Al Franken: comedian, Senator, and now dog admirer

Many people say the economy is the most pressing problem facing the country today, but Al Franken took the time to introduce a bill in Congress to help our country’s veterans heal from their war wounds by matching them with service dogs.

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Canine Breast Cancer

As we end October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought this story from WEWS in Cleveland was appropriate.  (No, it doesn’t involve NFL players wearing pink shoes – have you ever seen anything more ridiculous?)

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Top Ten Tuesday: Hero Dogs

I recently wrote an article called Extraordinary Hero Dogs for our Doggies Den article library.  I’m not sure when it will be available, but I thought I’d give you a preview here.  These are dogs who, although not specifically trained to be assistance dogs or rescue dogs, performed an act of heroism to benefit their families, or in some cases, total strangers.  Out of the forty-four dogs profiled in the article, here are what I consider the top ten.

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Dogs Can Make Your Kids Healthy

OK, we all know there are many advantages to sharing your life with a dog, but how about this! The New York Times is reporting on a study being done by the the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health, in cooperation with the Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition in England (part of the Mars candy and pet food company).
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Dogs: Smarter than we thought?

Photo Credit: Time.com

 

A new article in Time Magazine shows that dogs may well be smarter than we thought.  Seems Brian Hare, an anthropologist at Duke, has worked out an experiment that shows that a dog can respond to a finger point.  Now those of you who have trained your dogs using hand signals may not think this is too ground-breaking, but apparently, it’s quite an accomplishment.  From the article:

Consider…all the mental work that goes into figuring out what a pointed finger means: paying close attention to a person, recognizing that a gesture reflects a thought, that another animal can even have a thought.

When you think about it that way, I guess it is pretty remarkable!  Apparently, no other animal (besides man) is capable of interpreting a gesture.

The article goes on to discuss other evidence of intelligence in dogs, as well as looking at how these abilities developed.  It’s a bit long, but worth the time – very interesting!

OK, now I have to be snarky for just a minute.  Does anyone else think it’s funny that the picture from the article (shown above) shows a greyhound and a guy named HARE?  Wonder if the dog chases him around the lab????  Wonder if his mother knows she paid for his education only to find him playing with dogs!

Until next time,

Good day, and good dog!

Dog Cruelty in Georgia

 

CNN.com is reporting on a raid carried out in Central Georgia at a home where they had received a tip that the owner was fighting as many as 60 dogs.  Turns out they found 97 dogs, some with what appeared to be fight scars.  Many were malnourished, and few had proper shelter or water. 

The good news in all of this?   A private investigation agency named Norred and Associates Inc. helped with the raid out of their founder’s love for dogs.  From the CNN article:

Since the story broke about NFL player Michael Vick’s dogfighting ring, Greg Norred has been donating his firm’s time and expertise and his own money to rescuing dogs.

“I’m an animal lover. I’ve always been an animal lover. And in the wake of the Michael Vick case, I always thought there might be something I could do about animal cruelty, and with the type of business that I’m in and the resources that I have, it seems like dogfighting is the best vehicle that I can use to do something about animal cruelty.”

In the past two years, Norred’s team has volunteered for at least 16 raids. They’ve helped put 20 people behind bars and saved 200 dogs. Make that almost 300 after this most recent raid.

Kudos to the entire Norred team for their help! 

To the rest of you:  see what just one person can do when you set your mind to help?

Until next time,

Good day, and good dog!

Cutest Dog Contest

All American Pet Brands is hosting a cutest dog contest on their Web site.  This has been going on since August, but I just found it.  Entries are already closed, but you can have input into the final winner! 

 They’re also giving away a Nano mp3 player to one lucky voter each day.

 Danny, the beagle pup pictured here has my vote.  Who’s your favorite?

 Until next time,

Good day, and good dog!

Interracial Puppies?

As a white mother of a black child, this story from Doncaster, England  really caught my eye.  What happens when you breed a white female poodle with a black male poodle?  In this case, ALL EIGHT of the offspring turned out black, a genetic rarity.  Together they make quite a picture!

 Sukanto My Fair Lady (otherwise known as Rosie), who lives with John & Carol Marsden, went into labor unexpectedly, and Mrs. Marsden actually got to deliver the first three pups before the breeder got there to take over.  Over the course of seven hours, all of the puppies were born healthy and happy.  Good thing Mrs. Marsden is a retired nurse! 

 To keep her strength up while caring for the newborns, Rosie is being treated to a liter of goat’s milk every day from the Stone family farm, just down the road from the Marsdens. 

 The father is Kertellas on Easy Street at Montravia, but goes by the much less-of-a-mouthful name of Alfie.  He lives with Marita Rodgers.  No word on what he thought of his octuplets.  (Should I say “typical man”?)

 Until next time,

Good day, and good dog!

Reader’s Digest Hero Pets of the Year

My bad!  I totally missed the boat on this one.  Over the summer, Reader’s Digest ran a contest to find a winner for the award of Hero Pet of the year.  Finalists included 2 dogs, 1 horse, 1 cat, and 1 parrot.  No big surprise that one of the dogs won!

 I’m sorry I didn’t get this to you in time to vote – I’ll put it on my calendar to check on for next year.  At any rate, the stories of the finalists are available on the Reader’s Digest site - they are very touching.

 Until next time,

Good day, and good dog!

Pregnant Dog is a Hero

According to a recent story in the Canton Repository, kudos are due to Jada, a mixed breed who lives here in Canton with Tabitha Billings.  Seems an intruder broke into their home and threatened Tabitha and her 3-year old son with a gun.

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