Category: News

Hero War Dogs to Be Honored for First Time in NYC Veterans Day Parade

For the first time ever, the 2014 America’s Parade in New York City — the largest Veterans Day event in the country — will have two floats honoring four-legged war heroes on Tuesday.

“This showcases that age-old human-dog bond at its best,” Ryan Hegg, deputy director of the United War Veterans Council, which produces the parade, told the New York Daily News.

Riding on one of the floats will be six military dogs and their handlers, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Along for the ride will be veteran/rapper/actor Ice-T and his wife, Coco.

“I served in the Army and know the life-saving heroism of these dogs,” Ice-T said in a press release. “It is time that we recognize both our human veterans who sacrificed so much and our four-legged veterans who save lives on the battlefield – and at home – every day.”

The float is being sponsored by the American Humane Association and a generous donation from Lois Pope, a singer and heiress to the National Enquirer.

The military dogs “are heroes,” Pope told the Daily News. “They save so many lives.”

The other new float will feature therapy dogs who are working with veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

That float is sponsored by the A&E Network, which is also premiering the new documentary series “Dogs of War” on Veterans Day. Each episode will focus on a veteran with PTSD going through the process of working with a therapy dog who has been rescued from a shelter.

“This series is full of raw, real and intensely emotional moments that don’t often get a spotlight in mainstream media,” David McKillop, the A&E Network’s general manager and executive vice president, said in a press release.

Hegg told the Daily News he hopes the two new America’s Parade floats will be “another way to get folks aware of military issues.”

The 2014 America’s Parade begins at 11 a.m. at Park Avenue and 26th Street. It will be broadcast live on FOX5 (WNYW) and streamed on myfoxny.com. A one-hour special about the parade will air Nov. 16 on these channels across the country.

“Dogs of War” premieres on the A&E Network at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Nov. 11, then moves to Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT starting Nov. 16.

Photos via Facebook and unitedwarveterans.org

New Cyber Harness Allows Two-Way Communication Between Dogs and Humans

For a long, long time, humans have been trying to figure out how to better communicate with our dogs. Thanks to technology, some gadgets have come along — like the questionable “No More Woof” translation device that has now received more than $22,000 in online funding (a sucker apparently is born every minute) — but none of them have proven to actually work. As far as understanding each other, if men are from Mars and women from Venus, then dogs continue to be from, well, Pluto.

But perhaps that could change with a prototype canine communication harness created by a research team at North Carolina State University.

“We’ve developed a platform for computer-mediated communication between humans and dogs that opens the door to new avenues for interpreting dogs’ behavioral signals and sending them clear and unambiguous cues in return,” Dr. David Roberts (in the photo), an assistant professor of computer science and co-lead author of the paper Towards Cyber-Enhanced Working Dogs for Search and Rescue, said in a press release.

“We have a fully functional prototype, but we’ll be refining the design as we explore more and more applications for the platform.”

The researchers developed the harness to create “a cyber-enabled computer-mediated communication platform to connect human and canine intelligence to achieve a new generation of cyber-enhanced working dog (CEWD),” according to the paper, which was published last month in IEEE Intelligent Systems.

The harness has sensors that determine the wearer’s posture and physical activity (or lack thereof), as well as sensors that keep track of the dog’s heart rate and body temperature. It includes a small computer (about the size of a deck of cards) through which signals from the sensors are wirelessly transmitted. It is also fitted with speakers and haptics that transforms voice commands from humans into physical sensations.

Additional sensors may be added to the harness.

“For example, for search and rescue, we’ve added environmental sensors that can detect hazards such as gas leaks, as well as a camera and microphone for collecting additional information,” said Dr. Alper Bozkurt, a co-author of the paper, in the press release.

According to the paper, “Using cyberphysical systems to supplement and augment the two-way information exchange between human handlers and dogs would amplify the remarkable sensory capacities of search-and-rescue dogs to let them save more lives.”

The device could help handlers better monitor all working dogs’ stress levels, which in turn could help prolong the dogs’ lives, said paper co-author Sean Mealin.

“It’s an important issue,” he said — especially for guide dogs, who “are bred and trained not to display signs of stress in their behavior.”

The research team has started the process of miniaturizing the technologies and improving the sensors so the harness can also be worn by pets in animal shelters and veterinary hospitals.

“This platform is an amazing tool, and we’re excited about using it to improve the bond between dogs and their humans,” said Dr. Barbara Sherman, a clinical professor of animal behavior and co-author of the paper.

Photo credit: North Carolina State University

 

Researchers Hope Anti-Aging Drug Will Extend Dogs’ Lives

Could a chemical that prolongs the lives of fruit flies and mice have the same effect on dogs?

Daniel Promislow, an evolutionary geneticist and dog dad to an 11-year-old Weimaraner, is one of several researchers at the University of Washington who are about to launch a study of that chemical, rapamycin. They are hoping the answer is Yes.

“We’re trying to understand why some dogs age better than others, and help all dogs age in a better way,” Promislow told the Seattle Times.

In dozens of laboratory studies, rapamycin delayed the onset of some diseases and extended the lives of elderly animals by as much as 40 percent. (Rapamycin has also been used to prevent human patients from rejecting transplanted organs.)

