ohmidog!

Two of every three shots fired by police in Rochester, N.Y., are fired at dogs; and four of every five shots fired at dogs were aimed at pit bulls.

Those are just a couple of the more stunning statistics presented in an article in yesterday’s Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Police have shot at 87 dogs, killing 35 and injuring 33, in the line of duty over the last five years, according to a review of police reports from 2004 to April 2009 obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle under the Freedom of Information law. Some of the injured were later euthanized.

Over the same period, police fired at nine people and used their guns to kill 36 deer, all of them injured before police were summoned. Guns discharged accidentally three times.

All of the dog shootings were determined to be within Rochester Police Department guidelines, which permit the use of deadly force on animals when they are attacking or “presenting an imminent danger” to any person.

Some of the dangers described in the police reports, though, sound something less than imminent: Read more »

You might think former Marylander Donna Rock would be at a disadvantage when it comes to dog obedience competitions — given as the dogs are required to follow non-verbal signals, and given Donna has no arms.

Yet Donna and her 8-year-old Doberman Pinscher, Annie, have won numerous obedience and agility titles, including the prestigious Obedience Trial Championship (OTCH) and the crown jewel in agility, the Master Agility Championship (MACH).

Donna, who now lives in Lacombe, Louisiana, was born without arms. She originally purchased Annie to be her companion and to train for obedience competition, but the two developed such a bond that Annie became her service dog, assisting her with everyday activities.

In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit, Donna lost her home, belongings, and even her job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When she was temporarily reassigned to work in Washington, Annie went with her helping her in the subways, and on escalators.

Annie was a 2008 winner of an American Kennel Club Award for Canine Excellence (ACE), winning the exemplary companion dog category. The awards commemorate loyal, hard-working dogs that have made significant contributions to their community.

Annie is only the second Doberman pinscher in the nation to be named an American Kennel Club champion in both agility and obedience training.

Donna, over nine years of training the dog, created her own method of non-verbal signals, using her feet and legs, shoulder and head to communicate. While she can accomplish most things with her feet, from turning on faucets to feeding the dog, Annie helps her with the few things can’t do for herself.

Donna is shown working with Annie in the video above, from about five years ago. To see a newer video, check out this report from WWL-TV in Lousiana.

Annie is now retired from competition, and Donna is training a year and half old border collie named Roller, running him through the agility course, teaching him the same foot and leg commands, and showing him what his job will be.

“He’s got some awful big paws to fill,” Donna said.

When it comes to North Carolina style barbecue, there’ve been slim pickins in Baltimore. When it comes to dog-friendly restaurants, they’ve been slimmer yet.

Now there’s a place that offers both, Harbor Que, and it’s quickly become a favorite of my dog Ace.

The first time we went, he was offered a small container of free meat scraps. The second time, he received a mountain of turkey and beef, piled high in a foam container.

I can attest that what they serve the humans — wings,chicken, ribs, Carolina pulled pork, pit beef ham and turkey — is top notch as well.

Dogs are allowed on the outdoor deck at Harbor Que, which opened last month.

Harbor Que is located at 1421 Lawrence St., off Key Highway in Locust Point, just a stone’s throw from the Inner Harbor. It’s open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Baltimore area animals shelters are zooming right along in their quest to find homes for 500 cats in the month of June.

Adoption fees for cats and kittens are being waived for the entire month.

In the first ten days, 178 cats were adopted, according to the member shelters of the Baltimore Animal Welfare Alliance – Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS), the Maryland SPCA and the Humane Society of Baltimore County.

The alliance has created a special website, Baltimore500.org, with information about the campaign.

In addition to the waived adoption fee, six local veterinary clinics are offering free exams for cats and kittens adopted at participating shelters in June.

“This is a life saving campaign and we are heartened by the display of caring by the residents of the Baltimore area. Our shelter has been crowded with people interested in adopting cats and kittens,” said Frank Branchini, Volunteer and Events Coordinator for BARCS. “BARCS is encouraging people who already have cats to consider adopting a second cat or kitten as a playmate.”

Cats and kittens adopted from BARCS are spayed or neutered, vaccinated for rabies and bordatella, de-wormed, Felv tested, and provided with a flea preventative, a general examination, a food sample, and a month of free health insurance.

