Laura Sizemore says Dash, a 2-year-old border collie-Australian shepherd mix, began growling and barking about 3 a.m. Wednesday, awakening her and her husband, Stacy.

The couple, who found the house filled with smoke, quickly woke up their 11-year-old and 15-year-old sons and fled their house in Liberty about 65 miles east of Indianapolis.

Laura Sizemore says Dash is a very good dog and he's going to get a reward for alerting the family after the home's two smoke detectors apparently failed to work.

Officials say the fire started in a detached garage and spread to the back of the house.

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Information from Palladium-Item

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday that Gary DeNicola rescued the dog in late September with plans to take it to a shelter the next day.

But it turns out the dog was pregnant and gave birth to nine puppies that night. Now DeNicola is running an animal shelter of sorts himself and he's looking for good homes for the dogs.

The Atlanta Humane Society says many shelters are facing overcrowding and aren't accepting any more animals.

DeNicola has been raising the 5-week-old litter with the help of neighbors.

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Information from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WCAX-television says that in August another college staff member detected stench coming from the lab. Inside, dozens of animals were found dead while others were malnourished.

Lab Director John Wrazen has been cited into court on charges of importing and stocking wild animals without a permit.

Johnson President Barbara Murphy says a routine veterinary check of the animals in the spring found no problems.

Most of the 50 animals from 38 species were reptiles or amphibians, used for demonstration purposes, not research.

WCAX says Wrazen could not be reached for comment.

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Information from WCAX-TV

Attorneys for Charla Nash's family filed a notice Wednesday with the state Office of Claims Commissioner asking for permission to sue.

The 200-pound chimpanzee named Travis went berserk in February when his owner, Sandra Herold, asked Nash to help lure him back into her house in Stamford.

The animal ripped off Nash's hands, nose, lips and eyelids; she remains in stable condition at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

A Department of Environmental Protection biologist warned state officials before the attack that Travis could seriously hurt someone if he felt threatened, noting that he was large and strong.

"We believe the evidence will show that the state, acting through the Department of Environmental Protection, failed to adequately address a serious public safety issue that resulted in tragic consequences for our client," said Matt Newman, attorney for Nash's family.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Wednesday that his office is reviewing the claim. He said that he is sympathetic over the "horrific tragedy" but that the planned lawsuit "seems unprecedented in size."

Dennis Schain, Environmental Protection spokesman, said his agency had not received any paperwork yet but would cooperate with the claims commissioner and attorney general.

The claim comes at a difficult time for Connecticut, where the two-year, $37.6 billion budget is already $624 million in deficit.

"There is a potential for a very significant exposure to the state, depending on how the facts are developed in the claims process," said state Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford.

Nash's family earlier filed a $50 million lawsuit against Herold, saying she was negligent and reckless for lacking the ability to control "a wild animal with violent propensities."

Herold's attorney, who declined to comment on the new claim, has called the attack work-related and said her family's case should be treated like a workers' compensation claim. The strategy, if successful, would limit potential damages in the case and insulate the chimp owner from personal liability.

The animal, which was shot and killed by police, had also escaped in 2003 from his owner's car and led police on a chase for hours in downtown Stamford. No one was injured.

Records obtained by The Associated Press through a state open-records request show the state began receiving warnings immediately after that event.

"The DEP had information for at least five years that would have permitted that agency to have removed Travis from its residence," Nash's attorneys wrote in the new papers, noting the agency did prosecute the owner of a much smaller primate. "If the DEP had acted prudently, Charla Nash would not have been devastatingly injured."

Environmental protection officials have said that over the 13 years Travis was with Herold, the agency received only a few inquiries about Travis among thousands in general about possession of wild animals.

They said the memo from the biologist underscored the need for a clear, new law that would forbid ownership of potentially dangerous animals as pets and impose stiff penalties for those possessing them, and they blamed the failure to act on a communications problem and a lack of expertise in exotic animals at the agency.

Nash's family has a year from the date of the attack to file a claim with the claims commissioner office. The commissioner can recommend an award to the legislature or grant authorization to sue the state in court.

If the commissioner denies the request to seek damages from the state, the family could appeal to the legislature. Without its consent, the state cannot be held liable in a legal action for any damage or injury it may cause.

Police fatally shot the 14-year-old chimp when he tried to attack an officer responding to the assault on Nash on Feb. 16. Test results showed that Travis had the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in his system, but investigators don't know whether the drug played a role.

The domestic shorthaired cat was treated last week at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames and has recovered, officials said. The virus also has been confirmed in two ferrets — one in Oregon and the other in Nebraska — but they died.

"We've known certainly it's possible this could happen," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner. "This may be the first instance where we have documentation that transmission occurred involving cats or dogs."

The veterinarian who treated the cat, Dr. Brett Sponseller, said two of the three people in the cat's Iowa home had flu-like symptoms before the cat became ill. The case was confirmed at both Iowa State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Other influenza strains have been known to cross species, but Sponseller cautioned against drawing too many conclusions from the cat including whether other pets could also get the swine flu.

"It's well documented in influenza in general, but this is the first highly suspected case of H1N1 going from humans into a cat," he said.

The indoor cat was lethargic, had a loss of appetite and appeared to have trouble breathing after it became infected, Sponseller said. Its owners declined to comment.

Officials said pet owners should take the same precautions against spreading swine flu to pets as they would with humans.

Getting children vaccinated for swine flu can also help prevent the illness from spreading to pets. There is no swine flu vaccine for pets.

Dr. Ann Garvey, Iowa's state health veterinarian, said it is not yet known how sick cats or other pets could get from swine flu.

"Because we haven't seen that many cases, it's difficult to give a blanket assessment on how sick it can make an animal," she said.

Officials also stressed that there is no evidence that swine flu can be passed from pets to people.

"But it's so early in the game we don't know how it's going to behave. But that doesn't appear to be the concern. There's no sense of them passing it on to people," said Michael San Filippo, spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association.

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Associated Press Medical Writer Mike Stobbe in Atlanta contributed to this report.

The sheriff said Tammy C. Hanson, 42, was sentenced Wednesday by Baxter County District Judge Van Gearhart.

Hanson was convicted in January 2006 and allowed to remain free until a scheduled sentencing on Feb. 23 of that year, but she didn't show up. She was arrested July 18 in Sutton, Vt.

Baxter County authorities said in 2006 that hundreds of dogs, some rescued from Hurricane Katrina, were found on the couple's property. Deputies said the animals had sores, were living in cramped cages, and were groveling for food.

Montgomery said Hanson will be given credit for 41 days she has already been jailed. Gearhart ordered Hanson to pay a $500 fine on each of the 20 counts.

Pamela Jean Blubaugh of Ireland is scheduled to be arraigned Friday. She was indicted by the Lewis County grand jury.

Deputies seized the dogs in March from the 48-year-old Blubaugh's property and another location in the county.

In a March report to the County Commission, Weston veterinarian William Moodispaw said a barn and surrounding areas where the dogs were kept were "filthy, wet and in horribly foul-spelling."

Nine dogs were euthanized. The others were taken to shelters across West Virginia.

Blubaugh had said she tried for years to find homes for the dogs but didn't get much help.

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Information from The Inter-Mountain

Murdock introduced the 16-year-old Thoroughbred to carrots and kindness, helped him forget years of abuse and taught him tricks: He can smile, yawn, kiss, nod, identify shapes, numbers and letters, fetch, wave, salute, pose and stretch — and he does some of it with his front feet on a pedestal.

The 1,200-pound gelding has a Web site, is a star on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and has been on TV. He and Murdock get up to 200 e-mails a day.

The story of Lukas has to be patched together in places. California bred, he ran in three races as a 2-year-old under the name Just Ask Mike, but "he was a back of the packer. His heart wasn't in it," Murdock said.

Between 1995 and 2001, he probably changed hands a couple of times. When a Southern California horse trainer saw Lukas in a yard, "He was malnourished, neglected and emaciated. His tail was a solid mat of mud and debris," Murdock said.

The trainer bought him, then sold him to Murdock for $2,000 in 2003.

"I had to let his mane grow long so I would have something to hold on to when he did this wild, spinning, bucking kind of thing," Murdock said. "He would spook in his own stall. He had a whole lot of fears and phobias. You couldn't touch his ears. There were no scars, just mental worries, apathy and mistrust."

It took her a year to untrain him.

"I use trick training as a tool to bridge what is not right into what I want," said Murdock, who has been working with horses since she was a teenager. "Lukas flourished. He cannot get enough of learning. He's like a sponge."

Now he is a liberty horse (performs without tack) who can do the Spanish Walk (front and back), passage (a hesitating trot), and jambet (a three-legged pivot). He also does the bow, obeisance (curtsey with his face between his legs) and rear (goes up on his hind legs).

The Human-Equine Alliances for Learning in Chehalis, Wash., which offers programs in psychotherapy and personal growth, asked to study Lukas. Lukas and Murdock show the "connectedness" that enables horses to be so therapeutic for humans, HEAL spokesman David Young said.

But it's unlikely the study will clear up history's mystery question about smart horses.

There is no scientific data to support the notion that horses have the cognitive ability to count, spell or read, Dr. Emily Weiss, the ASPCA's equine behavior expert, said in a telephone interview from Benton, Kan.

She looked at Lukas' Web site.

"What is more amazing and more astonishing (than intelligence) is that this horse is so cued in, has such an incredible bond with its owner, such a great understanding of his human. The way they interact is pretty profound," she said.

There have been parallels drawn between Lukas and Beautiful Jim Key, an Arabian horse who may have performed before as many as 10 million people from 1897 to 1906 because of what seemed to be his ability to read, write, spell, count, tell time, sort mail and use a telephone and cash register.

Weiss also tells the story of Clever Hans, a horse in Germany in the 1890s owned by William von Osten. He was said to be able to spell or solve any math problem by simply stomping his hoof with the answer.

"He was all over the news. It was astounding," she said.

Clever Hans was challenged at every turn — there was even a Hans Commission. Professor Carl Stumpf and a man named Oskar Pfungst tested Clever Hans and determined the horse was getting cues so subtle that even the questioners didn't realize they were giving them.

"It wasn't that the horse knew math, he was just very cued into human behavior," Weiss said. "The horses are reading the behavior of their person instead of understanding the language of science."

Murdock doesn't care why Lukas does his tricks or the reasons for their bond.

When she arrives each day at the Brookside Equestrian Center in Walnut, about 25 miles east of Los Angeles, Lukas greets her with big, sloppy kisses. The Montana native and trained psychiatric nurse doesn't own a whip. Lukas performs for love and carrots — he eats 5 pounds a day.

Lukas recently became the spokeshorse for the Southern California chapter of the Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses (CANTER), a national volunteer group that helps racehorses find second callings. Every year, the careers of about 37,000 U.S. Thoroughbreds come to an end. About 2,000 of those ex-racehorses come from California and too many end up abandoned, abused or sent to slaughter.

Bonnie Adams, the Southern California chapter's director, believes Lukas is the perfect spokeshorse because of his background and turnaround.

"He's a very kind, quiet horse. But his eyes never leave Karen. You can see the love in his eyes," she said. "It shows people that horses really do have deep feelings. They are not throwaway animals."

The Commercial Appeal reported details of a search warrant executed last week were made public Tuesday.

The raid by Shelby County Sheriff's officers came after a whistleblower complained animals were being mistreated.

Citing records, the newspaper reported a female mixed breed puppy that was brought to the shelter in August died within three weeks of what was described as "non-accidental starvation." A veterinarian said the dog had lost one-quarter of her body weight.

District Attorney Bill Gibbons said criminal charges are possible in the case.

City animal services administrator Ernest Alexander and 10 shelter employees were relieved of duty, but Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said Tuesday that the employees are back on the job as he awaits an internal investigation about shelter operations.

"I can't say at this point whether they did everything right or did everything wrong until I get the results, which I will have at the end of the week," said Wharton

Wharton said that volunteers are providing an "additional layer of oversight" over the employees.

Deputies seized 17 boxes of documents, four computers, six CDs or DVDs, empty dog food bags and two cell phones, according to the warrant.

Among the potential charges are aggravated cruelty to animals, official misconduct and tampering with or fabricating evidence, which could result from dogs being held for court that were allowed to die, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Photos of the emaciated dog were taken by the tipster, who repeatedly brought the dog's condition to the attention of shelter employees, said Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Shular. A necropsy showed that the puppy hadn't eaten in at least 72 hours.

According to the warrant, volunteers at the shelter had sent numerous e-mails to the administrator, as well as Division of Public Services and Neighborhoods director Kenneth Moody, warning that animals were in poor condition.

Moody retired from the position in July.

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Information from The Commercial Appeal

Name: Pepper Age: About 3 months Breed: Manx Tabby Gender: Male Pepper is a special little guy who needs a new forever home with lots of attention. He's a vocal fella who loves to cuddle. He gets along with the other cats in his foster home and can even keep up with the bigger ones. Pepper's very agile and is a good jumper. Manx cats are like dogs in the respect that they are very loyal. Please contact Judy at judythump@sbcglobal.net to find out more about Pepper. Pepper goes to off-site adoptions at the Petsmart Store at 115th & Metcalf.	Pepper
Name: Shelby Age: 10 months Breed: Lab/Boxer mix Gender: Female Shelby is a very sweet girl who gets along great with other dogs. She is an energetic girl who loves to romp around and loves meeting people. Shelby is crate trained and is nearly house trained. She has just gone into foster care so please contact us for details. We now have several adoption locations, so please contact Mark at markbopp-hahs@comcast.net to find out when and where you can meet Shelby.	Shelby
The Heart of America Humane Society is a non-profit organization working to place animals into permanent homes. Many of our animals are cared for temporarily in the foster homes of volunteers. HAHS does adoptions every Saturday at the PetSmart on 115th St and Metcalf in Overland Park (noon–3 p.m.), the PetSmart at the Ward Parkway Shopping center (11 a.m.–3 p.m.), and the Petco at 135th St and Black Bob in Olathe (noon–3 p.m.).

