ohmidog!

Petside.com, which may love lists even more than dogs, has come out with the Top 10 Dog Parks in the U.S.

Topping the list is Point Isabel Dog Park in Richmond, California, recognized for its scenery, wide range of free activities, swimming holes and on-site cafe — all set on 23 leash-free acres.

Here’s the rest of the top five.

2. Dog Wood Dog Park in Jacksonville, Florida offers 25 acres of fenced play area, swimming, Frisbee fields, a sand pile for digging, and park-provided toys. There are designated areas for small dogs. Dues runs $289 annually, though day passes are available.

3. Jackson’s Howabaloo Dog Park in Edinboro, Pennsylvania features swimming and hiking, a play area just for special needs dogs. Dues runs $269 annually, but monthly and daily passes are available.

4. Fort Woof in Fort Worth, Texas has free admission, special events and the added benefit of being open after the sun goes down. The park is well-lit and stays open until 11:30 p.m.

5. Shaggy Pines Dog Park  in Ada, Michigan has  jogging and hiking trails, a swimming pond and play areas for different sized dogs. There’s also a coffee bar and lounge. Membership starts at $256 per year.

Rounding out the list are Bea Arthur Dog Park in Norfolk, Va.; Tompkins Square Dog Run in New York City; Ossining Dog Park in Westchester, N.Y.; Rocky Top Dog Park in Kingston, N.J.; and Happy Tails Dog Park in Plantation, Fla.

In recent months, Petside.com has also put out lists of the dog-friendliest college campuses, top dog beaches and dog-friendliest hotel chains.

For the dog park list, Petside.com says it took into consideration amenities, activities, hours of operation, and cost of entry.

(Photo of Jimmy at Point Isabel Dog Park, by Michael V., via Yelp.com)

At Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, faculty and staff bring their dogs to school every Tuesday during September, gather on a grassy field and allow students to have their homesickness washed away by spending an hour with the hounds.

The events are aimed at helping students overcome their homesickness, which often includes a longing for the family dog, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The “Dog Days” have been held on campus for five years.

They were started by former counseling director Kathy Bradley, now executive director of health and counseling at Gettysburg College. Bradley has started a similar program there. A few times a semester, Bucknell University in Lewisburg, which heard about Susquehanna’s program, brings trained therapy dogs – some owned by staff members – to campus to visit with students.

“The fact is that students miss their pets, sometimes more than they miss their families,” said Anna Beth Payne, associate dean of student life and director of Susquehanna’s counseling center.

Professors especially like the opportunity for the informal gatherings, saying they break the ice and can help make the campus, and the professors, seem less intimidating to students.

Nine dogs showed up on a recent Tuesday, a typical turnout, and dozens of students stopped to play with them, one of whom said she missed her dog, Babe, back home in Maine — at leas as much as she missed her mother.

“It’s a close tie between the dog and my mom,” she said.

(Philadelphia Inquirer photo by Robert Landry)

The company that brought you the Emmy Award winning A&E show “Intervention” is starting production of a new “documentary-reality” show to be called “Animal Hoarders.”

GRB Entertainment says the new series will be “an unflinchingly honest look at animal hoarders, the people and pets affected by them, and the challenges of confronting their unusual condition.”

Each episode, we will “delve into the hearts and minds” of two animal hoarders, according to the show’s website.

“We will witness the torment friends and family experience as they see their loved ones spinning out of control. We will take a gritty and often heartbreaking look at the pets trying to survive in an unsuitable environment. And in the end, we will be there as friends and family confront the hoarders, forcing them to get help, and let go of their animal hoard in the interest of a healthier life for the animals and themselves.”

The show is now seeking subjects, and has issued the following “casting call:” Read more »

A new wave of dogfighting is sweeping England, resulting in a 12-fold increase in dogfights since 2004.

And most practitioners — about two of every three — are youths, the Royal SPCA says.

A BBC report quotes RSPCA officials as saying a ban on four breeds, including pit bulls, has done little to slow the spread of dogfighting, or dogs biting people, and that a change in the law is needed.

The new wave of dog fighting, known as “chain fighting” or “rolling,” involves fights held in inner city public parks, on private estates and even in apartment elevators where  ”young people, often gangs of young people … put two dogs in a lift at the top of the block of flats and will press the button and let the dogs fight until they get to the bottom,” the RPSCA’s Claire Robinson told BBC News. Read more »