Pop Art Pet Unleashed

After a long day hunting, there’s nothing like wrapping your paw around a cold bottle of beer. So Terrie Berenden, a pet shop owner in the southern Dutch town of Zelhem (in Amsterdam of course), created a beer for her Weimaraners made from beef extract and malt.

“Once a year we go to Austria to hunt with our dogs, and at the end of the day we sit on the verandah and drink a beer. So we thought, my dog also has earned it,” she said.

Berenden consigned a local brewery to make and bottle the nonalcoholic beer, branded as Kwispelbier. It was introduced to the market last week and advertised it as “a beer for your best friend.”

“Kwispel” is the Dutch word for wagging a tail. The beer is fit for human consumption, Berenden said. But at euro1.65 ($2.14) a bottle, it’s about four times more expensive than a Heineken.

Source: AP 

She’s had a price on her head since 2004 and a 24-hour guard monitors her food for poisoning. For a 5-year-old, she has made a lot of enemies. But none of this keeps Agata, a golden Labrador who is one Colombia’s best drug-sniffing dogs, from doing her job.

Stationed in the southern Amazon River border town of Leticia, Agata works at the local airport. She is the only Colombian police dog to have a contract put out on her by drug smugglers tired of having their goods confiscated.

More than two years ago, police intercepted a message from drug traffickers revealing a plan to poison her. “We take special care with her food,” said Robert Olanda, one of the officers who guards her.

Police say a $10,000 bounty was put on Agata’s furry head after a string of detections she made in 2004 in Colombia, the world’s biggest cocaine producer. She is one of nearly 700 dogs employed by Colombian national police to detect cocaine, heroine and explosives used by a mosaic of armed groups involved in Colombia’s 4-decade-old guerrilla war, in which thousands are killed every year.

Trained from puppies, the police dogs form a key part of Colombia’s U.S.-backed counter-narcotics program. Leticia is popular among drug smugglers trafficking to neighboring Brazil and Peru and also north toward the United States, the biggest consumer of Colombian cocaine. But first they have to get past Agata.

The 80-pound (36 kg) retriever, who energetically investigates about five cargo planes and one passenger flight every day, has helped authorities confiscate 300 kilos of cocaine and 20 kilos of heroin since she started working in 2003. “This dog has been decorated because she has been one of the most productive in the fight against drugs,” said Col. Carlos Medina, police commander for the Amazon region.

As drug-sniffing dogs serve up to seven years in the field, her keepers have already started thinking about retirement. “I am waiting for the day that happens so that I can take her to my house and let her rest, which is what she deserves,” said police dog trainer Oscar Eduardo Chuna.

Source: Reuters

A black Labrador Retriever in Ohio is expected to fully recover following surgery to escape a sticky situation, swallowing a quarter of a bottle of Gorilla Glue.

The dog named Reggie swallowed the glue two weeks ago, said Dr. Mark Reineck, a veterinarian at Fremont Animal Hospital. The heavy-duty polyurethane adhesive can be used to bond wood, stone, metal and brick.

Reineck played phone tag for a while with the dog’s owners, who had called when the dog first vomited, before being able to tell them to bring it in for treatment. The owners declined to be identified.

X-rays showed two large masses in the dog’s abdomen. Reineck said the glue turned into foam in its stomach that expanded when it mixed with food and fluid, then hardened.

Reineck operated on Friday and removed two stiff globs, one the size of an orange and the other as big as a head of cauliflower.

“The dog is now doing great and we expect a full recovery,” Reineck said. “But it was just too bad that he had to go through this major operation.”

Reineck — who has had to remove a raincoat, a stuffed animal’s head and the bottom third of a Christmas tree with glass ornaments from other dogs — said people need to be aware that household items can be attractive but dangerous for both pets and children.

Source: Yahoo News

Did you know that a lost dog is far more likely to be found than a missing cat? Why? Because man’s best friend is more likely to have identification tags and dog owners are more prompt in searching for their missing pets, according to a new study.

The findings, published in the Jan. 15 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, found that while 71 percent of lost dogs in the Dayton, Ohio, area were reunited with their owners, only 53 percent of lost cats ended up back at home.

“Dogs seem to be easier to get home to their owners,” study author Linda Lord of Ohio State University told LiveScience.

Dogs vs. cats

In her survey of people who ran lost pet ads in local newspapers, Lord found that dog owners contact and visit shelters much sooner than cat owners after the pet goes missing. More than one-third of the recovered dogs were found after a call or visit to a local animal shelter.

Dogs are also more likely to sport tags or carry an ID chip implant, Lord said. Cat owners may not put identification on their cats because the cat shirks the collar or they keep the cat indoors. “Just because you keep your cat indoors doesn’t mean you don’t have to identify them,” Lord said. Cats still can slip out of the house. When people find cats without identification, they might assume they are strays and feed and adopt them, whereas people who see a dog wandering alone are more likely to assume it has an owner, Lord said.

