Washington, DC – Shake out that suit and brush off your tails, the Washington Humane Society Bark Ball returns for the 28th year on Saturday, June 20, 2015 at the Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Guests are invited to celebrate in style at DC’s original black-tie gala for humans and their canine companions. This year we welcome back Larry Michael, the Washington Redskin’s Senior Vice President and Executive Producer of Media, as our Master of Ceremonies. The gala will also feature stage design by Design Foundry. The benefit kicks off with a reception, an extensive silent auction, and Bark Bar at 6:00.p.m, followed by dinner, a formal program, live auction, and special surprises from 7:00.p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Leashed dogs are encouraged to attend (no retractable leashes please). General tickets are $250 each and tables are $2,500. Once again, we are offering a limited number of Young Professionals tickets for those 35 and under at just $150. Tickets and tables are available online at www.barkball.org. Last year’s event brought together 1,000 animal advocates and 500 dogs, raising over $620,000 to benefit the critical programs and services of the Washington Humane Society.
This event will sell out!
To purchase tickets and for more information, including sponsorship information, visit us online at www.barkball.org, call 202-735-0324, or email events@washhumane.org.
A limited number of Bark Ball Press Passes are available. Please contact Zenit Chughtai at ZChughtai@washhumane.org or 202-735-0321 for information.
Take a look at some of the photos from last year's Bark Ball 27th Annual Bark Ball To Benefit The Washington Humane Society
Redskin Cheerleaders Teleza, Madison, Monique and Adriana with Scrappy. (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
Rachael Hesling of the Garrison Breck Group (Sotheby’s) holding Henri, pictured with Jessica Van Buskirk of Rob and Brent (Sotheby’s) holding Sam. (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
Dr. Leanne Kalinsky of Suburban Animal Hospital (Arlginton, VA) holding Monty donning a top hat! (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
DC London’s Sean Nobel pictured with Frank Luntz and Renee Hudson with husband Congressman Richard Hudson (North Carolina). (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
WHS Ambassador of the evening, WUSA’s Howard Bernstein pictured with his very own pup, Ahsoka. (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
WHS volunteers Laura Gabatino and Meg Milroy pictured with Andi and Tigger. These dogs are available for adoption through the Washington Humane Society! (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
WHS Board Member Louie Dweck pictured with dedicated WHS volunteer Susan Wedlan. (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
Rebecca Oliver (Director, Chairman’s Program at U.S. Chamber of Commerce) pictured with Judah. (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
Group photo of Ryan Ward, Kathleen Goudling, Scott and Jill Openshaw with Boone. (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
Guests Jessica Lemos and Rodger with Mary Ann and Cassie. (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
Tickeled pink (and purple): Joy the Poodle and mascot of Doggie Washerette. (Photo Credit: Sarah MacLellan)
Two clouded leopard kittens were born this month at the Miami Zoo, a treat for the doting keepers and a victory in the fight to preserve a vulnerable species. The medium-sized cat, which is not closely related to the African leopard, lives in forests of South East Asia and fewer than 10,000 are thought to exist in the wild. The zoon said the kittens, both females born on March 9, are in an enclosure with their mother to "avoid any external stress and allow the mother to properly bond with them." Their mother Serai and father Rajasi were born in 2011 in other American zoos. The kittens are the parents' second successful litter. "Both offspring are doing well and the mother continues to be attentive and nurse them on a regular basis," the zoo said. They already sport the clouded leopard's characteristic large, dark and cloud-like spots on a light background. Visitors should be able to view them in the coming weeks. Found in the wild in southern China, Myanmar and Malaysia, adult clouded leopards usually weigh between 30 and 50 pounds (14 to 23 kilograms) and have a very long tail with relatively short legs and large paws. They eat birds and mammals such as monkeys, deer and porcupines, and are turn prey to human hunters who prize them for their pelts.
