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Dogs Really Do Understand Us

Great points in this story, and not just in the comment section..I really do love pet humor.

via news.discovery.com

For the study, Kaminski and her colleagues compared how well chimpanzees and dogs understood human pointing. The person pointed at a visible object out of reach of the human but within reach of the animal subject. If the chimp or dog retrieved the object, he or she would be rewarded with a tasty food treat. (Chimps received fruit juice or peanuts, while dogs got dry dog food.)

The chimps bombed, ignoring the human gestures, even though they were interested and motivated to get the food rewards. The dogs aced the test.

The chimpanzees failed to comprehend the referential intention of the human in the task. They did not see the pointing as important to their goal of getting the food, so they simply ignored the people during the study. “We know that chimpanzees have a very flexible understanding of others,”

Kaminski said. “They know what others can or cannot see, when others can or cannot see them, etc.” Chimps are therefore not clueless, but they have likely not evolved the tendency to pay attention to humans when trying to achieve goals. Kaminski explained that even wolves do not have this skill.

“Wolves, even when raised in a human environment, are not as flexible with human communication as dogs,” she said. “Dogs can read human gestures from very early ages on.”

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Sun Feb. 12 Hear Stories of Nicki the Golden Retriever & 9/11 Therapy Dog

via www.tribecatrib.com

Therapy dogs are a breed apart. From hospitals to nursing homes to the sites of disaster, they are bearers of comfort and affection. For eight months after Sept. 11, a golden retriever named Nicki was on the job during the recovery effort. And when his work was done there, he and trauma responder Frank Shane continued their disaster relief efforts around the country.

On Sunday, Feb. 12, Shane, the founder of K9 Disaster Relief, a non-profit humanitarian foundation, will recount stories about Nicki at the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. His presentation will include photos, video and artifacts about his years together with Nicki, who died in 2004. In attendance will be Chance, Shane’s current partner in therapy.

The free event takes place at 2 p.m. at the Center, 120 Liberty St. Reservations are recommended at rsvp@tributewtc.org.

Kids Reading to Dogs San Clemente Library

"I like her!" said Nikolajis Askins, 5, one of the more active kids in the room, "cuz it's a dog!"

via www.ocregister.com

Chloe visits the library every two weeks to give kids a chance to practice their reading skills.

"Read with Chloe" and "Leer con Chispa" are programs presented two or three times per month by BARK, or Beach Animals Reading with Kids, a local group.

"Chloe attracts kids who just want to come see a dog, pet her and pick up a book," said Pamela Chesney-Algar, youth-services librarian in San Clemente. "She draws kids and families to the library, and Rhoda's style is very informal."

During a visit to "Read with Chloe" this week, a reading room was filled with children and Chloe interacting, but not so much by sitting together with a book. There was a lot of moving around, both by Chloe and the children.

Read the full story

 

Music and Medicine Helping Pets Fight Cancer

Dr. Lachowicz blends his two passions, veterinary medicine and making music, through his cancer foundation. The foundation’s motto: “Helping Animals Fight Cancer…One Song at a Time.”

via www.veterinarypracticenews.com

Joshua Louis Lachowicz, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, an oncologist at BluePearl Veterinary Partners in New York City, integrated his two passions. He didn’t want his love of singing and songwriting to take a back seat to his other great love, veterinary medicine, any longer.

So in October, he formally combined the two by launching the Joshua Louis Animal Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit group that assists owners in financial need by helping pay for their animals’ cancer treatments. Money is raised through fundraising and profits generated from the sales of Dr. Lachowicz’s original music.

The foundation’s motto: “Helping Animals Fight Cancer…One Song at a Time.”

Joshua Louis Lachowicz, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM Although the music industry would categorize his work as adult contemporary, Lachowicz, who performs under the name Joshua Louis, says he likes to call it “pop and soul.”

“Music and medicine define who I am as a person,” Lachowicz said, adding that people often ask if he would ever just concentrate on music. His reply: “I need both.” The passions are interconnected, he explains.