Humane Society of Greater Kansas City

Name: Francis Age: 1 year Breed: Black Lab/retriever mix Gender: Male Francis had a pretty rough life before coming to the shelter. He had been a junkyard dog and was being fed only by some caring nuns who witnessed his condition. Despite his past, however, Francis is nothing but playful and loving! He absolutely adores other dogs and people and he seems to be a very quick learner. Francis is also one of our "Movie Mutt Superstars". Francis has been spayed, vaccinated, microchipped and tested for heartworms. His adoption fee is $120.	Francis
Name: Babbit Age: 3 months Breed: Shorthair mix Gender: Female If you like a kitty with a touch of class and mystery, look no further than Babbit! Her black and dark brown tabby coat makes for very unique coloring and it’s hard to take your eyes off her. Babbit is still a kitten, but she has been vaccinated and tested for FIV and feline leukemia. She will be microchipped and spayed before going home. Babbit’s adoption fee is $65.	Babbit
These pets are all available for adoption at The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, along with many other dogs and cats. The no-kill shelter is located at 5445 Parallel Parkway in Kansas City, Kan. Adoption hours are Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 913-596-1000 for more information or visit www.hsgkc.org to view photos and learn more about all of the pets available for adoption.

Second Chance Pet Adoptions

Name: Cleo Age: 2 years Breed: Snowshoe Siamese Gender: Female Cleo was abandoned in a ditch along the highway with her kittens. She is a very nice, sweet cat and will be a wonderful companion. She is talkative and loves to play with toys. Most of all, she loves to cuddle in a lap. She is looking for a safe, loving home where she will get lots of love and affection. Her adoption fee is $90 which includes spay, shots, deworming and FELV/FIV test.	Cleo
Name: Faye Age: 3 years Breed: Chinese Crested Gender: Female Faye was released to Second Chance from a breeder. She is a gentle, sweet dog that loves to be held. She weighs 13 pounds. She is doing well with crate training and gets along well with other dogs and with cats. Faye is spayed, current on vaccinations, heartworm negative, and microchipped. Her adoption fee is $200. For more information or for a pre-screening application, please e-mail petsaverdc@aol.com.	Faye
Second Chance Pet Adoptions is an all-volunteer non-profit adoption group. Applications for adoption may be downloaded from the Second Chance Pet Adoptions website or by e-mail request to secondchancepets@hotmail.com. Adoption events are held most Saturdays at two locations in the Kansas City area. For more information, call 913-814-7471 or go to www.2ndchancepets.net.

Half Way Home Pet Adoptions

Name: Camilla Age: Adult Breed: Plott hound mix Gender: Female Poor little brindle dog—she is so sweet and so pretty but nobody notices her. Camilla is very loving and enjoys cuddling. She has great potential as a family companion—we bet she would love to go on long walks with her loved ones. Camilla looks like a Plott hound and the breed is known to be active, fast, bright, kind, confident and courageous. They are often indifferent to other dogs but seek the attention of humans. Camilla loves attention, but sadly she is getting next to none at the shelter. This is not the place for a sociable girl like her.	Camilla
Name: Minx Age: Adult Breed: Manx Gender: Female It doesn’t bother lovely Minx that she has no tail. She was born that way! Her picture doesn’t do her justice, as she is much prettier in person. Come down to our shelter and see Minx for yourself. She is up to date with routine shots, is house trained and has been altered.	Minx
Half Way Home Pet Adoptions receives animals from the Kansas City Animal Health and Public Safety Division and from public drop-off. Because it operates as the Kansas City animal pound, it does not decline any animal intake from Kansas City, Mo., residents. The euthanasia rate is high as the shelter must make room for new arrivals on a daily basis. Halfway Home collaborates with several rescue groups in the region to get animals transferred. If you are a licensed rescue group and would like to offer assistance, please send e-mail to email@petshalfwayhome.com, or call 816-784-4001. The shelter is open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m., on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m., and on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., but is closed on Sundays when the Chiefs are in town.

Most of his worshippers, though devoted, were in their 60s, attendance had bottomed out and the once-vibrant church was fading as a community touchstone in its bustling neighborhood.

So Eggebeen came up with a hair-raising idea: He would turn God's house into a doghouse by offering a 30-minute service complete with individual doggie beds, canine prayers and an offering of dog treats. He hopes it will reinvigorate the church's connection with the community, provide solace to elderly members and, possibly, attract new worshippers who are as crazy about God as they are about their four-legged friends.

Before the first Canines at Covenant service last Sunday, Eggebeen said many Christians love their pets as much as human family members and grieve just as deeply when they suffer — but churches have been slow to recognize that love as the work of God.

"The Bible says of God only two things in terms of an 'is': That God is light and God is love. And wherever there's love, there's God in some fashion," said Eggebeen, himself a dog lover. "And when we love a dog and a dog loves us, that's a part of God and God is a part of that. So we honor that."

The weekly dog service at Covenant Presbyterian is part of a growing trend among churches nationwide to address the spirituality of pets and the deeply felt bonds that owners form with their animals.

Traditionally, conventional Christians believe that only humans have redeemable souls, said Laura Hobgood-Oster, a religion professor at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

But a growing number of congregations from Massachusetts to Texas to California are challenging that assertion with regular pet blessings and, increasingly, pet-centric services, said Hobgood-Oster, who studies the role of animals in Christian tradition.

She recently did a survey that found more than 500 blessings for animals at churches nationwide and has heard of a half-dozen congregations holding worship services like Eggebeen's, including one in a Boston suburb called Woof 'n Worship.

"It's the changing family structure, where pets are really central and religious communities are starting to recognize that people need various kinds of rituals that include their pets," she said. "More and more people in mainline Christianity are considering them to have some kind of soul."

The pooches who showed up at Covenant Presbyterian on Sunday didn't seem very interested in dogma.

Animals big and small, from pit bulls to miniature Dachshunds to bichon frises, piled into the church's chapel to worship in an area specially outfitted for canine comfort with doggie beds, water bowls and a pile of irresistible biscuits in an offering bowl. There were a lot of humans too — about 30 — and three-quarters of them were new faces.

The service started amid a riot of tail-sniffing, barking, whining and playful roughhousing.

But as Eggebeen stepped to the front and the piano struck up the hymn "GoD and DoG," one by one the pooches lay down, chins on paws, and listened. Eggebeen took prayer requests for Mr. Boobie (healing of the knees) and Hunter (had a stroke) and then called out the names of beloved pets past and present (Quiche, Tiger, Timmy, Baby Angel and Spunky) before launching into the Lord's Prayer.

At the offering, ushers stepped over tangled leashes and yawning canines to collect donations and hand out doggie treats shaped like miniature bones in a rainbow of colors.

Donna Lee Merz, a Presbyterian pastor at another Southern California church, stopped in with Gracie, her 14-month-old long-haired miniature Dachshund. The puppy with ears soft as silk was overcome by the other dogs and wriggled across the floor on her belly, quivering with excitement. She finally calmed down when Merz held her in her lap.

"She knew it was a safe place and a good place to be, a place to be loved," Merz said, gently petting Gracie after the service. "I'll be back."

Emma Sczesniak came to Covenant for the first time, lured by the promise that she could worship with her black Lab, Midnight, and her wire-haired Dachshund-terrier mix, Marley.

Marley sat on her lap during the service, while Midnight checked out the other big dogs and sat patiently waiting for his biscuit. Sczesniak said the dog-friendly service came at the perfect time for her: she's been thinking about getting back to church, but wasn't sure how or where to go.

"I don't have any kids, so my pets have always been my children, so it does mean a lot," she said of the dog-inclusive service. "I haven't been to church in a long time and this may push me into it. I'm getting older and I've been thinking about those things again."

But Midnight, Marley, Gracie and the other pups probably had something more important on their minds as Eggebeen intoned his benediction and the service drew to a close: Just where could they find more of those delicious treats?

For Eggebeen, the night was a spiritual success — and the rest is out of his hands.

"It's important for a church like us just to do good things. The results, we'll just have to see," he said. "Ultimately, that belongs to God."

Dr. Stephanie James, the zoo's director of veterinary service, says the only other litter of wild dogs to be hand-raised in captivity was in the United Kingdom. The Pittsburgh zoo staff had to intervene in raising its pups because their mother died of a ruptured uterus shortly after delivering the litter last month.

Zoo officials found a mixed-breed mutt who recently delivered a litter of pups. That dog, Honey, has been nursing the wild dogs.

The mortality rate for painted pups is 50 percent, even when born in the wild to a healthy mother.

Zoo officials hope to wean the pups in about two weeks.

Local officials say the Long Beach, Calif.-based Redbarn Pet Products is negotiating to buy the former John Morrell pork packing plant.

Redbarn officials have said they would employ up to 175 people at the plant within two years, offering wages starting at $8.65 an hour.

The company, Barton County Commission and the Great Bend City Council approved the agreements Monday. The city and county will each pay Redbarn $22,500 grants and each entity will offer $800 for each full-time job created, up to 175 jobs.

In return, Redbarn must begin production at the plant within six months, reach full employment within two years and stay in Great Bend at least three years.

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Information from The Hutchinson News

In early September, owner Keith Wagner completed a certification program in animal chiropractic care. And no, he doesn’t require horses to lie on a table while he cracks their necks.

“We are not trying to adjust a 1,200-pound horse but just one four- or five-pound bone,” he said. “Chiropractic is simply using a high-velocity, low-amplitude force on a specific motion unit or joint.”

Wagner started as a general-practice veterinarian more than 20 years ago and then began to specialize in equine care. His practice does general medicine and surgery, with an emphasis on lameness, as well as dentistry and reproductive work.

Even as he was treating horses, he wondered if there might be a way to prevent some of the problems he was seeing.

“In my practice, there were times when I noticed that something was missing from the care,” he said. “My thirst to find out what it was eventually led me toward chiropractic.”

Although the concept of animal chiropractic may sound modern, it has been around at least as long as its human counterpart. D.D. Palmer, considered the founder of human chiropractic, also taught animal chiropractic as long ago as 1895, Wagner said.

The practice went dormant for a number of years before being revived in England in the 1970s. It has been growing in popularity in the United States over the past two decades.

“We consider chiropractic to be a complementary therapy,” said Sally Baker, director of public relations for the American Association of Equine Practitioners in Lexington, Ky., the world’s largest association for equine veterinarians. “It’s still a specialized niche, but it definitely is growing in popularity.”

Twenty percent of the association’s members practice complementary or alternative services for their clients, according to a 2008 survey. Of that 20 percent, 49 percent of the veterinarians said they provide chiropractic treatment.

Just as with human chiropractic, the objective is to create balance and harmony in the body. That is especially important in horses, where four lower legs roughly the size of human legs support an animal weighing hundreds of pounds.

“When joints are not moving normally, the horse compensates in the motion of other joints,” Wagner said. “Chiropractic corrects that.”

After contracting with an outside provider for several years, Wagner took advantage of a slow time in his practice to become certified himself. The school he attended, Options for Animals College of Animal Chiropractic in Wellsville, Kan., is one of only three such schools in the United States.

“One of the big reasons why I decided to go through the course was that my practice had slowed down because of the economy, and I had more down time to take the courses,” he said. “I felt that the training would benefit me when the economy does turn around.”

Students must be practicing veterinarians or chiropractors, or a veterinary or chiropractic student. Wagner attended classes for four or five days a month over a six-month period to qualify for certification. He believes chiropractic and traditional veterinary medicine go hand in hand.

“The general difference between the two is that chiropractic is more preventive, and medical is more for after we have seen the early clinical signs, such as joint inflammation or graded lameness, that are beyond the scope of chiropractic,” he said.

Clients such as Marina Woodhead, owner of Hidden Oaks Horses in Pleasant Hill, have seen the benefits of chiropractic. The stable trains dressage horses, some of which compete in world-class events.

“I was skeptical at first, but now I can really see the benefits,” she said. “The biggest value to me is being able not only to help my competitive horses stay at their peak performance but also correct some lameness issues.”

Woodhead has been working with two horses whose owners said couldn’t be ridden because they were too wild.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time that happens, there is a physical reason,” she said. “The first thing I do in that situation is have Dr. Wagner look them over for physical problems. He used chiropractic treatment on them for a couple of weeks, and they went from ‘No, I won’t be ridden’ to being compliant. There really have been some amazing results.”

Woodhead keeps her competitive horses on regular treatment programs. “I have him check my stallion once a month,” she said. “Just as with any athlete at the top of their game, horses require regular support and maintenance to do their best work.”

In the short time he has been certified, Wagner has seen good results for his clients — and for his business.

“The overall response has been good,” he said. “Just as with human chiropractic, I have some clients who are skeptical and don’t want to do it, and I have other clients who totally believe in it and have seen positive effects.”

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office says 61-year-old Diane Habener was taken into custody Tuesday after deputies served search warrants on two of Habener's homes.

Deputies say they found as many as 120 animals in what sheriff's officials describe as squalid conditions and without adequate food or water.

Habener has operated Tuffie's Animal Rescue since 2004 and spent much of that time saving dogs and cats from death in animal shelters.

The animals are now in the sheriff's no-kill animal shelter in downtown Phoenix, where they'll remain in quarantine until veterinarians assess their health.

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Information from The Arizona Republic

The little mixed-breed who was rescued from the streets of Puerto Rico needed a home. Dobson, of Orleans, Massachusetts, was losing his hearing.

"My wife saw me kind of dropping out," he says. "As people get deafer they get more anti-social."

