Make a homemade Halloween costume for your dog!

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Wellness Dry Dog Food and Charlee Bear Dog Treats Announce Recalls

In unrelated recalls, Wellness and Charlee Bear both take products off store shelves over Salmonella fears.

Charlee Bear Products announced the company is voluntarily recalling certain lots of Protein Crunch Bar products due to Salmonella fears. The recall went into affect after a sample tested positive for Salmonella.

The recall affects two flavors in the 5.5-oz package size, which were distributed nationally in September and October 2012.

The first, Chicken Recipe with Carrots, has UPC Code: 8710890000 and includes these lot numbers:

Lot number 19812;  Best by date: 07-16-2015;Lot number 19912; Best by date: 07-17-2015Lot number 20012; Best by date: 07-18-2015Lot number 20212; Best by date: 07-20-2015

The second, Chicken Recipe with Sweet Potatoes, has UPC Code 8710890001 and includes just a single lot number:

Lot number 20112; Best by date: 07-19-2015

To contact the company, call (800) 396-8893 or email info@charleebear.com.

Next up with a recall is Wellpet, which posted on its Wellness Facebook page that a "small amount" of Small Breed Adult Health Dry Dog Food (12 pound) with the Best By date of August 18, 2013, did not meet the company's "high standards."

The company found a higher moisture content in the product, which has the potential to cause mold before its expiration date.

To contact Wellness, call (800) 225-0904.

If you suspect your pet is infected with Salmonella from either of these recalls, watch for the warning signs, via the FDA:

Pets with Salmonella infections may have decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, pets may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever and vomiting. 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.

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Kate Gosselin Is Not on the Side of Pit Bulls

Jon's girlfriend, Liz Jannetta, simply posted a pic of a Gosselin boy nuzzling with a caring Pit Bull on Twitter. Then came Kate's comebacks.

Did you know that if you post a picture of Jon and Kate Gosselin's kids frolicking with dogs on Twitter, your followers will FREAK OUT?

Caveat: Your followers have to be lunatics. 

Last week, Liz Jannetta, who is the girlfriend of Jon Gosselin -- what, you didn't know? -- tweeted a photo of one of the Gosselin tribe kissing a hugging a dog. The dog was not attacking the child. The dog was kissing and nuzzling the boy. The dog is a Pit Bull, too. Here's the shot:

I know. Aww. But some of Liz's followers were not happy. Actually, mostly they were not happy about Liz tweeting a photo of Jon Gosselin's child, because she is not Kate Gosselin ... or something. Custody hearings via Twitter conversations are hard to follow. 

Eventually the photo made its way through the Internet to Kate. And Kate was not happy. Kate made her way to her computer, uprooting trees and spitting poison, and the Internet cowered, awaiting the blow. It came passive-aggressively, in which Kate retweeted some tweets about a web site dedicated to child victims of Pit Bull attacks.  

@JenWheeler @Kateplusmy8 Children who were victims of pit bulls Take a look & see why people care.http://walkforvictimsofpitbulls.blogspot.com

@Kateplusmy8 @OneMomsOpinion Pictures & stories of pit bull victims http://walkforvictimsofpitbulls.blogspot.com

You see, Kate was making a passive-agressive stab at Jon, like the time she saw his toothbrush on the floor behind the toilet and left it there all day, equating that nice photo of the boy and a dog with a site about dog attacks, the message being: Pit Bulls are dangerous dogs.

Which is a bad and irresponsible thing to do, like that time you put your family on a dumb show and everything blew up in you and your husband's fame-grubbing faces. 

If you don't know who Kate Gosselin is and have never used Twitter, I'm sorry for all this. 

Via Radar 

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Ugh, No: Usher Wins a Goldendoodle at Auction

Usher wins a $12,000 Goldendoodle at a charity auction. How many things are wrong with that sentence?

This weekend, at the Pencils of Promise gala in New York City, Usher bid $12,000 in a celebrity auction to take home an adorable and "coveted" Goldendoodle, beating Justin Bieber's manager and former Gossip Girl actress Jessica Szohr (Vanessa from Brooklyn), and everyone went home dumb and happy, according to US Weekly.

All well and good, right? Wrong.

Our biggest issue: Dogs should not be prizes in anything, even if people such as Usher and Justin Bieber's manager are involved -- especially if Justin Bieber's manager is involved.

