Category: News

Dogs Saved After Falling into Frozen Texas Swimming Pools

During the freezing weather in Texas last week, two dogs were rescued after they fell into swimming pools. Here are their stories.

Neighbor’s Dog Alerts Family to Yellow Lab Who Fell in Pool

If not for the barking of Leo, a neighbor’s dog, this story of a yellow Lab named Zoya would very likely have had a tragic ending.

Zoya and her family were staying with those neighbors after a pipe burst in their Southlake, Texas, house during the freezing weather there. As Zoya was sniffing out the unfamiliar backyard last Wednesday, she wandered onto the surface of the frozen swimming pool — and plunged through the ice into the freezing water.

As Zoya struggled to get out, Leo immediately started barking. Zoya’s dog dad, Rajat Sharma, heard the commotion and rushed out to his dog, falling through the hole himself. Fortunately, Zoya wasn’t far from the pool’s edge and Sharma was able to lift her out to safety.

“What I knew was that I got to go in and get her, right?” Sharma told CBS DFW. “I was trying to tread lightly, but in the back of my mind I knew that if it couldn’t take her weight, it definitely won’t take mine.”

Sharma was also helped out of the pool by a family member. The scary incident was captured on a security camera.

Based on what happened, Sharma has an important warning for all pet parents: Keep a close eye on your dog outdoors, especially in freezing weather.

“That ice is still out there and it’s probably starting to melt, and you know it’s dangerous,” he told CBS DFW. “Your pups are just like your kids. Just make sure there’s somebody around to get to them if trouble comes knocking.”

8-Year-Old Girl Rescues 90-Pound Dog Who Fell in Pool

Amelia Cipriano was playing in the snow in her Austin backyard Feb. 15 when her dog, Cooper, suddenly lost his footing and fell into the swimming pool.

The 8-year-old girl immediately ran to the pool’s edge and, thanks to adrenaline, managed to pull her 90-pound dog to safety.

“Amelia was pumped that she saved Cooper’s life, and Cooper was pumped that he got to go for a ‘swim,’” Amelia’s dad, Ron Cipriano, told WSVN. “He obviously loves the water.”

Both Amelia and Cooper are doing fine. Cooper hasn’t left his hero’s side since the incident, Cipriano said.

Cooper’s rescue was captured on the family’s home surveillance camera. Brava, Amelia!

Here’s how you can help Texas animal rescue groups and shelters impacted by the freezing weather.

Photo: CBSDFW/YouTube

COVID Detection Dogs Will Check Miami Heat Fans

There’s good news for Miami Heat fans who want to attend a game in person at the AmericanAirlines Arena. Instead of having long swabs inserted up their nostrils to test for COVID-19, attendees will be checked by COVID-19 detection dogs who’ll use their own noses to get results within 10 seconds.

About 1,500 season ticket holders will be allowed into the arena for the game on Jan. 28. That is, unless a COVID-19 detection dog sniffs out the virus. In that case, the fan and everyone in their party will get a refund and be asked to leave, even if the fan has proof of a previously negative COVID test. Additional safety protocols will also be in place, such as a requirement for everyone older than 2 years old to wear a mask, physical distancing, and a ban on eating and drinking inside the arena.

Fans who are uncomfortable around dogs can be tested for COVID-19 the traditional way, but it will take about 45 minutes as opposed to several seconds.

The Miami Heat is the first NBA team to use Coronavirus-sniffing dogs this way, but it very likely won’t be the last. If all goes well, the team will increase the number of COVID-19 detection dog teams from four to at least 10 for future games.

“We’re taking a little bit of a leap forward,” Matthew Jafarian, the team’s executive vice president of business strategy, told the Washington Post. “We’re out in front on this, but like with anything new, somebody’s got to take the first step.”

The dogs are being provided by a company that trains dogs to detect COVID-19 as well as explosive devices and prohibited agriculture products at airports. When a dog sniffs out COVID-19, they alert their handler by sitting down. The dogs have been trained to sniff out the active virus and won’t signal if someone has received the vaccine.

A July 2020 study found that trained dogs could sniff out COVID-19 in human saliva and respiratory secretions with 94% accuracy. Although the dogs’ noses are very accurate, Jafarian warned that if they do sniff out COVID-19, it “is not considered a diagnostic test.”

