When Jonny Justice was rescued in 2007 from Michael Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier forced to fight had likely had no positive interactions with people or other dogs during his short lifetime.
At the time, Humane Society of the United States President Wayne Pacelle said Jonny and the other rescued dogs would never be suitable as pets and should all be euthanized.
These non-profit organizations took in the dogs, rehabilitated them and found loving forever homes in which many of these “unadoptable” survivors thrived.
Just one year after he was rescued from Vick’s house of horrors, Jonny Justice became a therapy dog. His pet parents, Cris Cohen and Jennifer Long of San Francisco, had noticed how well he got along with children.
Since 2008, Jonny has been visiting terminally ill children receiving medical treatment, providing them with love and support (and probably lots of soothing Staffie smooches). Jonny has also helped improve literacy by participating in programs in which kids practice reading aloud to him.
In honor of Jonny’s service, this year the ASPCA is awarding him with its highest accolade: Dog of the Year. Jonny will receive the award tomorrow at a luncheon in New York City.
The annual ASPCA Humane Awards recognize animal heroes who have demonstrated extraordinary efforts as well as people who have shown great commitment to animal welfare during the previous year.
“The 2014 Humane Awards winners represent stories of tremendous courage and determination, but also remind us how important animals are to our lives, and the care and protection we can give them in return,” said ASPCA President and CEO Matthew Bershadker in a press release.
“We are proud to honor these winners, and hope their journeys inspire more humane action across the country.”
This isn’t the first honor bestowed upon Jonny. In 2012 he was named the grand prize winner and Most Beautiful Dog in a Facebook photo contest held by stuffed-animal manufacturer GUND.
To “advance and improve” the care it provides for its elephants, three years ago the Pittsburgh Zoo began using siblings Major and Zeta — who are Australian Cattle Dogs — to herd them. It’s the only zoo in the Northern Hemisphere that uses dogs in such a capacity.
“The primary reason the herding dogs are working with our team is for the safety of our staff,” zoo spokeswoman Tracy Gray told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “These relationships can be thought of in terms of traditional shepherding practices. In this case, our primary elephant keeper represents the shepherd; the elephants represent the flock; and the Australian Cattle Dogs assist the shepherd.”
In 2002, a handler at the Pittsburgh Zoo was killed when he fell and a mother elephant pushed her head on his chest. Thirteen years before that, an elephant kicked and broke the leg of another handler when he tried to give her medicine.
It’s all well and good that the staff is being kept safe, but what about the safety of the herding dogs?
“Video footage shows elephants displaying obvious signs of distress, including flapping their ears and trumpeting, as they’re chased and apparently nipped by dogs at the command of zoo staff,” states a press release from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). “In addition to the obvious stress that this causes the elephants, the dogs are in danger of being accidentally stepped on and killed or purposely attacked and thrown in the air by the agitated elephants.”
CBS Pittsburgh — which recorded the video PETA is probably referring to — reported back in May that Major and Zeta were trained “to handle massive elephants. They charge and nip at the elephants’ feet and trunks. The elephants have such respect for the dogs that even if they hear a handler say the name Major or Zeta, they take notice.”
Brittany Peet, PETA’s deputy director of captive animal law enforcement, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “It’s not just inhumane, to both the dogs and the elephants, it’s dangerous.”
It is also against Pennsylvania state laws, which prohibit dogs from pursuing wildlife.
PETA has filed a complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), which is now investigating the zoo.
Even without Australian Cattle Dogs nipping at their feet, elephants in zoos are already under a lot of mental and physical stress. In the wild, elephants walk up to 30 miles a day. Being forced to live inside a small enclosure — alone or with just one or two other cellmates — makes for some very unhappy elephants. (Just imagine if you had to spend your life walking circles in your bathroom.)
Of course, the safest alternative is to release the elephants to a sanctuary — a humane action that, fortunately, is being taken by more and more zoos. But since that’s not likely to happen, a better way to increase the safety of zoo employees would be to follow the lead of many other zoos, and use what is called protected contact.
Used by more than half of all accredited U.S. zoos, protected contact uses physical barriers to separate employees from elephants, and employs positive reinforcement methods.
Grey told the Post-Gazette that the zoo uses both protected and unprotected contact.
