i Still Love Dogs

Idiot Doing Donuts on Frozen River Leaves Dog to Die in Submerged Truck

MARCH 3, 2015 UPDATE: Andrew Mayer was charged today with criminal mischief and careless driving, according to NJ.com. Animal cruelty charges are pending for leaving his dog Rolo, a 2-year-old Boxer/Lab mix, in the cab.

Andrew Mayer will very likely win a Darwin Award one day — the dubious honor given to someone who “significantly improves the gene pool by eliminating themselves from the human race in an obviously stupid way.”

Tragically, in the meantime, Mayer’s dog had to die last night due to his owner’s obvious stupidity.

Mayer, 27, of Toms River, N.J., thought it would be a good idea to drive his truck, with his Boxer mix and a friend, Daniel Jolly, in the cab with him, to the middle of the town’s frozen river and do donuts (i.e., drive around in tight circles).

A witness saw the truck spinning around about 100 feet from shore and then suddenly disappear. Authorities were notified.

For more than 10 hours, local police, the New Jersey State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard spent what a police source told NBC New York was “hundreds of thousands of dollars” searching for the missing truck. The truck — with the dead dog inside the cab — was finally found and recovered late this morning.

Mayer and Jolly turned themselves in today.

Jolly claims he told Mayer not to do donuts, and got out of the truck before it fell through the ice. Mayer was able to get out of the truck before it sank, but said he could not get his dog out, so he left him there to die.

“You’re young and stupid, so you don’t think about these things, there were times when there were 300 cars out there,” Jolly’s uncle, John Fackenthal — who said he’d done the same thing — explained to WABC.

“In the ’70s, cars used to go across all the time,” Chad Krean, who watched the recovery of the truck, told APP.com. “You were a big shot if you made it to Seaside.”

It’s bad enough that these people want to risk their lives to become “big shots.” When the urge to be an idiot strikes, they really need to leave their dogs (who are probably smarter than them) at home. And they should stay home with their dogs.

Mayer and Jolly were released, but the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office is considering filing criminal charges against them. The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA) is also investigating the dog’s death, according to the Shore News Network.

Photo via Twitter

Blind 11-Year-Old Lab Survives 2 Weeks Lost in Alaska

Madera, a blind, 11-year-old black Lab who got lost in Alaska Feb. 6, was saved by the bell.

Constantine Khrulev was riding his bike Thursday, accompanied by his dog — who was wearing the bell on his collar — when he heard another dog whining. He found Madera under a tree about 100 yards from the trail.

Madera had gone missing from her Ester home two weeks earlier after the wife of her dog dad, Ed Davis, let her out of the house to do her business.

Usually Madera came back inside as soon as she was finished. But as the temperature dipped to 40 degrees below zero, Madera was nowhere to be found.

Davis was out of town at the time, working at the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. He wasn’t optimistic about finding Madera alive when he returned home this week.

“My best hope was to walk those trails and look for a track that might be hers,” Davis told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. “My best hope was to find a frozen dog.”

Madera had ended up in the woods only half a mile from her home. The senior pooch somehow managed to survive nearly two weeks in sub-zero weather.

When Khrulev found Madera, he brought her to a neighbor of the Davis family. Madera, who lost her eyesight due to an autoimmune disease, shed about 14 pounds during her ordeal, but was in good condition considering the circumstances.

“Maybe Madera went on a vision quest,” wrote Sharon Alden in a comment on the News-Miner article. “I saw Ed and Madera this week and she’s the same sweet dog with a great spirit and a now-trim waistline. I’m so amazed that this had a happy ending.”

Davis offered Khrulev a $100 reward, but Khrulev refused it and asked him to donate it to the Fairbanks Animal Shelter Fund. Impressed, Davis increased the donation to $250.

The News-Miner article doesn’t mention it, but I bet Davis will get Madera a bell of her own.

Photo via Facebook

Trial Begins for Owner of Rottweiler Shot by Hawthorne Police

Millions of animal lovers around the world were outraged in 2013 after seeing the viral video of a Hawthorne, Calif., police officer shooting a Rottweiler as the dog’s owner, Leon Rosby, begged him not to.

The trial involving this case finally began yesterday — but it’s not the police officer who’s being tried. It’s Rosby, who’s charged with interfering with a police SWAT operation and intimidating a witness.

Rosby is being represented by Mark Geragos, whose name you may recognize from (in)famous cases involving Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Winona Ryder, Scott Peterson and many others. In August 2013, Geragos told the Los Angeles Time the charges against Rosby were “one of the biggest perversions of the criminal justice system” he’d ever seen.

