Who's The Best Drinker? Dogs? Cats? Or Pigeons?

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:02:58 +0000

Take a demeanour during this.

It’s a dog celebration water. It’s also a answer to a riddle. When we and we take a drink, we can lift a glass, reason it to a mouth, lean and use sobriety to flow a H2O in. Dogs can’t do that. In a pinch, we can kneel down, put a mouth to a aspect and siphon H2O adult (or, to be polite, use a straw). Dogs can’t do that either. They don’t have sucking ability.

Yet dogs do drink. Oddly enough, scientists weren’t certain how they do it.

Once super high speed cameras became available, we could demeanour some-more closely, and aiming during this dog, we can see it appears to hook a tongue backwards, like an inverted ladle. It dips down, scoops adult some water, regulating a tongue as a pulley. This was a revelation. Because they are dogs, they drool, miss, dash a H2O — there’s zero respectful about a dog celebration — though we seem to have a answer. They scoop! Dogs spin their tongues into ladles. Beautiful!

But wrong. When scientists looked some-more closely — when they totalled — they found that a “scoop” is a delusion. Yes, as Eyder Peralta here during NPR reported a integrate of years ago, and as we can see in this brief video, a tongue does hook back, though notice a lot (most?) of a H2O never reaches a mouth. It usually slips behind to a bowl.

The tongue, it turns out, is not a ladle, though a gummy whip. A dog will extend — no, that’s too respectful a word — a dog will bearing a tongue into a H2O and afterwards whip it behind up, very, really fast. A tide of H2O attaches to and follows a tongue ceiling (adhesion and cohesion) — though usually for a fragment of a second. Then sobriety kicks in. The rising tide of H2O loses a ceiling momentum, and just as it’s about to tumble behind into a bowl, during accurately a indicate where sobriety is about to win, a dog snaps a mouth close and swallows. Done. The motions are precise, even mathematical.

Engineers have worked out a equation, and when a math says, “Close Your Mouth!” that’s when dogs do it. It’s as if dogs know glass mechanics, and, in their disorderly doggie way, we theory they do.

Enough About Dogs. What About Cats?

Which brings us to cats.

Cats, it turns out, do a same thing, though being cats, they do it some-more carefully, some-more elegantly, some-more efficiently. No sloshing for them, no puddles outward a bowl. When MIT highbrow Roman Stocker (working with Pedro Reis) filmed Cutta Cutta, his possess cat, drinking, they saw a tongue drop really kindly during a divert — no doggie character tongue thrusting, no gouging — usually a ethereal path …

Cats do this really quick — 4 laps per second — too quick for us to see but a high speed camera. But now that we can magnitude what’s going on, it appears that cats can take in some-more glass with reduction spillage than dogs in a same section of time. This suggests cats are some-more fit (and therefore some-more intelligent?) lappers than dogs. (Of course, we am wakeful that a cat in a MIT investigate was owned — and maybe even desired — by a scientist doing a study. One could imagine, even in a oh-so-rational Civil Environmental Engineering Department during MIT, Professor Stocker competence have usually a teeniest cat-admiring bias. I’m watchful for cat-drinking studies finished by dog-owning scientists before I’m totally convinced.)

And Now … The Champions!

But before we get too vehement by cats working elegantly, we wish to pierce on to pigeons. Cats, we know, eat pigeons. But we recently met 3 pigeons, who for my money, would confuse any cat (and each dog) with their unusual celebration skills. These 3 might be a smartest libation consumers in a small-animal kingdom.

They live (or lived — this design was taken 4 years ago) in Brisbane, Australia, and apparently busy a selling mall where there is a H2O fountain. According to a always fascinating blogger Antranik (“Anto” for short), these pigeons watched humans pulling a push to recover H2O and figured out how H2O fountains work. They afterwards took turns.

In this shot we see one seagul sitting on a lever, weighing it down to recover some water. The center one takes a semi-bath dodging in and out of a water, and a third one, on a left, is holding a drink. Then they switched.

Newspix/Rex/Rex USA

Say what we will about messy dogs or superb cats, these 3 are a Plato, Aristotle and Socrates of a celebration world. Send them to a diner. we gamble they’d shortly be sucking on straws.

Why is the Skye terrier an endangered breed?

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:02:37 +0000

24 May 2013
Last updated at 10:28 ET

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Members of the Skye Terriers Club are completing a 42-mile trek on the Isle of Skye to raise awareness of the declining breed of dog

The most loyal dog in popular culture – Greyfriars Bobby – was a Skye terrier, a Scottish breed which has been popular for about 500 years. Why is a breed which used to be a common sight on Scottish streets now on the Kennel Club’s list of the most vulnerable native breeds?

Last year, 36,487 Labrador’s were registered with the Kennel Club in the UK.

The figure for the Skye Terrier was just 42, the fourth lowest figure for British purebred dogs.

Gail Marshall, secretary of the Scottish branch of the Skye Terriers Club, says there are now just 3,000 to 4,000 of the dogs in the world.

Skye Terrier Greyfriars Bobby has his own statue in Edinburgh

“At one stage every close would have a Skye terrier belonging to somebody,” she says.

“Queen Victoria had a kennel full of them and Mary, Queen of Scots had one under her skirt when she was beheaded.”

Now the Skye Terrier is as endangered as tigers in the wild, according to Mrs Marshall.

“People are now going for cross-designer breeds, and the Skyes are being forgotten about,” she says.

“People just don’t know about them.”

The club is hosting a 42-mile fundraising walk to raise awareness and support the construction of a life-sized bronze statue of the terrier at Armadale Castle on Skye, where it has historic links.

Skye Terriers gather for walk to Armadale

While it is almost impossible to trace the origin of the breed, the story goes that canine survivors of a wrecked Spanish Armada ship off the west coast island bred with local terriers, producing a strain with a long, silky coat.

Whether or not this story is true, the Skye Terrier is certainly one of the oldest Scottish breeds and was long seen as a wonderful companion.

It is also the subject of one of the country’s enduring legends, Greyfriars Bobby the Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for supposedly spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner.

Caroline Kisko, secretary of the Kennel Club, says Skye terriers are good house dogs with a very loyal and friendly character.

She says: “They are very glamorous. Their coats are very attractive. They are a very friendly, nice dog to have around and they are certainly very weather-proof.

“If you are out and about they will not get cold.”

So why has the breed fallen out of favour?

Cross-breeds such as the labradoodle are becoming very popular

Ms Kisko says: “Much of this is about the profile of the dog, whether or not people are aware that the breeds exist.

“Some of the problems we have with the vulnerable breeds is that people have simply forgotten that they are there.”

The same is true of the Dandie Dinmont terrier, another Scottish breed which used to be extremely popular but is now considered a vulnerable breed.

Ms Kisko says the Dandie Dinmont, an “intelligent small dog which loves children”, has been forgotten despite smaller “handbag” dogs showing an increase in popularity.

She is also concerned that some dog breeds such as the Staffordshire Bull Terrier had become popular too fast.

“If you get any which quickly increases in popularity you get people breeding far too many of them,” she says.

“They might be simply cashing in on their commercial popularity and not be worrying about whether those homes are actually suited for the breed.”

Ms Kisco says another breed growing in popularity, the Siberian husky, is not suitable as a family pet.

The labrador and the poodle are being crossed by some breeders

“The Siberian is completely unsuited but because it is very attractive people are buying them in large numbers and they end up in rescue centres and are very difficult to rehome.”

Designers breeds such as the labradoodle – a crossbred created by crossing the Labrador Retriever and the Poodle – have become very fashionable.

Mrs Marshall says this is another reason why traditional breeds such as the Skye terrier are being marginalised.

