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.

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Stowaway Dog Nearly Died, Now Needs Good Home

Homeless Carolina stowed away in a truck for two days and almost died from dehydration, but is now looking for a forever home

A dog who somehow stowed away in a truck in South Carolina and was stuck in the uncooled trailer for 48 hours should have – by all accounts – died as a result of the journey. The temperatures outside were roasting, and were worse in the trailer.

When the truck finally opened its trailer doors in a warehouse in Lawrenceville, GA, the dog stumbled out, nearly dead from dehydration. She hid in a tiny niche of the warehouse as workers tried to help her. Animal control arrived hours later, and said they thought she’d have to be put down because she was so close to death. Warehouse staffers were pretty upset, because they had grown attached to her during the ordeal.

But the dog didn’t die. Vets have nursed the 4-year-old Shepherd mix back to health, and say she is a super sweet dog who is quickly learning housetraining and basic commands. They’ve named her Carolina, per her state of origin. In about a week, she’ll be able to be adopted to a great forever home.

Interested in adopting Carolina? Call the Gwinnett County Animal Shelter at 770-339-3200. (Press 0 for faster service; I phoned this morning, and alas, they are not open Monday. If you are interested in her or any other doggies, please make a note to try again Tuesday.) They’ve got some other great critters there, too, in case a warehouse worker or some other lucky human gets her first. This is their page of dogs who really need homes now.

(This one particular fella really caught my eye. He’s an overweight chocolate lab mix, looks to be an older fellow, with the sweetest face. His description says he was found stray, which is astounding judging by his size. If he were in the San Francisco area, I’d be filling out the adoption papers right now, and he’d have a home right alongside Jake. He’d drop the pounds – Jake has done it, and can share his experiences – and have a life full of love and walks. I can’t do it, but maybe someone in that part of Georgia can? Let the dog blog know if you do, OK? His face haunted me since writing about him last night.)

Back to our stowaway: I wonder what Carolina’s backstory is? What was her life like before she ended up in the truck? (By the looks of her photo and the video below, she had had puppies not too long ago.) Did she ever have a home? How did she end up in the truck? Maybe she hoped it would take her away from “all of this,” or maybe she sniffed out a few crumbs. It’s times like this that you wish dogs could talk – at least for a while.

Sources: 11Alive, Atlanta Journal Constitution

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Special Needs Pet of the Week: Chickie

Hi all! We recently discovered the Joyful Paws blog run by Barbara Techel, author of the Frankie the Walk 'N Roll Dog book series. Barbara has a soft spot for wheelchair-bound pups and dogs with disabilities in general and often runs interviews featuring special needs pets and their owners. She has graciously allowed us to re-post these wonderfully sweet Q and As here on our For the Love of Dog Blog, so you'll be seeing them here now and again. --Janine Kahn, Managing Editor of Dogster

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What is your pet's name?

Chickie

How old is your pet?

Approximately 13 years old.

Where did you get your pet?

We took her out of a bad situation after a friend called us about her needing rescue.

What is your pet's physical challenge?

IVDD (Inter-Vertebral Disc Disease). Her back legs are paralyzed and she requires a cart to be mobile. Chickie does have bowel control but requires her bladder to be expressed several times a day and is diagnosed with chronic UTI, which we monitor daily. Chickie did not always have IVDD, it came one day and even though she has had surgery, she never got the use of her hind legs again.

What is your pet's favorite thing to do?

She loves to "boogie," which is the code word we ask her if she wants to get in her cart and join the others.

What is your pet's favorite thing to eat?

Anything and everything! We are talking about a Dachshund here!

What do you love most about your pet?

I can get her all set up in the chair with me and she starts to look around the room for one of her toys and I have to get them all one at a time until she decides which one she wants. It’s usually one of the last ones I bring. I often tell her she is "a ghra mo chroi," which is Irish for "love of my heart."

What has your pet most taught you?

Commitment. We knew we were going to do whatever we had to do to give Chickie a decent quality of life. We have also learned how intelligent they can be when worked with. Oh, also how to clean up poop.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Chickie actually named herself. When we first got her she would follow my wife around always wanting to be picked up and held. So one day BJ picked up Pepper and asked her if she was ‘my little chick-a-dee’? Well, she got all excited so BJ asked her again and the same reaction! So that name stuck and she has been Chickie ever since that day. Chickie is also one of many little ambassadors for Dodgerslist, a website and support group for people with pets that suffer from IVDD. We incorporate her cart into her costumes to bring attention to her disability and show that many handicapped pets can have a decent quality of life. Many people remember her and tell us they look forward to what costume she will be wearing each Halloween.

Keep on rollin', Chickie!

P.S. If you care for a special needs pet and would like your pet featured, please email Barbara through her website. Send a photo and she will forward the questionnaire for your pet to be featured in an upcoming post.

