“Get them. Make it fast.” In the chaotic last days of the Second World War, Gen. George Patton’s terse command set off a remarkable secret mission to save a group of priceless stallions and brood mares kidnapped on the orders of Adolf Hitler. The directive might have appeared foolhardy and risky to an outsider but not to the small group of American and German soldiers who put their hostilities aside, desperate to save the world’s most valuable equine prisoners of war, which were being held deep inside enemy lines in occupied Czechoslovakia. Minutes after Patton’s order, Hank Reed, a Virginia horseman who was the commanding officer of the Second Cavalry in Europe, dispatched one of his soldiers, an accomplished rider from Tennessee, to team up with a Nazi veterinarian. Under cover of darkness, they trekked miles through dense forests and battle-scarred villages to capture the horses and place them under American protection — before the arrival of advancing Russian troops. The valuable Lipizzaner horses — snow-white and blue-black, many of them Olympic dressage champions — had been stolen from the countries that the Nazis occupied during the war. In addition to gold, jewelry and artwork, the Nazis seized the valuable horses from Poland, Yugoslavia, Italy and Austria. The Nazis’ goal, according to author Elizabeth Letts in her new book “The Perfect Horse” (Ballantine), was to breed the Lipizzaner with German horses in order to create an equine specimen that was worthy of the German master race. Horses were central to the Nazi propaganda effort, and Hitler was often shown as “the man who put Germany back in the saddle,” according to Letts. In fact, as soon as he ordered the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and unleashed the grisly chain of events that plunged the world into war, Hitler had important plans for the country’s horses. As Letts writes, “In the blueprint forged for its occupation, a plan was put into place for the ‘rebuilding of Poland’s horse-breeding industry’ for the ‘interest of the German nation.’ ” To read more on this story, click here:Why US troops risked their lives in WWII to rescue horses kidnapped by Nazis
How can one of the most popular chew sticks on the planet be so dangerous for your pets, you ask? I mean, most dogs chew on rawhide for hours on end, and not only does it keep them busy, but they seem to last forever. Well if you understood what it took to make this toxic “raw” leather stick, you would quickly understand what the problem is. Aside from the horror stories circulating all over social media these days, of pets needing emergency surgery after consuming rawhide, the majority of pet parents today, especially the newbies, believe that this chew is some sort of dried up meat stick. Let me debunk that myth right away! A rawhide stick is not the by-product of the beef industry nor is it made of dehydrated meat. Rather, rawhide is the by-product of the “Leather Industry”, so theoretically it is a leather chew. Sounds awesome, right? “Producing rawhide begins with the splitting of an animal hide, usually from cattle. The top grain is generally tanned and made into leather products, while the inner portion, in its “raw” state, goes to the dogs.” TheBark.com So, how does this leather, which is conveniently rolled up into pretty shapes, actually get made into those rawhide chews? Follow along my friends and I will enlighten you on how this hide travels through a leathery process where it transforms from hide to a not-so beautiful, colorful, chew stick. Here is a paraphrased tutorial that was explained by the whole dog journal several years back: To read more on this story, click here:The Most Dangerous Pet Chew Ever: Rawhide
Animal lovers are appalled by a recent suggestion from a federal advisory committee. According to The Verge, the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently recommended that 45,000 wild horses and burros be sold and/or killed by a range management group currently holding the animals in government-run holding facilities. To prevent them from overgrazing, these wild horses and burros were initially rounded up off the western rangeland owned by the government and used by beef farms. For years, the government has been removing the animals from their natural habitat and putting them into facilities where they can be adopted out. This grim new measure, which would be partially paid for with tax dollars, was proposed after the committee decided it is too expensive to care for the horses and maintain over-crowded facilities, reports The Dodo. This adds more fuel to a fiery debate about whether the government should allow the land to be used for for-profit cattle raising and, in turn, permit wild animals to be removed from that land for the benefit of beef farms. The BLM spent nearly half the program’s entire budget, $49 million, caring for the wild horses and burros it took off the land. Many critics of the BLM are angry with how the agency has chosen to handle the problem of overgrazing, stating that the program should look into birth control options for the wild animals instead of capturing and/or killing them. Unfortunately this isn’t the first time the BLM has been connected to the murder of wild horses. Last October, the agency sold 2,000 of the federally-protected animals to a buyer who planned to slaughter the horses.
