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If your kids are behaving badly treat them like a dog, says Battersea Dogs Home behaviour expert Last updated at 23:49pm on 26.08.08  Good boy: Children should be 'trained' like puppies according to a behaviour expert from Battersea Dog's Home It's a common scenario for many a harassed mother  -  you're in the supermarket and your little darling starts playing up.  But forget the naughty step or cool-off corner.  The best way to handle misbehaving toddlers is to treat them like a dog, according to advice from a leading animal charity.They claim that, because young children and animals are...

PARKERSBURG, W. Va. (Aug. 24, 2008) - One thousand dogs saved from a Parkersburg, W. Va. puppy mill are now on their way to better lives thanks to the diligent efforts of local authorities and local and national humane organizations. "It is extremely gratifying to know that our efforts will bring comfort and hope to 1,000 animals that spent their whole lives in darkness and despair," said Maryann Hollis, executive director of the Humane Society of Parkersburg. "But we would not have been able to save all of these dogs without the help of United Animal Nations, Best Friends Animal...

A North Texas family is mourning the loss of two of their pets. The nine-month-old pit bulls were shot and killed by a neighbor who says it was self defense. The shooting happened in a neighborhood off Ten Mile Bridge Road in northwest Fort Worth. The neighbors never had any problems before. But that all changed over the weekend. The man who pulled the trigger says he didn't have any choice. But the dogs' owners disagree. Kristopher Harrison has a six-year-old daughter. He says that's why he was upset when two pit bulls wandered into his backyard Saturday afternoon. Harrison...

Horus is just pathetic. The look of bathos on his little cat face…he is staring at me from in front of the Great Closet wherein is kept the Wondrous Bag of Kitty Delights. He had his paw under the door, trying to poke a hole in the bottom of the bag, I suspect, and perchance capture a morsel or two. Meanwhile, since the aforesaid closet is adjacent to Henry’s kennel (and Henry is in lock-down for barking and growling at Rocky, who ISN’T EVEN OUTSIDE ANYMORE), Henry feels constrained to alert me periodically to the feline perfidy going on right...

[clip]Eating snake Who is Barack Obama? The best clues to that riddle can be gleaned from his two volumes of autobiography. He spent the first half of his life in search of a stable identity. He looked “black”. But he was the son of a white mother from Kansas and an African, rather than an African-American, father from Kenya. He spent four years in Indonesia, where he attended local schools (including a Muslim one) and ate local delicacies such as dog, grasshopper and snake, on which his stepfather fed him. He eventually ended up living with his white grandparents in...

...Where I was going with this, before the little people went off on a tangent, was here: If America were a dog, what kind of dog would she be? Almost before I finished the thought (which was quick, because neurons are nothing if not speedy), a name popped into my head. Cerberus. America would be Cerberus, the three-headed hound that guarded the gates of the underworld. Cerberus is perfect in so many ways; it tickles me to think about it. America for the past century has been guarding the gates of Hell—but keeping the demons in, instead of barring entry...

Puppy Lesson: Establish The ALPHA Position All our dealings with our dog will be from a position of authority, or ALPHA. Being pack animals, dogs see us simply as members of their pack. A pack is a very structured society with a set hierarchy with an absolute leader (ALPHA) on down to a very definite subordinate. Following are just a few basic rules to follow that allow us to establish our ALPHA over our dog: NEVER HIT YOUR PUPPY - even a teeny, tiny flick on the pup's nose can possibly make it hand shy and defensive DON'T SCREAM OR...

Lucy is a doll. With kittenish alacrity, she crawls all over my body, up over my head, down my back. I tried to put her inside my sweatshirt and walk out the door with her, but I got nabbed by one of the kids. I am not sure, though, that Queen2 and her QC are ready for cat-land. They seem to be laboring under the delusion that they will be able to keep Lucy downstairs and off the counters. Snort. I do think there is a pet accumulation process that occurs with susceptible households. Right now, we have three cats,...

Kangal Dogs; anyone have any information about them?