Ms Kisko, whose organisation does not register cross-breeds, says: “The designer crosses such as the labradoodle and the cockapoo (a Cocker Spaniel and a miniature poodle) are proving to be very popular these days and that is all on the pretext that they will be automatically healthier than the breeds they come from, which is patently untrue.”

She says people should do more research before buying a dog, checking out some of the British native breeds which have been popular pets for centuries.

Dirty dogs: Homes with pooches installed with bacteria

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:02:33 +0000

A dog competence not usually fill a home with joy, it fills a home with a whole lot of bacteria, new investigate suggests. But that doesn’t meant we have to flog your pooch out of a bed.

featurepics.com

This darling puppy is installed with bacteria, yet those germs competence indeed be beneficial.

Research from North Carolina State University published Wednesday in a biography PLoS ONE found homes with dogs have both a incomparable series of germ and some-more forms of germ than homes but dogs.

The commentary were partial of a incomparable investigate that analyzed a forms of microbes vital in 40 homes in a Raleigh-Durham area of N.C. Participants swabbed 9 areas of their homes and sensitive researchers about aspects that could change bacterial life, such as either there were dogs or cats and how many people lived in a home.

“The plan was a initial step toward creation an atlas of microbes found in a whole home and how they competence impact a health and well-being” pronounced Holly Menninger, a co-author and executive of open scholarship during NC State’s Your Wild Life program.

Of a places where domicile germ were found, pillowcases and radio screens had a many detectable dog-related microbes.

“Some of a microbes we know come from dogs themselves,” pronounced Menninger. “Some of these germ come from a outside environment, such as dogs bringing germ from a dirt and into homes.”

The researchers were means to brand a few classes of germ related to dogs, and certain microbial classes that competence means illness in humans, such as gingivitis and pneumonia. However, genetic contrast of a germ was not specific adequate to establish either any damaging strains were there.

All those germs tracked in on unwashed paws don’t meant dog-free homes are indispensably healthier, though. While a researchers did not brand a specific class of germ vital in any household, they were means to contend that many of a organisms they found are not disease-causing – and competence indeed yield some benefits.

“We co-exist with germ and healthy, tiny exposures to germ do not poise any risk and might, on a other hand, be beneficial, as prolonged as we keep a good sterilizing environment,” pronounced Dr. Rani Gereige, executive of medical preparation during Miami Children’s Hospital. Gereige was not concerned in a research.

A new investigate found that bearing to a microorganisms from a pet during a child’s initial year of life of life competence assistance ramp adult a defence system, lowering a risk of building allergies later.

“Research has indeed shown that mothers who live with dogs while profound are reduction expected to have children with conditions like atopic rash or to rise allergies,” pronounced veterinarian Dr. Andy Roark of Greenville, S.C.

Certain germ from dogs – such as salmonella and listeria — can means infections in humans, however, so it is critical to be vigilant, he cautions.

“It is always a good thought for both adults and children to rinse hands after personification with pets, generally before eating,” pronounced Roark.

The investigate did not control for certain factors that could impact bacterial growth, such as domicile meridian and cleanliness, and there were not adequate homes with cats to accurately investigate a sly grant to residential bacteria. The researchers did not investigate either certain dog breeds bay some-more germ than others.

The microbes found via a opposite homes fell into 3 ubiquitous groups: those that come from skin and live on surfaces we touch, such as doorway knobs and toilet seats; germ related to food found in kitchens; and organisms found in places where dirt gathers, such as radio screens and moldings.

Menninger combined that a investigate group is in a routine of examining samples and other information from a sum of 1,300 homes opposite a United States.

“We know we have all these germ in a home,” pronounced Menninger. “Let’s learn to live with them.”

Family dog attacks infant’s face

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:02:23 +0000

MYRTLE CREEK, Ore. – A family dog attacked a baby boy’s face Thursday morning, sending the child to Portland for reconstructive surgery.

“The infant was crying and had blood pouring from his head and face,” said Chief Don Brown, who arrived on scene at 9:39 a.m. “I could see deep lacerations around the infant’s left eye and cheek.”

Emergency personnel arrived on scene moments after Brown and started treating the 9-month-old, he said.

The cause of the attack is still under investigation.

An ambulance took the boy to Mercy Hospital in Roseburg. He was later transported to Legacy Emanuel Hopsital in Portland for surgery to reconstruct his face, Brown said. Medics said the boy would be fine but needed his face stitched back together, he added.

The family dog involved in the attack is a 4-year-old pitbull mix, Brown said.

The dog is being held at the Myrtle Creek City Pound under lock and key.

The dog is held for 10 days for observation. The case on the dog is referred to animal control and the health department, Brown said.

Brown said the dog owner does not face criminal charges. However, he said his department would forward the case to child services workers for review.

150 dogs private from northern Mich. unlawful tact facilities

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 05:02:17 +0000

More than 150 dogs were being private from dual sites of an unlawful tact trickery in northern Michigan, anti-animal cruelty groups pronounced Thursday.

The American Society for a Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and a Michigan Humane Society pronounced they were aiding a Missaukee County Sheriff’s Office and a Roscommon County Animal Shelter to mislay and preserve dogs from dual sites in Lake City, an hour south of Traverse City.

The movement is a outcome of a polite box opposite a business. Earlier this year, WZZM-TV 13 pronounced a sheriff’s dialect presented a rapist box to a prosecutor. Instead of filing charges opposite a cage for not carrying a license, that would have resulted in a fine, a prosecutor filed an claim seeking a decider to have a dogs removed, it said.

Kelly Krause of a ASPCA declined to criticism about a box and referred questions to Missaukee County Sheriff’s Office, that pronounced Thursday a policeman and undersheriff were unavailable.

The dogs, especially Jack Russell terriers and Shiba Inus, were found vital in outside enclosures with cosmetic carriers as shelter, a classification said. The dogs didn’t have entrance to purify celebration H2O and had small preserve opposite a elements.

“Our idea is to see that these animals are healthy and placed with rescue groups, where they can find new homes as fast as possible,” pronounced Kathryn Destreza, executive of Investigations for ASPCA Field Investigations and Response, in a statement.

MHS pronounced it had been in hold with authorities on a box for some-more than a year and was “at-the-ready” to assistance in stealing a dogs from a kennels’ abominable conditions. MHS’ Cruelty Investigation and Rescue Department supposing a assistance.

Dogs that need medical exams will be taken to a circuitously proxy preserve for veterinary care. The dogs that are medically and behaviorally sound will be placed in area shelters to yield caring for a animals as they wait adoption.

“This box has been years in a creation and we felt strongly that something had to be finished to strengthen these animals,” Missaukee County Sheriff Jim Bosscher pronounced in a statement. “The ASPCA’s resources and sheltering knowledge, total with a support of a Roscommon County Animal Shelter, will finally concede these dogs a possibility to have a happy life.”

To present to MHS to assistance yield caring for these and other animals, revisit www.michiganhumane.org or call (248) 283-1000. To present to a ASPCA, go to www.aspca.org.

cwilliams@detroitnews.com

(313) 222-2311

Dog years: The calculator

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 05:01:35 +0000

23 May 2013
Last updated at 19:52 ET

Working out your dog’s true age used to be a case of simply multiplying it by seven. But it’s more complicated than that, and here’s a handy calculator to do it for you.

A recent Magazine feature explained that:

Different breeds of dog age at varying speeds

Dogs age at varying speeds at different stages of their lives

With that in mind, we’ve built a calculator for you to work out your dog’s true age – its age in dog years.

Alternatively, you can find out how old you would be if you were a dog. You can choose to be a labrador, a spaniel, a whippet, or any one of 20 breeds.

