New Study Will See if Kissing Your Dog Is Good for Your Gut Health

Could kissing your dog — and giving her belly rubs — actually be good for your health?

Scientists at the University of Arizona (UA) think so. They’ve started the Human-Animal Interaction Research Initiative (HAIRI) “Dogs as Probiotics” study to see if healthy bacteria from dogs’ saliva, skin and even poop (ew) can help improve humans’ gastrointestinal health.

The researchers were partly inspired by previous studies. In 2013 the University of Colorado found that parents share more bacteria with their four-legged kids than they do with their two-legged ones (as well as their spouses). A 2002 study discovered that babies raised with dogs are less likely to develop immune-related issues like asthma and allergies.

“We are doing this study in older adults specifically to see if the changes science has shown for children can be replicated in older people, and to see if dogs can improve the physical and mental health of these adults,” the study website states.

“These organisms help us survive,” Charles Raison, M.D., the study’s principal investigator, told KTAR. “If your microbial material is not rich, you’re much more susceptible to Alzheimer’s … even cancer is beginning to be associated with the microbial species living in our guts.”

The study will be conducted in two phases. In the first phase, in partnership with the Humane Society of Southern Arizona (HSSA), the UA researchers will pair 20 older adults with foster dogs for three months, during which the participants’ saliva, skin and fecal samples will be compared. “All medical assessments on the dogs are non-invasive, meaning that they will not harm or cause the dog discomfort in any way,” the HAIRI website assures. The samples will be obtained by gently rubbing a cotton swab inside the dogs’ mouths or on their skin (or in their poop).

Once those samples are obtained, the second phase of the study will analyze how dogs improve humans’ immune systems.

“It’s always surprised me how many diseases and disorders are linked to inflammatory processes that link back to your immune system,” Dieter Steklis, Ph.D., an animal behavior specialist, told Arizona Sonora News. “If having a dog actually tames your immune system, which is what it seems to do, then elderly [people] who have a dog may have a lower chance of depressive illnesses.”

The researchers looked for volunteers between the ages of 50 and 80 who had not owned a dog or taken antibiotics in the past six months. After passing a screening process, the volunteers will be paired with dogs from the HSSA, and provided with free veterinary care, food and training. At the end of the study, the volunteers can adopt the dog they have been paired with.

“Based on the data we have to date, we think that dogs really are protectors of the gut,” Dr. Raison told KTAR.

Researchers said if the study proves this to be true, it could increase the adoption rate of homeless dogs.

HAIRI is asking for donations to help fund the study. To contribute, click here.

Photo: That’s me getting a smooch from my pooch, Ella.

2 Teens Arrested for Tying Tampa Dog to Train Tracks and Shooting Her

MARCH 15, 2015 UPDATE: Two adults have also been arrested in this case, and Cabela is making amazingly good progress.

Two 17-year-old boys have been arrested and charged with felony aggravated animal cruelty and trespassing for tying a Pit Bull mix to railroad tracks and shooting her.

Tampa police officers Nick Wilson and Sr. Sgt. Rich Mills rescued the dog on March 4 after a 911 caller reported hearing gunshots. She was just moments away from being struck by a train.

Although she’d been shot twice in the neck and once in the right shoulder, the dog, who’s been named Cabela, survived.

In a news conference this evening, Detective Sgt. Patrick Messmer of the Tampa Police Department said investigators got a tip leading to a surveillance video in which several people could be seen walking Cabela to the tracks. Two of them — 17-year-old Natwan Callaway and Bobby Hollinger — were arrested and will be tried as adults. Others in the group are also expected to face charges.

Cabela had been bought for dog-fighting purposes, Messmer said. But since she was too sweet tempered to viciously kill other dogs, these thugs decided to viciously kill her.

At first, Hollinger threw Cabela into the woods and shot at her. But Cabela ran back to his house and sat, injured, on his front porch. So Hollinger and Callaway tied her to the railroad tracks, and Callaway shot her three times.

“Nothing gets you ready to see a helpless dog tied to a railroad tracks,” said Sr. Sgt. Mills.

After freeing her, he and Wilson rushed Cabela to Tampa Bay Veterinary Emergency Service (TBVES). Veterinarian Dr. Jamie Davidson initially thought her shattered right front leg would need to be amputated, but during surgery it was able to be pinned and saved instead.

“Cabela came through surgery with flying colors and four legs,” TBVES posted on its Facebook page Friday. “The surgeon decided to pin it instead of amputation. It will be 6 to 8 weeks before we know whether she will regain full use and motion.”

