in profit per dog. 

"We’re talking about an abuse-ridden system of acquiring animals for research,” said Nancy Blaney, senior federal policy adviser for the Animal Welfare Institute, a national advocacy group. “‘Random source’ is what it sounds like it is. They can get animals from individuals who respond to ‘free to good home’ ads or animals being stolen. We know because they have been traced through microchipping.”

This is not what people had in mind with the Animal Welfare Act of 1966, which attempted to establish humane standards for animals in labs and regulate dealers who sold to them. 

The Martins are Class B or “random source” dog dealers, a designation that is federally sanctioned but controversial. These dealers may purchase dogs from unlicensed bunchers, but no more than 24 dogs per buncher per year. The Martins ran into trouble by buying hundreds of dogs from just two bunchers. 

The silver lining in all this is that only 3 percent of dogs used in biomedical research in the U.S. come from random-source dealers, and that number is decreasing because of the controversy of using former pets as lab subjects. 

Most labs buy from facilities whose dogs are bred for research.

As for the Martins, they made a deal with prosecutors, with Floyd pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud, for which he will serve a year in prison, and Susan pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy, for which she will be placed on probation.

Via Philly.com

View the original article here

Just Plain Mean: Burglars Poison Police Dog, Rob Officer's Home

The dog was locked in a kennel -- there was no need for poison. Terrible, terrible, terrible.

This week, thieves staged a brazen burglary in Richmond, CA, at the home of a police officer after poisoning two of the officer's dogs. One of the dogs was a police dog.  

The robbery is as brazen as it is baffling. 

Police say that the officer received a call from him wife at 6 a.m., saying that their 2-year-old black Labrador Retriever, Trax, was sick. The officer came home, locked his police dog, a Belgian Malinois, in a backyard kennel, then took the Lab with his wife to the vet. 

Then, the burglars struck, stealing three sporting guns, two handguns, and some other items. 

"His house was ransacked, and five firearms were stolen as well as numerous personal possessions," Richmond Lt. Bisa French told KGO.

The thieves also poisoned the police dog, who was locked in his kennel. He was no threat. The poisoning makes no sense. 

"They didn't even need to poison the [police] dog -- it was locked up in a kennel," French told the San Francisco Chronicle. "If they wanted to burglarize the house, they could have done it without poisoning the dog."

Richmond officer Joe Avila, who is also a K-9 staff member, says, "Both of the dogs involved in this were locked, secured in kennels. They were of no threat to any burglar. It was obviously an intentional act. They could have broken into the house and committed the crime that they committed without doing anything to those dogs."

The family's Lab ended up dying from the poison-laced meat, but the police dog is expected to pull through. 

"It didn't look good for his partner for quite some time, and luckily he got the attention he needed immediately," said Avila.

Police haven't identified the officer or the police dog, citing security concerns. 

"They're just an extremely hardworking team, one of the most dedicated teams in our unit," said Avila.

"It's frightening that somebody would target him specifically, that they would not only burglarize the house but also harm the dogs," French said.

Via KGO and the San Francisco Chronicle

View the original article here

Michael Vick's Former Dogs Meet in a Touching Reunion

Six families who adopted dogs meet at a Utah rescue group, sharing stories of recovery.

Michael Vick has been in the news quite recently, showing up at PetSmart to train his puppy and getting his book tour canceled by angry dog lovers. Though it remains to be seen whether anything positive comes from the anger, one group involved with Vick appears to be feeling just fine.  

His former dogs. 

This week, six families who adopted "Vicktory dogs" (so-named after being resuced from the dog-fighting operation) met at Best Friends' Animal Society of Kanab, UT, to mark five years of freedom. 

“The Vicktory Dogs, the dogs from Michael Vick’s kennel, really helped us truly understand that all dogs are individuals,” Judah Batista, the facility’s director of animal care, told Fox 13 News. “To convict the dogs based on their owners is an incredibly unfair thing to do.”

The dogs arrived from Vick's Bad Newz Kennels battered and bruised in 2008, and as they regained their health they were slowly adopted out. The families kept in touch throughout the years, but never met -- until now. 

"It feels like as much of a growing and healing occasion for the people as much as it does the dogs," Richard Hunter, who owns a Vicktory dog named Mel, told ABC News.

Paul, who owns Cherry Garcia, said, "It's been amazing. We're all staying in the same place -- so we have six ex-fighting Pit Bulls staying in the same place -- and you'd never know that these dogs were born, bred, and trained to fight; the furthest thing on their mind is fighting."