GREELEY, Colo. -- A German Shepherd that was reported lost in June has actually been guarding her owner's body for six weeks after the man took his own life in the remote northeast Colorado plains.Cash, the dog, was found alive on Sunday, next to the body of her master, Jake Baysinger, 25, a resident of La Salle, KMGH-TV in Denver reported.Weld County Deputy Coroner Gracie Marquez said Tuesday that Baysinger's death was ruled a suicide. The cause of death hasn't been determined, but authorities found a gun nearby.His 3-year-old dog was found thin and dehydrated, but veterinarians said she is...

Dogs 'catch' human yawns Yawning is known to be contagious in humans but now scientists have shown that pet dogs can catch a yawn, too. The copying activity suggests that canines are capable of empathising with people, say the researchers who recorded dogs' behaviour in lab tests. Until now, only humans and their close primate relatives were thought to find yawning contagious. The team - from Birkbeck College, University of London - reports its findings in Biology Letters. Yawning, although sometimes a response to extreme stress, is more often a sign of tiredness; but the reason for why yawning is...

We all know there are lots of rats crawling around in this world. Lest you think I’m typing figuratively here, take a gander at the following story. That’s right, we’ve got bomb sniffing rats taking biscuits right out of the mouths of dogs that would love to have that job, and don’t try to tell me this is a job a canine wouldn’t do. In fact this is one of the things every dog has dreamed of from the time they were a pup.

There is a Cantonese saying that the Chinese eat everything that flies, except aeroplanes; everything with four legs, except tables; and everything that swims, except submarines - and visitors to Beijing's fast-food market during the Olympic Games will be left in no doubt of that. A stroll among the food stalls of Wangfujing Snack Street, not far from Tiananmen Square, reveals delicacies of every conceivable kind. Laid out in trays and boiling in cauldrons are everything from goat lungs with red peppers to scorpion brochettes, seahorses on skewers, iguana tails, dung beetles and silk worms on a stick, by way...

Today’s liberalism is completely wrapped up with the notion of self. The legacy of the 1960s “if it feels good do it” ethos is alive and well. Modern liberals often embrace these teachings and incorporate them in the way they live their lives and maintain their relationships. For dramatic proof, go to the streets of a liberal enclave like San Francisco, Seattle or Vermont. There will be plenty of expensive boutiques, antique dealers, health spas, sushi bars and upscale coffee shops. But you won’t see very many children. The reason is not that right-wingers have dumped buckets of birth control...

SAUDI Arabia's religious police have banned selling cats and dogs or exercising them in public in the Saudi capital, because of men using them as a means of making passes at women, an official said today. Othman al-Othman, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Riyadh, known as the Muttawa, told the Saudi edition of al-Hayat daily the commission has started enforcing an old religious edict. He said the commission was implementing a decision taken a month ago by the acting governor of the capital, Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz, adding it...

We all want different things from life. I want a bowl full of human chow with a glass of milk on the side, a comfortable bed to sleep the day away in and an owner with an IQ bigger than his shoe size. But, as the Rolling Stones say, you can’t always get what you want. Enter Roscoe P. Coltrane into the discussion. All he wants is a little power over the people of Fairhope, Alabama. That’s why he’s running for mayor although it looks like the odds may be against him.

“Can’t we all just get along?” I hear my father ask at the breakfast table to no one in particular. He’s deep into a story about kidnapping, extortion and grand theft. Must be he’s reading the Wall Street Journal again, right? Not so, this story is out of Palm Beach and involves a cat, a dog and two humans. (A woman from Wellington and a man from Greenacres have been going at it like cats and dogs. Now the man from Greenacres has both the cat and the dog, and the woman from Wellington has been charged with grand theft...

What more can I say about the mental disorder of loving cats that hasn’t already been said? Not much, but I will share with you the following story showing you just how far the problem can go. How far? All the way to the psych ward. (After being locked in a loony bin for trying to save the feline when it got stuck in a building wall, cat lover Chris Muth has lost his home, his job and even his girlfriend. The trouble started last week, when

I’ve tried to show the world that dogs are harmless creatures, just looking to make a positive mark on this world. Then some numbskull canine, thinking he’s above it all,comes along and ruins all my good work. Who’s the dog this time? Well it’s a German Shepherd named Ranger, and get this, he’s a police dog to boot. (OGDEN, Utah — A police dog that was left in a pickup with the engine running apparently knocked the vehicle into gear and ran down a woman who was walking to her mailbox.

