Outrageous: England's Royal Air Forces Euthanize Prince William's Guard Dogs

The prince retired, and the dogs were euthanized. The RAF is saying it's a "coincidence."

During his seven years as a search-and-rescue pilot for the Royal Air Force, British heir to the throne Prince William had two dogs protecting him: Brus, a seven-year-old Belgian Shepherd, and Blade, a nine-year-old German Shepherd. They patrolled the North Wales base “in a two-dog section set up specifically to protect William,” according to the Sun. 

As you may know, William retired from service last week. Three days after he did so, the two dogs were euthanized. 

The Ministry of Defense thinks it did nothing wrong. 

“The department’s policy is to rehome all military working dogs at the end of their service life wherever practicable,” a MoD spokesman told the Daily Mail. “Regrettably, however, there are occasions when they have to be put down.” 

What occasions are those? 

"Unfortunately, in this case the dogs were unsuitable for rehoming or alternative duties and so sadly, for the animal’s welfare, they had to be put down."

What does that mean? Well, a source told the Daily Mail that the dogs "were too aggressive to be kept at home" and that they couldn't be reassigned to other duties because the dogs "had a record of veterinary and behavioral issues." 

We don't have a full accounting of that reason, but on the face of it: ridiculous. A military base couldn't train a dog? It's not like it's a place dedicated to training. And what "veterinary issues" couldn't a military base handle, really, with the government footing the bill? More information about this needs to come out.

The RAF is claiming that the euthanasias were in no way related to the Prince leaving, and that the Prince did not work with the dogs. 

"To be clear, they were RAF Valley security patrol dogs, not sole protection for Prince William," the source said. "The timing of their sad demise is purely coincidental." 

That source was quick to reassure the Daily Mail reporter that at least someone loved the dogs. 

"These dogs had played an invaluable role offering security to our personnel over many years and were much loved by their handlers, who had an extremely strong bond with them."

Prince Williams has made no comment. At home, he and Kate spend their lives with Lupo, a black Cocker Spaniel.

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Town Forces Retired Cop to Give Up His Pit Bull Mix Service Dog

Jim Sak and his dog, Snickers, who now has to live in a kennel outside town (Photo via Chicago Sun-Times)

A small Iowa town has forced a retired Chicago cop and Vietnam veteran to part with the service dog who was helping him cope with a profound stroke that left him with no feeling on the right half of his body.

If he hadn’t sent 5-year-old Snickers to a kennel just outside town, the leaders of Aurelia, Iowa could have taken the dog away and destroyed him. The town fathers had reportedly threatened this, and Jim Sak could not take the chance with this dog who is everything to him.

The dog’s crime? He is a pit-bull mix. It seems Aurelia – a town whose motto is “savor the sweet life” – banned the breed in 2008 after a pit bull bit a meter reader.

Sak wasn’t here then. He and his wife recently moved to her home town of 1,100 people so they could be closer to his ailing mother-in-law. But Sak learned that there are no exceptions. Sak even brought his plea to keep his dog before the Aurelia town council, but they turned him down.

“I was a policeman for 32 years. I understand there’s black and white, but there’s also a grey area where you have to use your head. They’re not using their heads…I can’t believe they didn’t even try to talk to us. They just said, ‘No. You’re not having him. He’s outlawed in this town,’ ” Sak said in an article in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Without the dog, Sak’s mother-in-law – the very person Sak moved here to help – has to help him out. Snickers has been of invaluable help to Sak since his stroke. “I have spasms on my right side where the leg gives out whenever I get upset or try to do too much,” he said. “When Snickers sees that my hand is moving, he sits down by me right away and waits for me to tell him what to do. Usually, he goes to get my wife so she can help me get back in the chair. Without him, I feel lost.”

Peggy Sak, Jim Sak’s wife, said the demand to get rid of the dog was sudden, and that it has left them worried sick about the dog. “They called us to a city council meeting Dec. 14 and voted 3 to 2 to make no exceptions. I had to get him out of the house by the next day. That dog has never been away from us a night in his life. He’s the sweetest, most good-natured dog you’d ever want to meet,” Peggy Sak said.

“I left the meeting and threw up on the street outside the place. I can’t stop crying. Jim, being the Chicago cop, is stoic, but very depressed. It’s terrible. I’m afraid to leave him. My mother is now helping take care of Jim because the dog isn’t here to help him.”

She said she is “appalled and embarrassed by the town I grew up in…They have made our lives a living hell since we got here.”

Wow. Is it just me, or if Snickers is a bonafide service dog, doesn’t this fly in the face of the Americans with Disabilities Act bigtime? The ADA says service dogs can be of any breed, from what I know.

The Animal Farm Foundation, whose goal is to secure equal treatment for bully breeds, has hired a lawyer to represent the Saks. The group is also paying for Snickers’ board at the kennel.

