Category : News

Here’s a great story of a golden retriever puppy who was born and raised with the intention of him becoming a service dog.  Eventually his trainers realized this just wasn’t going to happen even though he had a remarkable ability to be trained and learn new things.

Kudos to his trainers for realizing what they had in mind wasn’t what he was destined to do.  Now he’s able to help many with his work!

Check out our Golden Retriever Puppy Training Info

Breaking news: Oregon Humane Society (OHS) rescue teams are in the midst of finding and saving as many as 100 dogs and puppies living in deplorable conditions on a rural Eastern Oregon property.

Most of the dogs have little or no shelter from the snow, wind, and frigid temperatures (11 degrees Monday night) of this high-desert area. According to the OHS some of the dogs are living underground in holes covered with planks, and some are chained to farm equipment.

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I can’t help but like this guy!  If you’ve never heard of Sherrif Joe Arpaio before you can read all about him here.  The short story is though he’s tough on criminals. They sleep in tents, work very hard labor in the AZ desert during the day, and are fed bologna sandwiches.  He believes they are in jail and should be punished. Not left to lie around all day watching cable and eating better than a lot of homeless people in this country.

Now I have a new reason to like Sherrif Joe!

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With more than 4000 deaths in the United States attributed to Swine flu or H1N1, it is no doubt an epidemic. And because dogs, cats and other animals are capable of getting the flu, you may be wondering if swine flu can kill your puppy. There is both good news and bad news.

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His warms the heart.

Kincaid’s best-selling novel, A Dog Named Christmas (Random House), has been turned into a TV movie of the same name airing Sunday on CBS (9 p.m. ET). The Hallmark movie centers on a young man’s ability to persuade an entire town to take home dogs from a local shelter for the duration of the holidays. An entire nation might be following suit.

At the movie’s close, Kincaid will encourage people to participate in foster programs for the holidays by locating a shelter through Petfinder.com.

“Hopefully there’s going to be a lot of happy dogs sitting around people’s fireplaces this Christmas,” he says.

The idea, Kincaid says, is to take in dogs for a week through New Year’s, “enhancing their own lives and the dog’s life, rather than agreeing to adopt them right off the bat.”

“When we first thought about this idea, I thought I’d be happy if we get 100 to 200 shelters. The first day we got 600 shelters,” Kincaid says.

Petfinder, owned by Discovery Communications, reached out to its network of shelters, and now more than 2,000 groups are taking part.

He created the tale for his children 10 years ago as a bedtime story. “I’ve always been concerned about pets in shelters during the holidays,” he says.

His family has a rescue dog named Rudy, who appears with Kincaid when he’s describing the program to viewers Sunday.

“I hope there’s a wonderful nationwide response,” says Brad Moore, president of Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions. “We hope this is something people want to take action on.”

Moore says Hallmark worked on the new concept with Petfinder, which lists more than 300,000 pets available for adoption on its website. Each group has policies on how to apply to be a foster pet participant and how to care for the pet during one of the busiest times of year, says Kim Saunders, vice president of shelter outreach for Petfinder.

“So many of the pets are there (in shelters) because of a family’s change in lifestyle, either a divorce or having to move,” says Betsy Saul, president and co-founder of Petfinder. “Not because they’re undesirable.”

Above all else, Saul says, shelters need fosters. “The power of fostering is amazing. People are like, ‘How can you give up a dog after you have cared for it and nurtured it?’ But there’s no better feeling … than seeing a dog go off with a family you know is going to love it. That’s a dream come true.”

But Kincaid has a different dream come true: “Maybe many people will decide to keep the dogs.”

If so, a lot of dogs will be warmed by fireplaces for winters to come.

Story courtesy of USAToday.com

Actress Katherine Heigl of Grey’s Anatomy recently paid for a group of Chihuahuas to be transported from the Los Angeles based animal shelter they were in to one in Nashua NH.  The dogs were not being adopted in LA and faced the risk of euthanasia.  Tammy Devito of the human society in Nashua knew they would have no problem adopting the dogs as that small breed can be tough to come by.  Read the rest of the story here.

A big thanks to Ms. Heigl for stepping up to the plate and helping out! It’s great to see people doing what they can to help the dogs!

Sparked by the most recent attack and killing of a toddler by a dog Gordon Brown suggests that maybe it’s not the dogs that need to be licensed but the owners.  He feels this would not prevent certain breeds just because of their breed but would limit who can own a dog.

This thought process makes some sense to me as a responsible dog owner is not going to let his dog be in a situation where he has the opportunity to hurt people and will have trained them as well.  Some of his thoughts go a little further than we should take it but it’s an interesting read.

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A Proposal from Ald. Ray Suarez, 31st, would restrict homes to no more than five dogs and require people with more to get rid of some of their pets.

Do you think there should be any legislation that limits the number of pets a household can have? Would it prevent some of the animal neglect cases you see where someone owns 45 dogs and isn’t taking care of any of them? Check out the rest of the story below and then leave a comment on your thoughts.

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Police Dog Chase from Minneapolis passed away after leaping from a rooftop while searching a building for suspected robbers.  Many K9 officers die in the line of duty every year and we owe them a debt of gratitude for giving their lives to keep us safe on a daily basis!

Ps..Chase was a beautiful German Shepherd!

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An Australian project that is focusing on helping troubled teens by means of teaching them dog training is gaining national attention.  The teens are training farm dogs how to jump for the Australian dog jumping competition.

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