Top Ten Tuesday: Hero Dogs

superdogI recently wrote an article called Extraordinary Hero Dogs for our Doggies Den article library.  I’m not sure when it will be available, but I thought I’d give you a preview here.  These are dogs who, although not specifically trained to be assistance dogs or rescue dogs, performed an act of heroism to benefit their families, or in some cases, total strangers.  Out of the forty-four dogs profiled in the article, here are what I consider the top ten.

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Dogs Can Make Your Kids Healthy

assistanceOK, we all know there are many advantages to sharing your life with a dog, but how about this! The New York Times is reporting on a study being done by the the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health, in cooperation with the Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition in England (part of the Mars candy and pet food company).
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Dogs: Smarter than we thought?

Photo Credit:  Time.com
Photo Credit: Time.com

 

A new article in Time Magazine shows that dogs may well be smarter than we thought.  Seems Brian Hare, an anthropologist at Duke, has worked out an experiment that shows that a dog can respond to a finger point.  Now those of you who have trained your dogs using hand signals may not think this is too ground-breaking, but apparently, it’s quite an accomplishment.  From the article:

Consider…all the mental work that goes into figuring out what a pointed finger means: paying close attention to a person, recognizing that a gesture reflects a thought, that another animal can even have a thought.

When you think about it that way, I guess it is pretty remarkable!  Apparently, no other animal (besides man) is capable of interpreting a gesture.

The article goes on to discuss other evidence of intelligence in dogs, as well as looking at how these abilities developed.  It’s a bit long, but worth the time – very interesting!

OK, now I have to be snarky for just a minute.  Does anyone else think it’s funny that the picture from the article (shown above) shows a greyhound and a guy named HARE?  Wonder if the dog chases him around the lab????  Wonder if his mother knows she paid for his education only to find him playing with dogs!

Until next time,

Good day, and good dog!

Dog Cruelty in Georgia

 

Photo Credit:  Norred & Associates
Photo Credit: Norred & Associates

CNN.com is reporting on a raid carried out in Central Georgia at a home where they had received a tip that the owner was fighting as many as 60 dogs.  Turns out they found 97 dogs, some with what appeared to be fight scars.  Many were malnourished, and few had proper shelter or water. 

The good news in all of this?   A private investigation agency named Norred and Associates Inc. helped with the raid out of their founder’s love for dogs.  From the CNN article:

Since the story broke about NFL player Michael Vick’s dogfighting ring, Greg Norred has been donating his firm’s time and expertise and his own money to rescuing dogs.

“I’m an animal lover. I’ve always been an animal lover. And in the wake of the Michael Vick case, I always thought there might be something I could do about animal cruelty, and with the type of business that I’m in and the resources that I have, it seems like dogfighting is the best vehicle that I can use to do something about animal cruelty.”

In the past two years, Norred’s team has volunteered for at least 16 raids. They’ve helped put 20 people behind bars and saved 200 dogs. Make that almost 300 after this most recent raid.

Kudos to the entire Norred team for their help! 

To the rest of you:  see what just one person can do when you set your mind to help?

Until next time,

Good day, and good dog!

Another Touching Story of Dog Loyalty

 

Photo credit:  www.newsnet5.com
Photo credit: www.newsnet5.com

WEWS in Cleveland is reporting on a great story of the love dogs are capable of.    In Lorain, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) someone had dumped a Poodle and a Rottweiler by the side of the road.  The Rott had a large tumor on his leg and was unable to move.  The Poodle, bless his heart, was unwilling to leave the Rott alone in the road.

A passing Good Samaritan picked up both dogs and took them to the shelter, which is now looking for homes for them.

Wouldn’t it be nice if our human friends were this loyal?

Until next time,

Good day, and good dog!

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