Both problems were solved when man and dog were brought together by the National Education for Assistance Dog Service, which trains dogs from shelters to assist the hearing impaired. Based in Princeton, Massachusetts, NEADS has placed more than 1,300 hearing dogs all over the country since 1976.

Goblin does for Dobson what his digital hearing aid can't.

"What the dog does for me is hears what I can't hear," he says. "She can hear the phone ringing, alarms, knocking on the door, when people call my name."

The dogs chosen for this job have to have special qualities — often exactly the qualities that land them in shelters.

"The hearing dog is usually the dog no one wants," says Brian Jennings, who's been a trainer at NEADS for 20 years. "It's usually hyperactive, willful, compulsive. They have to be. If the dog wakes you in the middle of the night because the smoke alarm's going off and you push them away, they have to not give up."

What's unique about hearing dogs, says Kathy Foreman of NEADS, is that they work without being given commands. A guide dog for the blind, for instance, is given a command to go forward, and while it knows to disobey if there's danger, it's still initially responding to the handler's direction. Hearing dogs, by definition, need to do their work when their owner doesn't know there's a job to be done.

So trainers look for dogs who are curious about sounds, but also very confident. These may be exactly the dogs that drove their original owners crazy because they were bouncing off the walls, but as Jennings observes, "sometimes a dog's weakness is its strength."

The dogs are trained to touch the owner and lead him physically to the source of certain sounds. So that they'll do this on their own initiative, says Foreman, the secret of training is to make the dog think "it's a big game, and we are happy to play it with you any time."

New owners are taught how to keep the dog's skills sharp, such as praising it for responding to sounds even in cases that turn out to be unimportant.

NEADS has no physical requirement for hearing dogs. "We've had everything from Chihuahuas to German shepherds," says Jennings, and most of them are mixed breeds.

Hearing dogs not only let their handlers know that they've dropped their car keys, but also help in less tangible ways. Social interactions are often affected by the fact that deafness is not a visible disability. Foreman says that not hearing when your name is called is a big issue for the clients: "People say, people at work thought I was the biggest snob because I ignored them."

The dog not only helps make the handler aware of sounds, but makes observers aware of the handler's situation.

"When they see the dog, it helps people understand that they need to take extra time to communicate with that person," says Jeanine Konopelski of Canine Companions for Independence.

For the hearing impaired, the dogs allow more freedom and independence, says Robin Dickson of Dogs for the Deaf in Oregon. One client told her that before she had a dog, "I never had time to think, because I was always trying so hard to listen."

Dobson's wife Joanne says that Ray, like many who are losing their hearing, was reluctant to admit the problem, and was coping by withdrawing from social interactions. "Now he's back in the mainstream," she says.

Plus there's one benefit she didn't expect.

"My friends are very jealous," she says. "When I call my husband, the dog jumps on him till he comes."

Shelter officials thought they were getting $5,000 from the Adam’s Rib barbecue restaurant in Overland Park after an eating contest in August won by Bryan Truta, radio personality at 105.1 JACK FM.

Truta wanted the money to go to his favorite charity – The Pet Connection.

To the chagrin of the shelter, the barbecue went out of business a few weeks later and the winning check was never sent.

But the generosity of others has stepped in to change disappointment to joy.

First came a $5,000 contribution from David Block, principal of Block & Co. Inc. Realtors. Today Panera Bread of Kansas donated $2,500.

An anonymous Overland Park donor stepped up with a $1,000 gift, according to Jason Huff, the shelter’s operations manager.

He said news of the lost money had generated slightly more than $9,500 in donations for the shelter.

The money will be used to assist dogs taken in by the shelter from the Ray of Hope program, which places pets in no-kill adoption programs and homes.

“The more money we get for that program the more animals we can take,” Huff said.

Jim Sullinger, jsullinger@kcstar.com

State wildlife officials granted 15 permits in July to snake experts. The program ended on Halloween but officials hope to start it again next year.

Meanwhile, hunters are still allowed to kill the snakes in designated areas.

The number of pythons in South Florida has exploded in the past decade to potentially tens of thousands. Scientists believe pet owners freed their snakes into the wild.

They also think some Burmese pythons may have escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing ever since.

Joanne Cichy told police she couldn't find her kitten when she returned home Halloween night after going trick-or-treating with her children. The next day she found a video on her digital camera showing the kitten hanging from the apartment door with a belt around its neck.

Police said the video showed the kitten struggling before going motionless and Cichy's live-in boyfriend, Rascell Williams, stepping in and out of the video.

Williams was charged with unjustifiable animal cruelty, a misdemeanor. Police did not know if he has an attorney.

The injured kitten was later found, alive, under the porch.

The nonprofit group seeks out and rescues feral dogs in devastated urban neighborhoods and transforms them into adoptable pets. But it couldn't catch this one.

A light-colored, pregnant female mix had been trapped on the second floor of an abandoned, crumbling building in St. Louis for almost a week. Director Randy Grim said that on Friday, he flagged down Fire Engine Company No. 9 for help.

A video of the rescue shows the dog almost jumped from the second-floor window before firefighters coaxed her down. Grim said the dog would have died if the fire department hadn't rescued her.

Both earned those designations for their winning ways with the critters at the Lincoln County Animal Shelter.

By night, however they're known simply as inmates for crimes that landed them in the local slammer.

Some might call them nuisances, but here they are part of a crew of trustees credited with giving 800 hours of free manpower a month, and helping save the lives of countless animals.

"It helps us tremendously," says Sgt. Barbara Perry of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, the interim shelter manager. "We have been able to reduce the amount of euthanasia dramatically because the inmates come and do a lot of the work we would normally do.

"That allows us to dedicate more time to very important programs such as fostering, second-chance programs and rescue groups. Those are vital programs that we should be utilizing rather than euthanizing because we don't have space or time."

And never have the inmates been more important. On Tuesday, voters must decide on a levy that would help keep the animal shelter fully operating. If it passes, the inmates will continue to help plug a diminishing staff. If it fails, their contribution could be the difference between an open shelter and or none at all.

Now in its third year, the program was started by Lincoln County Sheriff Dennis Dotson, who saw as it a solution to the endless need for more hands at the shelter, which his officers run. He and his staff came up with a list of strict criteria about who would be eligible, ruling out anyone with a history of violence, anyone who might be an escape risk, and those with behavioral problems.

And no second chances. "They make a mistake or don't follow the rules, that's it," says Dotson.

In the beginning, women inmates traveled the few miles from the jail to the shelter three days a week to clean.

"With a little experience and history, we allowed them to start socializing with some of the animals, then expanded to exercising some of the dogs," says Dotson. "Then the male inmates started about three months ago. It was expanded to five days a week and recently to seven days a week. It has turned out to exceed all our expectations."

While it's a relatively new program in Lincoln County, inmates have been working with animals in Jackson County for a quarter of a century.

"I can't say enough good about it," says Colleen Macuk, program manager at the Jackson County Animal Shelter.

"It gives the inmates something they really look forward to doing," she says. "It makes them feel they've achieved something at the end of the day, and it allows us to offer the animal better hands-on care by having the extra crew."

David Lytle, spokesman for the Oregon Humane Society, had never heard of the inmate programs but says he's impressed.

"Frankly, I think it has a ton of potential," says Lytle. "It helps the animal and the person. There is an old saying, 'Sometimes we rescue the pet, and sometimes the pet rescues us.' I can see that happening here."

And so can a few inmates.

There are about 50 cats at the shelter these days, and James Erdman, who is two months into a six-month sentence for a DUII, knows every one of them — and the challenges many face. There's One Eyed Jack, the kitten who lost an eye to infection and has limited vision in the other.

"He reaches up and touches my face just like a blind person," says Erdman, a retired restaurant consultant.

There's the cat that was burned, the kitten that got its collar caught in its mouth, and the old, old cat, Erdman calls Grandma, who he worries will never be adopted.

"As you can see, I get along with cats real well," says Erdman. "These are my little challenges. They are all my buddies."

Likewise the dogs and Duane Parton III, who is serving more than 200 days for not paying fines on a DUII and misdemeanor charges.

"I love animals," says Parton, who has learned to give vaccinations and how to detect illness in the rescued canines. He's recently decided he may take veterinarian classes when he enrolls in community college.

"I am actually glad I am in jail because I get to do this," says the 26-year-old skateboarder. "How often do you hear that?"

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Information from The Oregonian

Haney is often spotted walking Bo, the Obama family's Portuguese water dog. In fact, he's tended to every White House pup since King Timahoe, Richard Nixon's Irish setter.

Haney, 57, has been a White House fixture since 1972. After getting a degree in horticulture from Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, N.C., he continued his training in Washington and basically was discovered for his green thumb, as he tells the story.

"They heard about me and they called me to come over here for an interview and I came and here I still am," he said during a tour of the gardens one recent rainy morning when first lady Michelle Obama — Bo's primary walker — was out of town.

That meant Haney would be Bo's handler until she returned from a day trip to Florida.

"I have him a little bit more" when she's traveling, said Haney, who said he's amazed by the public's fascination with White House pets.

"Sometimes I think they're more interested in the pets than the president," he said. "It's real amazing."

Take Bo.

Malia and Sasha Obama, now 11 and 8, long had wanted a dog, but were told they'd have to wait until after the presidential election last year. After Obama told the girls on election night that a puppy was coming with them to the White House, it seemed everyone, everywhere wanted details — and had an opinion — on what kind of dog the president-to-be should get and where he should get it from.

Before Bo came along to romp on the South Lawn and roam the White House hallways, Haney spent a lot of time walking and playing with President George W. Bush's Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley. Haney was most fond of Spot, an English springer spaniel whose mother, Millie, belonged to Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush.

Haney said several years ago during an online White House chat that Barney and Spot kept the groundskeepers company all the time.

"They hang out with us during the day while the president and first lady are busy," he said. "Barney plays with the volleyball and Spot plays with a tennis ball. ... They are very helpful in the gardening."

Haney also confessed to having, well, a soft spot for Spot.

"I love them both," he said of the dogs during the online chat in 2003, "but I do have a soft spot for Spot. I was there when she was born and now she's back." Millie gave birth to Spot at the White House in 1989; the younger Bush and his wife, Laura, put Spot to sleep in 2004 after she'd had several strokes.

Barney had endearing qualities, too.

"He has his own mind and does his own thing," Haney said back then. "You've got to love him."

Besides taking care of the now year-old Bo, Haney has 18½ acres of lawns, trees and gardens to care for, including the Rose Garden, the slightly smaller Jacqueline Kennedy Garden (also known as the first lady's garden) and Michelle Obama's bountiful South Lawn produce garden.

It's a 365-day job. Just mowing the North and South lawns alone takes eight hours. Trimming happens twice a week.

Haney typically gets to his office in the lower level of the White House residence at about 6 a.m, and calls it a day around 4 p.m. He has a staff of about 20, including electricians, gardeners and repairmen — all National Park Service employees.

The agency is responsible for maintaining the White House grounds and gardens.

Haney works for the National Park Service, too. A career employee, he began at the White House as a gardener, then was supervisor of grounds maintenance and lead horticulturist before becoming superintendent of all the grounds last fall.

Many presidents plant commemorative trees — Obama planted a Littleleaf Linden last week — to mark their time in office, but the Obamas took the concept a step further with the vegetable garden. It's a big change, and one that's proved to be more popular than the White House ever anticipated. The crops are served at the White House and some are donated to a neighborhood soup kitchen.

The Obamas are "very into the grounds," said Haney, who is now serving his eighth president.

"They know what's going on because they're always out here walking the dog," he said.

The cause of the fire early Sunday at the Second Chance Animal Shelter is sought. Authorities believe the fire may have started in the staff kitchen area.

George Grammas with the Centex Humane Society, which operates the shelter, said 99 cats and 12 dogs died from smoke inhalation. Dozens of other animals were not injured.

Killeen is about 70 miles north of Austin.

Town Manager Mark Stankiewicz confirmed Friday that Kristin Bousquet no longer works for the town. He refused to disclose further details citing privacy issues.

Janet Torren of Rochester says her Yorkshire terrier had an identifying microchip in its ear. She said the chip's distributor told her it was scanned Sept. 18 by the Stoughton pound.

Torren said Bousquet denied any knowledge of her dog.

Police said instead of returning her dog, Bousquet gave it to a policeman as a gift for his girlfriend on Sept. 22.

Bousquet has said in an e-mail to The Enterprise of Brockton that she wasn't "100 percent truthful" about the incident.

Richard Mabbutt said he receives calls daily about landlords violating the rights of renters with service animals.

"Property owners will tell you they've got to think about property value, that pets will surely ruin them over time," Mabbutt told the Coeur d'Alene Press.

The federal Fair Housing Act makes it illegal for the owner of a complex of four or more units, including apartments, hotels and motels, to refuse someone a room because of animals prescribed to help cope with a mental or physical condition.

Mabbutt said testing by the Intermountain Fair Housing Council has found 80 percent noncompliance by landlords in Idaho concerning companion or service animals.

"Some landlords are operating by what I call arrogance — 'This is my property. I can do what I want. I will set the rules,'" he said. "Some claim they don't know anything."

Companion animals are designated by a letter or prescription from any health professional, such as doctors, registered nurses, psychologists and physical therapists.

"If your physical therapist says, 'Look, get Rover to take you for walks, the animal will make you get up, make you get out,'" Mabbutt said. "It keeps you ambulatory, and it's somebody who needs you, somebody that you care for. And that can make all the difference."

Mabbutt said it's also illegal for landlords to require a pet deposit for companion animals or ask about an applicant's medical condition.

He said about 40 administrative complaints have been filed this year in Idaho, and that a lawsuit was settled in June for $20,000 involving a Sandpoint apartment complex.

One renter who has had problems in the past is 41-year-old Melissa Rogers, who said her depression can get so bad she can't get out of bed. She has four companion pets prescribed by her doctor.