“Very much what I write in my music is inspired by my day-to-day work as an oncologist and just as a person,” Lachowicz says. “Playing the piano has always been a natural balance and something to offset the daily grind of my career. … [Music] provides me not only a creative outlet and a release but something that other people can connect with and relate to.”

 

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Feb 15 Learn Ways to Enhance Bonds at animal hospice event | Kirkland WA

via www.kirklandreporter.com

The Animal Hospice, End of Life and Palliative Care Project, or AHELP Project, will present their Open House, themed “Enhance your Loving Bond,” from 4:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15 in the Education Room at Seattle Veterinary Specialists in Kirkland.

AHELP is proud to be hosting this animal-friendly event for the second year in a row. The event will feature practitioners from the organization’s Professional Network and their Veterinary Network.

Visitors may view demonstrations and sample therapies that most interest them, and have unique opportunities to learn about the theory behind these alternative modalities and suitability to their own animal and situation.

AHELP director and animal hospice consultant Michelle Nichols of PartnersToTheBridge.com said, “The goal of our Open House is for animal lovers in King and Snohomish counties to think of AHELP as a resource for their animal’s caregiving options once the focus of care has shifted from cure to comfort. Ideally, we’d like families to become involved with us once their animals have special needs, are experiencing a decline in health, or have received a life-limiting diagnosis. Pet parents in today’s society want to know about what they can do for their animals at this bittersweet time. Animal hospice and the widespread availability of palliative care gives them the means to do so.”

Nichols went on to explain that end-of-life caregiving for beloved animals can be very intensive and isolating.

The event will feature ways that families can reinforce the special bond they share with their furry friends during this challenging time. This extra care will help families move through their grief and come to terms with the loss more effectively.

Launched by the success of their Sept. 2009 inaugural workshop in Kirkland, AHELP is a Bellevue-based grassroots organization with a goal to become a nonprofit organization.

They offer educational programs like this one, as well as community building such as the monthly Animal Caregivers Support Circle, in Seattle and the Eastside. Their work is completely volunteer-based, and AHELPers will be prepared to discuss with visitors the exciting opportunities for volunteerism and leadership at the Open House.

Suggested donation is $10, though no one will be turned away. They will offer a resource booklet with information and special offers from featured network businesses. There will be a gift basket drawing, refreshments and goodies from The Dining Dog.

AHELP thanks their supporters Seattle Veterinary Specialists, located at 11814 115th Ave. N.E., Suite 102, Kirkland. For information, visit www.SVSVet.com.

For more information about the event, visit www.AHELPProject.org or email michelle@AHELPProject.org.

 

Moo-Moo the Pit Bull Hero Saves Chicago Family From Fire

Three cheers for Moo-Moo!! Good girl Moo-Moo! And a big tip of the paw to the son for going back into the home multiple times to rescue the dog.

via www.cbs19.tv

A two-year-old pit bull named Moo-Moo is being hailed a hero. The dog woke its owner up just in time to escape a house fire.

Inside the animal welfare league in Chicago Ridge, Diane Walker waited to take her four legged hero home. "Moo-Moo is a great dog, moo-moo's a great dog," says Diane Walker.

Moo-Moo, a 2-year-old American Pit Bull, just last week, an electrical fire sparked inside of Diane's home on Chicago's south side. "It was about 4:30 in the morning, we were all sleeping," says Walker. Moo-Moo jumped into action.

"She pushed my door open, got on my bed and started licking me and I was wondering what she was doing," says Josiah Walker. "And I was asking her 'Moo-Moo what are you doing? What are you doing?" He woke up Diane's grandson Josiah who smelled the smoke. "I heard him screaming you know Fire, Fire, Fire, we all jumped up and ran outside," says Walker.

