Laps for Learning PAWS Walk Looking for Sponsors

Laps for Learning PAWS Walk is scheduled for Saturday, October 14, 2006 at the Mall at Robinson from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., spotlighting Paws With A Cause Assistance Dogs. Bring the family, including the dog and enjoy watching the fun all day!
Paws With A Cause and The Mall at Robinson will be [...]

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‘Bridal party’ puts on the dog for entertaining canine ceremony

The bride wore fur — so did the groom – By Linda Wilson Fuoco – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – There’s nothing like a wedding to elicit tears and smiles from assembled guests, even when the bride and groom and all of the attendants are canines.
The bride, a collie-mix named Peaches, wore a white satin “gown” and [...]

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Unto, popular former Bethel Park police dog, dies

By David Templeton – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Unto, the popular police dog who retired from the Bethel Park Police Department last year due to paralysis, has died at the age of 8.
A Bethel Park K-9 officer since March 2001, Unto suffered from a degenerative disease that initially attacked his spine, leaving him [...]

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Meet Mt. Lebanon’s K-9 Team

Mt. Lebanon Public Library hosts “Barks and Badges” for kids entering grades 1 – 5 on Thursday, July 13th, 2006 from 1 to 2 p.m. Meet Mt. Lebanon’s hairiest police officer. Location: Meeting Room A- Lower Level. Contact: Judy Sutton (412) 531-1913.

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Hospice Provider Requests Pet Therapy Volunteers

Odyssey HealthCare, a hospice provider, is seeking volunteers to visit with and provide emotional support to hospice clients. Volunteers are needed to converse with or read to clients and stay with them while their caregivers go to appointments. Volunteers are not involved with personal care, feeding, transportation or medication.
Volunteers are needed to work with [...]

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Meet a Seeing Eye Dog in McCandless

The Northland Public Library on Cumberland Road in McCandless will host Meet a Seeing Eye Dog Thursday, June 29, 2006 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM. No registration is required. Contact: Children's/Young Adult Department at 412-366-8100 extension 123.

"Have you ever wondered what a seeing eye dog does, or how one is trained? Join us [...]

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Police dog to help in drug prevention

By Joan Greene and Greg Latshaw – Tribune Review – A drug-sniffing dog will patrol Seneca Valley starting this fall, the latest drug-prevention tactic at a district known for its aggressive anti-drug policies.     

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For Disabled Travelers, Many an Obstacle Along the Way

By SARA J. WELCH – NYT – In March, Carol Cocuzzi and her boss flew to Denver on a business trip. When they arrived, two men who worked for a company hired by the airline came aboard to help Ms. Cocuzzi, who uses a wheelchair, get off the plane.     

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Dog will sniff out drugs at Seneca Valley

By Ken McCarthy for the Post-Gazette – Two dogs are joining the Jackson police force, and one will walk the halls with students on the Seneca Valley School District campus.
Jackson police have added a drug-sniffing dog to the force, and police Chief Len Keller said the dog would be in school regularly.
"It will greatly enhance [...]

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Dogs have nose for drugs in Armstrong County

By Tom Mitchell – Kittanning Leader Times – They can't read or write, but they are "bilingual" and they have a discerning sense of smell. And anyone who gives their bosses a bad time may find that their bite is far worse than their bark.
Three [...]

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Guide dog training gets warm welcome in China

CHINAdaily.com.cn – DALIAN: "Stop. Sit. Go!" You Liang, 33, instructs "Stone," a Labrador Retriever, at a simulated crossing in Dalian. 

A trainer with a seeing-eye dog training center in Dalian Medical School plays with a dog named "QQ" May 17, 2006. Six seeing-eye [...]

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Fire marshal uses Coal to probe crime scenes

By Jill King Greenwood – TRIBUNE-REVIEW – Coal flunked a seeing-eye dog training school in Virginia.
But the high energy and curiosity that made the black English Labrador retriever a bad candidate to lead a blind person made him perfect for sniffing out the source of suspicious fires.
Coal, 4, works for the Allegheny County Fire Marshal's [...]

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Curtain closes on canine’s career as a celebrity

By Barbara Rankin for the TRIBUNE-REVIEW – Kody, a cancer survivor, enjoys relaxing after a long and enjoyable career on the stage.
After 180 stage performances spanning seven years, Kody, a yellow Labrador retriever, has now retired to a relaxing life with his owner, handler and trainer Lorraine Kelly on their farm in Coal Center. [...]

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Whitehall to get new four-legged friend

By Genea Webb – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review -  Her owner was sent to the slammer. Now she'll work to sniff out drugs to send dealers and users to the same place.
Keela, an 8-month-old Belgium Malinois, will become the newest member of Whitehall's police force this fall. The canine will replace Alex, a 10-year-old [...]

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School police may get canine patrol

By Eleanor Chute – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Pittsburgh Public Schools is considering adding two new tools named Quincy and Mack to help school police find drugs, guns and explosives.
Quincy and Mack are Labrador retrievers the Pittsburgh Police Training Academy has offered to donate. It would train both dogs and handlers, saving the district $11,400. [...]

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Pioneer police canine prepares for retirement

By Jim McMahon – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – After a decade as Whitehall's first police dog, Alex, a 12-year-old Belgian Malinois, will retire this fall and learn to be content to sniff out doggy treats instead of contraband.
Donated to the borough's police department by a West Newton trainer who specialized in police dogs, [...]

