Lucca the Three-Legged Retired Military Dog Has Been Nominated for a Hero Dog Award

Happy Memorial Day, Dogsters! Let's help this soldier dog win a Hero Dog Award.

This Monday's miracle is a very special Monday Miracle, because it's also Memorial Day.

We know we've talked about Lucca before, but we felt she deserved special recognition on today of all days.

Lucca is a nine-year-old German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois mix. She is now retired after serving in the United States Marine Corps for six years. During her service, Lucca was the victim of an explosion in Afghanistan. She suffered serious burns to her chest and torso, and her left front leg had to be amputated. However, her sacrifice helped spare the lives of the humans on patrol with her, and she was saved after being evacuated immediately. If that doesn't make her a Monday Miracle, we don't know what does!

Her injury occurred in March of last year, but she didn't officially retire until May 2012, when she was adopted by her original handler. In the past year, Lucca has been living the good life as a family pet and as an ambassador for all soldier dogs. She even got to ride on the "Canines With Courage" float in the Rose Parade, debuting a mock-up of the U.S. Military Dog Teams National Monument.

And now Lucca is up for a Hero Dog Award and we could not be more proud of her, but she needs your votes! Click here to cast your vote -- and pass this to all your friends!

Happy Memorial Day, Dogsters, and congrats to Lucca for being our extra special Memorial Day Monday Miracle.

Keep up to date with Lucca at her Facebook page.

Photos via Lucca's Facebook page.

Check out more of our inspirational dogs right here on Dogster:

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Now THIS Is Brazen: A Woman Brings a Fake Service Dog to Court -- and Fools the Judge

Lots of people have fake service dogs. This unsavory practice is bad for folks who truly rely on service dogs to get through the day, and it erodes the goodwill of the public toward service dogs. And every day we hear about more people running around with the fake certificates, confronting anyone who dares to question that the dog eating garlic twists from their lap at the Sbarros is anything but a medically needed hearing dog -- or therapy dog. Uh, I mean, seeing-eye dog. Wait, what was it again? 

Then we hear this, courtesy of PhillyBurbs.com. A Pennsylvania lady -- a Bonehead? Yes, lets call her that -- goes into court, in front a judge, with her little fake service dog. 

Bucks County District Judge Daniel Baranoski regrets to inform the court that he got bamboozled by the bold women, who waltzed into his courtroom with her Dachshund and sat down in the gallery. She was there for a hearing on a traffic ticket. The dog was there because the woman is a Bonehead. As she was waiting for her case to be called, Baranoski piped up. 

The judge questioned her about the dog. 

The woman responded that he was a service dog. 

Judge: "What service does the dog provide?"

The woman: "Psychological!"

And then she swept a business card from her purse and presented it to the judge with a flourish (which is to say, we like to think it was a flourish). The paper said the dog was “properly registered” with the “United States Service Dog Registry.” 

Hah! Have you seen the United States Service Dog Registry? It looks official, sure. But for $50, you can buy whatever credentials you like, including a "documentation package" with a fancy certificate. (One PetsAdviser writer who did just that said, "We’re talking digital watermark, security foil hologram, color-shifting printing, the whole works.") 

You'll also note the fine print on the Service Dog Registry home page: "Not affiliated with any government agency. Registrant data is based on assertions by dog owner. Registration is not required by the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act]."

Our judge, about as knowledgeable of the United States Service Dog Registry as a salesperson at Anne Taylor, let the woman stay with her dog. 

But he took the woman's case next, to get the dog out of the courtroom. Yes, he gave preferential treatment to a woman who brought a fake service dog into a court of law.

Later, because the judge was in a place full of people busy figuring out laws, he found out that he had been (probably) bamboozled. His staff told his honor that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not require such "documentation" (namely, a fake business card that says your dog is "properly registered") and that the United States Service Dog Registry is considered "questionable" by people who know such things. 

It looks like our Bonehead was just another brazen person who is uses the delicate nature of the law to circumvent the hell out of it. 

The problem with this, of course, is that your typical fake service dog is not an expertly trained machine who's undergone years of study to behave like a pro in public. Your typical fake service dog is just a dog the owner really wants to be around all the time. Kind of like most dogs.

As the article says, "Such deception is making life harder for people with disabilities who rely on service dogs and face additional scrutiny and skepticism from business owners." 

At least Judge Baranoski won't be fooled again. He has told colleagues to be on the lookout for this crap. 

Via PhillyBurbs.com

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Chaser the Genius Border Collie Understands Grammar

The brainy Border Collie might soon be smart enough to go in the kitchen and make you a sandwich.

