“The more people I meet the more I like my dog.”

“The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s.” – Mark Twain

“I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.” – Gilda Radner

“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” – Andrew A. Rooney

“No man can be condemned for owning a dog. As long as he has a dog, he has a friend; and the poorer he gets, the better friend he has.” – Will Rogers

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” – Unknown

“If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.” – James Thurber

“Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” – Mark Twain

“My goal in life is to become as wonderful as my dog thinks I am.” – Unknown

With this in mind I offer you “How to Avoid Foods Dangerous for Your Dog” found at wikiHow:

1. Chocolate contains theobromine (a methylxanthine derivative). It can cause a dog to vomit, have diarrhea, pant excessively, urinate frequently, develop a great thirst, have seizures, show hyperactivity, get an abnormal heart beat and possibly die.

2. Caffeine/Coffee warrant the same precautions as for chocolate. Caffeine, like theobromine, is a methylxanthine derivative with similar effects on dogs.

3. Alcohol can cause vomiting, diarrhea, lack of coordination, poor breathing, abnormal blood acidity, coma and death, just like in humans. The difference is that dogs are much smaller and are more susceptible to intoxication.

4. Onions, garlic and chives in all forms (dry, raw, cooked) contain thiosulphate, which can irritate the gastrointestinal system of your dog. A relatively high dosage (600-800 grams) in one meal or spread apart over a few days can damage red blood cells (haemolytic anaemia).

5. Macadamia Nuts (both raw and roasted, as well as macadamia butter) contain an unknown toxin that can cause locomotory difficulties: weakness, panting, tremors and swollen limbs. Commonly in cookies, so be careful what you feed your dog.

6. Grapes and Raisins can lead to kidney failure. As yet, it is not known what substance in grapes causes this. Be careful, as raisins are often in cake and cookies.

7. Avocado – the substance Persin can cause vomiting, diarrhea and sometimes heart congestion.

8. Yeast dough – this refers to the dough prior to cooking. The yeast can continue to rise in the dog’s stomach and cause painful bloating, gas and even rupture of the intestines or stomach.

9. Raw or undercooked meat and eggs – While there is controversy surrounding the role of raw meat in a dog’s diet, studies have shown that raw meat has a higher likelihood of harboring harmful bacteria than cooked or prepared dog food. As with humans, care needs to be taken in handling raw meat and eggs to avoid the possibility of contamination with Salmonella bacteria and E. coli.

10. Milk – owing to the lack of lactase, consumption may lead to bloating, gas, diarrhea and other digestive upsets.

11. Xylitol – this can lead to liver failure through the over-release of insulin, vomiting, lethargy and loss of coordination. It does not take long to see signs of nearing liver failure – only a few days. Be very careful as this substance in a wide range of products, such as candy, chewing gum, toothpaste and baked goods.

12. Bones can cause choking, or they can break apart into jagged pieces that become lodged in the digestive tract. Look for sturdy marrow bones that are less likely to splinter or nylon bones that wear down slowly.

13. Corn on the cob is one of the most common ways a dog can get a blocked intestine. The dog bites of a piece of the cob one inch long and swallows it. The corn is digested off the cob in the tummy and the cob is left to block the small intestine and feels like a brillo pad trying to scrape it’s way down the digestive track.

14. Salmon and trout frequently have a parasite that cooking does not kill. It is fine for humans but can harm dogs.

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He’s been with me for the last 14 years. He raised my children better than I did. I have never known someone so loyal or always an optimist.

He told me he is simply going to find a good place where, in the future, he and I can throw a tennis ball together for all eternity.

There are no words I can utter to express the loss I feel tonight.

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Her offence was to unwittingly sell a goldfish to a 14-year-old boy taking part in a trading standards ‘sting’.

At most, pet shop owner Joan Higgins, 66, expected a slap on the wrist for breaking new animal welfare laws which ban the sale of pets to under-16s.

Instead, the great-grandmother was taken to court, fined £1,000 ($1,350 USD), placed under curfew – and ordered to wear an electronic tag for two months.

The punishment is normally handed out to violent thugs and repeat offenders.

