English: Baton Rouge, LA, December 19, 2005 - "Janie" is one of 12 Hope Crisis Response therapy dogs visiting displaced hurricane victims and relief workers throughout the New Orleans area. She is based at the Joint Field Office in Baton Rouge. Robert Kaufmann/FEMA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Before my mom passed away from ovarian cancer,
I use to take her to the hospital for her chemo
treatments.
On Tuesdays and Fridays, the therapy dogs would come into
the hospital. It brought smiles to so many people. The therapy
dogs would first come into the waiting area, and their handlers
would ask if it was ok, for them to come by.
It really helped calm so many of the patients down.
They felt safe and enjoyed petting these dogs. I have to
say it really helped me and my mom feel a sense of peace
as well.
So its no surprise to me that Sophie Certified court therapy dog,
could help an 8 year old girl, feel safe and more comfortable
and open up about the alleged abuse she suffered from her cousin in
sexual case.
Dogs have a way of giving us some comfort during a rough patch
in our lives. Sophie gave this little girl the strength to speak
and talk about things.
The aunt and the cousin sat at one side of the table and stared. There were two lawyers. One acted like a friend, the other did not. And then there was Sophie — a mutt of a dog with draping ears and dotted brows like two copper pennies.
Warm, calm and soft, Sophie lay quietly at the little girl’s feet. The certified touch therapy dog gently leaned her body into the child’s leg and sometimes propped her black and tan chin onto her lap. The little girl held the dog’s leash.
“My daughter told us, ‘If I wasn’t sure if I could answer a question, I would just look at Sophie and she would give me that look that it was OK to answer,’” recalled the child’s mother. The Post-Dispatch does not identify possible victims of sexual assault, and under the rules of juvenile courts in Missouri, the identities of minors are kept confidential.
I’m glad that Sophie helped this little girl. Court can be just as stressful
and scary as being in a hospital. These therapy dogs just have a way of
helping us open up.
Hopefully other lawyers may try this. It will
help many children in these cases, who are
so very scared.
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Its a very scary when your beagle
is missing. There are a few things you
can do to find your lost pet.
Be sure to check around the house.
Look behind couches and under the bed.
Shake your pet’s food dish.
Maybe rattle some treats and call
your beagle. If you clicker train
your dog, try clicking the clicker.
Check out in the backyard, in
your storage shed or garage.
Pet IDS
Its always a good idea for your pet to
have an ID tag. If your using microchips remember
to update your phone number and address when you
move.
Ask the Neighbors
As soon as your beagle is missing ask the neighbors
if they have seen or heard anything. Take a picture
of your pet with you. Ask them to look in garages
or storage sheds in case your beagle has been
accidently locked inside.
Drive Around the Block
Check bushes, and shrubs. Beagles live by their nose
and may be tracking a scent.
Places to Call
Call your local animal shelters, the pound and
animal rescue. Then check personally.
Making your lost Pet Poster
Keep it simple “Lost Beagle” as your big bold
headline. Add your picture, with key details,
like, age, sex, weight and distinguishing markings.
Add where you last saw your dog. If seen then list your
phone number, and a neighbor’s number if they can’t get
a hold of you.
Places to Post your Poster
Places like the local Vet office, parks, laundromats,
grocery stores. Ask for permission before you post the flyer.
Pet supply centers are also a good place to place flyers.
PetAmberalert.com is also another good source to
use to help find your beagle. You can upload your picture
and key information about your pet. They post the information
on their facebook page and twitter page.
They have a nationwide petamberalert. You can
have updates done via cell phone. Whether your
beagle is lost or stolen.
Reach out to Facebook and Twitter
You can post that your pet is missing on your facebook profile page.
I have had friends who have found their dogs by simply posting this
on their facebook status update. Use a nice picture.
George Brett recently reached out to his twitter followers
and found his dog.
Feel free to share some of your own ideas
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Its always fun to teach
your beagle puppy something new.
Keep the games simple and start them when your puppy can pay attention longer.
Usually this happens about
3 months of age.
We started with a game of touch it.
We got a stick and painted a dot on it.
Then whenever our puppy touched the
dot, we clicked and gave him a treat.
It was a fun game and he loved it.
We also started a game called find it.
Take a treat and hide it. Let your
beagle puppy use his nose to find it.
Once your puppy finds the treat,
click. Its a good game and its a
whole lot of fun. Your beagle
puppy will love playing this game
and using his nose to find things.
My aunt taught her beagle to find things
and drop them in a treasure chest. She
would click and treat whenever her dog
did this.
One of the great things about games for beagle puppies
or older beagles is that it keeps them from getting bored.
By creating games that use their sense of smell.
Here are some more fun games you can try
from DogChannel.com
Catch me if you can helps teach the come command. With two people sitting on the floor about 10 or 15 feet apart, one person holds and pets the pup while the other calls him Snooper, Come! in a happy voice. Use the puppys name to reinforce his recognition. When the pup comes running, give him a giant bear hug and lick of smelly liver. Repeat back and forth several timesdont over do it.
