Mountaintop Natural Pets

Source: Reuters Life, Aug 23, 2010

A Labrador that ate a beehive containing pesticides and thousands of dead bees won an award on Monday that recognized the most unusual pet health insurance claim in the United States.

Ellie, who fully recovered from her encounter with the beehive in southern California, beat a border collie that ran through a window to get at a mailman, and a terrier that bit a chainsaw.

She won a bronze trophy in the shape of a ham, and basket of toys and doggie treats.

The winner was announced on Monday by the Veterinary Pet Insurance Co (VPI) and selected from a dozen pets nationwide.

“Ellie may be a young dog, but she’s already managed to eat everything from wooden toy train tracks to laptop computer keys,” said the VPI. “So the beehive in the backyard was just another culinary adventure for this insatiable pooch.

All three hungry dogs have recovered after receiving care from a vet.

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: The Associated Press, June 16, 2010

An employee of DoodyCalls Pet Waste Removal in St. Louis says he recently found $58 packed in dog poop, then returned the cash to the pooch’s owner.

But Steve Wilson says he sanitized the bills first.

Wilson says he wasn’t sure what to do when he first noticed money sticking out from the doggie doo. But after pulling out the cash and cleaning it, he placed it in a plastic zip-locked bag and gave it back to the customer.

The Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists says Wilson is the first person in his profession to find and report money in dog poop.

Source: Associated Press, March 15, 2010

What happened to a Chattanooga police officer’s car was certainly under the radar. A city police spokeswoman said Sunday that Officer Clayton Holmes had been checking traffic speeds with radar and stopped to fill out a report when he felt his car shaking. He found a bulldog chewing on the tires. After the dog attacked two passing cars and a second police car, officers used pepper spray and a Taser on it, but the animal wasn’t deterred.

By the time McCamey Animal Center staffers captured that dog and two others, it had chewed two tires and the entire front bumper off Holmes’ patrol car.

Officer Rebecca Royval said the dogs got out of a fence at a nearby welding shop. The owner was cited and the dogs were removed.

Happy Tails Books publishes compilations of stories from people who have adopted dogs. Their breed-specific “Lost Souls: Found!” series showcases the love and joy these adopted dogs bring to their new homes in an effort to raise awareness of, and funding for dog rescue organizations.

Happy Tails Books is currently working on books about Chihuahuas, German Shepherds, Pugs, Boxers and mixes thereof, and they’ve asked me to share their information in case you’d like to submit a story about your adopted dog(s). Guidelines and a submission form are located at http://happytailsbooks.com/submit.htm. You can send in a complete story about your dog (600-1200 words), a paragraph about something sweet or funny he/she did, a training/health challenge and how it was solved, a poem, or a recipe. They are also looking for high resolution, professional-quality photos for the front and back covers. Be sure to list the rescue you are associated with in the submission form (if applicable – dog don’t need to be from a rescue, they just can’t be purchased from a pet store or breeder), as rescues earn points from each story submitted or book purchased, and then the points turn into a donation at the end of the year.

Contact Info: Kyla Duffy, Happy Tails Books, Editor In Chief. 303-807-0412, kyla@happytailsbooks.com Boulder, CO

Source: TheHuffingtonPost.com, October 20, 2009

A chewed remote control, a dog, and $62.50 less in the bank account.

For Greg Stroke, this could only mean one thing: his dog had purchased 5,000 Xbox points — worth $62 — while he and his girlfriend were asleep.

Stroke saved his credit card information on his remote control to make it easier to buy video games using Microsoft Xbox points — so easy, in fact, that a dog could do it.

When the dog chewed the remote, the points were bought. “i just wish they’d make it a little harder to purchase points,” Stroke lamented.

Source: Fort Myers News, July 24, 2009

The cage opens and six newborn pigs file out and sprint to their mother.

Without a bark or a grunt, a black Rottweiler/pit bull named Tequila lies on her side. The piglets then suckle the dog’s milk for 20 minutes.
The pigs are so eager for Tequila’s milk that they push, bump and jump over each other to get it.
“I’ve been farming for a while and I’ve never ever ever seen anything like this,” said James Favreau, who owns the pigs and dog on his Buckingham farm. “It’s amazing. Two weeks ago, this dog was hunting wild pigs with me.”
Now, Tequila is busy nursing six piglets and eight puppies. The 2-year-old Tequila gave birth to the puppies Monday, the same day Favreau’s 3-year-old Yorkshire produced the piglets.
Favreau, 45, said Tequila started nursing the pigs Monday morning shortly after the pigs were born during a rainstorm. Favreau said he rescued one of the pigs from drowning and brought all of them into his home.

“I was going to put them back in the yard but then I turned around and Tequila was feeding them,” Favreau said.
Dogs nursing pigs are relatively rare, according to an Internet search Wednesday.
Only one previous example was found and it occurred in June in southern Thailand.
One of Favreau’s friends was so stunned by the development that he forwarded the nursing pictures to NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.’’
Even if she doesn’t make the late-night television show, Tequila is still a hit locally. Favreau’s nephew, Ryan Rivera, and friend, Angel Roman, came over to view the nursing Wednesday.
“This is one of a kind,” Roman said. “It’s a good example that animals can get along.”
Favreau said Tequila has grown so close to the piglets she even cleans them when they get dirty. The piglets — who are named Junior, Snowball, Mud, Freckles, Wilbur and Spot — follow Tequila around Favreau’s home.
“They’re like one big happy family,” he said.
Favreau said he tried putting the pigs back with their natural parents — 500-pound Yorkshires named Funny Face and Alexander the Great — but the piglets grunted and acted strange.
That doesn’t happen when the pigs are around Tequila. Nevertheless, Favreau plans to wean the pigs away from Tequila.
He started giving the pigs milk in a bowl Wednesday. Favreau hopes Tequila will stop nursing the pigs in a week.
“I’m slowly weaning them off but they need (natural) milk so that when they get older they can have a strong immune system,” Favreau said.
“If any of the pigs were going to die from (the dog milk) they would be already dead. This is day three and look, they’re as spunky as they can be.”