PLUCKY pooch Moet was left flat for months with a back injury – but now the dog’s rehabilitation is on a roll. With the help of a specially made American two-wheeled harness, the Maltese-shitzu cross can again enjoy the simple pleasure of a walk around the block. Owners Ben and Janet Raphael have hailed the harness as a “life saver” after Moet slipped a disc on Christmas Day last year and the injury left her back legs immobile. Mrs Raphael said the initial diagnosis was dire. “We took her to the vet and were told she may never walk again,” the 37-year-old from Plympton said. “She couldn’t do anything for months.” Three months after the injury, the couple followed specialist veterinary advice and imported the $500 harness, hooking up Moet to the two-wheeled trap. >>Sparkling Moet, a wheelie special little dog (11.30.08)

Jake the dog is somewhat of a celebrity in the veterinary world. The 11-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, whose owners are from Grand Rapids, was the first dog in the Midwest and only the 11th in the world to get a new type of elbow prosthesis that reduces infection and wear and tear — and that eventually could be used in humans. The $5,000 surgery was performed at the Michigan State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital last spring. Now, after six months of rehabilitation that includes running on an underwater treadmill, Jake is giving high fives, jumping off the bed and going without his leash. >>Grand Rapids dog’s surgery for artificial elbow has potential for humans (12.1.08)

A deaf dog has been taught sign language by an animal charity in order to help find her a new home. Zoe, an 18-month-old Dalmation, is being cared for at the RSPCA’s Little Valley Animal Shelter in Exeter. Staff at the shelter were worried Zoe, who is almost completely deaf, might be overlooked by prospective adopters. But they say she has taken to the new routine “like a duck to water” and has already learned seven sign commands, including “sit”, “stay” and “lie down”. >>Sign language taught to deaf dog (12.1.08)

A cancer sufferer who wanted to re-home his dog was amazed when U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said he would be interested in making the dog his family pet. Bill Munnoch, 67, took the heartbreaking decision to find a new home for his three-month-old Shih Tzu, wanting to ensure it went to a good family. He sent an email to Mr Obama offering him the dog, named Hamish. To his surprise he received a phone call from Mr Obama’s team three days later saying he was interested in taking up his offer. >>Barack Obama interested in taking British cancer sufferer’s puppy as a pet (12.2.08)

PUT YOUR SAD FACE ON B-WAGers: After nearly a century in Boston, the Bay Colony Dog Show will be held in Rhode Island next year. Providence Mayor David Cicilline, the Eastern Dog Club, and the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau announced on Monday that the show will be held at the Rhode Island Convention Center on Dec. 3 through 6 next year. This year’s American Kennel Club-affiliated show is scheduled to start Thursday at the Bayside Exposition Center in Boston. >>AKC dog show moves from Mass. to RI (12.2.08)

I have two spayed cats, 5-year-old sisters I adopted as kittens. I grew up with dogs and cats, and have missed having a dog. I am now able to adopt a dog, but I want to keep the transition smooth. I’ve noticed that some shelters indicate whether a dog gets along with cats. How accurate do you think this information is? And what else can I do to keep from freaking out my cats? >>Pet Q&A: A cat owner wants to add a dog to the family (12.2.08)

Some dogs experience motion sickness. “We started taking our pug to my mom’s on Sunday mornings, and we’d get in the car more or less just after she’d finished eating. Three weeks in a row she threw up,” remembers 30-year-old dog owner Casey Johns of Baltimore, Md. “We asked the vet about it, and he told us we needed to wait four hours after she ate to take her for a car ride. My husband and I don’t get car sick and can drive after eating with no problem, so it hadn’t occurred to us.” Lisa Peterson, a spokesperson for the American Kennel Club, concurs: No car rides after meals. Peterson weighed in with 10 additional rules for feeding your dog. >>10 Dog Feeding No-No’s for a Healthier Mealtime (12.3.08)

IF your dog goes off wandering instead of walkies, help is at hand. Just switch on the doggy sat-nav and you can track its every move. No need to put up pleading posters around the neighbourhood begging for the pooch’s return. The sat-nav, which is integrated into a waterproof dog collar, uses satellite, telecom and radio frequencies to pinpoint the animal’s whereabouts and alert the owner when it is on the move. At home, the collar can be switched off to save battery life, leaving a base station to send an alert if the dog wanders beyond its 410m range – big enough to cover most gardens. >>Doggy sat-nav to keep wanderers in check (12.3.08)

