Category: News

Adoptable Dog Cutouts Will Fill Empty Seats in Philadelphia’s Subaru Park Stadium

Since actual fans can’t fill seats due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some sports stadiums have been replacing them with cardboard cutouts. My home team the Los Angeles Dodgers are also making cutouts of fans’ dogs and cats for $149 to $299 each, depending on the stadium location. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, a nonprofit that works to improve education, health care, homelessness and social justice for Angelenos.

Here’s another great idea: Starting on Aug. 25, the fans at Philadelphia Union soccer games at Subaru Park will be cardboard cutouts of dogs who are available for adoption at local shelters.

“At Subaru, our love for pets runs as deeply as our love for soccer, and from the onset of our partnership with the Union, we knew we wanted to bring our furry friends out to Subaru Park and bring awareness to adopting shelter pets,” Subaru of America, Inc.’s Alan Bethke, senior vice president of marketing, said in a press release.

The cutouts, called the “Dogs of Ben,” were inspired by the Union’s Sons of Ben team supporter group. Subaru is working with Providence Animal Center and other local shelters to find four-legged fans like Aubrey (those ears!), whose images will fill the stadium’s midfield stands.

 

Dogs of Ben is a part of the Subaru Loves Pets initiative that’s dedicated to helping improve the safety and well-being of animals nationwide.

“We are thrilled to be hosting the first Philadelphia Union game at Subaru Park on Aug. 25 and to introduce the innovative ways we are incorporating our fans, community, partners, and even adoptable pets into a Union gameday,” Tim McDermott, president of the Philadelphia Union, said in the press release.

The games will be televised on station PHL17. To learn more about these Union fans and how to adopt one of them, visit philadelphiaunion.com/subaru.

Since it will likely be quite a while before human fans can safely fill stadiums again, here’s hoping the Dogs of Ben will inspire stadiums all around the country to fill those empty seats with cutouts of adoptable pets.

Photos: Subaru of America, Inc.

Denver Voters Can End the City’s 31-Year Pit Bull Ban

Even though the Denver City Council voted 7-4 in February to end the city’s 31-year Pit Bull ban, Mayor Michael Hancock overruled their decision.

Even though 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, Hancock still decided it was a good thing.

Denver’s Pit Bull ban is one of the most notorious in the world. It was enacted in 1989 after a 3-year-old boy wandered into his neighbor’s yard and was fatally attacked by an unspayed Pit Bull who was chained to a carport, according to the Denver Post. Three years earlier, another of the owner’s dogs had bitten an 8-year-old boy. Because of that one irresponsible owner 30 years ago, thousands of Denver residents have had to make the terrible choice of finding a new home for themselves or their beloved dogs, or surrendering their pets to the city to be euthanized.

“Breed bans usually come on the heels of a fatal dog attack, a knee-jerk reaction by city and county officials that might pacify a community for a while, but doesn’t do a thing to keep communities safer,” notes the Best Friends Animal Society. “It’s much easier to institute breed bans than to look at what caused those attacks.”

It’s telling that just about every major animal welfare organization, including the ASPCA, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), oppose BSL because it punishes the breed instead of the deed.

Fortunately, Denver City Councilman Christopher Herndon, who proposed ending the Pit Bull ban, kept the promise he made in February to introduce a ballot measure allowing voters to end the ban in November.

“I’m disappointed the mayor is choosing to disregard the science on the issue of breed-specific legislation,” Herndon said in a February statement, according to the New York Times. “Research tells us breed-specific legislation is ineffective at keeping communities safe and experts in the field — from the local level to the national level — agree it is no longer best practice.”

In a unanimous decision last night, the Denver City Council agreed to put a proposition to end the Pit Bull ban on the Nov. 3 ballot, 9News reports.

While voters will hopefully end the ban by voting yes on Measure 2J, there still will be special requirements for the owners of Pit Bulls and mixes. The owners would have had to register their dogs with Denver Animal Protection, obtain a breed-restricted license, and have no more than two Pit Bulls. Yes, these requirements that single out certain dog breeds are still BSL (and B.S.), but removing the ban is an extremely important first step.

If you’re a registered voter in Denver, I urge you to vote yes on Measure 2J to end the Pit Bull ban. You’ll not only be saving a lot of money but also the lives of countless innocent dogs.

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

RIP Buddy, the First US Dog Diagnosed with the Coronavirus

Buddy, the German Shepherd from New York who was diagnosed with the coronavirus in May, has died.

“You tell people that your dog was positive, and they look at you [as if you have] ten heads,” his owner, Allison Mahoney, told National Geographic. “[Buddy] was the love of our lives….He brought joy to everybody. I can’t wrap my head around it.”

