THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BARNHART, Mo. — The Jefferson County Animal Control center has been ordered by the state to stop euthanizing animals, following a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story revealing that the center used controlled substances to euthanize dogs without a veterinarian present.

The Post-Dispatch reported Thurday that in response to the order from the state agriculture department, animal control workers are no longer accepting animals surrendered by owners. The county is responding to calls for strays and will seize dangerous animals.

The state agency has given the county 30 days to prove that a vet would supervise euthanasia procedures involving controlled substances, as required by law. (more…)

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE
RESCUE IN THE ROCK

A south Arkansas breeder surrendered 143 dogs to the Humane Society of Pulaski County on Saturday, leaving the shelter past capacity and low on supplies, said Director Kay Simpson.

All the dogs suffered from mange; many from eye infections, which in some cases will result in eye removal; and many had hair matted to the bone.

“One dog was so matted it was like concrete on both legs,” Simpson said. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County District Attorney’s office says three former workers at the Memphis Animal Shelter were indicted on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals.

The Commercial-Appeal reported Thursday that one of the employees had been the shelter’s veterinarian.

Shelby County District Attorney Jennifer Donnals says 43-year-old shelter administrative supervisor Tina Quattlebaum and 42-year-old vet Dr. Angela Middleton were being held at the Shelby County Jail East on $25,000 bonds. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — A firefighter splashed into a rain-swollen river Friday to rescue a German shepherd and managed to hang on safely, even after the dog furiously bit his arm and hand.

Joe St. Georges, a 25-year Los Angeles Fire Department veteran, said he received a “real bite in the thumb” but was otherwise feeling fine.

He said he had no hard feelings toward the dog. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VALLEJO, Calif. — A couple charged with animal cruelty and other crimes after more than 90 purebred puppies were confiscated from their home and business face a hearing in Solano County Superior Court on Monday.

Christopher John Derek Ellis and Leanna Rachelle Kamp, both 29, of Dixon, were arrested Dec. 17 after the Solano County District Attorney’s Office received numerous complaints that the couple had been selling sick and sometimes dying puppies. The breeds included Yorkshire terriers, Shiba Inus, Maltese and Shih Tzus. (more…)

JULIE STEWART
SPECIAL TO THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

A woman serving a jail term for animal cruelty will be back in court next month.

Tammy Christine Hanson, 43, is scheduled for trial Jan. 6 in Baxter County District Court on seven misdemeanor charges, including theft and evidence tampering.

Her trial was set for Wednesday but was moved because of a scheduling conflict in the prosecutor’s office, a District Court spokesman said. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — The basset hounds at Daphneyland aren’t the only ones with long, sad faces.

Donations to the nation’s largest basset hound rescue have never been so low, bills so overdue, the need so crucial or the help so thin, said Dawn Smith, Daphneyland’s president and founder. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

JULIE STEWART
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

MOUNTAIN HOME — An old-fashioned law enforcement tool helped authorities catch William and Tammy Hanson, who officials said were on the run for more than three years in a notorious animal cruelty case in Baxter County.

Tipsters turned them in, officials said Wednesday. (more…)

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

Flea control is important for all of our pets. However, if your pet is extremely itchy on the area above his/her tail, the most likely cause is flea allergy.

A single flea bite on a flea-allergic pet will result in several days of intense itching especially around the lower back and rear limbs. For those pets, control is not enough, the fleas must be eradicated. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHILADELPHIA — A remorseful Michael Vick wants a second chance and vowed to crusade for animal rights with the Philadelphia Eagles — and knows he won’t be easily forgiven by fans.

“I’ve done some terrible things, I made a horrible mistake. And now I want to be part of the solution and not the problem,” Vick said Friday, referring to his conviction for his role in running a dogfighting ring. (more…)

BY NOEL E. OMAN

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

The Arkansas Criminal Justice Institute is working to ensure that police officers, sheriff’s deputies and prosecutors are up to speed on the new animal cruelty law.

The institute has been meeting this summer with law enforcement officials and other parties in developing a protocol to prepare and prosecute abuse cases under the new law, thanks to a $250,000 grant from the state through Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who helped shepherd the bill through the Legislature this year. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — Rachael Ray is looking for 64 charities to compete in a $200,000 contest to find the most deserving pet cause in the country.

Using basketball’s March Madness format, Mutt Madness will start with 64 contestants, Ray said. These will be whittled down by Ray and a panel of pet lovers from entries submitted through www.rachaelray.com/muttmadness by Sept. 30.

Each of the top 64 groups gets $1,000. Winners of the next several rounds, chosen by online votes, will get another $1,000. The final voting showdown is worth $25,000 for second place and $50,000 for the winner. The champ will be announced in early December, Ray 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…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WAHOO, Neb. — You might say that Debora Wilcox is really going to be in the doghouse.

Not that she’s in trouble.

Quite the contrary. For some time now, the Wahoo resident has been rescuing lost dogs in Saunders County and helping to find them homes. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

What if you see that someone else has left a dog in a hot car?

Humane officers say that in many situations it is perfectly fine to leave a dog in a car, but if you have any doubt about the temperature or whether the animal is in distress, don’t hesitate to call. Zita Macinanti, Director of Humane Law Enforcement at the Washington Humane Society, says that rather than take a chance, “It’s better to waste our time.” (more…)

THE SEATTLE TIMES

Some day this spring, a black bear is going to lumber out of Washington’s Cascade foothills in search of food.

The hungry bear is going to wander into someone’s backyard, hunting for a garbage can with a flimsy lid.

An anxious homeowner is going to call the state wildlife office.

And Mishka, the state’s first wildlife service dog, is going to go to work. (more…)

THE NEW YORK TIMES

NEW YORK — Michael F. Morin says he has cutting-edge technology in the fight against that growing scourge of city life, bedbugs.
His technology: dogs. Two of them, Ruby and Pasha.

Ruby is a beagle. Pasha is a basenji “and maybe part terrier,” said Donald Frey, Morin’s partner in a four-month-old company that dispatches them to root out the speck-sized parasites in apartments and schools. And also four-star hotels (and three- and two-star ones) that worry about being mentioned in the same breath as “fleabag.” (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…)

THE NEW YORK TIMES

NEW YORK — Mollie Livingston has been raising collies for more than three decades, carefully selecting for traits that exemplify the breed: inquisitive face, sloping shoulders and a gait that is at once swift and graceful.

But along the way, Livingston and her husband, T.C., ended up perfecting an altogether different specimen — the professional dog handler. (more…)

JOHN KELLY
THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — “Is your dog friendly?” you ask as we draw closer to each other on the path, our respective dogs’ leashes in hand.

How am I supposed to answer that? Yes, Charlie is friendly — really, he’s a very sweet dog — but how can I know your interpretation of the word “friendly”? Some people might construe energetic humping as  extremely friendly. (more…)