Tracy Hon sustained severe injuries and is recovering in Enloe Medical Center's intensive care unit, said Patricia Vaughan, a friend of hers.

Hon's injuries included a badly mauled arm and legs, facial lacerations and a severed trachea, Vaughan said. She had surgery at the hospital.

Hon is active in Boxer Rescue, an organization whose members take care of unwanted boxers and try to find homes for them. Sometimes she rescues pit bulls and other dogs.

Vaughan said the dog that attacked Hon was a small female bulldog mix. Vaughan, who works with Hon at rescuing dogs, said the two of them had brought the bulldog to the kennel a couple of months ago and were trying to find a home for her.

When they learned the dog had cancer, they arranged for her to have operations. However, the illness turned out to be terminal.

Dangerous dog crackdown

“I think we have the strongest dangerous dog bylaw in the city," councillor Abe Gonshor said last month.$"/>$"/>The bylaw was sparked by recent incidents where a dog named Rosco bit two residents, one this past winter and another last summer. $"/>$"/>A dangerous dog is defined in the bylaw as one that “shows a propensity to attack or injure without provocation," actually attacks a person or animal, has been trained by its owner to attack on command and is a pure or mixed pit bull, Staffordshire bull-terrier, American bull-terrier and American Staffordshire terrier.$"/>$"/>The bylaw requires owners to make sure dogs do not attack people or other animals, are kept inside or in an enclosed outside area and, when off the property, are muzzled.$"/>$"/>Owners who violate the rules must remove the dog from the town and provide proof of this within 10 days of receiving a notice.$"/>$"/>“If the owner fails to comply after receiving the notice [demanding the dog's removal from the town], the public security director may cause the dog to be captured and turned over to the SPCA or euthanized," the bylaw says.

Local bulldog is Chicago mascot

Meatball arrived here Friday.

Unless greetings at the Avalon Estates home of Dominic and Bernice Marino count for anything.

By Saturday morning Meatball a 3-year-old, rescued, pure-bred, 52-pound English bulldog was basking in the sunshine with his traveling companion Alice Bean and owner/activist Molly Marino.

The trip from the Windy City was grueling, but not near the pace that Meatball has been living since being named winner of Fans Best Friend.

Meatball, who owes his life to Marino, a 1991 Howland High School graduate and marketing director at a Chicago investment research company, was chosen as the official mascot for Comcast SportsNets advertising campaign that hypes live games broadcast for the Chicago sports teams the White Sox, Bulls, Cubs, Bears and Blackhawks.

Healthy Pets Act could save millions of dollars

These people come to us from animal shelters, rescue groups, law enforcement agencies and veterinarian groups - a wide array of backgrounds united by the common goal of reducing the number of pets needlessly killed each year.

I commend Long Beach-area Assemblymembers Laura Richardson and Betty Karnette, who would not be bullied or intimidated by these unfortunate and undeserved threats.

YOUR WHOLE PET

In the next Your Whole Pet, I'll take a look at how to get a pet from ethical sources. In the meantime, when checking out a breeder, be sure that you can meet the puppy's mother and see where the puppies are being housed. And if the only test you have to pass to get the puppy is whether your check clears or your credit card charge goes through, that's a pretty good sign the breeder doesn't have the puppy's best interests at heart -- or yours.

The following companies donated services, tests, medications, food and products to help the Oklahoma puppy-mill dogs: MWI Veterinary Supply, Fort Dodge, Purina, Bayer, Merial, IDEXX Laboratories, Antech Diagnostics and DVM Pharmaceuticals.

Christie Keith is a contributing editor for Universal Press Syndicate's Pet Connection and past director of the Pet Care Forum on America Online.