ohmidog!

Name: Clyde

Age: Getting up there

Breed: Everyday Christian

Encountered: At a street concert in downtown Winston-Salem, N.C.

Backstory: Ace tugged me over to Clyde, who sat in a motorized scooter on the fringes of the crowd at a concert on Winston-Salem’s Trade Street last night.

He wore sleeveless white t-shirt, white shorts and a white cap.

After petting Ace for a while, Clyde told me he’d recently gotten over prostate cancer, and that he wishes he had a dog.

Only one breed will do, he said, a cocker spaniel. He had one before. He has dropped by the local humane society, but hasn’t had any luck finding one so far.

(Roadside Encounters are a regular feature of Travels with Ace. To see them all, click here.)

Names: Gracie and Chloe

Age: 4 years old

Breed: Golden retrievers

Encountered: Along the Silas Creek Trail in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Backstory: Recent transplants from Florida, Gracie and Chloe are getting accustomed to Winston-Salem. They’re shown here walking with their owner, Terry. When he and his wife went to look at them and the rest of the litter, they disagreed on which one they wanted. He liked one of the lighter colored ones, while his wife preferred the darker.

And that’s why Terry walks two dogs.

(Roadside Encounters, a regular feature of Travels with Ace, is a look at some of the dogs and people we met during our year traveling across America. To see them all, click here.)

Due to extreme heat, the Maryland SPCA has postponed this evening’s Wine & Wag Happy Hour, rescheduling the event for next Friday, July 29, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

The event, held at the Maryland SPCA on Falls Road in Baltimore, includes paw painting, bobbing for hot dogs, off-leash play, and beverages, of course.

The theme for the rescheduled even will remain the same — “Barkaritaville” — and tropical attire is welcome.

Tickets can be purchased online for $10 per person in advance or at the gate for $15 per person.

Those who purchased tickets for the July 22 event can use them on July 29.

Professional dog hunters from Texas (where else?) may be called in to help “solve” Fayetteville, N.C.’s  stray dog problem.

A Fort Worth, Texas-based outfit called the “Dangerous Animal Task Force,” or DATF, for short, offered its services to the city in a letter last week to Mayor Tony Chavonne, the Fayetteville Observer reported.

The Observer reported earlier this month that up to 150 “wild dogs” are roaming city neighborhoods, ”killing pets and threatening residents,” and that the county’s Animal Services Department had limited resources to capture the feral canines.

(There is no city animal control office, which may help explain why there’s a problem in the first place.)

DATF (no, that’s not them in the photo — just a generic posse) has proposed sending four representatives to the city who would spend two weeks hunting the dogs with tranquilizer darts.

The darts would include GPS chips that — assuming the darts stay intact — would allow the hunters to find animals who kept running after being shot. The animals would then be taken to the county animal shelter.

I’m sure you can guess what would happen there — although that part of it isn’t being talked about much.

City Manager Dale Iman briefed the City Council this week about the “task force,” saying,  ”I think we have a good chance of making an impact.” The  two-week “deployment” — to use DATF’s terminology —  would cost $29,000, with the city and county splitting the cost.

According to the group’s letter, its mission is to assist law enforcement and other local authorities in emergency situations, natural disasters and other events in which dangerous animals are involved.

The company’s website — it does not appear to be a non-profit organization, though it does seek donations – is a pretty bare bones affair, peppered with photos of violent animals and Homeland Security and FEMA logos. It offers no information in the way of actual cases it has handled.

Nobody asked me, but my advice to Fayetteville would be to think hard about calling in hired guns. Their shoot- first-ask-questions-later approach could easily lead to some pets being bagged along with the so-called feral dogs — and while the professional hunters will only be tranquilizing them, some missing and wandering pets could be swept up, and subjected to step two.

Rather than a gun-toting dog posse, wouldn’t it make more sense to seek help from a group like Best Friends Animal Society or the Humane Society of the United States, who could evaluate the animals as individuals, rather than as trophies?