"They're the reason I get up in the morning," she said. "They have to be fed, have to be watered, have to be taken care of. I can't just lay in bed because I'm depressed."

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Information from Coeur d'Alene Press

The outcome of such an ecological invasion could include unforeseen impacts on native reptiles and threaten birds and other species, according to a study released last week by the U.S. Geological Survey, whose earlier conclusions on the Burmese python are being tested at Savannah River Ecology Laboratory in Aiken County.

"This new report has some differences from the earlier paper, which was just on Burmese pythons," said post-doctoral research scientist J.D. Willson, who is studying Burmese pythons in a specially designed enclosure within Savannah River Site. "The new document basically does the same thing for the other giant constrictors."

In June, following predictions that climates throughout most of the Southeast could support populations of Burmese pythons, Savannah River Ecology Lab launched a yearlong study to gauge their ability to survive during colder weather.

"They are all still alive at this point," said Dr. Willson.

Colleagues and Dr. Willson are monitoring 10 pythons captured in south Florida, where the exotic snakes have already created a breeding population numbering in the tens of thousands. The test snakes at SREL range up to 11 feet in length, although the giant constrictors can reach 20 feet and weigh more than 200 pounds.

According to the new report, high-risk species — Burmese pythons, northern and southern African pythons, boa constrictors and yellow anacondas — all put larger portions of the U.S. mainland at risk than previously thought. Medium-risk species — reticulated python, Deschauensee's anaconda, green anaconda and Beni anaconda — constitute lesser threats.

"This report clearly reveals that these giant snakes threaten to destabilize some of our most precious ecosystems and parks, primarily through predation on vulnerable native species," said Dr. Robert Reed, co-author of the report and a USGS invasive species scientist and herpetologist.

Although the new list of potential exotic invaders includes more snakes than the Burmese python, most of them would remain confined to the warmer climates, the report said. "Based on climate alone, many of the species would be limited to the warmest areas of the United States, including parts of Florida, extreme south Texas, Hawaii, and America's tropical islands, such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and other Pacific islands," the authors concluded.

The Burmese python remains one of the most adaptable of the giant constrictors, as evidenced by its ability to establish itself in south Florida, where it continues to spread. Scientists determined they can travel 40 kilometers in a month and documented a clutch of 107 eggs.

Although they rarely kill or attack humans, they do pose a "small potential for contribution to traffic accidents," the USGS authors wrote, because they can occasionally block roads and contribute to "bystander accumulation."

The project at SREL is a joint effort that also involves the National Park Service, University of Florida and Davidson College. UGA professor emeritus Whit Gibbons and Davidson College professor Mike Dorcas are also involved in the studies.

More than a dozen of the Shih Tzus will be cleaned and groomed at Minneapolis Animal Care and Control on Sunday, to get them ready for adoption Monday.

Animal control officials rescued 30 Shih Tzus from the home on Oct. 20. Many of the confiscated dogs had health problems, including a broken jaw, dental disease and eye problems.

Minneapolis Animal Care and Control has completed an investigation and turned the case over to the City Attorney's office for possible criminal charges.

The happy, healthy dog suddenly stopped eating and drinking, and she became lethargic. A trip to see Dr. Taylor Douglas of Bend and some blood tests revealed nothing, Brooks said.

Back home, Abby's condition continued to decline, and a second trip to the vet's office resulted in exploratory surgery, where doctors found swelling, but little else that would lead them to a diagnosis, she said.

"It was kind of funny, because I was like, 'Well, she needs to get better because I'm leaving for Alaska for a week on this vacation,'" said Brooks, a physical therapist. "And (Dr. Douglas) asked me, 'What are you going to Alaska for?' And I said, 'I'm going fishing.'"

It was that information that served as a turning point in Abby's case, Douglas said.

"He looked at me and he said, 'Do you fish for salmon?'" Brooks said. "And I told him that, yeah, I steelhead fish all the time. And he said, 'Has Abby ever gotten into any salmon?'"

She had. Two weeks earlier, Brooks and Abby were on a fishing trip to the Umpqua River system in southern Oregon when Brooks noticed her pup gnawing on a fish head.

"I took it away from her, threw it in the river and didn't think anything of it," she said.

After hearing that story, though, Douglas had a pretty good idea of the dog's affliction: salmon poisoning, a condition that kills about 90 percent of affected dogs if left untreated.

At the time, Abby was 12 days removed from eating the fish, and her life was in danger. She stayed at the hospital for a week, receiving fluids, antibiotics to fight the bacteria, deworming treatment to battle the parasite, and plasma because she had lost so much blood.

She couldn't walk or eat, so Brooks and vet staff force-fed her. Eventually, Brooks took her home.

"We just didn't think she was going to make it," Brooks said. "I was like, 'Well, if she's going to die, I'm going to take her home.'"

Here's the good news: Abby did live. She lost a lot of weight, but eventually she began eating again and recovered.

But here's the bad news: Salmon poisoning is specific to one region, and that region happens to be west of the Cascade Range in Oregon, Washington, California and British Columbia, said Colin Gillin, veterinarian for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Gillin, based in Corvallis, said reports of salmon poisoning are infrequent. Its origin is in a bacterial organism called neorickettsia, which is carried by a specific parasite called a fluke that thrives in the waterways of the western Pacific Northwest.

The story of how the bacteria infects a dog plays out like Russian nesting dolls.

"There's four players in this besides the dog," Gillin said. "There's the fish, and then there's a snail, and a fluke. And the fluke infects the snail, and the fish eats the snail and gets the fluke. And inside the fluke's some bacteria, and the bacteria is what messes up the dog."

Only canids — dogs, wolves, foxes, coyotes — are affected by the bacteria, Gillin said. And only salmon-type fish such as steelhead and trout — anadromous fish that swim upstream to breed — seem to provide a suitable home for the fluke.

Only certain species of aquatic snail can carry the fluke to the fish, he said. And the fluke is the most specific of all the hosts; only one genus and species of the fluke carries the bacteria.

If a dog eats a fish that contains the parasite, the fluke will release eggs that enter the animal's intestinal tract, where they release the neorickettsia. Dogs that are infected will usually begin to show symptoms within one to three weeks, and symptoms typically include vomiting, diarrhea, swollen lymph nodes and fever.

Owners whose dogs are showing those kinds of symptoms should get their animal to a vet immediately, regardless of the reason for the illness, Gillin said. An owner with an inkling that a dog has eaten uncooked salmon, either from a garbage can, a kitchen counter or a campsite, should inform the vet of that possibility, he said.

"If it's got any kind of gastrointestinal symptoms," Gillin said, "it's in a losing battle with a bacteria."

What made Abby the golden retriever a tricky case was that she wasn't showing symptoms typical of salmon poisoning, Douglas said.

"Abby wasn't running a fever, wasn't having diarrhea and didn't have enlarged lymph nodes, peripherally. So the signs weren't there. We didn't have the classic presentation," he said. "The diagnostics didn't really show the typical presentation. We didn't see the things that we would expect to see. And then once we saw something else, we said, 'Maybe this is it.'"

"What makes it more confusing is when they don't show those clinical signs or you don't pick them up on the test," he said. "Some of these diseases don't always read the book."

It's helpful for veterinarians to know if a dog has eaten or been around fish to help narrow possible causes of illness, Douglas said. People cleaning fish should take care to ensure their dogs can't get to them.

"In the Northwest, it is an issue," he said. "Even smoked fish — not cooked, but raw, smoked fish — could potentially transmit this, too."

ODFW used to include literature about salmon poisoning with its fishing regulations, said Gillin, although that material has been removed this year. Department spokesman Jessica Sall said she doesn't know of any educational efforts to warn anglers about salmon poisoning, especially in Central Oregon.

Brooks said many fishermen know about the issue, but she didn't when she discovered Abby gnawing on that fish head. And she wants to try to make sure others don't run into the same problem she had with Abby.

"If I would've known what it was, I would've been like, 'Oh, she got into this salmon,' and they would've put her on an antibiotic and that would've been the end of it," Brooks said. "Instead, she almost died, and I spent all this money and she had to have surgery.

"It was an awful thing to go through," she said. "I don't want anyone else to go through it."

Jenkins added the cat, named Joy, to the two other animals she has taken in.

Jenkins, mindful of layoffs and budget tightening, is worried about the rest of the pet population.

Chesapeake Cats and Dogs, of which Jenkins is a board member, has seen the number of animals in its Stevensville shelter nearly double in the past year. It's getting tougher to find homes for the shelter's 45 cats and 10 dogs, especially if they're in poor health.

"When we have an animal (that needs a home), people will come in and say, 'Oh, that's a nice dog.' But when they find out it needs a $50 medicine every month, people don't want to pay that," Jenkins said. "It's really hard."

In Anne Arundel County, pet owners are skipping annual checkups and elective procedures for their animals, which could prevent more serious illnesses. Yet, they seem to find a way to pay for the more expensive procedures, even if it means turning to payment plans, credit cards or pet health insurance.

While the Davidsonville Veterinary Clinic does not take pet health insurance, Dr. James Pelura III said he works with his clients when expensive procedures are required. In those cases, he has seen more people us credit cards. The clinic also offers payment plans.

"I'm not doing unnecessary surgeries, not wasting my clients' money," Pelura said. "Usually, when something is suggested, it really has to be done. Most of my clients are more than willing to do that."

At the South Arundel Veterinary Hospital in Edgewater, pet owners are getting away from annual wellness tests or blood work for their pets to save on costs. More are looking to pet insurance to cover costs.

"We are seeing them scale back on services that aren't necessarily needed," said Crystal Bentley, an administrator. "We're doing a lot more payment plans (and owners) are still doing what they need to do for their pets. They're making payment arrangements more or cutting back on things."

AT Mobile Pet Vet, Dr. Lisa Beagan travels to the homes of pet owners. For the past few months, Beagan has been advising her clients that even though things like teeth cleaning and dental care can be put off for a while, those procedures are still important for the long-term health of their pets.

"It's been kind of erratic. (Sometimes) I feel like we're not in a recession and the next week, I'm very aware that we are," Beagan said. "In some circumstances, I tell people it's better to pay something now to prevent a bigger illness than it would be if they don't do some of these things."

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Information from The Capital of Annapolis, Md.

The program will help students repay their loans if they "mostly" practice large- or food-animal medicine, according to a Kentucky Department of Agriculture release.

"This area is well-covered in terms of food-animal veterinarians," said Kenny Perry, Graves County agriculture extension agent. Perry said that the eight food-animal veterinarians in the Purchase area were enough to meet farmers' needs.

"This is basic economics," said Buddy Ray, 57, a veterinarian at Mayfield Veterinary Clinic. "There isn't enough livestock within the area to generate the revenue to maintain an office."

Ray began his veterinary practice as a large-animal specialist 33 years ago. But, as the region has become less agricultural and more suburban, more of his practice focuses on small animals and family pets. Ray said it was less profitable to travel and visit with a farm animal than it would be to meet with two or three pet owners at his clinic.

Paducah veterinarian Eugene Ceglinski has a similar story. He ceased leaving his office to tend to farm animals several years ago. Still, he sees the program as something worthwhile.

"That would be an enticement, I would think, for someone wanting to treat those types of animals. It's similar to how physicians are drawn to set up practices in smaller towns," Ceglinski said. "I think really, though, it depends on where the person is from. If you're from a farm and have dealt with those types of animals for most of your life, you'd probably want to keep dealing with those because you're so familiar with them."

Ray and Ceglinski's shift from food animals to family pets is similar to a national trend, according to data provided by the American Veterinary Medical Association and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

About 70 percent of accredited veterinarians focus on family pets, the bureau said. Another 25 percent of vets care for family pets and food animals. A very small number of the remaining graduates become food-animal specialists.

And practicing food-animal specialists, such as Ray, will approach retirement age within the next 15 years, Perry said. Of the eight area food-animal veterinarians, Perry said that six of them are at least 50 years old.

The predicted shortage of food-animal veterinarians by 2016 could create new risks for the country's food supply, said David Kirkpatrick, an AVMA spokesman.

"Food-animal specialists maintain the quality of the food supply by preventing illness in animals," Kirkpatrick said, "And by researching how illnesses transfer (between animals and humans)."

The large financial burden of earning a veterinary degree, Ray said, is one reason recent graduates prefer working with pets instead of farm animals.

"The average vet graduates with $100,000 to $150,000 of educational debt," Ray said, "so they have to consider whether to take a $75,000 Louisville job working on pets or a $50,000 job dealing with a beef cow." Ray does not believe that $6,000 of loan repayment help would spark interest among young veterinarians.

It is more dangerous to work on a large animal at a ranch than on a small animal inside a clinic, Ray said. "There's a good chance that I could get kicked by an injured or scared animal at the end of a rope," Ray said.

Ray could safely work on the farm animal — if the farmer could bring it to the clinic — by using hydraulic fencing to immobilize it.

Graduates also consider the different lifestyles when choosing a veterinary career, Kirkpatrick said.

"Fewer people are growing up on farms so they are less interested in working in rural areas," Kirkpatrick said.

Other states — such as Illinois — offer $20,000 loan repayment incentives to young veterinarians, Kirkpatrick said, but "anything states can do to encourage young veterinarians to become food-animal specialists is great."

Ray does maintain a food-animal consulting service. But that, primarily for out-of-state clients, is conducted over the phone, and requires the client to have a little bit of medical training.

"Instead of traveling to (an out-of-state client) to deliver a calf, I walk them through the process over the phone," Ray said.

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Information from The Paducah Sun

He still dreams about March 5, the day he saw three vicious pit bulls attacking his neighbor Bridgetta Hadley in front of his Saginaw-area home, the day he hit one with a stick to defend her, pushed her into a car and climbed upon the hood to try to protect himself. The injuries he suffered when the dogs turned on him, dragging him by his pant legs to the ground, haunt him still.

