Healing Herbie!
Admin: Melody Chen
Categories: Adoption Files, Lifestyle News, News
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Mar 5, 2010 - View Comments
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If you’d like to help Herbie heal, click here!
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You can call it fate or destiny, either one sounds about right when it comes to this family.
A few years ago a young man faced with family crisis had to make a difficult decision and surrender his beloved dog of five years, Haley, to the local shelter. Though its been some time, his daughter never stopped thinking about their beloved Haley. He couldn’t stop thinking of Haley either, her photos still remain in his iphone.
Recently, he decided it was time to get another dog. He walked into the shelter and a shepherd mix in one of the kennels went crazy with joy. He couldn’t believe it, this was Haley, their beloved Haley. Turns out their dog had been adopted in 2007 but was returned just a few days prior because she just kept running away.
You can imagine the joy they must have had when crossing paths again and he adopted the dog back immediately. Now Haley will be back with the family she has always loved and missed. Wishing them years of happiness and joy!
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Kelli Cameron pets her new dog Ranger while her son Everett, 3, looks on. (Lane Christiansen /Tribune)
A goofy set of green-and-red felt antlers won one shelter dog his life, a long trip and, ultimately, a home in Illinois.
Ranger’s trek from Emporia, Kan., to his arrival Thursday at Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling airport covered about 650 miles and required the help of pilots, shelter workers, rescue organizations and a dedicated adoptive family.
“This whole thing has been unbelievable,” said Kelli Cameron, of St. Charles, Ranger’s new owner. “It really is a miracle he’s still alive.”
Ranger’s tale began in Emporia, where the stray was found wandering last summer. Employees at the local shelter fell in love with the friendly black, gray and white pointer mix, but couldn’t find him a home and couldn’t bear to put him down.
“We had such a horrible time finding a place for him,” said shelter director Peggy Derrick. “We’ve been trying desperately to get him adopted.”
To read the rest of this story click here.
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It’s about time we did something about sales of puppy mill animals in pet shops.
City Council members in West Hollywood, Calif are taking a step to vote on a proposal for pet stores to sell only rescue or shelter pets. Assisting the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the City of West Hollywood is Carole Davids of Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS) who is drafting the ordinance, as well as providing evidence sufficient to cause the City Council to react.
Carole stated “we’ll send a strong message to abusive commercial breeders all over the nation”
Changes are being made in Indiana as well with movements to provide would-be buyers at pet stores with the animals background and medical informations. Proponents of the bill indicated that pet stores often put false claims that their dogs or cats were all from local breeders.
Even though change is in the process, because it is still legal, the best way to stop this ‘business’ is to stop purchasing these dogs from pet stores. Instead, adopt one from a shelter or rescue group. Its a life saved and one less puppy born into abuse.
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A canine chromosome 7 locus that confers a high risk of compulsive disorder susceptibility has been identified through a collaboration between the Behavior Service at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, the Program in Medical Genetics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The findings are published in the January 2010 edition of Molecular Psychiatry.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is characterized by time consuming, repetitive behaviors and affects about 2 percent of humans, while the equally distressing canine equivalent, canine compulsive disorder, or CCD, seems to target certain dog breeds, especially Dobermans and Bull Terriers. For over a decade, behaviorists Drs. Dodman and Moon-Fanelli, at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine collected blood samples from carefully characterized Doberman patients exhibiting flank- and/or blanket-sucking compulsive behaviors, as well as healthy, unaffected Doberman. In 2001, Edward Ginns, PhD, MD, head of the Program in Medical Genetics at UMass Medical School, joined the effort, enabling genetic studies that culminated in the genome wide association study that began in 2007 using the canine Affymetrix genotyping array at the Broad Institute.
The chromosome 7 location most significantly associated with CCD is located within the neural cadherin-2 gene, CDH2. CDH2 is widely expressed, mediating synaptic activity-calcium flux related neuronal adhesion. Dogs showing multiple compulsive behaviors had a higher frequency of the “risk” associated DNA sequence than dogs with a less severe phenotype (60 and 43%, respectively, compared with 22% in unaffected dogs). This highly significant association of CCD with the CDH2 gene region on chromosome 7 is the first genetic locus identified for any animal compulsive disorder, and raises the intriguing possibility that CDH2 and other neuronal adhesion proteins are involved in human compulsive behaviors, including those observed in autism spectrum disorder. The neural cadherin-2 gene, CDH2, is an especially attractive candidate disease gene as it is involved in mediating presynaptic to postsynaptic neuronal junction adhesion, neuronal axon outgrowth and guidance in the central nervous system during development when critical brain nerve networks are established.
“The CDH2 gene is expressed in the hippocampus, a brain region suspected to be involved in OCD. In addition, this gene oversees structures and processes that are possibly instrumental in propagating compulsive behaviors — for example, the formation and proper functioning of glutamate receptors,” said Dr. Nicholas Dodman, professor of clinical sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and the study’s lead author. Dr. Dodman added that “this finding is congruent with current evidence that NMDA blockers are effective in the treatment of OCD.”
