| Rusty's long trip home
SIX months on the road and he's finally made it home. Rusty, the four-year-old bull terrier-cross, was given up for dead after disappearing from his Canberra home half a year ago. But to everyone's surprise, he has "done a Lassie" and turned up alive and well – just north of Adelaide, 1200km away. Somehow Rusty travelled across state borders to Two Wells, 40km north of Adelaide, before being picked up as a "stray dog" last weekend by the RSPCA after a call from the public. So how did the four-year-old bull terrier-cross cover the huge distance – by plane, train or an automobile? "Well one thing is for sure, he didn't walk," Rusty's owner Shane Gowen, 21, said yesterday as he celebrated the return of his "best friend" after paying $400 for the dog to be flown to Canberra from Adelaide on Friday night.
Kennel owner mauled by dog
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.
Pregnant beagle that was shot gives birth to 7 puppies
And Odie's healthy litter of seven, born June 9, are being called miracle pups by their veterinarian. "I would have bet a year's salary the puppies would have been reabsorbed," said Tom Ferstl, owner of the Millington Veterinary Clinic. "Sometimes you just get lucky. I'd have to say the diligence in care from the dog's owner, and the dog, had a lot to do with it." A nightmare turned realApril 15 for Odie and her owners -- Diane Springstube, Amber Springstube, 16, and Katelynn Springstube, 10. The beagle crawled home bleeding with up to 40 holes in her. She'd been peppered with a shotgun; the second dog in the neighborhood that had been recently shot. Diane had been outdoors doing chores at her Sister Lake Road home in Marathon Township when Odie was attacked. The dog plays on their two-acre homestead and is free to roam on the neighbor's cornfield that adjoins their property.
Chihuahua diagnosis good, vet faces court
Today the Chihuahua went to another vet for a diagnosis. On her first birthday, this five pound pooch received some very good news. "He thinks that her eyesight will be totally back," owner Maryann Deluca said. The tiny Chihuahua made big news after it was injured during a visit for spay surgery on June 4th at the Sun City West animal clinic. According to investigators, technicians allegedly saw Dr. Joshua Winston strike Bella in the head causing her right eye to pop out. Bella's owner said Dr. Winston called her immediately after the incident. Dr. Joshua Winston was arrested, but he told us there's a lot more to the story and is confident his name will be cleared. "During the course of good, standard care things can happen that are hard for someone outside the field to understand," he said.
Crazy canine competition
- Dusty whimpered as he watched his toy duck float away, but the golden retriever was leery of jumping off a 3-foot-high dock to retrieve it. Chris Gates and his 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, petted, coaxed and splashed Dusty, as other dog owners standing around the small pond at Forever Friends Pet Care Center yelled encouraging words. After several tries, Gates did what any dog-loving dad would do. He jumped into the pond. Dusty eventually followed. "Did I have the arc?" joked a dripping-wet Gates. Welcome to DockDogs, where dog owners end up having as much fun as their dogs - maybe more. The sport, often called "Big Air," first appeared on ESPN in 2000 and since has become the fastest-growing dog activity in the country, says Tina McLaughlin, president of Buckeye DockDogs, Ohio's only club.
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