You Are Tooooo Cute!

Source: faildogs.com

Pit Bull Sharky Adopts & Washes Baby Bunny!

Source: youtube.com

VT Lawsuit Seeks ED Damages for Shot Dog

Vermont's highest court is being asked to decide what a dog's love is worth. The Vermont Supreme Court on December 17, 2009 began hearing a case that started in July 2003, when Denis and Sarah Scheele, who were visiting relatives in Vermont, let their mixed-breed dog wander into Lewis Dustin's yard and he fatally shot it.

Now the Scheeles, of Annapolis, Maryland, are asking the court to carve out a new legal doctrine that a dog's owners can sue for emotional distress and loss of companionship, just like parents can when they lose children. "It's so important for people to really recognize the relationship between the families and their companion animals," said Sarah Scheele, 58, who attended Thursday's court hearing.

The Scheeles' attorney argued that a family dog is worth more than a piece of property, saying dogs "love you back." Under the current law, losing a dog is "treated the same way as the loss of an end table," David Putter said after the hearing. "That's not what the relationship between humans and dogs is anymore. They're a member of the family and when they're lost you can't just go out to the local store and buy a new one. That doesn't fix it."

The court isn't expected to make a ruling before spring.

Blythe has said Dustin never intended to kill the Scheeles' dog, Shadow, and "has always regretted that it happened." He said Dustin fired an air pellet rifle at the dog in hopes of scaring it off the lawn of his home in Northfield, a community of about 6,000 residents just south of Montpelier in the heart of the state's Green Mountains. The shot Dustin fired penetrated the dog's chest and severed an aorta, and the dog died on the way to a veterinarian's office. Dustin, 76, has said he was aiming at the dog's rear end. He did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Wednesday.

He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty and was given a year probation. He also was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and pay $4,000 in restitution to the Scheeles. But the Scheeles weren't done. Sarah Scheele gave up her work as a meeting planner and has devoted her time since the dog's death to advocating for animal welfare and caring for the six special-needs dogs — most of them abused in the past — the couple has adopted in recent years. Denis Scheele, 50, continues to work as a plumber.

The Scheeles filed a civil suit against Dustin, pressing their claim that Shadow was more than a piece of property and that they could not be compensated just with reimbursement of what they paid to adopt him from an animal shelter, the veterinary bill that resulted from the shooting and the cost of his cremation.

On a Web site devoted to Shadow's memory (http://www.justiceforshadow.com), the Scheele's wrote, "Every day without you running and playing and cuddling with us is more difficult than the day before. The loss of your presence in our every moment is unbelievably painful. Not a moment passes that you are not in our thoughts, our hearts and our prayers."

Source: ap

"Project Flying Chihuahua" Rescues CA Chis

Chihuahuas have been flying out of California since other states learned about the glut of little dogs in the Golden State.

A group of 25 dogs has already arrived at the Humane Society for Greater Nashua in New Hampshire, thanks to "Grey's Anatomy" actress Katherine Heigl, Kinder4Rescue in Studio City and American Airlines. A group of 43 will leave for New Hampshire Monday or Tuesday, said Kathy Davis, interim general manager of Los Angeles Animal Services, who took part in a news conference Friday to announce Project Flying Chihuahua. They were supposed to leave Saturday morning, but bad weather in the east caused a delay, she said.

The Nashua shelter found homes for the first 25 and had a waiting list of 100 people, Davis said.

Heigl's foundation has paid the discounted airfare for all 68 dogs so far, she added, and new donors for more flights were being sought.

Virgin America will be flying a group of Chihuahuas to New York City from San Francisco on Tuesday, said Gail Buchwald, senior vice president overseeing the ASPCA adoption center in New York City. They will be processed and should be available for adoption on Dec. 29, she said. Buchwald said she didn't know how many to expect, but each dog will be escorted by a volunteer and Virgin will provide travel for both dogs and humans. The airline is also expected to offer a week of half price trips to passengers willing to escort an animal to New York.

