All posts by peter

Dog Fun, Dog News

Martin Scorsese Star Dog to get Golden Collar Nomination

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Blackie the Doberman, canine star of Martin Scorsese-directed movie Hugo, is expected to get a nomination at this year’s Golden Collar Awards thanks to the director’s campaigning efforts.

Blackie the Doberman stars as a train station attack dog in the movie Hugo.

Blackie was initially snubbed from the nominations, but Scorsese wrote a letter to the LA Times encouraging people to contact the award show’s organizers to request Blackie be added to the nomination list. Scorsese felt that Blackie should have been nominated in the “best dog in a theatrical film” category.

Blackie starred in the Oscar-nominated film Hugo as an attack dog owned by a train station officer. Scorsese suggested that Blackie didn’t originally secure a nomination due to the role she played, pointing out that a cute little Jack Russell Terrier received nominations for two films because the Jack Russell “plays a nice little mascot who does tricks and saves his master’s life in one of the films, while Blackie gives an uncompromising performance as a ferocious guard dog who terrorizes children.”

Dog Daily News, the Golden Collar Awards organizer, agreed to add Blackie to the nomination list if it received 500 write-in nominations via their Facebook page.

Dog News

Dog: (Cave) Man’s Best Friend

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33,000 year old Dog Skull found in Siberia

New research shows that we have had a relationship with dogs since prehistoric times. It seems our caveman ancestors domesticated dogs at least 33,000 years ago as a canine skull found in Siberia shows. This interesting find represents some of the oldest evidence of dog domestication. The Siberian dog skull’s snout and teeth show that it was a domesticated animal and not a wolf.

Not only is dog “Man’s Best Friend”, but he was “Caveman’s Best Friend” too! Read the full story.

The 33,000 year old skull found in Siberia shows the short snout and crowded teeth that identify it as a domestic dog.
Animals

Little Girl vs. The Lion

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I know this isn’t strictly dog-related, but it’s too awesome a video not to share!

A little girl was watching a lion try to eat his breakfast at the Wellington Zoo in New Zealand. The lion, Malik, who is apparently prone to mood swings, showed the little girl exactly what he thought of her interruption. Watch the video for three-year-old Sophia Walker’s reaction (or lack thereof) to the huge, grumpy lion:

Dog Fun, New Dog Products

Beer for Dogs?

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Apparently beer brewed especially for dogs has been around for a while, but it was news to us until we saw this article.

The Branding Villa Pub in England is now offering a non-alcoholic beer for dogs, flavored with meat extract. The pub is also offering up dog-friendly food including Sunday roast with “cat-flavored” gravy (made with beef and fish sauce, not actual cat).

In the U.S. we have Bowser Beer, another non-alcoholic brew. This one is made with barley malt and either chicken or beef, and in the Netherlands they brew Kwispelbier.

There are some dogs out there that already have a taste for beer, so if your dog is one of them you now have some canine-friendly, non-alcoholic options that are probably more palatable (to the dog, not you) and more healthy since they do not contain alcohol.

Have you ever given your dog beer (or has your dog gotten into some on his own)? Have you sought out beer brewed specifically for dogs? Let us know in the comments!

Dog News

Hero Dog: Yellow Lab Rescues Two Kittens Dumped on Iowa Highway

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Sadly, the rest of the litter wasn’t so lucky

Hero Dog Saves Bag of Kittens
Regan the hero dog
A Yellow Lab named Regan found a bag of kittens on the side of a highway in Iowa. Originally there had been four or five kittens stuck in a bag of cat food and left to die on the side of the road, but the bag had already been run over by the time Regan found it. Two kittens were still alive and Regan dragged the bag all the way home and did not stop whining at the door until his owner opened the bag and made the gruesome discovery.

The two kittens, named Tipper and Skipper, were nursed back to health and are now doing fine.

Regan is a hero dog for certain, but I have no words to describe the low-life(s) that dumped the kittens in the first place.

Dog News

Unbelievable! Airport Worker Fired After Refusing to Load Sick Dog

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AIRPORT WORKER FIRED FOR REFUSING TO LOAD SICK DOG
Lynn Jones sits with her three dogs. (AP Photo/The Reno Gazette-Journal, Marilyn Newton)

Former airport baggage handler Lynn Jones knew there was something wrong with the dog in the carrier.  She was supposed to load the dog onto a plane, but when she saw the sad look and his emaciated body, she was certain the poor creature wouldn’t survive the flight to Texas.  So she refused to load the dog on the plane, going against her supervisor’s instructions.  Ms. Jones was fired as a result of her refusal.

A month after the incident at Reno-Tahoe International Airport, the dog has fully recovered (and has been returned to his neglectful owner!) but Ms. Jones is still jobless despite the fact that her former employers and company executives have praised her actions and “situational awareness”.

You can read the full story here.

 

Dog News

Dog Drives Double Decker Bus in Australia

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Phil Newton could barely believe his eyes when he saw a double decker bus being driven by a dog.  Apparently the dog was sitting in the driver’s seat with his paws on the steering wheel as the bus drove down the street in the Northern Australian city of Darwin.

Newton chased after the runaway bus, climbed through a window and used the handbrake to bring the errant bus to a halt, moments before it rammed into a parked car.

The dog’s owner, Richard McCormack, said, “He sits next to me when I’m driving and in the driver’s seat when I’m not. The handbrake is on the dashboard and he’s seen me release it many times.

“He was just copying me. He’s tried it before.”

Woodley, the two-year-old driving dog, had no comment on his botched adventure!

 

Dog News, Dog Videos

Miracle Dog Survived Gas Chamber and Found a Forever Home!

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Daniel, a Beagle mix dog that cheated death by surviving the gas chamber in an Alabama dog pound, now has a forever home in N.J. with Joe Dwyer.

Also known as the “Miracle Dog”, Daniel was put in a gas chamber to be euthanized with several other animals last month.  Much to the shelter employees’ surprise, he survived the gassing and emerged relatively unscathed.  Photos and more here.

 

 

Training

OFF-LEASH DOGS IN THE CITY – my peeve with owners

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Have you ever seen those so-well-behaved dogs that follow their owners around without a leash even in a busy city centre? Their dogs sit at stop-lights, run ahead or behind but never out of sight, and wait at intersections for their masters to arrive. It appears to be any dog-owner’s dream to have such a well-behaved pet, BUT, isn’t it dangerous?

I’ve always been afraid to even TRY that with my dog…… isn’t it JUST possible that an off-leash dog would spot a cat, or squirrel, and just BOLT off into traffic??? Isn’t it just possible that for whatever reason, a dog could suddenly take off and come in harm’s way or attack another animal?

I just think that no matter how well trained a dog is, there’s always that possibility that he could spot something that might trigger a chase reaction! Worse, without a tether, one has NO control over one’s pet.

I personally just couldn’t take that chance with my dog, for her own or someone else’s safety, no matter how convinced she might have me that she’d always stay by me without a leash!!

What do you think????