The prosecution of Mrs Higgins and her son Mark is estimated to have cost taxpayers £20,000 ($27,000 USD) and has left her with a criminal record.

Mark, 47, was also fined and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Last night, as an MP criticised the magistrates, Mrs Higgins – who has run the pet shop for 28 years – said the family’s eight-month ordeal had left them traumatised.

She added: ‘It’s ridiculous. I mean, what danger am I that I have to wear an electronic tag? These last few months have been a very stressful time.’

The seven-week curfew imposed by the court means she is unable to babysit her great-grandson at his home or go to bingo sessions with her sister, and will be unable to attend a Rod Stewart concert after tickets were bought for her by her nephew, actor Will Mellor.

Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 it is illegal to sell pets – including goldfish – to children under the age of 16 unless they are accompanied by an adult. Pet shops must also provide advice on animal welfare to buyers.

David Davies, Tory MP for Monmouth, said: ‘You simply couldn’t make it up. It is absolutely ludicrous that old ladies should be hounded through the courts and electronically tagged for something like this.

‘At a time when courts are being told not to lock up career burglars we have them issuing severe punishments like this on little old ladies.’ Mr Davies, who has served as a special constable for three years, said: ‘Not only is it traumatic for her but it is a complete waste of time and taxpayers’ money. It is ridiculous.

The goldfish was later adopted by an animal welfare officer and is in good health.

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Animal cruelty does not get much worse. DeKalb County police are asking for the public’s help in finding who beat a dog with a sledgehammer and left the dog to die in a local park.

The male shepherd mix was found this week, wrapped in a blanket, at Murphy Candler Park off Ashford Dunwoody Road, and is to undergo surgery Wednesday at a local veterinary clinic. The sledgehammer was just a few feet away.

As investigators work the case, WSB’s Richard Sangster reports the Dunwoody branch of the VCA Pets Are People Too Veterinary Hospital have been flooded with phone calls to help with the dog’s medical care.

The hospital has named the dog ‘Murphy,’ after the park where he was found.

Dr. Stephen Pope, hospital medical director, says the medical bills could run into the thousands of dollars.

Robert Kennedy, the man who found ‘Murphy,’ told hospital staffers that he is more than willing to pay the bills, and he is setting up a trust fund to do so. VCA Pets Are People Too is helping coordinate donations for that fund in the meantime. Their number is 770.452.1001.

Investigators are looking for anyone who saw anything unusual at the park from 9 p.m. Monday to 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Witnesses may call 404-294-2818.

I am a Dog Person. I have four lab mixes, ranging from 50-120 pounds each, and they are all house dogs. They provide more love, attention, loyalty, and protection than do 95% of the human population.

To beat a dog with a sledgehammer, and them leave him for dead, is a level of inhumanity that I will not excuse. If this loser ever tried to do the same to any of my dogs he would learn what it is to absorb multiple rounds of either .45ACP or 7.62x39mm into their sorry body, and I’ll just take my chances with the court after the fact.

And trust me, the perp would be getting off easily. The Gentle Bride™ would empty her magazine of 9mm, shred him with a knife, and then piss down the gaping hole in his neck.

I want someone other than the cops to find this person. I want this person held for rest of their life in a locked basement, and hit somewhere on his body once a day with a sledgehammer. I want this person to live a bit longer, yet scream in pain for the rest of their life.

Period.

UPDATE: The 9-year-old Australian shepherd who suffered severe head injuries after being bashed in the head with a sledgehammer has been released from the veterinary clinic. His destination: the Dunwoody home of Robert Kennedy, who found the dog near death in Murphy Candler Park on Dec. 2. He will move into the home — with a fenced-in yard — that Kennedy shares with his 25-year-old daughter and two 2-year-old golden retrievers. Veterinarians operated on Murphy’s skull fracture, which caused him to lose an eye, but he doesn’t appear to have brain damage.