The missing-toy caper is another favorite, since Beagles love to solve problems. Start by placing one of his favorite toys in plain sight and ask your puppy Where’s your toy? and let him take it. Repeat several times. Then place your puppy safely outside the room and place the toy where only part of it shows. Bring him back and ask the same question. Praise highly when he finds it. Repeat several times. Finally, conceal the toy completely and let your puppy sniff it out with that flawless scenthound nose.
Source: Henry Horner Collection at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
thought we might do a short article
about Abraham Lincoln’s dog Fido.
Abraham Lincoln was often spotted in
Springfield Illinois walking to the local market
with his dog Fido behind him.
Yes the dog’s name was Fido. Its said
that Fido was a yellow floppy eared
dog. Its uncertain what breed the dog
was. He was very loved.
Once Lincoln was elected President of the
United States he decided not take Fido with him
to the White House.
He was worried that his dog might not survive
the train ride.
By all accounts Mr. Lincoln’s son, Tad, protested. Nevertheless, Mr. Lincoln wouldn’t be swayed and looked for a good home for Fido.
Finally, the president-elect decided to give Fido to two neighbor boys, John and Frank Roll. They promised to take good care of Fido during Mr. Lincoln’s term in the White House. The boys’ father, John Eddy Roll, was a carpenter who had helped the Lincolns remodel their house.
The Roll family was asked never to scold Fido for entering the house with muddy paws. He was not to be tied up alone in the backyard. Additionally, Fido was to be allowed into the Roll home whenever he scratched at the front door and into the Rolls’ dining room at mealtimes.
Fido was used to being given food by everyone sitting around the table. To make Fido feel at home, the Lincolns gave the Rolls their horsehair sofa. Shortly before the Lincolns left for the White House, they took Fido to F.W. Ingmire’s studio in Springfield to have his picture taken (see below). Mr. Ingmire draped a piece of fancy material over a washstand and placed Fido on top. Willie and Tad watched the proceedings but did not get into the pictures.
Mama dog was abandoned when her litter of puppies were sold.
Courtesy: Mobile County Animal Shelter's Facebook page
She got a second chance to be a mom again. A woman found
the dog hungry and wondering around.
Thanks to social networks like facebook, she
learned through some facebook updates, that a
mama dog was needed for some orphaned puppies.
Something amazing happened. The mama was teamed
up with these puppies, and became their mama.
The Mobile County Animal Shelter got the passel of pups after a woman from Semmes packed them up and brought them in Tuesday. Shelter staff put out the word through social media that a foster home was needed for the pups.
Meantime, a local dog lover found the mama dog at Three Notch and Schillinger roads wandering aimlessly and looking very hungry.
She investigated in the local neighborhood and learned that someone in the area had sold all the dog’s puppies and abandoned the mother. The rescuer had already read Facebook postings about the need for a mother and the networking started.
“We brought the mama in and it was a perfect match,” said shelter supervisor Sarah Tenon. “Now we’re networking for a foster home.”
It was a delicate introduction, according to shelter staff. They put the mother dog in the same kennel and watched as she and the puppies sniffed out the situation. The mother then generously laid among the throng and took up her role as surrogate.
Its amazing this mama got a second chance
at being a mom.
The competitors had a hearty laugh as nearly 30 dogs and their amorous owners filed into the Marginal Way store Wednesday night. An hour later, Walton, who finished as the first runner-up last year, reclaimed her crown with a 59-second lip lock — so to speak — with Beau.
“Get a room,” yelled one challenger at around the 35-second mark.
“He just has a talent,” Walton, of Saco, said of her little kissing contest veteran.
No other pup got beyond 40 seconds of mouth licking. Many of the entries, including five out of the first six, ahem, couples, couldn’t perform under pressure. It was hard to focus with so many other dogs around to socialize with.
Allie Uno the beagle’s half sister, won best of opposite sex award at the
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Monday.
She didn’t win for best of breed in the 15 inch category. So she won’t go on to compete for Best in Show .
There is always next year. I think Allie is gorgeous!
She should continue to compete, she may get it yet!
Did you see the judging? What do you think?
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Found this in the Daily Mail and had to share this with you guys.
Rescue workers had to dig a 16 foot hole to get to a 4 week old puppy stuck in a drain pipe in Detroit Michigan.
The puppy got stuck after crawling into a basement drain pipe. He crawled 15 feet down the pipe and got stuck and couldn’t come back out.
The dog’s owner, who didn’t want to be named, said that you could hear the puppy whimpering the whole time workers dug the hole.
‘It was crying and I was crying all night,’ she told local station WXYZ. ‘I felt so bad.’
So a team of rescue workers used a back hoe to dig a 16 foot hole to get to down to the pipe and dismantle it piece by piece until they got to the puppy.
Aaron Baughey, who owned the digger used in the rescue, told the station: ‘I couldn’t go home tonight if we’d left that little dog in there. My wouldn’t let me come home.’
After more than 12 hours underground, the puppy was finally freed when workers managed to cut a hole in the three-inch cast-iron pipe that connects a storm drain line beneath the house.