The families spent the weekend together at the sanctuary, and the dogs -- Cherry, Handsome Dan, Halle, Little Red, Mel, and Oscar -- got along great.

"They have just had such a great time together. The families have had such a great time meeting in person," said Paul. "Really, to come together as one big family has been a magical moment."

On Monday, the group invited the public to visit the dogs, and more than 150 people showed up. One by one, the families took the stage and related stories about how their dogs came out of their shells, changing from the shy and shutdown animals they were. 

“We want to show the world that they can become adoptable; we want to show the world that they can become normal dogs and be positive influences in their community,” Paul said.

Watch a video of the event: 

Via ABC

Read more about Michael Vick and BSL:

View the original article here

Meet the Oldest Dog on Earth

This skull fossil was discovered in 1975, but only recently was it linked to modern-day canines.

In 1975, Russian archaeologists, in a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, unearthed a 33,000-year-old fossil skull that resembled that of a wolf.

So they assumed it was that of a wolf. 

Turns out it's not a wolf. It's a dog. 

And so the Champagne corks are popping in at the Russian Academy of Sciences, which made the discovery, and especially in the office of Anna Druzhkova, who led the team. The results were published this week in the journal PLOS ONE. 

To come to the finding, according to an article at Smithsonian.com, the team "sequenced mitochondrial DNA taken from one of the skull’s teeth" and compared it "with samples from 70 different modern breeds of dog, along with 30 different wolf and four different coyote DNA samples."

What did they find? Dog -- 33,000-year-old dog. Specifically, the DNA shared the most characteristics with Tibetian Mastiffs, Newfoundlands, and Siberian Huskies. 

So, if you have one of those dogs, you just got cooler, thanks to Anna Druzhkova. 

However, this whole dating-modern-dogs thing has been endlessly troublesome -- and this finding doesn't really help things. 

"Scientists know that dogs evolved as a result of the domestication of wolves," says the article, "but the specific time and location of this domestication is still poorly understood -- and this discovery further complicates that picture." 

How so? "Dogs may have been domesticated from wolves multiple times, and this breed of Siberian dog may have actually gone extinct, rather than serving as an ancestor for modern dogs."

Okay, fine. It might not be First Dog. But this also mixes up where scientists believe domestication first occurred, as this finding points to the "geographic spread" of dogs throughout Asia and Europe. Previously, scientists believed domestication occurred in the Middle East or East Asia.

"This skull could force scientists to rethink their theories," says the article.  

This DNA analysis does, however, set the age of modern dogs at 33,000 years. Previous DNA analysis of a different finding put the date at 16,000 years ago. That always seemed a bit thin to us. 

Via Smithsonian.com

View the original article here

No Surprise Here: Angry Dog Lovers Sack Michael Vick's Book Tour

After his tour announcement went up, angry online commenters rallied. Some, however, resorted to threats of violence.

Michael Vick planned on having book appearances at Atlanta, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Barnes & Noble stores to celebrate the release of his oddly named book, Michael Vick: Finally Free.

Dog lovers had a different idea. They took to social media -- Barnes & Noble's Facebook, most often -- and generally raised hell. 

Michael Vick is not having book appearances anymore. He's cancelled them. Or rather, his publisher did. Here's the statement:

"While we stand by Michael Vick’s right to free speech and the retailers’ right to free commerce, we cannot knowingly put anyone in harm’s way, and therefore we must announce the cancellation of Mr. Vick’s book-signing appearances,” said Byron Williamson, president of Worthy Publishing. “We’ve been assured these threats of violence, which have been reported to the police, are being taken very seriously by local authorities.”

Yeah, there were threats of violence, which is horrible and should never happen. But many of the comments were haranguing Barnes & Noble for showing bad judgment and threatening to never shop at the store again. 

A sampling:

"You people were going to sponsor Michael Vick's Book tour?!?! I will never support your store again. I hope there are enough people outraged with this.""Dear Barnes and Noble, you have officially lost my business after promoting the POS Michael Vick's book. How you can promote ANYTHING this subhuman being does is beyond me.""SHAME ON YOU BARNES AND NOBLE for trying to do book signings and even promoting Michael Vicks book .... I'm done with you!!!!""Add my name to the growing list of people who will never again visit your bookstore. There is no way I could associate myself with an organization that could have anything at all to do with the likes of the despicable Michael Vick.""SO disappointed to hear that you're hosting Michael Vick for a book signing at one of your PA stores. Even if you decide to cancel it, the fact that it was scheduled in the first place shows very poor judgement. You've lost a good customer with me."