Ohio dog wardens were hunting lame duck yesterday as they sought to kill a bill they argued could turn them into stray-cat wardens with less money to do the job than they’re getting now. A major overhaul of state animal control law – sponsored by Rep. Shawn Webster (R., Hamilton), a veterinarian – would reclassify “dog wardens” as “animal control officers” and require them to wait at least two weeks before euthanizing dogs implanted with microchips. It also would require pet owners to have a veterinarian vaccinate their animals for rabies, double the slice of dog license fees that go to state veterinary research to 20 cents per license, and increase dog and kennel registration fees. >>Dog wardens protest changes that could turn their focus from canines to cats (12.3.08)

Vest-a-Dog raised more than $1,500 in the first weekend of the “Helping Paws for the Holidays” fundraiser at the The Pet Food Shoppe on Route 44 to purchase bulletproof vests for all the state’s K-9s. Dr. David Askew and wife Jane also personally donated two vests over the weekend. Askew, who has a dental practice in Dartmouth and New Bedford, said, “We just wanted to help out, help the dogs.” >>Every dog has his day – and vest (12.4.08)

An elderly border collie mix froze to the sidewalk when it was left outside overnight in single-digit temperatures, but the “morbidly obese” dog survived due to insulation from layers of fat, according to the Sheboygan County Humane Society. >>Dog outside overnight, freezes to sidewalk; survives because of ‘layers of fat’ (12.4.08)

By all accounts, Mazen the dog was aptly named. “His AKC name is ‘The Power to Amaze.’ Way back when, someone knew,” said his master, M. Farley Schlass. Mazen, a 6-year-old British golden retriever, has been a godsend to Mrs. Schlass in the almost four years they’ve been together. A 1993 auto accident left Mrs. Schlass, a Marshall attorney who, until recently, practiced out of Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair, with severe balance and ocular problems. >>Service dog offers more than someone to lean on, she says (12.4.08)

WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS: A graphic TV advert showing a fictional dog being used as a drugs mule forms part of a £1million government campaign against cocaine use. Its aim is to warn teenagers about the dangers of using the drug. In one advert a person can be seen placing his hands inside the ripped open stomach of fictional dog Pablo as he fishes around for drugs. >>Video: The latest weapon in the war on cocaine – a drug mule dog called Pablo (12.4.08)

Doctors who specialize in children’s allergies say children who are truly allergic to dogs shouldn’t get one. The most effective form of allergy treatment for them is avoidance. But President-elect Barack Obama has promised his daughters a dog when they move to the White House while also publicly acknowledging that daughter Malia is allergic. So the dog “has to be hypoallergenic,” he said at a press conference in November. The president-elect may have yet another dilemma on his hands — besides the economic crisis, that is. “Unless it just came out over the last couple of weeks, there is no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog,” said Dr. Frederick E. Leickly, professor of clinical pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine and allergy and immunology specialist at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. >>Pup fiction – Hypoallergenic dog does not exist (12.4.08)

A crew with a robotic camera and a backhoe managed to rescue Wednesday night, Dec. 3, a dog caught in a field drainage pipe. The dog, a 2-year-old German short hair boxer-mix named Zeke, had gone missing the day after Thanksgiving from the home of Rick Story, 7210 Old Troy Pike near St. Paris in Champaign County. Story said Wednesday that he had nearly given up hope. “I was thinking that it wouldn’t be a rescue; it would be a recovery,” he said. “Last night, my wife and I had pretty much decided he was gone.” >>Crews save dog stuck 450-feet in culvert (12.4.08)

VACCINATE, vaccinate, vaccinate is the message Tamworth veterinarian Peter Best wants to convey to dog owners in the Tamworth area following an outbreak of parvovirus. Dr Best told The Leader yesterday parvo had reached endemic proportions in the city. “In the past five days we have treated a total of nine dogs and have been forced to euthanaise five dogs with the virus,” Dr Best said. Dr Best said the most frustrating thing about the virus was that with simple vaccinations it could be prevented. “Parvo can be prevented with a three in one vaccine once each year and costs $18 plus a vet consultation. “The parvo vaccination is also available in a once-every-three-year dosage and costs $35 plus a vet consultation fee. It’s a small price to pay in comparison to what it costs to treat a dog with parvo,” he said. >>Dog owners urged by vet to vaccinate (12.5.08)

This Week In Dog News (Saturday, November 29, 2008 – Friday, December 5, 2008)

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