There was a time in America when bounties were placed on dogs. Calling in gunmen is a little too reminiscent of that for me.

I’m not disputing that many or even most of the dogs to be hunted are dangerous — but does a generation or two living back in the wild make them hopeless cases?

If Michael Vick’s dogs, after what they went through, could be rehabilitated and become family pets, don’t these deserve a chance? And why isn’t anyone speaking up for them?

An Arizona scientist trying to induce menopause in mice — the female of that species up to then had been missing out on that experience — has discovered a pill to sterilize dogs, one she says could eventually bring an end to surgical spaying.

Dr. Loretta Mayer was looking for a way to artificially induce menopause in mice so they could be used to study human diseases when she and another scientist developed a drug that they realized also could be used to sterilize female dogs, the Arizona Republic reports.

If approved by the FDA — a prospect that could take years — Chemspay, as it has been dubbed, could revolutionize veterinary medicine and go along way in reducing canine overpopulation in Arizona and nationwide, Mayer says.

ChemSpay can be administered by either a pill or injection.

Mayer hopes to eventually introduce the drug in Arizona and recently persuaded the state legislature to alter state law to allow animal shelters to use non-surgical means for sterilizing cats and dogs.

Mayer, 62, spent more than 20 years working in business before returning to school to pursue a master’s and doctorate in biology at Northern Arizona University. In 2000, she began her postdoctorate work at the University of Arizona, working under Dr. Patricia Hoyer, an ovarian toxicologist who was studying diseases common in aging women.

Mice, unlike women, never lose their reproductive capabilities. So Hoyer and Mayer developed a drug they dubbed “mouseopause” that induced menopause in female lab mice by eliminating eggs in the ovaries without surgery. The development allowed lab mice to be used as models for studying diseases associated with menopause.

In 2002, Mayer started a biotechnology company called SenesTech, studying how the drug could be used on other animals. She has tested it on animals in Indonesia, India, New Zealand and Australia and on the Navajo Reservation, at the request of the director of the tribal animal shelter.

“He said to me, ‘If you could do for a dog what you do for a mouse, I wouldn’t have to kill 400 animals a month,’ ” Mayer said.

Mayer and SenesTech administered the contraceptive to reservation dogs from 2004 to 2008.The trials proved that Chemspay reduced the number of eggs in the tested dogs significantly.

Last year, SenesTech became involved in a project that combines rabies vaccinations with fertility control for the feral-dog population in parts of India. Mayer will return to India this December to resume her work with the group.

Although Chemspay is about six to nine years away from being approved by the FDA, Mayer said she hopes to begin FDA-approved trials in about three years at the Second Chance Center for Animals in Flagstaff.

Mayer is not the first scientist to develop sterilizing drugs for animals. Neutersol, a sterilizing injection for male dogs, was approved by the FDA and tested in trials at the Arizona Humane Society a few years ago. It was taken off the market in 2005 because of a manufacturing disagreement and is now being marketed under another name. It is not currently available in the U.S.

(Photo: Martha Ellis / Arizona Republic)

The manager of a Marietta, Ga., McDonald’s punched a mother of two autistic boys in the face after a dispute that started when the manager ordered the twin boys’ service dog, Barkley, out of the store, police said.

The boys’ mother, Jennifer Schwenker, said the incident took place on July 12 when she took the boys to the McDonald’s on Bells Ferry Road to have lunch, WSBTV reported.

The family was about to leave when Tiffany Denise Allen, an off-duty store manager, told them there were no dogs allowed, police said.

Schwenker explained that Barkley is a service dog, allowed by federal law in all public places including restaurants. Schwenker offered to provide proof of the permit for the dog, Marietta police said.

A surveillance tape from the store shows Allen following the family around the McDonald’s. When Schwenker tried to leave, she lost track of one of the boys. She threw her drink on the floor and it splashed on Allen, police said.

The tape shows Allen running after Schwenker in a rage, police said.

Allen has been charged with battery assault and disorderly conduct.

The store issued a statement saying the manager had been fired.