Continue reading the main story

Age as a human

0

Previous age as a human

0

This breed’s life expectancy

0

Source: BBC calculations on data from UK Kennel Club and US Veterinary Medical Database

The calculator uses these multipliers for the first two years of a dog’s life:

Continue reading the main story

More from the Magazine

Meg, my West Highland Terrier died a couple of months ago. She’d reached the grand old age of 19 years and four months.

A few days later, I was reminded of the oft-quoted statistic that every human year equates to seven dog years. But if that stat were really true then Meg would have been 135 years old when she died, which seems very unlikely.

The truth about dog years

12.5 for small dogs

10.5 for medium-sized dogs

9 for large dogs

Then, for the third and subsequent years of the dog’s life, each human year has to be multiplied by between 4.3 and 13.4 years, depending on the breed:

Small: Dachshund (Miniature) 4.32, Border Terrier 4.47, Lhasa Apso 4.49, Shih Tzu 4.78, Whippet Medium 5.30, Chihuahua 4.87, West Highland White Terrier 4.96, Beagle 5.20, Miniature Schnauzer 5.46, Spaniel (Cocker) 5.55, Cavalier King Charles 5.77, Pug 5.95, French Bulldog 7.65

Medium: Spaniel 5.46, Retriever (Labrador) 5.74, Golden Retriever 5.74, Staffordshire Bull Terrier 5.33, Bulldog 13.42

Large: German Shepherd 7.84, Boxer 8.90

The calculator does not work for cross breeds, sadly, but on average these live 1.22 years longer than pure breeds, according to Dan O’Neill (from Petts Wood in London…) who is researching the subject for a PhD at the Royal Veterinary College.

Nor does the calculator work for cats. What we can say is that the average life expectancy of a cat is 12.1 years, which equates to 64 human years.

Guidelines issued by the American Association of Feline Practitioners say that cats reach 10 human years in their first six months and are approximately 24 at the age of two years. After this their age increases by four “cat years” every year.

Tell us if your dog is older than 100 (in dog years). We will print a selection of comments.

You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

DDR rescues 13 dogs from southwest Detroit house

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:01:00 +0000

DETROIT (WJBK) -

13 dogs were discovered from a chateau on Ewers in southwest Detroit. The 3 many svelte dogs were taken to a VCA in St. Clair Shores. They are being hold in siege for during slightest a week and being treated and screened for diseases.

“She’s been famous to actually, we know, take dogs off a street. In her eyes, she thinks she’s doing a good thing and a probity to a city, though what it’s indeed doing is spiteful a animals,” pronounced Daniel “Hush” Carlisle with a Detroit Dog Rescue.

15 changed pups were allegedly being hoarded inside a home. Fox 2 cameras were rolling when Detroit Dog Rescue assured Leah Montgomery to obey 13 of a dogs in a pouring rain. Many were emaciated, walking skeletons with fur, and apparently hungry.

“When they came out, we know, we could tell. There was a play of food, and they only pounded a food,” Carlisle said.

“The hoarding conditions is indeed worse. The stink in there is unbearable. You can’t even travel by there though a mask.”

After a rescue, a dogs were distant and rushed to vets around metro Detroit.

“Some of them are carnivorous so most that their heads start to penetrate in, things like that, their eyes are adhering out,” pronounced Kristina Rinaldi with Detroit Dog Rescue.

During a rescue, neighbors showed adult with cinema of their blank pets, some snatched from their possess yards, they claim, by Montgomery.

“She was holding dogs and holding a signs off a polls and claiming that she was going to call a owners of a dogs that she indeed had found, though in all reality, she wasn’t job anybody,” Carlisle said.

Police have not non-stop an investigation, that means Montgomery expected cannot be charged.

The dogs discovered Tuesday night will be catalogued and featured on a Detroit Dog Rescue website in hopes of anticipating amatory homes.

As for Montgomery, she is earnest to change.

“I’m not going to be hoarding them anymore,” she said.

“You were still means to keep only a few. What are we going to do with those?” she was asked.

“I’ve got dog food in there, and I’m going to try to pierce out,” Montgomery answered.

In May of 2011, authorities and DDR discovered some-more than 25 dogs from a same residence.

If we wish to present to assistance a discovered dogs, click here.

Dog Bacteria Bring Potentially Beneficial Biodiversity To Owners’ Homes, Study …

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:00:49 +0000

By: Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Published: 05/22/2013 05:28 PM EDT on LiveScience

Your loyal pooch may be bringing a whole world of bacteria into your home — but don’t panic. Research suggests that exposure to a wide variety of microbes may be good for us.

A new study reveals that homes with dogs have greater bacterial diversity than canine-free dwellings. Dog-related diversity is particularly high on television screens and pillowcases, the researchers found.

“When you bring a dog into your house, you are not just bringing a dog, you are also introducing a suite of dog-associated [microbe] taxa directly into your home environment, some of which may have direct or indirect effects on human health,” the researchers wrote today (May 22) in the journal PLOS ONE. [5 Wacky Things That Are Good For You]

Microbes around us

The microbes in our environment are the subject of increased interest by scientists, thanks to studies revealing how intertwined human lives are with those of the single-celled. Skin microbes, for example, may be key for warding off disease. And the load of microbes living in the human gut may influence everything from immunity to obesity.

North Carolina State University biologist Rob Dunn and his colleagues wanted to step back from the body to better understand the microbes in our environment at large. They gave 40 families a home-sampling kit and asked them to swab down nine locations in their houses: a kitchen cutting board, a kitchen counter, a refrigerator shelf, a toilet seat, a pillowcase, a television screen, the main door’s exterior handle and the upper trim on both an interior door and on an exterior door. The researchers then examined the microbial DNA from the swabs to detect different families of microscopic tenants living on these surfaces.

All told, the 40 homes harbored 7,726 different types of bacteria. The most common were Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria, all families containing a wide range of species. Types of bacteria tended to differ by location: Kitchen environments (cutting boards, counters and shelves) had similar colonies from home to home, as did frequently touched surfaces (toilet seats, pillowcases, door handles) and rarely cleaned surfaces (door trims and television screens).

“This makes sense,” Dunn said in a statement. “Humans have been living in houses for thousands of years, which is sufficient time for organisms to adapt to living in particular parts of houses. We know, for example, that there is a species that only lives in hot-water heaters. We deposit these bacterial hitchhikers in different ways in different places, and they thrive or fail depending on their adaptations.”

Bacteria related to human skin were found most frequently on pillowcases and toilet seats — as were bacteria commonly found in human feces. Bacteria from leaves and produce were found most often on door trims and also on kitchen surfaces. Bacteria from the soil were found across the home, but were most common on the exterior door trim, the researchers found.

Doggie diversity

Dunn and his colleagues next looked for variables that would alter bacterial communities from home to home, such as the presence of cats, children, carpet and other factors. The only one they found that made any difference was whether or not the family had a pet dog.

Pillowcases and TV screens of dog-owning families had 42 percent and 52 percent more microbial groups, respectively, than pillowcases and TV screens of non-dog-owning families. This extra diversity, unsurprisingly, was made up largely of bacteria known to live on dog fur.

(Other factors, such as the level of humidity in a home, could also influence microbe diversity, the researchers wrote, but they were unable to measure those factors in this study.)

Dog owners shouldn’t ship Fido off to the countryside for fear of nasty bacteria, though. In fact, the family pet may be a boon to health. Previous studies have found that pregnant women who live in homes with dogs are less likely to have children with allergies. Scientists speculate that the reason might be an exposure to greater numbers of microbes that keeps the immune system from turning on the body.