Looks like those threats of violence offered B&N a way to back out of a nasty PR fumble.

Don't think this wasn't a small appearance, either. More than 1,000 people had already RSVP'd to Vick's signing at the Atlanta store. 

Vick spokesman Chris Shigas, meanwhile, has gone on the offensive. "We understand that a lot of people out there will never forgive him," Shigas told Philly.com. "But at what point do we say a line has been crossed?"

Also: "He's going to continue to work in the community. It's just a shame that there's a level of hatred out there."

Let's hope more bookstores back away from Vick. They could start by not carrying his book.

Via Philly.com. 

Read more about Michael Vick:

View the original article here

Who Searches When a Police Dog Goes Missing? Everyone!

Wisconsin sheriff's deputies mobilize foot patrols, a helicopter, snowmobiles and ATVs to find Toro.

Missing dogs get varying amounts of attention. Some might get a lone sign hanging on a telephone pole, whereas others get large community efforts that use the power of social media.

Out of all the rescue efforts, however, we still haven't seen one particular methodology -- an official one. In other words, if the cops lost one of their dogs, how would they find it? Well, we have an answer. The cops would go crazy until they found their dog. 

Last week, the Wood County Sheriff's Department's police dog, Toro, disappeared while assisting Wisconson state police during a drug bust. Actually, he took off into the nearby woods, which are filled with steep, hazardous terrain. The deputies wasted no time in mounting a full-scale search, on foot, by helicopter, by ATV, by snowmobile, and even getting the local news on the story. 

"Right now we have Sheriff's Rescue out there, Spirit Air is helping us out as well, and a couple of snowmobiles," sheriff's Lt. Shawn Becker told WSAW.com. "We're trying to get as much help as we can right now.

"It's difficult for everybody. Toro is just like another officer to us, and we're all very concerned."

Why did Toro run off? Authorities speculate that he might have chased an animal, then just kept going. 

That theory seems likely, because when they finally found Toro -- 37 hours later and a half-mile from where he'd most recently been seen -- he was feeding on a deer carcass. 

Whoa. When police dogs go AWOL, they don't mess around. 

Fortunately, Toro was fine, with just a small cut on one of his paws -- "excellent health," said Sheriff Thomas Reichert. On Friday, Toro -- who is trained in drug detection, tracking, and apprehending -- will go back to work. 

Via Green Bay Press Gazette

View the original article here

Good Dog! A German Shepherd Stops His Person from Attempting Suicide

And he did it at the last possible second, too.

It's been a big week of dogs saving people's lives. First, we had a Pit Bull protecting a lost toddler for an hour in snowy woods -- he did a such a good job that even rescuers had to stay back until the boy's father arrived. Then we had another dog, this one a stray, huddling with a lost toddler all night in a freezing marshland in Poland. Both kids are fine, though the girl is suffering from frostbite. 

Now, to cap the week, we have something even more amazing, something that might cause you to rewire your brain about how well you think your dog knows you. 

In France, a German Shepherd stopped her owner from committing suicide. And he did it by throwing himself at the rifle the woman had pointed -- and had just fired -- at her chest. The bullet still hit her, but her wound is not life threatening. 

Earlier this week, the 63-year-old woman from Sorgues walked into her backyard with a .22-caliber rifle. She fired multiple test shots, probably to ensure that the gun was working properly. Then she turned the gun on herself. 

Her dog wasn't having it. 

As a police officer told Le Figaro, "At the moment she pulled the trigger, her dog jumped on her and diverted the shot."

The officer added that the dog "probably sensed things and knocked into her to save her" and that the dog was "very affected" by what his owner was doing. 

Did the dog know his owner was going to kill herself? A better question might be: Is there any other another explanation? He knew the gun was dangerous, he knew his owner was going to use this dangerous thing on her own body, and he acted. 

The woman was found by her husband, conscious, and taken to the hospital.  

Via the Daily Mail 

View the original article here

Grab a Tissue: Dog Whose Legs Were Hacked Off Gives Us Hope

An abusive owner mutilated a Maltese named Fabio and dumped him in a shelter. Fortunately, things are looking up.

