She was like a daughter to me ...  UK Can't bear to part with your pet? Don't want to end up in the 'weird news' headlines? Now  you can kept your pet with you after she/he dies... Pet cremation is now in demand as owners increasingly feel their pets deserve human-like last-rites. The case of the  Dog lover who kept her pet carcasses at home is tragic and not what any sane owner would want for their pet...

'Garden burials or mass disposal will no longer do. Increasingly, only the rituals and services usually associated with human passing are good enough to mark pet death -- private cremation, ceremonial burial, hearse transport, grief counselling, flowered graves and sombre granite memorials.... The remains of five dead dogs will be in [one owner's]  front room by the time you read this, in urns of dark mahogany or teak-effect. She took Zena the dachshund on her final, emotional trip to the vet the other day and used a pet undertaker to cremate the remains privately and return the ashes in a pot that will join Babygirl, Sebastian, Fifi, and Nathania on the mantelpiece...' [Times online]

A reader responds.. 

Even our dogs are health nuts GA If you want to sell pet products, they've got to be natural/holistic/organic/healthy... like ourselves, our dogs must be health fanatics: owners prefer pet food  that is 'all natural, no preservatives, low fat, certified free range, no artificial colors or flavors, glucosamine and chondroitin, holistic, organic, Omega 6 and Omega 3 added, antioxidants, prebiotics, and probiotics...' [Access Atlanta] (... ahem, I know a certain dog who, if permitted, would eat anything in the garbage and practically anything in the street, including eviscerated dead squirrel... I had to yank hard to keep him away from that treat. Moreover, he has been known to scavenge the floor for old dog biscuits and finding none, will cheerfully eat lint instead... He does receive the most expensive, organic, wholistic dog food we could find: Bench and Field's. ... we are health nuts and our dog is too... )

Blind Spot, a new movie released this week, reveals the bunker days of Adolf Hitler through the eyes of one of his star-struck secretarys:  

'[Hitler] hated to be touched, never used the word "love" and once ran out of the room in a rage at the mention of the word "Jew." He was also proud of the tricks performed by his dog (later used as a test subject for cyanide poisoning)... [Globe and Mail]

Hitler was also a vegetarian with a soft spot for animals but not for people.  Hitler and Herman Goering, his infamous Air Marshal, both passionately believed in protecting animals, while at the same time executing mass genocide ... An article by Tony Paterson from Berlin and David Harrison from London gives us a further glimse into the twisted 'ethics' of the Nazi terror regime... [Hunting with hounds verboten in Germany, The Age, Australia]

Sniffing out mines  A unique inside look at the most dangerous of jobs for a dog: mine detection. 

'Working upwind and almost at the full extent of her 10-metre leash Sasha suddenly doubles back and excitedly begins to circle a particular spot. After scratching the ground for a moment, she sits and looks back expectantly at her handler, who raises his arm and shouts 'mine.' On command, Sasha scampers back to receive her reward: a few minutes play with her favourite rubber ball while the rest of the team set to work unearthing what is later identified as a Russian made PMN-1 anti-personnel landmine. On a good day, one dog can do the work of 10 deminers armed with detectors...' [IRIN News - UN]

really weird news today...

Dogs Go Berserk, Attack Cars Germany

'A pack of frenzied dogs attacked six parked cars in the Bavarian capital, leaving a trail of damaged vehicles in their wake and causing panic among residents woken by the disturbances. Bumpers, mudflaps and number plates were all torn off by the canine onslaught. Police also found teeth marks on the body work and hubcaps of the car, which were covered in blood and saliva from the dogs.' (imagine a chewed off bumper) [Reuters]

Boy lied about dog house punishment (huh? ... then why did his dad agreed to sleep in a doghouse for 30 days) [Reuters] Related: Man chooses dog house over jail time TX 'A man accused of punishing his stepson by forcing him to sleep in a dog kennel has agreed to the same punishment in a plea deal...[30 days in a dog kennel] He allegedly whipped his 11-year-old stepson with a car antenna and made him sleep in a kennel for several days and possibly weeks...' [Ananova Quirkies]

Dog lover leaves pet carcasses to rot at home A Crufts judge and show breeder couldn't bear to bury her dogs when they died. BMS Technologies, the major contractor for cleaning up Ground Zero after 9/11, was called in to decontaminate and rid her home of the smell.... [Ananova Quirkies]