Read the full story and see the video

Dogs Help Kids Reading Skills in NJ Libraries

Love this photo of the little girl reading "A Bad Kitty Christmas" to a dog wearing a party hat. What could be a happier environment to encourage a child's confidence in their reading?

via www.nj.com

Staff photo by Lori M. Nichols/Gloucester County Times

Five-year-old Jacob D'Amico, of Pitman, reads to "Remi" as the dog's owner, Sharon Bednar, watches at the Swedesboro Library Monday night. PAWS for People puts on a program in which kids can read to trained therapy dogs to help increase their confidence in their reading skills.

“Jacob is autistic so talking to people is not very easy for him,” D’Amico said. So, she brought her son to participate in PAWS for Reading at the Swedesboro Public Library Branch.

“He does very well with animals. He’s actually been reading very well.” D’Amico said the atmosphere — a packed area with lots of distraction — is usually one her son wouldn’t normally do well in, but on Monday, he was reading away.

“We’ll definitely be doing this again,” she said.

PAWS for Reading, a program in which therapy dogs and other animals are trained to sit and patiently listen to children read, is one of the initiatives for the volunteer pet therapy service PAWS for People.

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Rescue teams find dog lost for 10 days in snowy Italian Alps

What a wonderful ending to what could have been a tragedy. Lucky, the Labrador/Alsatian mix will hopefully get adopted by a loving family. 

via www.dailymail.co.uk

A dog lost in sub-zero temperatures for in the Italian Alps has miraculously been found alive after ten days.

The cross Labrador/Alsatian, named Lucky by the team who found him, is expected to make a full recovery from hypothermia.

Mountain rescue teams had been searching snow-covered ravines, crevices and woods after walkers reported hearing the whimpering of a dog. Firefighters and alpine rescue teams were involved in the operation at Castelveccana near Varese in temperatures as low as -10C.

Today, Lucky was at a vet centre recuperating from her ordeal and officials believe he was probably abandoned as they cannot find his microchip which is compulsory for all dogs in Italy.

As news of Lucky's discovery spread the centre at Varese was bombarded with dozens of calls from dog lovers who wanted to adopt him and officials will now see if a suitable home can be found for him.

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Therapy Dogs’ Presence Steadily Grows in Libraries

I'm a huge proponent of dogs helping everyone learn to read. It doesn't matter if it's a child or an adult learning English as a second language, a dog can instill needed confidence that gives an invaluable boost to the student.

“Everybody comes up and says you don’t know what this means to me, thank you for doing this.”

via lj.libraryjournal.com

...a study at Tufts University found that students who read to dogs have better outcomes than students who read to humans. They experienced a slight gain in reading ability and attitudes toward reading, while those who read to people experienced a decrease on both measures. Even more noticeable, there was no attrition in the dog group, while one third of those reading to humans failed to complete the program.

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Therapy dogs brighten up senior life in Ohio

via www.lancastereaglegazette.com

Janice Cox, of Coshocton, said she is shy -- that is, until animals are in the room. "I just love (dogs). I love them for companionship," she said. "I always come (to the center) when they have them."

"Some of our seniors aren't able to have animals at home for one reason or another. It gives them the opportunity to have some times with pets and petting," Senior center director Jamie Thomas said. "We have a lot of animal lovers here. It just makes them feel good. It's an uplifting thing we can do to make them smile."

"I like to watch the dogs interact with the seniors, and I also enjoy talking with the seniors. Most of them will reminisce about pets they've had in the past," Sue Swails said. "It brings back childhood memories. Most of the time it's happy memories, but sometimes I've had people cry about pets they've lost."

"I'm a little afraid of dogs when there's nobody around. I'm glad they bring them in, because when I know it's safe I like to be around them," Carolyn Gonder said. "Animals make you happy."

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FedEx gives 47 rescued dogs free plane ride home

Now this is how you work together! Fed Ex and the American Humane Association are saving these dogs from a 15-hour ride to their new homes in Florida.

via www.commercialappeal.com

With button-bright eyes and wagging tails, 47 of the dogs found last month crammed in a U-Haul by a California rescue group were at the FedEx complex on Wednesday, waiting to be transported to Florida, and eventually their permanent homes.