Fabio, a small, white-haired Maltese, had his back legs hacked off by a former owner to keep him from escaping. That's all Fabio did wrong, as far as Florida Poodle Rescue can make out. Thankfully, the rescue has the little dog now.

"His legs were cut off by his ex-owner so he couldn't climb a chain-link fence," said Joani Ellis of the rescue, according to ABC News. "Fabio's bone is just covered with skin, so it hurts him when he stands or walks."

The injury doesn't stop Fabio from playing and running. The little dog scampers around with a big smile on his face. Soon, however, he won't have to hide his pain. Ellis is working with Dr. Allison Barca on getting Fabio outfitted with special boots.

"They're going to make impressions and make him some boots so he can walk without pain," Ellis said. "It's my hope that he will be able to run and play. He so wants to, like a normal dog."

"Fabio does not need us. Fabio's making it on his own," Dr. Barca told ABC News. "We're just going to try to make it better for him. I just think he needs something to help the stumps to feel comfortable ... and to keep them protected from hitting the ground." 

Before Florida Poodle Rescue got him, Fabio had been dropped off at a shelter in Miami, his back legs hacked off above the paw joint. Based on the calluses that have formed, vets think it happened within the last year. 

“The story was that his feet were cut off because he was trying to be an escape artist,” Ellis said. "And if that’s the worst he ever did, I think the punishment was certainly more than his crime.”

Dr. Barca was part of a group that treated Molly the Shetland pony to a prosthetic leg after Hurricane Katrina, and she has high hopes for Fabio. She's located in New Orleans, so Ellis and Fabio will soon fly there. Louisiana is also the location of Dag's House, a rehab home for dogs with special needs and physical challenges, where Fabio will get to try out his new shoes. He'll be in good hands. 

"We have everything under the sun in disabilities, ranging from birth defects, trauma, dogs that were hit by cars, shot by guns, run over by vehicles," said Kim Dudek, founder of Dag's House. "We've done a lot of rehab and rehoming of dogs that have had traumatic incidents." 

After that? Ellis hopes to find someone to adopt Fabio -- together with his blind Maltese companion, Lady, who survived life with the abusive former owner alongside Fabio.  

Via ABC News

View the original article here

So, Apparently Michael Vick Has a Belgian Malinois Now

But on the bright side, he's training the dog at the neighborhood PetSmart. Thoughts?

Kudos to the sports blog Crossing Broad, which is nailing scoop after scoop in the depressing Michael Vick-owning-a-dog mess. Back in October, it broke the story that Vick, the NFL star who served time for leading a dogfighting operation, had a dog. The site first noticed the same picture Vick tweeted with as well as without a box of Milk Bone dog biscuits, which forced Vick to later admit that he did in fact own a dog. He did not say what kind of dog, or even the word "dog." He said, in a statement probably written by his handlers, "pet."

This week, we finally get to see that pet, thanks to another scoop by Crossing Broad. The site says that a tipster sent in photos of Vick taking dog training classes at a PetSmart in New Jersey. According to the tipster, Vick, his family, and a bodyguard have been taking classes for their Belgian Malinois, named Angel.

"The tipster says that Vick frequents the store and signed up for a total of six training classes on Monday evenings, with this being the second week," writes Crossing Board.

This is the first we've heard about the type of dog Vick owns. He went with a big, strong dog, which is a bit surprising, though it shouldn't be.

Though we're sad to see Vick with any puppy, we're consoled to see that at least he is letting someone else handle the training. This doesn't appear to be a PR stunt. Crossing Broad says it left out the specific PetSmart store in New Jersey that Vick is going to, so he can continue to attend in peace.

Via Crossing Broad

Read more about Michael Vick:

• Seven of Michael Vick's Rescued Dogs Reunited

• Michael Vick, Even if You're No Longer Banned from Having Dogs, You Don't Deserve Any

View the original article here

It's Probably Not the Best Idea to Have a Police Dog Retrieve a Gun

Ivan the dog was called in to locate a missing gun in Massachusetts. He found it. And he shot it.

A Massachusetts police dog named Ivan shot a gun this week, bringing the total number of dogs who've shot guns in the past few weeks to two. (You will remember Dale Lanier's dog, riding shotgun in a truck, recently shooting his owner with a 9mm in Florida.) 

