After learning of its plans to go national, the American Veterinary Medical Foundation awarded Basic Animal Rescue Training, a Minnesota-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit program, a $50,000 challenge grant to help jump-start chapters in five additional states.

One of the program's priorities during national expansion will be to maintain a consistent curriculum for first responders by securing leadership and volunteers for each new chapter. Each of the five states establishing new chapters will receive an equal portion of the AVMF challenge grant once the funds are matched.

Bathing the dog is so much easier with the right tools

The first one I remember was the original Rusty. He was a big beautiful classic sable collie. "Lassie" was big on TV then and we lived on a chicken ranch, so a collie was perfect for us. I was three years old. That dog is part of my earliest childhood memories. I do not remember much else about that time.

I sure do not remember when Mom and Dad washed the dog or how they did it. Fast forward to the next dog I remember: Tiny was a black, tan and white, shorthaired Chihuahua.

I was six years old and we lived in town in Calistoga. Tiny only liked my Mom and made it very clear he would bite anyone else.

I do not remember what happened to Tiny and Dad does not remember either. The next family dog I remember was the first dog that belonged to me, I was 10 years old. She was a small black cocker mix named Suzie Q.

Housebroken pet knows enough to do his business in the bathroom

In the fall, we adopted Charlie from a rescue shelter. He was cute, cuddly, and a complete mess. Matted hair. An ear infection. An eye infection. And bathroom habits that would shame any well-behaved animal.

Well, a trip to the vet took care of the infections. And then the groomer, Marianne, had her way with the clippers. Our new little Shih-Tzu/Lhasa Apso mix was bald. And cuter. The only odd thing revealed by the haircut was that his little nose and mouth seemed to be pushed to his right, giving him a perpetually quizzical look.

We took this in stride.

But the house-breaking issue was something else. He peed and pooped everywhere but outside. And we gave him plenty of fresh-air opportunities.

We figured he'd been shuffled around so much that his bathroom priorities had been scrambled.

Caesarean for Labrador Retriever

SHIMOGA: On Sunday at 12 noon, three-year-old Chintu, a female Labrador Retriever, was rushed to the Veterinary Speciality Centre in the city with difficulty in delivering her pups.

Dr O S Prakash, an expert in veterinary sciences, took charge of the case.

The female dog had completed 63 days of gestation. He decided to treat Chintu for induction of labour but finally decided to conduct a caesarean. Over the next two hours, Prakash and his assistants strived hard to conduct a successful operation.

The family of Labrador is hale and healthy. Chintu had to spend about one day at the hospital. Now, she is actively feeding her pups, four males and three females, at her house.

There has been a lot of disagreement among people about the operation.

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.