Pit Bull Swims Mile from Sinking Boat, Walks to Church and Is Reunited with Dog Dad

“My neighbor told me there was a soaking wet, shivering dog crouched in the church doorway around 7:30 a.m. Thursday,” Rev. Paul Mowry of the Sausalito Presbyterian Church in Northern California told the Marin Independent Journal.

“Initially, I thought she was just a lost dog.”

Nope. As it turns out, Daisy, a Pit Bull, had escaped from the boat she lived on with her dog dad, Stephen Alioto, as it sank in Richardson Bay during heavy rainstorms Wednesday night.

She managed to swim a mile to shore in the cold, dark, choppy water, and then walked to the church, which she had previously visited with Alioto.

Mowry took Daisy to the Marin Humane Society. She was microchipped, and it had two phone numbers.

“I tried the secondary number a couple of times and got somebody who said the dog had been given away to a good friend, Steve,” Mowry, who is also the chaplain for the Sausalito Police Department, told the Journal. “And we (the church) have a Steve who comes to our free lunches on Wednesday.”

In the meantime, heartbroken, Alioto had notified Sausalito police that Daisy was missing. (The Journal story doesn’t mention how he managed to make it off the boat safely.) Sgt. Thomas Georges realized the dog who had shown up at the church was probably Daisy.

But the story doesn’t end there. Since Alioto was now homeless, it could have been difficult to locate him. Fortunately Mowry’s partner, Joe Silverman, had a hunch Alioto might show up at a church that was offering free dinners Friday night.

“So I went there and was talking to a man whose boat had sunk,” Mowry told the Journal. “I asked, ‘Is Steve here?’ and the man said, ‘He’s here. His boat sunk and his dog drowned.'”

Mowry said that when he located Alioto and told him Daisy had shown up at the church, “He started sobbing and threw his arms around me.”

Alioto was reunited with Daisy at the shelter on Saturday. He told Mowry he had given her swimming lessons and had taught her how to survive in the water. She had her own life preserver.

For now, Alioto and Daisy are staying on a friend’s boat.

“When Steve came to pick the dog up we provided him with a new leash and dog food,” Lisa Bloch of the Marin Humane Society told the Journal. “A woman just happened to come by to drop off a donation of a 50-pound bag of dog food, and she turned around and gave it to Steve.”

The humane society is accepting food and toy donations for Alioto and Daisy, as well as its many homeless pets. According to its Facebook page, Mowry will be coordinating efforts to help Alioto and Daisy.

“Steve said to me, ‘The things I lost are just things. They can be replaced. But you can’t be replaced, and I can’t be replaced, and Daisy can’t be replaced,'” Mowry told the Journal.

“That dog is his companion. She’s his everything.”

Photo via Facebook

Want to Tattoo or Pierce Your Dog in New York? Fuhgeddaboudit

New York pet parents: Thinking about getting a heart tattoo on your dog’s chest with “DOGMOM” written across it? Or maybe a teeny, diamond bone stud for his pierced ear?

Of course you aren’t — and anyway, fuhgeddaboudit.

Today Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a ban on cosmetic tattoos and piercing for dogs, cats and other pets.

“This is animal abuse, pure and simple,” he said in a press release. “I’m proud to sign this common-sense legislation and end these cruel and unacceptable practices in New York once and for all.”

New York now joins Pennsylvania as the only two U.S. states to specifically outlaw pet tattoos and piercings, although intentionally inflicting pain on animals would likely fall under many states’ cruelty laws. Similar legislation is currently working its way through the New Jersey state government.

The New York bill was introduced in 2011 by Assembly member Linda Rosenthal. She was motivated to do so after she heard about someone in Pennsylvania selling “gothic kittens,” with piercings on their ears, necks and along their spines.

More recently, Brooklyn artist Alex “Mistah Metro” Avgerakis tattooed his dog and posted the photo (above) on Instagram. He claimed he did it while his dog was still unconscious after having surgery. In April 2013, Ernesto Rodriguez of North Carolina did the same thing to his dog. “Got bored, so she got inked,” he wrote in the description of a photo he posted on Facebook.

“People can choose to tattoo or pierce their own bodies, but their pets do not enjoy that same luxury,” Rosenthal said in the press release. “Anyone who would subject an animal to needless pain and suffering to make a fashion statement should be guilty of a crime, and with my law, they will now face stiff penalties.”

Violators of the ban, which goes into effect in 120 days, will face a fine of up to $250 and up to 15 days in jail.

Markings for identification are exempt from the ban, as are ear tags on rabbits and guinea pigs.

“I am pleased that the governor signed my bill into law,” Rosenthal said. “Doing so sends a strong message that this kind of behavior constitutes animal abuse and that it will not be tolerated.”

Photo via Instagram

Dallas Man Donates Entire Scratch-Off Jackpot to Animal Shelter

If you’re an animal lover and have dreamed about winning the lottery, one of the ways you’ve probably imagined spending that windfall is by donating some of it to an animal shelter or rescue (or even building your own).

