A service dog named Tatiana, a Labrador-Golden retriever mix, has been honored with hero’s awards for saving the life of her owner, Cristina Marie Saint-Blancard of Plantation, FL. Service dogs are specially trained dogs who are taught skills to assist people with special needs. This includes people with limited mobility or hearing loss. Service dogs […]

Penny for Your Thoughts RAE MX MXJ MJB XF T2B CAA CGC, owned by Mandy Parkins of Westerville, OH, was a shelter puppy who Mandy picked out at age 8 weeks. She had never shown a dog, but Penny was so smart and energetic that Mandy thought she better give her a job and started […]

June 2013.  I was settling in for the evening with my two Golden Retrievers who had just enjoyed a fun weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains at an obedience trial.  Before the night was over, I would find myself with one less golden as a result of bloat. That tragic loss began the journey that […]

Nola is a former honorable mention award winner in the AKC Humane Fund Awards for Canine Excellence. She makes school very special for many students at a New Jersey school. Since April 2012, Nola has served as the therapy dog for the Little Egg Harbor School District in the southernmost part of Ocean County, NJ. […]

Dragon Run’s Little Lion THDD, CGC owned by Beth & Paul Peterson of Dover, DE Beth shared this special story of Taco, who just earned the AKC Therapy Dog Distinguished honor for making more than 400 visits to help others. Dragon Run’s Little Lion THDD CGC, known as Taco, is a Pekingese / Pembroke Welsh […]

A little over one year since we adopted him, our dog Finn earned his AKC Canine Good Citizen title on Sept. 2, 2015. We adopted Finn from a rescue group in Florida called Plenty of Pit Bulls. Finn is one of many dogs rescued during what is now often referred to as the #367 case […]

Repo was just a 5-pound puppy dodging cars in a busy parking lot when the Munden family of Pasco, WA, spotted him and saved him. Unable to find an owner, the Mundens kept him and discovered that they had an extremely smart pup on their hands. Christie Munden tells how Repo has become an AKC […]

Guira’s Bella THDD CGCA CGCU & Eileen Guiry of Dover, DE Bella, a 10-year-old Miniature Schnauzer, was a rescue dog living in the Kent County SPCA shelter when Eileen Guiry of Dover, DE, adopted her. Eileen quickly recognized that Bella had the makings of an excellent therapy dog. “When I first got Bella, she was […]

But the dog that tugged at her heart at the Sacramento County Animal Care shelter was a young brindle Pit Bull mix. “I had taken her out of her pen and played with her. She seemed incredibly smart and was sweet and friendly, but we left that day without adopting a dog,” said Carmen, a […]

The majority of dogs can swim and they love it, like Zoey, a member of the AKC Canine Partners community, who is modeling her life jacket as she captains owner Paula Harting’s kayak. But not all dogs are natural swimmers and some dogs hate to get wet! If you plan to head to the beach, […]