i Still Love Dogs

Study Shows News Media Has, In Fact, Gone to the Dogs

Here in Los Angeles, at least, it seems you can regularly find at least one newspaper story that involves a dog.

Based on a new study, this is not too surprising.

Published last month in the journal PS: Political Science & Politics, “What’s a Dog Worth” takes a look at the “dog effect” in news coverage decisions by national and local newspapers.

“Events most likely to be reported are those that are both important and can capture the audience’s interest,” wrote the study’s authors, Matthew D. Atkinson of UCLA, and Maria Deam and Joseph E. Uscinski of the University of Miami. “In turn, the public is most likely to become aware of important news when some aspect of the story piques their interest.

“We suggest an efficacious means of drawing public attention to important news stories: dogs.”

In the study, the authors went through stories published in the New York Times’ national section since 2000, selecting 18 stories that involved dogs and 334 that did not. Then they checked 10 other local and national newspapers to see which of these stories were published the following day.

“In short: A front-page story in the New York Times was picked up by other papers at 3.1 times the rate of a story from the last page of the national news section,” wrote Philip Bump in his Wonkblog story about the study for the Washington Post. “A story that involved a dog that appeared on the last page of the section appeared in other newspapers at 2.6 times the rate of a non-dog story with the same placement.”

The authors of the study noted that “having a canine subject in a national news event produced coverage of the story that was 80 percent as large as the effect of the difference between being New York Times front-page and back-page worthy.”

Their conclusion? “Dogs are an important factor in news decisions.”

As Bump wrote, “Be honest: You clicked the link to this story because it mentions dogs. Dogs are terrific, speaking both objectively and with the full editorial weight of the Washington Post at my back. That excellence lead to affection; that affection to curiosity. The curiosity that drove your click, as it turns out, is not unique to you. It is shared by editorial teams at newspapers.”

Photo credit: Jon Seidman

Pit Bull Afraid of Doorways Overcomes Fear by ‘Moonwalking’ [Video]

“Pit Bulls are totally vicious, right? Our scary Pit Bull, Queso, is afraid of lots of things, like the kitchen floor, the printer and doorways,” writes his dog mom, Rhiannon Hamam, in the description of this video she posted on YouTube Saturday that’s now going viral.

So how does this poor little Pittie manage to walk into a room? By doing it backwards…which sort of looks like he’s moonwalking.

“Queso is a survivor!” writes Hamam. “Pit Bulls are great.”

I couldn’t agree more. But here’s hoping some positive reinforcement and good training help Queso overcome all his fears.

Photo via YouTube

Rescued Beagle Takes 20-Mile Ride on Sideboard of Dog Dad’s Ambulance

Feel free to call a rescued Beagle mix named Buddy an ambulance chaser.

Buddy’s dog dad, 85-year-old JR Nicholson of Mason County, Texas, began feeling dizzy while working on his ranch last month. He asked ranch hand Brian Wright to call 911.

Emergency medical technicians loaded Nicholson into an ambulance and headed for a hospital in Fredericksburg, more than an hour’s drive away.

After they had traveled about 20 miles, a driver caught their attention. There’s a dog on the sideboard, the driver told them.

“It was kind of weird,” Tanner Brown, one of the EMTs, told the San Angelo Standard-Times. “I guess the dog wanted to be with his owner.”

Apparently. And it was kind of a miracle that Buddy had somehow managed not to fall off the ambulance’s narrow sideboard.

“We didn’t have anything else to do but to load the dog up and put him in the ambulance, and take him to the ER with us,” Brown said. Once inside the ambulance, he said Buddy “jumped onto the control switch, and turned on the sirens and the lights.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Wright was becoming concerned when Buddy — who enjoys roaming the property and riding on the tractor — seemed to have disappeared. Wright closed up the ranch and drove to the hospital, where he found out Buddy was safe and sound.

“Two things go through your mind in a split second,” he told the Standard-Times. “First, what could have happened to (Buddy), and second, you realize he is quite an animal.”

Most relieved of all is Nicholson, who adopted Buddy from a shelter just four months ago. During Nicholson’s overnight stay at the hospital, nurses brought him out to see his devoted dog.

“I was impressed,” Nicholson told the Standard-Times. “He didn’t have to go to the hospital with me, but he did.”

