TEXARKANA GAZETTE

PRESCOTT — The recent death of a 2-year-old boy motivated the Prescott City Council last week to approve an ordinance banning pit bull dogs from the city, said Mayor Howard Taylor.

The ordinance makes Prescott the fifth town in southwest Arkansas to ban the dogs. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WALNUT, Calif. — Lukas was all bite, buck and bitterness before Karen Murdock adopted him six years ago and made him an Internet star.

Murdock introduced the 16-year-old Thoroughbred to carrots and kindness, helped him forget years of abuse and taught him tricks: He can smile, yawn, kiss, nod, identify shapes, numbers and letters, fetch, wave, salute, pose and stretch — and he does some of it with his front feet on a pedestal. (more…)

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE
RESCUE IN THE ROCK

Horses and riders from four states will jump for joy Oct. 17 to raise funds for special needs children participating in equine-assisted therapy at Horses for Healing in Bentonville. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WALLINGFORD, Conn. —Equine care, etiquette and vocabulary consume Rita Rapuano’s days, from the time she first awakes on the 5-acre Rap-A-Pony Farm.

When she steps outside her house, which is next to the barn, it alerts the farm’s 15 show horses, including the 10 born and raised there as well as Skylar, offspring of Rugged Lark, the noted stallion who won two coveted Super Horse titles at the American Quarter Horse Association World Show and produced an award-winning son.

“When I get up in the morning, I’ll come out the side and they’ll all scream at me like, ‘hey!” she said. (more…)

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Emergency rooms across the country treat more than 1,000 dog bite victims a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most bites are preventable. But a lot aren’t. So what should you do if you’re a victim, or if your dog bites someone? (more…)

McCLATCHY TRIBUNE NEWSPAPERS

Every year, 4.5 million Americans are bitten by dogs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

–Fort Wayne, Ind., Animal Care and Control spokeswoman Peggy Bender notes that dog attacks “be prevented by dog owners using good judgment and proper confinement.” (more…)

Arkansas School for the Blind student Taylor Martin feeds cat treats to Big Footsie, head library cat, who is sporting his bat wings before last Halloween. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN)

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE

RESCUE IN THE ROCK

Big Footsie, head library cat for the Arkansas School for the Blind, doesn’t just think he’s a star; he knows it.

Footsie has placed fourth out of about 1,000 entries from all over the country in the Bissell Most Valuable Pet Photo Contest. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — It’s nothing against the Obamas. But some Portuguese water dog owners aren’t thrilled the breed is a front-runner for the first family.

The choice could mean a spike in the dogs’ popularity — and that could mean a rise in shady breeders and fickle owners who don’t understand the dogs and eventually abandon them, owners of Portuguese water dogs say. (more…)

McCLATCHY TRIBUNE NEWSPAPERS

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Eight-year-old Riley Mers still has a scar on her foot from a time when a peanut shell slipped into her sandal at the park, burning her skin like an acid.

She’s gone into hives and struggled to breathe from inhaling peanut residue too faint to smell. In her short life she’s learned enough about emergency rooms to know she doesn’t like the “dresses” they make her wear. (more…)

BY JOHN LYNCH
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

A pit bull deemed vicious by North Little Rock couldn’t get a reprieve Friday from canine death row despite its owner’s testimony that the dog is like one of her own children.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey declined to let Nico out of the city pound until he can rule on whether the 9-year-old dog should be euthanized over a violation of the city’s vicious dog ordinance. Trial is set for April. (more…)

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In Southwest Ranches, Fla., a 100-pound Siberian lynx named Sasha roams Steve and Barbara Burk’s house like the alpha-male predator he is.

At times the powerful cat paws playfully at a llama, a goat or another critter in the menagerie of animals the Burks invite in to wander the house. At other times Sasha grows bored with the barnyard hoi polloi and retires to his bedroom, furnished with a double bed and a television. (more…)

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

LOS ANGELES — At age 15, life was a mystery to Emma Roberts. At 17, her life has gone to the dogs.

Don’t worry about the young actress. In her life and career, everything is moving ahead exactly right. Well, she doesn’t have her driver’s license yet. But that’s going to happen soon. (more…)

THE DENVER POST

DENVER — By selling his secret recipe of regular and sugar-free lemonade, 13-year-old Mark Rinkel raised enough money to get a service dog to help his little brother Jason cope with Type 1 diabetes.

But Mark says the dog he worked so hard to get did not detect serious changes in his brother’s blood sugar, as was promised, and the dog also bit Jason’s hand when he tried to pet him. (more…)

AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB

Premiering at number one in its opening weekend, Marley & Me is sure to be a hit, but the American Kennel Club would like to remind moviegoers about the importance of making careful, educated decisions when considering adding a dog to their family.

Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, Marley & Me is the big-screen adaptation of the best-selling book by John Grogan. (more…)

BY EVIN DEMIREL
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Beneath an 8-foot-tall, wood-paneled portrait of a golden, full-maned lion, the Little Rock Zoo Cafe Africa’s fireplace crackled.

In a nearby wreath-adorned chair, Santa Claus, whose white, curly beard billowed down his red suit, extended his white gloves to a child waiting for him Saturday morning during the first session of the fourth annual Christmas in the Wild, during which more than 100 participants watched Santa treat animals with wrapped gifts of food. (more…)

BY KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Big Footsie loves children. It’s his job to pick out books for them to read, listen to their problems and calm them down when times are tough.

As Head Library Cat for seven years at the Arkansas School for the Blind, Footsie has grown up with many of the children who visit him. (more…)

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE
RESCUE IN THE ROCK

Buddy the wirehaired terrior made his way from child to child Monday in Letitia Varner’s 5th-grade class at Clinton Elementary School in Sherwood.

“He’s so cute!” said Eyen Ingram as the dog hopped up in his lap. (more…)