Mountaintop Natural Pets

Source: AFP.com, August 30,2010

TARQUINIA, Italy — This summer, Italy’s special squad of rescue workers were again chalking up success: some 300 dogs ready to help save lives on dozens of Italian beaches.

In early August in Tarquinia, a town about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Rome, the dogs and their human partners saved on the same day two girls, who had fallen off their boat and two others, who had fallen off an inflatable raft.

The labradors, golden retrievers and Newfoundlands trained by the Italian School for Rescue Dogs (http://www.waterrescuedogs.com/) are credited with saving more than 100 lives, including a dozen this year alone.

“Compared to the rest of the world, the school is the only one that systematically monitors beaches every summer with human-canine units,” Roberto Gasbarri, the school’s coordinator for central-southern Italy, told AFP.

The teams work in most of Italy’s 20 regions, even landlocked ones such as northern Trentino Alto-Adige, where rescuers monitor lakes.

Their school, financed by local governments like regions and municipalities, is recognised by Italy’s civil protection and coordinated by local coast guards around the country.

“It’s been five years now that we’ve been relying on the school,” said Lamberto Alessandro, the head of the coastguard in Tarquinia.

“Their help is very valuable to us and they are absolutely trustworthy,” he said, as dogs in lifejackets leapt off boats for practice runs.

“The five tests to get the license are pretty difficult. You need to swim almost as fast as your dog, which is not as easy as it sounds,” said Paola de Santis, 36, who began training this year with her five-year-old lab Teo.

The rescuer certificate for dogs and owners requires one year of training both on the ground and on water, and the teams must train and pass tests each year before the summer season.

The next training round is set to start in mid-September.

Techniques include beach starts with lifesaver in hand or sea rescues from a raft or a helicopter.

“We developed a special system that can allow us to save three people at a time,” Gasbarri said. “The (human) rescuer ties two people to the dog and is then free to take care of the third person,” Gasbarri said.

“That way we avoid tiring back-and-forths,” he added.

For lifeguards, the most dangerous moment in the rescue is bringing back the victim.

In this phase, “the dog is a real engine that helps bring the person back even if he or she resists or is agitated,” Gasbarri said.

Gasbarri said the dogs are never scared of the water and tides as for them, rescues and training are much like a game.

“There are some very dangerous areas, … and when there are large waves and a strong current, only a dog can intervene since, unlike humans, they don’t feel fear in dangerous situations,” said Mauro Mazzola, the mayor of Tarquinia.

The golden retrievers, labradors and Newfoundlands that the school recruits are docile and calm animals and their physical characteristics make them better rescuers.
“They are better swimmers than others because their coat lets out water quickly and they have webbed paws, which allows them to push water behind them and swim faster than other dogs,” de Santis said as her dog Teo shook the water off his coat in apparent approval.
After rescues, especially for children, a dog is a calming presence.

“The patting, kisses and play really help lessen the child’s shock after the danger,” Gasbarri said.

Saturday, July 10 from 10am-6pm – Wags & Whiskers Family Fun Fair @ Maple Ski Ridge

Come join us on a summer day for some fun and fundraising in support of the SC-SPCA. Festival Details include a variety of vendors, animal demonstrations featuring dog agility, reptile show and horses, food, music provided by Idette and the Sunrunners and lastly games and activities for all ages. www.MapleskiRidge.com

A fair for adults, kids, and their pets too!
Games, bouncy-bounce, music, animal rescues, vendors, horses, reptile show, pet costume contest, Purrrfect Pet Tricks contest, Dazzle Dogs, agility demos, food and more!

Saturday, July 10, 2010
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Maple Ski Ridge, Rotterdam, NY (click here for directions)

FREE ADMISSION – RAIN OR SHINE – PETS ARE WELCOME

If you have any questions please contact Becky Smith at bsmith@schenectadyspca.org

More info here: http://www.schenectadyspca.org/index.php/community/wags-and-whiskers

Source: ketv.com, June 8, 2010

Kody Connick said he was never much of a student, let alone a writer. He hated English and got into trouble at school.

“It was just seeing friends and trying to get by through the day,” he said.

