Friends and Family Use Social Media to Fight for Phineas the Dog's Life

The death-row Labrador, accused of biting a girl, went missing days before an appeal hearing.

Amber and Patrick Sanders have been fighting for 16 months to save their yellow Labrador, Phineas, from being euthanized. Mayor Gary Brown of Salem, Missouri, declared Phineas to be "vicious" after the dog was accused of biting 7-year-old Kendall Woolman in June 2012 while she was visiting for a play date. On Thursday, Oct. 17, the Sanders had a hearing before the Missouri Court of Appeals, and brought a dog-bite expert to testify that the teeth marks on the girl's skin couldn't have been made by a dog. The judge is expected to bring a verdict within a week, but the decision might be moot at this point: the Saturday before the long-awaited hearing, Phineas disappeared from the veterinary office where he was being held.

The question of whether Phineas lives or dies has brought up a lot of bad blood in the town of 5,000. There have been allegations of threats and abuse on both sides, and one woman was charged with third-degree assault and harassment for allegedly threatening Wayna Woolman, the mother of the girl who was bitten. Woolman told a local reporter, "My life and my family's life have been turned upside down because of threats from Phineas supporters." The mayor, who made the original decision to have Phineas put down as "vicious," also says he's been threatened. Patrick Sanders says that although his family hasn't been threatened, friends of theirs have.

Phineas has become a cause célebrè with dog lovers far beyond Missouri. He has his own website, Facebook page, a Twitter account, and a Change.org petition that has garnered 75,000 signatures. There is virtually no part of the social web that the Sanders family has not used to spread the word about their dog.

Jim Crosby, an expert on dog bites and canine aggression, testified that the bite marks left on the Woolman girl's skin were the wrong size and shape to have been made by Phineas. Crosby used a canine skull and jawbone to show how the long canines would have punctured the skin before the front teeth even made a mark.

The immediate assumption after Phineas disappeared was that his abductors killed him. Even the family's own lawyer, Joe Simon, told the press that "there's a 95 percent chance the dog is dead." However, on Saturday, Sanders family members announced on the Save Phineas Facebook page that they'd received a letter signed "Friend of Phineas," from someone claiming to have taken the dog. The letter is in part a manifesto about animal rights and vegetarianism. It concludes:

Help one friend like Phineas every chance you get.

Thanks for all you do for our fellow earthlings. And shame to the selfish.

If I were on death row I wouldn't want my fate in the hands of a judge. So Phineas is now safe and happy playing with friends.

More to come -- Friend of Phineas

Now on their second attempt to have the mayor's kill order overturned, the Sanders family is obviously hoping that the letter is genuine. However, there aren't any photos or other evidence of its authenticity, or at least none that have been made public. For now, all anyone can do is wait: not only for the court's decision, but also to find out whether someone has made that decision irrelevant.

Via: Fox2Now

View the original article here

Britons: Your country needs you…and your furry friends!

Is anyone else a bit gutted that the last episode of Animal Heroes is on Tuesday? This fantastic documentary series follows the lives of animals and their handlers in the armed forces, providing an in-depth look at the experiences of the incredible animals that work hard to keep our country safe.

Literally covering a lot of ground, the series has been everywhere from the battlefields of Afghanistan to the Parade Grounds of London whilst following the journey of 16 young hopefuls as they endeavour to prove themselves capable Protection Dog Handlers on a challenging ten-work course.

There have been two episodes so far and while your last chance to see these working dogs in action will be on Tuesday 18 June the sponsor of the series, Churchill Insurance, is ensuring these remarkable working animals stay in the spotlight a little longer by offering four lucky competition winners the chance to attend a Dog Boot Camp run by former RAF Police Dog Handler John Fitzpatrick.

Four dogs and their owners will be given the exciting opportunity to attend this unique dog boot camp from Churchill in September, where expert trainers will put pooches through their paces to see if they’ve got what it takes to succeed in the military.

Dogs will be treated to expert agility training and will receive a lesson in ‘petiquette’ while owners will learn about the methods used to train animals in the military. They will then be given the opportunity to test out their newly-acquired skills with victors awarded with a prestigious doggy distinction!

So how do you go about entering the competition? Give the five tutorial videos on the Churchill website a watch, choose which exercise you want to teach your pup and get practicing! Plenty of treats, toys and cuddles later and when you think you’ve nailed it, record your dog in action and upload it to the site.

Four winners will be decided by a public vote and will be sent off to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in Old Windsor in September for their prize.

Applications are open from 1 June to 11.59pm on 14 July 2013.

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

The Hero Dog Awards Honors America's Best Friends

The American Humane Association honored eight dogs at its awards gala hosted by Kristin Chenoweth.

Last night (Nov. 8), the American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards finally aired on the Hallmark Channel. (The event took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Oct. 6.) It was a star-studded affair -- or so we imagine. Our cable plan is apparently one that does not offer the Hallmark Channel, a fact we realized far too late to do us any good.

Anyway.

We know it was a great night, because Kristin Chenoweth was the host, and she brought her Maltese, Madeline Kahn Chenoweth, along for the ride. Imagine them up there on the stage -- we had to, Time Warner.

