RIP Pickles: 5-Pound Dog Saves Family from Bear

A toy Poodle named Pickles may have weighed only 5 pounds, but he wasn’t afraid to stand up to a bear weighing 150 to 200 pounds that entered his home in Black Mountain, N.C., early Friday morning.

“I thought I was gonna die,” Tiffany Merrill, Pickles’ owner, told WNCT. She had opened a door to let her little dog out for his morning walk when the aggressive intruder walked inside the house.

Merrill’s two children were asleep in their bedrooms. She knew that if she ran to them, the bear would chase after her and perhaps kill them all. So, yelling to her kids to close their doors, she tried to hide behind a couch — but the bear jumped on the couch.

As Merrill envisioned the bear killing her and then her children, she heard Pickles barking. Her dog was able to chase the bear outside. As Merrill watched in horror, Pickles and the bear got into a scuffle.

“There was nothing I could do,” Merrill told WLOS. “I wanted to go out there and jump on the back of the bear and save my dog.”

Amazingly, Pickles initially survived his attack by the bear nearly 40 times his size, but the hero dog died after Merrill rushed him to a veterinarian. “He did not make it — he died saving my life,” Merrill wrote on Facebook.

Pickles had been a member of the Merrill family for four years. “He was always with me,” Merrill told WNCT. “If I stayed up late, he stayed up late. If I wanted to go somewhere, he wanted to go somewhere.”

Merrill hopes her dog’s tragic death will make her neighbors more aware of bears and encourage them to take precautions to protect all their family members.

How to Protect Your Family from Bears

Education specialist Lauren Pyle with the Western North Carolina Nature Center told WLOS there’s been a lot of bear activity in the area, which is expected to increase even more as the weather cools and these animals prepare for hibernation.

Pyle said she doesn’t know for sure why the bear entered Merrill’s house, but she said these incidents usually happen when bears become too accustomed to people. “They’re definitely going to be hungry now,” she told WLOS. “They’re definitely opportunists when it comes to finding food, so they will go after whatever is easiest.”

If there are bears near where you live, Pyle offers these tips:

  • Never approach a bear.
  • Keep your property as clean as possible. “Like the trash being left overnight or unsecured, or bird feeders, or outside pet food storage, or even just BBQ grills that are left out with all that juicy, meaty goodness all over it,” she told WLOS.
  • Remember that bears are actually afraid of people. If they do start running, it doesn’t mean they’ll want to run right up to you.

Photo: Tiffany Merrill/Facebook

How the Heck Did 7 Puppies End Up on an Uninhabited Canadian Island?

It’s mystifying and also pretty horrifying to consider how in the world a litter of seven puppies ended up on an uninhabited island in Manitoba, Canada.

The 4-month-old castaways — or, as I prefer to call them, “castawoofs” — were discovered by JR Cook and Leon Colombe as they were fishing near Cook Lake. They first heard them crying late in the afternoon on July 30. It was by then too dark to explore the island, so the two men returned the next day to investigate. It’s a good thing they did.

At first they thought the crying might be coming from wolves, but they discovered it was the seven Labrador-mix puppies. There were no other adult dogs or any people in sight.

Cook and Colombe returned to the mainland and told a volunteer at Norway House Animal Rescue about the puppies. Over the next three days, as arrangements to transport the puppies off the island were being made by the rescue group, the men returned to the island to feed the puppies. The first day, the hungry puppies devoured an entire bag of food, Debra Vandekerkhove, the director of Norway House, told CBC News.

“They went back three times a day to take care of them,” Jessica Boeckler, adoption coordinator for Norway House, told CBS News. She said the rescue group gets frequent calls about abandoned and stray dogs. “We bring them in, get them properly vetted, sometimes other rescues take them in if we’re full,” she said.

The puppies are staying in a foster home until they’re ready to be adopted in a few weeks. Cook and their foster parents have named the four males and three females after characters on — you guessed it — “Gilligan’s Island,” the classic sitcom about people stranded on an island. Boeckler predicts the now-famous castawoofs will all quickly find forever homes.

In an update posted on the Norway House Animal Rescue’s Facebook page last night, their foster parents reported that all the puppies are doing well. “Skipper and Gilligan are best of friends,” they said. Well, of course they are!

Assuming the puppies didn’t somehow escape their yard and swim to the island, here’s hoping that the monster who dumped them there with no food is arrested and charged with animal cruelty. And here’s hoping that at least two of those very lucky pups are adopted by Cook and Colombe, the men who very likely saved their lives.

For information about adopting the puppies and to make a donation to help care for them and other homeless dogs, visit the Norway House Animal Rescue Facebook page.