Many cat owners also wait several days before calling or visiting shelters. They run the chance of missing their cat, which could be euthanized or adopted by someone else.

Of the study cats that did make it back to their owners, Lord said, two-thirds came back on their own.

Pet-finding tips

The key to finding a lost pet is visible identification, Lord said. If someone finds your pet, they can call the number on the ID tag without having to involve the shelter system. While microchips are a great backup, they are not visible to the naked eye and require shelters or veterinarians to scan them, she said.

Lord also emphasized that it is important to act quickly when looking for a missing pet by calling local shelters after one day, visiting every three days, putting up posters and even taking out newspaper ads.

The pet owners Lord interviewed were often surprised to hear about methods they hadn’t tried. “There was definitely a lack of awareness,” she said. Though different methods may be more or less effective in different places, Lord said, “people really need to think about having a plan.”

Source: LiveScience

Here in Colorado every year on our state tax form we have the option of checking a box to contribute to the Pet Overpopulation Fund. We had occasion to talk with some of their representatives recently at a Healthy Pet Expo here in Denver and were very impressed with the program’s mission and success rates.
In the four years since its inception the Pet Overpopulation Fund has subsidized more than 21,000 spay and neuter surgeries for dogs and cats in Colorado. Donations from taxpayers help fund grants to local coalitions of veterinarians, animal care and control agencies, and community groups to perform spay and neuter procedures.. They also help create and implement education programs that encourage Colorado residents to have their pets spayed and/or neutered. All donations are used to benefit the animals; administrative services are provided at no cost to the Fund.

In addition to the small donation you can make on line 38 of your Colorado state tax form you can make contributions directly by check payable to the “Pet Overpopulation Fund”:

Colorado Pet Overpopulation Fund
455 Sherman St, Ste 462
Denver, CO 80203

We made a small donation at the Healthy Pet Expo, and hope you will too. It’s tax deductible and will save a pet’s life!

For more information visit savecoloradopets.org, you can download .pdf versions of their brochures and posters. Outside of Colorado please check online resources for similar programs in your state.

A 7-year-old German shepherd named Buffy may lose a leg after jumping into action to protect her owner from a mugger. The dog was shot in her left front limb by an armed man who approached Oakland, CA resident Will Bartley, 44, as he pulled into his driveway. Buffy ran out to greet him and was there when the gunman demanded Bartley’s wallet, he said. As Bartley complied, the German shepherd lunged at the mugger, who fired off two shots. Bartley, who was uninjured, does not know if Buffy got her teeth into the robber before he fled.

“My dog saw what was happening and bolted forward … she sensed it somehow,” Bartley said. Her mission accomplished, Buffy limped across the street and laid down in a big puddle of blood, Bartley said. Doctors at the animal hospital where she was taken said there is a 50/50 chance they may have to amputate the dog’s leg.

“I’m just happy she’s OK,” Bartley said. “I really didn’t think she was going to make it. I’m just thankful that she did, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life thanking her.”

Buffy’s family, which has had the German shepherd since puppyhood, described her as naturally protective. “She won’t let children fight each other, she won’t let me get too close to my husband if we’re play-fighting. She’s against violence, period,” said Bartley’s wife, Lagree Bartley.

Source: Yahoo News

We at Pop Art Pet are all pulling for Buffy!

A disappearing pet food mystery was solved when a fat cat burglar got stuck in a doggie door. The case began when an Oregon woman noticed that large portions of food were disappearing from her pets’ bowls in the garage.

Then Jadwiga Drozdek discovered a 20-pound cat wedged in the doggy door built into her garage door.

“Four months ago we recognized that the food was disappearing very quick,” Drozdek said. “We said, ‘Gosh, you know, (our pets) are always eating the same amount, so I don’t understand why.”

After Drozdek helped the cat squeeze out of the doggy door, she gave the stray some food and brought him to a Humane Society shelter.

“I heard quite a ruckus when I went into my garage,” said Drozdek, who cares for six cats. “It was hilarious to see this big cat struggling to get in.”

The Humane Society had planned to put the cat up for adoption, but a neighbor of the owner who saw the report on TV has claimed the cat and said he had been missing for six months. The neighbor was to pick up the cat on Thursday.

