Dog Fancy Dress Wins $6000!

There have been some really very upsetting dog stories in the news just lately .... so here is a nice change for you Puppy Lovers! Meet 18 month old Rufio...

Doesn't he look pawesome all dressed up for Howl-o-ween last month?! And we're not the only ones to think so! Rufio, a Plainfield Neopolitan Mastiff, has won $6000 in the PetSmart Monster Cute Photo Contest in the USA. And that's not all....he's won at least 25 other competitions! And, what makes it even more pawesome...his owner Kathryn Dunlap is using his winnings to help rescue dogs!! She has already bought an animal shelter food with her $500 giftcard. Infact, Rufio and Kathryn are on the look out for an agent to reperesent him and Kathryn says “My goal for him is to be a spokesperson for other dogs, especially those in shelters and rescues” and being such a rare breed and so utterly gorgeous, we are thinking he will be great at raising awareness of the importance of rescue centres and the plight of homeless dogs... you know, the only Plainfield Neopolitan Mastiff we'd seen before was 'Fang' in Harry Potter. Bigger dogs are often found in rescues due to becoming too much for their owners to manage as they grow...it breaks our heart! Hopefully star-pups like Rufio wil help raise awareness of these loving gentle giants. For more information about Rufio and his new line of greetings cards, visit www.rufiosrumblings.com or find the Rufio Ricardo Fan Club on Facebook x x

Cassie the UK's Fattest Dog Slims Down & a list of Doggie Poison Foods

Meet 7 year old Cassie the Collie.... 

Isn't she a cutie? She is one rather special little girl as just six months ago she looked like this:

Cassie has lost the title of UK's Fattest Dog by also losing half her body weight! Go Cassie!! When Cassie arrived at Dogs Trust Kenilworth earlier this year, she weighed a shocking 7 stone after being fed a diet of full sized portions of fish & chips, roast dinner, crisps and *gasp* chocolate!! The lady who really was killing her with kindess would even order double at the takeaway! Now, sadly, so often we hear animal abuse stories that chill us to the core, and although this involves no vile mutilation or violence, it is still a form of abuse. Poor Cassie could not walk for more than 3 minutes before she gave up the ghost and  it took 3 people to lift her in and out of the car. 

Dogs Trust Kenilworth manager Sandra Wilson said: "Unfortunately, when owners treat their pets as if they were humans and feed them the wrong food, they're simply killing them with kindness... She was at risk of heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis, but it's great to see the progress she has made in a relatively short time and a testament to the hard work of the staff here."

She has been working out on the treadmill and with hydrotherapy, which she loves, and is now ready to go to her new home. But her story is a warning to dog owners around the world... Most doggies will keep eating unitl they go off pop! Many a time I have commented that Buzz, left to his own devices would end up a little ball with legs...just like poor little Cassie looked earlier in the year. I decided to look into the pyschology behind a dog's relationship with food and what I found was interesting... Sarah of Sarah's Dogs comments:

"In the course of the history of humankind's relationship with the dog, the dog has come to look at people as being able to provide it with food. Since a dog is also a pack animal with a social hierarchy, the treatment of food by the pack is important to a dog. In the dog pack, the top dog will eat first... 

As the leader of the pack, you must eat before the dog eats. If you allow your dog to beg from you and to get a morsel of food before you, you are giving the dog a boost up the social ladder in your home... Once someone shares some of their food with the dog, the dog then not only realizes that its dog food is inferior in taste, scent and appearance to what its masters are getting, the stage now has been set for more begging. The dog will beg for another morsel, and once that begging behavior has worked, the dog will continue begging nonstop. At every meal, you will see the staring or blinking eyes that are entranced by every move you make...In that case, your alpha status has been weakened, especially if you give the dog a treat before you feed yourself. As the leader of the pack, you must not tamper with your leader status by interfering with whose food is whose..."

You can read more of her article here  and be sure to check out the rest of her site - it's very informative! 

This is exactly what happened with Cassie in terms of her then turning her nose up at the proper dog food - she even went on hunger strike for 3 days when first confronted with dry dog food. Of course, Cassie's story is an extreme case. Before dog food was mass-produced, dogs did eat 'human' food and obviously in the wild back in the day, they didn't pop to Asda's for a bag of Harringtons or tin of Pedigree Chum but they would have scraps (ie. small!) and raw meat. And of course, there is the raw diet so popular now. It's nice to give your dog a little treat sometimes by way of a chew etc and you have to be mega-tough to resist those puppy dog eyes at mealtimes but just be aware that by not giving in as much as you can, you are actually doing your best friend a favour. Just like us humans, being overweight puts them at higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, arthritis etc... and please check out the list of potentially poisionous foods for dogs after the jump! There are some that were real shockers to us, and we thought we were pretty clued up so please do look. 

We'd love to know what you think about Cassie's case, and the concept of doggie diet, so please do comment! x x

9/11 Dogs Ten Years On

10 years ago today, the world changed. Big time. 

As George 'dubbleya' Bush said in a rare moment of sincerity & depth, at yesterday's memorial for Flight 93 in Pennsylvania ... 

“When the sun rose in the Pennsylvania sky 10 years ago, it was a peaceful September morning,” he said, “By the time it set, nearly 3,000 people had lost their lives." 

