http://www.k9.net.nz Latest headlines from the k9 network Mon, 19 May 2008 16:48:30 GMT Mon, 19 May 2008 16:48:30 GMT web@k9.net.nz <p><font id="Zoom">It was more than 72 hours after the quake and no cry for help could be heard from the rubble of Beichuan Middle School amid the din of heavy machinery around. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">A rescue team from Chongqing was doing a last search on the school's collapsed main building, giving up hope of any survivors - when a sniffer dog barked.</font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">Rescuers started moving heavy concrete chunks at the spot and two hours later, they found a girl in coma, her legs wounded badly, but still breathing. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">She was reportedly the last survivor found in the school. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">The efficacy and efficiency of sniffer dogs have become legion in the quake-hit areas of Sichuan, where they are often seen as the last line of hope. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">More than 100 are working day and night, searching for signs of lingering life from corners and crevices that are beyond the reach of human senses. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">&quot;I've had my dog ever since he was a couple of months old but he's never been in such surroundings - the smell of bodies, the aftershocks and endless noise of power generators and hydraulic machines,&quot; said Qi Zhigang, keeper of Si Dao, a 6-year-old black Labrador.</font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">Qi, a firefighter from Jiangsu, has been in Beichuan since last Thursday with a team accompanied by eight sniffer dogs. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">&quot;Si Dao has been searching on and on, and when he detects something he barks and scratches the rubble,&quot; Qi said. &quot;He eats one meal per day and has slept only a couple of hours since we got here. He's really working hard.&quot; </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">Since Friday, Si Dao has managed to locate a few survivors but most of those he sniffed out were dead, Qi added. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">As time runs out for survivors, rescue workers are pinning their hopes on dogs to guide men and machines to trapped people. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">In Dujiangyan, a rescue team with seven dogs from Shandong province has soldiered on for almost 80 straight hours since last Tuesday and almost scoured the entire city. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">Many dogs have suffered injuries on their mouths or paws by broken glass, steel bars or nails in the debris. Typically, their keepers and they have a couple of hours' nap a day in a tent and then get back to work. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">Silver Tiger, one of the seven sniffer dogs from Yunnan province, even caught a cold last Friday after strenuous efforts - his keeper fed him pills and believes he will recover soon. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">Then, there is the mental stress. A dog from Zhejiang province started sobbing when searching through a building in the city of Mianzhu. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">Rescuers then found two bodies underneath the debris the dog pointed to. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">&quot;The dog has been taught to find people alive. He's never seen so many dead and he must be very grief-stricken,&quot; the dog's keeper said. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">There is no official count how many people have been saved by the dogs but they certainly had a hand to play in most of the miracle rescues. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">In the hard-hit city of Dujiangyan, the rescue team from Shandong sent two dogs to a collapsed factory building last Thursday after hearing there might be survivors. In just five minutes, the dogs pointed to four targets in the debris; and after four hours, rescuers dug out one survivor and four bodies. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">&quot;Every dog we brought has performed well,&quot; said Tang Hu, head of a fire brigade from Qingdao, Shandong province. His dogs have helped find dozens trapped in debris in Dujiangyan, including a pregnant woman and her mother under a collapsed 5-story building. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">The dogs have become heroes in the city. Many residents are refusing to clear debris unless a dog has confirmed there is nobody left underneath. Some families have cut the rations of their pet dogs to supply the professionals. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">The canine efforts are certainly being recognized and appreciated. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">The Ministry of Public Security ordered 100 pairs of special sheaths to be sent to Sichuan to protect the dogs from further injuries. