Walk Fido

Fido Findings

Some worth-your-time news from the dogosphere:

• The fantastic Bad Rap team just hosted a Celebrate Your Pit Bull weekend. Love it. Thinking it's high time we did something similar in LA...
• We always love a good service dog story and this one delivers in spades. NYT has a piece on service dogs that help Iraq war veterans with PTSD. The audio slideshow is excellent.
• We have a lot of clients that have just had or are about to have babies. The number one question we are asked when a new client family is preparing for their new baby is: how do we get our dog ready? Dr. Marty Becker over at Pet Connection has an excellent article on how to Create a kid-friendly dog before the new baby arrives. 
• Pet Connection also has a great piece on diagnosing cancer in dogs and looks at how simple blood tests might go a long way towards early detection.
• Ed Boks, former GM of LA Animal Services, has a good piece on Achieving & Sustaining No-Kill. Guess what's at the top of the list for viable solutions? Targeted, affordable spay neuter programs. We are passionate about effective spay neuter programs and are glad to see this mentioned.

Search & Rescue Dogs in Haiti Save Lives

With all the news of the terrible destruction in Haiti & the ongoing relief efforts, we immediately thought of SAR (Search and Rescue) dogs and wondered what role they could play in helping to find survivors of the Haiti earthquake.  We've kept an eye out for stories of dogs that have been able to save lives so far - truly an inspiration and shows you the power & importance of SAR dogs:

• The Bark's three part series: SAR Dogs in Haiti, Relief Efforts in Haiti & SAR Dogs in Haiti: Update
• Discovery's Search and Rescue Dogs From Around the World Go to Haiti
• NYPD Dogs Join Haiti Rescue Effort
• Ventura County Search & Rescue Dogs Head to Haiti

Think your dog is up to the task & could be trained to save lives in the future?  Here are some resources for Search & Rescue dog training:

• National Association for Search & Rescue
• Search Dog Foundation
• Profile of an ideal SAR dog

We'll be tracking the Haiti SAR dogs continually & will provide updates.  We'll also be checking out some local SAR dog training options in the coming months, as we've got a few dogs who might fit the bill. 

Fido Findings

The hoildays are swiftly approaching and we're gearing up for a busy season. It seems we're not the only ones who've been busy in the animal world:

• The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has named the Dog and Cat of the Year (We didn't even know they had such an award) to pets who saved lives this year.
• A loyal pit bull hangs out with their owner post car-crash.
• Speaking of pit bulls...Bad Rap is baring it all for our favorite breed. Their 2008 Bad Rap Exposed Calendar features some naked pit bull lovers and, of course, the gorgeous pit bulls themselves.
• A woman plans to file abuse charges against a pet sitter who overfed her potbellied pig while she was on medical leave for nine months. The pig, it seems, was so heavy, it took vets hours to remove the animals collar. Over-fed or not, anytime a collar is that tight - on any animal - it sounds like neglect to us.
• A stray poodle on the LA stage? Yes! A revival of A. R. Gurney's "Sylvia" hits the stage in LA Mirada and critics aren't thrilled with the human who plays a dog.