| What a dog of a date
A few weeks ago, my dog, a rather anxious and delicate sort, was instantly drawn to a deeply unsavoury-looking shepherd cross with an open wound, tied up outside a dive bar. Toothless men and skinheads mingled on the sidewalk. Charmed as I was by her infatuation, I pulled her away. It wasn't my kind of place. How did I know? I just did. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Blink, describes this phenomenon - of making snap decisions based on things our conscious minds barely register - as "thin slicing." Dogs are the masters of the thin slice. Dog trainer Dale Stavroff of Roberts Creek, B.C., author of Let the Dog Decide, speaks of "mini-gestures" that pass between dogs so fast, an unpracticed human can only detect them with the aid of slow motion film. By the time the dogs are at what we consider to be an appropriate greeting distance, they've determined everything they need to know.
Rescue groups encourage dog-lovers to adopt pooches - wisely
Good news from the Salt Lake County Animal Shelter is that funds have been granted to redo the heating under the kennel floors. The bad news: The work will not be completed until December. "The repairs will be done in three phases, causing us to close off 30 kennels at a time while the floors are torn up," spokeswoman Temma Martin says. While the kennel loss is temporary, it can be the difference of life or death for animals. "The best thing people can do to help in the next months is to reduce the number of animals coming into the shelter," Martin said, adding that spaying and neutering is the first choice. "Besides cutting the number of litters born, spayed and neutered pets are less likely to wander away from home," Martin says. Current identification tags are vital, and microchip identification is advised.
Offices will go to the dogs when pooch-friendly day hits
Sure, every day can't be the weekend, your dog seems to say. But couldn't I come along and just curl up under your desk? Well, at some companies, he could. And here's your chance to convince your workplace to join the party, at least for one day: June 22 is the ninth annual Take Your Dog to Work Day, as declared by the trade group Pet Sitters International. Your boss may scoff at the idea - the kind of thing they do at those big California tech companies with their wacky, Frisbee-throwing corporate cultures. And it's true that firms like Amazon and Google are well known for their pet-friendly policies. .
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.
Dog from California found in Arizona
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., June 10 (UPI) — A basset hound named Fred was to be reunited with his owner after making his way from southern California to northern Arizona during the past six months. Fred was found in the parking lot of the Second Chance Center for Animals in Flagstaff, Ariz., and was scanned for a microchip, which lead to the discovery that he was from Riverside, Calif., the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff reported Sunday. The Riverside County Animal Control eventually was able to contact Fred's owner Friday. She said the basset hound had disappeared when she moved to Riverside in December. It is unclear how Fred wound up at Second Chance, but he will be returned home by Dr. Paul Fink, who works at Second Chance and has offered to fly the pouch home to his owner.
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