“It’s about the injustice of this man having his service dog taken away — this man who is a Vietnam War veteran and a retired Chicago Police officer who has always given back to the community,” said executive director Stacy Coleman.

“This town has taken away this man’s independence, his peace of mind, and his freedom to move about his house, go out in public and keep from having to go to a nursing home with 24-hour care. He’s physically in danger without his dog.”

Aurelia’s website says “Aurelia offers something for everyone!” Apparently everyone but war veterans and retired cops with strokes.

Dogsters, what do you think? Do you have to investigate a town’s rules these days before moving in with a bully breed or bully mix? What would you do if this happened to you? If anyone knows about the ADA in relation to service dog breeds, please give us the facts.

(Sources: Chicago Sun-Times, Animal Farm Foundation, town of Aurelia website)

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China City Bans Dogs, Forces Owners to Part with Best Friends

Photos from an earlier "culling" of dogs in China. Here a woman begs "animal cops" to spare her beloved dog in Beijing in 2006, before the Olympics. (Photos: Reuters, via sirius.2kat.net)

Dogsters, how would you like it if your city or town found dogs to be too dirty and too much of a health hazard, and forced you to give up your dog?

Sure, your city has set up a 13-acre center in a rural area where you can leave your dog off forever in hopes he will be one day adopted by a rural family – if the government can get that program off the ground. Oh, and if your dog isn’t so healthy? Don’t worry about the government going broke on veterinary care. Your dog will be killed.

This is the situation facing thousands of dog owners in Jiangmen, a port city of nearly four million people in Guangdong province of China. According to the China Daily, between August 10 and 25 dog owners must “resettle” their dogs. Starting August 26, a “cleanup” campaign will confiscate any remaining dogs.

“We do not want to kill all the dogs in the city’s urban areas, but we want to create a better environment for the city by banning dogs,” a government spokesman said in the China Daily.

Realizing she won't win, she gives her beloved dog one final embrace

Despite so many people in China adopting a Western attitude toward dogs and keeping them as companions, this is still a country where dogs are looked upon by many as meat, especially southern China. Last month 15,000 dogs were slaughtered for a food festival in this area.

In addition, Maoist propaganda stating that dogs were trained by Westerners to attack Chinese have made many older Chinese fearful of dogs. Some cities, including Shanghai, have implemented a one-dog policy to limit the number of paws in public. And rabies has been on the increase, creating even more fear.

So the setting is ripe for a situation that will rip dogs and owners apart in the Guangdong province.

A tragic situation too many people in China have faced and will continue to face

I feel so sorry for the dog lovers of Jiangmen. How about you, Dogsters? As I asked earlier, what if this happened in your own town? What would you do? To what lengths would you go to keep your dog at your side?

If it were to happen here in San Francisco (one of the most dog-friendly cities in the world, so not likely), I would take my dog away somewhere and get out of the murderous clutches of the local government. If that meant giving up my work and uprooting the family, I would do that before giving up Jake to the authorities. But it’s probably not so “easy” to do this in China.

(Sources: The Telegraph, CRIEnglish.com)

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Anxious Dog Forces Jet to Make Emergency Landing

A Manchester terrier who did not cause terror in the skies

A dog whose sedative wore off during a flight from Newark to Phoenix took the plane by storm and bit two people, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Pittsburgh, reports AP, and doubtless causing a number of scowls from delayed passengers.

If Mandy had been a human, her behavior on US Airways Flight 522 would probably have landed her in prison, and she’d be looking for a good lawyer right now. Fortunately, Mandy is just a 12-pound Manchester terrier, beloved by her 89-year-old owner, who was traveling with her. No charges have been filed, and the two were allowed to get on a different flight to Phoenix once the dust settled.

The trouble started when Mandy’s tranquilizer failed to keep her calm for long (Newark to Pittsburgh is not exactly a trans-world trip). A fellow passenger trying to help calm Mandy down reached into the dog’s airline-approved carrier. Mandy bit the passenger, and then escaped, running down the plane’s aisle. A flight attendant tried to pick her up, and Mandy bit the attendant, too.

The bites weren’t serious, but AP reports that “as a precaution,” the pilot landed the plane at the closest airport. Precaution against what? I imagine someone caught the rattled pooch and stuck her back in her carrier. Or was Mandy running loose and crazy the whole time, like a mini Kujo 35,000 feet above ground? Maybe the pilot wanted to make sure the bites weren’t serious. The passenger and flight attendant were checked out in Pittsburgh and boarded the plane again — unlike the dog and her woman.

Will Mandy end up on the Do Not Fly list? Probably not. Will her owner be looking forward to their next plane trip together? Also highly unlikely.

The worst thing about this story is that since I first saw it a couple of hours ago, I can’t get the Barry Manilow tune, Mandy, out of my head. Here, join the club:

The lyric at around 1:01 could have been sung by the airplane’s pilot. “Oh Mandy, well you came and you gave (bites) without taking. And I sent you away. Oh Mandy…”

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