As some of you may remember, Aris was the German Shepherd that came to us from Lake Norman Animal Rescue and was placed in our Second Chance Program for shelter and rescue dogs. Aris had been emaciated and beaten for the first ten months of his life and was brought to us to be rehabilitated. We worked with him for about 4 months to turn around his lack of trust for humans.

He was later adopted by a couple in Charlotte, NC and has live with them since. Aris has been in his new home for almost a year now. Below is an email that we recently received from Aris’ new parents.

Read the rest of this entry »

As some of you may know, Maverick is the black Labrador Retriever that we are currently training to be an assistance dog for a young lady that was injured in a car accident. When Maverick came to our kennel for training as an assistance dog, the clients gave us a list of all of the tasks that they wanted Maverick to be capable of performing. The list contained 32 different tasks in addition to the obedience and general manners that he was to be taught. Some of the items on the list included; pulling a wheelchair (see the video), retrieving objects such as phones, keys, etc. food refusal, heeling beside of a wheelchair, climbing steps and turning on light switches. Now we are down to about three itmes left on the list before Maverick officially begins his work as an assistance dog.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I just found this article on the dog food industry. It confirms what I have been saying, that commercial dog food has never been safe or healthy for our dogs, even before this year’s dog food recall. The article talks about all of the harmful items put in dog food, including other dogs who have been euthanized! Further, another article I found states that the FDA is disputing the findings of acetaminophen found in some batches of dog food, but it cannot even confirm that it has tested the same batches!! Between the government and the pet food agencies, our pets are at severe risk.

Read the rest of this entry »

From what I gather, CornellUniversity and the FDA are performing studies on the cause of the poisoning. At first, it was believed that rat poison accidentally contaminated the wheat gluten. After dissecting cats and dogs that have died from eating the contaminated food, the hypothesis is melamine, a substance used in plastics production that includes counter tops. A small amount was found in the liver. More info will be syndicated shortly on their findings, I am sure. The wheat gluten that was contaminated came from China. If anyone has more to offer, please post your comments. For the treatment of melamine poisoning, please consult your vet. Fluid therapy is recommended.

Read the rest of this entry »

I posted in March about the horrible cat cullings taking place in Beijing to “clean up” the city before the Olympics this summer. If you don’t recall, China is inhumanely killing the city’s cats (whom they allege have SARS) by rounding them up and putting them in death camps to die slow, miserable deaths from starvation, dehydration, filth, and poor medical conditions.

Read the rest of this entry »

Quite unbelievable, Lance Mackey wins. He is from,
Fairbanks, AK, USA
Bib Number: 6 
Final Position: 1 
Checkpoint: Nome
Time In: Wed, March 12, 2008 02:46:48
Dogs In: 11 
Finishing Time: 9 Days 11 Hours 46 Minutes 48 Seconds 
Average Speed: 4.56 MPH

Lance Mackey, 36, was born and raised in Alaska. The 2007 Iditarod champion and three time Yukon Quest champion (and current record holder) says he began mushing “at birth.” “I grew up around racing and the Iditarod. I was at the finish line in 1978 to see my father, Dick Mackey, win by one second. In 1983, my older brother, Rick, won. Both my father and brother won wearing bib #13 in their sixth Iditarod.” Last year was Lance’s sixth Iditarod and he won wearing bib #13, just as he had planned. He says, “I like old stuff, my wife calls junk.” He and Tonya are the parents of Amanda, 19, Brittney, 17, Alanah, 16 and Cain, 15.
Read the rest of this entry »

As some of you may know, Maverick is the black labrador that we are training as an assistance dog. We are happy to announce that he has successfully completed the first phase of his training and is beginning the second phase. Maverick has learned all of his commands (in a foreign language) and works well both on and off-leash. He has learned to heel beside someone walking at any pace as well as someone riding in a wheelchair. Maverick has been to a great number of local businesses with us and has performed really well in some pretty distracting and demanding environments.

Read the rest of this entry »