| Health Alert: Pet diseases
NATIONAL - More than half of all US households own a pet. And while pets provide companionship and comfort, they can also pass along up to 200 diseases to humans. Eleven-week-old Maggie is a Cocker Spaniel puppy and the newest member of the Moreau family. Seven-year-old Merit just can't get enough of her. But Merit's mother has her concerns. Megan Moreau says, "Having a child around and having her and the dog in her face, and playing with it after the dog's been outside, I did consider that." Puppies are precious, but diseases they can carry, like rabies and ringworm, can be dangerous. So a visit to the vet should be the first order of business for new pet owners. Bonnie Beaver, D.V.M., says, "One of the things the veterinarians will check for would be for intestinal parasites.
Pit bulls battle stereotype
Even though the meaty dogs get a bad rap for being aggressive, people are still breeding, adopting and loving them. Like it or not, pit bulls are here to stay in Beloit and their owners couldn't be more proud. Behind every pit bull is its own unique tale.Zack and Pattie Dotson, employees for School District of Beloit, want to break the stereotype of the mean pit bull. They are the parents of a deaf and albino pit bull named Jake.
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Editor's Diary: Snowey the Dog
I don't want to write about politics this time around, or journalism or even my life abroad. The only thing really on mind these days is my friend Snowey. I got my first dog in 2001, a Siberian Husky named Mohawk. Actually, I could say he just happened to me. I had never wanted a canine companion because of my busy and mobilie lifestyle. But I dreamt about him before I met him (if I even knew what a Husky looked like then) he and I in my convertible with the top down, singing with our faces to the sun. So I said yes. When Mohawk first arrived, I didn't even know how to take him for a walk - he was a complete mystery to me. But he got under my skin and soon, I decided to get my new friend a companion for the times when he was alone at home. I saw Snowey on a website for Samoyeds that need a home.
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.
Calif. family's lost dog found after 7 years, but not everyone is ...
FULLERTON, Calif. (AP) - There was no puppy love when Jewel met Jade. Jewel, the Correy family pet, disappeared seven years ago. Misty Correy and her children hoped the microchip in the dog's back would help find the Siberian husky. "After three months, we figured we would never see Jewel again," Correy said. So they got Jade, a yellow Labrador. Last month, the family got a call from a humane society in Yuma. An animal control officer had found Jewel wandering down an empty road and they had traced her through the chip. It's unclear how Jewel got to Arizona and became lost again. Correy's daughter, Breezy, 16, and her older brother drove for 14 hours to retrieve Jewel. "I hugged her all the way home," Breezy said.
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