dogcents

Here’s a pooch who took the phrase “baby sitter” literally. When “RC”, a German Shepherd/Husky mix, discovered 2-year-old Vincent Rhodey wandering around in the freezing cold wearing only a t-shirt, he sat on him.

Baby Vincent had strayed from his home in the early morning hours in Canonsburg, PA where temperatures dipped as low as 32°F (0°C). Not only was the child in danger of hypothermia, he was also ambling dangerously close to a 30′ precipice overhanging a busy street.

RC curled up with the boy in his outdoor bed of straw until around 9am when Terry Bard, the dog’s guardian, found them.

“He was laying on top of the baby,” Mr. Bard describes. “The dog’s definitely a hero.” 1

Canonsburg police arrived at around 8:30 and located Vincent’s mother Angela Harps next door where she was sleeping. They found a door of her house open.

“I feel really guilty, and I regret all of it,” she told reporters. I didn’t mean for it to happen.” 1

Ms. Harps is now facing child endangerment charges. Her son, whom doctors determined to be ok, has been placed in the custody of his maternal grandparents.

RC was reportedly agitated to see Vincent go. Says Mr. Bard, “He was jumping around, wagging his tail. He kind of lost his little friend. He wanted to stick with him.” 2

T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
With no thought of their poor dog filling their head.
And mamma in her ‘flannel PJ’s and I in my cap,
Knew he was cold, but didn’t care about that.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Figuring the dog had gotten free of his chain and into the trash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below,
When, whom in front of my eyes should appear,
But Santa Clause - with eyes full of tears.
He unchained the dog, who laid quietly still,
Last years Christmas present, now painfully thin and also quiet ill..
More rapid than eagles he called the Dog’s name.
And the dog ran to him, despite all his pain;
“Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Let’s find this Lab a home where he’ll be loved by all”
I knew in an instant there would be no gifts this year,
For Santa had made one thing quite clear,
The gift of a dog is not just for the season,
We had gotten the pup for all the wrong reasons.
In our haste to think of the kids a gift
There was one important thing that we missed.
A Dog should be family, and cared for the same
You don’t give a gift, then put it on a chain.
And I heard him exclaim as he rode out of sight,
” You weren’t giving a gift! You were giving a life!”

Its that time of the year when we all treat ourselves to all those delicious fatty foods and rich desserts. How can such delicious food hurt us and its only twice a year Thanksgiving and Christmas. Besides how can we resist such tasty looking dishes Excuses! Excuses! Smile But who can blame us I surely don’t for I myslef indulge in the festivities. Have Fun but be Safe our beloved pets also love to eat lots of goodies this time of year but such fatty rich food can make our beloved pet sick so be sure not to leave any large plate of leftovers on the table where he can reach it. Because once you leave the room or just turn around for a few seconds you can bet it will be gone and who is the culprit? Look no further he’s the one licking his Chomps.. We can’t get mad at him altho we do have to scold him so he knows he did somethng bad. And we have to learned to be extra careful since then. I know we got lucky that time - my dog could have gotten pretty sick.
Each Thanksgiving, tons of dogs get very sick from eating rich, fatty foods or getting into decorations. Others run off because a guest left the door open - returning with injuries or becoming lost. Veterinary emergency clinics get pretty busy this time of year with cases that could have been avoided with some extra attention to details. Thanksgiving in the US is just a few short days away! By now I am sure you are all geared up for the holiday and have your plans set. If you plan on spending Thanksgiving with your dog, remember to play it safe - keep an eye on your dog, the food, the decorations and the doors! Enjoy Thanksgiving and give thanks for all the hblessings you have and open your hearts up and share with those who you can brighten up their Holiday as well. Just go to DOGCENTS , and give a small donation to help feed and give shelter to these poor street dogs who need your . Just go and visit Dogcents and share just a little of what you have and feel good about yourself.

There is a dog by the name of Homer..He came from the rescue program. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this type of adoption, imagine taking in a 10 year old child whom you know nothing about and committing to doing your best to be a good parent.. Now as the story goes

….. Like a child, the dog came with his own idiosyncrasies. He would only sleep on the bed, on top of the covers, nuzzled as close to owners face as he could get without actually performing a French kiss on him. Lest you think this is a bad case of ‘no discipline,’ that they tried every means to break him of this habit including locking him in a separate bedroom for several nights.

…. It was the time of Thanksgiving for family, extended family and a lot of friends.d a lot of friends.The owner of the dog Homer,was assigned the task of preparing 124 of yeast dinner rolls for the two Thanksgiving feasts. Since the kitchen was freshly painted you can imagine the odor. Not wanting the rolls to smell like Sherwin Williams latex paint #586, THe rolls were put on baking sheets and set in the living room to rise for 5 hours. After 3 hours, Homers owner, decided to go out to eat, returning in about an hour.