As for Ivan, he shot a gun when he was sent looking for one in a snowbank, according to KSN.com. It was put there by three criminals. Earlier that night, an officer on patrol heard three gunshots, went to investigate, and saw a car speed away from the scene. The car stopped, and then a man jumped out and buried something in the snow.

The officer quickly caught the men, then called for backup to search the area. Backup came in the form of Ivan, a German Shepherd police dog. His handler, Lt. John Pickles, ordered Ivan to search the area after a shell casing was found in the car. 

Ivan started pawing through a snowbank. When he was digging, his paw hit the trigger of a loaded Ruger semiautomatic. Ivan shot the gun. 

"I definitely thought for sure my dog just got shot," said Pickles, who works with the Essex County Sheriff's Department. It sounded “like a loud firecracker. I never even saw the gun. I was walking up on my dog, and I was probably only two to three feet behind my dog when it happened.”

"I surmise that the snow was there for a week, and it was probably like ice," Lawrence Police Chief John Romero told CNN. "The individual probably was not able to bury it very deep, and he had no time."

Everyone is okay. They couldn't figure out where the bullet went, but police went around to houses and woke everyone up and asked whether anybody had been shot by the dog.

The three criminals were arrested and charged with possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition, receiving a firearm with a defaced serial number, and receiving stolen property, according to Chief Romero.

“This is a first. I’ve never seen anything like this -- and we can laugh at it now because no one was injured, including the dog Ivan -- but I’ve never seen it before,” said Romero. 

"The dog’s supposed to just lie down or sit when he finds the article," said Pickles. "I think it’s just because it was buried in the snow. A one in a million chance there.” 

Via KSN.com

View the original article here

Recall Alert: Steve's Real Foods' Raw Turducken Patties May Contain Salmonella

The raw food maker pulls five-pound bags of Turducken Canine Diet over Salmonella fears.

Steve's Real Food of Murray, Utah, a maker of raw dog food, is recalling five-pound bags of Turducken Canine Diet (eight-ounce patties), due to potential contamination of Salmonella. 

The patties were distributed to retail stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, California, Minnesota and Tennessee.

The "potential for contamination" came to light after routine sampling of one bag by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. According to the FDA, "pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and have these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian." 

Interestingly, Steve's Real Food CEO Gary Bursell says the problem could be the result of a problem with the bags and is not a sanitation issue, according to Pet Product News.

“We use a biodegradable film on the bags, and we've had problems sealing the patty bags, not the nuggets,” Bursell said.

“We sanitize our production facility between every product run,” he adds. “Our plant operates just the same as any human food facility, and everything we've got out there is clean stuff.”

The recall affects about 240 bags, or about 1,200 patties. The recalled product comes in green-and-cream-colored biodegradable film bags with lot number 209-10-27-13, with an expiration date of October 27, 2013. 

Call Steve's Real Food at 801-540-8481 if you have questions or concerns. 

Via Pet Product News

View the original article here

Bravo Recalls Raw-Food Diet Chicken Blend Tubes

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture detects salmonella in a batch of the product.

Bravo is recalling two-pound tubes of Bravo's Raw-Food Diet Chicken Blend for Dogs and Cats because of the presence of salmonella. 

The recall affects only those tubes made on June 14, 2012, and no other sizes or Bravo products are involved. Look for the ID code 6 14 12 on the white hang-tag attached to the bottom of the plastic film tube. The tubes went out nationwide to distributors, retail stores, and Internet retailers.

While Bravo's own third-party testing did not detect salmonella, routine testing by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture done on samples collected from a single retail location tested positive for presence of salmonella, according to the FDA. 

There have been no reports of illness. 

According to the FDA, "pets with salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian."

Obviously, a raw food product containing chicken is something to handle carefully, but Bravo appears to have a good system in place, despite this episode. According to its Quality Assurance page, every Bravo raw diet product is sent to an independent laboratory, Northeast Labs, and tested for the presence of bacteria -- and the results of those tests can be sent to customers. 

"No product leaves our plants until we receive confirmation the the product has tested to be free of bacteria," it reads. "We do not subcontract production of any of our products to outside third-party sources. We carefully select the sources from which we buy the raw ingredients, we control how it is handled after delivery to our plant, we control every step of the manufacturing process, and we use human grade ingredients and no animal by-products in any of our formulas."

To contact the company, call 866-922-9222.

View the original article here

Finally, Some Justice for Jagger, the Bulldog Kidnapped and Killed in Washington

A man gets three years for his role in the dog's death. But is it enough?

