via santarosa.towns.pressdemocrat.com

Although not its main purpose now, or when Larry and Lou Bertolini opened it in 1967, Western Farm Center’s retail shop is a canine Disneyland. And stocking pet food did play a big role in its history.
Today’s canine customers always find a big bowl of water outside the door. From an early age, dogs recognize if they put front paws on the counter and look beguiling, cookies will be coming their way. And, of course, it’s a gloriously scented place with bags of feed, dog treats at nose levels, other dogs to meet in the aisles, birds in cages for excitement, toys that squeak and roll and all sorts of different sorts of feed.
“From the beginning, we just really wanted to help people and give people good advice for their animals and gardens,” Larry Bertolini, 84, said. “I saw a need in the community for products and information for the small farmer. It became a wide spectrum of items for all animals and their needs.”

"In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed." ~ Charles Darwin 

via abcnews.go.com

The three videos culminate with an influential insight about animal intelligence and consciousness  from the late ethologist Donald Griffin. Griffin led scientists to admit that far from being the dumb creatures many thought in the 19th century, incapable even of pain, animals, even very simple ones, may have developed “consciousness” in some form or other from the start because it is simply the easiest — most efficient — way for evolution, in the form of Darwinian natural selection, to advance. 

..meet some stray dogs who have mastered the Moscow subway system — as well as Eugene Linden,  and that English cat riding the bus. 

via www.petsmartcharities.org

“We’re honored to be included in this coalition of top-level animal rescue professionals,” said Susana Della Maddalena, executive director of PetSmart Charities, Inc. “Our emergency relief program has grown substantially over the past few years and we’re happy to be able to provide our partner agencies with the critical supplies and pet food they need to help these animal victims.”

PetSmart Charities provides emergency funding and supplies for pets affected by large-scale natural and man-made disasters. The non-profit has funded more than $7.4 million in emergency relief grants since 2004.

via www.nestle.com

Pets and their owners can get online help with the battle of the bulge. The Purina pet food company and the Jenny Craig weight loss plan are behind the effort.

Project: Pet Slim Down offers exercise tips, a weight loss tracker and place to share photos.

via www.easternwakenews.com

"..Hannah Stark reads “A Dog Needs a Bone” to Freddy, a German shepherd. He has a look on his face as if to say, “This is my kinda book.” Hannah’s dad, David, looks on with a smile on his face. “We don’t have any dogs at home. We just have a cat and he’s an outdoor cat. And I don’t think he would be still long enough for her to read to him so the girls love this.”

via www.nola.com

Two missing-dog stories that illustrate Melanie Manning's motto: "It takes a village to save an animal." They also illustrate that sometimes it also takes good vibes, good prayers and good luck.

I have written before that I grew up in a big family, with lots of dogs, in the 1970s. We had a station wagon and a large truck. We took our dogs all over, loose in the truck when we added the camper shell, and in the back of the station wagon. With five kids and four Dobermans, there is no way, my parents would have ignored such obvious distress from one of our dogs like that. Ever. Mitt Romney's lack of compassion for an animal, in 1983, is disturbing.

via www.bostonglobe.com

To recap: Sometime during a 12-hour drive from Boston to Canada in 1983, Mitt’s oldest son, Tagg, noticed a brown liquid running down the rear window of the family station wagon. Realizing the liquid was being discharged by their dog, Mitt pulled off the highway and into a gas station, borrowed a hose to wash down Seamus and the car, and then returned the dog to his rooftop carrier for the duration of the trip. Most media reports have accurately relayed those basics. However, exaggerations and faulty assumptions have been advanced, most notably by New York Times columnist Gail Collins, who has trotted out the ghost of poor Seamus in more than 30 of her pieces since 2007.

For me, in a nutshell, this last excerpt below by the author, is why I would never vote for Romney:

via www2.insidenova.com

The City of Manassas Fire and Rescue Department recently received four sets of cone-shaped veterinary-grade oxygen masks from petmask.com, a program created in 2008 by a 10-year-old Powhatan, Va. girl named Monica in hopes of saving animals suffering from smoke inhalation, said Manassas Fire Marshal Francis Teevan.

www.grouchypuppy.com

via abcnews.go.com

"Gaze-following" is what it is called. Our dog Cleo does it, and has done it since we adopted her years ago.

If they can track with their nose, why can't they track with their eyes? We always thought this habit only confirmed that dogs are smart. Like poker players, they know to follow our visual cues. And we humans "tell" them or transmit our intentions. 

We can only hope to figure out what their tail is transmitting. I believe they have the upper hand, or paw, in this relationship, don't you?

Does your dog follow your gaze? Have you noticed them tracking your movements? We'd love to know your thoughts and comments.

via www2.morganton.com

Hospital staff and patients are glad the Diems are back with a Great Dane.

“After the loss of Morgan, everyone at BRHC (Blue Ridge HealthCare) was devastated,” said Wanda Saunders.

Saunders was the executive assistant to the president and CEO of Blue Ridge but this week started her new job as system patient advocate.

She said, “Trained therapy dogs such as Siobhan work wonders for a patient’s morale, and how can you rub a dog’s head and not smile? We love and value our beautiful therapy dog.”

Phyllis Deal works at Grace Hospital and her husband, Johnny Deal, is a patient at the Infusion Center at Valdese Hospital.

“I have seen both sides of it,” Phyllis Deal said about therapy dogs. “They can help the employees and the patients. And kids go crazy over them.”

via easterniowalife.com

Putting children with books, and a dog to help boost their reading confidence. Every town should have these programs!

The first therapy dog teams will be at the Marion Library on Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 6:00pm.

Our dog sure likes to stare. She'll stare at you. She'll stare into space. Now that she's an older dog, she'll stare at the wall. Is this meditation? Do dogs meditate? Oprah has an idea [...]

via www.thisiscornwall.co.uk

"Mrs Coode said: "Everyone said not to give up hope, that terriers often return once they get thin enough to get out of whatever hole they have crawled into. Now I believe it."

via www.collegehumor.com