Port Authority adds third police dog

A third canine unit has joined the Port Authority police force.
The German shepherd, Igor, recently completed a seven-week training regimen in explosives detection. Two other dogs, Lord and Orrie, have been helping the transit police since June and November 2004, respectively.

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New Year’s Eve Rescue saves 8 cats, 16 dogs

By Linda Wilson Fuoco – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Eight cats and 16 dogs were plucked from death row yesterday during the annual New Year’s Eve Rescue carried out by volunteers and employees of Animal Friends.
One of the dogs was headed for a reunion with owners who have been desperately searching for him since shortly before [...]

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Dog and trainer never too old to learn

By HELEN PALMER Contributing Columnist to Advocate-Messenger – It is time to think of New Year’s resolutions for yourself, your household and your pets. Do you think your dog is too old to train? The answer is “No.”

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Why are there so many old dogs? Life expectancy has climbed dramatically

Bernard D. Goldstein, M.D. in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Did you ever notice how many old dogs are of an age equivalent to a 100-year-old human? It is accepted wisdom that multiplying by seven can convert the age of a dog to the equivalent age of a human. A 15-year-old dog should be the same age [...]

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Police K-9 unit acclimating well to new roles

By Harry Bradford, Staff Writer
Dark days are ahead for any drug dealers peddling their services in Carnegie or Pennsbury Village boroughs.
Carnegie police recently purchased a German shepherd named Dark for $15,000 from a breeder in Hungary with some help from a state kennel in Mechanicsburg where drug canines are trained how to track down various [...]

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In cold weather, it’s still critical to keep dog hydrated

By Meg Dedolph The Beacon News STAFF WRITER — With winter threatening to turn your pet from pup to pupsicle, some animal experts have a few tips on helping the four-footed weather the cold.

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High-end mutts sit up and beg for respect

from The Wall Street Journal — With her silky coat and full repertoire of tricks, Roxie could be a contender for one of the canine world’s top prizes, the coveted Best in Show ribbon at the Westminster Kennel Club competition. There’s just one problem: her ancestors. Roxie’s not a purebred, she’s a mutt. She is [...]

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Be careful with all dog treats, not just Greenies

By Anya Sostek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – In less than 10 years, Joe and Judy Roetheli went from owners of a dog with bad breath to creators of the top-selling dog treat in America. But dog lovers giveth and, on the Internet at least, sometimes they taketh away. In the past few months, chatter about Greenies dog [...]

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Diamond pet food recalled for deadly fungus

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – COLUMBIA, S.C. — http://www.diamondpet.com — A pet food company has advised retailers in more than 20 states to stop selling some of its dog and cat food that may be contaminated with toxic fungus. Several dogs have gotten sick and some have died. 

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Why Dogs Eat Grass

By Sarah Penrice Dog Health – http://www.dogflu.ca/ — Ever wondered why your dog eats grass? Well the answer to this question is simple, or is it? We as humans know that eating healthy food will help us live more fulfilling lives. Do dogs know the same? 

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Pets bring smiles to blind children

By Margaret Smykla - Tri-State Sports and News Service for the Post-Gazette -  Athena, a 7-year-old, hefty Rottweiler, lifted her head — which was topped with a Santa hat — and licked Stephanie Read's hand. The visually impaired 13-year-old grinned, something her teacher said she doesn't do often."
Animals make [for] smiles," said her teacher, Pauline Grimm, [...]

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Most dog bites aren’t serious and can be avoided

Sensational cases draw headlines, but canine aggression is preventable with a little common sense – By Linda Wilson Fuoco – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -
Aggression by this dog and others is preventable with a little common sense.
 When dogs bite and maul, the headlines can be huge and the stories horrific. The latest attack reported around the [...]

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Don’t want to get bit by a dog? Here are some tips

By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Q: How do you approach a dog that does not know you? A: Never. That’s a dog trainer’s joke that has been around forever, said author Janis Bradley, a trainer at the San Francisco SPCA. The average person has no need to approach unfamiliar dogs, she said, and should [...]

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How a bomb-sniffing pup learns his stuff

By Laura Meckler, The Wall Street Journal — SAN ANTONIO — When O’Neill went to live with Amy Damon, he behaved like any other hyperactive 10-week-old puppy — chomping on shoes, chewing up a rocking chair and tearing apart her children’s stuffed animals. When Mrs. Damon tried to distract him with puppy toys, however, she [...]

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Dancing Dogs!

Fetch! Roll Over! Heel! Now, Let’s Dance! — YORBA LINDA, Calif. — GRETCHEN MAVROVOUNIOTIS considered the theme songs from “Ghostbustersâ€? and “Footlooseâ€? before settling on “Can’t Stop the Musicâ€? by the Village People. The disco beat, she said, is the best for her dance partner, since it best shows off his forward weave and counterclockwise [...]

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A local dog trainer, Danny Linkes, makes some unusual firsts in the hunting-dog world

By Tom Mitchell – LEADER TIMES — It’s difficult to argue with success, and while some of Danny Linkes’ dog-training methods may seem a bit “unorthodox,â€? Linkes has achieved some absolute firsts in the world of national bird dog hunting championships. In 2004, the Templeton resident was the only person in dog-hunting history known to [...]

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Dangerous Pit Bulls Still in the Neighborhood

Letters to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editor Thursday, December 15, 2005: Dogs pose a danger to pets in Kennedy — Is there a dangerous dog living in your neighborhood? If you live in Kennedy, there are at least two of them. I happen to live on a quiet back street that would be ideal if not [...]

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Oprah Winfrey’s 3 Golden Retriever Puppies

The January issue of O magazine is all about puppy love, when OPRAH WINFREY is featured on the first cover of 2006 with the latest additions to her household: Gracie, Luke and Layla. Oprah is the first to admit that getting three golden retriever puppies at the same time is not the smartest decision she’s [...]

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Cross-Genome Analysis will aid Canines and Man

The jounal Nature (Dec. 8, 2005 issue) announced the public availability of a detailed map of the dog genome. The DNA is mostly from a female boxer named Tasha.
Dogs share a key branch point with humans in the evolutionary tree and their map is expected to give scientists further insight into how genomes work. The [...]

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Dog Talk with Jon Katz, December `05

     Joe Donahue talks and takes calls with author Jon Katz. ALBANY, NY - WAMC - Once a month on Vox Pop we go to the dogs…in a program we call “Dog Talk with Jon Katz.” Jon is the author of several books on dogs - “A Dog Year,” “The New Work of Dogs: Tending to Life, Love [...]

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