Dogs- News, information and blogs about dogs

"Plastic surgery is good for dogs!" according to a leading Brazilian pet plastic surgeon. A face-lift for a dog? [Seattle Post Intelligence] Not only can you get a face-lift for your dog, but you can even order up a mammary lift for her droopy tits after she's had her puppies... (Surely the SPCA would label this kind of pure cosmetic surgery an unnecessary and cruel procedure?)

18-inch dog swallows 16-inch stick UK [Yahoo News: Fortean Times]

Wannabe robber's dog mask gets laughs, foils robbery PA [Post Gazette via  Romenesko's Obscure Store]

Prosecuters recommend 10 years in jail for teens who tortured dogs AL [Tuscaloosa News]

'In the end, it is love and attention --- from humans and animals alike --- that keep pets happy and healthy...'  Caring for pets, Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier]

Customize your Google News: If you're looking for updated news for dog and pet owners, nothing beats Google News' new customize your own news service! We rolled a dog news url for pet owners in just a few minutes: Google custom news for pets and their companions:

After enabling cookies, javascript and images, try this url:

[ Geek News: Google gets personal; Betanews: Google adds customization XP Central: Sweet! Google News goes custom]

CRESTLINE, Ohio - Nine years ago, Hollywood special effects legend, producer, director and screenwriter Robert Kurtzman, moved his studios, Creature Corps and Precinct 13 Entertainment, to rural Crestline, Ohio.

Cult director Wes Anderson returns with a new movie Moonrise Kingdom, a tale of childhood romance set against the backdrop of a scouting camp.

Arcata Theatre Lounge Science Fiction Pint and Pizza Night presents "War of the Robots" and "Cosmos: War of the Planets" , 6 to 10 p.m., free with a $5 minimum food/beverage purchase, all ages.

If you worked in a bar or suffered from insomnia in 1997, you may remember a late-night ITV review show I hosted with RT contributor Stuart Maconie.

As we speak, movie theater chains across the country are debating whether or not teenagers should be allowed to text during movies, and if that doesn't make you weep for the future, nothing will.A But before you start bawling into that handful of Kleenex, be aware that some hope remains:A deep in the heart of Texas, Tim League 's Alamo Drafthouse ... (more)

Isn't it nice when we get to wake up from our nightmares?

A Baton Rouge, LA, man was reunited with his beloved Great Dane on Monday after believing for the last two years that she was dead.

Before that fateful day two years ago, Ben Gautreaux had kept his three Great Danes in his fenced yard, but all three had a penchant for escaping, usually led by a 2-foot-tall blue female named Bluebelle. Officials "picked them up a couple of times and said that if they picked them up again then they would be [considered] a threat to society," Gautreaux told WVUE-New Orleans.

After the dogs escaped once too often, officials delivered an ultimatum.

Bluebelle. Photograph courtesy of WVUE-New Orleans.

"They said either they were going to put all of them to sleep or they were going to put [Bluebelle] to sleep," Gautreaux remembered. Feeling that he had no choice in the matter, he let the officials keep Bluebelle -- believing that they would soon end the 4-year-old dog's life.

But two weeks ago, Gautreaux got a call from a staff member at the SPCA in Buffalo, NY, who shocked him by saying that Bluebelle was alive and well and had just been identified, thanks to a microchip that Gautreaux had placed in her years before.

Instead of being put down by Baton Rouge officials, she had been adopted by a family that then moved to an apartment in New York, where they could no longer keep her. That's how Bluebelle wound up in the shelter.

Buffalo resident Chris Silverstein offered to drive the Great Dane home to Baton Rouge. 

"She knew she was in the South right away," Silverstein said, as reported by WVUE. "Her entire attitude changed. She was a lot more animated and quite a bit happier."

  Hand and paw by Shutterstock.com

They arrived on Monday. When Gautreaux called Bluebelle by name, the big dog leaped into his arms.

The strangest part of this story is that the Buffalo SPCA director dubbed the dog Bluebelle even before learning that this was her original name, according to Silverstein, who has made a man and a dog very happy -- and has shown us all that we should never say never.