Cabela’s original owners saw media coverage of her rescue last week and contacted Tampa police. They said she either escaped or was stolen from their yard four months ago — and, after reuniting with their dog this week, they decided not to bring her home.

“After a long visit where they were able to touch and cuddle with Cabela, they have made the decision to relinquish ownership and allow Cabela to be placed for adoption once her police hold is lifted,” TBVES reported on its Facebook page Friday.

Cabela is doing well, Katy Meyer, owner of TBVES, said at tonight’s press conference. The bandage on her leg was removed yesterday, and she is able to put a bit of weight on the leg.

TBVES is covering the cost of Cabela’s veterinary care, but is accepting donations via its website.

“All donations above what is necessary to cover the cost of Cabela’s care will be used for other animals rescued by Tampa Bay Veterinary Emergency Service (last year over 500 injured, ill or orphaned dogs and cats were cared for at our hospital) or will help care for injured or ill pets whose owners are financially limited,” the website states.

Photo via Facebook

Blind Puppy-Mill Survivor Smiley Helps People with Special Needs

“Dogs can come back from anything. They forget their past,” Joanne George, dog mom to a 12-year-old Golden Retriever named Smiley, told CBS News. “We as humans, dwell on the past.”

The past that Smiley bounced back from included spending the first couple years of his life in a puppy mill. If that alone wasn’t bad enough, Smiley was born with dwarfism — and without eyes.

George, a dog trainer who lives in Stouffville, Canada, rescued Smiley when he was 2 years old.

“He was very scared,” she told ABC News. “[The dogs] had never been out of that barn.”

Smiley was very anxious about living in a home, George wrote on her Training the K9 Way website. “He cowered at the sound of another dog eating. The scars on his face and ears told me the stories of what it was like living with so many dogs in such deplorable conditions.”

Smiley soon bonded with George’s other dog, Tyler, a partially deaf Great Dane.

“Tyler was so bouncy and crazy and happy-go-lucky, and [Smiley] turned into the same dog,” George told ABC News. “He came out from underneath the tables where he was always hiding.”

As Smiley blossomed, George said she noticed the positive effect he had on people.

“People were so drawn to him, so inspired by him. I realized this dog has to be a therapy dog — I have to share him,” she told CBS News.

Smiley did just that. He and George joined the St. John Ambulance therapy dog program in Ontario. Smiley helps special-needs children learn to read through a library literacy program, and also works at funeral homes and nursing homes.

The employees of one nursing home had never seen a mute patient named Teddy express any emotion, until Smiley came along.

“One day, Smiley put his feet up in front of [Teddy], and he started smiling and making noise,” George told CBS News. “All of the nurses rushed into the room and said they’ve never seen him smile — never seen any kind of reaction.”

Teddy is now the first patient Smiley visits whenever he goes to that nursing home.

“I think that’s when I realized how truly inspiring he can be,” George told CBS News.

Her advice for pet parents of blind dogs: “Don’t be his eyes, don’t run his life, don’t keep him in a bubble.”

Smiley is able to get around without much difficulty, George told ABC News. He raises his feet as he walks.

“He’s feeling with his feet,” she explained. “Does he bump into things? Of course he does. But he does it very carefully.”

(Silvie Bordeaux, dog mom of Muffin, a blind Toy Poodle, invented the ingenious Muffin’s Halo Guide for Blind Dogs, which provides padding and prevents dogs from bumping into things or falling down stairs, as Muffin once did.)

Smiley is now 12 years old and starting to slow down, but, George told CBS News, his “tail will never stop wagging.”

“The quote, ‘The dogs we really need are the ones that come to us,’ is very true in this case,” George told Head-Lites. “I am a better human being and mother because of him.”

Photo via Twitter

Not Guilty Verdict for Owner of Dog Shot by Hawthorne Police

MAY 20, 2015 UPDATE: Today Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lauren Weis Birnstein dismissed the two remaining misdemeanor police interference counts against Leon Rosby, the Daily Breeze reports.

“An honor to represent you Leon and get justice for Max,” Rosby’s attorney, Mark Garagos, tweeted this afternoon.

A trial finally began two weeks ago regarding the infamous 2013 case of a Hawthorne, Calif., police officer shooting a Rottweiler named Max as the dog’s owner, Leon Rosby, begged him not to.

But it wasn’t the police officer who was being tried. It was Rosby, who was charged with dissuading a witness and two counts of interfering with a police SWAT operation.

The jury deadlocked on the police interference charges, but found Rosby not guilty of dissuading a witness.