…. An hour later the rolls were ready to go in the oven. It was 8:30 pm. When he went to the living room to retrieve the pans, much to his shock one whole pan of 12 rolls was empty. He called out to Homer and his worst nightmare became a reality. Homer, literally wobbled over to his owner, He looked like a combination of the Pillsbury dough boy and the Michelin Tire man wrapped up in fur. He groaned when he walked. His cheeks were bloated.

….Right away the vet was called. After a few seconds of uproarious laughter, the vet told him the dog would probably be OK, however, it needed to be given Pepto Bismol every 2 hours for the rest of the night. And why anyone would think a dog would like Pepto Bismol any more than kids did when they were sick. Suffice to say that by the time they went to bed the dog was black, white and pink. Homer was so bloated they had to lift him onto the bed for the night.

….Naively thinking the dog would be all better by morning was very stupid on his owners part. Early in the morning at 7:30 and as always the first thing; put the dog out to relieve himself. Well, the darn dog was as drunk as a sailor on his first leave. He was running into walls, falling flat on his butt and most of the time when he was walking his front half was going one direction and the other half was either dragging the grass or headed 90 degrees in another direction. He couldn’t lift his leg to pee, so he would just walk and pee at the same time. When he ran down the small incline of the back yard he couldn’t stop himself and nearly ended up running into the fence. His pupils were dilated and he was as dizzy as a loon.

….Laughing the vet (second call within 12 hours) before he explained that the yeast had fermented in his belly and that he was indeed drunk. He assured Homers owners that, not unlike most binges we humans go through, it would wear off after about 4 or 5 hours and to keep giving him Pepto Bismol.

……..Afraid to leave him by himself in the house. THey loaded him up and took him to the sister’s house for the first Thanksgiving meal of the day. THe sister lives outside of Muskogee on a ranch, (10 to 15 minute drive). Rolls firmly secured in the trunk (124 less 12) and drunk dog leaning from the back seat onto the console of the car they took off.

…. Now I know you probably don’t that dogs burp, but it was told that after eating a tray of risen unbaked yeast rolls, DOGS WILL BURP. These burps were pure Old Charter. They would have matched or beat any smell in a drunk tank at the police station. But that’s not the worst of it. Now Homer was beginning to fart and they smelled like baked rolls.

…. Once Homer was firmly placed in the sister’s garage with the door locked, they finally sat down to enjoy the first Thanksgiving meal of that day. The dog was the topic of conversation all morning long and everyone made trips to the garage to witness the drunk dog, each returning with a tale of Homers latest endeavor to walk without running into something.

…. Of course, as the old adage goes,what goes in must come out” and Homer was no exception. Granted if it had been me that had eaten 12 risen, unbaked yeast rolls, you might as well have put a concrete block up my behind, but alas a dog’s digestive system is quite different from yours or mine. It was discovered this was a mixed blessing when they prepared to leave the house. Having discovered Homers “packages” on the garage floor, Homer was loaded up in the car so they could hose down the floor.

….This was another naive decision on their part.

….. The blast of water from the hose hit the poop on the floor and the poop on the floor withstood the blast from the hose. It was like Portland cement beginning to set up and cure. It finally was remove with a shovel. Homers owner had to get on his hands and knees with a coarse brush to get the remnants off of the floor. And as if this wasn’t degrading enough, the darn dog in his drunken state had walked through the poop and left paw prints all over the garage floor that had to be brushed too.

…. Well, by this time the dog was sobering up nicely so they took him home and dropped him off before we going to the second Thanksgiving dinner at the sister’s house. THe report as of today is that the dog is back to normal both in size and temperament. He has had a bath and is no longer tricolor. None the worse for wear I presume.

…. I am also happy to repoprt that that evening 2 risen unbaked yeast rolls hidden inside my closet door. It appears he must have come to his senses after eating 10 of them but decided hiding 2 of them for later would not be a bad idea.

….Homers owner is still doing research on the computer as to “How to clean unbaked dough from the Carpet.” And how was your Day?

When a dog consumes chocolate either in moderate amounts or in large quantities, it might result in nausea, accelerated heart beat, accelerated breathing otherwise known as hyperventilating and vomiting. Even very small quantities of chocolates given over a period of time to the dogs can cause delirious effects to the organs of the body such as liver.