“We’re not talking about doubling the healthy life spans of pets,” another of the researchers, molecular biologist Matthew Kaeberlein, told the Seattle Times. “But at a minimum I would predict that you would get a 10-to-15 percent increase in average life span, and I think bigger effects are possible.”

Rapamycin inactivates a protein that causes cells to grow, which in turn can slow down the growth of cancer. The chemical also has anti-inflammatory properties and improves heart health — which is the first potential benefit for dogs the researchers want to track, according to the Seattle Times.

Kaeberlein told Nature.com that pet dogs would provide realistic results of how rapamycin’s anti-aging properties may also work for humans, because the dogs have some of the same environmental influences and age-related diseases as their pet parents.

The participants in the first phase of the study will be 30 large, middle-aged pet dogs whose average breed life span is eight to 10 years. For three to six months, low doses of rapamycin will be given to half of them, while the rest get placebos. The researchers will look for improvements in the dogs’ heart function, as well as any side effects. The dogs will be monitored by veterinarians for the rest of their lives to see if the rapamycin had any effect on their longevity.

In the study’s second phase, the researchers plan to administer rapamycin to hundreds of pet dogs from around the country.

According to Nature.com, the study could wrap up in fewer than three years, “but researchers will know long before that — perhaps in months — whether rapamycin improves cardiac function or other aspects of health.”

The researchers are hoping to get the funds for the study’s second phase from private donations, foundations and/or dog-food companies, since typical underwriters, such as the National Institutes of Health, are more likely to fund studies for human diseases.

“I think it’s worth a go, not just from what it can teach us about humans, but for the sake of the animals themselves,” Steven Austad, chairman of the University of Alabama biology department and an expert in aging research, told the Seattle Times.

“It may not work in dogs, but if it did, boy, it’s going to be huge.”

More information about the study can be found at DogAgingProject.com.

Photo credit: psyberartist

Dachshund Thought to Be Killed in Mudslide Found Alive and Well

After a deluge of mud — due to a heavy rainstorm and clogged drainage canal — filled the Camarillo Springs, Calif., home of Henry and Mim Needham overnight Friday, the couple became stuck in the waist-deep muck.

They had to be rescued by firefighters, who cut through their front door with a chainsaw and pulled the couple to safety out of the house.

Left behind was their 5-year-old Dachshund, Tinkerbell.

“I wanted to go back in, but I couldn’t get them to let me,” Henry told ABC7. “They went looking and said, ‘We couldn’t find her. We didn’t see her.'”

The Needhams were heartbroken. Their beloved little dog had probably been buried alive.

More than 18 hours later, a miracle occurred on their street, as neighbor Hal Hyman told ABC7.

On their way out to breakfast, the Needhams’ grandson, Sean Pyles, and his dad stopped by to check on the damaged home. When Pyles walked up to the door, he heard a familiar bark. On the other side of the window, covered head to tail in mud, was Tinkerbell.

“Oh, I was tears of joy, crying,” Pyles told ABC7.

Those happy tears were contagious — Hyman said there wasn’t a dry eye among the Needhams’ neighbors.

“‘Ventura, the animal has been extricated.’ Cheers erupted this morning inside the Ventura County Fire Communications Center,” the Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) wrote on its Facebook page today.

“VCFD responded and made the rescue. A short time later, Tinkerbell’s owner arrived by taxi for an emotional reunion.”

The Needhams told ABC7 that had their grandson not stopped by their house this morning, TInkerbell might not have been seen and rescued.

“Sean is my hero,” Mim said.

Photo via Facebook

Ebola-Free Dallas Nurse Finally Reunited with Her Dog

After Dallas nurse Nina Pham was declared Ebola-free last week, she got a big hug from the president of the United States — but what she was really looking forward to was seeing her little dog, Bentley.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who had been quarantined since Oct. 11,  also shows no sign of the deadly virus.

This morning, accompanied by Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, Pham was finally able to hold Bentley again.

“After I was diagnosed with Ebola, I didn’t know what would happen to Bentley or if he would have the virus,” Pham said at a press conference today, according to the Dallas Morning News. “I would not know what would happen to one of my best friends.”

While Pham was being treated at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, she was provided with regular updates from Bentley’s team. Bentley had been under the care of Dallas Animal Services (DAS) in partnership with the state of Texas, Texas A&M University and the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control.

Pham thanked her dog’s support team “for helping taking care of Bentley over the last 21 days, caring for him as if he was your own and showing America that passion and love is abundant and alive.”

She said the first thing she planned to do was to take Bentley to a pet store to pick out gifts for his second birthday, which is coming up later this month.

“I feel like Bentley reentering my life is another reminder of hope and encouragement for me moving forward, and fulfilling my life to the fullest with my best friend by my side again,” Pham told NBCDFW.com.

Mayor Rawlings also spoke during the press conference, thanking the team who cared for Bentley. After Pham was quarantined last month, the mayor told USA TODAY, “The dog’s very important to the patient and we want it to be safe.”

It’s really a shame that Madrid health officials didn’t have the same attitude as Rawlings. When Teresa Romero Ramos, a nurse’s aide there who, like Pham, contracted Ebola while treating a patient, officials euthanized her 12-year-old rescue dog, Excalibur, despite hundreds of  thousands of pleas to spare his life.

Like Pham, Ramos is also now free of the virus — but heartbroken over the fact that her beloved dog was not there to greet her when she returned home.

Photo via Twitter

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