Last week, Jesse James Clark of Kelso, WA, was sentenced to three years in jail for his part in the kidnapping and killing of a Bulldog named Jagger in October 2011, as reported in the Daily News Online. Clark is the third person to be convicted in the crime, which received worldwide attention. 

In October 2011, the two other culprits, Ivey Rose Svaleson and her boyfriend, Johnny Lee Jordan, kidnapped the Bulldog from Jennifer Lynn Thomas. The pair had shown up at Thomas' home to collect used baby items that Thomas had offered them, out of kindness, as Svaleson was pregnant. Instead, they stole the dog. 

They then started sending "sinister" text messages, saying that the dog would be tortured and killed if Thomas didn't hand over money and prescription drugs. They kept the dog at Jesse James Clark's house.

“I was just crushed and scared and sick. I loved him so much, and I was so worried,” Thomas said during the trial. 

Police tracked down the suspects, but not before finding Jagger dead and dismembered alongside railroad tracks in Kelso. 

Last year, Svaleson received nine months in jail, and Jordan was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

Clark, who insisted he only agreed to keep the dog for his friends, was shocked by the sentence, according to the Daily News Online, staring with "slack-jawed disbelief" at Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Michael Evans as he read the sentence, while his mother "wept so loudly that Evans threatened to find her in contempt of court."

The jury found Clark guilty of first-degree extortion and second-degree possession of stolen property. During the trail, prosecutors said that Clark was overheard saying that "he beat the dog, then got rid of it." He also lied to to sheriff’s deputies when they came to his home and asked about the dog's whereabouts. 

Jagger's owner berated Clark in court. “If he would have been a man and said, ‘Yes, the dog is here,’ he could have been a hero right now instead of a defendant,” she said. “He cut our dog’s head off!”

Prosecutors aren't sure what exactly killed the dog, but they believe it was indeed at the hands of the defendants, saying that it “seems improbable” that a train killed the dog and caused the mutilation. 

“There’s a degree of cruelty here, a degree of depravity,” one of the prosecutors said.

Clark's three year sentence was at the top of the sentencing range for his crimes, and he won't be able to own a dog when he's out. 

Via the Daily News Online

View the original article here

It's True: This Dog and This White Lion Cub Are Best Friends

The Internet loves a good inter-species love story.

Meet Honey the dog and Kwanza the white lion cub, the Internet's two newest sensations. Despite what these pictures seem to show, they are the best of friends. They're just engaging in some major-league roughhousing, wrestling, and harmless mayhem. The bites from the lion are soft -- to hardy Honey, at least. To you it would probably feel like someone stapling duct tape to your arm and then ripping it off.

These two friends live at the Darling Downs Zoo in New Zealand, who filmed the pair playing and posted a must-see video (see below). Kwanza's mother reared the cub, but she stopped producing milk, so the zoo stepped in and began hand-feeding him. 

Honey wandered up shortly thereafter, and the two have become inseparable. The cub has developed a "special bond" with Honey as "they spend time exploring, wrestling and otherwise playing together." Kwanza is around four months old in the video, and is "a very robust and energetic young lion," according to the zoo. 

According to the Darling Downs Zoo, the white lion is not a separate species of lion nor is it an albino (there is pigment in their eyes, paw pads, and lips). "The color is due to a recessive gene, called a chinchilla gene, which is a color inhibitor," the zoo writes on the video page. "This can result in 'white' lions being blonde, near white, or even red!"

Watch the two friends hard at work:

View the original article here

Our Hero: The Stray Who Kept a Lost Little Girl Warm on a Frozen Night

The child was known as "best friend" to the dog.

A few days ago we told you about the Pit Bull who protected a 3-year-old who had wandered into the woods near his home. The two were lost for an hour. 

Last weekend, a similar thing happened, in much more hazardous circumstances, for a much longer time. 

In the town of Pierzwin, Poland, a 3-year-old girl, Julia, wandered away from her home and vanished into a nearby forest. Her grandmother had last seen her playing in the backyard of her house with a stray dog, who was friendly with the family, according to the Daily Mail. 

The black mongrel is named Czarue.

Night fell. The pair were in an area described as "freezing marshland." The rescue operation quickly escalated, with more than 200 people scouring the countryside. The temperature dropped to minus five degrees. 

They searched all night and found nothing. It was not until early the next morning that they finally came across the pair, soaking wet, the dog and the girl huddled together, the girl crying for her mother. 