Photo via Facebook

German Shepherd Chews Off His Foot to Escape From Chain

DEC. 19, 2014 UPDATE: Rocky has a loving new forever home and an appropriate new name!

When the owners of Rocky, an 11-month-old German Shepherd, dumped him at OC Animal Care in Orange County, Calif., earlier this week, they said they had no idea why their dog had chewed off half of his own rear right foot.

The shelter notified Tiffany Norton of Coastal German Shepherd Rescue O.C., who immediately took Rocky to Alicia Pet Care Center in Mission Viejo for treatment.

“It was likely a situation where he became entangled in a rope or chain that basically cut off the circulation on his foot, and he chewed his foot to free himself,” Norton told KABC.

Veterinarian Matthew Wheaton agreed with Norton’s assessment.

“He was likely tied to a pole, stake or tree via a long chain and got his back foot tangled in the chain, which cut off blood supply to the foot,” he told the Orange County Register.

“Chewing off a part of the body that is devitalized is likely a highly evolved trait,” he said. “The only dogs that would survive an issue like this would be those that would take to drastic measures to escape what they were tangled in.”

In 2007, California became the first state to enact a law that limits the chaining or tethering of dogs. Since then, 18 additional states have enacted similar laws.

As the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) points out, tethering dogs is both inhumane and dangerous.

“An otherwise friendly and docile dog, when kept continuously chained, becomes neurotic, unhappy, anxious and often aggressive,” notes the HSUS. “Dogs have even been found with collars embedded in their necks, the result of years of neglect at the end of a chain.”

According to California’s Health and Safety Code, dogs are not to be tethered for more than three hours during a 24-hour period or other time period approved by animal control.

“I have managed a handful of cases over the years of trauma secondary to tethering or chaining a dog,” Wheaton told the OC Register. “It’s sad and frustrating because it is so avoidable.”

Ryan Drabek, director of OC Animal Care, said animal control is investigating the case.

Rocky’s injury was gruesome. “It definitely took my breath away,” veterinarian Maria Bromme told KABC. “It was really heartbreaking to see. We saw exposed bone, exposed muscle, the infection that started to set in.”

The young pup’s entire leg had to be amputated.

He’s now recuperating, and has already adjusted to having only three legs. He will stay with a foster family for two weeks, and then be available for adoption into a loving forever home.

Coastal German Shepherd Rescue O.C. is covering the cost of Rocky’s surgery and medical treatment.

Photos via Facebook

AVMA Announces New Guidelines on Ebola and Pets

Anyone with known exposure to Ebola should have their pets quarantined for 21 days or have someone else care for them during that period, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) announced yesterday.

The AVMA began working on guidelines for treating the pets of Ebola patients last month, after Excalibur, the dog belonging to Madrid nurse Teresa Romero, who had tested positive for Ebola, was euthanized by health officials — despite a public outcry to quarantine the dog instead. (Romero has now filed a lawsuit for about $188,000.)

When Dallas nurse Nina Pham became infected with Ebola, her dog, Bentley, was quarantined for 21 days and found to be free of the virus. Pham, who is also now Ebola free, was reunited with Bentley on Nov. 1.

“The development of this guidance was a long process due to its novel and complex nature, as well as the lack of scientific data on Ebola and companion animals currently available,” according to an AVMA press release.

Developed in conjunction with health experts and agencies including the USDA and CDC, the AVMA’s new recommendations are intended to provide guidance for public health officials on how to assess, handle and monitor pets that may have been exposed to Ebola.

“There have been no reports of dogs or cats becoming sick with Ebola virus or of being able to spread Ebola to people or other animals,” notes one of the two new AVMA documents, Interim Guidance for Public Health Officials on Pets of Ebola Virus Disease Contacts. “However, it is important to keep people and animals away from blood or body fluids of a person with symptoms of Ebola infection.”

The other new document, Interim Guidance for Dog or Cat Quarantine After Exposure to a Human with Confirmed Ebola Virus Disease, recommends that pets who came into contact with a person with Ebola must be assessed for exposure and may be placed in mandatory quarantine for at least 21 days. “This situation can be avoided if the pet is moved out of the residence of the person being monitored for Ebola before any symptoms start in the person,” according to the AVMA.

Resources for pet parents, veterinarians and health officials are available on the AVMA website’s Ebola Virus page.

Photo via USA TODAY