La Di Da found us through Reading and Writing and she loves Rottweilers. She also writes about her cool web finds in her blog so she won't clog up her email box and her friends can all find the links in one place. She has accumulated a treasure trove of quirky offbeat, literate sites. Here's a couple of  them in her own words ...

"I've long suspected that dogs don't really understand metaphors. They take everything so literally." [agreed]

"If you took even a basic computer science course in school ... then you probably remember the Turing test. Here's a variation, known as the Blurring test. The object is to convince your computer that you're human." (You must have cookies enabled to take the test.) [ugh, I hate cookies, but I like referrer logging, so I can find out about people like her...]

  La Di Da ... go there

Vet nurse caught stealing dog medicine Australia  A veterinary nurse was found guilty of stealing some skin medicine to treat a skin disease she contracted from an animal in her care. Investigators also discovered that she stole ketamine to help her sleep. She was sent for drug rehabilitation treatment when they also learned she had starting "smoking cannibas at age 16 and moved on to amphetamines by the time she was 17..." [via c.moreover.com]

Dog-fouling detectives go undercover UK In the UK, dog cr*p is a big problem; well, it's a big problem everywhere else too. "Undercover surveillance could be used to crack down on dog-fouling in Copeland. The council's enforcement team have announced they are prepared to use "all action necessary" to stamp out on the nuisance." [does 'necessary' mean more violent means are possible: could we have a poop war?]

The dog poop problem is taken more seriously in the UK than in the good old USA. No... we Americans don't seem to care if our dog poops on the sidewalk, on yards, in the park, on the street, on jogging pathways. The fine for your dog pooping in Montgomery County, MD, is the same as the fine for killing someone's dog: $100. Now, either that means we don't care about our dogs or we really care about dog poop: I think it means we don't give a cr*p about our dogs; somebody needs to update that law. It's obvious nobody cares about the dog cr*p law here: I've given up on handing people baggies for their dog (I carry extra baggies, because our dog is a two pound cr*pper and I need two bags to clean it up.). They always look at me like I'm nuts and say: "it isn't that much" and "no way" am I picking it up.

Man microwave's girlfriend's puppy After a man microwaved his girlfriend's puppy for 15 seconds, he took it out and stabbed it and put it back in and then threatened his girlfriend with the same treatment... [wonder if he was related to Peter Singer?] [from Romensko's Obscure Reading Room]

Reading & Writing  recommends Dog News: all the news that's fit to bark, woof or howl. You'll find interesting links and reads at Reading & Writing, including Riley Dog, an amusing site with some offbeat links...

Border collies: untiring herders Thinking about getting a border collie? Read this article first... [located via newstrove.com]

Post mauling backlash: insurance blacklists California  "The bar has moved. Big, scary, snarling dogs are out -- and won't be tolerated. Insurance blacklisting of pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and other large breeds is in. What wasn't expected was that service dogs, such as those who aid people with disabilities, might be swept up in the hysteria." [By Diana Griego Erwin - Sacramento Bee] Service dogs are being banned right along with the 'dangerous breed' list. Even therapy dogs, proven over and over to provide gentle affection, are being banned by insurance companies...

Hip dysplasia in dogs Washington DC's animal doctor dispenses insight on dog hip dysplasia...

One of the sad truths about purebred dogs is that they often require surgery for inherited diseases: hip dysplasia in purebred dogs is not uncommon. Our dog has received two total hip replacements due to hip dysplasia; he's still recovering from his second surgery in April (in three more weeks we can allow him to walk off leash and up stairs). Hip dysplasia can be managed, if caught early -- before it destroys the dog's hips. Not aggravating the joints with punishing uphill walking or downhill walking, not injuring  weakened joints with sudden, twisty movements, good diet, supplements and veterinarian prescribed treatments go a long way to help your dog. A last resort, if the dog is young, is either hip surgery or some type of hip replacement.

We're lucky that we have such good veterinarian care and one of the top surgeons in the country was available to us. Our dog is happier; he's not in pain anymore, and we hope that he lives a long time because he was sweet and gentle from the first time we met him as a rescued dog by the ASPCA.

The dog who likes catfood Funny article by Eric Deckers in the American Reporter about his dog, Macy (Macey, according to Decker's wife), who loves catfood so much he'll do anything to get it.