On March 23, 2015, the Love family, from Banks County, Ga., was traveling on Interstate 85 with Georgia, their son’s 14-month-old German Shepherd. A drunk driver hit their forcing it to roll over multiple times. Fortunately Mr. and Mrs. Love walked away from the accident unharmed, but Georgia got spooked and ran away from the scene. Five days after the accident, and after dozens of volunteers stepped up to help search for Georgia, the pup was found and reunited with her owner. As soon as the accident happened, Eric Love, Georgia’s owner, took to social media to ask for help finding his dog. He posted pictures of the pet and asked everyone in the area to keep and eye open for his dog. Many volunteered to drive around and search, but no one had any luck spotting or finding the dog. On Saturday, March 28th, Georgia was finally spotted off exit 160. Love rushed to the area to find and reunite with his dog. Many expected a long chase. Usually when a dog gets lost the pet goes into survival mode, and even though a strong bond exists between the pet and the owner, it takes a lot of coaxing for the dog to come around, trust those trying to help and recognize his or her owner. However, this was not the case with Georgia and Eric. “She walked right up out of the woods and into my arms,” Love told Fox 5 News. Five days apart seemed like an eternity for Eric, but in just one second that Saturday morning, Eric’s life and heart became whole again when Georgia walked into her owner’s arms. Georgia was unharmed and Eric said that “after three cheeseburgers, eight pieces of bacon, and a bag of treats, this little girl is trying not to fall asleep!”
Bentley the piglet has been in the hospital for a little over a month now, recovering from an illness, believed to be meningitis, that has left him blind. Adoptive mom Corinne DiLorenzo, the founder of Illinois-based EARTH Animal Sanctuary, goes to visit Bentley most days. And when she does, the trained opera singer sings an old Irish lullaby, the "Connemara Cradle Song," to her 9-month-old, 14-pound piglet. "It just comes out naturally to me, when there is someone who needs comfort," DiLorenzo says. Traditionally, the lullaby's lyrics celebrate fishing for herring. But DiLorenzo has changed the words a little, so now the song's about sailing with the herring instead of sailing with them caught aboard the boat. "We need to start changing the way we view animals," explains DiLorenzo. Until Bentley is discharged, she'll keep going to the hospital, singing a version of the cradle song that she used to croon to her own son when he was a baby. Home for Bentley, DiLorenzo, and her now 13-year-old son is a 7-acre farm in central Illinois, where DiLorenzo takes in primarily, sick, elderly and special needs animals. "Mostly our sanctuary is for the unadoptables," says DiLorenzo, who bought the property about a year and a half ago. She hopes in the future to open a bed and breakfast and vegan restaurant on site. More >>>
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Brightly colored neck attire can hamper cats from chasing birds, however researchers warn that non-safety versions can be lethal. Dr. Michael Calver of Murdoch University, Western Australia, has published several studies on techniques to reduce the toll domestic cats are wreaking on native wildlife. Calver and his PhD student Catherine Hall discovered a website, Birdsbesafe, selling multicolored collars resembling scrunchies that claimed to stop cats catching birds by ruining the cat's camouflage. While the website claims the collars reduce bird kills by 87%, at that time there was no independent evidence to verify the claim, so Hall went to work. Her results have now been published in Applied Animal Behavior Science. Hall couldn't back up the 87% claim, but she did find the collars cut down kills by 54% compared to similar periods with no neck attire. This could make a big difference to the hundreds of millions of small animals killed each year. Numerous native species are being pushed to the edge of extinction by cats, and while much of the damage is being done by those that have gone feral, domestic animals are also a big factor. Hall found that the 114 cats unwillingly enrolled in the program brought home far fewer lizards and frogs when wearing the collars, and that there was also a reduction, albeit smaller, in the number of birds they caught. She observed the cats did not seem to adapt to the collars as some do to bells, and received reports that birds were more likely to avoid the ground when a collar-wearing cat was on the prowl. A study run around the same time in North America found the collars to be even more effective for protecting American birds, but did not investigate reptiles or amphibians. However, Calver stresses that no one should be rummaging around the back of their cupboards for a scrunchy the 90s forgot, as some have suggested after the story broke. “That's really dangerous,” he told IFLS. Birdsbesafe products attach to safety collars with breakaway buckles that prevent the feline from throttling itself if snagged. “Captures of mammals were not significantly reduced,” the paper reports. Calver attributes this to most small mammals lacking color vision. He acknowledges, “Some marsupials have color vision, but they are mostly nocturnal and the cats probably hunt them at night so it may not do much good.” Rodents' lack of color vision could prove an advantage, however. Cat owners who want their pets to control rats and mice but stay off the birds can use the scrunchy collars to achieve both effects. In this way, the scrunchy-style collars do much better than previous control mechanisms Calver has tried, including cat bibs that prevent pouncing and alarms that sound when the cat charges its prey. Unlike all the previous methods Calver's team have tested, the scrunchy-collars protected frogs and lizards as well as birds. The cats spent more time at home now that their hunting was curtailed. A few dropped out of the trial because the owners believed the scrunchies had given them dermatitis, but 96% either showed no signs of distress or quickly got used to wearing the scrunchies, proving the study was done in Perth not New York. Most of the owners planned to continue with the collars after the study finished. However, one cat left the trial because its owner reported the household dogs wouldn't stop barking at it.