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">China Eastern Airlines ignored rules for two dogs from Jiangsu: The rescue team did not carry cages for two dogs which should go into the freight cabin; instead, they traveled the same way passengers do. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">The dogs mainly came from three top bases: The Beijing Military Command, the China Seismological Bureau and the fire department in the northeastern city of Shenyang apart from fire departments around the country. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">There was in international flavor over the weekend as dogs from Japan, Russia, Singapore and South Korea landed together with their handlers and specialist equipment. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">Private organizations, too, are keen to contribute to the rescue mission. </font></p> <p><font id="Zoom">The Hangzhou Fire-fighting Sniffer Dogs Association - arguably the only such private society in the country - sent a German shepherd and a golden retriever just hours after the quake.</font></p> <p><font id="Zoom"> </font></p> http://www.k9.net.nz/blog/Trained-dogs-offer-sniff-of-a-chance-for-quake-survivors/ Mon, 19 May 2008 16:48:30 GMT <p class="first">The emotion in a dog's bark often seems obvious to us humans. But new research shows just how clear the message can be, at least to other dogs.</p> <p>The study is the first concrete evidence that dogs can perceive the difference between barks arising from different situations.</p> <p>While dog barking is hardly as complex as human language, experts now think it's clear that dogs are conveying their feelings to humans and other dogs.</p> <p>&quot;[Dogs] express basic emotions, and we have not yet found signs for more complex meanings, like 'this is the postman', 'this is the bill collector', 'this is the neighbour', etc,&quot; says Hungarian co-author P&eacute;ter Pongr&aacute;cz, a professor of animal behaviour at <a href="http://www.elte.hu/" target="_blank">E&ouml;tv&ouml;s Lor&aacute;nd University</a> in Budapest.</p> <p>&quot;We might call this functionally referential communication, as we are able to tell what kind of situation could elicit a particular kind of barking,&quot; he says.</p> <p>In earlier research, Pongr&aacute;cz's team found that people could indeed distinguish between different types of barks.</p> <p>For decades, however, dog experts were stumped about how to show dogs could do the same.</p> <p>For the new study, published online in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01681591" target="_blank"><em>Applied Animal Behaviour Science</em></a>, Pongr&aacute;cz and his team found a way to do that.</p> <h3>Listen and learn</h3> <p>The researchers first recruited pet dogs of various breeds from training schools, to serve as listeners.</p> <p>Next, the scientists made recordings of Hungarian mudis (herding dogs) barking in two different situations.</p> <p>One set of recordings was made when a stranger entered the property where a given dog lived. The second set was made when the dogs were tethered to a tree and left alone.</p> <p>Two types of mechanical noise, an electric drill and a refrigerator, were control sounds.</p> <p>The scientists next fitted each of the listening dogs with a heart rate monitor.</p> <p>While the sound of all dog barks caused a listening dog's heart rate to jump, hearing a certain type of bark consistently over time stabilised the heart rate.</p> <p>Even though they could get used to the distress barks, the listening dogs always showed a jump in heart rate when the researchers switched from one type of recorded bark to the other.</p> <p>This evidence for a change in attentiveness shows that not all barks sound the same to other dogs.</p> <p>The researchers also think it's likely that the dogs understand the different contexts producing the barks they hear.</p> <h3>Barking for each other or humans?</h3> <p>Previously, other researchers thought domesticated dogs barked primarily for our benefit, since neither adult wolves nor feral dogs bark.</p> <p>&quot;We think barking existed in the ancestor of the dogs, but the present form of variability and abundance of barking is the product of domestication in dogs,&quot; Pongr&aacute;cz says.</p> <p>He says that domesticated dogs must have learned how to bark to other domesticated dogs later, as a form of communication additional to visual and scent cues.</p> <p>Anna Taylor, a UK researcher in the Department of Psychology at the <a href="http://www.sussex.ac.uk/" target="_blank">University of Sussex</a>, also studies dogs.</p> <p>&quot;[The new study] gives a convincing demonstration that dogs do indeed perceive acoustic differences between barks recorded in different contexts,&quot; she says.</p> <p>She adds that the findings will inspire future studies to determine how this ability to decipher barks affects dog behaviour.