For baseball, it’s Little League. For gymnastics, it’s tumbling class. For football, pee-wees. Athletes in all sports don’t just make it to the big leagues right away. They have to start somewhere. The same goes for dog shows, and that’s where Junior Showmanship comes in. Aspiring handlers ages 9 to 18 compete in the Junior […]

The New York Assembly Agriculture Committee is considering a bill on Tuesday, February 9, that would clarify current law regarding minimum standards for dogs kept in outdoor shelters.  Current law already provides minimum requirements for dogs kept outdoors in inclement weather and extreme temperatures.  Assembly Bill 7033 contains reasonable clarifications to these requirements that would […]

Money Penny,  a Cocker Spaniel puppy, really liked the taste of her bed – plus the hassock for a snack, but who could get mad at that cute face, says her owner Jackie Curr of Spring, TX. It is natural for dogs to chew, and puppies chew a lot when they are teething. Teething typically […]

A Maryland Senate Committee is scheduled to consider a bill on February 11 that will provide further protections for owners of service animals.  Senate Bill 264 creates two new provisions that would protect service dogs and their owners.  It amends the crime of aggravated cruelty to state that a person may not intentionally inflict bodily […]

If you’re planning to travel by air this year, except to see more four-legged officials working the security lines at the airport. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is more than doubling the number of canines they’ll have working at U.S. airports, the Washington Post reports, adding that currently, the agency has more than 140 Golden […]

A breakthrough therapy shows promise in the fight against a deadly heart disease that strikes both dogs and people, Canadian researchers report. In the current issue of the American Journal of Physiology, scientists from the University of Guelph found that a naturally-occurring molecule called dAPT (2-Deoxyadenosine triphosphate) restored normal function in cardiac muscle cells taken […]

For Picks of The Litter, a regular book review series, Ranny Green critiques “K9-5: New York Dogs at Work" featuring photographs by Michelle Rose (Pointed Leaf Press). No matter what their working environment, New Yorkers love their dogs and prefer to have them alongside. Whether they’re stress reducers or inspirational cohorts, the four-legged characters you […]

Last week was a hard one for police K9s and their handlers. Two canine cops were killed by gunfire, including Jethro, who worked with police in Canton, Ohio, and was shot on Saturday, January 9, while apprehending a burglary suspect. He later died from his injuries. Two days later, K9 Krijger, a four-year-old Belgian Malinois […]

Dr. Jerry Klein In early March 2015, there appeared to be a significant outbreak of Kennel Cough in Chicago. Our hospital, a 24-hour emergency and critical care facility, regularly sees a high volume of sick and injured dogs and cats. But what we were seeing in Spring 2015 was different. Suddenly, a large number of coughing, sick […]

Dogs are great. They are playful, friendly, snuggly, and quite entertaining. People, on the other hand, aren't always quite as fabulous.  If you happen to agree, then this is for you...   1. Your dog eats better than you do—no grains, no GMOs, no preservatives. Only the best for them. What time does Subway open again? […]