Czarue, the stray dog, had kept the girl warm all night. 

"We ran around 500 metres, and there was silence," said Grzegorz Szymonowski, a firefighter. "We stood to listen further and we heard the dog and later the crying of a child. We went in the direction and saw the child lying in the shrubs. She was wet because there was water in the forest."

"This dog is the most important part of this story; he is a hero. It is thanks to this dog that the girl survived the night."

Julia was transported to the hospital, where the head of the pediatric ward, Kazimiera Barczyk, said the girl suffered from frostbite but was otherwise fine. 

"The only unusual symptoms are swollen hands and feet, probably from the frost. A surgeon inspected this and prescribed ointments. The next few days will show if there is some deeper frostbite, or just surface changes," Barczyk said.

The doctor added, "This dog, which was with her, most probably kept her warm. It lay down next to her when she fell asleep. She was walking and walking, and fell asleep when she got tired."

What makes this story even more heartwarming is that the girl had befriended the stray dog earlier.  

Her grandmother said Czarue was the girl's best friend: "She was with this dog all the time. She didn't go anywhere without it.

"When I was looking after her, she constantly said, 'Granny, the dog needs to come in the house.' And she told me to cut bread, and she fed it all the time."

Via the Daily Mail; photo via Shutterstock

View the original article here

Outrage in Arkansas: 8 Puppies Are Dumped Inside Plasticware

Seven of the Dachshunds were taken in by Rocky Ridge Refuge, while another has been adopted.

Ever notice how plasticware reproduces quietly in your cupboards so that your kitchen is practically bursting with unmatched lids and containers and then, one day, when you really need it, it has suddenly vanished into the universe? It's your fault. You distributed it over time to the houses of your friends as you departed from their potlucks saying over your shoulder, "Oh, just return the plasticware when you've finished the casserole."

We hope the folks who dumped a pile of puppies in a big plastic container behind a church in Arkansas never get their storage vessel back and that their cupboards will be forever cursed with ill-fitting lids because really, who does that?

First of all, spay and neuter your dogs, for puppies' sake! Second, don't leave the resulting offspring in a sealed plastic death trap! If you have to get rid of them, fine, but there are shelters for that.

Fortunately, the eight Dachshund puppies were taken in by the church they were dumped at and handed over to Rocky Ridge Refuge, a rescue organization in Arkansas that provides sanctuary for all manner of animals. One of the puppies was adopted by someone at the church, and the remaining seven are  in the care of Rocky Ridge, which aims to find the puppies good homes.

In the meantime, Rocky Ridge's resident dog mama, Butterbean, is helping take care of the pups.

Photos via the Rocky Ridge Facebook page

View the original article here

Bigotry, Meet Road Rage: Man Attacks Gay Couple for Walking a Pink Poodle

He verbally and physically assaulted the men, who were doing nothing but walking their dog.

Last Friday, Oregonian David Beltier was walking with his boyfriend, Jeremy Mark, and their pink Poodle, Beauty. (Beauty was pink thanks to a Kool-Aid dye job. Don't worry about that right now.)

They were doing nothing but walking their dog. 

Beltier said, "We weren't holding hands or anything. Just walking the dog like normal."

A man drove by in an SUV and screamed terrible things at them; he used gay slurs, he called them un-American, he said it's "not right for that dog to be that color."

A complete and horrible person, in other words. Also, a violent one. He made a U-turn in his SUV. 

"When he made the U-turn, I knew this was not going to end well," Beltier said. "He burned rubber. He sped up. There was no way he did not want to attack me."

And he did. He jumped out of the truck started swinging, hitting Beltier on the shoulder. Then he returned to his truck for a metal wrench and continued the assault, hitting Beltier behind the ear. Then he drove off.

"Honestly, I feel like the pink poodle provoked him," Beltier said. 

"I'm just thankful he didn't have a more serious weapon like a gun and pull it out," said Jeremy Mark, Beltier's boyfriend.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for police to find him, thanks to many witnesses who recorded his license plate number (and honked, stopped, and generally put a stop to the assault). George Allen Mason Jr. is now in Washington County Jail on a slew of charges, one of them "second-degree intimidation," which is Oregon's bias-crime statute. 

As for that dye job, Beltier says it's non-toxic, harmless fun. It comes out after a few washes. 

Via the Oregonian

View the original article here