“Thank you. Thank you,” Rosby said in tears when the verdict was announced Monday at the Airport Courthouse in Los Angeles, the Daily Breeze reports.

Eight of the 12 jurors were in favor of a not guilty verdict for the police interference charges as well. Judge Lauren Weis Birnstein declared a mistrial on those two counts. Rosby will return to court April 7 to find out if prosecutors want to retry him or dismiss the charges.

Back in June 2013, as Rosby drove home from a dog park with Max, his 3-year-old Rottweiler, he stopped to check out a police barricade situation. With Max on a leash and music blaring from his car, he walked over to make a cellphone video. According to the Hawthorne Police Department, he got too close. Officers told him to turn down the music volume in his car and leave.

Rosby returned to his car and put Max inside. When two officers following Rosby put him in handcuffs, Max leaped out an open window and ran at the officers, barking at them. As Max jumped toward an officer, he was shot four times.

A few days after the first shocking video of the incident was posted on YouTube and viewed by millions, another video surfaced, taken by a witness from a different angle. The Hawthorne Police Department said the second video proved the officer had good reason to shoot Max. Rosby is accused of intimidating witness Kathy Brown after she told police that Rosby had threatened the man who recorded the second video. Brown later changed her story, saying she had lied about Rosby’s threats.

“It was hard to take anything she said as being the absolute truth,” one of the jurors, Colin Lopez, told the Daily Breeze.

Regarding the videos of Max being shot that were shown to the jury during the trial, Lopez said, “We would have to take a step back and say, ‘This is not what it’s about. It had nothing to do with the dog.’”

Rosby was represented by Mark Geragos, whose name you may recognize from cases involving Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Winona Ryder, Scott Peterson and many others. He told the Daily Breeze he expects the police interference charges will be dropped.

“The only people who were obstructing or delaying justice were the Hawthorne cops,” Geragos said. “Leon was exposing the corruption and culture of the Hawthorne Police Department, and before it was popular. He was ahead of his time.”

Photo via YouTube

Shooter of Dog who ‘Played Too Rough’ at Houston Park Charged with Animal Cruelty

On a Sunday afternoon in late January, Joseph Potts thought Diesel, a 2-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, was playing too roughly with his own dog at the Bay Area Dog Park in Houston.

So Potts kicked Diesel, knocking him down. He pulled out a Glock 9mm pistol and shot Diesel three times at close range in the back and leg.

Diesel was rushed to a local emergency animal hospital, where he had to be euthanized a few hours later due to the extent of his injuries.

“I just can’t believe somebody would do that when the dog wasn’t even being aggressive,” Melanie Merritt, who saw the shooting, told KHOU at the time.

Another eyewitness told KPRC-TV the dogs appeared to have been playfully tussling at the Bay Area Dog Park. “His dog was not in danger,” he said. “I witnessed everything. No one was in danger.”

When questioned by Harris County sheriff’s deputies, Potts — who is licensed to carry a concealed handgun — told them he did it in self defense when the “Pit Bull” tried to attack his dog. He was allowed to go free while the Harris County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the case.

As outrage grew over the incident, a Support for Diesel page was created on Facebook, and dozens of pet parents attended a protest walk at the Bay Area Dog Park.

“This case has gotten more notoriety than many of our homicides,” Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Tom Gilliland told the Houston Chronicle.

Nearly two months later, justice has finally been served. Potts was arrested Monday and charged with one count of felony cruelty to a non-livestock animal. If found guilty, he faces two to 10 years in prison — and will likely lose that license to carry a gun.

“Animal abuse is a serious offense that will not be tolerated,” Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said in a press release. “We take all allegations of cruelty to animals very seriously and pursue charges whenever appropriate.”

Randall Livingston, Diesel’s dog dad, told KPRC-TV, “We were pretty excited to hear that news. That was obviously the outcome we were looking for.”

Livingston had Diesel since he was a puppy. “He was an absolutely amazing, beautiful dog,” he told the Houston Press in January. “When anybody came in contact with him — when you were walking down the street, and they were driving — they would roll down the windows and just comment on him: how beautiful he is, how sweet he is. Man, it’s a bad deal. It really is.”

Livingston’s mother took Diesel to the Bay Area Dog Park on Jan. 25. She told police that when she saw Potts kicking Diesel, she yelled at him to grab his collar. Instead, Potts pulled out his Glock.

After Potts was arrested yesterday, he was released on a $5,000 bond.

“Hopefully he would have some form of better judgment or just stay the hell out of the dog park,” Livingston told KPRC-TV.

Photos via Facebook

Exit mobile version