Free Republic

DEVORE >> An Orange County non-profit organization has adopted 20 of the 38 German shepherd-mix dogs that were discovered in an abandoned Highland home earlier this week. German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County, an organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating and re-homing purebred German Shepherds picked the dogs up from Devore Animal Shelter Friday morning.

JoJo the golden retriever works at Pediatric Dentistry of Northbrook in Illinois, helping to ease patients’ anxiety and keep them calm during their appointments, according to the practice’s website. The pooch, who’s a trained comfort dog, has been visiting the dentistry once a month and she’s had a positive effect on the kids she meets.

More than 30 German shepherds and other large dogs were found abandoned at a home in a San Bernardino County community where neighbors reported "nonstop" barking and a horrible odor. The dogs, including two dead dogs, were found in a Highland home that was red-tagged by the County of San Bernardino Department of Public Health.

A heroic U.S. Marine Corps German shepherd that lost a leg sniffing out a roadside bomb in Afghanistan was awarded the world's highest honor for service dogs during a special ceremony Tuesday. Lucca, who served U.S. troops during more than 400 missions in Iraq and Afghanistan over a six-year span, received the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) Dickin Medal at the Wellington Barracks in London. She is the first Marine Corps dog to receive the medal, considered the top honor for war animals around the world.

The Saint Bernard was wearing a service vest and tearing into a quadriplegic woman’s golden retriever on the floor of the mall food court. Both dogs were allegedly service animals. But after mall security tore the Saint Bernard off, its owner blamed the other dog owner’s disability. “He said his dog was startled by her wheelchair,” Angela Eaton, one the golden retriever’s trainers told the Daily Beast. “Well service dogs should be growing up around a wheelchair.” Service animal fraud is a growing problem in dog-friendly Colorado, says Eaton, who has been training service dogs for 35 years. State legislators...

A man trying to save a dog from an oncoming train was struck and killed after he pushed the dog off the tracks, authorities said. The man, described as being in his early 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene. The dog avoided injury. The incident took place behind the property at the end of Gomes Road just northeast of Johansen High School, which is on Claus Road. The man was walking along Dry Creek with the dog and a woman when he took the dog off the leash, according to Lt. Marc Nuno of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department....

SEATTLE -- Fifty-three Iditarod race dogs ended up on an unexpected detour south of Seattle Tuesday. The dogs are part of four Norwegian sled teams and were headed home from Anchorage when they ran into issues with flying from Alaska, said Dag Olsen, one of the team mushers. When faced with that hurdle, the quickest, most affordable option became renting a large truck and making the 2,500 mile trek to catch the Seattle-to-Norway flight. "They said, 'if you must go now, OK, we can give you one flight, but you must pay $80,000 to $100,000.' I have not so much...

Why are Turkey’s dogs committing suicide? Turkey’s problem of dog abandonment first emerged in coastal summer home communities, with people casting off dogs before heading back to cities at the end of the season. The phenomenon has now spilled over to urban areas as a result mostly of impulse purchases from pet shops — often to reward children for good grades or as presents for Valentine’s Day and wedding anniversaries — with little thought about the animals’ long-term care. The dogs — most of them purebred and trained — are either left in animal shelters or simply thrown out in...

The folks at the shelter said Lucy The Dog was a terrier/hound mix, but I figured that was just a guess. I thought she resembled a moose, with her long skinny legs and barrel-shaped chest, so I added “The Dog” to her name – you know, to clear up any confusion. A technician at the veterinarian’s office called her an LBD, short for “little brown dog.” I later started dating a man (he’s now my husband) who presented a new theory: Lucy is a Carolina Dog – a free-spirited mascot of the Southeast, a gentle but suspicious soul with kibble...

In 2010, at the age of 51, appliance sales manager Eric O’Grey was in a bad place. He weighed 320 pounds and as a consequence was racking up more than $1,000 a month for medications to deal with his high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol. Doctors told him that if he didn’t turn his life around and lose significant weight, his life expectancy was most likely no more than five years. Then, at the advice of a doctor, he adopted a dog from a shelter. He decided on a somewhat obese middle-aged dog that he saw as...