Primal Pet Foods is voluntarily recalling a single batch production code of Feline Turkey Raw Frozen Formula 3-pound bag. FDA tested product in response to a single consumer complaint. Primal Pet Foods was alerted by FDA that the testing of two bags of this lot resulted in a low thiamine level. Neither FDA nor Primal have received any other reports concerning Thiamine in Primal products. No other product manufactured by Primal Pet Foods is involved in this voluntary recall. Only the product with the following Best By date and production code is included in the voluntary recall. It is best to check the production code on the back of the bag to determine if the product has been recalled or not. The lot involved in this voluntary recall is: Primal Pet Foods Feline Turkey Raw Frozen Formula 3-pound bag (UPC# 8 50334-00414 0) with Best By date 060815 B22. Primal takes very seriously, the need for adequate Thiamine levels in our feline diets. We include Organic Quinoa Sprout Powder as a natural B-Complex supplement to ensure that adequate levels of Thiamine are met. Additionally, Thiamine occurs naturally in other ingredients contained in our Feline Turkey Formula such as: Turkey Muscle Meat (including heart), Turkey Liver, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Dried Organic Kelp, Organic Collard Greens and Organic Squash. Consumers who still have bags of cat food from this lot should stop feeding it to their cats and call at (866) 566-4652 Monday through Friday, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm PST. Cats fed only diets low in thiamine for several weeks may be at risk for developing a thiamine deficiency. Thiamine is essential for cats. Symptoms of deficiency displayed by an affected cat can be gastrointestinal or neurological in nature. Early signs of thiamine deficiency may include decreased appetite, salivation, vomiting, and weight loss. In advanced cases, neurologic signs can develop, which may include ventriflexion (bending towards the floor) of the neck, wobbly walking, circling, falling, and seizures. If your cat has consumed the recalled lot and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian. If treated promptly, thiamine deficiency is typically reversible.
A cautionary tale between a superior species and its disgraced inferior... Favoring pedigree dogs, a new regulation puts a severe tax on mixed breeds. Owners dump their dogs and shelters become overcrowded. 13-year-old Lili fights desperately to protect her pet Hagen, but her father eventually sets the dog free on the streets. Hagen and his pretty master search desperately for each other until Lili loses faith. Struggling to survive, homeless Hagen realizes that not everyone is a dog’s best friend. Hagen joins a gang of stray dogs, but is soon captured and sent to the pound. With little hope inside there, the dogs will seize an opportunity to escape and revolt against mankind. Their revenge will be merciless. Lili may be the only one who can halt this unexpected war between man and dog. MOVIE INFO When young Lili is forced to give up her beloved dog Hagen, because it's mixed-breed heritage is deemed 'unfit' by The State, she and the dog begin a dangerous journey back towards each other. At the same time, all the unwanted, unloved and so-called 'unfit' dogs rise up under a new leader, Hagen, the one-time house pet who has learned all too well from his 'Masters' in his journey through the streets and animal control centers how to bite the hands that beats him. Rating: R (for violent content including bloody images, and language) Genre: Art House & International , Drama Directed By: Kornél Mundruczó Written By: Kornel Mundrunczo , Viktoria Petranyi , Kata Wéber , Kornél Mundruczó In Theaters: Mar 27, 2015 Limited Runtime: 1 hr. 57 min. Magnolia Pictures - Official Site ================================================ The hand that feeds — and also brutalizes — is righteously bitten in “White God,” a Hungarian revenge fantasy that’s like nothing you’ve seen on screen before. The story is as simple as a parable, a campfire story, a children’s book: A faithful animal, separated from its loving owner, endures, suffers, struggles and resists while trying to transcend its brutal fate. The director, Kornel Mundruczo, has said that he was partly inspired by J. M. Coetzee’s devastating novel “Disgrace,” but the movie also invokes haunting animal classics like “Black Beauty” and “The Call of the Wild.” Like Buck, the four-legged hero of “The Call of the Wild,” the dog protagonist in “White God,” Hagen — played with full-bodied expressivity by the canine siblings Bodie and Luke — is a mixed breed. For his closest companion, a solemn-faced 13-year-old named Lili (Zsofia Psotta), Hagen’s ancestry isn’t an