Thanks to the Coronavirus-sniffing dogs and other safety measures, Jafarian told the Washington Post the Miami Heat believes “it’s going to be safer in our arena than getting on an airplane, sitting next to all these people who aren’t tested, or eating at a restaurant, where everybody’s not masked — it’s going to be safer than all those things.”

Photo: NBA

Success! Aurora, Colorado Ends 15-Year Pit Bull Ban


In November the good people of Denver did the right thing and overwhelmingly voted to end the city’s 31-year ban on Pit Bulls, mixes and dogs that happen to look like Pit Bulls. Perhaps inspired by this, the city council of Aurora, Colorado’s third-largest city which is about 9 miles east of Denver, voted 7-3 on Jan. 11 to end its 15-year ban on these dogs.

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman initially proposed a ballot measure to lift the ban, but residents wouldn’t be able to vote on it until next November, the Denver Post reports. Fortunately, instead of having to wait that long, city council members decided to vote on repealing the ban.

Starting next month, Aurora residents can own Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Before the ban was ended, dogs that were more than 51 percent of these breeds were not allowed in the city. (I wonder how that percentage was determined…?)

Breed-specific legislation (BSL) — unfair laws, including breed bans, that single out dogs only because of how they look — has proven to be ineffective in increasing public safety and expensive to enforce wherever it’s been enacted. Thank you, Aurora City Council, for realizing this and ending your city’s ban.

Up next in Colorado to consider ending its Pit Bull ban is Commerce City. A decision is expected there later this month, according to the Denver Post. (Update: On Jan. 15 the Commerce City Council voted to end the ban!)

Last week in Denver, a handsome 3-year-old Pit Bull named Gumdrop, who’d been picked up as a stray, became the first of his breed to be adopted out by the Denver Animal Shelter since 1989. A Colorado Springs family saw his photo and drove an hour to the shelter to adopt him, Denver Department of Public Health & Environment spokesperson Kyle Wagner told PEOPLE. Gumdrop’s name has been changed to Odin.

Here’s wishing Odin and his new forever family many years of happiness together. And a huge thank you to the Aurora City Council members whose votes will help save the lives of many more adoptable dogs.

We are so excited to celebrate the first Pit Bull adoption since the new breed ordinance! ???❤️ ⁠
⁠
Gumdrop was so happy…

Posted by Denver Animal Shelter on Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Photo: Those were my first two Pitties, Sophie and Larry, enjoying a mind meld.

I Scream, You Bark: Ben & Jerry’s Now Makes Doggie Desserts

If you’re anything like me, you’ve helped Ben & Jerry’s stay in business during this months-long COVID-19 quarantine by eating massive amounts of their ridiculously delicious ice cream. Especially Chunky Monkey.

Good news! Now our dogs can enjoy Ben & Jerry’s, too. For the first time ever, the company is introducing frozen “Doggie Desserts” made with ingredients that can be safely digested by our beloved pets.

Bad news! For now at least, only these two flavors, named after B&J employees’ dogs (sweet!), are available in supermarkets and pet stores:

  • Pontch’s Mix, with peanut butter and pretzel swirls (yum!)
  • Rosie’s Batch, with pumpkin and miniature cookies (yum!)

They’re sold in single 4-ounce mini cups for the retail price of $2.99, or four-packs for $4.99.

Since ice cream and other dairy products can cause digestion problems for dogs, these treats are made with a small amount of sunflower butter, which is safe for dogs. They also have some of the same ingredients in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for humans, such as wheat flour, coconut oil and sugar.

Although Doggie Desserts are safe for human consumption too, they’re intended for dogs. Sorry.

No word yet on future flavors, but William K. Wolfrum has an excellent suggestion.

Photo: @benandjerrys/Twitter

Recall Expanded: At Least 70 Pets Have Died After Eating Sportmix Products

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made the shocking announcement that at least 28 dogs had died and eight became ill after eating some Sportmix dry dog food products.

