Girl Found With MicrochipAdam Goldfarb, HSUS
The 3-year old girl went missing with her dog. It is not known if the girl left and the dog followed, or if the dog left and the girl followed. This all took place while the parents were sleeping. The local police found the girl, but unfortunately she was too young to tell them where she lived. Animal Control came on the scene and checked to see if the dog had a microchip. They found a chip and called the 1-800 number. Within 30 minutes of finding the girl, they had the address of where the girl lived. What makes this story more heartwarming is the fact that the dog, named Angel, was adopted from a shelter the previous week.
Landscaping With Your Pet In Mind Scott Cohen & Carolyn Doherty, Petscaping
Scott is a landscape designer and Carolyn is a pet trainer. Scott has actually been doing petscaping consultations for years, trying to help out clients with dogs. However, he states it isn't always just a landscaping solution; there are some training issues in there too! Scott and Carolyn started talking about it more, when they decided that, "There is a book here!" As a result, Petscaping came about. Scott states that there are a lot of things that make a pet friendly zone in your yard. One thing is actually controlling the area where the pets are allowed to be, either with gates or fencing. Pet friendly areas also have non-poisonous plants for your dog. These areas also allow your dog to go through the yard on pathways, without damaging your landscape and hardscape so that you can share your yard with your pet. How many yards have you seen where the dog has taken over the outdoor space and no one entertains there anymore! When setting up your yard, Carolyn mentions that you should set up areas where your pet can do exactly what it is that they want to do. These areas should be designed so they can tear them up, play or even dig, which are all encouraged. This area can still be designed so it looks great while your dog has fun! Most people think that if you give your dog an area in the yard to dig that they won't know the difference, and will dig up the entire yard. Carolyn states that this is where the training comes in. If your dog wants to do something that you don't want him to do, you give him a place to do it and you give him a way to do it (be that digging, barking, etc.). You teach him that there is a place and time to do these things. You do this by praising and giving treats when he does it at the right time and in the right place. Now, when they are digging in the wrong place, it is much easier for them to take this correction and understand, because they are given an outlet in an approved place.
Carolyn does give a great tip. Be careful what you let your dog see you do in the yard and what kind of message you are sending. Chances are if your dog watches you plant things like trees, he sees his owner that he adores dig holes and put a stick in the ground. So, the next obvious step to him is that you would be delighted if he dug that tree back up and brought it to you or even to a different part of the yard. You can give your dog a place to do this on his own, but never let them participate with you in the gardening process. Petscaping is a great book that combines not just the landscaping with your pet in mind, but also the training that comes with it.
Testicular Implants for Pets Gregg Miller, Neuticles
The texture and firmness of Neuticle Naturals were crafted based on the firmness of actual animal testicles. They replicate the testicle in actual size, shape and weight and feel. Loving pet owners are less 'neuter-hesitant' and their pet is unaware that he has, in fact, been altered. With Neuticles- it's like nothing ever changed. So, if this is the answer to more people neutering their dogs, then so be it! Not only will it control the pet overpopulation, your dog will live a longer, healthier, happier life!
The Dogfather's Grooming Tip with Joey Villani
Winterize Your Pets Fashionably You might not realize it, but you really need to winterize your pet if you live in a harsh climate. You can't just put your dog out in cold weather and expect them to be fine. While they may be able to tolerate the elements a little better than we can, they can still get frostbite and cold just like we do. If you have a longhaired dog that gets knotted (Maltese, Shih Tzus, Afghans, etc.), get them clipped down. The earlier the better (usually around Thanksgiving) so that their hair can grow in by the time it gets really cold, around the end of December. With dogs like the northern breeds (Samoyed, Chow Chow, Pomeranians) that have double coats, they need to get a good de-shedding from their groomer. Don't worry about taking the hair away that is giving them protection.
Your groomer will remove the hair that needs to come out so you can build a good foundation of undercoat and a strong topcoat. This hair can then keep your dog dry and warm. The proper grooming can help the undercoat to function properly and keep warm air close to their body, with the topcoat protecting them from the elements. If your dog is normally kept in the house, no matter what you do, they are still going to be cold when they go outside. This is where the sweaters, coats and even boots come in handy!
Animal Radio® News with Stacey Cohen
They have four legs, cold wet noses and tails that often wag furiously. Yet the Defense Department classifies its working dogs as equipment. Advocates for the four-footed troops want this to change. "When you lose a military working dog, you can’t just take another one off the shelf," said Debbie Kandoll, founder of Military Working Dog Adoptions. "They’re not that easy to replace." Kandoll said she thinks the labeling of working dogs as equipment came by default. "There are two classifications: manpower and equipment," she said. "They’re not manpower, so they’re equipment." And once they retire, they’re classified as excess equipment. The result, Kandoll said, is that retired military working dogs do not get the benefits they deserve, specifically transportation home, medical care and commendations. "When the dogs are on active duty, they’re treated like royalty," Kandoll said. "There is no handler that would ever call a dog a piece of equipment."
"Love Hormone" Oxytocin Promotes Kindness The so-called "Love hormone" oxytocin promotes greater kindness in monkeys, a new study finds. It included two rhesus monkeys who were seated next to each other and trained to choose different symbols that either provided a squirt of fruit juice for the monkey itself, juice for the other monkey or no juice at all. In repeated tests, the monkeys had to make a choice. After inhaling oxytocin, the monkeys paid more attention to each other and were more likely to give the other monkey juice, even if they didn't get juice themselves, the Duke University researchers found. Oxytocin is currently being evaluated as a therapy for autism, schizophrenia and other disorders characterized by a lack of interest or caring about others, study leader Michael Platt, a neuroscientist and director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, noted in a Duke news release. The hormone appears to boost trust and social skills in patients, but it's not known how the process works or whether the effects are consistent over the long term. This type of research may help establish monkeys as a good behavioral and pharmacological model for understanding oxytocin therapy, Platt said.
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Aiken Department of Public Safety officials, South Carolina, say a "hero dog" helped to reunite a missing girl and her family. Officials say a microchip inside the family dog was the only way they were able to identify a 3-year-old girl after she went missing from her home.
Scott Cohen and Carolyn Doherty are friends, who were having dinner one night when the concept of petscaping came up. 
Scott points out that there are different breeds of dogs, which have different needs. Some dogs just need to dig, and you can't just ignore that. That is one of the common themes in their book, Petscaping, to design your yard around the things that your dog is naturally going to do, but encouraging them to do it in the area where you want them to do it in. There are also some funs games in the book to teach your dog where the proper areas are. The ideas include hiding objects in the digging areas or even setting up agility areas for the active dog. 
The neutering procedure used today on family pets was developed in the early 1800's. Neuticles were invented to provide a solid solution to the pet overpopulation crisis by encouraging thousands of caring pet owners to neuter that simply would not before.
Think about it. Before we domesticated the dog, dogs de-shed themselves by running their brush and rolling on the ground to get their hair off. Nowadays, our dogs are mostly couch potatoes and are not working dogs. So, we need to help the process along.
Dogs Pay Attention To What We Say 
Military Dogs Are Considered Equipment
"Indoor" Pony 
Bar Serves Beer To Dogs 
Circus Monkey & Goat Team Up As Thieves