A new study shows that Chaser, who gained fame by learning more than 1,000 words a few years ago, is a lot smarter than any of us knew -- he's maybe even smarter than I. You see, he knows grammar.  

In the study, Chaser's owner, Dr. John Pilley, set out to measure the ability of his genius Border Collie to learn the "syntax and semantics" of sentences consisting of three elements of grammar: a prepositional object, verb, and direct object. Chaser had to give consistent responses to commands containing those three elements (like, "to ball take Frisbee") were mixed up ("to Frisbee take ball").

And guess what? Chaser took the Frisbee to the ball, and then he took the ball to the Frisbee. Meaning he gets verbs, prepositions, and direct objects. He knows what fun things to take where, depending on where the words "take" and "to" land in the sentence.  

Imagine the possibilities. In particular, imagine this possibility: "Chaser, to me take sandwich."

"Chaser intuitively discovered how to comprehend sentences based on lots of background learning about different types of words," Chaser's owner, a retired psychology professor at Wofford College in South Carolina, told ScienceNews.

Chaser was tested with familiar and unfamiliar objects, and even took the right object to the right object when he couldn't see them as the command was given. 

Dr. Stanley Coren, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia and an expert on canine intelligence, and who had nothing to do with the study, is not surprised. 

"Roughly speaking, the average dog is equivalent to a human two-year-old in terms of mental abilities," he told The Huffington Post. "And the 'super dogs' are equivalent to maybe a human two-and-a-half-year-old.”

Which are the super dogs? Border Collies, followed by Poodles and German Shepherds, according to Dr. Coren. 

Dr. Coren stresses that when teaching your dog commands, repetition is key. "I always use exactly the same words and I always use the words to precede an action," he said. "I’ll say to my dogs 'upstairs' when I’m going upstairs or 'downstairs' when I’m going downstairs. And so, next time you say 'upstairs,' they'll start looking for stairs to climb."

One day, they'll start looking for a sandwich to make. 

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"Bonehead" Is Too Good a Name for Whoever Chemically Burned the Number 300 on This Dog's Skin

We're not sure why it happened -- malice? sheer idiocy? bad humor? -- but what a cruel thing to do.

This poor dog was found on the streets by a concerned citizen and brought into the Emergency Veterinary Hospital in North Charleston, SC, given fluids and medicine, and released to Charleston Animal Society. As you can see, he had been shaved and the number 300 had been burned, big as life, into his skin. 

"This dog has chemical burns," said veterinarian Dr. Sarah Boyd. "I suspect whatever was applied to the dog was applied after the fur was removed so it was applied directly to the dog's skin, and it has caused severe burns."

The dog also suffered bacterial infections.

"Right now he is in pain ... he is suffering a little bit," Charleston Animal Society spokesperson Kay Hyman told WCSC. 

Fortunately, he's going to be okay -- though the burns will become permanent scars. And the man who rescued him from the streets has stepped up and offered to adopt the dog. His new name? Lucky. 

Now you're probably thinking, who would do such a thing? The best guess is: Boneheaded hunters. Apparently, some hunters use hair dye, food coloring, or spray paint to number their animals, making it easier to identify them during competitive field trials; also, for general identification purposes. But they don't usually place a "caustic agent" directly on the skin, like our Bonehead did. That would be amazingly painful for the dog.

Of course, would you want your dog obsessively licking a spray-painted number plastering his side? Paint isn't exactly non-toxic. There's a lot of Boneheads around this story. 

Fortunately, Lucky can look forward to a good life with his new owner, far from the reaches of Boneheads.

Photos via Charleston Animal Society Facebook page

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Grow an organic vegetable garden for your dog!

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Earth Day: A day to take a step for the environment and the health of your dog!

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How Laser Therapy Works

K Laser Class IV Therapy Laser is a non-invasive outpatient procedure for your dog.  Non-thermal photons of light are administered to the body and absorbed by the injured cells.  These cells are then stimulated and respond with a higher rate of metabolism.  This results in increased circulation from the body, an anti-inflammatory reaction, relief from pain and an acceleration of the healing process.

The treatment is simple and the relief your dog will feel is immediate.  Pain relief is provided with just a few minutes of therapy, reducing your pet’s anxiety and increasing their quality of life.

The average visit lasts 10-15 minutes and in some cases only one or two visits are needed. For more chronic concerns such as pain management associated with osteoarthritis, hip dysplasia or degenerative disc disease, regular visits are highly recommended.  Contact your vet to discuss the therapy and whether it is the best option for your dog.

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