The six months since the day of his actions, which attracted the attention of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, have included pain, medical setbacks, mounting bills and the deaths of two close family members.

On Oct. 22, doctors removed bandages on Vanlanham's left hand, revealing the swollen stumps of his fingers. Doctors cut off two to the knuckle and two beyond it because of a blood infection, stitches jutting from where the flesh was sealed.

He sat at a table inside his sister's neat Saginaw home, dressed in black with his arm in a sling, looking at his incomplete hand.

"I think he's a little sad," said Debra L. Baston, 42, of Saginaw, looking at her big brother's face. "Are you going to cry? Because if you are, I'm not crying with you. I'm all cried out."

Vanlanham wiped away a tear. His sister did the same.

"I'm still looking at it now, just trying to figure out how I'm going to do it," he said. "I just want to get everything behind me and enjoy my life the best I can.

"Nothing I can change now," he said quietly.

Vanlanham remembers well how he tried to escape the dogs.

He scooted toward the car's windshield to grasp the edge of the hood. The dogs bit the cuffs of his pants, he said, and dragged him into the street. Vanlanham said he tried to get away, tripped on the curb into a small ditch and the dogs ripped into the flesh of his legs.

He said they ate the meat they tore away during the 20-minute struggle that ended when police shot one dog and rounded up two others.

Thursday, Vanlanham pulled up the left pant leg of his black jeans and tilted his foot to show the half-inch-thick chunk of missing muscle on the back of his calf.

His right leg, worse off, remains bandaged and in a stabilization boot.

Vanlanham said he'll find out how many toes doctors will slice off his right foot soon. He expects the blood infection will cost him at least three of them, he said.

Since the attack in Buena Vista Township, he's spent five months in the hospital, he said.

Doctors released him this summer, but infection from the saliva of the dogs entered his bloodstream. One day he collapsed, he said. When he awakened — or "came back alive," as he describes it — a week later, he was filled with tubes in a bed at St. Mary's of Michigan hospital in Saginaw.

Slowly, doctors fought back the blood infection, and he moved to a Heartland Health Center in Bridgeport Township.

One day he planned to visit his sister, Shirley J. Vanlanham, 52, but was unable because of a medical complication. The next day, she died unexpectedly after a brief illness stemming from a prior stroke, said their sister, Baston.

"In my mind, I was like, 'It should have been me first. I guess it's not my time,'" Vanlanham said. "I didn't really expect that I was going to come out of it."

His 93-year-old stepfather, Walter Cureton Sr., who raised Vanlanham from age 7, died days later.

After that, Vanlanham went into a "fiercely deep depression," said his sister.

Vanlanham said he just wants "the pain to go away," physically and emotionally.

His medical bills surpass his Medicaid coverage for treatment by $25,000, Baston said. Because Vanlanham can't stand for extended periods, she expects he'll need an electric scooter to get around on his own.

The family started a collection to try to help pay off the doctor bills and build funds for further treatment.

The owners of the pit bulls, Shamorrow S. Amos of Buena Vista Township and Anthony D. Hunt of Saginaw face six counts each of possessing a dangerous animal causing serious bodily harm in Saginaw County Circuit Court. The trial is tentatively scheduled to begin Dec. 1.

A conviction could lead to a sentence of up to four years in prison, $2,000 in fines and 500 hours of community service.

The dogs, evidence in the case, remain at the Saginaw County Animal Care Center.

Vanlanham is one of about 1,000 hero nominations the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission will consider for an award once the trial is completed, said Jeffrey A. Dooley, the commission's investigations manager.

"It's very difficult to get the information we need from officials until the trial has ended," he said.

In the months since the attack, Vanlanham said, many letters and get-well cards from strangers have made him "feel better" and "inspired" him to keep living "day by day."

He said the dogs that attacked often roamed loose and caused problems in the neighborhood.

"But I'm not the type to want anyone to go to prison," he said. "I can forgive anybody."

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Information from The Saginaw News

David Block, principal of Block & Co. Inc. Realtors, said Thursday he would donate the $5,000 to The Pet Connection, a nonprofit animal shelter in Mission.

“We are ecstatic that David Block and Block & Co. were able to donate the money and help out the animals,” said Jason Huff, the shelter’s director of operations. “Everything has ended up working out pretty good for us.”

On Aug. 15, Adam’s Rib barbecue restaurant in Overland Park held a contest to see who could eat a 10-pound Ultimate Brisket Burger in 20 minutes. About a dozen celebrity contestants participated, and the prize money — $5,000 — was to go to the winner’s favorite charity.

Bryan Truta, program director for radio station Jack 105.1 FM, ate about two and a half pounds of the giant burger and was declared the winner. His charity was The Pet Connection.

Two months later the restaurant was closed, and The Pet Connection was still waiting for the real check. The shelter was finally notified that the restaurant was in bankruptcy.

The shelter had planned to use the money to assist dogs taken in by the Pet Connection from the Ray of Hope program, which takes pets from shelters and places them in no-kill adoption programs and homes. The Block donation now puts that plan back on track.

To reach Jim Sullinger, call 816-234-7701 or send e-mail to jsullinger@kcstar.com.

The chow-golden retriever lost much of his body fur and use of his legs, so his owner Melissa Joseph made him a special red wagon that she pulled from door to door so he could visit hospice patients.

She would lift him onto the patient's bed, even though he weighed 36 pounds. Then frail arms would circle his neck or gnarled hands would stroke his fur and he and patients would share uncomplicated, unhurried moments that often turned into hours.

Baxter died this month at 19½, one of the oldest working therapy dogs in the United States. A memorial service Wednesday at the San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine drew nearly 100 friends, family and staff. A YouTube video tribute has been watched by more than 315,000 people.

"He licked tears from grieving faces, gave hugs to those at a loss for words, and warmed the hearts and souls of those who were making their transition," Joseph wrote in her online eulogy. "Everyone loved Baxter."

Baxter was always surrounded by a crowd when he visited several times a week, said Lisa McCullough, spiritual counselor for the inpatient care center. Some patients who refused to share their life stories with staff would talk freely if Baxter was in the room.

"And sometimes they opened up about the end of their life's journey," McCullough said. "I think Baxter made them feel safe and valued. He has helped just countless patients discover purpose and peace and connection in the last phase of their lives."

When asked why a dog could provide more comfort than a human, Joseph said, "Part of it is the silence. They communicate very loudly, but the patient doesn't feel compelled to respond."

Sometimes, because they knew Baxter was also coming to the end of his life, a patient's concern for the dog would overshadow their own pain, she said.

Joseph, 54, and her husband, Dennis Bussey, 63, knew Baxter's time was nearly up, so in June, they released a book called "Moments with Baxter," a collection of 36 stories about Baxter and his work, and put together the popular YouTube video tribute.

For now, Joseph and Bussey, both retired, will spend most of their time promoting sales of the book, with proceeds to go to the hospice and charities that support animal causes.

But they do plan to get another dog and resume their hospice work. Joseph said everyone benefited from the time Baxter spent at the hospice, including Baxter.

"He got a lot out of it too, which is why he lived to such an incredibly old age," she said. "He was surrounded by love."

WRAL-TV reported Thursday that Emil Campbell died suddenly last month and left instructions for his lawyer to bequeath his entire estate to cats.

Attorney Bobby Khot says Campbell left the money to four charities: Snowflake Animal Rescue, Marley's Cat Tales, SAFE Haven for Cats and Second Chance Pet Adoptions.

A spokeswoman for Snowflake Animal Rescue says her organization typically gets less than $6,000 a year in donations. She says she had to read the letter about Campbell's donation twice before she believed it.

Khot says his client didn't work at a high paying job but was very frugal and saved money. He says Campbell had one surviving daughter.

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Information from WRAL-TV

Thirty-eight-year-old Rodney Bolton is charged with theft over the $129 animal that police say he took from a pet store in Jacksonville Beach, The Florida Times-Union reported.

A 17-year-old witness confronted Bolton in the parking lot and was bitten by the animal after the man allegedly shoved it in the teen's face.

That confrontation makes the ferret a "special weapon" under Florida law. So Bolton also faces battery charges for dangerously wielding the animal.

Calls to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department to see if Bolton has a lawyer were not answered early Thursday.

Thirty-five-year-old Agostinho Gondinho is the 16th man charged in the case to receive accelerated rehabilitation, a program that results in charges being dismissed after successful completion of probation. He appeared in Derby Superior Court on Tuesday.

Authorities arrested 19 Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey residents, who are all natives of Brazil, after a July 26 raid at a Shelton home that led to the seizure of 150 birds, mostly saffron finches and canaries. Cases against three other men are pending.

Police say they found about 15 birds with serious injuries and substances apparently used to make them fight better.

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Information from New Haven Register

There cat-loving staffers had her checked for a microchip — none found — and checked by a vet, who said she was old, healthy and clearly not a stray. Children's librarian Kirsten Freeman-Benson took the friendly cat home with her and posted photos on the library's Facebook page. A library patron posted fliers in nearby neighborhoods.

A week later, on Oct. 16, Lisa Veri called the library to say her family had seen the flier and was sure the cat was their beloved Rosie, by then missing for three weeks. They, too, had put up fliers, and searched animal shelters, but the librarians' decision to put Rosie on hold helped bring her home.

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Information from The Oregonian

Matthew Clayton Hurt was pronounced dead Wednesday at a hospital in Texarkana after he was taken there following the attack that morning.

The child had walked down a busy street to the house where the pit bulldog was chained and inside a dog house.

Police Chief Brian Russell said the dog was taken to a kennel in Nashville, Ark., for observation. Russell said he had asked the State Police to investigate.

Dawn Rizos was set to receive an "Entrepreneur of the Year" award on Oct. 7 from the group American Solutions for Winning the Future, led by the former U.S. House speaker.

But the group reneged, saying it had mistaken her business for another. Rizos, who owns the topless club The Lodge, was refunded the $5,000 fee required to receive the award.

So she donated the money to Animal Guardians of America's sanctuary for rescued dogs in Celina, about 35 miles north of Dallas.

"Newt's Nook — A Home for Pit Bulls" is under construction. Rizos says they'll invite Gingrich to the formal dedication in early November.

The Hingham Board of Selectman on Tuesday night unanimously voted to accept the recommendation of the town's animal control officer and order the 8-year-old female dog named Gabriella put down.

Before the vote, the board heard testimony from the victims, including 37-year-old Stacey Wakefield, the wife of Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield. Wakefield was bitten inside the Hingham Square Gallery in June 2008. The other woman was bitten last June.

The dog and another mastiff are owned by gallery owners Robert and Megan Ullman, who were called "irresponsible" by town officials.

The Ullmans say their dog is not vicious and they will appeal in court.

Twenty-four-year-old Alicia Marie Martin was also ordered Tuesday by Judge Mark J. Rusch to serve four days in jail during Thanksgiving week. And, she must serve time in jail over two weekends in December and pay a $500 fine.

If the probation is revoked for any reason, she must serve a full two years in state jail.

She told the judge that she moved out of her apartment for four days because her electricity had been cut off, and returned only once a day to care for the puppy named Bruce.

Martin was fired as a supervisor at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Texas.

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Information from The Dallas Morning News

Midwesterners everywhere are gearing up for the big chill while inoculating kids against the flu predators. Goblins and ghost costumes are ironed and hung up for the big monster madness at the end of the month.

We’ve already had our exclusive fright night of terriers when my toy Yorkie, Chloe, choked on a rawhide chew that was supposed to dissolve in her mouth, not block her windpipe. Let me share with you my nightmarish drama of a canine trauma.

Pet emergencies are not only inconvenient, but frightfully monstrous. I hate to admit it, but I forget my Yorkie is just a dog. I’ve transformed her into my best friend. We make these furry creatures part of our families.

Chloe’s purpose in life is to be constantly adorable with attitude. We’ve nicknamed her Scruffy. She’s tiny but tough, and she provides constant entertainment which makes everyone who meets her laugh.

As I recall, my dogs were sleeping soundly on the couch. Pets can evolve into a second set of children. Curled up together, one Yorkie’s floppy-eared head was lying against the other. From my perspective, they resembled a pair of interwoven balls of fur. Snoring, their little bodies rhythmically moved up and down. While I relaxed and watched TV, they were in dog dream land.

Approaching the midnight witching hour, I grabbed a soda and plopped down on the couch on top of Chloe. I must have startled her, because she fell off the couch and went bump in the night! Gasping for air, the little pup must have inhaled her bone while falling.

The clock struck midnight and I grabbed this choking dog. Her eyes were bulging out of her tiny furry face! I tried to hold her gently upside down, while prying her tiny mouth open to see if I could pull the darn bone out. To no avail, my little Chloe was fading fast. I yelled for my husband to follow me to our car, which became the emergency ambulance. Going 80 miles an hour down the interstate, my husband held Chloe in his hands while she lay gasping for air.

“Hurry! Hurry ’cause she can’t last much longer,” he said.

I tried to speed down 435 south towards the exit for the pet hospital without being arrested for speeding. It was a miracle we reached our destination within a few minutes. I grabbed Chloe while simultaneously opening the car door. Somehow the dog must have had a psychic moment because she miraculously coughed up a thick wad of mucus. Out came the bone while she looked up at me and cocked her tiny head! Nature took its course and Chloe lived without medical intervention.

We were exhausted yet thrilled that the night of terriers was over. I threw out the rawhide chews and now I appreciate whatever Mother Nature has to offer, even animal instincts to survive.

Louise Pollock Gruenebaum is a freelance writer living in Prairie Village.

Cory and his friends came in to the party room breathing heavily from a game of laser tag. They ate cookie cake off paper plates with monster trucks on them. They shouted out silly extra lines while singing “Happy Birthday.”