Even a decade on, whenever I look at the images from that day, my brain still struggles to process that what I'm seeing is not a movie still or some angry computer game. Today we want to honour the bravery of all involved in the rescue operation at Ground Zero, the Pentagon and those heroes of Flight 93 who really were the first to stand in the 'War on Terror' or whatever the politicians term it. To us, they just fought back and triumphed against pure evil. 

Of course, it wouldn't be Puppy Love if we didn't move on to the heroes of the furry variety... and we can't believe that somehow we missed this story over the last ten years! Maybe it has something to with the leaky eyes of grief and outrage but at last we have discovered the story of Michael Hingson and his guide dog Roselle who were working on the 78th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center when the first plane hit Tower Two. Together, beautiful yellow lab Roselle leading the way, they began the evacuation and ended up just 100 yards away when Tower Two collapsed. And her fellow guide dog Salty also did the same for his owner in another area. I never have words for the loyalty of dogs, just a big lump in my throat. Roselle, like so many of the rescue dogs who worked on 9/11, has now crossed the Rainbow Bridge but just like the thousands who lost their lives that day, and in the resulting conflicts and attacks around the world, they will never be forgotten. 

Over 350 dogs worked at Ground zero and Boston journalisist Laurel Sweet worked with vet Dr Cynthia Otto who was treating their injuries from searching through the debris ... "I think the dogs were the only thing that kept people going at Ground Zero," Sweet quotes Otto as saying. "You'd actually see their faces change when a dog walked by."

Dutch photogrpapher Charlotte Dumas has tracked down the 15 still living FEMA doggies and complied a beautiful book called 'Retrieved' which is available now... 

If you don't want the leaky eyes, and believe me they'll come big stylee, click away now, as here are some of those doggie-heroes :

From the NY Times: Bailey, age 14, Thompson Station, Tenn. She went to the Pentagon following the attacks of 9/11.

Bretagne from Cypress, Texas, arrived at the site in New York on September 17, remaining there for ten days 

Moxie, 13, from Winthrop, Massachusetts, arrived with her handler, Mark Aliberti, at the World Trade Center on the evening of September 11 and searched the site for eight days

Tara, 16, from Ipswich, Massachusetts who stayed for 8 days from Sept 11th

Kaiser, 12, pictured at home in Indianapolis, Indiana, was deployed to the World Trade Center on September 11 and searched tirelessly for people in the rubble

Guinness, 15, from Highland, California, started work at the site with Sheila McKee

Merlyn and his handler Matt Claussen were deployed to Ground Zero on September 24, working the night shift for five days

Red, 11, from Annapolis, Maryland, went  to the Pentagon

Abigail, left, was deployed on the evening of September 17

Tuff arrived in New York at 11:00 pm on the day of attack to start working early the next day

Hoke from Denver searched for 5 days

From the NY Times: Orion, age 13, Vacaville, Calif. He worked at the World Trade Center for five days after the attacks 
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2033628/Surviving-9-11-rescue-dogs-scoured-Ground-Zero-bodies-commemorated-decade-difficult-mission.html#ixzz1Xdnr20gt

Black Dog Appreciation Day

Today we are not doing our weekly Friday Funny as we want to talk about a serious cause close to our hearts. Today is Black Dog Appreciation Day where, worldwide, animal lovers celebrate  black dogs and highlight Black dog bias or Black Dog Syndrome. 

Now if you haven't heard of Black Dog Syndrome before, you will be as surprised as we were to find out that all those beautifully sleek, glossy furred, gorgeous black dogs and cats are more than often the last pets in rescue centres and shelters to find homes, if at all, because they are passed over in favour of the lighter coloured animals. And it's not just the bigger breeds or Heinz 57's that the phenomenon applies to - even the toy & pedigree breeds are affected. 

As you know we have two black rescue dogs in the Puppy Love family, Buzz and Lubo, both of whom spent a long time in the rescue centre waiting for us... Lubo was at the Mayhew for 3 months:

and also these three beauties in our extended family, where again Brook's fursis & bro Soxi and Dino are rescues:

Noone is 100% sure why this happens - it is thought that they don't photograph as well so aren't as appealing on adoption websites, and that people often still associate black with superstitions ie: black cats etc (although I always thought that a black cat crossing your path was lucky!?) Other theories put forward include the idea that in movies and the media as a whole black dogs are usually the aggressive, mean ones or that noone wants the dark fur malting. Personally I LOVE black dogs and cats but I must say when I went to the rescue centre all those years ago in Hull, Buzzy provided the perfect example of Black Dog Syndrome and I am eternally grateful to the staff there for spotting we would be perfect for eachother. He was stood there quiet as a mouse hid in the background away from us, whilst all the other dogs jumped and barked, and I think this is another factor. Certainly in the smaller rescue centres and shelters where it can be a little dark and gloomy, the black fur just doesn't show up :( A shelter in LA did a study to try and challenge the Black dog bias or Black Dog Syndrome by saying a full 28% of adopted dogs were black, but the facts still stand sadly... 

So, today help us promote how totally p-awesome black dogs and cats are and raise awareness of Black dog bias/Black Dog Syndrome! There is an event on facebook here  today with over 12000 people attending online where you can share pics of your black dogs and share your stories - sooo many gorgeous pups! x x

For more info on  Black dog bias/Black Dog Syndrome check out the links after the jump>>