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Here’s the Today Show’s report on the 11-year-old boy whose dog, Angel, is being credited with saving him from being attacked by a cougar in British Columbia. The dog had surgery yesterday and is still under veterinary care. The boy, Austin Forman, says he has bought his dog “a big nice juicy steak” for her return home.

An arrest affidavit says Steven Clay Romero, the man accused of dragging a dog to his death at Colorado National Monument, was told to “get rid” of the stolen animal after it had attacked a family cat.

The Grand Junction Sentinel is reporting that, prior to being dragged behind a pickup truck for two miles, the stolen dog, named Buddy, had attacked a family cat, leading Melissa Lockhart and Krista Morris to tell Romero to get rid of him.

“Steven left with the dog and returned without it. Steven told Melissa and Krista he had dragged the dog to death,” the affidavit states. It was filed in Delta County Court in support of the arrest of 32-year-old Melissa Lockhart — Romero’s sister — on charges of theft and false reporting,

According to the affidavit, Morris, whose connection to Romero isn’t specified, told Delta police that Lockhart on late Dec. 29 or early Dec. 30 had brought a pair of dogs to Morris’ Grand Junction home, asking that they be kept there for awhile.

Later, Morris met with officers and returned one of the two dogs, a black Labrador named Max. Both dogs were stolen from a pickup truck belonging to Joseph and Sacha Leber. A witness to the dog thefts called police to report the license plate of the suspect’s vehicle, which led back to Lockhart’s home in Fruita, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit said Lockhart insisted her children had told her the dogs were found in an abandoned house.

“Melissa and Krista requested Steven get rid of the dog, and he did so,” the affidavit said. “Steven returned and told Melissa and Krista about the event, and they attempted to lie and mislead law enforcement during the entire investigation,” police said in the affidavit.

Morris has not been arrested or charged in connection with the dog’s death.

(For all of our coverage of Buddy, click here.)

Roland, an abandoned sharpei, has had a face lift.

While sharpeis are prized for their wrinkly skin — and dog show breed standards deem it desirable — it can also lead to a condition called entropion, in which the wrinkles cause a dog’s eyelashes to turn inward and rub against the eyeballs.

For Roland, found as a stray and taken in by the RSPCA, the condition likely would have led to blindness, and it lessened his chances of finding an adoptive home.

The solution, according to the Daily Telegraph, was a double eye lift and full face lift.

“What we have done is made him adoptable,” RSPCA chief vet Magdoline Awadshe said. “It is not uncommon in this breed, it is a congenital problem.”

Roland’s 90-minute surgery eye lift surgery and excess face wrinkle removal cost almost $1000.

It’s not uncommon for sharpeis to undergo the procedure, in which a swath of of skin from across the animal’s forehead and between his eyes is removed, and the remaining skin is pulled together and sewn with stitches. Chow chows, bulldogs, pugs and other breeds are also prone to the condition.

The RSPCA says Roland is one of growing number of sharpeis turning up at animal shelters. Members of the once rare breed are often abandoned after owners realize the costs of correcting their congenital health problems.

(Photo: Daily Telegraph)

All three bomb-sniffing dogs handled by the Transportation Security Administration at Philadelphia International Airport have lost their certification after having failed their last two tests.

And Fox News reports the problems may extend beyond that: Sources say about a dozen of the 700 TSA dogs at 85 airports have failed the tests as well.

A TSA spokesman said the three dogs in Philadelphia — after failing standard tests in November and December — are continuing intensive training to regain their certification, and are continuing to work at the airport as a “visual deterrent.” 

The dogs, trained in at Lackland Air Force base in Texas, completed the 10-week course all TSA dogs must successfully pass.

Ten other city police dogs assigned to Philadelphia’s airport passed the tests.

The TSA spokesman said the agency is working quickly to recertify the bomb sniffing dogs and assured the traveling public that security would not suffer.

Hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened with a Minnesota police dog named Felony, more police departments in the area are microchipping members of their K-9 units.

Midwest Animal Rescue Services (MARS) placed microchips in all 15 of the St. Paul police department’s dogs Tuesday, and microchipped nine dogs for the Minnesota State Patrol.

“We have departments from all over the state, western Wisconsin, even one from South Dakota has called us to get this done,” Dave Fleischhaker of MARS told TV station KARE in Minneapolis-St. Paul. “And yes, we will chip everyone who gives us a call.”

The rescue organization extended the microchipping offer to every police department in Minnesota after hearing about the plight of Felony, a black lab that worked as a drug sniffing dog for the Howard Lake Police Department.

Felony escaped his kennel and was eventually captured by the local dog catcher. He wasn’t microchipped and after he failed a behavioral examination he was euthanized by the local animal shelter.

Yesterday’s microchipping is being paid for by Midwest Animal Rescue Services, which is raising the money through contributions.

The Israeli military has denied allegations that it trains its dogs to attack anybody heard saying “Allah-u Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great,” Ha’aretz and other local media reported Tuesday.

Israeli Arab deputy Ahmed Tibi on Monday told the Israeli parliament that at a dog unit ceremony held the day before, parents of the soldiers witnessed demonstrations proving the allegations.

“Israeli military dogs are trained to pounce and attack any Arab who shouts ‘Allah-u Akbar,’ as a Pavlovian reaction,” Tibi was quoted as saying. The phrase is one that has been shouted by suicide bombers before detonating explosive devices.

Speculations of such practice were exposed first by Israel Radio’s military correspondent, Carmela Menashe.

Responding to the allegations, the Israeli military said in a statement: “One of the canine unit’s many capabilities is to train the dogs to locate the enemy when dressed both in uniform and as civilian. This is an ability that has proven itself in many cases.”

Buddy, the dog dragged for miles through Colorado National Monument, was a rescued dog, adopted from an animal shelter 4 1/2 years ago by a family in Delta.

Joe and Sacha Leber would take Buddy and their other dog Max with them almost everywhere they went, according to television station KJCT in Grand Junction.

Last week, the two dogs waited in the back of the family pickup truck while the Lebers ate brunch at C and J’s Cafe in Delta. When they came out, both dogs were gone.

“We looked in the back of our truck, because it’s pretty unusual for them not to be there. We start calling for them, then a lady comes out,” Joe said. “She asked if that truck was ours, we told her yeah. She said three Hispanic males stole our dogs out of the back of the truck.” That woman had written the license plate number down, which the Lebers provided to police.

“He was more than a dog to us, he was our friend, he was our family member,” Sacha said.

The day after he was taken, Buddy was dragged behind a pick-up truck by a rope for more than two miles, and his lifeless body left in the snow. Steven Clay Romero has been charged with killing the dog, and his sister has been charged with taking part in stealing it.

The Leber’s second dog, Max, has since been returned to the family.

As of Tuesday night, an online petition calling for Romero, if convicted, to receive the maximum three-year sentence, had been signed by more than 20,000 people.

(For all of our coverage of Buddy, click here.)