Dozens of dogs have been sent by Oakland Animal Services to nearby states like Washington, Oregon and Arizona, but most of them were delivered by SUV, director Megan Webb said, because there wasn't enough money to fly the dogs to more distant states.

The Chihuahua crisis in California developed as Hollywood featured the dogs in movies like "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" and "Legally Blonde," they became constant companions to the rich and famous, backyard breeders saw a chance to make hundreds of dollars a dog and the recession forced some dog owners to abandon their pets. California shelters soon found that Chihuahuas made up 30 percent or more of their dog populations. Meanwhile, Buchwald said, there has long been a severe shortage of small dogs in the east.

In the last 12 months, animal shelters in the city of Los Angeles have taken in 4,700 Chihuahuas, 1,000 more than the 12 months before that. Los Angeles has over 300 Chihuahuas in its shelters now, Davis said, and they are taking in about 340 a month. "The majority of them are healthy. They do need some socialization. Some we're finding haven't been well treated in the homes they've been in. They need some TLC," Davis said. It would seem plenty of people in the east are ready and willing to deliver just that.

Source: ap

Faith, the Two-Legged Dog

For several years, Jude Stringfellow and her Lab-chow mix have toured the country with a simple message: Faith walks.

Born without front legs to a junkyard dog around Christmas 2002, Faith the puppy was rejected and abused by her mother. She was rescued by Reuben Stringfellow, now an Army E-4 specialist, who had been asked to bury other puppies in the litter. Reuben turned Faith over to his mother, English professor Jude Stringfellow. At first the family had to carry Faith to keep her off her chest and chin. But with peanut butter and practice, Faith learned to walk on her two hind legs.

Today Faith is a brisk, upright walker. When she runs, every so often she adds a hop or skip to her step, but she stumbles less often than most humans. She takes vitamins and joint supplements, and vets have declared her very healthy, Stringfellow said.

Since her first step on March 22, 2003, Faith has done the talk show circuit, gone on tour with Ozzy Osbourne and been named an honorary Army sergeant. Jude Stringfellow has become a motivational speaker and written two books. Next year, the two are moving from Ardmore, Okla., to Chicago where they plan to write a third called "Faith Walks." They get more than 200 letters and e-mails a day, run a Web site and make dozens of appearances every year, including stops at veterans' hospitals across the country to cheer injured soldiers.

That mission is special for Stringfellow, whose son left Iraq in September and is stationed at Fort Wainwright in Alaska. He is scheduled to get out of the Army and head home on Jan. 1.

A sense of hope is especially important for Faith's visits to Army bases. Last weekend she headed to Washington state, where she met with as many as 5,000 soldiers at McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis. Some of the soldiers were headed to war, some were coming back. "She just walks around barking and laughing and excited to see them all," Jude Stringfellow said. "There is a lot of crying, pointing and surprise. From those who have lost friends or limbs, there can be silence. Some will shake my hand and thank me, some will pat her on the head. There is a lot of quiet, heartfelt, really deep emotion."

Faith never fails to bring a smile to a soldier's face, said Patrick Mcghee, general manager at Fort Lewis. "To see the children interact with Faith is simply priceless," he said.

But Faith's most emotional reunion — with Reuben Stringfellow, who rescued her 7 years ago this Christmas — will have to wait for January. He's already gotten Faith a birthday present: a peanut butter cookie with her name on it.

Source: ap

Australia Proposes: "Chain Your Dog, Go To Jail"

Walk your dog every day or go to jail: that is the import of draft legislation that Australia's leading animal rights campaigner wants the government to adopt.

Hugh Wirth is one of four experts appointed to draw up a national code of Australian pet ownership. He is head of the Victoria state branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. If his guidelines are accepted and passed into law, owners would be obliged to take their dogs out to play or face prosecution and fines of up to 12,000 Australian dollars ($11,000 US dollars).

