Archive for August, 2009

Brooklyn dog survives six-story fall from roof

oreoA one-year-old dog survived being thrown off the roof a six-story housing project in Brooklyn.

Though all her legs were broken and had to be repaired with plates and screws, she was expected to survive.

Fabian Henderson, 19, was charged with throwing the female dog off the roof of a building in the Red Hook Houses.

Several people called 911 to report a dog had gone off the roof and police found the black and white terrier mix on the ground six floors below, the New York Post reported.

The dog also suffered internal bruising and damage to her lungs. Investigators have nicknamed her Oreo for her black-and-white markings.

Henderson, who claimed the dog jumped off the roof, was charged with of animal cruelty and reckless endangerment.

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Dog’s rescuer could lose her apartment

Leave it to lawyers, landlords and insurance companies to screw up a perfectly good story.

Last week we told you about Kelsey Westbrook, the University of Louisville senior who helped rescue a pit bull that had been thrown off a bridge, then went on to take the dog, who she named Sunny, home with her.

Now comes word — in the Louisville Courier-Journal — that, if she keeps the dog, she may lose her apartment. The company that owns the building has a policy against “vicious breeds,” and has told her that she is violating her lease by having the dog on her property.

Westbrook, a waitress at Joe’s Crab Shack, ran with other employees to the shore after the dog was seen being thrown off the bridge and hitting the water roughly 80 feet below.

As the employees attempted to call the dog to shore, Louisville firefighters arrive and pulled her from the Ohio River.

Westbrook also owns a 2-year-old German shepherd mix named Nala and pays a monthly fee to keep Nala in her apartment. Westbrook said apartment officials told her she can’t make the same arrangement for Sunny because they consider the pit bull a “vicious breed.”

Westbrook said apartment officials gave her two days to remove Sunny from her apartment, and told her they will be conducting random inspections. Her boyfriend is keeping Sunny at his house until she decides what to do.

Since the property company is only following it’s own addle-brained rules, most likely designed at the request of its insurance company, we won’t go so far as to compare their behavior to that of the soulless, heartless wretch who threw the dog off the bridge.

But we will provide you with an email address, in case you want to:

Arete Real Estate, which owns Westbrook’s apartment, can be contacted at Apartments@areterealestate.net.

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DOGust 1st: The universal birthday

dogust1If your dog is like mine — adopted from a shelter or rescue — you most likely don’t know his or her true birthday.

I got around that by having a estimated birth month — April — and holding Ace’s gala birthday celebration on the day of that month that was most convenient to ME. He seemed cool with that.

The North Shore Animal League America now offers another option, aimed at all those dogs with mystery birth dates — “DOGust the 1st.”

The Animal League has officially proclaimed, or at least declared in a press release, that the first day of the eighth month (aka August 1) is DOGust the 1st, a universal birthday for shelter and rescued dogs everywhere.

To engage all dog lovers nationwide in the celebration, North Shore Animal League America is offering DOGust the 1st online greeting cards at www.AnimalLeague.org featuring an original song, “Happy Birthday, Doggie Dear,” created exclusively for DOGust the 1st by Academy and Tony Awards-nominated composer Henry Krieger and lyricist Willie Reale.

Krieger, who recently adopted his dog Freddie from the Animal League, has written the music for several Broadway shows, including Dreamgirls, and won a 2007 Grammy Award.

The Animal League, the world’s largest no-kill rescue and adoption organization,will celebrate Dogust 1st with a family fun day at its headquarters in Port Washington, N.Y. with a Pet Health Fair, kids’ activities, adoptable animals and a special DOGust the 1st birthday cake.

To learn more about DOGust the 1st and the Animal League, visit www.AnimalLeague.org.

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