“The occurrence of repetitive behaviors and similarities in response to drug treatments in both canine CCD and human OCD suggest that common pathways are involved” said Dr. Ginns, professor of Clinical Pathology, Neurology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Neuroscience at UMass Medical School. Dr. Ginns is hopeful that “our finding will lead to a better understanding of the biology of compulsive disorder and facilitate development of genetic tests, enabling earlier interventions and even treatment or prevention of compulsive disorders in at-risk canines and humans.” “This lead is so intriguing that we look forward to working with Dr. Dodman’s group to extend our current findings to other populations.” added Dr. Marzena Galdzicka, assistant professor of Clinical Pathology at UMass Medical School. Collaborations are already in progress with Dr. Dennis Murphy’s group at the National Institute of Mental Health to determine the extent to which CDH2 confers risk for human OCD and autism spectrum disorders.
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By Claire Osborn for Statesman.com
The Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter has euthanized 24 dogs and placed dog adoptions on hold until Jan. 12 because of an outbreak of a contagious respiratory virus. The dogs, euthanized last week, had symptoms of distemper, director Cheryl Schneider said.
The staff has placed 20 other dogs in quarantine, Schneider said. “Two-thirds of them are doing well and will come out of quarantine, and the others are having a runny nose but not running a temperature, so we are treating them for kennel cough,” she said.
Cats, which are not susceptible to the disease, are still available for adoption at the shelter.
The shelter in southeastern Georgetown has sent letters to people who adopted dogs from it temporarily over the holidays during a special program, Schneider said. A few of those animals that were returned to the shelter had a cough, she said.
Distemper causes fever, pneumonia, coughing, vomiting and convulsions. It is spread through the air by bodily fluids. Dogs can be vaccinated against it.
It is a rare disease because most pets are vaccinated against it, said Mark Venghaus, a veterinarian who works at Highlands Pet Medical Clinic in Austin.
“I get one or two cases out of the Town Lake animal shelter every five or six years,” he said.
Schneider said she thinks an unvaccinated stray dog may have brought the illness into the shelter, which had about 100 dogs in the middle of December.
The shelter suspended adoptions Dec. 29 after a chow mix named Red Rover tested positive for distemper, Schneider said. Another dog — an Australian shepherd mix named Margaret — also tested positive, she said. Both animals had been in the shelter for more than three weeks, she said.
The Town Lake Animal Center in Austin and the Humane Society of Williamson County in Leander don’t have any distemper cases, officials said.
The regional shelter is still accepting strays. The shelter vaccinates all dogs before releasing them into its kennels, Schneider said.
Owners who want to surrender their dogs can take them to the Humane Society of Williamson County, but the barn where it keeps the animals is already overcrowded, said Juliana DeRosa, the society’s director. More adoptions would help, she said.
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New state laws in Washington and Oregon, designed to eliminate puppy mills, impose tougher standards on dog breeders, according to the Associated Press.
The Washington law, which took effect New Year’s Day, makes it illegal to own or have custody of more than 50 dogs capable of breeding and over the age of six months. It also spells out requirements for taking care of the dogs, including the size of their cages, temperature and cleanliness. If a breeder has 10 or more dogs at any one time, it requires that each dog have adequate time and space to exercise.
The Legislature approved the law last spring after several puppy mills were discovered in the state.
“The hope is this will help prevent situations from arising that could lead to animal cruelty,” said Mary Leake Schilder, spokeswoman for the Progressive Animal Welfare Society of Lynnwood.
“This will give law enforcement a little more leverage to prevent breeding facilities from getting out of hand. We believe this law is fair to responsible and compassionate breeders,” she told The Herald of Everett.
A smiliar law was passed in Oregon.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled viewing to bring you our very first Dog Files Dispatch. Our way of getting you timely info about news and currents events.
This past weekend the Dog Files attended the Pet Adoptathon at the North Shore Animal League in Long Island. This is a huge adoption drive in its fifteenth year and over 2000 shelters across the world participated in this 36 hour marathon event.
And as an added bonus, this year’s spokesperson was Cesar Milan, of Dog Whisperer fame, and we’ve got an exclusive interview with him. I have to say that Cesar is a great “human” and continues to give back with the Millan Foundation, a non-profit set up to give funding and support to shelters across the country.
The DogFiles would like to thank Devera and Dianne and everybody at the North Shore Animal League for inviting us to their incredible event!
Next up, we continue The Dog Files Hits The Heartland!
Stay calm and assertive!
Kenn Bell
Creator & Producer of The Dog Files
The Dog Files is proud to premiere the first episode of the “The Dog Files Hit The Heartland” series. It’s called “Second Chance” and it’s about a Rescue Shelter in Sioux Falls, South Dakota called, you got it, Second Chance Rescue Center.
We would like to thank Rosey Quinn for letting us spending the day chronicling all the great work they do for all animals, big and small!
Next Episode: Pitt Proud!
The Dog Files turn the tables on the pitbull myth by showcasing a pitbull named Hector, formally owned by dog villian, Michael Vick.
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