Magistrates could impose custodial sentences. Time in jail would likely be reserved for people "who chain their animals up or pen their animals for days and week and months at a time with absolutely no exercise," Wirth said.

Source: earthtimes.org

Homeless Chihuahuas Flooding CA Shelters

They’re tiny, they’re cute and they’re besieging animal shelters from San Diego to Northern California.

The Chihuahua glut has become so severe that representatives from half a dozen San Francisco Bay Area shelters, surrounded by 50 yipping, shivering Chihuahuas, begged animal lovers today to help them find homes for the petite pooches.

In Los Angeles, only pit bulls outnumber Chihuahuas in the city’s shelters. At the Peninsula Humane Society in San Mateo, 60% of the dogs awaiting adoption are pure or mixed-breed Chihuahuas. At the San Francisco Animal Care and Control shelter, Chihuahuas are 30% of the canine population and rising. At the East Bay SPCA, it’s 50%.

“A few years ago, we joked that wouldn’t it be great if all these pit bulls were Chihuahuas,” said Allison Lindquist, executive director of the East Bay SPCA. “Now they are. This is what happened with pit bulls, Dobermans, German shepherds and other dogs that become popular through TV and movies.”

The pint-sized pups with outsize personalities became increasingly popular after Reese Witherspoon’s character in the 2001 movie “Legally Blonde” accessorized her Pepto Bismol-hued wardrobe with Bruiser as she plied the halls of Harvard. Paris Hilton’s Chihuahua, Tinkerbell, was a regular in all five seasons of “The Simple Life” and went on to publish a 2004 “memoir” called “The Tinkerbell Hilton Diaries.” And then came the 2008 comedy “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” about little Chloe, who gets dognapped in Mexico and has to escape from an evil Doberman.

“People get enthralled with the movies and think dogs have a certain type of personality,” said Kathy Davis, interim general manager of the Los Angeles Animal Services agency.

“They bring the dog home and they don’t spend sufficient time to train and socialize the animal, and unfortunately the Chihuahua doesn’t become the star it was in the movie,” she said. “The dazzle wears off, and the shelters end up with the pets.”

From Dec. 1, 2008, to Nov. 30, 2009, Los Angeles shelters took in 4,741 Chihuahuas, up from 3,779 the previous year. There is definitely a problem with overpopulation. ”Our adoption rates are also up on Chihuahuas, but unfortunately not sufficiently enough to handle the huge intake,” Davis said.

Source: latimes.com

Tiny Officer Has Big Job!

Every morning, Midge stretches her 11-in. frame, puts on her special work shirt emblazoned with a star designating her as an official police dog, and prepares for a full day working as a narcotics-detecting K-9.

The Guinness World Record holder for "smallest dog used for law enforcement," the 8-lb. Chihuahua/rat terrier mix works closely with her partner, Sheriff Dan McClelland at the Geauga County Police Department in Ohio.

When he first got an e-mail from Guinness inquiring about Midge, McClelland says, "Frankly I stepped out into the hallway to see if anyone was giggling." Fortunately the message turned out to be authentic, and the pooch has held the record for nearly three years. "It's not real macho to be seen with a dog that looks like it belongs to Paris Hilton," laughs McClelland, who began looking for a smaller police dog after noting the incidence of damage to cars that were searched by unwieldy German shepherds.

Since earning her certification in narcotics three years ago, the 4-year-old Midge has bragging rights to two arrests. "A dog doesn't get credit for an arrest unless they make a detection that we didn't know was there," explains McClelland. "In one case, Midgey searched a burglar's getaway car and alerted us to the seat cushions." Once she finds the drugs, her reward is simple — her partner throws a ball for her and gives her a big hug!

When she's not giving lessons to students on substance abuse and ridding the world of bad guys, Midge plays with McClelland at home, sometimes nipping on to his pant legs. And at night, she goes to sleep buried beneath blankets year-round. Sounds like a fitting end to a hard day's work!