“Our study provides evidence to robustly support this assumption,” Dunn and his colleagues wrote. The researchers are planning to process samples from a total of 1,300 homes across the United States to look for geographic differences in microbial roommates.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Dogs

7 Surprising Health Benefits of Dog Ownership

10 Deadly Diseases That Hopped Across Species

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ]]

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Puppies run at a playground in the K9 school and hospital of the Middle East Kennel Cub at Nahr al-Kalb area, north of Beirut, on October 27, 2010. The Club, which is the largest in the Middle East, has more than 400 dogs and clients bring their pets to be trained, bred and hospitalized. (JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images)

In this handout image provided by Pucchin Dog’s, ‘Love-Kun’, a 3-day old chihuahua puppy with heart-shaped markings is presented to the media with his brothers at Pucchin Dog’s on August 6, 2009 in Odate, Akita prefecture, Japan. The new puppy is the brother of 2-year old chihuahua ‘Heart-Kun’ who was also born with a perfect heart-shaped marking on his back from the same parents. (Photo by Pucchin Dog’s via Getty Images)

This photo provided by the Chicago Zoological Society shows 10 African wild dog puppies, six males and four females, huddling with their mother, Kim, at Brookfield Zoo in Broofield, Ill. (AP Photo/Chicago Zoological Society, Jim Schulz)

In this Thursday, May 19, 2011, photo, Bonnie, a basset hound, nurses her puppies at an animal rescue facility in South Knox County, Tenn. Bonnie and Clyde, the father of her puppies, are being cared for by At Risk Intervention animal rescue, after being saved from flood waters in Arkansas. (AP Photo/The Knoxville News Sentinel, Paul Efird)

Two adopted stray dogs play at an animal shelter on December 15, 2006 in the outskirts of Xian of Shaanxi Province, China. The animal shelter, established by Chinese animal lover Dai Shuqing, is located at an abandoned warehouse which houses some 100 dogs and costs over 2,000 yuan (about US $255) per month. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Golden Retriever puppies with their handlers as the American Kennel Club officials announce their annual list of the most popular dog breeds in the U.S January 27, 2010 in New York. (DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)

Susan Thomson holds a three-week-old Chihuahua puppy named Tom Thumb on April 7, 2009 in Renton, Scotland. An unofficial measurement taken by the owner makes Tom Thumb approximately 6 inches long. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

A dog suckles her puppies on February 16, 2009 at Halikisla village of Kars, eastern Turkey near the border with Armenia. (MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images)

A six month old Weimaraner puppy guards his master during Slovakia’s national canine all breeds competition in Banska Bystrica on 6 May 2007. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Portuguese Podengo puppies are displayed for the media during the launch of the Crufts Dog Show Febuary 24, 2004 in London, England. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

A view of a puppy at the North Shore Animal League America’s Tour For Life Pet Adoption Event on April 26, 2012 in New York, United States. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Fort Rucker names kennels in honor of fallen military dog handler killed in …

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:59:49 +0000

Sgt. 1st Class Donald T. Tabb with his working dog Bo. (Fort Rucker)
FORT RUCKER, Alabama — Fort Rucker recently named its police dog facility in honor of fallen soldier Sgt. 1st Class Donald T. Tabb, who was killed while serving in Afghanistan in 2008.

Sgt. Tabb, who served with the 6th Military Police Detachment as a military working dog handler, was deployed in 2008 after volunteering for his second tour to Afghanistan.

While deployed, Tabb was killed after driving over an improvised explosive device. His military working dog, Bo, survived because he was in his kennel at the time of the blast.

Afte his death, the idea to dedicate the kennels to his memory was submitted to the Fort Rucker memorialization committee. While the process took several years, the decision to dedicate the building was unanimous.

“This was a ‘no brainer’,” said Lisa Eichhorn, Fort Rucker public affairs officer. “Sergeant Tabb was really important to Fort Rucker and it was important to us that the Family knows that we still think about him, and that the MPs still highly regard his service.”

In addition to the dedication, Fort Rucker also chose to allow Sgt. Tabb’s family to adopt his military dog, who was only two years old at the time of his owner’s death.

While Bo had several years of service left, it was determined he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder associated with loud noises and large crowds. Because of this, it was decided he would do more good with Sgt. Tabb’s family than to remain a working dog.

“It’s hard to explain, but it’s like [Bo] took away some of the pain of losing [my brother],” said William Smith, Tabb’s brother. “He just mended that piece of it and it helped us. Bo played a strong part in comforting us, and everyone, even the children, sees Bo and thinks of Donald.”

13 dogs found in Detroit home

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:59:40 +0000

DETROIT –

Thirteen dogs recused from a home in Detroit are now receiving medical caring from veterinarians for several problems.

Detroit Dog Rescue went into a woman’s home on Ewers Street nearby Michigan Avenue Tuesday night. Neighbors indicted a lady of hidden area dogs and presumably hoarding them in her house.

Inside DDR found filigree and play used to obstruct a dogs in a home.

“When a doorway was initial non-stop we was on a grass backing adult dog cages and a smell only hits you. It’s like something that we gotta be there to trust it,” pronounced Kristina Rinaldi, with Detroit Dog Rescue.

The homeowner is a lady in her 50′s and has been in difficulty for hoarding dogs before. A year and 1/2 ago, Detroit Dog Rescue took scarcely 30 dogs, vital in dirty conditions, from her home.

Many of a dogs are now being hold in siege during Metro Detroit hospitals receiving medical diagnosis that could save their lives.

“These dogs are half a physique weight that they’re ostensible to be. They literally demeanour like walking skeletons. Their heads are fallen in, their eyes are popping out, though surprisingly they’re super loveable,” pronounced Rinaldi.

DDR is looking for encourage homes for some of a dogs rescued. If we consider we competence be means to assistance click here.

Dog with '300' code set for adoption by male who found him suffering

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:59:35 +0000

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) -

The dog who was rushed to a Charleston Animal Society after carrying a series 300 branded into both sides of a torso is set to be adopted on Friday.

According to animal multitude orator Kay Hyman, a Good Samaritan who brought a bad pooch in after anticipating him pang in North Charleston will benefit control of a dog, who staffers have been job Lucky.

Hyman pronounced Lucky is recuperating from a burns, that caused a delegate infection, “Right now he is in pain…he is pang a small bit.”

Folks during a animal multitude pronounced infrequently people symbol their dogs if they’re being used for hunting, though customarily hair color is used in those cases.

It’s misleading who is obliged for a abuse.

Copyright 2013 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Boulder moves brazen with increasing coercion of off-leash dogs

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:59:43 +0000

Boulder will pierce brazen with a series of new mandate for people who travel their dogs off-leash on open space, yet City Council members pronounced they wish to see some-more eminence done between violations by humans — such as not picking adult rubbish or walking into anniversary wildlife closure areas — and violations by dogs like chasing wildlife.

The Open Space and Mountain Parks dialect came before a City Council on Tuesday night to find support for “enhancements” to a immature tab module that already have been permitted by a Open Space Board of Trustees. The council’s contention stretched past midnight.

The dialect will lapse after this year with a grave bidding to order a new supplies and skeleton for a open preparation campaign.

Under a immature tab program, that was instituted in 2006, dogs underneath a “voice-and-sight” control of their owners are authorised off-leash on certain trails. The dogs are compulsory to arrangement immature tags that prove their owners know a manners of a program.

The module has remained mostly unvaried given it was initial implemented, and officials wanted to re-evaluate it.

A new investigate also showed roughly half of a dogs in a module did not respond when called by their owners, yet advocates for dogs on open space have questioned a study’s methodology.

In hopes of assisting to urge compliance, open space officials endorsed both an boost in fines for violations and discerning revocations of dogs’ immature tags.

Under a recommendations, a limit excellent for first-time offenders would boost from $50 to $100, and a limit excellent for second-time offenders would go from $100 to $200. The smallest excellent for those who provoke 3 or some-more times also would boost from $200 to $300.

