Subscribe to continue reading
Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.
Hooray! Miami Will Soon No Longer Ban Pit Bulls
Category: News
Erin Go Bark: The Most Popular Irish Dog Breeds and Names
In celebration of St. Pawtrick’s — er, Patrick’s — Day, here are the most popular Irish dog breeds and names in the United States.
No matter what breed or mix of breeds your dog happens to be, have a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day. And let’s hope every homeless dog has the luck of the Irish and finds a forever family!
Top 5 Irish Dog Breeds
According to the American Kennel Club’s (AKC) Most Popular Dog Breeds of 2022, these are the Irish breeds that made the list:
- Irish Setter (71 on the list)
- Irish Wolfhound (89; 85 in 2021)
- Irish Terrier (131; 124 in 2021)
- Irish Red and White Setter (168; 154 in 2021)
- Irish Water Spaniel (183; 165 in 2021)
Top 5 St. Patrick’s Day-Inspired Dog Names
Back in 2015, the pet insurance provider VPI (now Nationwide) listed the most popular Irish-inspired pet names, based on its database of more than 525,000 insured pets.
These were the top 5 names:
- Lucky
- Seamus
- Clover
- Patrick
- Shamrock
The most popular name for Irish Wolfhounds was Finnegan, VPI noted. Dublin, after the capital of Ireland, and Jameson, a famous Irish whiskey, were also popular names.
And if you want to give your new four-legged family member an Irish name, the AKC offers these suggestions, among others:
- Patrick
- Clover or Shamrock
- Madigan (Gaelic for “little dog”)
- Shandy (which is beer mixed with a soft drink, ick)
- Finn or Finnegan (Gaelic for “fair one,” aww)
Top 5 Irish Beer-Inspired Dog Names
These were the most popular beer-inspired names, according to VPI:
- Murphy
- Guinness
- Harp
- Smithwick
- O’Hara
Although it’s not on the list, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bailey, after the famous cream liqueur, is also a very popular name, sure and begorrah.
Photos: peggycadigan; frame.fusion; Kathleen Tyler Conklin; Pleple2000
Rescued Dogs Deployed to Rescue Survivors of the Turkey Earthquake
As they’ve previously done in disasters around the world, dogs trained by the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) have been deployed to Turkey to search for survivors after the devastating earthquake on Feb. 6.
These dogs are truly paying it forward: they’ve all been rescued themselves from shelters and rescue groups across the United States.
“The traits that can make dogs unsuitable as family pets and land them in a shelter—intense energy and extreme drive—are exactly the qualities required in a search dog,” the SDF explains on its website. SDF is the only organization in the U.S. that rescues these dogs and trains them to become search dogs.
The rescued dogs spend nine to 10 months in training at the SDF facility in Santa Paula, Calif. They are then partnered, free of charge, with fire departments around the country.
Since the SDF was founded in 1996, it has trained 229 teams that have been deployed to over 230 disasters and missing person searches. Dogs rescued and trained by the SDF have previously helped locate survivors after major earthquakes in countries like Japan, Haiti and Nepal.
And now seven canine disaster search teams trained by SDF are currently in Turkey, working alongside human rescuers from around the world. One team, USA-1, is from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department in Virginia. The other six teams, USA-2, are from the Los Angeles County Fire Department in California.
“No technology can match a dog’s speed and accuracy in finding people trapped in the wreckage of a disaster,” the SDF notes. Their sense of smell and ability to reach areas that humans can’t are a couple of the qualities that make them so good at this.
Although you may have read on social media that search dogs have found survivors, that unfortunately isn’t true, the Associated Press reports. And some recently posted photos of search dogs were actually taken during previous disasters, not the Turkey earthquake. However, the photo above was indeed taken in Turkey earlier this week and posted on Facebook by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
As of today, over 20,000 people did not survive the earthquake. Here’s wishing these search dogs much success in finding survivors and helping to lower the heartbreaking death toll.
How to help
To help the SDF rescue and train more dogs, you can make an online donation on their website.
You can also donate to nonprofit organizations such as the following that are helping people in Turkey and Syria impacted by the earthquake:
Photo: USAID/Facebook
Cookie-Seeking Dog Sets Kitchen on Fire
A 3-year-old silver Lab named Twitch who lives in Frisco, Texas, is a very bad dog—and very lucky to be alive.
While his owner, Megan Black, was away on Christmas Day, Twitch wandered into the kitchen, seeking some yummy cookies that were sitting on a shelf.
To reach those coveted cookies, Twitch had to jump up in front of the stove. In doing so, he accidentally turned on a burner, which in turn started a kitchen fire.
Fortunately, Black received a cell phone alert that her home’s smoke detectors were activated. Black called her neighbor, Cissy Blaisure, who ran to the house. Through thick smoke, Blaisure removed Twitch and another dog, a 10-year-old Boxer named Asher. She was then able to put out the flames using a bowl of water before firefighters arrived.
The entire incident took less than seven minutes and was caught on a Ring video.
“I’m sitting there watching her in action on my camera,” Black told FOX 4. “I can’t do anything. I am just watching her save my house.”
Although the house has major smoke damage, the good news is that no one was injured, thanks to Blaisure’s speedy efforts. “Maybe it was female mom instinct. I don’t know. I was just trying,” she told FOX 4.
Dogs Causing House Fires More Common Than You Might Think
Twitch isn’t the only dog who’s started a house fire. Just six months earlier, a dog in Missouri managed to turn on a stove burner, causing a grease fire that destroyed most of the house. Fortunately, like Twitch, that dog also lived to bark about it.
“New appliances are being seen with touch controls that activate by the simple touch of a finger. An animal’s paw can also activate these types of controls,” Southern Platte Fire Protection District Division Chief Chris Denney said in a statement at the time.
To prevent fires, Denney recommended using the built-in safety devices on these stoves when they aren’t being used and can be accessed by pets and children.
Animals including pets start about 750 house fires every year, according to the National Fire Prevention Association, which has these tips for preventing this from happening in your own home.
14-Year-Old Lost Dog Found After 2 Months in Utah Canyon
Apparently this is “Amazingly Lucky Senior Dog Week.” A few days ago, a 13-year-old blind dog named Cesar was rescued after he wandered out of his yard — and fell into a 15-foot-deep hole at the construction site next door. Despite his ordeal, Cesar wasn’t seriously injured.
Yet another senior dog who’s losing his eyesight is also safe and sound at home this week after a very scary experience.
During a July camping trip to Payson Canyon, Utah, a 14-year-old Great Pyrenees/Collie mix named Toby wandered away from his family and seemed to disappear. His family spent the next few weeks searching for Toby. Neither search dogs, trail cameras or drones could locate the senior dog.
“Toby is old and going blind. He is likely afraid and confused,” his owner wrote on July 25 in a Utah – Lost Dogs, Cats & Pets Facebook group post. “We are so worried about him, and we just want him. He is the sweetest dog and is not aggressive at all, so he is easily approachable.”
Nearly two months after Toby’s disappearance, his family was contacted by someone who recognized his picture in that Facebook post.
“Once he went downhill and couldn’t get back up the mountain, he found a spot with shade and water and just laid around,” Toby’s unidentified owner told KUTV. That spot was about a mile and a half away from his family’s campsite.
“He did not do much traveling,” Toby’s owner added. “Laid there for two months and waited for something to happen… for someone to find him and kept himself alive.”
Toby, who weighed about 75 pounds before his disappearance, lost about 30 pounds. He was otherwise healthy — and is probably extremely happy to be back home.