Crazed fox outfoxed by amputee and his rotweiler Florida A fox attacked an amputee sitting in his wheel chair outside his home on Sunday night. "The Hudson amputee wrestles it to the ground, and a neighbor slays the fox with a hammer. A 130-pound Rottweiler didn't scare it away..."

Dog dies after bike run, charges eyed Ottawa, CA A dog died from heat exhaustion as he tried to keep up with his owner in a bicycle run. Ottawa Police searched for the dog after people notified them of the leashed dog's struggle to keep up with his cylcing owner. The dog died despite efforts by bystanders. [via myhawker.com]

In the DC area, the heat wave has forced us to severely limit our dog's activities outside. A dog has a high body heat : 101 degrees temperature is normal for a dog and dogs can only perspire through their feet and mouth. Add thick fur to the mix and you have great potential for heat collapse, stroke and death in sticky, humid weather if the dog isn't protected.

Most dogs are so willing to please their owners that they ignore their own welfare.  A dog can be stoic about his pain up to the moment he dies.

40 sheep killed in savage dog attack  Australia "A savage pack of dogs mauled and killed almost 40 sheep in the Montumana area at the weekend." The pack may consist of only three dogs; the sheep's owners have no idea where the dogs came from... [via Alltheweb.com]

Man accused of slitting his dog's throat  NY "A man accused of slitting his dog's throat and leaving it to die in his backyard was charged with a felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals..." Syracuse.com

UK to ease restrictions on pet travel from US/Canada. Good news for people who want to take their pets with them to the UK: after research confirmed that allowing pets in would not increase the risk of rabies disease, the UK plans to follow the European Community's (EU)  loosening of restrictions.  The UK Government has reaffirmed its plans to extend the Pet Travel Scheme to pets entering the UK from the USA and Canada. [Just make sure that microchip doesn't malfunction.] [UKPets.co.uk UK Pet Industry News]

I've seen a look in dog's eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." by John Steinbeck  [found via the doggie blog] The doggie blog boasts amusing graphics, especially the dog meditating, and the doggie blog contains interesting links to sites like the ugly dog contest.

Godfather of Animal Rights movement says baby killing okay Holy Cow! Where did they find this lunatic. It's hard to believe that someone interested in life would be so keen on death.

"Peter Singer, author of the book "Animal Liberation" and a professor of bioethics at Princeton University's Center for Human Values, criticized American Christianity for its fundamentalist strain that takes the Bible too "literally" and promotes "speciesism." He defined speciesism as the belief that being a member of a certain species "makes you superior to any other being that is not a member of that species." In an address to the national Animal Rights 2002 conference in McLean, Va., on Saturday, Singer also reiterated his controversial position that a "severely disabled" infant may be killed up to 28 days after its birth if the parents deem the baby's life is not worth living..." by Marc Morano, CNSnews.com

"I think that a chimpanzee certainly has greater self-awareness than a newborn baby," he told CNSNews.com.

"Singer defended his previous writings that humans and nonhumans can have "mutually satisfying" sexual relationships as long as they are consensual." [say what?]

[In another bizarro incident, on May 10th Dog News reported: Animal-Rights Advocate Murders Dutch Politician The politician was for prohumanitarian treatment of animals. The vegan shooter apparently flipped out; he was described as the quiet, unassuming type (oh, oh, we're heard that before)... ]

Maybe these guys think they are above the law and have some sort of messiah complex, so they think they have the right to decide who dies and who doesn't. That would explain why Peter Singer is so extreme in his views. With friends like this, the animal rights movement doesn't need enemies. And I don't think he should be allowed near animals either, considering his perverse interest in animal-human sex. I wouldn't let him near my dog, that's for sure.

related: Professor Death: Salon.com Violent Role Models: Peter Singer and bestiality

No kill shelter gets help in 'mutt' strut Pittsburgh When the Humane Society changed from a low kill shelter to a no-kill shelter, it had to get creative. Older dogs and dogs with disabilities still needed loving homes. So they hosted a the largest offsite dog adoption program in the organization's history and found the support they'd been hoping for...

Microchip puts dog in quarantine UK On a return from a European vacation, a dog's microchip failed to revealed his identification when scanned. The dog was confined to three weeks of quarantine at a cost near £1,000. "The chip, by Animal Care Ltd of York, had to be taken out of the dog and sent to the manufacturers in Spain to be unscrambled and read." The dogs owners are planning to sue the manufacturers of the chip if they aren't reimbursed for the added expenses.