Craig Dershowitz says that the first time he met his adorable puggle (pug-beagle) puppy, "I picked him up and he fell asleep on my shoulder -? there was no choice," he said in an exclusive Dogster interview. He named him Knuckles, or Knux for short, because "he looked like a little fighter. He had an attitude and didn?t take no for an answer. Once I played with him for a little while, I saw that he kind of used his paws, like all puppies do, when playing and the name just fit perfectly."

They had nearly three happy years in New York City together, and Dershowitz came to consider him "my son." His then-girlfriend, Sarah Brega, also helped raise Knuckles. But when they split up, he says she ended up taking the dog to California against his will. Dershowitz, 34, claims Knux was kidnapped by her; she claims in court papers that the dog was a gift.

"Knuckles is my son," says Craig Dershowitz, who has spent $60k to try to get him back

Dershowitz says he has spent more than $60,000 -- reportedly his life savings from having worked two jobs his whole adult life -- to get his three-and-a-half-year-old dog back. He says he is now working three jobs to try to come close to being able to afford pursuing the case and affording to live.

Documents obtained by Dogster show that the vast majority of this is legal fees by lawyers specializing in canine custody disputes. A negligible amount was spent on private investigators, who located the dog and his ex in California.

Why this kind of money? The tattoo artist -- who also manages an art gallery, runs a nonprofit, and is a doorman of a nightclub ("Sleep is overrated," he says) -- says because he misses Knux deeply every day, as he imagines someone would miss their own human child. Just as difficult is his fear that Knux doesn't fathom why the man who has taken care of him since he was a two-month-old pup would abandon him.

Dershowitz talks about Knuckles, "my son," on a video to raise funds to get him back

"The saddest thing about being away from Knuckles is that he doesn?t understand, and I feel as if I am disappointing him every day. If he was an actual child, I could explain to him what was happening, he would know I was fighting for him. But, now, I imagine, there is a piece of him that feels loss with me not being there and I hate to think that, in some way, he blames me. Knuckles was and still is my child, my son," and he says he'll stop at nothing to get him back.

To wit, Dershowitz is pretty much out of money, and he hasn't won the fight yet. He claims Brega, a fashion designer, has a wealthy family backing her in her battle to keep the dog. So he has started a fundraising effort online in hopes of raising $20,000 to help pay for future legal expenses. You can see a video of him making his case and his plea on his Rescue Knux page. That's also where you'll find a list of the possible donation levels, with perks that go with each level.

Many commenters there and elsewhere have called him crazy for spending so much money trying to get back his dog. They tell him to adopt another pup, and some joke that for $5,000 they'd have gone and stolen the dog back for him. But it doesn't faze Dershowitz. I'm sure many of you can identify with his feelings:

"I have heard lots of comments about how crazy it is to think of a pet as your child," he says. "But I have heard twice as many from dog owners who understand. The real difference is that people who have never cared for a dog don?t understand it ?- heck, before Knux, I would have maybe thought the same thing. Now that I?ve been with him, I realize nothing can replace him."

His own father died when Dershowitz was young. Since he feels like his dog's dad, he won't let anyone else keep his kid.

"I grew up without a father figure," he says in our interview. "This helped me realize what I wanted and needed to become a father myself one day. With Knux, I was able to be loving but stern and to be fun and sensitive to his wants. Without him, I begin to feel as if that big, mature, fatherly part of me is missing. I live an otherwise very full and happy life yet nothing can fill the hole where a son should be."

In court papers from earlier this year, Brega says Knuckles is enjoying the California lifestyle, from the beaches to the nearby parks. And a national news video yesterday showed Knuckles resting peacefully at her side in her California home.

But Dershowitz says his dog was born and raised in NYC, and is very happy there, with Central Park close by, as well as several off-leash dog parks. What about all those hours he's working? Would the dog be alone in his apartment all day, and get lonely? "No defintely not," hs says. "He will have a feline friend to live with as well as close friends (both human and canine) that will stop by to be with all the time. I am changing my work schedule once he is back, dropping one of the jobs and making another one mostly from home with limited hours in the office."

There's a court date today that could go a long way in bringing them back together or wrenching them apart more. Dershowitz is confident that eventually he and Knux will be back together.

"Without sounding preachy, God (or whatever you want to call a higher power) will provide, especially when your intentions are pure and noble. I just know it will work," he says.