For the last in our week-long series of kudzu dogs (are you questioning my sanity yet?) we start off with the artwork first (above), and the undoctored photo (below).

This one is definitely a Newfoundland.

We took some extra artistic license with this one, for no Newf is complete without a big dripping tongue.

Even without our tampering, this kudzu dog is a very obvious one, located near Hanes Park in Winston-Salem.

Prosecutors are crediting a sperm-sniffing police dog with helping build the case against a 23-year-old rape suspect.

The sperm-sniffing dog, reported to the only one in southern Sweden, is named Rapports Opus.

The suspect is charged with forcing a woman to perform oral sex in a park in Karlskrona, according to Sydöstran, a regional newspaper. The dog found traces of semen at the scene of the crime. They were sent to a lab for analysis and were found to match the 23-year-old suspect’s DNA.

Rapports Opus underwent a year’s training to become a certified sperm-sniffing dog, graduating from the dog academy last year, according to The Local, an English language publication in Sweden.

“He’s the only dog in southern Sweden specialised in tracking sperm,” said B.G. Carlsson, the police officer who trained the dog.

Carlsson will be testifying in the trial against the 23-year-old. The case is the first in which evidence found by Rapports Opus will be used in court.

Short-snouted dogs can no longer fly Cathay Pacific.

The airline Monday banned the brachycephalic breeds from air travel because of the risks of breathing problems and overheating.

The ban covers pugs, bulldogs and boxers, and several breeds of cats, including Himalayan, Persian and exotic short-hair cats, CNN’s Business 360 blog reports.

Cathay Pacific’s ban follows similar moves by Singapore Airlines and several American carriers.

The U.S. Department of Transportation released figures last year showing about half of all in flight deaths in the previous five years were short-snouted breeds, with English bulldogs accounting for nearly a quarter of those deaths.

“The ban is to bring Cathay Pacific into line with industry practice because it has been found that there is quite a bit of danger,” said Thomas Lau, Cathay Pacific’s assistant manager of public affairs.

Hong Kong’s Society for the Protection of Animals (SPCA) believes that the ban is an over-reaction.

“… There are cases when air travel is unavoidable, especially when owners need to emigrate,” said Rebecca Ngan, communications manager of SPCA Hong Kong. “If owners cannot send them in the cabin they may have to abandon them or put them to sleep.”

The city of Baltimore — for the first time I’m aware of — has issued an advisory calling upon pet owners to keep their dogs and cats hydrated, indoors, or in the shade over the next several days.

Way to go, city.

The Baltimore City Health Department, in addition to urging humans to take precautions, passed along the following tips from the office of Animal Control:

Provide shade. Ensure that your pet has protection from the heat and sun – a dog house does not provide relief from heat. Bring your pet inside during the hottest part for the day (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).

Provide fresh water. Animals do not sweat like humans. They need fresh, clean water to keep their temperatures low. Replenish their water dish with cool water often throughout the day if the animal must be kept outside.

Limit exercise, especially during the hottest hours of the day. Exercise your pet in the early morning or in the evening. When possible, walk your dog on the grass. Asphalt gets very hot and can burn your pet’s paws.

Never leave your pet in a parked car. On an 85 degree day, the temperature inside a vehicle with the windows slightly open can reach 102 degrees Fahrenheit within 10 minutes. Overheating can result in irreversible organ damage or even death.

Know the signs of heat exhaustion in pets: drooling, excessive panting and lethargic behavior. Seek veterinary care immediately if your pets are exhibiting any of these symptoms.

“Our pets rely on us for their health and well-being. This includes protecting them from the heat, especially during Code Red Heat Alerts,” said Commissioner of Health Dr. Oxiris Barbot.

The health department urges residents to call 311 to report cases of neglect, or to call 911 if they see animals or small children alone in a parked car.

I’m not sure who’s behind the advisory, but it’s great to see animal control doing something that’s proactive (and doesn’t involve writing tickets for well-monitored off-leash dogs.)

More information on the city’s heat alert plan can be found here.
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