Free Republic

As it often happens, a competition between companies had benefitted the consumer. Purina was bent on catching Blue Buffalo in an advertising lie – they claimed they never used poultry by-product meal in their foods. However, Purina did some testing of Blue Buffalo product and found that was not the case and sued them for False Advertising. Just last week, a year after the case was filed, Blue Buffalo admitted to using by product meal in “a ‘substantial’ and ‘material’ portion of their pet food.” (www.petfoodhonesty.com) Blue Buffalo asked the Court for additional time to file an Amended Complaint in...

Update: Police have now said the boy who will be charged with the dog beating death is 10-years-old, not 11. FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Residents in one Fort Worth neighborhood are shocked after “Cookie,” a Cavalier mix, was allegedly beaten to death. Police said an 11-year-old boy chased Cookie out of the pet’s back yard with a stick, eventually cornering him on a porch then killing him. According to the Cookie’s owner of five years, Jennifer Knittel, a concerned neighbor was key in figuring out what happened to the dog. Knittel said while she wasn’t home, a neighbor driving by...

Hollywood star Johnny Depp will have his two pet dogs seized by Australian authorities and possibly put down after he failed to declare them on the an in-flight manifest. The Department of Agriculture is investigating Depp after it emerged he was currently in Australia with his two Yorkshire terriers. Officers from the Department of Agriculture have issued Depp and Heard with 48-hours notice to either remove the dogs voluntarily from the country or have them seized. Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said this morning the two pooches needed to return home. “It doesn’t matter if Johnny Depp has been awarded sexiest...

An unattended Shar Pei had its carotid artery severed, and one of the two officers eventually charged with felony animal cruelty was let off by Freddie Gray prosecutor Marilyn Mosby. Baltimore cops gave new meaning to dying like a dog last summer after they received a report of an unattended pooch biting a woman on the hand. The pooch in question was a 7-year-old Shar Pei named Nala that had gotten away from its owner but had both a collar and an ID tag. The woman said that Nala had only bitten her after she saw the dog standing in...

A man from Athens, Georgia saved a dog from overheating in a hot vehicle. Most of the time, when people try to help out a dog locked in a car, they’re seen as heroes. However this time, Michael Hammons isn’t facing a hero’s welcome, but is facing criminal charges for his efforts. According to Hammons, he decided to bust out the car window because, “I heard someone say there was a dog in distress in a hot car.” Hammons says he didn’t really think about it. When the Desert Storm vet heard someone needed help, he jumped to action almost...

BOSTON (WHDH) - A dog who ingested nearly three wrist watches is recovering after undergoing a procedure to remove the pieces at the MSPCA's Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston. Mocha, a 5-year-old Isabella Doberman, was taken to the facility after her owners found pieces of watches on the floor of their home. "She had somehow managed to open a drawer, go inside and pull out three watches and some assorted pieces of leather jewelry and she ate them," said her owner, Jeff Courcelle, who rushed her to the hospital. "They took an X-Ray and she looked mechanical inside. There...

Have you heard about the brand new H3N2 dog flu sweeping through Chicago and sickening and killing dogs? It may actually be worse than you think: round-the-clock testing has unveiled that this heretofore unknown canine influenza was originally an avian flu that made a “mammalian adaptation” and has been infecting dogs and cats in Asia since 2007. Now it is here in the epicenter of the U.S. Will it sweep across the country and endanger dogs everywhere? Will this deadly flu become like the bird flu in Asia and the swine flu in England, both of which did transform into...

<p>Dallas Police are investigating a deadly dog attack that occurred Sunday afternoon.</p> <p>At approximately 4:54 p.m., officers responded to a call regarding an animal attack in the 6800 block of Beechnut Street.</p> <p>The homeowner was reportedly at home alone with his 2 month old son and a pet pit bull inside the residence.</p>

Dogs are called "man's best friend" - women's, too - and scientists say the bond between people and their pooches may be deeper than you might think. Researchers in Japan said on Thursday oxytocin, a hormone that among other things helps reinforce bonds between parents and their babies, increases in humans and their dogs when they interact, particularly when looking into one another's eyes. They described a series of experiments that suggest that people and their canine companions have mutually developed this instinctual bonding mechanism in the thousands of years since dogs were first domesticated.

When local police raided a home in the Vargem Grande neighborhood of Santa Catarina, Brazil, one smart pup knew exactly what to do— he laid down. Filippo Valdez, the police spokesman, explained: “There was a male dog that was barking when officers burst onto the scene but when it saw its owners obeying the command to lie down, it ran over and laid down as well.” According to Metro, local police generally shoot animals that are present when they are carrying out armed raids. But because this dog followed suit when his owner and owner’s companions were ordered to hit the deck,...