View the original article here

Faith needs — and gets — a stable environment

It’s no surprise that many people are caught off-guard when their children enter adolescence. While it’s certainly normal for teenagers to behave as if their bodies have been invaded by aliens, it doesn’t make living with teens any easier for their parents. While no doubt many parents muse on the possibilities of military school for their obnoxious offspring, the vast majority deal with this often difficult time as best they can, muttering “this, too, shall pass” under their breath while dealing with the routine challenges of adolescence.

The same is true of most dog-owners as well, of course. Many dogs go through a difficult adolescence, one that that strains the bonds and — if the supply of young adult dogs in shelters is any indication — occasionally breaks them as well. Adolescent dogs, like adolescent children, are often impulsive, thoughtless, rude, destructive, hyperactive and prone to shifting gears with little warning. Oh yes, and they can also be sweet, attentive and loving.

You can have faith that I know all about this. Because of … Faith.

Faith is a handful, to say the least. And she actually did go to “military school” — to her co-breeder’s training facility in Texas, while I was on the book tour — and came back not that much different from when she left. On the plus side, she now understands that “here” and “fetch” are not suggestions but words meant to be followed by actions. On the negative side, she still thinks the table on the back patio is there to allow her a better look inside the back window when I put her out, and that underwear is something most fun when shared with company. And she still goes from 0 to 60 in .5 seconds.

She’s not a bad dog, by any means. Just a big ol’ bag o’ adolescent crazy beans. What she needs, I know, is exercise (daily), training (more, regularly) and patience (mine, unending).

The exercise she’s getting, in exhausting daily doses, from a source I wouldn’t have imagined two weeks ago: A horse named Duke.

Duke is the horse I’m now leasing, a sweet 21-year-old gelding who has seen it all and done it twice. He has taught countless beginners to ride and worked as a summer camp horse as well. He’s a nondescript brown Appendix (or, if you prefer, a quarterhorse-thoroughbred cross) who greets everyone as if she has a carrot in her pocket (for which he will check). His current owner jumped into ownership after a few lessons convinced him he loved riding. He bought Duke after the woman who was giving him lessons looked around for an older, near-”bomb-proof” horse and found Duke in need of a new home.

For the last year or more I’ve been looking around on my own for a horse like Duke, not to buy but to lease.  I’ve looked at a half-dozen horses, maybe more, but until Duke not one was the right fit for me, in one way or another. But I knew that leasing (either full-time or half) is a great way to get into riding, or back into riding, as in my case. So I kept looking until last week, when … I met Duke.

Duke’s in a fantastic little barn just south of the University of California, Davis, on a quiet, set-back piece of property surrounded by miles of protected farmland. With light traffic, I can get to the stable in 20 minutes, and I plan my trips to the barn for the off-peak times to avoid the crush of commuters. The lease works for Duke’s owner because he has a work project that’s making it hard to find any time for Duke, much less get out after work to care for him daily. So I’ve got a horse for the next three months, and then … we’ll go from there. Chances are Duke’s owner will want to have him back full time, or share him 50/50, but who knows? Sometimes leases turn into buys, but either way you get to try the horse without committing for life.

I’m finishing my first week with Duke, and it’ll be another week and change before I tack him up and ride on my own. I wanted to start by taking care of him, by going out just after dawn and taking him from his stall and turning him loose on pasture while I cleaned his stall, dumped the old shavings and manure and then put down fresh shavings.  I wanted to spend time grooming him, fussing over him and giving him treats, and working in the round pen on his responsiveness to me.  Yes, I’m anxious to ride, but I’m more interested in laying a good foundation for our future partnership. I want us both to feel comfortable with each other.

Everything is going according to plan, with the added bonus of how good Duke is with Faith.

The second day out to the barn, I brought Faith, intending to leave her in the truck until I was done with Duke, then walk her around the stable on leash to see her reactions. She was so good on Day One that  I let her drag a long line for a couple of days. When she continued to impress with her good manners,  I let her off-leash and was delighted to see her react calmly to her surroundings, which aren’t really that strange since she spent the last four months on a cattle ranch, and previously stayed on a friend’s farm visiting with the horse there. She has not bothered any horse, has greeted people and other dogs with a wagging tail and has responded to every request for “here” and “heel” promptly and enthusiastically.

Best of all, Faith has come back  home every day exhausted, which is about the best thing an adolescent dog can be. When I start riding, she’ll be going with me, since the farm roads  behind the barn are far from any traffic and she is built to cover distance in a smooth, effortless trot.

I expect a good summer for us all … me, Faith and our new pal, Duke.

(Top: Faith, exhausted. Above: Duke, unimpressed.)