issue, but it is one for those state officials who tax dogs that aren’t purebreds. Lili’s father, Daniel (Sandor Zsoter), who has custody of her for a few months, has no interest in paying the tax or keeping the dog, which is how Hagen ends up on the streets of Budapest, initially alone, then in the hands of a cruel master and then with a pack. That pack in all its barking, panting, tail-wagging glory is the big payoff in “White God,” which features 250 or so dogs that were trained for the movie, not a computer-generated pooch among them. Mr. Mundruczo has said that his movie was shot using the American film industry’s guidelines on the use of animal performers. That’s not entirely reassuring given the abuses that nonetheless occur during productions, as a ghastly 2013 exposé in The Hollywood Reporter affirmed. Still, viewers concerned about the welfare of the dogs, especially in some of the tougher scenes, should pay close attention to the cunning editing and camera angles as well as all those happy tails. Mr. Mundruczo has also produced, smartly, a reassuring behind-the-scenes video that’s available on YouTube. More>>>
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The owner of two pink chickens found running the Portland Waterfront, in Portland, Oregon, Bruce Whitman, says his prank succeeded beyond his wildest hopes. He says, he used food coloring, beet juice and kool-aid, to dye the two birds, then released them to "make people smile." He tucked the chickens into a tree to roost early Thursday, in a waterfront park, figuring they'd wake to a good day with water nearby and bugs to eat, spread some smiles and he'd pick them up Thursday evening. He soon heard news reports that the birds had become poultry celebrities. KATU News went to look for the chickens after a viewer emailed pictures of the brightly colored animals wandering along the waterfront. "Pink chickens. Are they native to Portland?" one tourist joked. No one knew where they came from or how long they had been there. KATU News, called Multnomah County Animal Services. The county sent an officer to pick up the chickens to make sure they were safe while they tried to identify an owner. They will remain with Animal Services for 72 hours, at which point they could be put up for adoption. Animal Services billed Whitman about $16 per bird for their time in custody, and cautioned him about the risks of releasing birds in public places. He says he probably won't do it again — but he and the birds have now been invited to a couple of parades. The county sent out the following statement concerning the popular pink birds: One of our officers just rescued two pink chickens from the park on the waterfront. If you or someone you know lost two pink chickens, please contact us!
A couple and their four children, wanted a dog in the worst way. Not just any dog, but the type more popular today than any of the dazzling breeds at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. They wanted a labradoodle. With luck and money, they found one not far from where they live in Connecticut. The breeder claimed the dog came from several generations of labradoodles, who in turn were carefully bred from miniature poodles and Labrador retrievers in Australia, where labradoodles were popularized 25 years ago. A ball of chocolate fluff, the puppy cost $2,800. That's more than it would have cost the family to adopt every single dog at their local shelter. But it was not outlandishly priced for a labradoodle. The family installed an electric fence inside the house to keep the pup contained, paid for obedience classes from a trainer, and were set. Only they weren't. Theirs is a cautionary tale, an increasingly common one, of what can happen when a dog becomes too popular for its own good. The Heartbreaking Truth About Those Cute Doodle Dogs The puppy did not have the docile temperament of a lab, as advertised. He was high-strung, as poodles can be sometimes, especially miniature poodles. He was not good with children; he competed with them as if they were littermates—scolding, wrestling, biting them. He was not, as labradoodles are marketed, low-maintenance. Like both a poodle and a labrador, the puppy craved constant company. Being confined to two rooms by an absurd, zapping, invisible "fence" drove him crazy. So did the children and the nanny, who were inconsistent with their attention and discipline. Like more and more labradoodles, and their cousins, the golden doodles, a golden retriever-poodle mix—this pup was dumped. He ended up at the Doodle Rescue Collective, Inc., based in Dumont, New Jersey, which fields calls from doodle owners all over the country desperate to dump their dogs. Since the Doodle Rescue Collective began rescuing doodles in 2006, it