The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too

Friday, March 4, 2016

Adorable Video of Dog Walking Same Pace as Owner Using a Walker

When it comes to going out on walks dogs get super excited. Most of them just want to run out the door and while some dog are very well leash-trained and walk perfectly next to their owners, some others just drag us down the block.

The dog in this video loves to go on walks, but we think what he enjoys the most is walking with his best friend. His owner is an elderly man who uses a walker and as you can see he doesn’t walk at a fast pace. This doesn’t bother the dog, he walks ahead, sniffs around and always looks back to check on his best friend. How adorable!

Thursday, March 3, 2016

See the Effects on a Dog After Ingesting Medical Marijuana

A poor pooch was stoned after it ate a Rice Krispy treat made with marijuana.

The Siberian Husky couldn’t get his tongue back in his mouth or stand on his own.

Videos of similarly stoned dogs have been posted on YouTube and show what happens when dogs accidently eat food laced with pot.

Now that medical marijuana is legal in 23 states, pot-infused edibles are more common than ever and scenarios with dogs getting high are also more common.

No one knows that better than Sam Smeltzer, whose 10-year-old dog, Rasko, ate some of Sam’s medical marijuana-infused coconut oil that dripped on the floor.

He told Inside Edition: “Suddenly I hear licking, and I was like ‘Oh no!’”

After about an hour, Rasko was stoned and stumbling around.

Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Werber says if your dog ingests pot, call your vet because there's a good chance they overdid it.

“They're not going (to) look at the plate of brownies and say: ‘Let me see, I think I should only have one.’ They're all gone, and that's the problem. They don't know when to say ‘enough.’”

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Central Florida Family Shocked When They Discovered an Alligator in Their Swimming Pool

A Central Florida family experienced quite the shock when they discovered an alligator in their backyard swimming pool.

The Lakeland homeowner got home around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and went out to his backyard, where he noticed bubbles coming up to the surface of the water, according to Craig Lear.

When he realized a gator was in the pool, he called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Lear said. They sent a trapper to safely remove it.

The home is located on Osprey Landing Drive in the Eagle Brooke Golf Course subdivision.

Co-Founder of Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary Visits an Animal Shelter in Israel: Ends Up Buying the Entire Shelter

Danielle Eden is no stranger to hell.

She usually brings a few dogs back from there.

As co-founder of Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary, she has visited countless animal shelters throughout the world. And often she would bring dogs in the most dire circumstances back to the rescue's own rolling 50-acre property in King, Ontario.

But she wasn't prepared for what awaited her at a shelter she visited in Israel last January.

Every last dog was in desperate straits.

"This is the worst shelter she had ever seen," Clare Forndran, media director for Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary, tells The Dodo.

More than 250 dogs were squeezed into a space designed for just 70. Rats abounded. Many of the dogs had spent years there. Every bit of bread flung into a kennel was an invitation to brawl.

"Dogs were literally fighting over a loaf of bread," Forndran says. "There were more rats than dogs."

Indeed, dead rats, mingled with live rats, who mingled with dogs who had been eking out an existence there for years.

Once she surveyed this sordid scene, Eden couldn't choose which dogs would have a chance at new lives in Canada. They were all living in abject misery.

So she decided to buy the entire shelter.

Since then, Dog Tales has taken responsibility for all 250 dogs. Over the last two months, it managed to relocate 90 within Israel. Another 25 have made the journey to the Ontario sanctuary.

And 150 remain. But that shelter is undergoing a transformation thanks to a team in Israel assigned the task of making it habitable, while veterinarians administer to the animals' immediate health concerns.

The goal is to bring all of the remaining dogs to Canada.

And that mission is already off to a promising start. Among the early 25 arrivals, more than half have already been adopted.

Their diet no longer consists of bread. They are learning to trust again.

Want to help? Consider signing up to give one of them a forever home. Visit Dog Tales' adoption page HERE.

