Winter storm was deep trouble for pets MD/DC/VA When the snowstorm and the following rainstorms pummelled the Northeastern U.S., pets didn't fare well. Aside from the usual frozen pooch stories (a stupid owner hazard), 'pets were pummeled with shovels, smacked by snowboards and snowplows, lost for hours in snowdrifts and even shot.... the most common problems were frostbite and injuries inflicted by snow-covered objects, which the dogs had trouble seeing and smelling. ' [Baltimore Sun] (when you shovel or use any dangerous instrument, please, please, please put your dog in a safer place... )

Dog attack victim sympathizes with condemned dog NZ In the latest of a string of horrific dog attacks in New Zealand, the man who endured a savage attack by a bull terrier  said:

'The dog's not to blame. The dog will be put down, but it's not responsible for...the way it acted,' Mr. [Steve] Brady said as he sat at home with several stitches in a deep gash where the dog latched on to him 'The dog just doesn't bite – it tears. It's like a bloody knife....I don't think it's the breed of dog – I think it's the people who own the dog... ' [Stuff]

Instead of breed bans, Brady recommends banning irresponsible owners from having dogs and he thinks fines don't do anything to stop such owners from allowing their dogs to attack again. (Brady has raised and trained dogs as pets for his family.)

 

Be fair to your dogs and have a nice yard too [Uexpress] ha ha... yeah, right. Any dog left in a yard for long will re-landscape it to his liking (if given enough time... )

Even with the rain storms, our yard is filled with shovelled piles of snow and a temporary race track I sculpted out of the snow for our dog. What was an amusing arrangement is now a danger -- because the snow is melting and our dog doesn't care that it's melting. He wants to scale the snow mounds which were 5 feet tall a few days ago. Now these mounds are a measly two to three feet tall, but their allure pulls him in. Today, he climbed into the snow and immediately sank up to his back with his four legs firmly planted. Instead of hating it, he loved it and maneuvered his snowbound body to an unexplored snow expanse so he could poop... On Friday, he played 'king of the hill' and pooped on the very top of the tallest snow mound (I used a long rake to extract his doggy doo, instead of trying to climb up there).  Our dog isn't like normal dogs who complain about the snow and insist you create a poop lounge for them. Related: When your dog digs

Ireland: you need a license for a poodle, but not for a panther! go figure. Some people are upset about the absurdity of pet laws which do not cover wild animals:.

'The USPCA has warned that legislation must be introduced in Northern Ireland to stop wild and dangerous animals being kept as pets, before tragedy strikes. Four tigers, three wolves and a lioness are currenly being cared for by the charity, after their owners were no longer able to keep them...'  [Belfast Telegraph]

Cornish Rex cats blur the line ... between cats and dogs Canada 'Imagine a Chihuahua-Greyhound crossbreed, throw in a little jackrabbit, and you're getting the picture...' Cornish Rex cats can cost a bundle: between $500-600 dollars US for a kitten and you're put on a six-month waiting list. Their popularity is easy to understand:

'They greet you at the door,' says breeder Hayley Boam. 'They're in your face [and] they're on your lap as soon as you sit down.' [National Post] (...Even our dog isn't that devoted... he has more dignity...)

Chickens and addicts added to sniffer duty (instead of sniffer dogs)

According to The Chicken Defense: 'U.S. Marines will also rely on one of the most low-tech detection devices around: chickens. Worried that the pollution from blown oil installations will clog up complicated detection equipment and make it difficult to pick up deadly chemicals and nerve agents, U.S. marines will drive into battle across the dusty plains of Iraq with caged chickens atop their Hum-Vees...' [TimeEurope.com via Don Park's blog]

In India, Sniffer dogs lose out to addicts: Police have found something more reliable than sniffer dogs or imported testing kits when they need to quickly verify their latest drug haul is the real thing -- junkies... '... Even the imported testing kits give arbitrary results if the heroin is not of fine quality. That is when we call in the tasters [addicts]. And they are never wrong...' [Yahoo News!]

Related: Dogs as chemical detectors: vulnerable to simple sabotage techniques

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