In addition, not displaying a tab on off-leash dogs and unwell to collect adult after dogs could be violations underneath a program.

The city also endorsed that dogs could have their immature tags revoked after dual violations instead of three, and only one self-assurance for assertive dogs or dogs chasing wildlife could outcome a revocation.

Now, dogs can recover revoked tags after going by behavioral evaluations. But for reversal that resulted in violations stemming some-more from owners function — not picking adult after dogs, holding dogs into singular areas — a city also is proposing an choice information module for owners to recover their tags.

Council members pronounced they concluded that assertive dogs should remove their immature tags, yet several legislature members balked during a suspicion of punishing dogs with reversal for something their owners did.

They wanted revocations to be singular to violations of voice and steer or assertive or badgering behavior. For violations of open space regulations by dog owners, those legislature members elite aloft fines to inspire compliance.

Councilwoman Suzy Ageton asked either officials would devaluate a right to use open space of tellurian users who don’t follow a rules.

“This seems like a large change, and we consternation if we’ve suspicion by a implications,” she said.

Open Space Director Mike Patton pronounced he would work to incorporate that change into a bidding that comes before council.

Patton reassured a legislature members that rangers would use discretion, and he pronounced they were not looking for excuses to write tickets.

Patton pronounced a dialect would use some-more signage and other overdo to let dog owners know about a rules.

“We don’t wish people to be held since they don’t know a rules,” Patton said. “That’s not a complement we’re meddlesome in.”

Councilman Macon Cowles voiced disappointment with owners whose dogs can’t follow a manners and pronounced he would preference a exam for dogs before they could be off-leash.

“Our arrogance that a dog can come when called and in a face of a enticement of wildlife is during a heart of a program, yet we don’t exam for that,” he said. “It seems to me that a immature tab module has turn a free-for-all.”

Houston pity tips during dog Bite Prevention Week

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:59:28 +0000

So distant this year, there have been 520 reported dog bites in Houston, according to BARC. This puts a city on lane to compare a 1,265 dog bites reported in 2012, says a City of Houston’s pet adoption trickery and animal control authority.

It’s a problem for dog lovers, families and animal control agencies. But dog bites are also difficulty for word companies that are profitable millions of dollars a year in claims.

To lift recognition and cut down on a series of incidents, this week, May 19 -25, has been set aside as National Bite Prevention Week.

Texas comes in third in State Farm’s list of a Top 10 states with a many dog punch claims. The association paid $4.3 million dollars here in 2012 to cover 236 claims. Compare that with California, where there was $17.1 million in dog punch claims.

BARC’s Chris Glaser thinks many of these dog bites could have been prevented with a improved bargain of dog and tellurian interaction.

“The pivotal is to know and acknowledge a few communication manners between dog and tellurian that are essential to preventing a bite,” Glaser says in a BARC statement.

Glaser says dogs use facial expressions and physique language, only as people do, to communicate emotions. Understanding and picking out these cues can forestall incidents that can leave adults and children injured, maimed or even killed.

About 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs in a given year, according to BARC. Children are in a many danger, due to their distance and miss of believe of these dog cues.

Parents would also be good suggested to teach their children when it comes to interacting with unknown or even informed dogs. Even family pets have been famous to harm those they have lived with for years.

“Any dog could potentially bite,” pronounced Glaser. “Regardless of multiply or size, dogs can turn fearful or concerned and act out by biting.”

Insurance companies are gripping an eye out on dog punch incidents, and some are refusing to protection homeowners with pets a companies call dangerous.

Cecil Buffalo Jr., a Farmers Insurance representative in a Pasadena area, says his association has 5 breeds that they ask about when arising homeowners insurance.

“Pit bulls, Dobermans, Chow Chows, German shepherds and Rottweilers have been a problem in a past,” says Buffalo. These animals are deemed dangerous by Farmers and other word companies, and their owners can be theme to losing coverage.

Farmers underwriters can decrease process renewals of a owners of these breeds, and their policies are canceled if a pets stay in a homes after being warned.

Dog bites are lonesome by Farmers, though not those inflicted by those 5 breeds that Buffalo named.

If your dog bites someone in your home who is a non-resident of a household, Farmers will cover those medical bills adult to a extent that are insured.

BARC says training dogs early on to consort with humans is a good approach to during slightest try to forestall attacks. Leashes and parental organisation are also really important, as are unchanging walks and practice for dogs.

Oddly enough, Farmers doesn’t ask about other potentially dangerous animals that can be found in homes.

“They don’t ask about snakes,” Buffalo says.

13 dogs private from southwest Detroit house

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:58:57 +0000

Detroit — Complaints from neighbors accusing a lady of hidden their dogs led animal control workers to a southwest Detroit residence overshoot with 13 delicate dogs Tuesday.

David Rudolph, orator for Detroit Dog Rescue, pronounced a classification had been called to a woman’s home on Ewers Street nearby Michigan Avenue about dual years ago, when she was found hoarding 25 dogs, and on Tuesday, “she was adult to a same problem again,” he said.

“The initial time, she was ticketed, though not prosecuted any further,” Rudolph said. “It appears a complement unsuccessful in traffic with her, since we’re behind to a same thing again with her.”

After a rescue organisation perceived a tip about a lady Tuesday, they enlisted a assist of Detroit Animal Control and a Michigan Humane Society. What they found when they arrived about 10:15 p.m. was “unbelievable,” Rudolph said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it; a place was filled from building to roof with filth,” he said. “With that many dogs there, we can usually suppose a feces everywhere; a urine; food in all kinds of places in that house. It was a genuine mess. The lady and those dogs were vital in finish squalor, and something immediately indispensable to be done.

“It took about an hour only to get a dogs out, though it took even some-more time to inveigle her to give adult a dogs,” Rudolph said. “She was really reluctant; she was fearful they would be spoiled or put down. We had to negotiate with her, and concede her to keep dual of a dogs, and remonstrate her we weren’t out to harm a other dogs.

“It was a tough situation,” he said. “We had no military support, and people in a area were station out there saying, ‘She has my dog.’ We did a best we could out there in a rain, with really small lighting.”

The animals are receiving medical courtesy from veterinarians opposite Metro Detroit, Rudolph said.

“Most had a miss of nutrition; some were skin and bones,” he said.

It was misleading Wednesday if a lady would be ticketed again.

After a dogs are tended to, a rescue classification will try to establish if a neighbors’ claims of burglary are true.

“We haven’t been means to determine that, though in a home there were a series of posters people put adult when looking for a mislaid dog,” he said. “You roughly get a feeling she found them and never returned them. When we asked her, she indicated that her intentions were good — though you’re not traffic with someone rational.

All a dogs will get their shots and be spayed or neutered, Rudolph said.

Anyone meddlesome in providing a encourage home for some of a discovered dogs can click on a organization’s website, www.detroitdogrescue.com.

ghunter@detroitnews.com

(313) 222-2134

Houston shares tips during dog Bite Prevention Week

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:58:55 +0000

So distant this year, there have been 520 reported dog bites in Houston, according to BARC. This puts a city on lane to compare a 1,265 dog bites reported in 2012, says a City of Houston’s pet adoption trickery and animal control authority.

It’s a problem for dog lovers, families and animal control agencies. But dog bites are also difficulty for word companies that are profitable millions of dollars a year in claims.

To lift recognition and cut down on a series of incidents, this week, May 19 -25, has been set aside as National Bite Prevention Week.

Texas comes in third in State Farm’s list of a Top 10 states with a many dog punch claims. The association paid $4.3 million dollars here in 2012 to cover 236 claims. Compare that with California, where there was $17.1 million in dog punch claims.