Op-Ed: PETA’s Shelter Euthanized 72% Of Its Animals Last Year - That’s A Problem And It Needs To Change

PETA runs a shelter at its headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, where most animals who come in don’t make it out alive.

The figures have been released for how many animals died there in 2015. They prove — once again — that it’s past time for that shelter’s practices to change, or for the shelter to shut down altogether.

Well, at least the killing’s gone down a little in the last year.

According to a statement the nonprofit put out on Friday, PETA euthanized 1,502 dogs, cats and other animals in 2015 at the nonprofit’s only animal shelter.

PETA’s shelter took in 2,063 animals in total in 2015, according to another statement. That means 72.8 percent of the animals who came into the shelter were euthanized.

(We don’t have the breakdown yet for how many of these are cats, dogs, or others.)

That’s less than in 2014. According to self-reported figures filed with Virginia’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 3,017 came into the shelter, of which 2,455 animals were killed — a kill rate of 81.3 percent.

This all may come as a surprise to you if you are someone who isn’t already familiar with PETA’s controversial shelter. It certainly came as a surprise to me when I first began reporting on — and trying to make sense of — the nonprofit’s strikingly high kill rate a couple of years ago.

What I’ve come to understand, after all this time, is that PETA’s approach to companion animals, to pets, doesn’t actually make sense — unless you hold the perverse belief, which I do not, that many animals should die to be saved.

Take that PETA — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals!– is part of a terrible anti-Pit Bull coalition. PETA also encourages the killing of feral cats.

Daytona Beach Police Are Investigating a Photo on Facebook of a Dog with His Mouth Taped Shut

A picture posted to Facebook showing a dog with its mouth taped has sparked an investigation with the Daytona Beach Police Department, according to a news release.

A man who lists his name on Facebook as Bryan Futur Gomez posted the picture to his page on Sunday. The dog is seen lying on the floor seemingly between two people with blue tape wrapped around its muzzle. Also on the floor is an orange box and bits of paper scattered around.

In the photo caption, Gomez claims the dog is his, although that hasn't been verified. He writes that taping a dog's mouth is the wrong way to punish the animal and that he wanted to demonstrate that.

He claims the dog's mouth was taped for "emergency purposes only" using a stretchable tape with the adhesive portion folded inward so it could come on and off. He added that if his post gets 400 shares he'll post a video showing tricks the dog has been trained to do.

Gomez has not returned the Orlando Sentinel's request for comment.

Hundreds of people have shared and commented on the Facebook post to criticize the actions seen in the photo. Many of those same users contacted the Daytona Beach Police Department urging them to investigate the photo.

The department released a statement saying that animal control officers are currently working to identify the person who taped the dog's mouth shut so they can determine if any charges should be filed.

A spokesman said Wednesday that the Daytona Beach Police Department is trying to locate a suspect but no other information or updates were available.

Daytona police investigated a similar incident in November when a woman named Katharine Lemansky posted a photo to Facebook of a chocolate lab-mix with its mouth taped shut. The woman was from South Daytona but was in Cary, N.C. when she made the post.

In that case, animal control officers in Cary found that the dog seemed to be well taken care of with no signs of injury, so Lemansky was able to keep the canine but she was charged with animal cruelty.

You may be interested in reading:

$1,000 Reward for Information Leading to theArrest/Conviction of the Person(s) Responsible for Taping a Dog's MuzzleTogether with Electrical Tape

Man Calls Animal Shelter Reporting That He Had Duck Taped AFeral Cat's Mouth That Had Gotten Into His Home

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Xylitol, a Common Sweetener, Can Be Dangerous for Dogs: One-Year-Old Lab Ended Up in Hospital Fighting for Her Life

Gilbert, Arizona - Chances are, you've probably heard that chocolate is poisonous to dogs, but did you know that Xylitol, a common sweetener, can be even more dangerous?