has helped over 1,200 dogs and counting. And it is not alone. There are dozens of other poodle-mix rescues, including rescues for cockapoos, or cocker spaniel-poodle mixes; schnoodles, for schnauzer-poodles; chi-poos, for chihuahua poodles; maltipoos, for maltese-poodle mixes; and so on. The rescues often spend thousands of dollars in healthcare and rehabilitation for these so-called designer dogs, mutts actually, whose owners spent months on breeder waiting lists to get them, and thousands of dollars to buy them, only to abandon them within a year or two. Of course, not all labradoodle breeders run puppy mills. Gail Widman, president of the Australian Labradoodle Club of America, said that all members of the club must adhere to strict breeding standards, using DNA tests as proof, register with the source group in Australia, and guarantee the health and temperament of their dogs. Given all those qualifications, Widman said, for people who might not be able to have a dog otherwise because of allergies, the true labradoodle, she claimed, "is the perfect dog." "You'll be hard-pressed to find a real Australian labradoodle in a shelter," Widman said. "They have wonderful temperaments, no smell, no shedding—they're brilliant dogs and they simply do not get given up." But it is true, Widman added, "That a lot of breeders call their dogs Australian labradoodles and they aren't." These dogs have become victims of their hype, rescuers say. It's a phenomenon that happens to many breeds of dog. Every time a type of dog captures the public's imagination, the clamor surrounding it creates new backyard breeders, a new product for puppy mills, and new owners swept up by the hype. Dalmatians were all the rage after Disney's 101 Dalmations was released. Cocker spaniels had their day after Disney's Lady and the Tramp. Paris Hilton made teacup Chihuahuas dressed up in tutus a fleeting fad. Each time a breed becomes too popular, it gets inbred and overbred, causing severe health problems or behavioral issues they dogs' guardians don't want to pay for or live with. Labradoodles and other poodle mixes are marketed as hypo-allergenic, non-shedding and odor-free, attracting some people who have never lived with a dog before, but like the idea of one that sounds low-maintenance. Labradoodles attract some people, in short, who probably shouldn't own dogs. Meanwhile, dogs,or cats that might be a better fit languish in shelters, or are euthanized for lack of space. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates that out of the six to eight million dogs and cats animal shelters care for each year, three to four million healthy, adoptable animals are euthanized. Puppy mill rescue teams are finding more and more designer dogs in farms where dogs are kept in misery— in cages, usually in filthy conditions, in every state in the country. Such dogs are often in poor health. Breeding females are treated like puppy factories, pregnant at every heat for years on end. A breeder may use the same miniature poodle—or cockapoo, which looks like a miniature poodle—to breed labradoodles, maltipoos, schnoodles, affenpoos (affenpinscher-poodles) or jackipoos (Jack Russell terrier-poodles). The HSUS announced it had investigated a large suspected puppy mill in Arkansas, and posted a picture of one of the 121 dogs it rescued, a severely matted goldendoodle. Kathleen Summers, director of outreach and research for the Humane Society’s Stop Puppy Mills Campaign, said the HSUS is finding designer dogs in half of all the puppy mills it investigates. “The hybrid breeds are very attractive for the puppy mills to produce,” Summers said. “They really cash in on the whole ‘hypoallergenic’ sales pitch that there are some dogs that don’t shed and that won’t aggravate some people’s allergies. Puppy mill breeders try to sell the notion that anything mixed with poodle is going to be hypoallergenic.” While people research their breeders on the Internet, what they don't know, Summers said, is the amount of false advertising presented in the marketing of the dogs. "Most of the websites for puppy mills that we've shut down for horrific conditions," Summers said, "say things on their site like 'We don't support puppy mills.'" No one has lamented the popularity of the doodles more urgently than Wally Conron, who created the first labradoodle. As the puppy-breeding manager at the Royal Guide Dog Association of Australia, Conron was trying to fulfill the need for a guide dog from a woman in Hawaii whose husband was allergic to dogs. He bred a standard poodle with a Labrador retriever for this couple. But there was more than one puppy in the litter, and no one on his three- to six-month waiting list for guide dogs wanted a crossbreed. So, "We came up with