But the table of presents behind Cory didn’t quite fit. On one corner sat a bag of Friskies cat food, and on another a box of Milk-Bone dog biscuits. Stuffed dog chew-toys stuck out of a Transformers gift bag.

The presents weren’t for Cory, or for any other human. Cory’s friends had brought them for the dogs and cats at the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City instead of bringing toys for Cory, who lives in Liberty.

“It helps animals,” Cory said, “and I have a lot of toys already.”

With his party at Jaegerz Laser Tag in Kansas City on Oct. 17, Cory followed in the footsteps of his 10-year-old sister, Kristin, who has had two birthday parties benefiting the Humane Society.

Julie Johnson, Cory and Kristin’s mother, said she’d avoided holding big birthday parties for her children until she got the birthday-for-benefit idea from another mother.

“I want to give them experiences more than stuff, and I don’t see the need for 20 friends to come over and bring presents,” Johnson said.

So Johnson told Kristin, and later Cory, that they would receive birthday presents from their parents and grandparents, but the presents from their birthday parties would have to go to someone else.

When Johnson asked the kids to pick an organization to benefit from their birthday fun, they didn’t hesitate to pick the Humane Society. She wasn’t surprised, either, because her children’s love for animals had already helped turn the family’s home into an animal haven of sorts.

The Johnson family, which is also heavily involved in 4H, owns two dogs, a pig, a rabbit, a guinea pig, and “a bunch of chickens” – maybe 15 or 20, Julie Johnson said.

Invitations to Cory’s party let guests know that they could help Cory help the Humane Society, including a link to the society’s wish list at its Web site, hsgkc.org. Items on the list include food, treats, toys, leashes and scores of other supplies.

Robin Rowland, director of development for the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, said many children show compassion for animals but that a gesture like Cory’s is unusual.

“I hope it inspires other kids and even adults to do something like Cory’s done,” Rowland said.

Earlier this week, the Johnsons took Cory to the Humane Society to deliver the gifts, where he received some hearty thanks and a tour of the shelter.

Kristin said she’d enjoyed the trip to the Humane Society after her two benefit birthdays.

“I got to see a lot of cats and dogs,” she said. “I was really glad I was helping them.”

And after one of those trips, Kristin and Cory even got a gift of their own from their parents – a new dog for the family.

Chief Arthur Smith says he expects the payment, approved by the city administrator, to be completed in a few days.

Smith says the payment will be about $7,600.

The dog, a 6-year-old black Lab named Targa, was shot by Officer Jesse Duffey on Oct. 15 as Duffey was trying to serve a warrant on a tenant in a building owned by Mary Gesford's family.

Smith said Duffey was cornered and reasonably defended himself as the dog lunged at him. Gesford said Duffey could have used other techniques.

The Gesfords had Targa euthanized last week.

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Information from The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown, Md.

Dogs are a clear winner as the funniest animal — especially wiener dogs, Chihuahuas and pugs — judging by payouts from the series, which begins its 20th year on ABC next month.

For example, there was the bug-eyed Chihuahua getting a bath in a sink. "It was the homeliest dog, big bulging eyes that looked in opposite directions, his tongue was hanging out, and he was soaking wet, the sweetest thing," said co-executive producer and writer Todd Thicke.

"You weren't even sure it was an animal," added executive producer Vin Di Bona.

In the show's first 19 years, 260 animal videos have won $2.2 million for their videographers. More than half those winners (136) have been dogs for $1.4 million in prize money. There have been 34 cat champs making $210,000 and 22 birds sharing $115,000. Next comes the nutty part: Nine squirrels have shared $54,000.

"We might not get a lot of squirrel videos, but when we do, they come through for us. They are high percentage rodents," Thicke said. Almost all the clips involve people in tight spaces trying to get away from the squirrels, Di Bona said.

There have been multiple wins for raccoons, giraffes, goats, horses, monkeys, bears, hamsters, llamas, mice, praying mantises and whales. In the one-time wonder category are the ant, bull, camel, chimp, deer, elk, ferret, fish, fly, frog, gorilla, guinea pig, kangaroo, lizard, orangutan, ostrich, ram, rat, rhino, sea lion, spider, snake, tarantula and toad.

Between them, Di Bona, Thicke and co-executive producer Michelle Nasraway could come up with only one animal they hadn't seen — the tsetse fly.

And what has the show taught them over the years? Never hold food next to a monkey. Don't stand behind a horse. If you put a bowl of food in the middle of a group of puppies they will move around it clockwise. Dogs tend to howl at pianos.

But most of all, Thicke said, "People love their pets and are proud of them and have trained them to do amazing tricks."

Under the measure, breeders who sell more than 25 dogs annually would have to get a license. The state would investigate the breeder before issuing a license and could suspend or revoke it for violations.

Twenty-five other states regulate dog breeders. Animal rights activists have been pushing for regulations in Wisconsin for years. They say the Wisconsin's lack of regulation makes the state a magnet for puppy mills where animals are often abused.

The Assembly approved the bill 96-0. It now goes to the state Senate.

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The bill is AB 250.

City commissioners voted 3-1 Monday to evict Buck and Annie, brother-and-sister cats that arrived as 6-week-old kittens from a nearby farm.

City Manager Meg Mullendore and Debra Patzer, director of the southwest Michigan city's Downtown Development Authority, agreed in July 2008 to let the cats stay in the building.

Mullendore tells the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune that the cats have boosted employee morale and made City Hall seem less imposing to visitors.

Commissioner William Norton says he loves animals but the building is no place for pets.

New homes must be found for the feline siblings by Dec. 15.

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Information from South Bend Tribune

"They're my children. They're everything to me," said Thompson, 44.

That's why she was grateful for a local program that provides free exams, vaccinations and medications for the pets of homeless people. The aim is to improve public safety and show compassion for homeless people.

"I think it's great. I'm really thankful they have this," Thompson said. "I've been asking and praying for something like this to come along."

Thompson's dogs — Bubba, Sadie and Shadow — were among more than a dozen animals seen Sunday by veterinarian Mark Stoenner of the Willamette Valley Animal Hospital in Keizer.

The makeshift "clinic" location was a small building near Cascades Gateway Park — a southeast Salem camping area for some homeless people and their pets.

As dogs and cats received health exams, their owners socialized, ate spaghetti and talked about their pets.

These kinds of clinics, often supplemented by barbecues, have occurred monthly in Salem since May.

They are the result of teamwork by the Willamette Valley Animal Hospital, the Marion County animal shelter and Prodigal House Ministries, a nonprofit organization.

Besides the site near Cascades Gateway Park, clinics also have been held at downtown Salem locations and at Wallace Marine Park in West Salem.

Juan Lopez, a program organizer and veterinary dental technician, said the goal is to provide each pet with a general health exam, a complete set of vaccinations, flea control and deworming medications.

Pets also are spayed and neutered.

"They're currently living in our green spaces, so we have to worry about transmittal of diseases to humans," Lopez said, adding that regular veterinary care can reduce the risk of pets spreading worms, rabies and infectious viruses.

As it stands, the outreach program is providing ongoing care for about 80 animals owned by homeless people, Lopez said.

Donations pay for the program.

Thompson, who gets by on food stamps and financial support from her mother, said she avoids shelters because they don't allow pets.

"A lot of people say 'Get rid of them and go to a shelter,'" she said. "My question to them is, 'Would you get rid of your children?'"

Chris Simpson, 22, brought his two cats — Midnight and Puffy — to Sunday's clinic.

He said he rescued Midnight from mistreatment by a previous owner who fed her wine and burned her ears with candle wax.

"I took it and started treating her the way she should be treated," Simpson said. "I may be young and homeless, but I keep to my responsibilities."

Shelby County sheriff's deputies served a search warrant just before sunrise Tuesday after receiving a tip about conditions in the facility.

Officers "found conditions consistent with what had been reported," said sheriff's office spokesman Steve Shular.

"They found dogs that needed food and water, and it was evident that some of the dogs were diseased," Shular said.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton visited the shelter Tuesday morning on his first full day as mayor.

"(The investigation) gives me, in a way a clean slate, or either a dirty slate, from which to work forward," Wharton told The Commercial Appeal when reached later by phone. "The only thing we can do from this point is improve."

Shelter employees arriving for work Tuesday were taken to a separate area where deputies interviewed them, Shular said.

While no animals were being removed from the shelter, people bringing other animals to drop off were being directed to other shelters in the area.

Volunteers will care for the animals at the city shelter while the investigation continues.

The newspaper reported the shelter is directed by Ernest Alexander. Wharton wouldn't comment on the employment status of shelter workers, but said, "There will be no terminations today, based on what I've seen."

The mayor expects an investigation report within three days.

The search warrant stated "some animals have been deprived of food and water" and "some dogs have been starved to the point of requiring euthanasia."

Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons said in a statement that it is possible that one or more people could face criminal charges based on the outcome of the investigation.

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Information from The Commercial Appeal

The ASPCA plans to give this year's Henry Bergh Award to Rolling Dog Ranch founders Steve Smith and Alayne Marker during a luncheon ceremony in New York on Thursday.

"Smith and Marker have done and continue to do amazing things for the animals they adopt," ASPCA President Ed Sayers said. "The Rolling Dog Ranch takes animals that others deem unsuitable for adoption and it gives them a great life."

The couple founded the 160-acre ranch nine years ago, after leaving jobs with Boeing in Seattle. It provides sanctuary for animals that are blind, deaf or have other disabilities.

"We're very fortunate and (are) doing well, thanks to our marvelous supporters," Marker said. "We're running about 70 animals right now. It's never static. It's just Steve and me and it keeps us busy."

The Henry Bergh Award is named for the ASPCA's founder. It is one of seven awards the ASPCA is giving out this week.

"We had no idea we were even being considered," said Marker, who will be attending the luncheon. "This type of award is such wonderful recognition for the disabled animals."

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Information from Independent Record

Officials say Balu, a 4½-year-old German shepard, was in stable condition Monday at a clinic in Thousand Oaks where he was being treated for ingestion of methamphetamine.

Sheriff's officials say Balu's partner, senior Deputy Dean Worthy, rushed the canine to the emergency clinic early Monday after the dog suffered a seizure after assisting with a narcotics search.

Worthy says Balu alerted him to an area where a torn bag of methamphetamine was found. The dog suffered a seizure about two hours later.

Worthy says the dog seems to be doing OK.

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Information from Ventura County Star

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Monday it will honor Tim Rickey, director of the Missouri agency's animal cruelty task force, and Kyle Held, its animal cruelty investigator.

They're being honored with this year's ASPCA Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award at a luncheon Thursday in New York City.

Hundreds of dogs were rescued and 26 people were arrested in the July 8 multistate crackdown. Rickey and Held spent more than a year investigating alleged dogfighting rings, and tipped off state and federal authorities which collaborated in the raid and rescue.

The county operates shelters in Bellevue and Kent. It is looking for ways to save money so it can preserve core services like public safety and public health.

In other developments Monday, the King County Auditor released a report critical of the management of the current King County Animal Care and Control operation. The report says there are problems with the monitoring and management of the thousands of animals that go through the shelter each year. It also cited "inconsistent leadership, shifts in management direction, and sustained organizational uncertainty."

County Executive Kurt Triplett proposed last month that the county stop all funding for animal care and control by June 30.

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Information from Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Christine Dorchak, president and general counsel of GREY2K USA, said the figures from the Texas Racing Commission show the need to halt the industry.

"As long as greyhound racing continues, greyhounds will be hurt and sometimes die. And that's our concern," said Dorchak, whose Massachusetts-based group reviewed the records.

Gulf Greyhound Park in La Marque, the only Texas track that currently has live dog racing, accounted for most of the 2008 injuries with its year-round racing schedule.

Of the 342 Texas track injuries examined by GREY2K USA for 2008, 321 happened at Gulf Greyhound Park. The rest were at Valley Race Park in Harlingen.

Of the injured dogs, 28 were hurt more than once. Nearly two-thirds of the injuries last year were rated as minor. No injuries prompted further commission investigation action.

The 20 deaths were included in the 342-injury figure.

Commission figures provided by GREY2K USA indicated that five of the deaths were at Valley Race Park, while the other 15 were at Gulf Greyhound Park.

"We are very, very regulated," Gulf Greyhound general manager Sally Briggs told the Houston Chronicle. A state veterinarian and track veterinarian, plus three state judges, are on site for races, and trainers are licensed, she said.

Andrea Young, president and chief operating officer of Valley Race Park, said the park works hard with the greyhound community and the Texas Racing Commission to provide a safe environment and the best possible racing conditions for all race participants. Valley Race Park raced part of last year and since has taken a break in live racing.

Track proponents compare the number of injuries to the number of races multiplied by the number of dogs in each race. By that count, the 342 injuries examined by the group represent less than 1 percent of the total 40,811 starts in Texas in 2008.

Diane Whiteley, a breeder and executive director of the Texas Greyhound Association, said that anyone who has ever had a greyhound that's been injured feels awful about it. "They're like your kids," she said.

Jackie Puls, of Spring, who adopted retired Gulf Greyhound racer Lofty, said she and her husband enjoy watching greyhound races.

"It's like poetry in motion," Puls said. "These dogs are making money, and they're treated like little princes and princesses."

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Information from Houston Chronicle

Officials have identified the victim as 17-month-old Colton Smith.

Authorities say a woman was babysitting Colton at a Delhi home Friday when her family's 65-pound pit bull bit his throat and dragged him around the yard. She says she rescued the boy after stabbing the dog with a fork.

Colton was airlifted to a Madera hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Merced County Sheriff's Deputy Tom MacKenzie says an autopsy is scheduled on the child Tuesday. He says authorities will decide whether to recommend criminal charges against the babysitter after the preliminary results are in.

The pit bull is now in the custody of animal control officials.

