China's little piggies replace dogs as pets Shanghai In China's largest city, miniature piggies are beoming very popular as pets. Know as perfume pigs because they don't smell. Unlike dogs, these little piggies don't bark or make noise, and they'll eat just about anything edible... [BBC World]

Court: Let the Dog Groomer Beware "Dog groomers beware: If the chow chomps, it's all part of the job, a court decided Friday."  A chow bit a groomer on the face (ouch) during grooming...[Yahoo News]

Xin-Feng Chow Chows If you love chow chows or just love dogs, visit Xin-Feng Chow Chows . The chows featured on this beautiful site are what chows were meant to be: groomed, trained, happy and exhibiting dependable, sweet temperments. Our cinnamon chow received a  Golden Chow Award from  Nemo (and Anita Meulstee, Pandora & Callisto) for Dog News. You'll also find Chow Chow Puppy Pages, Anita's Artwork ,  Artwork E-cards , so you can send free e-cards to your friends (cards include flowers, pets, dogs, and scenes from Rotterdam).

Drug addicts turn to cow dung; is dog cr*p next?  Malaysia "Faced with some of the world's strictest anti-drug laws, some addicts in Malaysia are now sniffing fresh cow dung to get high." When they run out of cow dung, will they turn to dog cr*p? They'll probably never run out of cow dung. "The cow dung emits gases like sulphur, and addicts sniff on these gases to get high." The penalty of death for drug addiction does not apply to cow dung yet... [News.com.au]

Teens immolate puppy with gasoline NC Authorities allege three teens doused a 4 month old puppy with gasoline, set her ablaze, and watched her burn on Monday. Animal activists want the boys to receive psychiatric evaluations as part of their sentencing. "Robert Ressler, founder of the FBI's behavioral sciences unit, described serial killers and other psychopathic torturers of people as 'the kids who never learned it's wrong to poke out a puppy's eyes.' " ... [The Daily Southerner]

[Earlier this month, the notorious Son of Sam serial killer was denied parole. People who knew him said he was fond of torturing and dismembering animals.  Four dogs were dug up from his yard; one of them had its skull smashed in. (Daily Rotten)]

Dog butchery trade a hoax UK  "A  family this week denied claims linking them to the dog butchery trade after a website advertised their home address as the London branch of an apparently fictional Korean dogmeat business. Environmental health officers found nothing incriminating..." [This is Local London]

Distemper epidemic killing off European seals Netherlands "A deadly seal virus is sweeping across the seas of northern Europe and is threatening to match the devastating epidemic of 14 years ago that wiped out half the seal population in those waters, said an international study released Thursday." The virus that has already killed over a thousand seals is also a big threat to non-vaccinated dogs because it is a lethal variation of the distemper virus. Humans are not affected... [Environment News Network]

'Peace pups' to fight suicide attacks  Middle East "Israel says it is planning to use dozens of specially trained dogs to try to prevent Palestinian suicide bombings. The dogs will be supplied by a group of American Jews who call the project Pups for Peace, the Israeli Interior Minister Uzi Landau said..." Cool, but how will it work?: "The dogs would be trained to sniff out explosives and then immobilise any would-be bomber..." [BBC Front Page]