Source: peoplepets.com

Hail to the Chief (BellyRubber)!

Source: Pete Souza/White House

Woman Wins 2 Year Dog Custody Battle

When Peggy Bunker broke up with her fiancé, Richard Higgs, in May 2007, she left their five-acre mansion in Bedminster, New Jersey with her boys: two West Highland terriers named Barkley and Willis. After accepting a new job, Bunker moved the dogs with her to Denver that August, and was blindsided a month later when Higgs filed a lawsuit in New Jersey to get back the animals — valued at $1,800 each.

For Bunker, co-anchor of Fox's Good Day Colorado, it was the start of a two-year legal battle that cost her more than $25,000, not counting the expense of making 23 trips to New Jersey for court appearances and visitations every five weeks with her dogs. Higgs, 42, a Wall Street bank executive, and Bunker, 37, are among what the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) says are a growing number of couples battling over pet custody. "It was expensive," acknowledges Bunker, who turned down Higgs's offer of $100,000 to walk away from the dogs, "but I would not have been able to live with myself if I had just turned and walked away. It was not an option."

On Nov. 20, 2009, following an eight-day trial in October, a New Jersey judge ordered the dogs returned to Bunker. Higgs, who wasn't in court for the verdict, refused to comment on the case. Now Bunker and her husband of 18 months, CJ Hummel, 38, an investment banker who flew with their pets to Denver the next day, are re-bonding with Barkley, 6, and Willis, 5. "We were driving home from the airport with the dogs in the backseat," says Bunker, "and CJ said, 'Look we're a family.' It made me cry. We are a family."

Source: peoplepets.com

HSUS launches "Puppy Mill TipLine"

To help end the misery associated with large-scale dog breeding operations known as "puppy mills," The Humane Society of the United States has launched a national telephone tip line and encourages callers to report suspected cruelty or unlawful activities involving such breeding facilities.

The hotline, 1-877-MILL-TIP, is available to anyone with information of a possible crime involving puppy mills - but particularly welcomes information from those with "insider" knowledge, or from law enforcement officials who might be aware of such operations.

"Puppy mills are a national scourge," said Justin Scally, manager of The HSUS' Wilde Puppy Mill Task Force. "Hundreds of thousands of dogs across the country are trapped in constant confinement their entire lives, producing puppiesto profit the puppy mill owner. This tip line will be a vital tool to help free these dogs from a life of abuse."

The Wilde Puppy Mill Task Force investigates puppy mills and works with law enforcement, animal shelters and other agencies to stop abuse and to ensure enforcement of existing laws. The task force also provides expert guidance to local, state and federal agencies in the prosecution of animal abusers as it relates to the operation of puppy mills. Since its launch in June 2009, the Task Force has assisted in the rescue of more than 1,200 dogs and puppies from abusive situations at puppy mills.

Source: hsus.org

I'd Take You Home in an Instant....

A stray dog pauses on a sand bank of the Yamuna River as the sun is seen rising over the Taj Mahal in India on November 18, 2009. The white-marble monument to love was built by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1654 for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The monument, a must-see for most tourists, hosts some 3 million visitors a year.

Source: ap/Gurinder Osan

Ski Yorkie

A Yorkshire terrier is held by its owner during the annual "York Show 2009" dog contest in Moscow on December 6, 2009. The contest was for dogs who weighed less than 5 kg (11 lb) and was judged based on their grooming and costumes.

Source: reuters/alexander natruskin (Russia Animals Society)

Hope That Works!

A pet dog in China is wearing a mask after local media reported on December 1, 2009 that two dogs were infected with H1N1 flu virus.

Source: apphoto

And the Winner Is.....

Women stand with their Afghan Hound before going into the parade ring during the Crufts dog show in Birmingham, England on March 5, 2009.

Source: reuters/Darren Staples

Surprised Kitty!

Source: youtube.com