A representative from Bill Jac dog food has pledged a month’s worth of chow for Murphy. A manager at the Westin at the Concourse wants to give Murphy one of the hotel’s “heavenly dog beds.” Nearly 600 people have given to a trust fund that Kennedy set up to help defray the more than $6,000 vet bill so far. Kennedy initially intended to pay the bill himself, but set up the account after being inundated with offers to help from as far away as Puerto Rico and Canada. “I’m just overwhelmed by the generosity of people, and I’m going to make sure that generosity is justified,” he said.

Animal cruelty, DeKalb County, dog, Murphy Candler Park

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Beijing has asked hotels and restaurants in the city to take dog meat off the menu for the duration of next month’s Olympics and September’s Paralympics.

Dog is eaten not only by the large Korean community in China’s capital but is also popular in Yunnan and Guizhou restaurants.

A directive from the Beijing Food Safety Office issued last month ordered Olympic contractor hotels not to provide any dishes made with dog meat and said any canine material used in traditional medicated diets must be clearly labeled.

Concerned that canine dishes might offend animal rights groups and Western visitors, Beijing said restaurants expected to be popular among foreign visitors must stop serving dog meat “to respect the dining customs of different countries.”

The directive “advocated” that all restaurants serving dog suspend it during the Olympics but made no mention of the many popular establishments with donkey on the menu.

Criticism from Westerners caused the dog meat-loving South Koreans to ban canine dishes for a period of time during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Dogs look out of their cages from a truck on a motorway on the outskirts of China’s capital Beijing:

The owner of this blog is a dog lover. I’ve been that way forever. My best friend for many of my early years was my German Shepherd named Mac. Today my Gentle Bride™ and I live with four Labrador mixes, and we consider them to be members of our family, not pets.

If someone comes to my house and harms any of my dogs in any way I will respond with force and violence. I will shoot to kill in the same way as if you harmed my family … period … no further discussion … and take my chances with the courts later.

I will not bemoan any South Koreans than enjoy eating dog, just like I don’t bash Scots for eating sheep or Americans eating cows. It’s just something I cannot do because over the years I have learned that dogs have wonderful souls, great attitudes towards life, and humans can learn a great deal from dogs. Dogs should be treasured, not slaughtered and eaten, because to do so wastes an intelligent and loving creature, a life-form far superior in many ways to many humans I meet.

Thus endeth the sermon.

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A 70-year-old man has been sentenced by an Iranian judge to four months in jail and 30 lashes for going out on the street with his dog.

The incident took place in Shahr Rey, a suburb of Tehran when the owner of the dog was caught by a police who quickly handcuffed the man. He was later charged by an Islamic judge for “disturbing the public order”.

The sentence, seems to want to panic the owners of dogs that despite repeated warnings by the police, continue to defy the authorities by taking their dogs outside their homes.

The dogs are at the centre of a theological controversy because Islam considers dogs to be impure.

For this reason, the government has banned owners of domestic animals from taking them on the streets of the city, and owners risk fines or the ‘detention’ of their animals in a pound.

Grrrrr.

I’m a dog lover. I have four of them, and if I had enough open land I’d have 100. Dogs are far better lifeforms than many people I meet.

But not in Islam, where walking your “impure” dog will get you prison time and a beating.

The more I read about Islam …

Iran, dog, Shahr Rey, Tehran, Islam

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So the bank foreclosed your mortgage and you need to move quickly. You’ve rented a trailer and loaded everything worth taking with you to your new rented home. The problem is that you have two cats, or a dog, or a guinea pig and your new landlord doesn’t allow pets. So what do you do? Sadly, the solution much too often is that people in similar situations simply leave them behind. Surely, someone else will care for them, right?

Right?

Nope. We now have a new phrase in our lexicon: foreclosure pets.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The house was ravaged — its floors ripped, walls busted and lights smashed by owners who trashed their home before a bank foreclosed on it. Hidden in the wreckage was an abandoned member of the family: a starving pit bull.

The dog found by workers was too far gone to save — another example of how pets are becoming the newest victims of the nation’s mortgage crisis as homeowners leave animals behind when they can no longer afford their property.

The first people to enter an abandoned house, such as property inspectors and real estate brokers, have discovered dogs tied to trees in backyards, cats in garages, and turtles, rabbits and lizards in children’s bedrooms.