The dogs were discovered on Jan. 17 law enforcement in Fayette County, in the back of a U-Haul, having lived in filth for days on the road from California to Virginia.

Now, they're among the last to be parceled out to animal agencies with adopters lining up to take them.

FedEx does not transport pets, but made a one-time exception for these dogs, said spokeswoman Shea Leordeanu.

The free plane ride spared them 15 hours in a truck.

"We have a policy that we don't ship pets. But we also have hearts and we were following this story as well," Leordeanu said. "And so when the rescue groups reached out to us to ship them to Fort Lauderdale, we agreed because this was such an extenuating circumstance and it was in our backyard."

The dogs will be flown to Fort Lauderdale and then taken to the Tri County Humane Society Boca Raton.

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Influence Positively Interview | Faith Maloney

Photo of Kashi and Faith is by Molly Wald -- Best Friends Animal Society

Faith Maloney is one of the founders of Best Friends. Best Friends Animal Society® is a nonprofit organization building no-kill programs and partnerships that will bring about a day when there are No More Homeless Pets®. The society's leading initiatives in animal care and community programs are coordinated from its Kanab, Utah, headquarters, the country's largest no-kill sanctuary. Faith is a consultant in all aspects of animal care at the sanctuary, including the Best Friends clinic and adoption programs.

In the early days of Best Friends, Faith spent much of the day in the direct care and feeding of the animals. These days, she devotes an increasing amount of time to helping people from all over the world who are starting sanctuaries themselves. On any given day, there is usually at least one group visiting Best Friends with plans to start a sanctuary or other local animal-care program. For those who can?t come and spend time at the sanctuary, Faith has produced manuals like How to Start an Animal Sanctuary, and she offers help and guidance on the telephone.

Prior to working with Best Friends, Faith was involved with animal care in a small private sanctuary in Pennsylvania, and with counseling and social work in New York and Chicago. She has three children and two grandchildren. Her son is a veterinarian in Ohio, her oldest daughter is a schoolteacher in South Carolina and her youngest daughter is involved in the work of Best Friends.

Faith was born in England and has a degree in fine art. She also writes articles on animal issues and animal care for Best Friends magazine and other publications.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? My idea of perfect happiness is a time when all animal life is not abused or exploited. For me this applies to animals raised for food and other products as well as for companion animals.

Dog Saves Owner's Life With Heroic Phone-Grabbing Trick

This story should make every dog trainer, and service dog proud. And I couldn't agree more with this headline, "Genius Dog Saves Owner's Life With Heroic Phone-Grabbing Trick" that Anna North wrote.

What I love about this photo, Danny seems to be saying,"What trick? That was all skill baby." I say, Danny, you're the man and one amazing dog! Nice job buddy.

via jezebel.com

Bethe Bennett fell on her tile floor Friday and broke her femur. She lay on the ground in excruciating pain, aware that no visitors were coming until Tuesday.

“I was scared. I really thought I was going to die,” Bennett told ABCNews.com. “I knew I was going into shock because I’m a nurse.”

But Danny, a trained service dog who used to care for Bennett’s now-deceased mother, lent a helping paw that helped save his devoted owner’s life.

“I started asking Danny to get me the phone,” Bennett said. “He ran back and forth a couple of times barking and finally jumped up and knocked the phone over and pushed it with his nose toward me.”

But then Bennett realized the paramedics may not have been able to get into her locked house.

“Paper!” she asked Danny. He brought over five sheets, one of which had the phone numbers of Bennett’s neighbors.

Bennett called her neighbors, who unlocked her home with a hidden spare key just as paramedics arrived.

Read the full story and see the video at ABCNews.com

 

Vets Helping Heroes| Animal Assisted Therapy and Soldiers

79-year-old Irwin Stovroff knows something about being a warrior, and carrying out a mission. In WWII after his plane was shot down, he parachuted behind enemy lines, but managed to toss the dog tags that identified him as Jewish, before being captured. He spent the next year in a Nazi POW camp.