Was it COVID-19 that killed 7-year-old Buddy, who died on July 11? In early June, he was expected to make a full recovery.

Maybe, or maybe not. Buddy also probably had lymphoma, a type of cancer, according to two veterinarians who reviewed the dog’s medical records but had not been involved with his treatment. It’s not clear whether Buddy died from COVID-19, or if the infection made his cancer symptoms worse, or if he would have died from lymphoma even if he didn’t have COVID-19.

Buddy’s symptoms began in April, when he had difficulty breathing and lost his appetite. Allison’s husband, Robert Mahoney, had already been diagnosed with COVID-19 and suspected that Buddy might have it, too. At that time, a Pug named Winston in North Carolina had (mistakenly) been diagnosed with the disease. The Mahoney family’s other dog, a young German Shepherd named Duke, showed no symptoms.

After a month of visits to three different animal hospitals and as Buddy’s symptoms worsened, on May 15 a private veterinary laboratory agreed to test the dog for COVID-19 — and got a presumptive positive result. The sample was sent to the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), which confirmed it. “This is the first dog in the United States to test positive for SARS-CoV-2,” the NVSL announced on June 2.

Duke tested negative for the virus but did have antibodies in his system, indicating that he may have been exposed, according to the NVSL.

Five days after that positive test, Buddy tested negative for COVID-19, meaning he no longer was infected with the virus.

Buddy’s condition did not improve at all, however. When he began vomiting blood on July 11, the Mahoney family made the difficult decision to end their beloved dog’s suffering. Even though a necropsy — an autopsy for animals — may have provided a clue into what was causing Buddy’s symptoms, the Mahoneys weren’t offered that option. “I would have said, ‘Take whatever you need,’ because I don’t want any other dog to suffer like he did,” Robert told National Geographic.

The Mahoneys are frustrated that public officials showed little interest in Buddy’s case, which could have potentially lead to discoveries about how COVID-19 affects pet dogs. But the Mahoneys are sure that Buddy’s veterinarians did all that they could for their dog. “I think they are learning as well,” Allison told National Geographic. “It’s all trial and error. And they tried to help us the best way they can.”

Although Buddy is gone, his loving family is also helping the best way they can by telling their heartbreaking story to National Geographic reporter Natasha Daly. Rest in peace, Buddy.

A list of animals that have tested positive for COVID-19 in the United States is available on the USDA website. In early March, a dog belonging to someone with the coronavirus in Hong Kong was believed to be the first pet dog in the world to get the virus from a human.

However, there’s no evidence that our pets or other animals can spread the virus to humans, the NVSL stated in June.

Protecting Your Dog from COVID-19

To help prevent your dog from being infected with COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that you do the following:

  • Don’t let your dog interact with other people or animals outside your home.
  • Walk your dog on a leash and stay at least 6 feet away from other people and animals.
  • Even if they’re open in your area, avoid dog parks and other public places where people and dogs congregate.

If you have been infected with COVID-19:

  • If at all possible, have another family member or friend take care of your dog.
  • If you must be around your dog, wear a face mask and wash your hands frequently.
  • The hard part: Avoid touching, kissing, snuggling or otherwise interacting with your dog.
  • The most important part: Get well soon!

Photo: Emmanuel Lefebvre from Pixabay (that’s not Buddy)

Raise the ‘Woof?’: Scared Dog Rescued from Top of Roof

Imagine walking up to your house and seeing your dog happy to greet you…from up on the roof.

That’s what happened this week to a family in Helston, a town in Cornwall, England. Cathryn and Phil Wood left their Cockapoo, Maple, home alone with Phil’s parents’ dog, Tammy, a Sprocker Spaniel, when the four went out for tea on July 20.

As they were walking home about an hour later, they saw Maple running down the main street.

“We picked her up and as we got closer to home, there was a fire engine outside,” Cathryn told Cornwall Live. “I thought there had been a fire, but as we got closer, we saw a crowd of people and Tammy was on the roof.”

The two dogs had apparently climbed on bedroom furniture and out a window on the roof. Maple had somehow been able to make her way down to the street.

“Maple had already jumped down but Tammy was too scared. She was petrified,” Cathryn told Cornwall Live. “They’ve never done anything like this before. She’s escaped over the fence before but she’s never gone onto the roof.”

It wasn’t the firefighters but Phil’s step-dad, Steve, who was able to rescue Tammy by climbing out the window and urging her to come back inside.