Photos provided by Craig Dershowitz

Additional sources: LA Times, New York Post, Business Insider

  German Short-haired Pointer in the sun by Shutterstock.com

That'll teach 'em to leave a dog locked inside a car with its windows all rolled up on a warm day in a town whose residents include a high quotient of passionate pet lovers.

On Sunday, sheriff's deputies were called out to rescue a German Shorthaired Pointer from inside a red Nissan Pathfinder with Arizona license plates that was parked on a West Hollywood street, according to CBS-Los Angeles. The temperature that day was only 72 degrees, but passersby were concerned that it might be significantly hotter inside the car. 

Finding the dog in good condition, the officers placed it safely into the custody of Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control personnel. As no one had yet returned to the vehicle, the officers then reasoned that opening a large bag they found inside the car might help them to identify its owner and let him or her know where the animal had been taken. 

  Marijuana bundle by Shutterstock.com

To their surprise, the deputies found several bundles of marijuana weighing seven pounds and with a street value of about $24,000. That wasn't all: Also in the bag was $10,000 in cash.

The marijuana, the cash, and the car were promptly impounded as evidence in what had shifted from an animal-safety issue to something far more felonious.

Let's hope someone takes care of that Pointer if its owner winds up behind bars.

A Japanese company has just made life a little easier for those of us who are hypervigilant about our pets' health. Then again, maybe it has just given us more to worry about.

Tokyo-based information techology firm Fujitsu announced its launch of an innovative new device that can be affixed to dogs' collars, where it can monitor their level of activity, number of steps taken, and other health-related data.

Fujitsu's new pet-health device. Photo courtesy of Fujitsu.

"To help dog owners manage the health of their pets using information and communication technology, Fujitsu has leveraged its sensing technologies for humans gained in the development of the company's mobile phones and other technologies, and has adapted them for a device that can monitor a dog's activity levels," the press release reads. 

The device -- which will become available to the public later this year -- will be unveiled this week. Because it is small and lightweight and requires very little power, it can be worn constantly, gathering data even while dogs sleep.

"Even for owners who cannot keep a constant eye on their pets, by monitoring and recording the number of steps they take, as well as signs of shivering and external temperature information, the new device enables owners to stay informed about the dog's regular activity levels, making it easy to detect any changes in their pet's health," the press release declares.

  Sick doggie by Shutterstock.com

To read the data, bring the device close to your phone or computer. You can also upload the data and archive it. "Data uploaded to the cloud can be viewed on a special pet owner web page, while transitions over time can be displayed as graphs, making them easier to understand and facilitating the instant detection of any changes."

If your dog is feeling under the weather -- or is sneaking off for daily rendezvous with that Bichon Frise on the far side of town -- this device will tell you straightaway.

Until earlier this month, they lived their whole lives in cramped chicken-type coops in a backyard in Florida. Some died there. Then the the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department seized more than 250 small dogs who'd been surviving in wretched conditions in what was a former puppy mill. The dogs were horrendously matted, and some had open sores, heartworm, hookworm, or all of the above. All were infested with fleas. Many had serious health conditions.

"It was a horrible situation for them to be living in," Lt. Scott Ortner, county animal services director, said in an article in the Herald Tribune.

Some of the many dozens of cramped cages where the dogs were kept. (Image from raw video footage)

Economic woes and mental depression apparently turned the woman in charge of all this from breeder/puppy mill owner to hoarder. She backed off routine care, except for food and allegedly some medicine. Her husband says they still spent $1,200 a month maintaining the dogs.

"My wife developed hoarding as a symptom of her depression," he told the newspaper. "It started slow and then it continued, and pretty soon you find yourself not looking at things."

He said his wife has been having a hard time dealing with the removal of the dogs, and that despite appearances to the contrary, she was very attached to them. "It would be like someone taking your children," he said. "We're in the stage of trying to figure out what to do."

If you want to see the place as the sheriffs did, you can check out this raw video footage from the department. But please note that it may be disturbing, especially when they discover a little dog skull.

Fortunately, many animal rescue groups, veterinarians, and boarding facilities have stepped up to help look after these poor pups for now. One of the most helpful is Florida Poodle Rescue. 

I got in touch with the people (or rather, angels, as you'll soon see) at the rescue for more information about the conditions of the dogs. Joani Kautz Ellis, shelter liaison, told me the grim reality. The group took the worst cases, the ones most other groups wouldn't touch. Other rescues worked with them to lend a helping hand.