In 2008 this honored combat vet began a new mission, one that focused on wounded warriors. Stovroff launched Vets Helping Heroes a nonprofit to help soldiers by providing them with service and guide dogs.

via dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com

After learning that the federal government has no program to match injured soldiers with service dogs, Irwin Stovroff started a charity in 2007 called Vets Helping Heroes. Since then, he’s raised $3 million to supply vets with seeing-eye and therapy dogs. "I really recognize what a dog can mean, what a dog can do for somebody," he told NBC’s “Nightly News.” "The dog is a true lifesaver."

The highly trained service dog, Stovroff said, can give the wounded warrior "mobility, independence and a companionship that he can't get from any other way." Lt. Col. Kathy Champion served with distinction for 27 years and commanded a special combat unit in Iraq. After, returning home, she went blind from a mysterious virus she contracted in Iraq that attacked her spinal cord. At first, Champion shut herself off from family and friends.

"I became a hermit in my own house," she said. "I quit school. I quit my job. I quit being social. I didn't want to talk to anybody. I stopped answering phone calls from my son and daughter. I didn't tell anybody what was wrong. I didn't want anyone to know I wasn't the soldier I had been."

Concerned friends forced her out of her shell and she applied for a service dog from Southeastern Guide Dogs, one of the country's leading training facilities. Stovroff’s charity donated thousands of dollars to sponsor the dog, and Champion spent 26 days living and training with "Angel" at the facility's Florida campus. She described it as a "life-changing" event.

Read the full article and see the video

Three Hikers Two Dogs Dramatic Rescue From Northern California Cliff

Their bravery and technical skills saved the lives of three hikers and their two dogs. They aren't members of Seal Team 6 but this cohesive group carried out a daring rescue this weekend in Northern California as if they were. We salute the men and women of Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue all-volunteer crew.

via lostcoastoutpost.com

In what Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue called “our most complex rescue to date,” three hikers were rescued from the cliff above No Pass Point south of Shelter Cove. The two men, Pierce Shippam, Timothy Phillips, and one woman, Whitney Hackett, as well as two dogs had hiked down a creek to the ocean. When the tide started coming in they clambered up the cliff. They ended up stranded in an area of Pampas grass and using a cell phone to call for help.

Here are some of the intense details of the Shelter Cove rescue:

UPDATE 1:02 P.M.: The first victim and dog have reached the beach!

UPDATE 11:45 A.M.: “One of the rescuers has reached the victims,” Diana Totten just called in by phone from Dead Man’s Gulch to announce. “They are going to bring one at a time from where they are all the way down to the beach….It is such a technical and complicated rescue,” she went on to explain. “We have 4 ropes. We need to have safety for everything we do. Ropes to pull up. Ropes to bring down. This is taking a huge amount equipment”

She’s grateful that Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue team and Shelter Cove Fire have gotten alot of grants and raised a lot of money from fundraisers. “We are dealing with equipment bought with money from Humboldt Co. Office of Emergency Services. [The crew has] the best equipment and has spent a lot of years training… As I sit here, it looks like the navy seals are here. We have 18 people that are doing the rescue here.”

At this point, Totten isn’t willing to divulge the plan to bring the victims down. “This is a very fluid rescue,” she says. “Things can be changed. We’re probably dealing with people who have never repelled before. There are a lot of rocks falling and a high chance of injuries. We’ve ordered a trauma bag to be ready. There are rocks the size of basketballs. If something falls on someone, we want to be able to treat ‘em and evacuate as soon as possible.”

UPDATE 10:25 A.M.: Diana Totten former rescue worker who is on the scene at Dead Man’s Gulch described a terrifying rescue attempt being set up by the well respected Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue team (SHTR) and Shelter Cove Fire crew. “The risk level is extreme,” she explained.

The all volunteer crews (no government agency people are involved at this point) shot a parachute cord out into the water which in turn the rescue swimmers were able to pull over No Pass Point. Read the rest [...]

Read the full story from Lost Coast Outpost and see the dramatic photos