Here's what Dogster writer Anneli Rufus had to say about puppies as prizes horrorshow on Toddlers and Tiaras, and it's just as valid here: "Excuse me, but randomly matching a dog with whoever happens to win? On how many levels is this wrong? Human-dog chemistry is almost as complex as human-human chemistry. Winning a puppy is like being forced to marry your blind date."

Next: a $12,000 Goldendoodle? So the $0 rescue dog you were going to save from a local shelter and give a great life to fell through, huh? Shoot, and all that great publicity you were going to get for your charity, Pencils of Promise -- a charity dedicated to educating children -- for doing the right thing and raising a rescue out of poverty is now going to get berated by someone from Dogster. Win some, lose some.

"We are proof that a generation empowered will empower the world," says Pencils and Promise founder on its website. Okay.

Finally, you had to go with a hybrid? If you weren't going to save the life of something, couldn't you have prevented another round of dumb fascination with designer dogs? Not that we dislike hybrids -- we dislike the cult of hybrids, which sends backyard breeders into fits of bad decision-making. We dislike celebrities such as Kim Kardashian buying a teacup Persian kitty and then sending the tweet “My new baby Mercy! #TeacupPersian,” making the phrase "teacup Persian" rocket up Google rankings and leading Phil from Arkansas to rejigger his backyard kitten-mill operation in the dead of night into something even more unholy.

To the charity's credit, though, Usher's Goldendoodle is freaking adorable. We hope he and his kids give the dog -- named Poppy Raymond (Usher names all his kids Raymond) -- a great life.

What do you think about charities auctioning hybrid dogs? Let us know in the comments! 

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51 Maltese Dogs Abandoned on a Country Road in Texas

A puppy mill operator's cowardly act nearly cost dozens of dogs their lives. Rescue is under way.

Police in Flower Mound, TX, received a call last month that "a large number of small dogs" were running loose beside a country road. Animal service officers were sent out, and they captured the dogs.

Fifty-one dogs, to be precise. All of them Maltese. They were in terrible hygienic condition, with "severely matted hair," and all were in poor health, with "issues ranging from staph infections to broken bones to cancer," according to Star Local News.

A video released later detailed those injuries, which included such horrors as a dislocated jaw, mammary tumors, tooth decay from eating urine-soaked food, a broken and dead tail, cauliflower ears, a deformed leg, nails grown into pads of their feet, and so on. The level of neglect surprised even veteran rescuers, according to the video. 

Who would dump 51 ailing and neglected Maltese? There's only one theory: a puppy mill operator. Though there is no specific breeder in mind, police suspect the dogs were abandoned due to a new Texas law requiring minimum care standards, inspection, and licensing of commercial breeders. There's a $6,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

Thanks to the efforts of Flower Mound Animal Services, who rescued the dogs with police, all of the dogs were placed in local rescue groups.

"It is always gratifying to see how the rescue community pulls together in these situations," said Stacy Smith of Flower Mound Animal Services. "It would have been difficult for any one group to provide the level of care and attention that these dogs required."

Smith said that nearly every dog needed extensive medical treatment, and most suffered from anxiety and fear issues. 

"The organizations who took these dogs on committed to a great deal of expense and rehabilitation," Smith said. "These are not dogs that were ready to be adopted out immediately. They needed a lot of work."

The rescue groups did that work, however, and yesterday Flower Mound Animal Services was happy to report that many of the Maltese have already been adopted. Others are still rehabilitating in foster homes. One Maltese, Audrey, gave birth the day she was rescued. Her puppies will never know the horrors of the puppy mill.

Smith wants people to think about these dogs when they consider buying a puppy from a store.

"These dogs spent their lives as the mothers and fathers of puppies you purchase in pet stores, online, or at trade days," she said. "They live their entire lives in filthy cages. A puppy purchased from one of those sources supports the puppy mill industry and this kind of cruelty. If you want to make sure you aren't contributing to it, adopt your next pet from a shelter."

We couldn't agree more.

Via Star Local News

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Introducing Ferris! (Or: Why I suck)

Posted on 05. Oct, 2011 by Keri in Dog Bliss News

Hi. I’m back. And with good news.

Introducing Ferris! He’s my 18-week-old Pomeranian puppy.