The participating shelters are:

Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS), 301 Stockholm Street, Baltimore, 410 396-4695

The Maryland SPCA, 3300 Falls Road, Baltimore, 410 235-8826

Baltimore Humane Society, 1601 Nicodemus Road, Reisterstown, 410 833-8848

Recycled Love will be holding a large yard sale at HOWL Pet Food Store in Hampden tomorrow from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. All proceeds will be used to advance Recycled Love’s mission to help abused, abandoned and neglected animals. HOWL is located at 3531 Chestnut Street.

Investigations by a state’s attorney and the Maryland State Police into allegations against the Cecil County SPCA have concluded there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing and that fired employees lied about their accusations, the SPCA is reporting on its website.

The allegations were brought to light  by Del. Michael Smigiel, who published them on the Internet and still maintains on his blog that the they have not been fully investigated.

Caroline County State’s Attorney Jonathan G. Newell reported on his review of a detailed State Police investigation and report in a June 1, 2009 letter sent to Cecil County State’s Attorney Christopher Eastridge, who had asked for an independent review outside Cecil County.

“Despite a very thorough investigation … in my opinion none of the allegations of criminal animal cruelty on the part of current or past employees of the CCSPCA are credible enough to be prosecuted,”  Newell said. The State Police investigation began in January, 2009.

The State Police report concluded there was no credible evidence against the Cecil County SPCA. Read more »

It’s being reported that researchers at a New York college say dogs don’t feel guilt — that the ”guilty look” on a dog’s face is all in the imagination of the human owner.

After tricking owners into thinking innocent pets had misbehaved, researchers found that owners claimed to see a guilty look on the face of dogs that did nothing wrong, proving owners were projecting human values onto their pets, the study says.

The study, led by Alexandra Horowitz, assistant professor at Barnard College in New York, looked at how dog owners interpreted their pets’ expressions when they believed that the dog had stolen and eaten a forbidden treat. In a series of tests, owners were sometimes given accurate and sometimes false information about whether their dog had stolen the treat.

Researchers found that pet owners’ belief that they could read their dogs’ “body language” was often entirely unfounded, according to a BBC report.

Far more likely, it seems to me, the dogs were correctly reading their human’s body language. Read more »

 
A study by Apartments.com has found that 80 percent of renters say a pet-friendly policy plays a major role in where they choose to live, and nearly one of every three seek out a home that is convenient to ameneties like dog parks and walking trails.

A whopping 90 percent of those responding to the survey said they had a pet, and half of the other 10 percent said they plan to get one within the next year.

While the majority of respondents experienced difficulty finding an apartment that allowed pets, 89 percent said they were not put in a position where they had to choose between their animal and a place to live.

For survey respondents who said they were forced to give up a pet, the two main causes were identified as not being able to find an apartment with a pet-friendly policy (65%) or not being able to afford the pet deposit (27%).

Apartments.com says more properties are welcoming pets. More than 11 million searches were conducted on the website in 2008 by people seeking pet-friendly apartments.

For tips on renting with pets, Apartments.com offers a special section on its website.

A dog owner thinks her 11-year-old Labrador mix, Jack, got sick after accidentally eating marijuana at a Seattle park.

Jack, after being unleashed in Seattle’s Seward Park, wandered off for about three minutes. About three hours later, ”his head was rocking back and forth his eyes were glassy,”  said his owner, Jen Nestor.

Nestor  thinks her dog must have happened upon some marijuana stashed somewhere in the park greenery, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. 

According to his medical records, Jack appeared dizzy and disoriented, was staggering and fell over when trying to sit. He also vomited large amounts of plant material and liquid that smelled like marijuana, his owner said.

Police say the story sounds legit, and point out that a wilderness guide playing hide and seek with kids in Seward Park discovered a duffel bag packed with five and a half pounds of marijuana on April 3.

Jack, after $1,500 in medical bills,  has recovered from his May 17 experience.

Marijuana can be toxic to dogs and, depending on a dogs’ size and the amount consumed, ingesting it can send them into a coma.

Dogs getting into their owners’ stashes — be they illegal or medically approved — isn’t really as rare an event as you might think. Figuring there are dogs in 43 million U.S. homes, and people who have smoked marijuana in the past year in 25 million homes, there’s got to a multi-million overlap there.

In parts of Northern California, vets face such cases regularly, with some attending to several zonked-out dogs a week, according to a 2005 Los Angeles Times story.

(Photo: Rocky, a Nebraska drug detection dog, sits atop a large haul in 2007, courtesy Douglas County Sheriff’s Department)