Young dogs today, they’re so lazy. It seems to me they only want to take the car when it’s time to go somewhere. That’s why I was pleased to see this video of a dalmation taking his bike for a spin. Sure he isn’t very good at it, requiring training wheels, but at least he’s getting his exercise.

When I watch this video, I just can’t stop laughing. Cats think they’re so superior, so when you catch them in moments like this, you can rub their faces in it.

It’s not bad enough we have to deal with cats, but now we have deal with their fish too? Check out this story from Florida about walking catfish emerging from the gutters into the streets. I can already see what’s going to happen next. There will be fish adoption days at Petsmart, catfish toys taking away valuable shelf space from dog toys at Wal-Mart, and beautiful parks designated for catfish only. The end result will be that Catfish owners will think the moist slab of fish cuddling up with them on the couch is better than a dog. This is...

BRONX (WABC) -- There's a rattlesnake on the loose in the Bronx. Where it came from is still unclear but Miguel Mota of Pelham Parkway knows it's out there because it bit his dog. Mota's beloved dog Stone should make a complete recovery. The 4-year-old pit bull remains sedated and carefully monitored by the doctors and nurses at the NYC Veterinary Specialists in midtown. Dr.s say the bite was most likely on one sides of Stone's body because that's where most of the swelling is. Around 4 p.m. On Tuesday afternoon, Mota brought Stone for a routine walk in a...

Obnoxious cats laughed at us when dog leash law fever spread throughout this country’s cities, but now we canines are the ones chuckling as the first kitty leash law shot comes across the bow. If it passes, cats can say goodbye to freelance pooping and hello to being watched while doing their business. (Howard Feiner is so annoyed with the cat droppings in his yard, he has logged the kitties’ leavings and put flags up to mark the spots. He has done this for a couple of reasons. He’s in court with his neighbor...

Police sniffer dogs will have to wear bootees when searching the homes of Muslims so as not to cause offence. Guidelines being drawn up by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) urge awareness of religious sensitivities when using dogs to search for drugs and explosives. The guidelines, to be published this year, were designed to cover mosques but have been extended to include other buildings. Where Muslims object, officers will be obliged to use sniffer dogs only in exceptional cases. Where dogs are used, they will have to wear bootees with rubber soles. “We are trying to ensure that...

"Canine cuisine is being sent to the doghouse during next month's Beijing Olympic Games. Dog meat has been struck from the menus of officially designated Olympic restaurants and Beijing tourism officials are telling other outlets to discourage consumers from ordering dishes made from dogs, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday. "

So I’m sitting there watching a little Animal Planet when the old man comes into the room, grabs the remote and channel surfs to some of them there news outlets. He skips between the venom spewing anchorman, the supermodel newswomen and the anchorperson telling us the world is coming to an end. I don’t pay much attention to it but I notice my sister Copper and my new brother Logan are keenly interested. Before I know it, those two are tail deep into a discussion about the state of the world and the upcoming US election. They go back and...

Second sad story about abused dogs in the state.

Over 40 dogs were seized from within the residence.Investigators tell NEWSCHANNEL 3 that the homeowner would cover her back yard in newspapers, then shovel them into piles once the dog feces was a half foot deep.We spoke with Sheldon's niece and she said, "[Helen] doesn't realize how bad it is. All this stuff you see around here, this has been this way for a long time." Sheldon's niece added that her aunt suffers from a mental illness.

First off let me say that I have my own cell phone. I use it to text all of my buddies over on Dogster throughout the day. So it was with great concern I read about Andy Fanelli, a Lhasa Apso, getting hassled by Verizon for not paying his bill. SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than 70,000 consumers complained about third-party debt collectors in 2007, but one Sacramento couple said they have good reason to bark about the bill they received. Steve Fanelli received a bill from AFNI collections claiming an Andy Fanelli owes Verizon Online $142.34. And although Steve Fanelli...