Jeni Hargrove Connor's family found out the hard way this February when their 1-year-old lab wound up in the animal hospital fighting for her life.

She made a video to let people know how toxic Xylitol can be to dogs. The video that has since gone viral.

Hargrove Connor said it all started with Dancer, snuck into her gym bag and ate an entire tub of Ice Breakers gum.

At first Hargrove Connor didn't think much of it, until about an hour later, when her husband noticed Dancer looked drunk. They called their vet who told them to immediately rush Dancer to the animal hospital.

As Dancer was laying on Jeni Hargrove Connor's daughters' laps, she had a horrible seizure that lasted about 90 seconds. They thought the worst...

Dancer made it through the seizure and animal hospital staff saved her. She had to spend two nights in the hospital, and her liver is still being monitored.

Moral of the story, Xylitol can be toxic to dogs. It is a sugar-free sweetener that can be common in gum, mints, toothpaste, vitamins, low-sugar peanut butter and other sugar-free food.

Please view the video below on Dancer's story and please share. Help us to get the word out on the dangers of xylitol and dogs. Sharing this may save a life!

You may be interested in reading:

2-Year-Old Golden Retriever Had to Be Put Down by Owners After Ingesting Xylitol-Laden Gum

Did You Know That Sugar-Free Gum Contains Xylitol, a Sugar-Free Sweetener That is Toxic to Dogs

Please Share!

Meet Mark The Dog Guy: He Gives Shelter Dogs Free Haircuts So They’ll Get Adopted

Mark The Dog Guy has dedicated his life to helping out shelter dogs in need of homes.

He offers his services to local dog shelters, giving dogs with matted, dirty fur free haircuts to improve their chances of getting adopted.

Almost all of the dogs he works on quickly move on to a new home.

“I come home uplifted every day,’” Mark told metro.co.uk. “I develop a bond with the animals which is just amazing.”

It all began when Mark ended his job as a consultant.

His girlfriend recommended that rather than going back to a ‘soulless’ job, Mark should do something he really loved.

He decided that something would be giving dogs a helping hand. Mark and his girlfriend had recently adopted two pit bulls from a shelter through Susie’s Senior Dogs, and so he was moved to do the jobs that many shelter staff simply don’t have the time for: grooming all the new additions.

Mark went to grooming school at the American Academy of Pet Grooming to learn more and develop his skills, where he was allowed to get to work from day one.

It was there that Mark learned about how much of an impact matted fur can have.

‘The first dog I ever worked on was Ernie,’ Mark told us. ‘My hands turned black from the dirt that was caked on Ernie as I brushed him out.

‘I had to re-apply the shampoo three times to get the dirt off of him, but he came out adorable.

‘It was really then I thought that the shelter dogs could probably use a cut too.’

Towards the end of grooming school, Mark reached out to Animal Care Centers of New York (ACC) to find out if he’d be able to help out.

They offered him the position of groomer on a trial basis.

And soon, Mark became Mark The Dog Guy. Since then he’s given lots of dogs incredible transformations, relieving the discomfort from matted fur and making them ready for adoption.

Mark wants to use his grooming skills to make sure great dogs don’t get overlooked because of their appearance.

“All dogs need homes, whether they are from a pet store, a breeder, or a shelter.

These animals have soooooooooo much love to give and just want to give and receive love.”

One of Mark’s best success stories was little Falko, a black poodle.

“Falko had just come into the shelter and [matted fur] terribly over his body,” Mark told us.

“I didn’t have a lot of time to finish him and I wasn’t happy with the cut, [but] Adoptions at ACC were going to take him to an adoption event that day.

The funny thing was that post-cut, Falko never made it to the adoptions van.

As they were taking him to the adoptions van, someone walking in said “Wow, a poodle. I want that dog!” and Falko was adopted even before his first event.

I think it was then that the ACC really recognized how I could help the dogs get adopted.”

See more of Mark’s dog transformations over on the Mark theDog Guy Facebook.