In his opening statement yesterday, Geragos accused Hawthorne police officers of working against Rosby because they thought he would sue them, according to the Daily Breeze.

“All of that was created so they could divert attention from the fact the Hawthorne police committed an inexcusable act of executing a dog for no reason,” Geragos said.

Deputy District Attorney Keri Modder said in her opening statement that the death of Rosby’s dog was “an unfortunate consequence of Rosby’s actions.”

As Rosby drove home from a dog park with Max, his 3-year-old Rottweiler, on June 30, 2013, 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 and officers told him to leave.

Rosby returned to his car and put Max inside. When two officers following Rosby put him in handcuffs, Max leaped out of 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, 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.

According to the Daily Breeze, Hawthorne police officers are expected to testify that Rosby and the loud music from his car interfered with them. Brown recanted her story about being intimidated by Rosby and did not want to testify, but earlier this week, Judge Lauren Weis Birnstein ordered her to be arrested and brought to court.

The video of Max being shot was not shown to jurors on the first day of the trial.

To avoid future incidents like this, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) offered the class “Dog Behavior for Law Enforcement” to Hawthorne police officers last month. The course is available for all law enforcement officers in California.

“When an officer shoots a pet dog, it is traumatic for the officer, the animal and the community — something we want to mitigate as much as is possible,” spcaLA President Madeline Bernstein said in a press release. “Training materials on the market until now did not give officers the tools necessary to determine when and if force is necessary, how to correctly read dog behavior or how to diffuse a difficult situation involving family dogs.”

Here’s the original video of Max’s shooting, which has now been viewed more than 6.8 million times. It is very difficult to watch.

Here’s the other video, which shows the shooting from a different angle. It, too, is very difficult to watch.

Photos via YouTube, Facebook

Leonard Nimoy’s L.A. Pet Store Did Not Live Long or Prosper

Leonard Nimoy, who died today at age 83, will be fondly remembered for his portrayal of Mr. Spock on the beloved “Star Trek” TV series and movie franchise.

What he will be less remembered for is Leonard Nimoy’s Pet Pad, a store he opened in Canoga Park, Calif., in 1969. It apparently only stayed in business for a year or two. (The property, next door to a theater on Sherman Way, is currently a beauty salon.)

“Leonard decided to realize a long-time dream. To open a pet shop … with all the kinds of animals available that he often wished he see in other shops he frequented,” wrote Michele Jacques in the 1970 article, “His New World.”

Along with dogs and cats (“not just the ordinary variety we find anywhere — they are all sorts of exotic and rare types”), the store sold monkeys, boa constrictors, chipmunks, South American otters and even crocodiles.

Remember, this was 46 years ago, long before most people knew about puppy mills. And apparently before people were aware that having pets like crocodiles was dangerous for both the animal and owner.

“Nimoy would have liked Mr. Spock to have a cat or dog on board the ‘Enterprise,’” reads the caption for a photo of the store in a German publication.

“Well, l’ve aIways had a thing for animals and I once worked in [a pet store] to support myself between roles,” Nimoy told Jacques.

“And I like the kind of people that shop in pet stores.”

Photos via Tumblr, leonardnimoy.de

Sacré Bull! For First Time in 100 Years, French Bulldogs in AKC Top 10

As usual for the past 24 years, the Labrador Retriever is the most popular breed in the United States, the American Kennel Club (AKC) reported today.

And in second and third places, just as they were last year, are the German Shepherd and Golden Retriever.

But the big news is that for the first time in a century — sacré bull! — the French Bulldog cracked the 2014 top 10.

Also gaining in popularity is the Bulldog, which reached its highest rank (No.4) in its breed history.

“The Lab truly is America’s dog,” said AKC Vice President Gina DiNardo, “but the lovable Bulldog breeds are clamoring to dominate. Watch out for an upset next year.” Ruh roh!

Among other breeds becoming more popular over the last decade are the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, which jumped from 112th place in 2004 to 74th last year; Havanese (52nd to 25th place); Border Collie (60th to 39th); Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (118th to 96th) and the Black and Tan Coonhound (140th to 120th).

For the first time in 30 years, the Dachshund was not in the top 10, but oh-so-close to it at No. 11.

These were the 10 most popular breeds of 2014, with their 2013 ranking in parentheses. I’ve also included helpful links to national rescue organizations for these breeds. Adopt, don’t shop!

Labrador Retriever (1)
German Shepherd (2)
Golden Retriever (3)
Bulldog (5)
Beagle (4)
Yorkshire Terrier (6)
Poodle (8)
Boxer (7)
French Bulldog (11)
Rottweiler (9)

Here’s the complete 2014 AKC breed popularity list.

Photo credit: Moto “Club4AG” Miwa