A loyal dog abandoned after his owner was killed in a car crash in Siberia has resiliently refused to leave the spot for more than a year - in the vain hope that its owner will return. The loyal hound, believed to be a mongrel, was abandoned after the car crash in autumn 2014, when people first started noticing it standing beside the road, and some even tried to catch it. But when the animal refused to be captured, kind hearted animal lovers began feeding the dog, and even put a kennel beside the road.

A missing puppy that fell off a fishing boat nearly five weeks ago in the waters off Southern California was recently found by the U.S. Navy, and will be reunited with her family Wednesday in San Diego. U.S. Navy officials say Luna – a one-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd – was presumed to be lost at sea after falling overboard near Naval Auxiliary Landing Field San Clemente Island (SCI) in Southern California on Feb. 10.

This is the heartwarming moment a dog and its owner were joyously reunited after she returned from basic training in the Army. Video of the pair seeing each other for the first time in two months showed the elderly dog panting and wagging its tail like pup upon seeing Private Hannah Foraker. The 21-year-old had returned home to Cleveland, Ohio, for a two-week break when the emotional reunion occurred. Her elderly dog Buddy, 13, suffers from arthritis and had been appearing depressed while she was away, lacking the energy to go for long walks or even up the staircase at...

a Sanford police officer rushed into a third-floor apartment and shot five pit bull dogs as they attacked Virginia Farley, a 50-year-old woman who was taking care of several of her grandchildren. She was critically injured, hurt so badly that six days later she still was unresponsive in an intensive care unit ... 6 pits, 3 kids, 2 adults. It's not clear why there were six pit bulls in Virginia Farley's two-bedroom apartment on Jan. 19, but Seminole County Animal Services records provide a big clue. Farley has a long, checkered history with pit bulls, according to public records. So...

Dogs attacked four children severely injuring three of them Saturday night east of Colorado Springs. Their bite wounds were so severe that they required surgery. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office said a woman went to check on animals and property for her employer in Rush, about 40 miles east of Colorado Springs along Highway 94. The woman had her five children with her in the car. They're all under age 18. A sheriff's office spokesperson said the woman went into the barn and then she heard screams. She found that three Great Danes had attacked four of the five...

A dog which vanished in Northamptonshire four months ago has turned up Bristol and her owners are "over the moon". Sarah and Phil Osborne's emotional YouTube appeal to find Bella the English springer spaniel has been shared thousands of times. She was stolen from outside a shop near their home in Rothwell in October. On Wednesday a woman in Bristol found her roaming the streets. "I got a phone call from Bristol's dog warden to say she'd be found on an estate, and we drove up early today to pick her up," says Sarah. "She's very underweight, her hair is...

What started as a typical tough half-marathon ended as anything but when a bloodhound joined the race and snagged a seventh-place finish. According to Runner's World, Ludivine the hound slipped away from her backyard the morning of Jan. 16 and found her way to the starting line of the Trackless Train Trek Half Marathon in the sleepy town of Elkmont, Alabama. "All I did was open the door, and she ran the race on her own accord," Ludivine's owner, April Hamlin, told Runner's World. Keith Henry, 38, who won the race, said he spotted Ludivine sniffing around while he was...

It is no secret that living with animals is good for your health. According to WebMD, those with pets have lower blood pressure, stronger hearts, better immune systems, and a lower incidence of depression than their pet-free peers. In fact, pets have proven to be a great way to help depressed people find motivation in their lives, which is how Hanna the dog met her new papa. At the time that Hanna came into his life, this Imgur user was experiencing a bit of a slump. But just one look at this eight-week-old ball of cuteness, and he immediately began...

Floods have ravaged India over recent months, but this brave canine showed her maternal instinct to spring into action. (snip) You can just about make out the desperate whimper of the stranded puppy. The mother then reaches a mound of rubbish where her baby is stranded. Scooping her offspring up with her mouth, the daring pooch then begins the swim back to where she started. Thankfully she makes it to the other side, and drops off the lucky pup. It is believed she had to carry out the same rescue mission another three times to rescue more of her offspring.

A shy shelter dog turned into a jumping, tail-wagging bundle of joy when he was adopted by a loving family.