Source: nbc4.com

Coincidentally, tonight on David Letterman, his top ten list was:

Top Ten Signs Your Dog Is Too Fat

10.Instead of “Ruff,” he barks “Ruffles”
9. Ticks that suck his blood die from high    cholesterol
8. Strangers mistake him for a fat guy in a dog suit
7. Collar is a forty-eight inch belt from Today’s Man
6. Answers to the name “Cheney”
5. His dish is filled with Kibbles, Bits, and Lipitor
4. Dog door is larger than your front door
3. Put his head out the window and the car tipped over
2. He’s the only dog that knows how to work a deep fryer
1. Never have to say “Stay” since his fat ass never moves

A woman in Connecticut was charged last week with trying to get painkillers from a drug store by using her dog’s name. Kymberly Smith, who’s 38, faces more than two dozen charges related to her alleged repeated attempts to obtain painkillers at a pharmacy under her dog’s name.

Police said Smith is charged with using her dog Zack’s name to get Hydrocodone, which is marketed under several names including Vicodin. She was a veterinary technician for several area veterinarians when she began using their ID number to call in prescriptions for herself under the name “Zack Smith.” She surrendered to police and was released after posting bond.

Hmm.. I wonder if it would be a problem if I got a prescription for my dog, Kylie, for the new doggie fat pill, and then I took it?

It was in the news late last week that Pfizer will market Slentrol, a liquid formula, to the estimated 5 percent of U.S. dogs that are 20 percent over their ideal weight. The FDA released a statement that said the drug’s “mechanism for producing weight loss is not completely understood,” but seems to cause less fat absorption.

Kylie’s pretty trim so I’m not sure how I could get her vet to prescribe it, but I think I could really use some Slentrol!

–update 1/10/07————————-

I coincidentally just found this information today about real doggie downers and thought it was relevant:

A growing number of U.S. pets and zoo animals are overcoming anxieties and mellowing their behavior with the use of human anti-depressants, a report said.

The Los Angeles Times said over the last decade, Prozac, Buspar and Amitriptyline have been introduced into the veterinary world to treat cats for indoor spraying, dogs and birds for separation anxiety and self-destructive compulsive grooming.

Veterinarians who prescribe psychoactive drugs do not immediately pull out prescription pads. Instead, they do medical work-ups on animals to rule out physical causes for destructive or neurotic actions and prefer to use behavior modification instead of, or along with drug therapy.

Source: United Press International

Seven months after disappearing from her yard in Colorado, a little rat terrier named Daisy walked into the arms of Tracie Crass in Knoxville, some 1,300 miles away, and got an airplane ride home.

“The kindness of people gives you a reason to believe,” said Daisy’s owner Vonda Lundstrom of Aurora. “It’s the best Christmas present.”

Crass spotted 2-year-old Daisy wandering down her sidewalk on Christmas night. She assumed the 12-pound dog had slipped out of its home amid holiday festivities. So she brought the pooch on her porch and waited for its owner to come looking for it.

When no one showed up by the next day, Crass telephoned the number on Daisy’s rabies tag. She reached Lundstrom’s veterinarian, who reached Lundstrom.

A cell phone photograph of Daisy sent to Crass confirmed it was the same little dog who dug a hole under the privacy fence at Lundstrom’s home in April and disappeared.

With help from Knoxville’s Young-Williams Animal Center, Daisy flew home on Wednesday.
The reunion at Denver International Airport was memorable. “She licked me. She loved on me,” Lundstrom said. “I have my baby back, that’s for sure.”

Lundstrom has no ties to Knoxville. She assumes somebody stole Daisy, an “escape artist” who apparently got away again in Tennessee. “I’m going to do everything in my power to see that it doesn’t happen again,” Lundstrom said. She said the hole under her fence has been repaired.

Source: 9news.com

PS: Watch the video, Daisy is adorable!

Did you know that every year in New York City the health department tallies up the most popular registered dog names? Max has collared the title of top dog name in New York City again. The name was engraved on 1,228 of the 101,274 dog licenses issued last year by the health department.

Lucky fetched second spot. Princess took third, and hot on her tail were Rocky and Buddy, leaving the Top 5 names unchanged from 2004.

Mixed breeds, with 7,374 new licenses, outnumbered other varieties in 2005. They were followed by Labrador retrievers. Pit bulls and Shih Tzus captured the third and fourth places, clawing their way up from fourth and fifth the year before. German shepherds were the fifth most popular breed, down from third place.

The health department, which oversees issues such as vaccinating dogs and spaying or neutering them, released the name and breed lists as part of its campaign to encourage licensing, since only about 20 percent of the dogs in the city have proper tags even though they are required by state law.

By the way, Max is near the top of our list of most popular names among our clients too, especially if you include the Maxwell’s and Maximus’. But we have even more Maggie’s in our galleries and Bailey is becoming increasingly more popular. Surprisingly, however, we have worked with only one Lucky, one Rocky, and no Princess’s.

Our first Max was this adorable Bassett Hound who happened to be one of our first clients so he as a special place in our hearts, and still one of our most popular examples!

So all hail Max!