In an even more disturbing update, the FDA reported yesterday that the death toll has now increased to more than 70 pets, with over 80 becoming ill. “Not all of these cases have been officially confirmed as aflatoxin poisoning through laboratory testing or veterinary record review,” the FDA stated. “This count is approximate and may not reflect the total number of pets affected.” Yikes.

Aflatoxin is a toxic mold that can grow on corn and other grains used in pet food. At high levels, it causes illness and death in pets who eat the food.

Midwestern Pet Food, Inc., the company that manufactures the products, has expanded its initial Dec. 30 recall to now include all of its pet food products containing corn that were manufactured in the company’s Oklahoma plant.

“As a fourth-generation family-owned company, Midwestern Pet Foods has been committed to ensuring that our products are safe and nutritious for nearly 100 years,” the company said in a statement yesterday. “Until recently, throughout our long history, we’ve never had a product recall.”

In cooperation with the Missouri Department of Agriculture, the FDA is now investigating certain Sportmix pet food products. “Case counts and the scope of this recall may expand as new information becomes available,” the FDA stated.

Sportmix Products Recalled Dec. 30, 2020

The following dry pet food products are included in the original Dec. 30, 2020 voluntary recall. They were distributed nationally to online sellers and retail stores. The FDA has encouraged retailers to contact consumers who purchased these products if possible.

Sportmix Energy Plus:

44-lb. bags with the lot number EXP 03/02/22/05/L3
50-lb. bags with the lot numbers EXP 03/02/22/05/L2, EXP 03/02/22/05/L3 and EXP 03/03/22/05/L2

 

Sportmix Premium High Energy:
44-lb. bags with the lot number EXP 03/03/22/05/L3
50-lb. bags with the lot number EXP 03/03/22/05/L3

 

The lot number can be found on the back of the bag in a three-line code, as in this example:

 

The following dry cat food products are also included in the recall, although there have been no reports of cats becoming ill:

Sportmix Original Cat
15-lb. bags with the lot numbers EXP 03/03/22/05/L2 and EXP 03/03/22/05/L3

Additional Sportmix Products Recalled Jan. 11, 2021

On January 11, 2021, Midwestern Pet Foods, Inc. expanded its voluntary recall to include the following pet food products. More than 1,000 lot codes are affected (!), so they are not listed individually.

These products have been recalled if the date/lot code includes an expiration date on or before “07/09/22” and includes “05” in the date/lot code, which identifies products made in the Oklahoma plant.

  • Pro Pac Adult Mini Chunk, 40 lb. bag
  • Pro Pac Performance Puppy, 40 lb. bag
  • Splash Fat Cat 32%, 50 lb. bag
  • Nunn Better Maintenance, 50 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Original Cat, 15 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Original Cat, 31 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Maintenance, 44 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Maintenance, 50 lb. bag
  • Sportmix High Protein, 50 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Energy Plus, 44 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Energy Plus, 50 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Stamina, 44 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Stamina, 50 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Bite Size, 40 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Bite Size, 44 lb. bag
  • Sportmix High Energy, 44 lb. bag
  • Sportmix High Energy, 50 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Premium Puppy, 16.5 lb. bag
  • Sportmix Premium Puppy, 33 lb. bag

Symptoms of Aflatoxin Poisoning

The symptoms of aflatoxin poisoning may include sluggishness, loss of appetite, vomiting, jaundice (a yellowish tint to your dog’s eyes or gums), and diarrhea. If you’ve been using the recalled products and your dog is experiencing any of these symptoms, you should take them to your veterinarian right away. Some dogs show no symptoms yet still experience liver damage, so you should still have your pet checked out by your veterinarian.

You can report your dog’s Sportmix-related illness to the FDA online through its Safety Reporting Portal or by contacting your state’s FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinators. The FDA suggests working with your veterinarian to submit your dog’s medical records with your report.

If you have any of the recalled products, dispose of them in a way that children, pets and wildlife cannot access them. Wash and sanitize pet food bowls, cups and storage containers. The FDA says there is no evidence that people who handle the food are at risk of aflatoxin poisoning.

For more information about this recall, contact Midwestern Pet Foods Consumer Affairs at 800-474-4163, ext. 455 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday, or by emailing info@midwesternpetfoods.com.

Exit mobile version