the name labradoodle," Conron said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. "We told people we had a new dog and all of a sudden, people wanted this wonder dog." With all the breeds and crossbreeds in the world, Conron says, he is horrified at the proliferation of labradoodles and the other poodle mixes. He blames himself for "creating a Frankenstein.” Instead of breeding out problems, he said, clueless and unscrupulous breeders are breeding them in. "For every perfect one," he says, "you're going to find a lot of crazy ones." The gold standard for labradoodles remains the Rutland Manor Labradoodle Breeding and Research Center in Australia, which now calls its dogs "cobberdogs." Rutland Manor claims the true Australian labradoodle has developed over two decades of careful breeding into a breed in its own right. Its hallmarks, the Rutland Manor website says, "are a highly developed intuitive nature, a love of training and a yearning for eye contact. It has a 98 percent record for allergy friendliness, a reliably non-shedding coat and is sociable and non-aggressive." But at the Carolina Poodle Rescue, outside Spartanberg, S.C., Donna Ezell, who has been rescuing poodles for 15 years, said that labradoodles and other poodle mixes she sees are not only unpredictable in size, shape and looks, but also in temperament. "If you have a purebred poodle or a purebred boxer from a reputable breeder," she said, "you know what you're going to get. You know what it's going to look like. You have a pretty good idea of its temperament. With the doodles and maltipoos and all these others, they don't breed true. You can't predict what they'll be. They all look different. They have different temperaments. And some are non-shedding, some are not." Jacqueline Yorke of the Doodle Rescue Collective, said poodle-mix owners are often surprised to find that they are still allergic to their "hypoallergenic" dogs. "They may be allergic to the dog's saliva, or the skin it sheds or the fur it does shed," she said. "And they've also found out that non-shedding does not mean no work. If the fur doesn't shed, it grows and grows. They need to be mowed down and groomed every six to eight weeks." Yorke said the rescue has taken in dogs with fur so matted the dogs were unable to relieve themselves; their feces were stuck in their fur. Time and again, the rescue has fostered dogs with the same health conditions, including hip dysplasia, cataracts, torn anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, injuries which require expensive surgery, and megaesophagus, a potentially life-threatening disease which causes the dog to choke on its food. But the primary reason doodles end up in the rescue, Yorke said, are issues with children."We just got three more," she said. "Every one listed 'aggressive with children.'" The poor dog featured at the beginning of this article ended up being euthanized after he attacked and bit Yorke and was evaluated by veterinarians and trainers who deemed him dangerous. But that kind of extreme situation, Yorke said, is rare. One bit of good news, Yorke said, is that doodles and other designer dogs are so popular rescues have long waiting lists of potential adopters. "We have hundreds on our list," Yorke said. Most will not make the cut when vetted by the group. The rescue will not adopt out doodles to families with small children, for example. The goal is to provide the dogs a permanent home, Yorke said, and not see them back at the rescue. "We get hate mail all the time from people mad at us for not handing them a dog. They'll say, 'Well, I'm going to a breeder.'" Her response? Buyer beware. Labradoodles and other poodle mixes are very trendy, but is it ethical to get one?
A police dog named Barney, has died after ingesting methamphetamine during a narcotics investigation, the Pierce County prosecutor's office said Thursday. The 11-year-old Lab mix was with his handler, Officer Henry Betts, as he was serving a search warrant when he became sick. Barney had a body temperature of 109 and was having seizures when they took him to the BluePearl Veterinary Hospital on Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning, he was becoming more alert and responsive, but passed away on Thursday. Narcotics dogs usually signal when drugs are present, by placing their noses on the substance. But in this case, the drugs were unwrapped and Barney came in direct contact with the meth. The search warrant did lead to the discovery of 44 pounds of meth and $225,000 in cash, prosecutors said. Three people have been charged with drug possession with two of them additionally charged with intent to sell. Prosecutors haven't decided yet whether to amend the charges to include the death of the police dog.