BARC’s Chris Glaser thinks many of these dog bites could have been prevented with a improved bargain of dog and tellurian interaction.

“The pivotal is to know and acknowledge a few communication manners between dog and tellurian that are essential to preventing a bite,” Glaser says in a BARC statement.

Glaser says dogs use facial expressions and physique language, only as people do, to communicate emotions. Understanding and picking out these cues can forestall incidents that can leave adults and children injured, maimed or even killed.

About 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs in a given year, according to BARC. Children are in a many danger, due to their distance and miss of believe of these dog cues.

Parents would also be good suggested to teach their children when it comes to interacting with unknown or even informed dogs. Even family pets have been famous to harm those they have lived with for years.

“Any dog could potentially bite,” pronounced Glaser. “Regardless of multiply or size, dogs can turn fearful or concerned and act out by biting.”

Insurance companies are gripping an eye out on dog punch incidents, and some are refusing to protection homeowners with pets a companies call dangerous.

Cecil Buffalo Jr., a Farmers Insurance representative in a Pasadena area, says his association has 5 breeds that they ask about when arising homeowners insurance.

“Pit bulls, Dobermans, Chow Chows, German shepherds and Rottweilers have been a problem in a past,” says Buffalo. These animals are deemed dangerous by Farmers and other word companies, and their owners can be theme to losing coverage.

Farmers underwriters can decrease process renewals of a owners of these breeds, and their policies are canceled if a pets stay in a homes after being warned.

Dog bites are lonesome by Farmers, though not those inflicted by those 5 breeds that Buffalo named.

If your dog bites someone in your home who is a non-resident of a household, Farmers will cover those medical bills adult to a extent that are insured.

BARC says training dogs early on to consort with humans is a good approach to during slightest try to forestall attacks. Leashes and parental organisation are also really important, as are unchanging walks and practice for dogs.

Oddly enough, Farmers doesn’t ask about other potentially dangerous animals that can be found in homes.

“They don’t ask about snakes,” Buffalo says.

Calgarians unleash torrent of dog bite reports

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:58:43 +0000

As dog attacks continue rising in a growing city, Calgaryâ€™s bigger dogs are biting the most.

Reports of dog bites have quadrupled over the past five years.

Last year, more than 70 per cent of reported dog bites came from bigger and medium-sized dog breeds such as bullmastiffs, boxers, German shepherds, Rottweilers and pit bulls, according to new numbers obtained by the Calgary Herald.

Out of 201 reported dog bites last year, 147 were committed by dogs in the working, herding and terrier categories.

And many of the worst offenders are unlicensed, according to Calgary Animal and Bylaw Services.

â€œOf the trends weâ€™ve seen, 85 per cent of the bites that occur are in the presence of the owner or the person whoâ€™s supposed to be in care and control of the dog,â€� said Andrew Bissett, manager of operations.

â€œWith trends, it goes right back to understanding the behaviours of their dog. You need to know your animal.â€�

Forest Lawn had the most dog bites in the city, with 11 attacks reported in 2012, according to documents obtained by the Herald.

Bowness followed with eight incidents, Falconridge with seven, Marlborough with six, and Ogden with five.

City officials say the increase in dog bite reports stems from improved reporting by citizens as a result of public education efforts. There were 58 dog attacks in 2009, 102 in 2010, 127 in 2011 and 201 last year.

The city introduced its responsible pet ownership bylaw in 2006, placing the onus of animal behaviour on pet owners. Calgaryâ€™s bylaw department emphasizes responsible pet ownership through intensive licensing, hefty fines and owner education.

High-profile dog attacks have routinely sparked calls for breed-specific legislation that bans or restricts certain types of dogs considered dangerous. Pet advocates say thereâ€™s no such thing as bad dog breeds, only bad owners.

An online poll last month done by Leger Marketing for Postmedia News showed 48 per cent were against breed bans, 40 per cent backed them and the rest were undecided.

Winnipeg enacted the countryâ€™s first major ban on pit bull-type dogs in 1990. Ontario followed suit in 2005, and other municipalities in the United States have put restrictions in place.

Calgary has no plans to introduce a breed ban.

The Calgary Humane Society says owners of big dogs have an extra responsibility to train them. â€œAll dogs have the ability to bite, but itâ€™s the strength of the bite from the bigger ones thatâ€™s so worrisome,â€� said society spokeswoman Christy Thompson.

â€œBigger dogs are stronger and bites are more likely to be reported,â€� she said. â€œWeâ€™re really pushing education around socializing for all dogs so theyâ€™re not surprised. People really need to understand that.â€�

Dog bite reports have been increasing steadily in the past four years.

In April, Calgary police officers, including a sergeant who suffered a bite to the leg, were forced to use Tasers to capture two female Tibetan mastiffs running loose near a Martindale elementary school.

For two to three blocks, the officers followed the large dogs along the tracks until one officer deployed a Taser to capture one of the animals.

Dogs Bring Swarm of Bacteria Into Your Home

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:48:59 +0000

Your constant pooch competence be bringing a whole universe of germ into your home — yet don’t panic. Research suggests that bearing to a far-reaching accumulation of microbes competence be good for us.

A new investigate reveals that homes with dogs have larger bacterial diversity than canine-free dwellings. Dog-related farrago is quite high on television screens and pillowcases, a researchers found.

“When we move a dog into your house, we are not usually bringing a dog, we are also introducing a apartment of dog-associated [microbe] taxa directly into your home environment, some of that competence have approach or surreptitious effects on tellurian health,” a researchers wrote currently (May 22) in a biography PLOS ONE. [5 Wacky Things That Are Good For You]

Microbes around us

The microbes in a sourroundings are a theme of increasing seductiveness by scientists, interjection to studies divulgence how intertwined tellurian lives are with those of a single-celled. Skin microbes, for example, competence be pivotal for warding off disease. And a bucket of microbes vital in a tellurian tummy competence change all from immunity to obesity.

North Carolina State University biologist Rob Dunn and his colleagues wanted to step behind from a physique to improved know a microbes in a sourroundings during large. They gave 40 families a home-sampling pack and asked them to bandage down 9 locations in their houses: a kitchen slicing board, a kitchen counter, a fridge shelf, a toilet seat, a pillowcase, a radio screen, a categorical door’s extraneous hoop and a top trim on both an interior doorway and on an extraneous door. The researchers afterwards examined a microbial DNA from a swabs to detect opposite families of little tenants vital on these surfaces.

All told, a 40 homes harbored 7,726 opposite types of bacteria. The many common were Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria, all families containing a far-reaching operation of species. Types of germ tended to differ by location: Kitchen environments (cutting boards, counters and shelves) had identical colonies from home to home, as did frequently overwhelmed surfaces (toilet seats, pillowcases, doorway handles) and frequency spotless surfaces (door trims and radio screens).

“This creates sense,” Dunn pronounced in a statement. “Humans have been vital in houses for thousands of years, that is sufficient time for organisms to adjust to vital in sold tools of houses. We know, for example, that there is a class that usually lives in hot-water heaters. We deposition these bacterial hitchhikers in opposite ways in opposite places, and they flower or destroy depending on their adaptations.”

Bacteria associated to tellurian skin were found many frequently on pillowcases and toilet seats — as were germ ordinarily found in tellurian feces. Bacteria from leaves and furnish were found many mostly on doorway trims and also on kitchen surfaces. Bacteria from a dirt were found opposite a home, yet were many common on a extraneous doorway trim, a researchers found.

Doggie diversity

Dunn and his colleagues subsequent looked for variables that would change bacterial communities from home to home, such as a participation of cats, children, runner and other factors. The usually one they found that done any disproportion was either or not a family had a pet dog.