A golden retriever was the unwitting victim of a suspected drug dealer this week, when he tossed evidence away while running from police. The problem? Said evidence were bags of heroin lobbed over the fence of Bark & Play, a Denver, CO, doggy daycare facility. The suspect was caught soon after; police arrested Christian Manuel Ramirez, who is under investigation for the incident. Garrett Bishop, who owns Bark & Play, told WHNT News 19 that about 17 bags were found in the yard, but workers didn’t know what was in them. “Luckily, my employees are right on top of it and within 10 seconds of seeing a foreign object on the ground they were on it,” Bishop said. “They are the reason these dogs are safe.” But there were 14 dogs in the yard at the time. And despite the staffers’ quick hands, a golden retriever named Charlie managed to swallow one of the bags. She was taken to the emergency room immediately. Charlie’s owner, Laura, couldn’t believe it when she got the bad news from Bishop. “My heart skipped a beat,” she said. “They said ‘Charlie ate a bag of heroin and she’s at the vet,’ and I thought, ‘You have to be kidding me, that’s ridiculous.” “Her eyes were kind of clouded over, she didn’t have any energy. She looked really sick,” Laura said. “I don’t know how much heroin she ingested, or the potency of heroin, or the effects of heroin on dogs, so I was really worried that she could die.” Charlie was treated with drugs to counteract the effects of the heroin. “She was really drugged up, really out of it. But I was really happy she was alive,” Laura said. “[The heroin trade] affected my dog today but it could have been someone’s kid,” Laura said.
Charlie’s owner, Laura, said her heart skipped a beat when she heard the news about what her dog had ingested.
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NBC 5 Investigates has learned several K-9 teams at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field Airport failed important certification tests that check how accurately they can detect explosives, calling into question whether those teams are training enough to stay at the top of their game and keep passengers safe. The mission of explosive detection K-9 teams is to keep bombs out of airports and off planes by screening baggage, cargo and passengers for potential threats. New records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request raise questions about the top dogs at some of the nation’s biggest airports. The records show K-9 teams funded by the Transportation Security Administration have failed annual certification tests at large U.S. airports, including D/FW Airport and Love Field, more than 50 times between Jan. 1, 2013, and June 15, 2015, the most recent detailed numbers TSA provided. Some teams failed to find explosives, while others had too many false alarms that could cause unnecessary airport evacuations.
K-9 teams that fail are pulled out of service and cannot work in airports again until they can pass the test, but experts NBC 5 Investigates spoke with say clusters of failures at some airports raise concerns about how well those teams are being managed. The TSA said the failures are just a normal part of upholding high standards. But multiple failures at D/FW Airport and Love Field raise questions about whether those teams have been training enough to maintain the highest level of readiness. In a statement, the TSA tells NBC 5 Investigates, “If a team does not meet TSA’s rigorous guidelines, it is decertified and restricted from working.” “The team must successfully meet certification standards before returning to search duties. Dog teams that are unable to return to TSA’s high standards are subject to removal,” the TSA said. The agency said teams performed better in the latter half of 2015 – with a 93-percent passing rate nationwide. But the agency would not share any detailed records for that time period or for 2016, so it’s unknown if there are still some airports with clusters of failures. “We rely on K-9 teams a lot more now than we ever have in the history of aviation security,” said airport security consultant Jeffrey Price. Price said the lives of passengers depend on how well the dog teams perform. “Dogs have always been considered the gold standard in explosive detection. So when you’re considered the best, you better be the best,” said Price. At Love Field, K-9 teams assigned to protect the airport failed four out of 14 tests with a failure rate of nearly 30 percent over two-and-a-half years. In 48 tests over the same time period, teams at D/FW Airport failed five times, or 10 percent of the time. The nation’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, did better than those in Dallas with only two failures in 75 tests (3 percent) over the same two-and-a-half year time period. All K-9s managed by the Atlanta Police Department passed while two TSA managed teams failed. To better understand why more K-9 teams failed at airports like Love Field and D/FW Airport, NBC 5 Investigates went to Alabama to one of the nation’s top K-9 training centers at Auburn University and AMK9. AMK9 works with the university training dogs in explosive detection for agencies across the country. “You need to convince that dog that there’s a reason to work,” said John Pearce, who used to help oversee training for the TSA. Pearce said the main reason some dogs fail certification tests is the people in charge of those K-9 units