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From ktul.com

The Bartlesville police department holds a memorial service for one of their own. Police, city workers and private citizens gathered to say goodbye to Cooper, the department’s drug dog.

Cooper died last month after consuming anti-freeze. Police are still investigating if he was poisoned. The department is still looking for a replacement dog.

Police Chief Tom Holland says Cooper had a successful record. “These drug dogs are more than just canines, they’re part of us. He did a marvelous job finding drugs. He was also a tracking dog. We’ve used him to successfully track people. So, this is going to be his day.”

An American flag was presented to Cooper’s handler during the service. Cooper’s ashes will be placed at the bottom of a flag pole outside the police station. It’s near a monument to officers killed in the line of duty.

The police chief says private funds paid for the memorial service.

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A labrador dog plunges into the sea during a patrol at Riva dei Tarquini in the Tyrrhenian Sea

By Francoise Kadri

TARQUINIA, Italy — This summer, Italy’s special squad of rescue workers were again chalking up success: some 300 dogs ready to help save lives on dozens of Italian beaches.

In early August in Tarquinia, a town about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Rome, the dogs and their human partners saved on the same day two girls, who had fallen off their boat and two others, who had fallen off an inflatable raft.

The labradors, golden retrievers and Newfoundlands trained by the Italian School for Rescue Dogs (http://www.waterrescuedogs.com/) are credited with saving more than 100 lives, including a dozen this year alone.

“Compared to the rest of the world, the school is the only one that systematically monitors beaches every summer with human-canine units,”
Roberto Gasbarri, the school’s coordinator for central-southern Italy, told AFP.

The teams work in most of Italy’s 20 regions, even landlocked ones such as northern Trentino Alto-Adige, where rescuers monitor lakes.

A labrador dog trained for rescue at sea, swims with his instructor during a patrol at Riva dei Tarquini, Italy

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The Associated Press

They leap from helicopters or speeding boats, bringing aid to swimmers who get into trouble off Italy’s popular beaches.

For these canine lifeguards, the doggie paddle does just fine.

Hundreds of specially trained dogs from Italy’s corps of canine lifeguards are deployed each summer to help swimmers in need of rescue.

These “lifedogs” wear a harness or tow a buoy that victims can grab, or a raft they can sit on to be towed back to shore, and unlike their human counterparts, they can easily jump from helicopters and speeding boats to reach swimmers in trouble.

With millions flocking to Italy’s crowded beaches each summer, the Italian Coast Guard says it rescues about 3,000 people every year — and their canine helpers are credited with saving several lives.

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From bbc.co.uk

A border collie in Northumberland whose owner hopes he can make the English sheepdog team has been honing his skills – by herding ducks.

The talented canine, called Roy, has been in training for a competition which could see him chosen to represent England at future international events.

Owner Emma Gray said the Indian Runner ducks were ideal training for seven-month-old Roy due to their slow speed.

Roy is a hit with visitors to the farm who watch his regular displays.

‘More entertaining’

Ms Gray, 24, who works on her parents’ farm near Morpeth, has been working with sheepdogs for two years.

She said: “The dogs know the difference between ducks and sheep, but they are not really bothered as long as they are working.

“It’s great fun and I love working with the dogs.

“It is much more entertaining herding ducks and we do displays at the farm which go down well.

“The ducks are a bit more predictable than sheep and cannot run as fast so they do not get away from the dog.”

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By Ken Dilanian for Tribune Washington bureau

WASHINGTON — Wanted, to serve their country: A few (thousand) good dogs.

As it guards the borders and hunts for terrorists, the Department of Homeland Security relies on an elite squad of about 2,000 canines to sniff for bombs, drugs and smuggled cash.

Now the department is moving to expand its four-legged force by 3,000 — about 600 dogs a year over the next five years — according to a recent bid solicitation aimed at small breeders across the country.

Males and females are eligible, ages 12 to 36 months. DHS is looking for Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, German shepherds, Dutch shepherds, Belgian Malinois “or other working, herding or sporting breeds with prior approval.”

DHS says no training is necessary — their experts will handle that. But the candidates must be “alert, active, outgoing, confident” and “extremely tolerant of people,” according to the solicitation, which sets a July 23 deadline.

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By Eric Moskowitz for Boston.com

As a patrol dog for the MBTA Transit Police, 4-year-old Marco is trained to sprint after assailants and sniff for evidence, not pose for photos before a crowd.

So it was with some prodding yesterday that Marco sat for photographs in his new bulletproof vest, encouraged by his partner and staring intently at his favorite chew toy, held aloft near a bank of television cameras.

“Down . . . down,’’ said Officer Shawn McCarthy, Marco’s partner, as the dog — eager to explore the parking lot at Transit Police headquarters — settled into place between McCarthy and Madeleine Barowsky, a teenager from Framingham who raised money for the vest by selling homemade dog biscuits and dog-shaped earrings and refrigerator magnets.

Whenever McCarthy and Marco respond to reported crimes on the T or assist local departments, the dog takes the lead.

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Gina, a highly trained bomb-sniffing dog with the U.S. military and Staff Sgt. Chris Kench on a sofa at the kennel at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

By Dan Elliott for Alternative Press

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) – Gina was a playful 2-year-old German shepherd when she went to Iraq as a highly trained bomb-sniffing dog with the military, conducting door-to-door searches and witnessing all sorts of noisy explosions.

She returned home to Colorado cowering and fearful. When her handlers tried to take her into a building, she would stiffen her legs and resist. Once inside, she would tuck her tail beneath her body and slink along the floor. She would hide under furniture or in a corner to avoid people.

A military veterinarian diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder – a condition that some experts say can afflict dogs just like it does humans.

“She showed all the symptoms and she had all the signs,” said Master Sgt. Eric Haynes, the kennel master at Peterson Air Force Base. “She was terrified of everybody and it was obviously a condition that led her down that road.”

A year later, Gina is on the mend. Frequent walks among friendly people and a gradual reintroduction to the noises of military life have begun to overcome her fears, Haynes said.

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By Emily Jackson, Vancouver Sun

Delta police department’s latest canine recruit is more likely to lick than growl.

The two-year-old male yellow Lab, the first police therapy dog in Canada, started six weeks of on-the-job training Monday, said Delta police spokeswoman Sgt. Sharlene Brooks.

Adding a dog to the department’s victim services team is a new approach to helping people in traumatic situations, Brooks said.

The four-legged therapist will offer support and reassurance for “excessively emotional” people, she said.

A dog’s presence can help children and people with disabilities calm down and communicate, Brooks added.

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By Brian Haas for The Tennessean

As prison inmates increasingly run criminal enterprises, order hits and direct drug dealing from behind bars, state corrections officials are turning to a new weapon: dogs.

The Tennessee Department of Correction plans to train three drug-sniffing dogs to add cell phones to their olfactory arsenals in a growing war against prison contraband. Nationwide, prisons and jails have struggled to stop inmates from sneaking in cell phones and continuing to commit crimes while imprisoned.

“We probably will find one at least once a week here, sometimes more often,” said Ricky Bell, warden of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, a prison that hosts Tennessee’s most dangerous inmates. “We get reports from people in the community that they’re getting threatening phone calls. That happens pretty often.”

In the last year alone, Tennessee corrections officers confiscated 1,684 cell phones at 12 state prisons. Other states report a similarly growing problem. Despite regular searches of inmates, their rooms and even their visitors, the phones still find their way to inmates’ hands. Corrections officers are not allowed to carry phones with them.

Sometimes, a friend or family member will toss a phone over a fence to an awaiting prisoner. Others use less comfortable methods.

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