“Both methods use vocal commands, praise and food rewards,” she said. “If an elephant does not want to work with the keeper, the keeper leaves the area. We never punish our elephants for not cooperating.”
A spokeswoman for the USDA told the Post-Gazette the department is looking into the matter and will determine whether the zoo is complying with animal welfare act regulations
Just a week or two ago, a cute video of a baby crawling up to the family dog racked up millions of views. And now there’s this, the latest viral sensation in ridiculously adorable baby/dog interactions caught on video.
In this new video — which Sabrina Sauve uploaded on YouTube Thursday and has already been viewed nearly 3 million times as of Monday morning — her baby, Alexis, bounces in a Jolly Jumper as her Border Collar, Dakota, pounces on the baby’s shadow.
“Alexis is learning the Jolly Jumper. Day(kota) has a love for shadows. Put these two together and what do you get…,” Sauve wrote in the description of her video, “Ally & Day, Dog teaching baby to jump.”
Baby see, baby do: Alexis starts gleefully imitating the dog, and, as you can see, heartwarming hilarity ensues.
For the first time ever, the 2014 America’s Parade in New York City — the largest Veterans Day event in the country — will have two floats honoring four-legged war heroes on Tuesday.
“This showcases that age-old human-dog bond at its best,” Ryan Hegg, deputy director of the United War Veterans Council, which produces the parade, told the New York Daily News.
Riding on one of the floats will be six military dogs and their handlers, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Along for the ride will be veteran/rapper/actor Ice-T and his wife, Coco.
“I served in the Army and know the life-saving heroism of these dogs,” Ice-T said in a press release. “It is time that we recognize both our human veterans who sacrificed so much and our four-legged veterans who save lives on the battlefield – and at home – every day.”
The float is being sponsored by the American Humane Association and a generous donation from Lois Pope, a singer and heiress to the National Enquirer.
The military dogs “are heroes,” Pope told the Daily News. “They save so many lives.”
The other new float will feature therapy dogs who are working with veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
That float is sponsored by the A&E Network, which is also premiering the new documentary series “Dogs of War” on Veterans Day. Each episode will focus on a veteran with PTSD going through the process of working with a therapy dog who has been rescued from a shelter.
“This series is full of raw, real and intensely emotional moments that don’t often get a spotlight in mainstream media,” David McKillop, the A&E Network’s general manager and executive vice president, said in a press release.
Hegg told the Daily News he hopes the two new America’s Parade floats will be “another way to get folks aware of military issues.”
The 2014 America’s Parade begins at 11 a.m. at Park Avenue and 26th Street. It will be broadcast live on FOX5 (WNYW) and streamed on myfoxny.com. A one-hour special about the parade will air Nov. 16 on these channels across the country.
“Dogs of War” premieres on the A&E Network at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Nov. 11, then moves to Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT starting Nov. 16.
Although he stabbed a Pit Bull named Clara multiple times with a pocket knife — even as his young son begged him to stop — a Georgia grand jury decided this week that Craig Emory Hayes will face no animal cruelty charges.
Clara had been brought to a PetSmart adoption event in August by volunteers from the Newnan-Coweta Humane Society (NCHS), who were hoping to find her a forever home.
Instead, due to her injuries, the volunteers had to make the heartbreaking decision to have Clara euthanized in the store’s pet hospital.
Clara had broken free from her collar and bitten the ear of Hayes’ Yorkshire Terrier after the little dog growled at her.
Screaming “F–king Pit Bulls” over and over, eyewitnesses said Hayes pulled out the knife and began plunging it into Clara’s neck, even after she released his Yorkie’s ear.
Horrified PetSmart customers told the Newnan Times-Herald what they had seen. Erin Burr said Hayes had earlier told Clara’s handler, “If you bring that f–king Pit Bull near me, I’m going to stab it.”
Teresa Reeves and her fiance, Mike Wohler, had come to the PetSmart event hoping to adopt a Pit Bull.
Reeves said Clara wasn’t viciously attacking the Yorkie, but nipping some loose skin on its neck. “Clara wasn’t clamped down on the dog,” she told the Times-Herald. Neither dog was moving.
