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Dutch Olympic medalist Adelinde Cornelissen has been forced to withdraw her dressage horse from the Rio games after it contracted a toxic fever. Cornelissen said the problem with Parzival, a 19-year-old Jazz gelding who won individual silver and team bronze at London 2012, was believed to stem from a bite from a mosquito or a spider. She retired from the competition after just a handful of movements. Cornelissen said the fever started the day before the event began when the horse had a fever of over 40 degrees. 'When I came into the stable he had a swollen cheek, and...

Where’s Matty? On July 20, 2013, Spc. Brent Grommet returned from Afghanistan with his military working dog, a Czech German shepherd named Matty. The two had gone through basic training together, deployed together and were injured together when a roadside IED detonated. Grommet slept on top of Matty’s crate as they flew back to the United States. Upon landing at an Air Force base in New Jersey, the two were separated — standard operating procedure. Grommet wasn’t worried, though: According to Army regulations, if he wanted Matty, he had the sole right to adopt his military working dog. This right...

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Col. Otto Feather retired Friday with another old dog from the Air Force — a 10-year-old Belgian Malinois named Elra. Decommissioned as a military working dog last year, Elra recently was adopted by the outgoing 374th Airlift Wing commander. “She just seemed like an old pal from way back,” said Feather, who met the dog during a K-9 demonstration at Yokota in October. “We just hit it off.” Like every working dog retired by the military, Elra was classified as “excess equipment” before she was adopted. Many military working dogs require extensive veterinary care and...

SYLACAUGA – Ellie is a girl on the town. The four-year-old Doberman Pincher is a frequent visitor at schools, nursing homes, libraries and more, spreading smiles wherever she goes. “She has a lot of friends,” said 16-year-old Rebekah Rawlinson, Ellie’s owner and dedicated trainer. Along with more than 30 competition ribbons and six titles, Ellie is also a certified therapy dog. Rebekah, who has been training Ellie for three years, said they got the idea to get her certified after visiting a nursing home. “My great aunt was in the nursing home, and she loved dogs so we wanted to...

A brave police dog whose skull was fractured when thugs threw bricks, bottles and petrol bombs at him during the riots continued to patrol the streets for two hours, despite blood dripping from his head. ... PC Wells, who has cared for Obi since the dog was just an eight-week-old puppy, described he and his dog came under siege by remorseless thugs who deliberately targeted his 'best friend and closest colleague'. ... PC Wells said he was shocked at the violence that flared, which left all of the eight dogs in his unit on Tottenham High Road with cut pads...

A Gilford police dog fell from a second-story window while searching for a robbery suspect during the weekend, but still got its man. Police were looking for a man who reportedly robbed a car driver at knifepoint Saturday night. Police say Michael Mount, 30, pulled a knife on the driver of a car in which he was a passenger, forced her off the road and stole her purse. Police called in their dog, Agbar, to track Mount. They say Agbar fell from a second-story window while on the hunt, but was not hurt, and led officers to Mount, who was...

A man suffering from multiple sclerosis who lay trapped in his bathtub for six days says he owes his life to his loyal dog. Bruce Ashworth, 55, slipped while taking a bath in his home in the US state of Colorado on 29 August. Mr Ashworth, a retired engineer who now uses a wheelchair, could not reach the safety handles in the bath to rescue himself. His specially-trained Labrador dog, Libby, retrieved his phone so he could call for aid, but it had no power. Undeterred, Libby kept her master alive by licking his face to keep him awake and...

<p>CHATTANOOGA — A Chattanooga Police Department K-9 officer was fired and two others were suspended after an internal affairs probe concluded they falsified police dogs' certifications.</p> <p>The investigation involved two drug-sniffing Belgian Malinois dogs, Casper and Viper, purchased last year for $7,000 apiece in South Carolina.</p>