I’m a mellow dog, but sometimes an article comes out that really gets my hackles up. Take for instance this piece of journalism discussing the psychology of dog people vs. cat people. We all know there’s a big difference between the two sets of owners, but not so according to the researchers.

Just seven months after Michael Vick was sentenced to federal prison, the fallen Falcons quarterback found himself in a "precarious financial position" and filed for bankruptcy protection. One of his creditors is the Falcons. In Chapter 11 documents filed in federal court in Virginia on Monday, Vick cites debts of between $10-50 million dollars. He also cites assets in the same range. In the court documents, Vick lists seven creditors, including the Falcons, that are owed a total of $12.8 million. The debt to the Falcons is for $3.75 million, listed as a pro rated signing bonus. The documents indicate...

When football superstar Michael Vick pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to run a dogfighting operation, we knew he had kept about 50 pit bulls on his 15-acre property in rural Surry County. We knew the dogs were chained to car axles near wooden hovels for shelter. And we knew the dogs that didn't fight were beaten, shot, hanged, electrocuted or drowned. But we didn't know their names. Headlines described the nameless dogs as "menacing." Some animal rights groups called for the "ticking time bombs" to be euthanized as soon as Vick's case was closed and they were no longer...

We met back in the early 90’s, December of ‘92 to be exact. I just had a major blowout with my first, somewhat dysfunctional family and decided that it was best for all if I just left. My foster dad gave me a ride to nowhere that ended up at a boarding house in Albany, NY. The place was great, warm with plenty of company, and their cheesy poof biscuits were to die for. On the downside, it was loud and smelly, not unlike me. Even a lowly pug could smell her coming from miles away. It was Monday, as...

Probably yet another drug-related killing. This senseless violence has got to stop! /s/ (Or maybe not).

Sniffer dogs may have to start wearing bootees when they are used by police to search Muslim homes so that they do not cause offence, it has emerged. A recommendation initially drawn up to cover police searches of mosques where dogs are fitted with leather bootees is now said to have been extended to Muslim homes. Under proposals from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the bootees would be used when the occupants objected to the search on religious grounds. Dogs' saliva is considered to be unclean or impure in Islamic teaching and it is forbidden to keep the...

POLICE sniffer dogs trained to spot terrorists at railway stations may no longer come into contact with Muslim passengers – after complaints that it is against the suspects’ religion. A report for the Transport Department has raised the prospect that the animals should only touch passengers’ luggage because it is considered “more acceptable”. In the Muslim faith, dogs are deemed to be spiritually “unclean”. But banning them from touching passengers would severely restrict their ability to do their job. The report follows trials of station security measures in the wake of the 2005 London suicide bomb attacks. In one trial,...

The "peaceful and tolerant" Muslims in Scotland have their knickers in a twist over an advertisement for the local police department that featured a small black puppy sitting in a policeman's hat. Isn't it amazing that these folks won't get outraged over the brutal jihadist murder of innocent people in the name of Allah but DO get bent out of shape over a puppy? CLICK HERE for story.Maybe if he was sitting in a turban

Humans are thoughtless and cruel. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but did you know their thoughtlessness goes back many, many years? Check out this invention by some innovator type from back in the thirties. I like how this article from the June, 1936 issue of Popular Mechanics starts out… (When you take your dog along for a ride, but prefer not having it inside the car…

TULSA — While dog-sitting for his mother earlier this month, Bryan Whalen discovered video recordings of his mother and two other people engaging in sex acts with three dogs, according to an affidavit filed Monday in Tulsa County. Authorities have charged Diane Whalen, 54, and Donald Roy Seigfried, 55, with crimes against nature, a felony that includes bestiality, said Capt. John Bowman of the Tulsa County sheriff's office. Seigfried was arrested and released Tuesday on $10,000 bail. Bowman said Whalen had not been arrested, but authorities were in contact with her lawyer. Bryan Whalen was feeding and taking care of...