“It could have easily been broken up,” Reeves said. Instead, Hayes started pushing and kicking Clara, “making things worse. The guy was just screaming, ‘F–king Pit Bull, why are you even allowed to have these dogs?’’’
When he began to stab Clara, Reeves tried to protect the dog by wrapping her arms around her.
“He wasn’t stabbing like he was trying to save his dog. He was stabbing trying to kill this dog,” Reeves said.
With blood flowing from her wounds, Clara lay on the floor of PetSmart, wagging her tail as shocked customers petted her. She and the Yorkie were taken to the pet hospital inside the store.
Sandy Hiser, president of the NCHS, told the Times-Herald that Clara’s wounds were so severe “that if she did pull through, it would have impacted her quality of life.”
The Yorkie whose ear she bit was transferred to an emergency animal hospital, treated for a blood clot and released the next morning.
According to Hiser, a police officer who interviewed Hayes said he had the right to defend his dog. But was it necessary to stab Clara multiple times?
“He straight murdered this dog in front of 30, 40 people,” Wohler told the Times-Herald. “He didn’t like Pit Bulls. This just gave him the excuse he needed.”
“Facts” vs. Emotions Sway Grand Jury
Earlier this week, the Coweta County grand jury returned a “no bill” on a charge against Hayes of aggravated cruelty to an animal. This means the case is closed and no files will be charged.
According to Georgia state law, aggravated cruelty to animals occurs when someone “knowingly and maliciously causes death or physical harm to an animal by rendering a part of such animal’s body useless or by seriously disfiguring such animal.”
The law does not prohibit someone from “defending his or her person or property, or the person or property of another, from injury or damage being caused by an animal.”
So, does it apply to someone who continued to violently stab a dog in the neck, even after that dog has released his dog?
Apparently not.
Pete Skandalakis, the district attorney of Coweta County, said in a press release that the grand jury had information that had not previously been disclosed to the public, the Newnan Times-Herald reported today.
This information included testimony from Newnan Police Sgt. Brent Blankenship, the case’s lead investigator. (I can’t help but wonder if he was the same police officer who had told the NCHS’ Hiser that Hayes had a right to defend his dog.)
The grand jury questioned Blankenship “regarding some inaccurate information which has been circulating in public forums,” Skandalakis said. Blankenship testified that there was no witness corroboration that Hayes had made derogatory statements about Pit Bulls before attacking Clara, and had only made them after the stabbing.
What happened to all of those eyewitnesses interviewed by the Newman Times-Herald last August — did the grand jury get to hear their testimonies as well?
The decision to not even give Hayes a slap on the wrist was also influenced by a report from the PetSmart pet hospital, which stated that Clara wasn’t only euthanized because of the extensiveness of her stab wounds — but also due to her “lack of adoptability” and “history of dog-related aggression.”
(I think it should be noted, as I wrote about back in February 2012, that PetSmart has a corporate policy of not allowing Pit Bulls and other bully breeds in its Doggie Day Camps because the company views them as “unpredictable.”)
“This was a tragic event but the grand jury got it right and declined to file charges,” Skandalakis said. “Emotions always run high in cases involving animals, and as a pet owner I understand how people feel about these types of cases, but you can’t make a decision to charge a person with a crime based upon emotions when the facts and the law say otherwise.”
“Facts?”
Something really, really stinks in this case, and it’s not just Hayes’ attitude toward Pit Bulls and lack of anger management.
Rest in peace, Clara. The NCHS volunteer who “loved and cared for her most” wrote this beautiful tribute on the humane society’s website:
“Clara was a joyful, loving girl who people instantly fell in love with and I want her remembered that way.
I spent almost every day for the past 29 months with her and a part of me is gone forever … She was my friend, therapist and baby who I will love forever. She taught me how to enjoy the moment, appreciate a cool, shady spot on a hot summer day and gave unconditional love. She was the world’s happiest homeless dog and she will always live in my heart.
I don’t want her to have died in vain…I love you, Clara.”
Photos via Facebook
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish.Got it!RejectPrivacy Policy
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
![Border Collie Shows Baby How to Jump [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/istilllovedogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/dog_teaches_baby_to_jump.jpg?resize=401%2C372&ssl=1)