A woman who spent her life caring for stray dogs received an unexpected -- and surprising -- tribute from the animals when she died. At the funeral for Margarita Suárez in Cuernavaca Morelos, Mexico, there was a pack of stray dogs who came inside the funeral home to stand guard. Suárez's daughter Patricia Urrutia told ABC News that they were shocked, but delighted by the appearance of the canine celebrants.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —One New Mexico dog pulled off a truly incredible journey. Josie disappeared from a farm in Rincon, New Mexico, eight months ago. Josie’s owner is Racheal Carpenter. Her family farms everything from pecans to cotton to onions. Josie disappeared during last July’s harvest.“She was gone long enough that we just quit looking,” Carpenter said.The family figured Josie had wandered off and died of old age. But an unexpected phone call from Oswego, Illinois, proved them wrong.“They said, ‘We found your dog,’” Carpenter said.Josie somehow ended up at an animal shelter in Joplin, Missouri. A rescue group sent her...

Dog That Was Thrown From Vehicle, Refused to Leave Side of Her Dead Puppy Near Santa Cruz County Dump is AdoptedA dog that stayed at the side of its dead puppy after they were thrown from a moving vehicle into a dump in unincorporated Watsonville Feb. 20 was adopted on Sunday, according to an animal advocacy group. The dog, a tan and white Miniature Pinscher and Chihuahua mix named Beverly, was taken in by a family in the Santa Cruz area, according to representatives of the Center for Animal Protection and Education in Scotts Valley. Drug Bust Leads to Discovery...

<p>CARSON CITY, Nev. — Pets might soon be able to use pot under a bill introduced Tuesday in the Nevada Legislature.</p>

Virgin America threw a St. Patrick's Day send-off this morning for a dozen Chihuahuas at San Francisco International Airport before airlifting the dogs to Newark Liberty International Airport, where they'll be put up for adoption in the New York area. Volunteers escorted the dogs onto the plane for its 8 a.m. departure and were posting live in-flight updates to the airline's Instagram and Twitter feeds until their anticipated arrival at 4:30 p.m. EDT. Dubbed #OperationChihuahua, the event is Virgin America's sixth such "airlift" in partnership with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals since 2010. So far,...

A new bill has been proposed which would allow police officers to enter any home, regardless of whether or not they have a warrant, if there is a pit bull on the property. Even worse, the bill would allow officers to shoot and kill the dog if only a handful of conditions were met. The Huffington Post reported that measure would make Mississippi the only state in history with a policy against a specific dog breed. House Bill 1261 not only says police may enter homes without warrants, but they could actually kill the animal if they determine the dogs...

West Virginia police say a 62-year-old man has died after being mauled to death by a pit bull that attacked him as he tried to revive the dog’s unconscious owner following a heart attack. ... police believe Wallace suffered a heart attack. Higgenbotham was attacked as he tried to resuscitate Wallace. ... the pit bull was not registered with the city, despite an ordinance that requires all pit bulls in the city be registered.

<p>London (CNN)An investigation is underway after a canine competitor died the day after taking part in Crufts, one of the world’s most prestigious dog shows. An autopsy indicates he was poisoned.</p> <p>Three-year-old Irish setter Thendara Satisfaction — known to his owners as Jagger — took second prize in his class at the event in Birmingham, central England, on Thursday.</p>

Samsung's smartphones might be losing market share, but the South Korean tech giant is em-barking into a new area—hi-tech, luxury dog kennels. On Wednesday, Samsung Electronics unveiled the "Dream Doghouse," which cost £20,000 ($30,600) to make. Aimed at "tech-savvy pampered pooches," the one-off design will be on display this month at Crufts, the world's largest dog show, of which Samsung is a long-term sponsor. The kennel will not go on sale but is available as a prize in a competition across Samsung's social media channels. The Dream Doghouse was six weeks in creation and comes with two indoor living...

UPDATE: Both Joni and Chachi have been adopted to a loving home in Florida. They will get to spend the rest of their days together as friends! An unlikely pair of dogs that were found roaming around on the streets of Savannah have formed an unbreakable bond, and now animal control officers are hoping to place both pups in a home together so that they can remain lifelong friends. The Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department found a white Pit Bull wandering around neighborhoods in the Georgia city carrying a small, longhaired male Chihuahua in her mouth. The Chihuahua had a terrible...