I live in a land locked area so when I see news like this it makes me jealous. While I get to trek up mountains, carrying my owners lunch and drink on my back, these dogs get to go out and surf. Yeah, that’s right, surf. (This year was the 3rd Annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Competition at Imperial Beach in California. These canines bring a whole new meaning to the term sea dog.) See last years winner on video...

LONDON: Muslim passengers may not be touched by sniffer dogs of the British Transport Police after complaints that the practice is against Islam. According to the religion, dogs are deemed to be spiritually “unclean”. A Transport Department report has raised the prospect that animals should only touch passengers’ luggage because it is considered “more acceptable”, the Daily Express reported. The ban may restrict the efficiency of sniffer dog squads which have been trained to spot terrorists at railway stations. On Thursday night, British Transport Police insisted that it would still use sniffer dogs with any passengers regardless of faith, but...

The debate about dogs vs. cats continues... from yesterdays thread... How to photograph your puppy.... 1. Remove film from box and load camera. 2. Remove film box from puppy's mouth and throw in trash. 3. Remove puppy from trash and brush coffee grounds from muzzle. 4. Choose a suitable background for photo. 5. Mount camera on tripod and focus. 6. Find puppy and take dirty sock from mouth. 7. Place puppy in pre-focused spot and return to camera. 8. Forget about spot and crawl after puppy on knees. 9. Focus with one hand and fend off puppy with other hand....

June 26, 2008 -- Little dogs -- think Chihuahuas and Dachshunds -- tend to be feisty, while certain breeds, like Golden and Labrador Retrievers, are as mellow as their reputations suggest, found a new study that identified the most and least aggressive common dog breeds.

Crime, I don’t condone it, but sometimes you do feel sorry for the perp. Take for instance this story of an animal lover looking to provide for his pets. ( TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese animal-lover on welfare went to extremes to provide for his many pets by robbing convenience stores while wearing the mask of a dog, police said Monday. Takaharu Kawata — branded by Japanese media as “The Dogman” — was caught on a surveillance camera wearing an oversized black-and-white canine mask while brandishing a knife.) OK…I feel I need to step in here. Please take a look...

If your owners use mulch in the yard, please have them read the below letter. There’s danger in that there mulch they might be purchasing. Buyer beware. Over the weekend one of our friends experienced a tragedy with one of their dogs and wanted me to pass a special message along to all of our dog loving friends and family. Please tell every dog owner you know. Over the weekend the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from

HOW TO START YOUR CAR WITH A DOG (A breakdown patrol man who came to the rescue of a woman motorist has managed to get her car started using her dog.) How do you start a car with a dog? I guess you can stick its tail in the ignition and see if it starts or maybe attach the car to the dog like a rickshaw and pop it into gear when it gets rolling fast enough. What other solutions could there be? (Juliette Piesley, 39, had changed the battery in her electronic key...

You ever have one of those itches that you just can’t reach? It’s frustrating, especially when you don’t have anybody around to scratch it for you. It looks as if the dog in this video has figured out a way for a self service back scratch. Oooohh that looks like it feels good…just look at those legs twitching!!

Bo (woof) In Commentary: I consider myself an above average escape artist. I’ve dug out beneath a fence, eaten the slats off of a fence and run through a fence but I’ve never flown over one. I thought you need to be a bird to do that. Well, Harvey the Bull Terrier has just proven me wrong. (One moment Harvey, a three-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, was alone in the garden, the next he disappeared. “He couldn’t get over the fence on his own and must have used the trampoline to...

Day in and day out, I get served slop in a bowl for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I guess it’s not so much slop as it is dry hard pellets that taste like cardboard and lamb. So imagine my surprise when my old man pulled his chair up to the computer and surfed over to blissful biscuits to order me my very own Heaven Scent Pizza. I drooled uncontrollably as my father read me the ingredients…whole wheat flour, carrots, celery, parmesan cheese, garlic, basil, etc. No additives whatsoever. Sure it didn’t have any lard, but this pie tastes and smells...