The problem is exacerbated because most people grappling with foreclosure are returning to rental housing or moving in with relatives — two situations where it can be difficult or impossible to bring pets.

Foreclosures often are an undesirable result arising from one or more of the following:

• Unemployment. They were laid-off, fired or quit job.
• An inability to continue working due to medical conditions.
• Incapacitation. Drug or alcohol addictions.
• Excessive debt and mounting bill obligations.
• Squabbles with co-owner or pending divorce.
• Job transfer to another state.

Although the pet didn’t cause any of the above events it is they that often bear the brunt of pain by being left behind to fend for themselves.

Sometimes people view themselves as victims of circumstances beyond their control. They feel helpless and are often depressed. Depression causes people to be indifferent to others, themselves and their obligations, namely their pets. Sadly, something has to give.

But pets are living beings, and there’s more than a few of us that really believe they have souls and emotions. Don’t let the truly innocent suffer needlessly. They feel hurt and pain and loneliness and always give back to us far more then they ever ask.

Kristy Knecht moved out of her house and left two dogs, a German Shepherd and a Belgian Malinois locked up in the house for months. She said she’s toss some food into the house occasionally but never went in. By the time Animal Control made it on the scene, the German Shepherd had died and the Belgian Malinois, Neeko, has survived only by eating the corpse of the dead dog. Even then, the once 80 lb dog had dwindled to only 30 lbs and was no more than skin and bones. Neeko is still recovering and will be for month yet but this cruel neglect. Aurora animal investigators are recommending felony animal cruelty charges.

Another? All that remains of the black Lab are the claw marks across the cement floor and down the door of the basement. Those scratches tell the story of Jack’s last days as he starved to death in a St. Clair Shores home, abandoned for more than a month by his owner. Sopoliga had bought the home on Rosedale from his grandfather but never made a mortgage payment. Instead of settling up with the bank, Margolis said, Sopoliga abandoned the house, leaving his belongings inside. That included the dog.

Since most foreclosures take months, pet owners should have ample time to find a new place that takes animals. If you are facing foreclosure and cannot care for your pets, or if you know someone has left a pet behind, call your local animal shelter or humane society. There are also rescue organizations of all sorts. There is no need for their suffering – they are suffering enough already by being separated from their owners.

foreclosure, foreclosure pets, pet, animal cruelty, animal shelter, humane society

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A woman jogging in the Tribble Mill Park area of Gwinnett County credited her yellow Labrador Retriever with saving her from a sexual predator, police said.

The woman was running through the park area with her dog following close behind on October 12 when a man jogged toward her, pushed her up against a tree and began to fondle her. Before the man was able to reach under her shirt, the 120 pound dog named “Jack” bit him on the upper right thigh. The victim told Gwinnett County Police her dog “turned into Cujo.”

The suspect ran away into the woods. The victim was not injured.

Some dogs are capable of applying between 500 and 700 pounds of pressure per square inch when they bite. The jaw strength of dogs is six times stronger than what is possessed by humans. The dog can use this strength to kill, to cut flesh and to break the bones of its prey.

The mouth of the dog is also specially adapted to what it must have to effectively function in an undomesticated environment. The dog has 42 teeth compared with 32 in humans. There are 20 upper teeth and 22 lower teeth. The incisors, which are the small teeth located in front, are used to pick up small objects. The large canines are next and are used to kill prey. Next come the premolars and molars. These teeth have a scissor-like action and cut bone, tendon and muscle.

The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its’ clouds upon our heads.

The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and poverty, in health and sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, when the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master, as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its’ journey through the heavens.

The faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger to fight his enemies. The dog is equipped, by God, to be successful in the defense of his master. He is a great fighter and defender, and he will willingly lay down his life for his master. And he will leave more than just a bruise on your enemy.

I still highly advise everyone to get a gun license, get a gun, carry it with you at all times, get all necessary training and experience with it, and take some responsibility yourself for your own personal safety. But if you still refuse to do that, then at least get yourself a good dog. He/she will be your best friend, and may just save your life one day.

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