</p> http://www.k9.net.nz/blog/Barking-dogs-have-something-to-say/ Sun, 04 May 2008 23:17:23 GMT <p>Dogs prevent children getting allergies, a new study has revealed. Children living with a dog in the house are less sensitive to allergens in the early years, according to the study. <br /> <br /> Scientists for the <a href="http://erj.ersjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/09031936.00092807v1" target="_blank" title="European Respiratory Journal: dog ownership and children's allergies">European Respiratory Journal</a> conclude that growing up with a dog in the house is thought to train the immune system, making children less sensitive to asthma, eczema and hay fever. <br /> <br /> The German study, which lasted six years and involved 9,000 children, comes after <a href="http://www.countrylife.co.uk/news/country/article/252913/039Ban_dogs_from_bedroom039.html" target="_blank" title="Country Life: chief vet says, 'ban dogs from bedroom'">the chief vet's recent warning</a> that dogs should be banned from the bedroom because of the bacteria they carry. <br /> <br /> Joachim Heinrich of the National Research Centre for Environmental Health in Munich, said: 'Our results show clearly that the presence of a dog in the home during subjects&rsquo; infancy is associated with a significantly low level of sensitisation to pollens and inhaled allergens.'</p> <p>Children were tested from birth to the age of six, and were not asked to remember anything, which is said to make for fairer results. <br /> <br /> Professor Heinrich said however, that although children raised in households with dogs had blood that indicated that they were less likely to develop allergies, in real life they were actually no less likely to develop allergies than a child in a household without a dog. <br /> <br /> 'It is not crystal clear why this is so,' said Professor Heinrich, adding that it may be in later life that the actual benefits materialise. <br /> <br /> The study did say, however, that early exposure to dogs mean that children are likely to be less sensitive to allergens in the early years.</p> http://www.k9.net.nz/blog/Dogs-help-prevent-children-developing-allergies/ Sun, 04 May 2008 21:44:59 GMT <div class="summaryParagraph">Neighbors hope gift at a block party helps Torrance mail carrier heal from a pit bull attack on his route.</div> <p>Two months after letter carrier Moon Choi was attacked by a pit bull, residents along his Torrance route gave him a hero's welcome Saturday.</p> <p>And then they gave him a puppy. &quot;A very unintimidating puppy,&quot; as one neighbor put it.</p> <!--startclickprintexclude--> <!--endclickprintexclude--> <p>Choi's own dog had recently died, and with the approval of his wife, residents surprised him with Happy, a 7-week-old maltipoodle - half Maltese and half poodle.</p> <p>Surrounded by neighbors, Choi cupped the tiny dog in his hands and pressed it to his face. &quot;I'm so happy,&quot; he said. &quot;Thank you so much.&quot;</p> <p>The party was a chance for residents along Amapola Avenue to tell Choi how much they appreciated his years of service and how much they missed him. It was the first time they had seen him since the Aug. 20 attack that sent the 60-year-old Choi to the hospital with severe facial wounds.</p> <p>On Saturday, he showed residents his scars, told them how he nearly lost an eye and reassured them that he's recovering after undergoing reconstructive surgery.</p> <p>&quot;The doctor said it was the worst bite he's ever seen,&quot; Choi said.</p> <p>Residents along the quiet residential street said they couldn't remember a time when Choi didn't deliver the mail. But it wasn't until he was gone that they realized how much they appreciated him.</p> <p>&quot;He's one of the old-fashioned postmen,&quot; said Francis Higgins, who hosted the event in her backyard that drew dozens of well-wishers. &quot;He enjoyed my garden and brought me plants.&quot;</p> <p>Choi was walking past a home in the 700 block of Amapola during his rounds when a white-and-brindle pit bull named Chucky jumped over a fence and attacked him. After a so-called vicious dog hearing on Sept. 10, the dog was euthanized, residents said.</p> <p>Although many of the residents had lived on the block for decades, many of them had never been introduced. &quot;This is the first time we got together like this,&quot; Blake Higuchi said.</p> <p>Trez Condon moved to Utah last year, but felt she had to return to show her appreciation to the man who always had a smile on his face.</p> <p>&quot;He's special to us,&quot; Condon said. &quot;Mostly it's his cheerfulness.&quot;</p> <!--startclickprintexclude--> <!--endclickprintexclude--> <p>Nikki Volaski grew up on the street and has known Choi since she was a little girl.</p> <p>&quot;I've never gotten attached to a mailman before,&quot; she said. &quot;He's always friendly and super nice. And he loves dogs. What happened should never happen to anybody, but especially not Moon.&quot;</p> <p>After being greeted with hugs from nearly everybody in attendance, Choi said he still faced a round of tests before he could return to work. But he hoped it would be soon.</p> <p>&quot;I love these people,&quot; he said. &quot;I want to come back.&quot;</p> http://www.k9.net.nz/blog/Puppy-Love/ Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:00:39 GMT <p>CASSELTON, N.D. (AP) &mdash; Pheasant hunting season brings out the best in Tess, a 5-year-old German wirehaired pointer who became a national champion despite the loss of one leg. &quot;When you let her out of the truck, she's hunting from the second she jumps off that tailgate. Just like that,&quot; said the dog's owner, Keith Kemmer, snapping his fingers.