In honor of Veterans Day, the Mental Floss blog posted a series of videos showing servicemen and women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq being greeted (extremely enthusiastically) by their dogs who missed them. Here's one. Find more here. Get your tissues ready....
Snowboarder dude and Dancing with the Stars contestant Louie Vito can add "dogowner" to his resume. He just adopted a young pit bull mix named Darla from the Animal Advocate Alliance. Vito renamed Darla Gucci, telling People "Gucci Vito just sounded right."
Hopefully Vito and the spotted Gucci will have more chemistry than the snowboarder showed with his partner on the dance show.
"We no longer have to wonder why our sweet little Darla keeps getting overlooked at adoption events as the perfect match for Darla fell in love with her and she is now living in her new home," the rescue said on its website, announcing Vito adopted the dog.
"We miss Darla incredibly but are thrilled that she found the perfect home. Send us a postcard from the slopes Darla girl and have a great life!"
Photo of Gucci (once Darla) and Louie Vito courtesy of Animal Advocates Alliance.
The Maryland Park Service is considering changing its policies to make it easier for people to bring their pets to state parks.
A lot of people have apparently requested the change and now state officials are asking for even more public comment before they make a final decision. Changes include pets being allowed at Assateague at certain times and pets allowed in more parts of Gunpowder Falls. There's a lot more, too. To view the proposed policy, click here.
To make your voice heard, go to this website for more information. Public comment will be accepted until Nov. 30.
Continue reading "Want more pet access at state parks? Weigh in!" »
Dozens of American pit bull terriers netted in the largest dogfighting raid in U.S. history are finding homes despite nay-sayers who predicted aggression or trauma would make them unsuitable as pets.Continue reading "Rescued fighting dogs get second chance" »
Crime reporter Peter Hermann just got back to the office after a quick visit with Blade, the Baltimore police dog shot on Sunday by a fellow officer.
Peter shares this photo of the German Shepherd, who's recovering at Falls Road Animal Hospital. He says the dog is doing quite well and might be able to go back to work.
Drumroll, please! After six submissions of absolutely beautiful orange kitties, we've named one the winner in the Dewey look-alike contest.
Kim, my editor, deliberated carefully over the contestants, considering both resemblence to Dewey, the cat made famous in the book, Dewey: The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched the
World, and how each kitty's personality paralleled The Dew's.
The winner of the new Dewey children's book is: Sydney!! Marge's 11-year-old kitty not only looked like Dewey, but his story similarly tugged on a cat-lover's heart-strings. Someone cut off the tips of Syd's ears and a portion of her tail. Congrats to Marge and Syd.
However, because such an overwhelming flurry of sup
port came in for Oscar, the fluffy one who passed away two years ago, his owner is getting a copy of Cats' A.B.C. -- which happens to be about three cats, one of which is named Oscar! Plus, the little guy is pictured sitting on a folded up copy of The Sun -- how could we resist that. Congrats Teri!
Now we wait for the Dewey movie starring Meryl Streep!!....
The Sun has been covering this week an incident that involved a Baltimore City police dog getting shot by an officer while out on a case.
The dog, a German Shepherd named Blade, is recovering, but how exactly he got shot is something of a head scratcher. (See a new photo of the recovering Blade here.)
As Blade chased after a motorist who failed to stop at a speed checkpoint, he attacked an officer chasing from another direction. The dog didn't recognize the officer and the officer didn't know Blade, who wasn't wearing any police identification.
Why was Blade not wearing a police vest or something? Isn't that like an officer on duty without wearing a uniform? And why was the dog out of sight of his partner officer?
What's the right protocol here? Any police officers out there who can enlighten us? It really seems like this was a shooting that easily could have been prevented.
Continue reading "What went wrong that the police dog got shot?" »
More than 100 dogs and puppies rescued from a Missouri puppy mill arrived in Beltsville yesterday. All of them will be looking for homes. The Virginia-based A Forever-Home Rescue paid for their airlift to our area.
Reporter Brent Jones has an update of the police dog shot Sunday by an officer:
A police dog shot by a city officer during a foot pursuit of a motorist who authorities say drove through a speed checkpoint was expected to make a full recovery after undergoing surgery Monday, according to staff at the Baltimore animal hospital where the German shepherd was being treated.
The dog, named Blade, should be released this week from Falls Road Animal Hospital in Mount Washington, said Dr. Keisha Adkins, who performed the surgery. The dog faces four to six weeks of restricted movement but should be able to comfortably walk after that, according to Adkins.