The little mixed-breed who was rescued from the streets of Puerto Rico needed a home. Dobson, of Orleans, Mass., was losing his hearing.

"My wife saw me kind of dropping out," he says. "As people get deafer they get more anti-social."

Both problems were solved when man and dog were brought together by the National Education for Assistance Dog Service, which trains dogs from shelters to assist the hearing impaired. Based in Princeton, Mass., NEADS has placed more than 1,300 hearing dogs all over the country since 1976.

Goblin does for Dobson what his digital hearing aid can't.

"What the dog does for me is hears what I can't hear," he says. "She can hear the phone ringing, alarms, knocking on the door, when people call my name."

The dogs chosen for this job have to have special qualities — often exactly the qualities that land them in shelters.

"The hearing dog is usually the dog no one wants," says Brian Jennings, who's been a trainer at NEADS for 20 years. "It's usually hyperactive, willful, compulsive. They have to be. If the dog wakes you in the middle of the night because the smoke alarm's going off and you push them away, they have to not give up."

What's unique about hearing dogs, says Kathy Foreman of NEADS, is that they work without being given commands. A guide dog for the blind, for instance, is given a command to go forward, and while it knows to disobey if there's danger, it's still initially responding to the handler's direction. Hearing dogs, by definition, need to do their work when their owner doesn't know there's a job to be done.

So trainers look for dogs who are curious about sounds, but also very confident. These may be exactly the dogs that drove their original owners crazy because they were bouncing off the walls, but as Jennings observes, "sometimes a dog's weakness is its strength."

The dogs are trained to touch the owner and lead him physically to the source of certain sounds. So that they'll do this on their own initiative, says Foreman, the secret of training is to make the dog think "it's a big game, and we are happy to play it with you any time."

New owners are taught how to keep the dog's skills sharp, such as praising it for responding to sounds even in cases that turn out to be unimportant.

NEADS has no physical requirement for hearing dogs. "We've had everything from Chihuahuas to German shepherds," says Jennings, and most of them are mixed breeds.

Hearing dogs not only let their handlers know that they've dropped their car keys, but also help in less tangible ways. Social interactions are often affected by the fact that deafness is not a visible disability. Foreman says that not hearing when your name is called is a big issue for the clients: "People say, people at work thought I was the biggest snob because I ignored them."

The dog not only helps make the handler aware of sounds, but makes observers aware of the handler's situation.

"When they see the dog, it helps people understand that they need to take extra time to communicate with that person," says Jeanine Konopelski of Canine Companions for Independence.

For the hearing impaired, the dogs allow more freedom and independence, says Robin Dickson of Dogs for the Deaf in Oregon. One client told her that before she had a dog, "I never had time to think, because I was always trying so hard to listen."

Dobson's wife Joanne says that Ray, like many who are losing their hearing, was reluctant to admit the problem, and was coping by withdrawing from social interactions. "Now he's back in the mainstream," she says.

Plus there's one benefit she didn't expect.

"My friends are very jealous," she says. "When I call my husband, the dog jumps on him till he comes."

Customs agent Helge Breilid said Monday the 22-year-old Norwegian citizen was apprehended in the southern town of Kristiansand after getting off a ferry from Hirtshals, Denmark. He said the man had 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos under his clothes.

Breilid said the non-venomous snakes — the smallest species in the python family — were hidden in stockings duct-taped to the man's abdomen. The geckos were in boxes taped to his thighs.

Customs officials found the reptiles, which are not endangered, Sunday during a search following the discovery of a tarantula in one of the man's bags.

The dog did it ... and did it ... and did it some more.

Some things in life just come naturally.

"Gross," says Jan Rohrs.

As much as Rohrs loves Bella, her 2-year-old Cavachon — a sweet little "designer dog" that mixes the best of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with a Bichon Frisee — Rohrs hated being left holding the bag, so to speak, whenever her dog did its duty out in public.

"Really gross," Rohrs says again, this time with extra emphasis.

Dog lovers everywhere know of what she speaks. There she would be, out walking Bella around her Norton Shores neighborhood, getting a little fresh air and exercise and carrying a plastic grocery bag of — well, there's just no polite way of saying it — freshly deposited dog doo.

"I mean, really, what are you supposed to do with it?" Rohrs asks.

If you're Rohrs, a woman with an inventive mind and "a whole scrapbook of dogs over the years," you head straight to the drawing board to build a better dog doo bag.

"I just kept thinking: How could this be changed? There has to be a way," she says.

Once a national sales leader in Longaberger basket sales, Rohrs used her ingenuity and people know-how and came up with a bag she says is a "stylish answer ... a hands-free way to temporarily store your dog's waste bag" while you're out.

But what to call it?

"I knew I had to think of a name that clicks with people," she says. "It had to have a special ring to it."

She calls it PooDunki.

The PooDunki is made of sturdy nylon, with separate pouches for house keys, cell phones, extra bags and whatnot, plus a pouch of aerated material in which to keep the bags of dog waste. It's washable and can either be slung over the dog walker's shoulder or fastened around one's waist.

LaRaine Kiel, dog owner, dog groomer and owner of Bow Wow's Bath House in Roosevelt Park, said she is a big believer in the PooDunki, pronouncing it a "fabulous product." She has two dogs — a collie and a Lab mix — she takes on nightly walks.

"Can you imagine? Two big dogs? Here you are, carrying these bags because you want to be a responsible pet owner. It's disgusting," Kiel says.

Not anymore, now that she has a PooDunki.

"It's such a needed product," Kiel says.

There's more to aesthetics here. Most municipalities have "curbing" laws in one form or another and can fine owners who don't pick up after their dogs in public areas.

And with the slightest encouragement, Rohrs will even deliver a short lecture on bacteria that can thrive in such an unsanitary medium. There are scientific studies, she says, that prove the dangers of leaving dog feces on beaches, near lakes, in the woods or in other people's yards.

"E. coli," she says solemnly.

Science aside, there's another reason Rohrs wanted to come up with a better catchall than tying a bag on Bella's harness and leash, or carrying it herself.

"You want to do the right thing, the responsible thing and pick up the poo,'" she says.

One day, after standing and talking with a friend for awhile, both them bearing plastic grocery bags that were steaming and stinking, Rohrs went home, prepared to come up with a better idea.

The mother of five and grandmother of 11 — "number 12's on the way," she says — Rohrs has always been an inventor of sorts. She takes after her father, the late Robert Miller, an inventor who started R.A. Miller Industries Inc. in Grand Haven.

"I'm just somebody who thinks of things ... who likes to fix things," she says, "and it's perfect timing with everyone caring about ecology ... the green movement."

She first experimented with fancy fabric, but it was highly impractical, and even unsanitary. Eventually Rohrs came up with the nylon bag which is washable and lightweight. The bags are made at Holland Stitchcraft Inc. in Holland and silkscreened at Industrial Metal Identification Inc. in Spring Lake with the PooDunki logo she designed. Then she, with help from her husband, John Rohrs, and grandchildren, packages the PooDunki at her home in Norton Shores.

"I could get it made cheaper overseas," Rohrs says, "but I have to stay in the U.S. We have to help each other."

The PooDunki has been on the market since 2008, "so I'm still new to this," Rohrs says. In between marketing the bag, and "daily life," she still takes Bella for walks at least once a day. Before heading out, Rohrs straps a PooDunki around her waist, prepared for action.

"It serves the purpose," she says. "It definitely does."

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Information from The Muskegon Chronicle

And Canine Solutions for Seniors was born.

In March, Caroom, a 56-year-old Annapolis resident, retired from her longtime legal career and opened Canine Solutions. The service is aimed at training dogs to perform tasks to help the elderly, but it's not limited to that age group.

"This is what I wanted to do with (my) retirement," she said. "This is immensely gratifying."

Caroom trains dogs to pick up a dropped cane or a set of keys, deliver a note or alert someone to an alarm or doorbell. Caroom also can train dogs to help people take off a sweater or coat, or to act as a brace so someone can get out of a chair more easily.

"The idea is that most people have dogs, and dogs love to do this," she explained. "The very things that (people might have) problems with can be turned to an advantage."

Caroom has trained dogs, including her pets, for more than 20 years.

Caroom, who is hearing impaired, has two border collies, Strike and Moss. Strike is a hearing assistance dog, and Moss is trained to do several tasks.

Jodie Jeweler of Annapolis is having Caroom train her Irish wolfhound puppy so he can help her parents. "She's a wonderful person and a great dog trainer," Jeweler said. "... Part of it is that she finds it fun and she makes it fun for the dog."

Caroom charges at least $60 an hour for private sessions, depending on the services. She teaches the dogs and their owners, leaving detailed homework so they can practice what she's accomplished at a meeting.

Caroom has also conducted classes.

"I thought it was a great idea," said Suzie Nichols, director of the Arnold Senior Center, where Caroom conducted a class over the summer. "A lot of seniors have pets they're attached to, so if they can train them to do little things to help out, that would be a good thing."

Caroom will train any dog, regardless of age. However, she points out that owners have to understand that a 10-year-old pet doesn't have the time or temperament to learn as much as one several years younger.

She tailors lessons to each dog, and trains them in tiny steps with rewards of a small piece of dog biscuit.

Caroom is careful to set realistic expectations. "I'm straight with people about what dogs can and can't do," she said.

Caroom has been training Cleopatra, a 3-year-old pit bull-boxer mix owned by Daniel and Ruth Lanham of Severna Park.

The Lanhams sought out Caroom because they have three developmentally and physically disabled adults living with them, and they hoped that the training she offers could allow Cleo to assist them.

"She knows what the dog is thinking ... and she's patient," Ruth said. "It's amazing that two months ago (Cleo) was in a cage at the SPCA."

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Information from The Capital of Annapolis, Md.

Howloween events include a dog wedding, trick-or-treat parade, pet photos, fashion show/pet costume contest and animal adoptions.

Entries for the fashion show/costume contest are $7 and will benefit the Olathe Animal Shelter, which barely survived city budget cuts this year. Prizes for the winners are valued up to $500.

Contestants must fill out an official entry form. Visit www.ybarh.com or www.kansascoffeecompany.com to print and mail in the form. All dogs must be current on shots, registered rabies and people/animal friendly.

The event begins at noon in downtown Olathe at the corner of Park and Cherry streets.

Donations of blankets, towels, cat litter and pet food also are being accepted for the shelter.

The city recently passed an ordinance that will authorize police and animal control to enter fenced backyards to impound barking dogs. But police officials say the law will be enforced only as a last resort.

“We’re not going to be the barking police,” said Prairie Village Police Captain Tim Schwartzkopf. “We understand that dogs bark at neighbors and squirrels. But when that dog barks nonstop all night, that’s when it becomes a nuisance.”

If complaints are made about barking, the police will go through with their usual procedure of contacting the owner to see whether the pet can be brought inside.

In most cases, the pet owner complies without a problem, Schwartzkopf said. But if not, Animal Control will try to work with the pet owner the next day.

If the resident doesn’t cooperate, the dog is seized and placed at the Animal Medical Center located near 75th Street and Wornall Road. To get their pets back, residents will need to pay a boarding fee of $20 per day and appear in Municipal Court for a violation of the city’s noise ordinance. They may or may not be issued a fine, depending on the circumstance.

“This ordinance will affect a very, very small percentage of Prairie Village residents,” Schwartzkopf said. “It would have to be a drastic circumstance before one of our officers would impound a dog. Most of the people in the city are good pet owners.”

While the procedure may seem drastic to some, Schwartzkopf believes it is necessary.

Police staff initiated the ordinance because of recent uncontrollable pet owners.

In the past four to six months, numerous phone calls have been made to the Police Department about excessive barking at night. In most of those cases, the homeowners had been refusing to cooperate.

After some brainstorming, the staff realized impounding pets would have to be an option.

The City Council supported that decision on Monday, putting the ordinance into effect immediately.

Schwartzkopf believes Prairie Village may be the only city in Johnson County to have such an ordinance.

Most other cities in the county have confirmed their police officers do not impound pets based on noise complaints.

“If a dog is barking excessively in the middle of the night, we usually have an officer go to the home to find out what is going on,” said Lieutenant Mike Fleming of Fairway. “Sometimes dogs just bark at other dogs or perhaps they are neglected. But in that case we just contact the owners about it or refer the situation to Animal Control — our officers do not impound for barking.”

Overland Park is the same.

“We only impound dogs if they are in danger,” said Jim Weaver, the public information officer for Overland Park. “Other than that, we just contact Animal Control.”

Police officers in Kansas City do not impound dogs for barking, much less respond to animal-related complaints, unless there is physical danger involved. Animal Control is in charge of animal-related noise incidents.

“If dog barking is disturbing a neighbor, we can’t even issue a ticket,” Mike Schumacher, assistant to the director of Animal Control for Kansas City. “Usually the neighbor is asked to write an official complaint and take that pet owner into court.”

He has never heard of another city with a similar ordinance.

“But I don’t think what Prairie Village is doing is bad,” Schumacher added. “Every city has their own way of handling things.”

To reach Jennifer Bhargava, call 816-234-7737 or send e-mail to jbhargava@kcstar.com.

The Brockton Enterprise reports Friday that Kristin Bousquet is on leave pending a hearing.

Janet Torren of Rochester says her Yorkshire terrier, named Shai, had an identifying microchip in its ear. She said the chip's distributor told her it was scanned Sept. 18 by a device listed to the Stoughton pound.

Torren said instead of returning her dog, Bousquet gave it to a policeman as a gift for his girlfriend on Sept. 22.

Pounds must keep dogs for 10 days before they can be adopted.

Torren said Bousquet denied any knowledge of her dog. A telephone listing for Bousquet could not immediately be located.

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Information from The Enterprise

Quay County Magistrate Joel Garnett made the ruling after seven hours of testimony Wednesday.

The 61-year-old Apodaca said justice prevailed.