There’s so much to say about this. Such a whirlwind of emotions: Joy, nostalgia, guilt, amusement, frustration… And that was just in the last 20 minutes. So much has changed for me since I lost Bliss and even since the last time I wrote on this blog. My life doesn’t resemble what it did before. Not to get into too much detail and make everyone all uncomfortable and squirmy (don’t you hate it when you ask people how they are and they actually tell you how they are?), but seriously, almost everything has changed since I posted in July of last year.

But back to Ferris. After 20 months, I finally decided I was ready for a new dog, and debated whether or not I wanted another Keeshond. I love the breed. Bliss was everything I wanted in a dog and more. But there were a couple of issues. First, at 30-50 pounds, a Keeshond would be too large for the small place I’m renting, and second (and more importantly), I didn’t want to try to replace Bliss.

I’d considered a Pomeranian before I found Bliss, and revisited that idea. After meeting several, I found a little guy who met what I wanted in my next dog but whose size, color (he’ll get redder with his adult coat), and gender would be far enough removed from Bliss to help avoid comparison. I brought him home last week.

And here’s where I get honest with y’all (because if I can’t be honest, why bother writing?). It’s been a bit of a struggle.

Ferris is freaking adorable. He’s smart, bouncy, active, and alert. I chose him because although he was initially a little aloof, when I picked him up he nuzzled under my chin and gave me little doggy kisses. I saw how he acted with his owners (playful and attentive) and I knew that with socialization, he’d come out of his shell a little. But although he can be affectionate, now that I know him it’s not necessarily how I’d first characterize him. “Feisty” would be a better word.

I began to get concerned when I saw a couple of instances of resource guarding. He only did it twice, but of course, my mind unfairly harkened back to Bliss whom we could never get to growl outside of playtime. This little dude at 17 weeks was already doing it. Family and friends told me it’s just a “puppy thing,” but I know better. This is the kind of thing that can escalate quickly and become a real problem later. In our first vet visit, I brought it up. Although he was gold with the vet, an assistant abruptly stuck her head in the room and Ferris started growling and barking.

“Yeah,” the vet said, “you may have an aggression problem here. This is going to need constant attention, and probably an individual trainer.” She went on in that manner until she saw my crestfallen face and stopped, saying, “I’m sorry. Probably not what you wanted to hear.” It wasn’t, especially on that day (again with the personal things, but just know that date was significant and hurtful). I took Ferris back to my car and bawled until I damn near dehydrated.

I already had a training class scheduled, but thought a trainer visit couldn’t hurt. She came over on Sunday and evaluated Ferris. She didn’t see the same thing the vet did. “Well, resource guarding isn’t great,” she said, “but it’s early enough to deal with. I don’t see aggression. He’s a pretty independent little guy, and he’s never going to be a dopey, wiggly-with-strangers type. But he may get more outgoing with socialization.” I was okay with that.

But here’s the thing. Here’s the really honest, I-suck-as-a-human-being kind of thing. I haven’t really bonded with Ferris yet. I enjoy him, I think he’s adorable, but… But. I knew he wasn’t going to be Bliss, but then… you know… he wasn’t. Bliss was pure sweetness through and through. Ferris is sharp and wily. Bliss just wanted to be near me. Ferris wants to see how much he can get away with. Bliss needed me. Ferris needs what I give him. I play with him, I give him tons of affection, we’ve begun training, and I’ve gone above and beyond what a puppy needs. But it just doesn’t feel the same.

And it’s so unfair to Ferris. So, so, so unfair. Bliss had the advantage of following a real problem dog (he was neurologically impaired, had seizures starting at 11 weeks, was aggressive, and died at 2 years old), so anything she did was an improvement. And her sweet nature was so irresistible I bonded with her instantly. Ferris looks sweet, but he’s actually kind of edgy. He’s just a little harder to connect with.

But then after some significant soul-searching I realized I’ve put way too much pressure on the dude. Not only did I expect him to be Bliss (yes I did), but Bliss without all of her own set of faults. I also expected him to take care of everything else that’s going on in my life and make me instantly happy. Because if a puppy can’t make me happy, what can, right? Wow. That’s a huge burden for a 4-pound puppy.

So I’m giving him (and myself) a break. We’re working on what we can work on now, and I’m forgiving myself for feeling the way I do. I’m celebrating his victories and his differences, and trusting that all good things take time. Amazing things take time plus faith plus work. Lots and lots of work. I think we’re both up for it.

…And now excuse me while I deter Ferris from taking the drapes down.

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Tags: Featured, Ferris, pomeranian, puppy, puppy bonding

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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

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