View the original article here

Blind Dog Needs New Home, Comes With Own Guide Dog

Blind Zac (right), and his faithful guide dog, Lilli. (Photo: SWNS.com via the Daily Mail)

A blind Jack Russell terrier mix in England is looking for a new home after his owner had to move to another country and couldn’t take him with her. But whoever adopts him needs to have room in their hearts and home for two dogs — the blind dog, Zac, and his very own guide dog, Lilli.

The dogs, both 10 years old, have been best of friends since they were taken in as young strays nearly a decade ago. (They look like siblings, actually.) And when Zac had to have both eyes removed because of an infection six years ago, Lilli voluntarily became his eyes.

The two are almost inseparable, reports the Daily Mail. Zac is completely dependent on Lilli, and Lilli doesn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, when Zac gets disoriented, confused, or tired, Lilli even lets him rest his head on her. Sarah Russell, of the Blue Cross Centre (animal rescue) in Tiverton, Devon, told the Mail:

“They…seem to have an almost telepathic understanding, which is quite amazing to see.

‘Zak sniffs and smells Lilli and stays close to her so he can tell which way to go when they are out and about.

“She provides reassurance for him and actually physically guides him by nudging him in the right direction when he loses his way. Lilli stays by his side all the time and is very patient.

“She obviously knows he is different to the other dogs and is careful to walk round him and not knock into him too much.”

Shelter workers say Zac is a happy, affectionate dog who loves attention. He and Lilli sure are a dear pair. It’s doubtful they’ll have a hard time getting placed together, especially now that they’re getting publicity.

A similar story unfolded last week in Albuquerque, N.M., when Rhett, a blind miniature pinscher, and Scarlett, his Chihuahua mix self-appointed guide dog, were up for adoption together. Scarlett wears a bell to guide him along through his day. The two have been adopted by a nurse who has had previous experience caring for blind dogs.

Dogs sure are amazing people…

Blind pooch comes with own guide dog: krqe.com

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Pit Bull-Lab Mix Rescues Blind Old Dog; Hero Needs a Home

Nala has spent far too long in the shelter. Maybe her heroism will help get her a home of her own.

Nala, a black pit bull-lab mix, has been living at the Humane Society of Redmond (Oregon) since April, with no luck finding a forever home. She has three strikes against her, as far as rapid adoptions go: She’s black, she’s part pit, and she’s a little older — between five and seven years old. But she’s a sweetie. And she just became a genuine hero.

On a walk with shelter volunteer Allen Borland, she refused to continue, contrary to her usually easygoing nature. She finally was able to drag him to a ditch 200 yards away, where they found a dog who wasn’t moving. Borland thought the dog was dead, but then he saw the dog move slightly.. He and a shelter worker rescued the dog, who turned out to be a very dirty, ice-ball-covered cocker spaniel who was 10 years old and blind. Coincidentally the dog, named Chadwick, had been adopted from the shelter a month earlier. It turns out he had escaped from his home a week earlier.

Nala saved Chadwick’s life. A few other dogs had been walked by that very spot earlier, but no one had the reaction Nala did.

“Nala is a big hero — she deserves all this credit. I would have never looked into that ditch if it hadn’t been for her dragging me to it,” Borland said.

Feel like adopting a very deserving dog this holiday season? You could do no better than to knock on Nala’s door. She’s been waiting a long time.

Check out a video of her at the KOHD website. (It’s not embeddable, or you’d be able to see it from the dog blog.)

View the original article here

Pit Bull-Lab Mix Rescues Blind Old Dog; Hero Needs a Home

Nala has spent far too long in the shelter. Maybe her heroism will help get her a home of her own.

Nala, a black pit bull-lab mix, has been living at the Humane Society of Redmond (Oregon) since April, with no luck finding a forever home. She has three strikes against her, as far as rapid adoptions go: She’s black, she’s part pit, and she’s a little older — between five and seven years old. But she’s a sweetie. And she just became a genuine hero.

On a walk with shelter volunteer Allen Borland, she refused to continue, contrary to her usually easygoing nature. She finally was able to drag him to a ditch 200 yards away, where they found a dog who wasn’t moving. Borland thought the dog was dead, but then he saw the dog move slightly.. He and a shelter worker rescued the dog, who turned out to be a very dirty, ice-ball-covered cocker spaniel who was 10 years old and blind. Coincidentally the dog, named Chadwick, had been adopted from the shelter a month earlier. It turns out he had escaped from his home a week earlier.

Nala saved Chadwick’s life. A few other dogs had been walked by that very spot earlier, but no one had the reaction Nala did.

“Nala is a big hero — she deserves all this credit. I would have never looked into that ditch if it hadn’t been for her dragging me to it,” Borland said.

Feel like adopting a very deserving dog this holiday season? You could do no better than to knock on Nala’s door. She’s been waiting a long time.

Check out a video of her at the KOHD website. (It’s not embeddable, or you’d be able to see it from the dog blog.)

View the original article here