A witness had reported to authorities that a man was driving a vehicle and holding a dog by a chain. The witness said the dog was being dragged alongside the vehicle and was hit twice by the vehicle's tire.

Police later identified the driver as Apodaca.

A Tucumcari veterinarian testified Wednesday that the dog had no injuries to support being ran over or dragged and that the dog did not appear to be malnourished, abused or neglected.

Following her triumph over cancer, horse riding and training became the guiding passions of her life.

Pyne now owns two horses, which she refers to as "her boys": Rocky, a 13-year-old chestnut Missouri fox trotter, and Cisco, a 15-year-old quarterhorse that changes color four times a year.

"I always has this passion for horses, but I didn't realize it in my childhood," Pyne said.

She likens Rocky to a "big chocolate lab," and the friendly animal lives up to his moniker. He pushes his nose into peoples' chests, eager to be petted, and he curiously sniffs every inch of a new acquaintance.

Cisco — "my business manager," Pyne says — is a bit more serious. His annoyed gaze is the first thing that tells Pyne if a rider during a lesson is doing something wrong. But that doesn't mean he doesn't stick his nose out to be stroked from time to time, too.

Pyne gives her horses free rein to do what makes them happy, until it's time to get down to business. Then her control becomes evident.

Rocky could be nostril-deep in a person's arm pit, but one snap and one hiss from Pyne will have him standing at attention like a cadet in basic training.

The horse training method that Pyne subscribes to might best be described as horse whispering. She seeks not to dominate the animals, not to force them into submission, but rather to reach a mutual understanding. Her initial order of business when working with a new horse is to feel out its personality.

The first tool she uses to train a horse is body language. Horses are adept at reading a person's motions and they'll respond depending on a trainer's actions, she believes.

"It's incredible the energy you give off. They feel every bone in your body, every breath you take," Pyne said.

If body language isn't working, she'll try to use verbal commands. It's only in rare situations that she'll resort to being physical.

"When you fight with a horse, you'll never win," Pyne said.

Horse whispering is as much about the trainer as it is the horse. If the actions of the trainer aren't achieving the desired result, it's up to them to implement changes.

"That's what horse whispering is all about, how to adjust and change your situation by changing what you're doing," said renowned Belen-based horse whisperer and author Bob Allen. "It doesn't really have anything to do with the horse."

Allen, 50, got into horse whispering when he was 22 years old. He'd grown up on a ranch, and the only method he'd known previously was to be as mean as possible in order to break down a horse until it was rideable.

After being introduced to the calmer, gentler method of horse whispering, Allen never looked back. He's honed his skills for 28 years, and now he's trying to teach people to use horse whispering strategies in other aspects of their lives.

"Horse whispering has universal applications. You can use it with people, or with horses. Cattle, sheep, whatever. It's a communication philosophy, and it's all based on harmony," Allen said.

Perhaps the most important tenet of horse whispering is for a person to continually adjust their own actions until they get a positive reaction. Allen believes this stratagem not only works with horses, but with bosses, spouses, friends, parents and co-workers.

"Really, it's a study of yourself and becoming acutely aware of how your actions are affecting everything and everyone around you," Allen said.

Allen runs horse whispering workshops in Belen on a regular basis, and travels across the Southwest five or six times a year to teach his beliefs. He also works with troubled youth to try to get them to change their behavior through horse riding and horse whispering.

Pyne, a school counselor assistant by day, teaches horseback riding and trains horses by night.

Whether a person gets into horse whispering purely for a love of horses or to improve their interpersonal communication skills, they're likely to get as much out of it as the horses. Pyne describes her afternoons working with Rocky and Cisco as "therapy," and a love for her craft is apparent in every word she speaks.

"You can have the worst day in the office, (and then) you come out here and everything disappears," Pyne said. "It's just like a piece of heaven."

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Information from The Daily Times

The Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service says Lucy underwent surgery to remove the arrow and a vet says she's lucky to be alive. The dog was hit Oct. 16.

The Humane Society of the United States is offering a $2,500 reward for information that helps lead to an arrest.

The Spokesman-Review says conviction on a first-degree animal cruelty charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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Information from The Spokesman-Review

On Aug. 15, the shelter’s operations director, Jason Huff, posed with a huge cardboard check for $5,000 from Adam’s Rib, a barbecue restaurant in Overland Park.

Two months later the restaurant is closed, and The Pet Connection is still waiting for the real check.

It could be a long wait: Pet Connection officials received a bankruptcy notice from Adam’s Rib earlier this week.

The money was the prize in a contest to see who could eat a 10-pound Ultimate Brisket Burger in 20 minutes. About a dozen celebrity contestants participated, and the money was to go to the winner’s favorite charity.

Bryan Truta, program director for radio station Jack 105.1 FM, ate about two and a half pounds of the giant burger and was declared the winner. His charity was The Pet Connection.

The fact that money hasn’t been sent has Truta disappointed and “hopping mad.”

“These guys really were counting on this,” Truta said, referring to The Pet Connection. “It was going to mean a lot to them. Our listeners are also mad that they didn’t get paid.”

The restaurant’s Web site states, “We tried very hard but just couldn’t make it in this slow economy.”

Efforts to reach the owner, Hope F. Loehr, were unsuccessful. The publicist for the restaurant’s event, Amanda Frederickson, said a major donor withdrew a large pledge on the day the event was held.

“We were horrified,” she said. “Hope is upset, but her hands are tied. Everything was done in good faith.”

The shelter had planned to use the money to assist dogs taken in by the Pet Connection from the Ray of Hope program, which takes pets from shelters and places them in no-kill adoption programs and homes.

Officer Ryan Sumner and K9 Diesel placed first and Officer Jim Harris and K9 Speedy placed second in the patrol division at the National Police Canine Association Seminar and Competition. The teams were tested in general dog control and obedience, and in specific tactical maneuvers.

The winning duos were recognized at the Oct. 20 City Council meeting. Two different teams also placed first and second in the last NPCA competition, held in 2007.

Columbia too is mulling new regulations on backyard poultry.

The tending of small backyard flocks has grown in popularity in some Missouri cities and throughout the U.S. Enthusiasts appreciate the fresh eggs, the hens' droppings for fertilizer, and the birds dining on insects. Some see the hens as pets.

But some Clayton residents aren't ready to embrace the trend. Clayton's existing ordinance requires chickens to be kept in a sanitary fashion and not for commercial use. Now there's talk of placing limits as more birds take up residence in the backyards of some of the suburb's toniest neighborhoods, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday.

"Up until recently, it hasn't been an issue, but we have seen a greater number of chickens coming into Clayton," planning director Catherine Powers said at a recent Board of Aldermen meeting.

Complaints have focused on noise, sanitation and appearances, and city officials said they would check ordinances in other municipalities.

"It sounds like I'm mean, and I'm not against chickens," resident Virginia Frank said after the aldermanic meeting. "It's just that ... we live close together, and the chickens squawk all the time."

The chickens "really need to be on a farm," she added.

But Clayton resident Stan Braude, a Washington University biology professor, said he'd like to see the city encourage more residents to have a few backyard hens for both health and environmental benefits.

Those include eggs with less risk of salmonella than factory-farmed eggs, less use of pesticides and fertilizers, and a reduction of carbon emissions associated with car trips to the grocery store, he said.

Chicken enthusiast Anne Martin, 57, has three hens and a rooster at her Clayton home and had flocks most of her life.

"As pets, they're wonderful, sweet and very clean," she said. "They're cantankerous and totally entertaining."

Alderman Alex Berger III said the city should impose restrictions and enforce them to make things more pleasant for neighbors.

Columbia now allows one chicken per half-acre, which means few residents can have one. The city council is considering letting city residents keep chickens, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.

In St. Louis, the board of aldermen voted last week to ban roosters, but the mayor has not yet signed off on it.

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Information from St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Fifty-eight percent of pet owners — 63 percent of dog owners and 53 percent of cat owners — would be at least somewhat likely to perform CPR on their pet in the event of a medical emergency, according to an Associated Press-Petside.com poll.

Tammy Parks, 52, of Amherst, Mass., has taken a pet first aid class and wouldn't hesitate to help her 15-year-old mixed breed terriers, Lucy and Julia, or her white fronted Amazon parrot Koko.

"It's not rocket science. The mechanics are the same as humans," said Parks, who was an American Red Cross first aid trainer. "Size is the biggest difference."

In general, though, the poll found few pet owners are prepared to handle pet emergencies. Just 20 percent of pet owners have a pet first aid kit with medical supplies like bandages and ointment in their home, and 54 percent do not have a fire evacuation plan for their pets.

And the survey revealed frequent reporting of dangerous practices that can lead to accidents and injuries. For example, a quarter of pet owners, including 30 percent of dog owners and 22 percent of cat owners, give their pets bones from table scraps, at least sometimes.

Sixty-two percent of dog owners and a third of cat owners let their pets ride in their cars unrestrained, rather than placing them in a special pet carrier. And 11 percent of pet owners sometimes leave their pets unattended in a car or truck.

Still, most pet owners said they would go the extra mile to rescue their pets. Women were more likely to say they would perform CPR on their pets than men, 65 percent to 50 percent, the poll showed.

Nearly every decision made at the Parks house is made with the safety of the animals in mind.

"We don't use pesticide on the lawn. We don't buy food with pesticide on it. No sugar, no salt, just natural nuts and fruits. No Teflon in the house, no smoking, no air fresheners, no aerosol products," she said, explaining that any one of those things could kill their 7-year-old bird.

Barbara Klingman of Houma, La., said she changed things after her Chihuahua, Honeychild, ate something that forced an emergency trip to the vet.

"I make sure she doesn't have anything she shouldn't have," Klingman said of the 7-pound, 4-year-old dog.

The poll showed 7 percent of those polled have pets who have eaten something poisonous and 16 percent have pets who have had allergic reactions to something.

There were also threats from pets themselves: 17 percent reported having a pet bitten or attacked by another animal, 9 percent said a pet had bitten or attacked another animal and 5 percent said a pet had bitten or attacked another person.

The poll revealed that 41 percent have experienced at least one pet safety emergency that required an emergency trip to a vet and 11 percent have had a pet hit by a car.

Edwin Griffin Jr., 61, of Plano, Texas, remembers all too well 25 years ago when his white German shepherd ran in front of a car. The dog broke both hips and his jaw, lost an eye and was in intensive care at an animal hospital for two weeks.

"I had just lost my wife the month before. My children were 1 and 3. I mortgaged the car to save my dog because of the impact it would have had on the children," he said.

The dog lived six more years.

Now Buddy, Griffin's 3-year-old golden retriever, has a first aid kit, a carbon monoxide alarm in the room where he sleeps and several designated escape routes for emergencies. But it's Buddy who's come to the rescue of humans in his home, especially Griffin's father-in-law, who is in the final stages of pancreatic cancer.

"My wife's father gets a great deal of relief from being able to touch and rub Buddy. Buddy just stands beside him. He knows that is his role," Griffin said.

Pet safety and CPR training is offered by the American Red Cross and many private companies. "Vets are the experts but they are rarely on scene when something happens to our pets," said Denise Fleck, who runs Sunny-Dog Ink in Burbank and has written pet safety textbooks, appeared on a number of TV shows and taught classes throughout Southern California.

Disaster plans are important, too, especially in areas like Southern California that are at the mercy of earthquakes and fires.

"If people value their pets like a family member, they should know how to do CPR, just like they would for their kids. In disasters, pets get hurt and run into debris and all kinds of things," said Mark Solnick, director of emergency preparedness and response for the Red Cross of Santa Monica.

Laurie Sullivan, 47, of Littlerock, Calif., has three dogs (Elsa Ann, Hope and Schotzie), an Arabian horse (Cary) and 19 cats. She has tended to a wide variety of emergencies over the years. Lucky for her menagerie, she was a certified emergency medical technician and a hospital worker.

She was there to help when one of her dogs choked on a small bone, when one of her cats had a hard time delivering eight kittens, when a neighbor lost the tip of her finger to a horse and for countless everyday cuts, scrapes and bruises.

She has never had to use CPR on an animal, but she knows how to. However, "it would really be hard to give CPR to a horse," she laughed.

The AP-Petside.com poll was conducted Oct. 1-5, 2009, by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media. It involved telephone interviews on landline and cell phones with 1,166 pet owners nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points for all pet owners.

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Associated Press polling director Trevor Tompson contributed to this report.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office reports that Dylan Robert Medlock home was at his uncle's home Monday while his mother was running errands. The uncle's girlfriend, who was watching Dylan, told deputies that she and the boy were in the front yard when the dog got off his chain and ran at them.

The dog reportedly jumped on the boy and was only playing at first, but the boy accidentally kicked the dog. After that, the dog began biting and the woman pulled the dog away.

The boy's mother eventually returned to the house and took the boy to a nearby hospital. The boy was covered in bite marks and his leg had been broken in two places.

The dog was taken by animal control officials.

The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is testing the food the dogs ate to see if the deaths are due to a food-borne illness.

The state Division of Gaming is also investigating. Gaming administrator Bob Sloey says two dogs that died last weekend came from different kennels. The first four deaths, since August, involved dogs from the same kennel operator.

The investigation comes as dog track operators decide the future of Dairyland. It lost $3.4 million last year. Attendance so far this year is down 19 percent.

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Information from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The measure has already passed a Senate committee and is awaiting debate. On Wednesday, an Assembly committee is scheduled to vote on it.

The bill has broad bipartisan support, with 71 out of 132 lawmakers signed on as co-sponsors.

Under the bill, breeders who sell more than 25 dogs a year would have to be licensed. The state would investigate the breeder before issuing a license and could suspend or revoke the license if there were violations.

Wisconsin would become the 26th state to regulate or require licensing of dog breeders should the measure pass and be signed into law.