A dog that has been affected seriously can experience seizures and to a greater extent leading towards its death. Since dogs and cats have different digestive systems as they are carnivores by nature unlike the human beings, it is advised that they are not fed with chocolates even in moderate quantities.

The substances in chocolates such as the theobromine, theophyline and caffeine belong to the group call methylxanthine alkaloids that they may not be digested or metabolized by dogs in an effective manner. When chocolate is consumed by dogs, those substances are known to stay in the blood stream of the dogs for even up to 20 hours that the dogs might experience hallucinations, epileptic seizures, racy heartbeats, internal bleeding and also death. If some one thinks that the dogs might die only if they consume huge quantities of chocolate, he is wrong as one chocolate bar is enough to cause excessive illness leading to death in dogs.

The owners of the dogs or any guest who visit the house having dogs are not advised to treat the animal with chocolates assuming that it might not harm them. This is even applicable to other pets in the household. When a dog accidentally consumes chocolate, they should be taken to the veterinarian immediately to avoid any serious problems to the animal. They are usually induced to vomit the chocolate they have consumed to avoid any further complications. Even recipes containing chocolates should not be given to the dogs.

Please spread this message to all to help prevent our loving pets falling victims to poison due to chocolates. Dog and Chocolate Info says to spread the word..

The pups’ owners, who have thus far remained anonymous, originally set up the Puppy cam to make sure the litter didn’t get into harm’s way while they were out of the house. And it’s come in handy. In an interview with People magazine, they said they hurried home twice when they noticed some puppies had gone astray.

But they also discovered the Internet can spread news of online cuteness like wildfire. Numbers of Puppy cam watchers continue to mushroom — even on a sleepy Saturday morning, some 10,000 people watched the puppies on their computers while TODAY spoke with Hunstable and Ustream co-founder Ham.

One of the puppies’ human parents told People there’s more than just fun and games involved with the success of the Puppy cam. “We’ve received a number of e-mails from people who are in hospitals battling various diseases who have told us that they look to the Shiba Inu puppy cam as a way to liven up their spirits.”

But in heartbreaking news for the folks who have become attached (or even addicted) to the cute-and-then-some brood, there’s no chance of taking in one of the litter. The owners say all puppies are spoken for at this point.

But Ham told Holt and Robach that Ustream isn’t going to let their star attractions get away that easily.

“The adorable little guys are all going to great homes here in about three weeks, and we’re actually going to send webcams with them so we can follow them through the Internet in their new homes,” Ham said. Source: today show

Harry Truman said, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Plenty of presidents did, and other pets besides.

WASHINGTON - Malia and Sasha Obama will have to wait at least two more months for that puppy their dad promised them.

President-elect Barack Obama said on Election Night that he had promised his young daughters that they could get a dog once the race was over.

But the pup won’t become part of the first family until after they move into the White House on Jan. 20.

In an interview with her husband broadcast Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” future first lady Michelle Obama said: “We’re on call-mode on the dog front. Because the deal with the dog was that we would get the dog after we got settled. Because as responsible owners we — I don’t think it would be good to get a dog in the midst of transition.”

She added: “We cut that deal with the kids before … America knew about it. So they’re — they’re good with it.”

Still, “They’re ready for us to get the dog now,” she acknowledged.

The family wants a dog from a shelter, and they need one that will not trigger 10-year-old Malia’s allergies.

“We’re getting a lot of suggestions though,” the president-elect told CBS. “Boy, I mean the — people are sending suggestions. And we’re taking it all under advisement.”

If your’re leery of using chemical products on you dog or home, there are a number of Plant, vitamin, and herbal-based natural flea treatments available. Adding garlic ( which I recommend for I know it works I have used it in my dogs food. Just sprinkle a small amount each time you feed them) or brewers yeast to a dogs food has long been thought to keep fleas from alighting and biting. Since both are ordinary food products nd not harmful to dogs, there’s really nothing to lose by giving them a try.
Herbal flea collars and powders are also popular and widely available.
Eucalyptus, fennel, rosemary, rue, wormwood, and yellow dock all seem to act as flea repellents. To make your own herbal flea powder, combine equal amounts of these herbs and mix them well. Sprinkle a small amount of the powder on your dog’s coat and massage it in thoroughly, making sure to work it all the way down to the skin. You can also use a drop or two of the essential oils of eucalyptus and rosemary on a plain canvas or fabric-covered collar.
As with any flea collar, though, watch for signs of hair loss or skin irritation aroung the neck, and be careful that the dog doesn’t chew on the collar. You can also buy ready-made herbal flea collars at pet supply and natural food stores.