"Each dog we pulled has infected ears, internal parasites, anemia, [and] heavily tartared or broken and infected teeth. They also have coprophagia -- they are not as interested in food as they are eating their own waste. The mature females have mammary tumors. Many have cataracts. They all seem friendly, just very timid of the world outside of a wire cage," she explained.

One by one, the group's volunteers have been cleaning up the dogs and getting them into medical care. Can you believe the dog below is the same as the dog above?

Joani has been doing this for 16 years. She says she never ceases to be amazed by what puppy mill owners and backyard breeders let befall their dogs. "These owners, as humans, have removed all humanity from these creatures.

"I have taken dogs from puppy mills who have their internal organs exposed to the outside, with their mouth and eyes matted shut, their jaws broken and hanging like a broken hinge, and cleaned them up, loved them, and apologized for what we, humans, had done to them," she told me.

If you'd like to find your Kleenex now, I'll wait. I would suggest getting one before reading on if you have a tender heart.

Joani told me, "Occasionally, we see the survivor who has survived the mill, but at such a great cost that they can never be brought around. These are the dogs that have endured so much suffering that they remind us of children who are abused, and survive by separating their mind from the body. These damaged dogs may never fully trust. Some 'scurry' instead of walk. One lived under a bed for four years before she was comfortable enough to come out and join the rest of the household.

"So where does that leave these poor souls? Most are still capable of living out a wonderful life. They need a structured environment, but most importantly, a home where they are accepted for who and what they are. They may never jump up on a couch, never understand the use for a toy, but you will see them show joy and unconditional love. You'll hear a heavy sigh when you hold them close. To them, those small comforts alone are pure bliss," she said.

"These 'special ones' are the ones that normally never leave their foster homes. Ironically, these types of dogs normally do very well in a group-dog setting. Whenever we suspect that a mill rescue may be too far gone for a fast-paced family, we try to place them in experienced homes, quiet homes, or homes with other dogs. These are by far the hardest ones for our hearts to accept, but they are also a constant reminder of why we do what we do. Florida Poodle Rescue always needs more homes for these special ones."

The organization also has a few hospice homes very ill rescues can go to. "These dogs often live a long life, and bring many smiles and laughs when we sit around and talk about out 'special' furkids. We also take in the extreme old ones that are dumped in kill shelters," Joani said.

And then there are the "ancient ones." (Get your tissue ready.)

"The 'ancient ones' we bring in, bathe, and give soft food and warm blankets. Often they are too ill and old, and for some ungodly reason they were dumped by their family at a shelter. When it is their time, they get a cheeseburger all to themselves, and many get chocolate ice cream. (We believe all dogs secretly want chocolate ice cream but never get it during life, so what a great thing for their last meal.) Then comes the hardest part, to hold them and whisper in their ears that they were good dogs, and they were loved.

"These are ones that people don't really know about, because it is so hard to hear. We just hope someday, someone will let the public know about these ones."

I am honored to do so, Joani. Readers, please, if you have it in your heart and temperament to take in one of these "ancient ones" from any rescue group, just ask. They're probably there. They're just not exactly advertised.

I asked Florida Poodle Rescue board president Patricia Donati how it feels to deal with these mills year in, year out.

"It makes me angry and sick to my stomach," she said. "Sometime, we hate our phone. It never stops ringing. We answer and listen to the horrible accounts of animal abuse. We all shudder, and scribble unspeakable details on a scrap of paper. Often we arrive at the location and wince, because it's worse than we expected."

She wishes that everyone could learn about puppy-mill dogs so they'll make wiser choices when getting a dog. "Puppy mills are driven by the almighty dollar. As long as people can profit from them, they will continue," she said. 

In looking at these amazing before and after photos of the Sarasota dogs, I wondered how it made Patricia feel to know her group has been helping give back life to these dogs.

She told me she feels both pride and honor. "Rescue is the most incredible, rewarding job in the history of ever," she said. "At the same time, it's also the most heartbreaking. I am so proud of our group for what we accomplish. We rescue dogs. In turn, dogs rescue us. Everything in between is so worth it."

Before and after images provided by Florida Poodle Rescue.