The shooting happened about 6 p.m. Sunday after a speeding motorist failed to stop when ordered by officers manning the checkpoint in the 2600 block of Wegworth Lane near Hollins Ferry Road, police said. The man got out of the car moments later, and as he fled, officers at the checkpoint enlisted the aid of a K-9 unit, according to police.
Continue reading "Update on the shot Baltimore police dog" »
San Francisco has become the first major city in the nation to outlaw the declawing of cats, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Some pet owners declaw their felines to protect themselves, or their furniture, from scratches. But pet advocates condemn the practice as animal cruelty.
“It is well-documented and well-understood from a medical prospective that [declawing] is torture. It is a form of animal cruelty,” said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who introduced the legislation.
Other California cities are considering adopting similar bans. The Los Angeles City Council is expected to vote on whether to enact a ban by the end of the year.
NAME: Nani.
OWNER: Lorinda.
HOW THEY MET: The story begins like this… One day a friend of my children came home from school and called her mom at work all excited yelling, "Mommy, mommy we got puppies!!" Mom quickly replied, “You better take them back where you got them!!” They yelled back, "No mommy, Nellie had puppies!"
Sure enough, the mom came home to find nine beautiful puppies. Here is where I come in. After hearing about these puppies I just had to see for myself. You see the mom is a German Shepherd and the dad is a daschund. A daschund!
Legions of cat lovers have fallen for Dewey, the famous Iowa library cat immortalized last year in Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World.
I noted on Unleashed a few months ago tha
t the author who wrote about Dewey got more big contracts to write about him again -- at least one for a children's book. The kiddie book is out and I'm offering a copy to whoever has the kitty who most resembles the adorable, orange, furball that was the Dew.
Personally, I think with Pumpkin I'm a contender myself, but I'm not technically competing. (Seriously -- you have to click on the link. My little P is a Dewey RINGER!!)
Anyway, send me your pictures and whoever has the kitty with the closest resemblence gets the new Dewey book for kids: Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library!
Continue reading "Win a book if your kitty's a Dewey look-alike" »
NAME: Petie.
OWNER: The Maryland SPCA.
HOW THEY MET: Surrendered to the Maryland SPCA by original owner.
AGE: 10 years.
HOME FOR NOW: The Maryland SPCA in Baltimore City, MD at 3300 Falls Road.
BREED: Boxer.
BEST TRICK: Sitting proudly to go out for a walk.
FAVORITE ACTIVITY: Sunbathing and strutting his stuff on walks.
FAVORITE FOOD: Peanut Butter filled Kongs.
COME GET THIS SPOTTED-EYE PUP: Petie is a very handsome and proud fella in need of a new home. He is neutered & UTD with vaccines.
IF PETIE HAD A MOTTO FOR LIFE, IT WOULD BE: Let’s go outside already!
CREDIT FOR PHOTOGRAPH: MDSPCA
Love this picture. What a sign of the times.....A woman wearing a mask passes by a monument of Diana, goddess of the hunt and her dogs, which, of course, are also wearing protective masks. She's in the the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on November 3. Last week the Ukrainian health ministry raised the death toll from the flu and respiratory problems to 67. The sign reads "Life is more expensive than pride and image. Keep youself!" YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP/Getty Images.
An Atlanta man who rescued one stray dog from traffic now has his hands full with 10 pooches.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday that Gary DeNicola rescued the dog in late September with plans to take it to a shelter the next day. But it turns out the dog, he named Ruby for her reddish coat, was pregnant and gave birth to nine puppies that night. Now DeNicola is running an animal shelter of sorts himself and he's looking for good homes for little Ruby and her black and tan puppies.
The Atlanta Humane Society said many shelters are facing overcrowding and aren't accepting any more animals. DeNicola has been raising the 5-week-old litter with the help of neighbors.
If you're free tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon, maybe you could take a hour or two to help feral cats.
Community Cats Maryland is having a shelter building workshop where they'll teach people how to build winter shelters for feral cats. You can help the group build shelters, or build one to take home for feral kitties in your own neighborhood.
Here's what the group says about the event:
We'll supply the power tools and expertise, we just need volunteers to supply the manpower!
These cat shelters are made out of plastic storage tubs, which can be purchased at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. The 18-gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck bins like these work well.
Continue reading "Help feral cats Saturday at shelter workshop" »
Earlier this week Unleashed told you about the first documented case of H1N1, the Swine Flu, in a cat.
The cat, which has recovered, is believed to have caught the virus from someone in the household who was sick with H1N1.