After you put food in your dog’s bowl, he takes a mouthful, walks across the room, drops it onto your carpet and then munches away. And he repeats this curious ritual until his chow is all gone. It doesn’t seem like an efficient way to eat, not to mention that he's getting crumbs on your rug. So what gives? Possible Reasons Behind the Curious Mealtime Behavior The answer to this propensity lies in two words: pack mentality. When dogs in the wild make a kill, the outranked animals drag pieces of food away so they don’t have to fight the leader or a more dominant canine for it, says Dr. Julie Albright-Keck, DVM, MA, DACVB, an assistant professor of veterinary behavior at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine https://vetmed.tennessee.edu/Pages/utcvm_home.aspx. “Fighting is obviously very risky, so most animals, especially subordinate ones, will go to great lengths to avoid an altercation,” says Dr. Albright. Although the competition in your house may not even be real, particularly if you only have one dog, it’s his evolutionary instinct taking over. Another possibility: If you use a metal bowl, the noise of the food moving around in the dish or even his collar tags hitting the side can be frightening or annoying, notes Dr. Albright, so he may be taking the kibble away from the trigger of the sound. How to Put the Kibosh on This Kibble Ritual If you want to curb this unusual eating behavior, Dr. Albright suggests swapping metal bowls for plastic versions or paper plates to rule out issues with noise. “If the dog still takes the food away, find a more secluded or confined area for him to eat,” she says. “And if there are other dogs in the house, separate them at feeding time to allow for privacy, so there’s no threat of competition, either real or imagined.”
Eric Love told FOX 5 News that his parents got into accident in Banks County on their way to Lake Hartwell around 5:00 p.m.. Monday. They say a driver hit them causing their Expedition to roll multiple times on Interstate 85. They were able to walk away safe, but their puppy Georgia went missing. He said the dog has a chip and hopes that if anyone in north Georgia finds Georgia that they will get the chip read. A post on Eric's Facebook page stated that a friend might have seen the dog Tuesday night underneath the Neal lane Bridge over Interstate 85. Eric Love shared this photo on facebook:
Evening all! We have continued to spread the flyers and word around exit 160. I'll be heading up midday tomorrow to start moving farther north, back towards my family's lakehouse. Anyone who wants to come out, drive the country roads, take a walk in the woods, spread the word, and hopefully put some eyes on Georgia is always appreciated! As a reminder, never drink and drive!
Houston, Texas - Are those drones buzzing over a Sunnyside neighborhood, in south Houston? "It's another amazing tool," said Tom McPhee, executive director of World Animal Awareness Society. It's a tool to track stray dogs. WA2S is shooting a new TV show, Operation Houston: Stray Dog City. It's an up-close look at Houston's serious stray dog problem and the men and women who try to save the dogs before it's too late.
Momma is a pit bull found by Emal's group. She was found in an abandoned
Tom McPhee
house. She hadn't moved for days and was rotting to death. "If we hadn't found her, she would have died," said Erika Emal, the founder of Southside Street Dogs. "It's touch and go," said Emal. She was rushed to a local emergency vet clinic. It's just one of several stories McPhee wants to highlight in Houston. "There's obviously issues and problems here," said McPhee. But to solve those issues you need to first know how big the problem is. It's why McPhee plans to launch his drones across Houston. "The drone allows us to draw a big circle in the air as we're filming in 4K. It's beautiful footage," said McPhee. He'll use GPS technology and volunteers on the ground. Together they plan to find and count just how many strays are in the Houston area. Estimates indicate it could be more than a million. "It's a first step to try and tackle a humongous problem," said Emal.
Drones, as low-cost flying machines, make great rescue tools. They can look and go places people can’t--or at least can’t go safely--and with infrared cameras, they can sometimes see beyond what human eyes can. In Houston, the World Animal Awareness Society plans to use them to track stray dogs, combining a drone's utility as a mapping device with its rescue abilities. However, the project, titled Operation Houston: Stray Dog City,” plans to film not just a stray dog map, but the pilot for a new show. The show started filming on March 20th and will continue filming through the 30th. World Animal Awareness Society is a media nonprofit that's made shows for National Geographic, Animal Planet, and others, though there's no announced broadcast information for Operation Houston yet. As for how the show will be structured, it's billed as a “cross between Pit Bulls & Parolees, Deadliest Catch, and Survivor,” which does not bode terribly well for the pups. Watch a video of them testing the drone in Detroit below:
Washington, DC – Shake out that suit and brush off your tails, the Washington Humane Society Bark Ball returns for the 28th year on Saturday, June 20, 2015 at the Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Guests are invited to celebrate in style at DC’s original black-tie gala for humans and their canine companions.