don’t always set aside enough time for constant training. He sees a direct relationship between the quality of the training and the success the dogs have on tests. “Our primary job is to find an explosive, as a dog team, but that dog believes its primary objective is to get that toy that’s in the handler’s pouch,” said Pearce. In airports, dogs rarely find explosives, so unless they practice locating test explosives frequently, they may lose interest. In addition, handlers also need constant practice to accurately recognize the dog’s cues. Pearce said handlers need to train daily. “Train, train, train and train as you’re going to work,” said Pearce. NBC 5 Investigates wanted to know if the people in charge of the K-9s at Love Field and D/FW Airport are spending enough time training. Some of the teams are managed directly by the TSA, but many are run by D/FW Airport police and Dallas police that get their dogs, training and funding from the TSA. Dallas police declined an on-camera interview and would not answer any questions about their teams at Love Field. When asked about the teams decertified at D/FW Airport, a spokesman sent a short statement saying, “All of the canine teams maintained by the D/FW Airport Department of Public Safety are currently certified and active.” In 2013 the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, found “some K-9 teams were repeatedly not in compliance with TSA’s monthly training requirement.” Since then, the TSA has made changes, including a new program starting Oct. 1 to hold local airport police departments more accountable for training and to enforce higher training standards. With multiple failures at airports including D/FW Airport and Love Field make some experts wonder if supervision and training is needed in a business where there may not be a second chance. “Lives depend on the proficiency of the teams,” said Price. “You don’t get a do over in real life. If that team misses an explosive, then that’s a device that can end up on a plane.” The TSA’s records have shown nearly a dozen teams failed at Washington Dulles International Airport and more than 20 at Los Angeles International Airport from January 2013 to June 2015. NBC 5 Investigates will be on NBC’s Today Show Thursday morning with the national part of the report and on NBC 5 News at 6 p.m. with what other major airports are doing to pass tests and make sure their teams are ready.
It’s hard to think of many people in our lives more important, more integral, or more venerated than our veterinarians. To those of us who love animals, veterinary medicine is one of the world’s noblest professions. So it was with shock and dismay that I learned that veterinarians suffer alarmingly high rates of depression and suicide. “It’s a big problem,” says Stephanie Kube, a veterinary neurologist and pain pathologist at Veterinary Neurology and Pain Management Center of New England in Walpole. “The profession is truly plagued.” A 2014 federal Centers for Disease Control online survey of 10,000 practicing veterinarians published last year found that more than one in six American veterinarians has considered suicide. Veterinarians suffer from feelings of hopelessness, depression, and other psychiatric disorders two to three times more often than the general population. Two studies published in the British Veterinarian Association’s journal, The Veterinary Record, found suicide rates are double or more those of dentists and doctors, and four to six times higher than the general population. To read more on this story, click here:Why Do So Many Veterinarians Commit Suicide?
Americans love their pets, and they aren't afraid to open up their wallets to take care of them. Americans spent close to $60 billion on pet expenses during 2014, according to estimates from the American Pet Products Association. Between food, veterinary care and other supplies, it's easy for costs to add up. As the dog days of tax season approach, one question that many people have is whether there's any way they can get any sort of tax break for their pet expenses. As outlandish as it might sound, there actually are some perfectly legal tax deductions you can claim from what you spend on your pets. Before turning to those deductions, let's first take a look at what you can't do with pet expenses. Pet Dependent? Forget About It The most obvious tax break that might tempt you is the personal exemption for dependents, which on your 2014 return will give you a reduction of $3,950 on your taxable income. Certainly, your dogs, cats or other pets rely on you for their survival. But the Internal Revenue Service takes the view that only human dependents can qualify for the valuable personal exemption. Several other similarly enticing deductions also don't work. Veterinary care might cost you as much as a doctor's visit for yourself, but you're not allowed to deduct those vet charges as medical expenses on your tax return. Similarly, if you're traveling on business, you can't write off the costs of boarding your dog in a kennel as a travel expense. When You Might Have a Legitimate Write-Off Even if pets aren't the perfect tax breaks in all situations, there are limited circumstances in which you might be able to deduct some of their expenses. Here are a few: 1. If You Need a Guide Animal Pet medical care isn't deductible, but if you need a guide animal for your own health, the expenses of keeping that animal become eligible medical expenses. Those costs include food, veterinary care, grooming and other expenses that the guide animal needs to give you assistance. In addition, therapy animals can also qualify, as long as you've received a medical diagnosis for a condition for which you need the animal. Keep in mind, though, that you'll need to overcome the special threshold for deducting medical expenses -- 10 percent of adjusted gross income for those under age 65 -- before you can deduct guide-animal costs. 