</p> <p>&quot;She never quits. The other dogs, by the end of the day, they'll come up and lay by the truck. Not her.&quot;</p> <p>It was Kemmer who accidentally ran over the dog's right rear leg with his pickup about four years ago. He said he was devastated, not only for the dog's suffering, but also because she had shown great promise as a pointer.</p> <p>&quot;I thought about it all night long. Should I put her down?&quot; Kemmer said. &quot;Then I thought maybe I could make a pet out of her. A house pet.&quot;</p> <p>Tess still qualifies as a house pet. She's the only one of Kemmer's three hunting dogs who gets to come inside. But she's also developed into the prize-winning hunting dog that Kemmer envisioned when he got her.</p> <p>Tess still had stitches from the amputation when Kemmer let her tag along on a pheasant hunt. His other two dogs, who were still in the puppy stage, had trouble finding a downed pheasant. Kemmer gave Tess a chance.</p> <p>&quot;Within five minutes, she had it,&quot; Kemmer said. &quot;She hadn't yet learned how to balance and she couldn't retrieve. So she just stood on the pheasant.&quot;</p> <p>That's when the training began.</p> <p>Two years ago she registered a perfect score in the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association's premier event. Only 100 out of about 4,500 dogs qualify for the competition. Tess was one of only 32 dogs to become a versatile champion.</p> <p>Nate Larson, a dog trainer from Isabel, S.D., said many hunters in the area have heard about the story of Tess.</p> <p>&quot;You cannot train that into an animal,&quot; Larson said. &quot;Obviously that dog came from stock ... that had just plain heart. A lot of dogs in that situation would have quit on you.&quot;</p> <p>Kemmer jokes about his dog's celebrity status.</p> <p>&quot;She's kind of a showoff. She shows up on test day,&quot; he said, smiling.</p> <p>Kemmer said she's even better out in the field, where she should be this weekend during North Dakota's pheasant hunting opener. Her best skill is finding birds and pointing, he said.</p> <p>&quot;A lot of dogs point at like a hot scent or where birds were,&quot; Kemmer said. &quot;When she points, 999 times out of 1,000 there's a bird there. And 995 times it's going to be a rooster.&quot;</p> <p>Although she labors at times while walking, Tess has few problems running, swimming and jumping. The only obstacles that give her pause are slippery grass and heavy snow.</p> <p>&quot;She can jump better than she let's me think she can,&quot; Kemmer said, smiling. &quot;At the end of the day I still pick her up to put her in the pickup. I guess she has me well-trained.&quot;</p> http://www.k9.net.nz/blog/Loss-of-Leg-Doesnt-Stop-Hunting-Dog/ Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:57:53 GMT <p>&nbsp;YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan &mdash; The dogs finally had their day at Yokota.</p> <p>Dozens of owners trotted their pets out to &ldquo;Puptoberfest 2007&rdquo; on Saturday, a K-9 jamboree that featured contests, activities and giveaways. A demonstration by security forces military working dogs also was held.</p> <p>Competitions included: Strut Your Mutt, Pet Look-a-Like, Best Trick, Best Halloween Costume and Most Unique Pet. Others checked out Puppy Playland, enjoyed free funnel cakes and posed for photos with their little best friends.</p> <p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m extremely pleased with the turnout today,&rdquo; said Army Staff Sgt. Francesca Ross, noncommissioned officer in charge of the Japan District Veterinary Command, who helped organize the show. &ldquo;Everybody is having a great time. ... The owners really enjoyed the games. They wanted to show off their dogs a little.&rdquo;</p> <p>A treasure hunt, sit-and-stay obedience event, and bobbing for ducks in a pool were among the contests.</p> <p>Ross says she was part of dog festivals during past assignments in Italy and North Carolina, but this marked her first at Yokota. She credited Army Spc. Steven Allen, a co-worker, for bringing Saturday&rsquo;s showcase together.</p> <p>Christina Greene and her husband, Martin, a first lieutenant and UH-1 pilot for the 459th Airlift Squadron, had no intentions of putting their 4-year-old beagle/Siberian Husky mix up against the other dogs that turned out. But when organizers announced the &ldquo;Most Unique Pet&rdquo; contest, she said they couldn&rsquo;t resist.</p> <p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t find another one like her,&rdquo; Greene said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just her appearance. She has soft fur, she&rsquo;s affectionate. She has this little tan body and light blue eyes. They kind of strike at you.&rdquo;</p> <p>And &ldquo;Jazmin&rdquo; didn&rsquo;t disappoint, captivating the judges to win the only competition she&rsquo;s ever been in. The Greenes picked up a $20 AAFES gift certificate, while their pup walked away with a batch of new toys.