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Lend me an ear

By Marjorie Wertz for the TRIBUNE-REVIEW – Tammy Catalano, of Mt. Pleasant, doesn't go anywhere without her black Labrador, Windy. Restaurants, shopping malls, grocery stores and Westmoreland County Community College, where Catalano works as a secretary in the athletic department, all welcome Windy, [...]

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Frisky golden retriever works as a K-9

By Linda Wilson Fuoco – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Labs rule, at least in the world of purebred dogs.For the 16th consecutive year, Labrador retrievers are the top dog on the American Kennel Club's list of registrations. An astounding 137,867 Labs were registered in 2005.
To show how popular Labrador retrievers are, look at the statistics for [...]

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Canine cop in training

By Sarah J. Boggan – Arizona Daily Star – Tucson, Arizona – Oro Valley's newest police officer has flowing blond locks, enjoys squeaky toys and has a nose for explosives.
Jerry, a 2-year-old golden retriever, joined the Oro Valley Police Department earlier this month and is in his third week of training to become the department's [...]

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Police dog racket claims investigated

News.com.au – A SENIOR officer with the New South Wales Police dog squad was under investigation over an alleged racket involving the sale of sniffer dogs worth $40,000.

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Jeannette police dog bites suspect

By Paul Paterra – TRIBUNE-REVIEW – A Jeannette man was arrested after being caught with suspected cocaine and marijuana in the city Tuesday night, police said.
He also received a couple of bites from the city's police dog after trying to flee.

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K-9s in training for explosives detection at All-Star Game

By Jill King Greenwood – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – Pittsburgh police will have six new canines trained in explosives detection ready to hit the streets in time for this summer's Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
The dogs, purchased for $10,000 each with a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, are training at a facility in [...]

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Blind author shares message about overcoming challenges

By Sandy Trozzo – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Many of the children filing into the auditorium at Hance Elementary School pointed and commented about the "doggie" lying on the floor.
But Handley, a guide dog, was there to work, and her owner, author Sally Hobart Alexander, was there to talk about how she gets her story ideas [...]

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Courthouse dog helps kids relax

The Associated Press from The Cleveland Plain Dealer – Delaware, Ohio – A juvenile court judge has come up with a way to help ease the concerns and tension for upset youngsters who come into his chambers to talk about grown-up things such as custody battles or child abuse.
The judge's big yellow Labrador retriever helps [...]

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Castle Shannon Scouts to finance protection for K-9

By Margaret Smykla – Tri-State Sports and News Service for the Post-Gazette – A week after Nitro, Castle Shannon's newest police dog, started on the job, he and handler Officer Jeff Recker were called to neighboring Whitehall. They were asked to find a man who had run into the woods after breaking into his former [...]

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Army Dogs

DAVID DISHNEAU – Associated Press – FORT MEADE, Md. – An Army dog handler accused of abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq with his unmuzzled canine said he had a commander's approval to use the dog during interrogations if it wore a muzzle, a witness testified.

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Donated bloodhound enlisted to sniff out crime

By Al Lowe for the Post-Gazette – His name is Rocky, but he doesn’t want to fight. He wants to hunt.
Veterinarian Marybeth Kline is waiting to see how Rocky, the bloodhound she donated to the Dormont police department, fares at his new home.

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Training programs build business skills among the blind

By Seth Sutel – The Associated Press – Losing his sight in a car crash 11 years ago didn't stop Danny Novielli from going to college to study business. With the help of various "adaptive technologies," such as a Braille note-taking device and software that reads text that appears on computer screens, he wound up [...]

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Cultivating a Golden Retriever’s nose for mealybugs

By JULISSA McKINNON – The Napa Valley Register – A litter of week-old golden retrievers look more like big hamsters than canines. But these nine tiny balls of fur are a big source of hope for Napa Valley growers whose vineyards are blighted by infestations of vine mealybug.

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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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Therapy dogs stir up happy memories

A therapy dog pushes his friendly nose onto the lap of a resident of a personal care facility. As a smile cross the woman’s face, she pets her canine visitor’s neck and recalls, “I had one that looked a lot like this, you know.”
By Jan Woodard – The Blairsville Dispatch – INDIANA – That scene [...]

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Group pioneers dog-assisted reading program

By Gina Delfavero – Blairsville Dispatch – INDIANA – Teaching a child to read is a daunting task. But teaching a child to enjoy reading is an undertaking all of its own.
One Indiana County group believes it may have a solution to both of those problems–Reading Rascals, a one-on-one session of reading aloud to…a dog? [...]

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Big dog upstages small kittens at Easter Seals School

By Linda Wilson Fuoco – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – The children crowed with delight as the large black dog gently nuzzled and licked three small kittens named Dano, Marble and Nicolle, who were an instant hit.
Most of the children were enchanted with Athena, a 6-year-old Rottweiler who recently visited the Easter Seals School-South. A few were [...]

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Hospital using dogs for recreational therapy

By Tawnya Panizzi – The Herald Staff writer – O’HARA: Admiral Karger strolled slowly through the courtyard at the Veterans Administration hospital, listening intently to stories told by ailing patients.
A wheelchair-bound Navy veteran, Frank DeMarco, chatted at his side about baseball, the insufferable humidity and women.
“You seen any good-looking broads lately?” DeMarco asked Admiral, who [...]

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