There’s no doubt. Fleas can be bane of a dog’s and owner’s existence. The little critters are amazing. THey’ve got tiny legs and no wings, yet they can leap tall dogs in a single bound. Scientists have identified nearly 2,000 species of fleas, but ironically, its Ctenocephalides felis– the cat flea– that gives the dogs the most grief..
Dogs with fleas can be a real problem. Fleas are blood suckers, and where there’s one, you can be certain there are a whole lot more. Besides the usual minor itching and scratching a flea infestation causes, some dogs are extra-sensitive to flea saliva. Just one bite may be enough to bring on the unbearable itching of flea-allergy dermatitis (FAD). In severe cases, the cycle of itching and scratching causes the dog’s skin to thicken and her hair to fall out. The raw skin is also more vulnerable to bacterial infections.
Fortunately, there are a variety of well-tested and readily available products to kill orrepel fleas. Borates used in those powdered flea control products you sprinkle on your carpets, cause adult fleas, eggs, and larvae to lose moisture and dry up. New weapons in the war on fleas include lufenuron, the active ingredient in the recently developed flea-control pill that interferes with the flea egg’s ability to hatch. Several products, including Frontline, K9 Advantix, Advantage, and Revolution, kill adult fleas on contact and have long-lasting effects. Contact your veterinarian for more information on these flea products.
Whatever flea-control products you choose always read and follow directions precisely.
Never assume if a little is good, a lot will be better. Every flea product (natural or other) is a poison of some kind, and, if used incorrectly, can be dangerous.

What to Do About It

Even with all the new safer and longer-lasting flea-control products available, you still need to follow some basic rules to the letter in order to get the upper hand with fleas.

Build a flea trap. While building flea traps won’t rid your house of fleas, it’s a good way to verify that you’ve got them in your house and determine how severe an infestation you’re dealing with. Hang a light source over a sticky, disposable surface (flypaper works well for this) or a bowl of soapy water. The heat from the light source attracts any nearby fleas, many of which will then get caught on the sticky surface or in the water. You’ll notice the fleas as small, dark, flat-bodied insects, roughly the size of the commas in this sentence.
Give fleas an eviction notice. You absolutely must treat all dogs and cats, as well as the premises — all at the same time — and be diligent about follow-up treatment and future preventative treatment. Treat carpets with a borate-based powder. Spray the yard, too. Ideally, you should use an outdoor flea-control product that is long-lasting, kills adult fleas, and contains insect growth regulators to catch immature fleas before they can grow up and repopulate your property. Moist, shady areas are favorite flea playgrounds and breeding grounds, so clear out falled leaves, pine needles, wood, and garbage from under trees, shrubs, and plants. If spraying the whole grounds isn’t feasible, try to at least concentrate on areas your dog frequents: around the doghouse, along the fence line, under the porch, and so on.
Professional pest-control companies can handle flea control for you. But before you sign the contract, get written information on the compounds and method of application the company uses. Run the list by your veterinarian.
Take your dog for a dip. Actually, the best thing to do with a dog who has fleas while the premises are being “de-fleaed” is to take her to the veterinarian for a medicated dip or other flea treatment. In fact, that’s also a good idea for an effective flea-control program. Your vet may choose to give your dog lufenuron for flea control, which is given as a monthly pill. In warm areas like southern California, dogs on lufenuron get their pills year-round. In temperate areas of the country, where winter gets cold enough to kill off fleas, the pills are only given during flea season — from early spring to sometime in the fall. Talk to your vet about the options, though. It may be that one of the topical treatments works best for you and your dog. Topicals hit fleas right where they live — on the outside of your dog — and start working immediately.
If your dog loves to swim or play in the water, or gets bathed frequently, a topical can get washed off, though. Newer topical products like Frontline have very long residual effects, only needing to be applied every two or three months, and they don’t wash off. Fleas can develop resistance to a particular product in a surprisingly short time, so your veterinarian may recommend a program of alternating products and treatment strategies.
Treat hot spots. Dogs with flea-allergy dermatitis often develop hot spots — moist, infected areas of the skin. To soothe hot spots, mix one part melaleuca oil (tea tree oil) and one part water. Put the solution in a spray bottle, and use it whenever your dog is biting or scratching. You can also apply a natural menthol liniment such as Absorbine Jr. a few times a day until the area dries up.

When to Call the Vet

Heavy drooling and a case of the shakes are the most likely early signs of chemical poisoning. If you see these symptoms in your dog — whether during the course of a flea-control program or not — get her to the vet immediately. Left untreated, chemical poisoning may quickly progress to convulsions, collapse, coma, and even death.