Here's a bit of what went down on the red carpet, via YouTube:

The Hero Dog Awards is a national competition that recognizes "ordinary dogs who do extraordinary things," according to the organization's site, "whether it’s saving lives on the battlefield, lending sight or hearing to a human companion, or simply the tail-wagging welcome a pet owner relishes at the end of a hard day."

Winners in eight categories were selected by the public from a pool of more than 350 contestants. Those winners were flown to the show to be feted by celebrities, serenaded by Jewel, nuzzled by Chenoweth, doted over by Betty White, and subsequently watched by America (at least, those of you who get the Hallmark Channel). Out of those eight winners, one dog was picked to reign supreme for the night as the 2012 American Dog Hero.

Here are those eight winners:

Daniel, a Beagle who survived a gas chamber in Alabama.Tatiana, a hearing dog who suddenly transformed into an asthma dog one night when her owner had a severe attack.Tabitha, a guide dog who helped her person regain confidence and go back to college.Stella, a therapy dog who volunteered at Richmond Community Services and comforted people with developmental disabilities and critical health problems.Soot, an "air scent, scent discriminating, certified search and rescue dog" who found a lost, 78-year-old hunter in the woods.Jynx, a K-9 police dog who saved the lives of his fellow officers in the field. Holly, a seizure alert and response service dog who raises money for charity with her owner.Gabe, a military dog with "210 combat missions with 26 finds of explosives and weapons" while deployed in Iraq.

Who was the night's big winner, landing the 2012 American Dog Hero award? The military dog Gabe, who appeared with his handler, Sgt. 1st Class Charles Shuck. Here's his story:

"Him going out there, searching for the explosives and finding them," Shuck said, according to Zap2it, "he does not know that he potentially can die. He goes out and smells for this bad stuff, and if he finds it, he gets his ball, his reward."

Shuck added, "I want the world to know what military working dogs are. They are so valuable on the battlefield, and they need the support of the American people."

Congratulations to all the winners, and to the 2012 American Dog Hero Gabe!

Photo via the Hallmark Channel's Facebook

View the original article here

Frenchie Makes Friends with Police Horse at Occupy Wall Street

This little French Bulldog is so excited about meeting a mellow police horse at Occupy Wall Street that she inhales the horse’s breath and spins in quick circles. She’s positively beaming, too. Meanwhile, the horse looks like a most patient friend. She is nearly as curious about the dog as he is about her, but fortunately she does not spin. (At least, I think they’re both shes. I did not inspect their belly sides for the length of the video, so unless I hear otherwise, they’re girls.) (Update: Reader Amy patiently waited and saw the horse’s gender clearly when he turned around at 2:01. Yes, very clearly, a “he.” Sorry for not realizing this earlier, big fella!)

View the original article here

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)

View the original article here

Fun Videos of Donkey and Dog Friends

Aww, Easter the Donkey and Chopper the Dog are good friends who chase each other around bucolic fields with birds singing in the background. Check out their videos below. Some people on YouTube have commented that something cruel is going on, but these guys really are pals. When I was growing up, we lived near a family with a donkey and some dogs, and they were all good friends. It can happen. Watch!

Some YouTubers say Easter could use a fence, but it doesn’t look like he has such a bad life. Thanks to my blog buddy Neil, over at Life With Dogs, for sniffing this one out!

View the original article here

Ultimate Loyalty: Japanese Dog Won’t Leave Ailing Friend’s Side in Rubble

This video of a frightened, shivering dog guarding her fallen friend in the wreckage that was once her home is utterly heartwrenching. She clearly wants the comfort of human camera team, but is more intent on staying with her badly injured canine companion. The video (below) is short and simple, but it gets you to feel the heart of the devastation almost instantly. (An English translation follows at the end of the post, if you’re interested.)

The good news is that these two dogs have been rescued, according to a report on Yahoo News They’re both “receiving veterinary care; the more seriously wounded dog is at a clinic in the city of Mito, while the protective spaniel-type dog is receiving care at a shelter in the same town,” the report says. It would sure be great if they could be reunited as soon as possible.

Meanwhile there must be thousands of other dogs and other pets who are frightened and homeless and injured in this part of Japan. Rescue efforts are underway, and you can help from the safety of your own home. This excellent Global Animal page lists and describes vetted organizations that are going to the aid of these poor pets. They are going to need a great deal of aid in the coming months. Please consider helping them save dogs like the ones in this video.

Here is an English translation of the voiceover exchange between the two reporters in the clip (translation courtesy of Toshiyuki Kitamura, via Yahoo News):

We are in Arahama area. Looks like there is a dog. There is a dog. He looks tired and dirty. He must have been caught in the tsunami. He looks very dirty.

He has a collar. He must be someone’s pet. He has a silver collar. He is shaking. He seems very afraid.

Oh, there is another dog. I wonder if he is dead.

Where?

Right there. There is another dog right next to the one sitting down. He is not moving. I wonder. I wonder if he is alright.

The dog is protecting him.

Yes. He is protecting the dog. That is why he did not want us to approach them. He was trying to keep us at bay.

I can’t watch this. This is a very difficult to watch.

Oh. Look. He is moving. He is alive. I am so happy to see that he is alive.

Yes! Yes! He is alive.

He looks to be weakened. We need to them to be rescued soon. We really want them rescued soon.

Oh good. He’s getting up.

It is amazing how they survived the tremendous earthquake and tsunami. It’s just amazing that they survived through this all.

View the original article here