Pillowcases and TV screens of dog-owning families had 42 percent and 52 percent some-more microbial groups, respectively, than pillowcases and TV screens of non-dog-owning families. This additional diversity, unsurprisingly, was done adult mostly of germ famous to live on dog fur.

(Other factors, such as a turn of steam in a home, could also change bacillus diversity, a researchers wrote, yet they were incompetent to magnitude those factors in this study.)

Dog owners shouldn’t boat Fido off to a panorama for fear of nasty bacteria, though. In fact, a family pet competence be a bonus to health. Previous studies have found that profound women who live in homes with dogs are reduction expected to have children with allergies. Scientists assume that a reason competence be an bearing to larger numbers of microbes that keeps a defence complement from branch on a body.

“Our investigate provides justification to dynamically support this assumption,” Dunn and his colleagues wrote. The researchers are formulation to routine samples from a sum of 1,300 homes opposite a United States to demeanour for geographic differences in microbial roommates.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook Google+. Original essay on LiveScience.com.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Dogs

7 Surprising Health Benefits of Dog Ownership

10 Deadly Diseases That Hopped Across Species

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This element competence not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

National Dog Bite Prevention Week 2013: Most bites are preventable by bargain ‘dog speak’

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:48:49 +0000

HOUSTON — National Dog Bite Prevention Week is May 19-May 25 and BARC Animal Shelter and Adoptions, a City of Houston’s metropolitan pet adoption trickery and animal control authority, offers pet owners and a open tips on preventing a bite. In 2012, 1,265 dog bites were reported in Houston, and 520 have been reported given Jan 1, 2013.

“We see countless dog punch cases each year, and it becomes some-more and some-more transparent that many of these bites could have been prevented,” pronounced Chris Glaser, Animal Control Manager during BARC Animal Shelter and Adoptions. “The pivotal is to know and acknowledge a few communication manners between dog and tellurian that are essential to preventing a bite. Dogs use facial expressions and physique denunciation to communicate, only like we do. You should always be receptive to what a dog is revelation you, though we also have to make certain your physique denunciation isn’t melancholy them.”

Specific tellurian gestures can seem melancholy to a dog, even if a gestures are unintentional. For example, regulating from a dog, screaming or creation raging gestures, creation approach eye contact, directly confronting or station over a dog, or reaching out to make hit can dismay them, potentially ensuing in a bite. Canines mostly promulgate stress or fear by wrinkling his muzzle, growling, tensing lips or facial muscles, frozen and holding his breath, directly staring or holding his tail adult in place. Understanding these cues could forestall a bite.

About 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs each year, and children are, by far, a many common victims and are some-more expected to be exceedingly injured. Children are mostly a victims of dog bites since many of them are not wakeful of how their physique denunciation affects dogs, nor do they know dog warning signs. Parental involvement, including educating children on dog signals and communicating a significance of never coming an different dog, could revoke a series of childhood dog bites.

Pet owners preparation and recognition is a pivotal component to shortening a series of dog bites in Houston and opposite a nation. The routine of preventing dog charge and intensity bites should start really early in a canine’s life. Pet owners can revoke a chances of their pet satirical a chairman by socializing their dog and bargain his or her sensitivities and stress triggers during a immature age. If pet owners observe function issues or signs indicating intensity aggression, they should work with their veterinarian or with a dilettante such as an tractability tutor to solve a problem.

“Any dog could potentially bite,” pronounced Glaser. “Regardless of multiply or size, dogs can turn fearful or concerned and act out by biting. They don’t regulating proof and proof like we do, and it’s critical to know that even a nicest dogs might punch given a right environment.”

According to a American Veterinary Medical Association, scarcely one in 5 people bitten by dogs need medical attention. State Farm Insurance recently expelled a tip 10 states for dog punch claims in 2012, and Texas was listed as series 3 with 236 claims, ensuing in an estimated $4.3 million in paid claims. Nationally, State Farm had 3,670 dog punch claims, ensuing in an estimated $108 million in paid claims. Both a open and pet owners in Houston can assistance revoke a series of bites and ensuing injuries opposite a city by holding note of several critical tips from BARC.

To forestall a chances of a family dog satirical someone during home or in public, obliged pet owners should:

• NEVER leave a child unattended with a dog. Even if it’s a family pet. Children are mostly bitten by a dog in their possess household.

• Socialize dogs during a immature age. This helps revoke stress in worried situations and could assistance forestall a destiny dog bite.

• Protect their dogs from situations that might means anxiety. Pet owners customarily know their dog’s function patterns. Keeping a dog divided from situations that might means fear or stress could forestall a bite.

• Keep dogs leashed in public. This helps keep control of a dog to forestall confrontations.

• Work one-on-one with a dog to solve any function issues. Talking with a vet, operative with a dog one-on-one to solve function issues, and tractability training can assistance safeguard he or she is respectful around others.

• Keep pets cramped when mail carriers broach mail. The United States Postal Service recently expelled a tip 10 cities where mail carriers are pounded by dogs. Houston was ranked series 9, with 27 attacks reported in 2012. This series can simply be reduced by restrictive dogs to a protected plcae when mail carriers are in a area.

When in public, Houstonians should keep a following tips in mind to assistance forestall a dog bite:

• Be alert. Look, listen and be wakeful of your surroundings.

• Use non-threatening gestures when a dog is in a area. Soften your eyes, open your mouth, face a dog during an angle, breathe, and relax physique posture.

• Learn to commend a warning signs of assertive behavior. Signs of assertive function embody wrinkled muzzle, teeth display while growling, lips/facial muscles tense, hair on behind station up, dog freezes and binds breath, tough and approach stare, tail adult and hold in place.

• Always sojourn calm. If you’re ever approached by different dog, always keep a ease demeanor.

All dog or cat bites that start within a Houston City boundary contingency be reported to BARC Animal Enforcement. Call BARC during 713-229-7300 or dial 311 to news a bite. This is compulsory by state law, and is particularly to safeguard a victim’s health and safety. Additionally, any dogs or cats that are proven to have bitten a chairman are compulsory by Texas law to be quarantined for 10 days from a date of a bite.

Find some-more tips on avoiding dog bites and reacting to a potentially dangerous conditions involving a dog by visiting www.HoustonBARC.com.

Google’s new ‘Top Charts’ will tell you which celebrities, planets, or dog …

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:48:36 +0000

One of the best parts of Google’s search engine is its ability to plot trends: sometimes for practical reasons, like the search-based Flu Trends map, and sometimes for clever snapshots like its year-end Zeitgeist of top searches. Google Trends, likewise, allows you to check the popularity of a search term over time or see what’s showing up most frequently in people’s searches. Now, Google has expanded Trends with some fresh organization tools. The new “Top Charts” section will give users a billboard ranking of many, many subjects, from celebrities to planets.

Each chart tracks a specific category month by month, showing what’s in the public eye based on search terms. Various terms (like Selena Gomez for “Actors”) get a numerical ranking up to 100, and Google will chart how often they’ve appeared on the list and how their fortunes change over time.

Some of the categories, like basketball teams or movies, are obviously popular and trend-driven. But you’ll also find weirder groupings. Ever wondered what medications people search for most? “Antibacterial” and “Adderal” consistently vie for the top spot. What about governors, whiskeys, chemical elements, or DJs? They’re all here, though for now, the list is limited to the United States. Besides Top Charts, Google has added a few other tweaks, including a visualization tool for overall top searches and a reorganized home page. More details are available at the company’s blog.

Guide Dog Training: What I Gained By Raising A Dog I Couldn’t Keep

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:42:04 +0000

It’s hard for Amy Hempel to say who’s happier: the volunteers raising guide dogs for the blind, the men and women they help, or the noble canines angling for tummy rubs.