The New York Times offers some more details -- and some of them, I'll admit, I like cause they're cute -- about the infected kitty.
Though the cat's owner are keeping a low profile, the doctor who treated the kitty offered some details. For instance, the famous anonymous cat is a 16-pound orange tabby who's 13-years old. And here is the best part, the cat is described at "large framed but not chubby."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is issuing this health alert to warn consumers not to use Pig Ears and Beef Hooves pet treats manufactured by Pet Carousel because the products may be contaminated with Salmonella. The products were distributed nationwide in both bulk and retail packaging for sale in pet food and retail chain stores. Pet Carousel is based in Sanger, Calif.
The products were manufactured under conditions that facilitate cross-contamination within batches or lots. Although no illnesses associated with these products have been reported, the FDA is advising consumers in possession of these products to not handle or feed them to their pets.
The affected pig ear products were packaged under the brand names Doggie Delight and Pet Carousel.
Continue reading "FDA: Dog treats tainted with Salmonella" »
The Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter has begun its annual poinsettia sale to raise money for its spay and neuter program.
If you order 12 or more plants, BARCS will deliver them to your home or office.
The poinsettias come in both red and white. There's a $15 medium size (a 7-inch pot, standing 17 inches tall with 10-15 flowers) or the $30 Jumbo (10-inch pot, standing 26 inches tall with more than 20 flowers). Orders must be pre-paid by Friday, November 20th.
People can pick up their plants at BARCS on Wednesday, December 2nd from 9 a.m to 7 p.m. For those who order 12 or more, delivery is Dec. 2, too.
Order online here by clicking here and scrolling down to the sale info.
Not sure exactly how this is newsworthy or even surprising but folks, it seems, are upset, angered and disgusted by a new book called "Time to Eat the Dog."
The book, written by two ecologically-inclined New Zealanders, floats the idea that having a dog leaves a greater carbon footprint than having an SUV.
Apparently the authors aren't suggesting people slap Fido on the grill, but rather that pet-owners think twice about the impact of keeping domestic animals. Still, they clearly are reaping the benefits of the inflammatory title....
Author Jonathan Safran Foer chewed over the idea of why we aren't actually eating dogs in a recent Wall Street Journal piece. "Few people sufficiently appreciate the colossal task of feeding a world of billions of omnivores who demand meat with their potatoes," he writes. "The inefficient use of dogs—conveniently already in areas of high human population (take note, local-food advocates)—should make any good ecologist blush."
Here's a story about the backlash in the New York Times.
Full disclosure: This is not a new photo. It was taken in 2006, but just pointed out to me by an animal-loving colleague. And it's such a great image, I thought it deserved a bit more play. What a fierce, fierce orange kitty! A little tiger, clearly. And he doesn't even have claws! I hope that even though a few years have past, Jack the cat has as much -- if not more -- spirit. Here's what the National Geographic said at the time.
Jack, a 15-pound orange-and-white cat, cat sits under a treed black bear in a backyard in West Milford, N.J.. When the bear climbed down, the cat chased it up another nearby tree. Neighbor Suzanne Giovanetti thought Jack was simply looking up at the bear, but soon realized the much larger animal was afraid of the hissing cat. The cat's owners called it away and the bear ran off. (AP Photo/Suzanne Giovanetti)
Here's a novel idea: A shoe that your dog can chew for a good cause....
My Good Dog's Chewy Shoe dog toy, a red, white and blue rubber creation for dogs to gnaw on, has raised more than $38,000 since it was introduced earlier this year. That's all money that goes to “Dog Tags: Service dogs for those who’ve served us,” a program to train and provide service dogs to injured U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Two dollars from every Chewy Shoe purchase are donated to the Dog Tags program. Service dogs in the program are trained by inmates in New York City-area correctional institutions as part of the Puppies Behind Bars initiative.
“The proceeds from sales of the Chewy Shoe are helping us continue the important work of supporting our veterans,” Gloria Gilbert Stoga, founder and president of Puppies Behind Bars, said in a release.
Continue reading "Chew toy benefits military veterans" »
Of all the pictures of Bo Obama that Unleashed has been faithfully documenting since the First Puppy's debut last spring, the ones that show him interacting with his family are the best. (Like these.)
You have to love this one, of the president giving Bo a scratch on his oh-so-furry belly. Bo's tongue is out. Clearly he's in doggie heaven.
Even better -- the rub-down is happening on the edge of the Oval Office, where important matters of state and belly rubs happen.
BONUS BO: MOST EXCELLENT BO RELATED BUSINESS AFTER THE JUMP!