Bryce Vucekovich of Dallas did just that. While the $500 he won from a scratch-off lottery ticket wasn’t quite enough to build a shelter, the 27-year-old spent it all on food and other supplies for Dallas Animal Services.

“I always kind of told myself, I want to give to them if I ever come across extra money,” Vucekovich told CBS DFW.

Vucekovich is dog dad to a three-legged mixed breed named Fred, whom he adopted from the same shelter on Christmas last year. He also has a one-eyed dog.

“I don’t think anybody wants to adopt a three-legged dog, but I made a beeline for him,” he said. “That’s my goal in life — to have a bunch of adopted rescue dogs.”

Teresa Cleek, manager of Dallas Animal Services, told CBS DFW that the shelter, which houses about 600 dogs and cats, is always in need of donations. She said Vucekovich’s generosity was “heartwarming.”

Here’s hoping the next lottery that good (make that great) Samaritan Vucekovich wins is the Powerball jackpot (currently estimated at $80 million).

Photo via Facebook

The Pope Didn’t Actually Say All Animals Go to Heaven

Despite all the headlines this week about Pope Francis saying all dogs—and other animals—go to heaven, apparently he didn’t say that at all, according to an NBC News report today.

A similar quote should have been attributed to one of his predecessors, Pope Paul VI, who reigned from 1963 until his death in 1978.

The confusion began when, in a speech about the world that was posted on the Vatican website, Pope Francis said, “Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us.”

According to NBC News, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera interpreted this to mean that animals go to heaven. It compared what the pontiff said to what Pope Paul VI reportedly once told a grieving boy whose dog had died: “One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ.”

Neither Pope Francis or the Vatican has yet clarified the pontiff’s actual belief in whether animals are permitted beyond the Pearly Gates.

During his reign, Pope Francis has sent mixed signals about his feelings for pets. He was the first pope to ever bless a dog. But during a special mass last June, he told married couples they should focus on having children instead of pets. Otherwise, he warned them, their marriages would “come to old age in solitude, with the bitterness of loneliness.”

Whatever Pope Francis believes, I have to agree with this famous quote from Will Rogers:

“If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”

Photo: Fake church sign via Snopes.com

Scorpion Venom Can Help Save the Lives of Dogs with Cancer

Here’s one for the Weird But Awesome file: Venom from the deathstalker species of scorpions has been found to prolong the lives of dogs with cancer.

The re-engineered molecule in the venom “latches onto malignant tumors, making the diseased tissue glow brightly and distinctly against normal tissues,” according to Washington State University (WSU) News. “Consequently, surgeons are better able to detect – and remove – cancerous cells while leaving healthy ones behind.”

WSU conducted a clinical trial in which 28 pet dogs with cancer received an injection of “tumor paint” made from the scorpion venom. It helped prolong the lives of at least three of the dogs – Browning, Whiskey and Hot Rod.

Browning, a 10-year-old Chocolate Lab (she’s on the left in the photo), had a large sarcoma on her leg. Using the tumor paint and an infrared camera, surgeons were easily able to see the cancerous cells, which glowed bright green. They successfully removed those specific cells instead of having to amputate Browning’s leg. Browning, a hunting dog, has already returned to her outdoor activities.

“The fluorescent substance prefers tumor cells over normal cells, allowing us to define the borders of where a tumor begins and where it ends,” William Dernell, professor and chair of WSU’s veterinary clinical sciences, told WSU News. “We’re always hearing about some new compound that targets tumors. From what we’ve seen, this one really does.”

When Whiskey, a Pit Bull mix (on the right in the photo), was diagnosed with two large mammary carcinonomas two years ago, her dog dad, Terry Dillon, signed her up for the clinical trial.

“I was afraid I’d have to have her euthanized, but then they told me about this tumor paint and how it might increase the odds of getting all the cancer out,” he told WSU News.

Whiskey had the carcinomas surgically removed and is now doing fine. She even likes to chase scorpions in her Arizona backyard.

The third dog, a Pit Bull mix named Hot Rod, also benefited from the tumor paint treatment after having skin cancer nodules removed at WSU.

In September, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved tumor paint for study in human trials.

“Many animal tumors resemble those that arise in humans so it only makes sense for the two groups to reap the benefits that tumor paint can provide during cancer surgery,” Dr. Jim Olson, the pediatric oncologist who developed tumor paint, told WSU News. “As WSU uses the technology to help dogs, the dogs provide information that’s applicable to human cancers.”

In a decade or so, Dr. Olson predicts, “surgeons will look back and say, ‘I can’t believe we used to remove tumors by only using our eyes, fingers and experience.’

“Those hidden deposits of 200 or so cancer cells? They won’t go undetected.”

Photo credit: Valorie Wiss, WSU Veterinary Clinical Sciences

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