Free Republic

A dog chained to a front porch was the latest to be evacuated from flooded areas in Texas as rain continues to fall around the state. A KPRC-TV news crew (from Houston) stepped in to help rescue a dog who was chained to the front porch of a home in Fort Bend County.

A hit-and-run driver accused of running over two leashed Labradors, who had to be put down, was arrested Saturday, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office. Sgt. James Jensen did not furnish details about the arrest, and said only that the driver was taken into custody in Los Gatos. The collision was reported on Dagmar Drive and Holiday Court in Saratoga around 8:30 a.m. Friday, according to Sgt. James Jensen. Anne Palmer was walking her two pets, Sadie and Chudley, when a Ford truck rounded a corner and trampled both dogs Although Sadie and Chudley were rushed to a...

You Need to See This Tribute to the Victim’s of Michael Vick’s Dog Fighting Ring By Diana Beth Miller - May 23, 2016 Dog fighting has been around for decades. We once may have thought of this practice as one of those faraway, unmentionable “sports” that takes place in the dark recesses of abandoned buildings with less-than-stellar characters at the helm. But, when news broke of an American football quarterback, Michael Vick’s, horrendous practice of dog fighting within the confines of his “luxury” home and property, people were not only shocked and stunned, but also extremely angry that this high-profile...

A Milton man chased down a coyote to help save his family’s dog from a potentially deadly attack. Early Saturday morning, the small dog named Cally was outside in her backyard when a coyote attacked her and opened gaping wounds. The coyote then ran away with Cally still in its mouth. Ryan Labbe says his father then chased down the coyote and saved his pet’s life. “It attacked her first in the abdomen,” Ryan said. “But she managed to get away somehow. Then it attacked her again and went right for her neck, picked her up and ran down the...

Dog tests positive for meth, heroin TUSTIN, Calif. – A dog picked up during an arrest in Tustin, California has tested positive for methamphetamine and heroin, authorities said. Tustin Police Lt. Robert Wright tells CNN that the dog named Bubba was found in a hotel room after officers served an arrest warrant for Joshua West, 40, on March 22 in Orange County. West was on parole for drug violations, said Wright. Police reported illegal drugs were found in the room along with used needles. The dog was turned over to Orange County Animal Care (OCAC) and transported to its facility....

The FDA is ramping up warnings about a common sweetener that can be toxic to dogs. Xylitol, a type of sweetener found in many sugar-free gums and other products, can have devastating consequences if ingested by a dog, the agency said in a statement issued Thursday. Over the past several years, the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine has received a number of reports of dogs being poisoned by xylitol, sometimes with deadly consequences, the agency said. Xylitol-related calls to the ASPCA's Animal Poison Control Center rose from 82 in 2004 to more than 3,700 in 2014, as CBS News correspondent...

There are things I love about being a woman. The perils of walking and traveling alone and the safety concerns that accompany it are not among them. As an avid hiker and a stubbornly independent person, this has always irritated me. I don't like that constant, nagging feeling of unease. I don't really enjoy double-checking for my pepper spray in my purse or carrying my keys between my fingers on my way back to my car. I particularly hate getting catcalled, followed and leered at. Then I got a German shepherd. The catcalls were the first thing I noticed vanish...

Nora Hall with the family's pet dogs.A family’s loyal basset hounds have refused to leave the side of a dying baby girl who suffered a major stroke. Nora Hall’s mother Mary Hall wrote on Facebook: “My daughter had a stroke on April 6. We have been at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis since then. She is not going to survive. “They allowed us to have our bassets here in the last couple of days because they are so attached to her.” “Our hearts are so completely broken. We have been praying so hard for a miracle. We tried so very...

A four-year-old white Labrador called Dayko has been hailed as a hero after rescuing seven people from the aftermath of the Ecuador earthquake - before dying from exhaustion.

The dog, named Maxx, helped crews navigate through thick smoke to find the 4-year-old boy and 2-year-old girlA German shepherd helped firefighters find his owners' two young children as flames ripped through the family's central Florida home, authorities said. The dog, named Maxx, helped crews navigate through thick smoke to find the 4-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl Monday night in their burning home in the Orlando suburb of Longwood, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. Moments earlier, neighbors who saw the fire spreading called 911, broke windows and helped rescue the children's mother, Margo Feaser, a 12-year veteran of...

The Times has learned that Reginald, the greyhound that was attacked in a recent incident has passed away. A mixed breed pit bull jumped out of a vehicle from the parking lot of the Bodine’s Market on South Main Street, attacking both Reginald and his owner Lisa Matthaeus. Reggie suffered deep gashes to both sides of his neck. The skin on both of his legs was taken completely off. Lisa was also injured trying to intervene, suffering broken fingers and a severed tendon. “Reggie” was a retired Greyhound racer who was adopted by the Matthaeus family. The attacking dog, Rocky,...

If you love your dogs, you should hug them, right? Wrong. In an article published in Psychology Today, psychology professor and neuropsychological researcher Stanley Coren argues that most dogs are actually stressed out by hugs. The study analyzed 250 Internet photos of people hugging their dogs, scanning for for known signs of anxiety in the dog, including turning their head away, showing the whites of the eyes and slicked back ears. Coren's data revealed that 82 percent of dogs in the photos showed at least one of those signs of stress. About 8 percent of dogs seemed happy with the...

A 3-day-old baby was fatally mauled by a pet dog in front of the child's parents at their Mira Mesa home Thursday night, San Diego police said Friday. The parents were in bed, watching TV, with their newborn son and pit bull-mix dog when the mother coughed, startling the dog, child abuse unit Sgt. Tu Nguyen said. The dog reacted by biting the baby, he said. The parents pulled the animal off and raced the child to a hospital, where he was declared dead.

Over a dozen German shepherds, rescued from an abandoned house in Highland, California, are embarking on a new life with the help of a breed specific rescue agency. The German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County has been hard at work, pulling many of the homeless German shepherds out of the Devore Animal Shelter - on Tuesday, the founder of the organization updated Facebook followers about the rescue effort. The Facebook post states, "Yesterday was another very rewarding day, with 6 more of the dogs from the Devore confiscation being removed from the shelter. The dogs have all been very agreeable,...

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....