 Family's Missing Dog Returns Home After 3 Years A puppy wanders off and is found wandering near his home three years later. [WCVB-TV The Boston Channel]

Iditarod bringing in snow for dog race AK Truckers are hauling in snow to make the ceremonial start of the sled dog race look better... [Mercury Center National & World News] (They can have the snow in our back yard. I hauled wheel barrows of it all morning, moving snow off the patio and away from the house to the back yard... Our dog's wearing his Christmas dog collar with jingly bells on it so I know exactly where he is when I'm working in the yard.)

Therapy dog volunteer changed lives GA 'Surrounded by family, friends and his registered therapy dog, Chelsea, Paul Glass died Wednesday, ending seven years of comforting sick children and senior citizens.'  Related: Friends, faithful dog, help man stricken with cancer  'Paul Glass and his registered therapy dog, Chelsea, began visiting sick children and senior citizens seven years ago. Others helped him after he was diagnosed with renal cell cancer...' Glass had been given about six months to live and his dog seemed to understand the seriousness of his illness... [Macomb Daily] (must see photo of Paul Glass and his devoted dog accompanies the article.)

Pets : Zodiac Signs Part I Bulgaria Hilarious astrology for pets...

'CAPRICORN The workers of the Zodiac who never give up, very stubborn. If you have a dog, you will most likely have a digger. They love to dig holes. Being an earth sign they feel they must connect with the earth. These pets will let you know when something is not as it should be. That could be a stranger at the door or his bed not set up properly. She will cry, whine or just keep at you until you change things the way she thinks they should be...' [Novinite.com] Pets: Zodiac Signs - Part II

Man imprisoned in San Jose dog death suing owner CA 'The man imprisoned for hurling a little dog to its death on a busy San Jose freeway is suing the dead dog's owner and a newspaper...'

'When told of the suit, an outraged McBurnett [the dog's owner] said Burnett's attorney must be a weasel. Burnett is representing himself....' [San Jose Mercury News]  (He's suing the dog's owner for mental anguish and post-traumatic stress disorder experienced from killing her dog... )

Dogs kill four-year-old boy TN Two dogs attacked a boy who was visiting a home with his grandfather. The dogs, a rottweiler and a rottweiler mix, had mauled the child before his grandfather could get them off him. The child later died at a local hospital. Both dogs were destroyed...

'No one witnessed the attack... 'The dogs had no history of violence  We're not sure what set them off, but the child apparently had a dog at home that he liked to play with and would hit the dog...' [The Times]

This senseless tragedy (and others like it) occur when people don't fully comprehend the danger of  putting an unfamiliar child in a strange dog's territory (the dog's home) without constant supervision. Dogs don't always view children as 'human' and any dog can be provoked to kill. Every parent deserves to understand fully that some dogs are not just dogs, but also lethal killers, under such tragic circumstances. A child should never be allowed to play unsupervised with a dog, period... Share this knowledge and you may just save a child's life... Related stories in today's news: Man Stabs Pit Bull To Death After Son Attacked [WMAQ-TV, IL]

Deadly canine attacks: profiling the dog most likely to maul... Most dogs are unlikely to become lethal weapons... You can stack the odds in your favor: if you train it (only 11% of dogs who received obedience training were among dogs involved in fatalities); if it's female (male dogs were 6.2 more times likely to fatally bite), if it's neutered (unneutered dogs were 2.6 times more likely to be involved in attacks), if you don't chain it or confine it in small spaces (confined dogs were three times more likely to fatally bite) and if you supervise it when around children. Over half of dog fatalities are children and about 12 fatalities occured per year over a 19 year period.  Since many fatalities were from mixed breeds, estimates were made of the breeds involved: rottweiler mixes and pit bulls were involved in over half of the fatalities. [Vancouver Sun; January, 2003; link now defunct]  Related: PubMed articles, Dog bite related fatalities, JAMA: Hospitalizations for dog bite injuries, CDC publications, Dog training classes save lives, (Find the pitbull: see if you can identify the pit bull quiz.)

A reader sent in a link to pictures of her daughter. Her baby daughter was mauled by a pitbull just a few days past her second birthday.