After all that time under ground he was in good shape. He was just a little cold and dehydrated. He was soon reunited with his mother.
It warms my heart that people can feel so much compassion for a doggy come together and do what ever it takes to save a puppy even if that means a huge inconvenience of property damage man hours and other resources to save it.
It looks like the trend of medicating behavior problems doesn’t stop with humans these days.
There’s a growing trend of giving dogs psychoactive drugs too. ABC new reports:
Psychiatric medications such as Prozac are being prescribed more often to man’s best friend to help treat a variety of conditions and behaviors usually found in humans.
Not only is the trend growing stronger to medicate our dog’s problems away but there are even specialists that take on the role of med prescribing doggy psychiatrists . Like this vet for example.
Dr. Nicholas Dodman, a pioneer in treating mental health of animals, is a veterinary version of a psychiatrist and a leading advocate of mind-altering drugs. He founded the Animal Behavior Center at Tufts University near in North Grafton, Mass., where he has treated almost everything, including dogs who chase shadows or spin in dizzying circles, with the help of prescription medication.
The article then mentions several cases where desperate owners brought their dogs in for treatment to have the vet prescribe not only single drugs but a coctail of drugs to get the right effect on their dogs.
And Dodman has seen a parade of troubled animals since opening his center. Owner Erin Reilly brought her dog Frisbee, a mixed breed, to the center because he compulsively chases his hind legs 10 to 12 times a day.
“We actually feel bad for him,” said Reilly’s husband Leigh Chinitz. “When we see him do it, it just looks like it can’t be either good for him or very comfortable.”
Dodman prescribed Frisbee Prozac and a medication often used for Alzheimer’s patients. And Frisbee wasn’t alone. Another dog, a German shepherd named Summer who suffers from anxiety, was prescribed three psychiatric medications ”We’ve got a mood stabilizer and anti-anxiety medicine working together hopefully to make Summer calmer,” Dodman explained.
Is your beagle aggressive because he’s depressed?. One would think so after Dr. Dodman prescribed a new leash a low protein diet and Prozac to a newly aggressive springer spaniel name Dakota.
“You’d be better off having Prozac in the background because it decreases aggression,” he said.
I’m not really sure how I feel about all of this. I really don’t think it’s the best way to solve a behavior problem. But in today’s instant gratification culture I can see how a quick fix could be very tempting for some. Especially when the drugs seem like a sure thing. And it might take a much longer period of trial and error to help your beagle through a trainer or behaviorist and still no guarantees.
But in Dr Dodman’s defense he doesn’t hand out the drugs like doggy treats.
Not all pets leave the veterinarian’s office with a prescription. One problem pet was a cat named Doogie that relieved itself all over the house, and Dodman recommended the owners switch to unscented litter, which seemed to do the trick.
“I only use medicines if I think it will help,” he said. “Some people will say, ‘but I really wanted medicine,’ and I say, ‘your animal, your pet doesn’t need it.’”
There are plenty of people that don’t agree with with using drugs like these on pets. And they aren’t sure if they are really beneficial or the best answer. Take Cesar Milan the Dog Whisperer for example:
animal trainer Cesar Milan, better known as the “dog whisperer” on National Geographic’s hit show, said he is skeptical of using psychiatric medicines on pets.
“Unfortunately, everybody is looking for the quick fix, for the ‘I want to see dramatic change in my dog,’” he said. “Often it’s the human that’s obsessive and it’s the dog that’s just imitating the behavior.”
In most cases, Milan claimed, exercise, proper diet and tough love — showing your pet who’s boss — can cure psychological problems in pets.
“Rules, boundaries, limitations, understanding what their position in the family is, what is expected of them,” he said. “My clients are Harvard graduates but they can’t walk a Chihuahua.”
I would pull out all the stops to make my beagles better before resorting to drugs. But some folks have already tried everything first before coming in for puppy drugs.
But for two years the Chinitz-Reilly family who took in Frisbee, the spinning mutt, at 7 months old, said they have tried everything from professional training, discipline, long walks to wear him out and even yoga to calm the dog down.
“I’ll take a breath in and inhale slowly the same way I would do in a yoga pose, and it really seems to almost transmit physically into his body and he calms down at the same time,” said Erin Reilly.
But his zen state doesn’t last and it’s not long before Frisbee becomes “possessed” again. Milan admitted that in extreme cases, like Frisbee’s, medicine can be a last resort.
And when they say last resort they mean it. For some the final option is to give up their dog. And for me if using drugs to keep my dog happy and with our family then prescribe away!
Considering the other option pet owners consider is to give up their animals, Dodman insists that psychiatric medication can help save pets’ lives. The Humane Society of the United States said more than four million American dogs and cats are put down each year.
“I think the goal of a veterinarian is to do the best thing for the animal,” Dodman said. “I mean, whatever will help it to feel better and, truthfully, spare its life. So many are relinquished because of behavior problems.”
This goes to show just how much our beagles are valued and loved members of our families. And how we will do anything it takes, even resorting to drug to make them healthy, happy and living with us for a very long time.