By Amy Hempel

“Where in your life are you most yourself?” That was the simple and profound question put to me by a friend. My answer was “With dogs” — true since the first grade and my first dog, a black Labrador retriever. The few years when I did not have a dog are best described by another question, this one posed by Elizabeth von Arnim in her autobiography, All the Dogs of My Life: “How was it that there were such long periods during which I wasn’t making some good dog happy?”

Interdependence has long seemed to me the ideal in a relationship. Dogs have always taken good care of me and vice versa. Years ago, I saw a heightened example of this kind of exchange, so vivid and affecting it propelled my love and gratitude for dogs — all dogs — to another plane and called for a response.

I went to a graduation at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a guide-dog training school in Yorktown Heights, New York. GEB has a monthly ceremony to honor the dozen or so men and women who have just completed nearly four weeks of training at the school with their new guide. The occasion is immensely moving, and it is open to the public. I learned there that guide dogs cannot be raised in kennels; they must be home-socialized, and there is a constant need for volunteer “puppy raisers.”

I attended the next month’s graduation, too, returning the way another person might go to a contemplative retreat — to be reminded of what really matters, to regain perspective, and to see people and dogs at their selfless best. I applied to be a puppy raiser and was approved just after Thanksgiving in 1996. I signed a contract promising that I would raise and train the puppy to GEB standards for a year and a half, at which time I would give the dog up for specialized training — four months with a professional guiding-eyes trainer — and, if successful, a life of service with a blind partner. I brought home an 8-week-old black Lab named Savoy.

What followed were nearly two years of bimonthly classes at GEB and a love affair, because you don’t just love the dogs, you fall in love with them. Every moment is intensified because of the impending separation, which can make a walk in the park almost unendurably poignant. Luckily, these pups are hilarious and unfailingly game, and reside entirely in the moment.

What we puppy raisers can do for the blind people who will come to rely on these dogs is build the dogs’ confidence and base of experience: We introduce them to a wide range of situations and activities, we get them used to being groomed and handled, we teach them good manners, we see that they have fun and enjoy their work. (Early on, I heard of one yellow Lab who accompanied his partner, a young professional woman, on a business trip shortly after they graduated. The woman packed the night before but did not close her suitcase until morning; when she went to unpack at the hotel, she found that her guide dog had packed several of his toys during the night.)

At the time of Savoy’s IFT (in-for-training, the qualifying exam), she aced all but one category: She was too easily startled for guide work and was chosen instead for the school’s brood/stud program; mating with an unflappable male could compensate for Savoy’s tendency in the next generation. No longer a puppy raiser, I became a “brood harbor” and got to keep my girl. But because I had fully expected to give her up from the start, I felt I owed more. So Savoy and I volunteered to take in very young puppies for home socialization. We bring several of them home for a week of individual attention that often results in better performance when they are temperament-tested at 7 or 8 weeks, at which time they are either accepted into the program or released for adoption as pets.

At a recent graduation, I drifted among the groups that formed proud and teary reunions around the graduates. It is both humbling and exalting to be a witness as blind men and women meet the volunteers who have raised their new partners. For their part, the noble guides lie on their backs, grinning, getting tummy rubs. Out of harness, a Lab dances with a child. A young couple hands a bag to the blind man who has just graduated with the dog they raised. “We brought two or three toys he really likes to play with.” The dog’s head disappears into the bag and surfaces with a worn squeaky pacifier.

“He loves to wrestle….”

“She grew up in a house with a big yard….”

“I hope you don’t mind, he’s starting to shed,” says a puppy raiser. “It’s part of the package,” says the blind partner. “I have two cats that shed, too. Oh, I found out he’s left-handed!” “I didn’t know that,” says the raiser. “I asked him to shake, and he gave me his left paw,” says the admiring partner. “I’ll bet he’s ambidextrous!” says the equally admiring raiser.

John Spencer, a graduate who speaks for his class, describes the training they have all just been through. He talks about the value of this time and says, “It wasn’t wasted. It wasn’t even spent. It was shared.” And one of the staff quotes a Swedish proverb: A shared joy is a double joy.

For information on volunteering, go to the GEB Web site, www.guidingeyes.org, or call 800-942-0149. Recommended reading: Two Puppies, by Jane and Michael Stern, an excellent factual and personal history of this program.

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#10 Milo (Male)/ Ella (Female)

Milo claimed the No. 17 spot in 2012, marking its first entrance into the Top 20.

Ella joined the ranks of the Top 100 in 2006 and has remained a prevalent pick since then, grabbing the No. 64 slot in 2012.

#9 Simba (Male)/ Charlie (Female)

Simba, currently No. 53, first became popular during the mid-nineties, thanks to emThe Lion King/em. It dropped out of the Top 100 in 2001, but came back in 2009, seeing a major surge in popularity over the past few years.

Traditionally a male dog name, Charlie has become a favorite for female dogs, joining the Top 100 in 2010.

#8 King (Male)/ Athena (Female)

Although it may seem like an established and stately name, King, the No. 51 name, didn’t break into the Top 100 until 2006, making it a relative newcomer.

Athena is an even more recent addition to the list of popular names, joining the Top 100 in 2010 and rising sharply over the last couple of years, hitting No. 62 in 2012.

#7 Leo (Male)/ Maya (Female)

Leo, the 30th most popular name overall, made the Top 100 list for the first time in 2001 and has been climbing up the chart ever since.

Maya joined the Top 100 list back in 2005, rising to No. 60 by 2012.

#6 Ace (Male)/ Willow (Female)

Ace first made the Top 100 in 2003. It rose to No. 31 in 2012, perhaps due to the recent trend of owners choosing old-school human nicknames for their pets.

Willow, hitting the Top 100 in 2009, has made quite the impression, rising to No. 59 last year.

#5 Jax (Male)/ Stella (Female)

At No. 35, Jax isn’t one of the most popular names, but it’s moved up the ranks quickly considering it wasn’t in the Top 100 until 2009. One interesting tidbit: The name Jackson has declined over the past five years, and this is the first time Jax has earned a more popular spot than its longer counterpart.

Stella made the Top 100 for the first time back in 2001 and hit No. 22 last year. Could the adorable Frenchie on Modern Family have something to do with the name’s rise in popularity?

#4 Bentley (Male)/ Nala (Female)

Bentley is a star on the rise, joining the Top 100 in 2002 and hitting No. 7 last year. It’s been one of the Top 10 male dog names for the past three years.

Nala, a name from one of our favorite animated films,em The Lion King/em, was the No. 25 most popular name last year, after first making the Top 100 back in 2003.

#3 Gunner (Male)/ Piper (Female)

Gunner first came on our radar in 2004, and ever since then, it’s climbed in popularity, ranking now at No. 28.

Piper, which now holds the No. 42 spot, broke into the Top 100 in 2006 and quickly gained steam.

#2 Thor (Male)/ Layla (Female)

Although Thor didn’t even appear on the Most Popular list back in 2003, it climbed to No. 27 in 2012, after making the list for the first time in 2010. Not coincidentally, the movie Thor came out in 2011, and the main character in that movie also starred in last year’s top film, The Avengers.

Layla, at No. 37, might not have box office stats to compare to Thor, but it’s also risen quickly, cracking the Top 100 in 2004 and hitting No. 37 last year.

#1 Dexter (Male)/ Luna (Female)

Dexter rose in popularity the most of all male dog names, starting at No. 99 in 2003 and landing at No. 25 in 2012.

Luna’s rise in popularity was even more meteoric, also beginning at No. 99 in 2003 and rising to No. 19 last year.

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An exhausted Collie and her puppies try and take a well earned nap.