During the rescue, a neighbor sang, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

“It’s lucky that no one was injured and that there was no fire,” Cathryn told Cornwall Live. She said the bedroom window is left open because the attic gets so hot, but from now on, the bedroom door will be kept closed.

The family expressed their gratitude for the Helston Fire Station. “We want to thank them very much for their speedy timing coming, and say sorry,” Catherine told The Packet. “We are a bit embarrassed!”

Speaking of amazing four-legged escape artists, while none of our dogs has ever ended up on the roof, our Pit Bull mix Sophie did manage to make her way inside the house after I left her in the backyard while I ran a quick errand. We had just adopted her and she was still recovering from being spayed the day before. Imagine my surprise when she greeted me at the front door, even though the back door was still closed and locked!

Sophie had climbed up on boxes in a storage area outside a bedroom casement window (the kind that swing out) that had been left slightly open. She managed to squeeze in through that opening and into the house. Fortunately, she wasn’t injured and didn’t chew up anything in the house.

Here’s the video of Tammy’s rescue. Nice work, Phil’s step-dad!

Photo: SWNS/YouTube

Winston the Pug Didn’t Have the Coronavirus, But Another Dog Does

A lot of dog owners were pretty alarmed in April by the news that Winston, a 2-year-old Pug who lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., had tested positive for the coronavirus. Until then, there were cases of humans, tigers and cats being infected with COVID-19. Could dogs really get it, too?

The good news: The USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) has announced that Winston probably didn’t really have the coronavirus.

The bad news: The NVSL also confirmed that a German Shepherd in New York did indeed have the virus. “This is the first dog in the United States to test positive for SARS-CoV-2,” the agency stated.

The good news: The German Shepherd is expected to make a full recovery.

Like Winston, the German Shepherd’s unidentified owner tested positive for COVID-19 before the dog began showing symptoms of respiratory illness. And, like Winston, another dog in the German Shepherd’s household did not test positive for the virus. The other dog did have the antibodies, however, indicating that he or she had been exposed to COVID-19.

The NVSL was unable to verify that Winston had COVID-19. “The weak detection … from the original oral swab may be the result of contamination from the COVID-19 positive household,” agency representative Lyndsay Cole told USA TODAY.

Winston had been coughing frequently and lost his appetite for a day. His dog mom, Dr. Heather McLean, is a pediatrician at Duke Health. She and two other members of her family were also infected with COVID-19. They all had mild symptoms. The family’s other dog and a cat did not test positive.

So, how were family pets able to be tested for COVID-19 when thousands of humans are still waiting to be tested?

As for Winston, his family is participating in a Duke University study that’s researching how bodies react to infections. The study, called the Molecular and Epidemiological Study of Suspected Infection (MESSI), was launched before the pandemic. The results will hopefully lead to effective tests and treatments for infections like COVID-19.

On April 1, MESSI researchers came to her home to test her family. “They all came out to our house and did blood samples,” McLean told WRAL. “For the humans, they swabbed our noses as well as our mouths, and for the animals they did oral swabs for both dogs and the cat.”

The German Shepherd tested presumptive positive for SARS-CoV-2 at a private veterinary laboratory. The results were reported to state and federal officials. More samples were collected from the dog and the result was confirmed by the NVSL.

“While additional animals may test positive as infections continue in people, it is important to note that performing this animal testing does not reduce the availability of tests for humans,” the NVSL said in its announcement.

If you’re concerned about your own dog getting COVID-19, McLean said you shouldn’t worry too much about it. “We’re not seeing an epidemic of household pets or them transmitting it to other humans and animals — we just happened to detect it in our dog,” she told USA TODAY in late April.

In early March, a dog belonging to someone with the coronavirus in Hong Kong was believed to be the first pet dog in the world to get the virus from a human.

The NVSL stated that “there’s currently no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus. Based on the limited information available, the risk of animals spreading the virus to people is considered to be low. There is no justification in taking measures against companion animals that may compromise their welfare.” A list of animals that have tested positive for COVID-19 is available on the USDA website.

Protecting Your Dog from COVID-19

To help prevent your dog from being infected with COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that you do the following:

  • Don’t let your dog interact with other people or animals outside your home.
  • Walk your dog on a leash and stay at least 6 feet away from other people and animals.
  • Even if they’re open in your area, avoid dog parks and other public places where people and dogs congregate.

If you have been infected with COVID-19:

  • If at all possible, have another family member or friend take care of your dog.
  • If you must be around your dog, wear a face mask and wash your hands frequently.
  • The hard part: Avoid touching, kissing, snuggling or otherwise interacting with your dog.
  • The most important part: Get well soon!

Photo: CBS This Morning/YouTube

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