But the 14-year-old teen from Lincoln recently put fingers to the keyboard and is now selling his story.  Connick got sick last winter and something sparked an unrealized passion. He sat down and began writing about dogfighting.  His narrator is a pit bull.

Through the dog’s eyes, the reader is witness to the horror, Connick said.”Fighting and chomping on Shadow’s neck, I tasted blood. I tasted madness, then I tasted sorrow,” the teen read from the book, which has sold 60 copies and is in its second printing.  “My owner Jake shouted, ‘Go get him, be the king you’re meant to be tonight. Tear his heart out,’” Connick read.

He was compelled to write about the cruel way people treat pit bulls and the notorious reputation the dogs possess.”It’s how you train a dog and it’s how you treat it.  So there’s no bad dog, ever,” Connick said.  He said he drew upon his own experience with friends who own pit bulls, researched the issue and then began to write.

“In the first two days, I had 20 pages done,” he said.  Four months later, Wild Hearts was finished. It’s a story about a juvenile delinquent and a pit bull whose lives become intertwined.

Kevin Connick couldn’t believe what his son had written.”Very detailed, very good story — I was shocked,” the boy’s father said.

Kody said people see him as wanting to be a gangster, a bad kid. The book has changed the way people look at him and the way he looks at school, he said.”It actually opened my eyes that I could do something if I worked hard enough and focused,” Connick said.

He plans on writing another book in the future. He said he’s also paying more attention in school and wants to go to college.

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Source: Mercury News, May 4, 2010

A Chihuahua-terrier mix underwent surgery today after being badly burned when a 4-year-old child placed the 2½-pound dog in a microwave earlier this year, animal rescue officials said.

The dog’s anus and colon were severely damaged, and doctors had to do skin and muscle reconstruction surgery to alleviate the pain, which makes him scream when he defecates.

“He came through well and is resting comfortably,” said Christina Alvarez, executive director of the animal rescue organization Hopalong in Emeryville.

Hopalong became involved with the case a week ago after receiving the dog from a Santa Clara County public animal shelter, where the dog had lived for a short time, Alvarez said.

The dog was just 4 weeks old in January when he was placed in a microwave for about 15 seconds by the child. He was surrendered to the shelter a short time later, Alvarez said.

Details of why the child put the dog into the microwave were not available, Alvarez said. “We don’t know the in between,” she said. “Our part is assessing the medical state of the animal and treating it.”

Hopalong named the dog Mighty Mouse “for his determined effort to live despite his extreme pain and injuries,” she said.

“Mighty Mouse is a stunningly cute puppy,” said Alastair Coomer, a veterinarian at Veterinary Surgical Centers in Berkeley, where the surgery was done.

The group is asking for $12,000 in donations to help cover the cost of a pre-surgery assessment, the actual surgery, and to help fund a school-based, animal safety and education program for elementary, middle and high school students.

The group’s education program, which teaches about 500 children annually about animal safety, nutrition, dog handling and bite-prevention education, now will include a component linked to the microwave incident, Alvarez said.

“Mighty Mouse suffers from terrible pain, but with the community’s help, we can provide the medical treatment he requires that will give him a chance for the quality of life he deserves,” she said.

To help, go online to www.hopalong.org or send a check to the organization at P.O. Box 27507, Oakland, CA 94602. The group is also accepting adoption applications on its website.

Source: Associated Press, Feb 19, 2010

A family dog is credited with keeping a little girl safe after she spent the overnight hours Friday in 30 degree temperatures near Cordes Lakes, 36 miles east of Prescott.

Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn credits the dog, a Queensland Heeler, with 3-year-old Victoria Bensch’s survival.

A Department of Public Safety helicopter crew saw movement and found the little girl and her dog just before 9 o’clock Friday morning, three-quarters of a mile from her home.

D’Evelyn said the DPS crew landed and then flew the child back to be reunited her mother and father.

The child was then flown to Phoenix Children’s Hospital where she will be treated for frostbite.

Authorities said the little girl was outside playing early Thursday evening when she disappeared along with her dog.

Source: news.medill.northwestern.edu , Feb 17, 2010