</p> <p>Senior Airman Aneisha Knight of the 374th Operations Support Squadron had to work Saturday but dropped by during her lunch break with &ldquo;Champ,&rdquo; her 2-year-old Yorkie.</p> <p>&ldquo;We came out to see the other dogs. He doesn&rsquo;t get out much,&rdquo; Knight said, adding they didn&rsquo;t enter any contests. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t do anything special, but he&rsquo;s having a good time.&rdquo;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://www.k9.net.nz/blog/Yokota-dogs-revel-in-‘Puptoberfest’/ Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:55:46 GMT <p>Bill Mikolajczyk has gone from selling 700-pound motorcycles to selling sparkling, silver jewelry to poodles.<br /> <br /> The retired Harley-Davidson dealer has opened a doggy boutique in Anthem with another planned for Cave Creek.<br /> <br /> Dusty Paws Pet Boutique opened in April. The store specializes in holistic foods and accessories.</p> <!-- BOXAD TABLE --> <!-- END BOX AD TABLE --> <p>&quot;It's not too upscale,&quot; said Mikolajczyk, 45, a transplant from Massachusetts. &quot;It's more middle of the road, not too froufrou or over the top. The store is not something you would find in Scottsdale.&quot; <br /> <br /> Mikolajczyk grew up around dogs and he and his wife dreamed of opening the shop. He recently retired as a Harley-Davidson dealer in Cape Cod and moved to Arizona.<br /> <br /> &quot;It is wild, but you will find that most Harley guys love their pets,&quot; Mikolajczyk said. &quot;It is not as far apart as you think.&quot;<br /> <br /> The store is a first for the community.<br /> <br /> &quot;We decided to open a store in Anthem because there was nothing else around in the community,&quot; said Jamie Mikolajczyk, 31, a partner in the store and owner of an American bulldog named Chase. &quot;Most people have pets. We decided to sell healthy, all-natural, holistic food and then we brought in accessories like beds, clothing, jewelry and collars. We sell everything, but half of the store is for food and treats.&quot;<br /> <br /> Dusty Paws is also part of a growing trend of treating pets to the same pure foods that humans appreciate. <br /> <br /> But the accessories, including bling-bling shirts, jewelry and sweaters are what set the store apart from other pet places.<br /> <br /> One-of-a-kind sweaters are knitted by a local woman and resemble human sweaters. Unlike other pet sweaters, these come in sizes for bigger dogs.<br /> <br /> The store also carries jewelry created by L.A. designer Tarina Tarrentino,who started out designing jewelry for people but discovered there was a demand for high-end pieces for pets.</p> http://www.k9.net.nz/blog/Boutique-for-dogs-not-too-froufrou/ Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:53:40 GMT <p>This USB drive holds 512MB of doggie data like pictures and its favorite diet, which is perfect for attaching to an actual dog so whenever it gets lost, people can use it to figure out exactly where to return the dog to. The best part is that it's chewy and rubbery, so if it ever gets eaten it'll come out the other side relatively intact&mdash;unlike other USB drives.</p> http://www.k9.net.nz/blog/USB-dog-tag-IDs-your-dog/ Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:16:11 GMT <p>A West Midlands primary school has introduced a puppy into the classroom to help children enjoy their learning.</p> <p>Pupils at Rough Hay Primary School in Wednesbury, England are encouraged to include Betty in everything in a move to help teach them responsibility.</p> <p>The school said the springer spaniel is having a positive effect at the school and on results.</p> <p>Deputy head teacher Anne-Marie Reese said that the pet was also helping to cheer children up. <!-- E SF --></p> <p>&quot;Sometimes the pupils can be distressed or upset and we can take them to see Betty who can cheer them up.</p> <p>&quot;Sometimes children don't want to talk to adults they would rather talk to a pet,&quot; she said.</p> <p>The pupils also appeared to enjoy having the puppy around.</p> <p>One girl said: &quot;She is all over you and you feel like safe with her there as you know she'll protect you.&quot;<!-- E BO --></p> http://www.k9.net.nz/blog/Puppy-helps-pupils-enjoy-lessons/ Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:14:18 GMT <p>VIRGINIA A kitten has found a new mother in a golden retriever, right, which began producing milk after hearing the cat&rsquo;s cries.</p> <p>The dog, named Honey, had not given birth in 18 months when its owner, Jimmy Martin, took the kitten home after it ran in front of his concrete lorry in Stephens City.</p> <p>Mr Martin&rsquo;s wife, Kathy, said: &ldquo;She started licking her and loving her. Within a couple of days, Honey started naturally lactating. The kitten took right to her, and she started nursing her.&rdquo; The kitten, named Precious, had refused to drink from a bottle, and the family feared that it might die. They were told by a veterinary surgeon that interspecies nursing happened on rare occasions, the Winchester Star reported.</p> http://www.k9.net.nz/blog/Kitten-is-bitten-with-puppy-love/ Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:12:30 GMT