2. If You Use a Guard Animal The IRS has allowed taxpayers to deduct expenses for guard animals protecting business property. Watchdogs are prime candidates for this deduction, as long as the dog is of an appropriate breed and you can document your expenses and the amount of time the dog spends on guard duty. 3. If You Move If you move, you can deduct special expenses of moving your pets as long as the overall move qualifies for moving-expense deductions generally. Typically, the move has to be for work purposes, and your new job has to be at least 50 miles further away from your previous home than your old job was. If you qualify, the deduction is available even if you don't itemize, although a special form is necessary to claim the deduction. 4. If You're in a Pet Rescue Program With an Animal Shelter Many animal shelters are nonprofit organizations, so if you agree to provide a pet a foster home, you might be able to write off some of your expenses as charitable donations. In addition to pet food, vet bills, and supplies, you can also get a modest write-off for vehicle mileage. However, be sure to keep good records and get an acknowledgement of your work from the shelter in question, or else the IRS might challenge your claim. 5. If Your Pet Turns Into a Profession Some pet owners are able to turn their love of animals into a moneymaking profession. Whether it's racing horses, showing dogs or breeding animals of all sorts, you might be able to count some or all of your pet expenses against the income they generate. A lot rides on whether you're considered to have a business or merely a hobby. Hobby losses are deductible only to the extent you have gains, and you have to treat hobby losses as a miscellaneous deduction, which can limit the amount you can actually claim. The hurdle for establishing a legitimate business is higher, but you may be able to deduct all of your expenses for a business, even if it results in a net loss. Every situation is different, and you should work with a tax professional before claiming any of these expenses in your own specific case. Nevertheless, if any of these situations applies to you, you might be able to turn your pet into a nice tax break come April.
There are at least 36 breeds of dogs that grow hair in lieu of fur. Many of these breeds are registered with the American Kennel Club, while some are less commonly known. If they aren't trimmed, hair coats can grow to indeterminate lengths. However, a few of these breeds are predominantly hairless. Many do not shed. Several of these breeds are even hypoallergenic. Large Breed Dogs
Irish Water Spaniel Of the large breed dogs, the hair coats are curly, flowing and straight, wiry and rough, and nearly hairless. The standard poodle, Portuguese water dog and Irish water spaniel possess curly hair coats. The bearded collie grows a flowing straight coat. Wiry rough coats can be found in the airedale and giant schnauzer. The standard xoloitzcuintli, commonly referred to as the xolo, and the Peruvian inca orchid are predominately hairless breeds with straight hair growing only on some parts of their bodies. The xolo does come in a coated variety in addition to the hairless version. Grooming needs are particular to each breed, with most needing monthly grooming or daily care. Medium Breed Dogs
Wirehaired Fox Terrier The widest variety of hair-coated breeds can be found in the medium group. With ratters, herders, companion pets, working breeds and small working hounds, this group is diverse. Curly coats can be found on the miniature poodle and logatto romagnolo; wiry rough coats on the bedlington terrier, kerry blue terrier, wirehaired fox terrier and standard schnauzer; and more flowing straight coats on the Tibetan terrier, Polish lowland sheepdog (which is also referred to as a PON), lowchen, lhasa apso, miniature coated xolo and soft coated wheaten terrier. The only hairless variety in this group is the hairless variety of miniature xolo. Three unusual hair coats can be found in the medium-sized group. The basenji has a very short soft coat. The coats belonging to the puli and bergamasco, both of which are herding breeds, will almost naturally fall into rastafarian style cords if left to continually grow. Small and Toy Breed Dogs
Yorkshire Terrier Of the small and toy breeds with hair coats, several quite popular breeds are included. The miniature poodle, bichon frise, maltese, yorkshire terrier, miniature schnauzer, shih-tzu and havenese have differing coat characteristics, but are widely accepted as wonderful small companion pets with monthly grooming needs. The less commonly known of these small and toy hair breeds are the Bolognese (also referred to as the bichon Bolognese), the Brussels griffon, both hairless and puff varieties of the Chinese crested and toy xolo, the coton de tulear and the dandie dinmont terrier. References Vetinfo.com: Dogs With Hair Rather Than Fur