Photo: Norway House Animal Rescue/Facebook

After 2 Dogs Die, IKEA Recalls Pet Water Dispensers Due to ‘Suffocation Hazard’

After two dogs died when they were drinking from them, IKEA announced today it is recalling 16,700 of its LURVIG Water Dispenser for Pets due to a “suffocation hazard.”

The $7.99 water dispensers were sold online and in 15 markets around the world from October 2017 to June 2018. The article number, printed on a sticker at the bottom of the bowl, is 303.775.72.

Made in China, the recalled water dispenser “has a black plastic base with two water wells. One well holds a clear plastic dome to hold and dispense water for drinking,” according to the recall notice. The dogs died when their heads became stuck inside the dome.

“We are saddened by the events that resulted in two dogs suffocating. We know that pets are important and loved family members for many of our customers,” Petra Axdorff, business area manager at IKEA of Sweden, said in a statement. “At IKEA, safety always comes first and that is why we have decided to recall the LURVIG water dispenser.”

Customers who bought the LURVIG dispensers are urged to immediately stop using them and return them to the store for a full refund, with or without the receipt, or to call IKEA Customer Service toll-free at 800-661-9807.

After 31 Hours, Deaf Puppy Rescued from 50-Foot Hole

“Y’all, this is a miracle,” Karen Smith told reporters last night. She was referring to the 31-hour effort it took to save Toffee, the ridiculously cute, deaf puppy she’s fostering, from a 50-foot-deep hole.

Toffee had been playing in Smith’s yard in Huntsville, Ala., around 5 p.m. Thursday when the 7-week-old Australian Shepherd suddenly disappeared into the rocky crevice, which was only a few inches wide.

Smith contacted A New Leash on Life, from which she was fostering Toffee and her littermates. The rescue organization immediately coordinated the efforts to save the puppy’s life.

It took a village to raise this puppy — namely, firefighters, cave rescue crews, plumbers and other volunteers. The team made several attempts to rescue Toffee. At one point Friday afternoon, the puppy put her front two paws into a net, but not her entire body, so she couldn’t be lifted out.

The rescue crew provided Toffee with food and water as they tried to free her. They kept a constant eye on her with a camera that had been lowered into the hole.

Their efforts were live-streamed by local TV stations. People watching from across the country volunteered to come to Huntsville and try to help.

Finally, just after midnight last night, the rescuers successfully saved Toffee. What did the trick? Luring her into a net with sardines, and then raising the net.

Despite that long fall, Toffee suffered no serious injuries.

“Our volunteers and friends are sleeping well tonight knowing she is safe and experiencing what an amazing community we have!” A New Leash on Life wrote on Instagram.

Click here to make a donation to A New Leash on Life.

Photo: SheliaOConnor/Twitter

FDA Warns About Accidental Overdose Risk of Noise Aversion Drug Sileo

The Fourth of July is no holiday for many dogs who are terrified by the sound of fireworks. If you plan on giving your dog the noise aversion drug Sileo, please take heed of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s continued warning to avoid an accidental overdose.

Since the prescription gel Sileo was introduced just two years ago, the FDA has received 54 adverse event reports from dog owners. The problem is that Sileo is packaged in an oral dosing syringe with a ring-stop mechanism on the plunger that must be turned and locked into place to set the correct dose — and the ring-stop mechanism does not always lock, causing an overdose.

Last year the FDA advised Sileo’s manufacturer, Zoetis, to improve the product’s labeling to emphasize the need to secure the ring-stop mechanism. Zoetis changed the labeling and added videos on its website that show how to properly administer Sileo.

Yet the FDA reissued an advisory today about Sileo “because adverse events are continuing to occur,” it stated. “The agency continues to advise veterinarians to carefully educate owners and handlers how to properly use the syringe to avoid accidental overdosing.”

Fortunately, no dogs have died — yet. But some have experienced the clinical signs of an overdose, which include loss of consciousness, trouble breathing, impaired balance, muscle tremors, slow heart rate, low blood pressure and lethargy. The FDA says it has not determined whether the overdoses were caused by improper use of the ring-stop mechanism.

If you still want to give your dog Sileo, make sure your veterinarian shows you exactly how to use the syringe. Be sure to keep an eye on your dog for any of the above symptoms of an overdose, and and immediately contact your vet or an emergency animal hospital if your dog shows any of these signs.

Noise Aversion without Drugs

My dogs Leroy and Ella luckily have no fear of fireworks, but that wasn’t the case years ago with my dogs Larry and Sophie. Once, and only once, I gave them a sedative prescribed by their veterinarian to help relax them on the Fourth of July. They did sleep through most of the noise, but then I read that tranquilizers don’t actually help relieve the anxiety of dogs and cats. In fact, drugs like acepromazine are like a “chemical straitjacket,” according to Dr. James Nicholas.

“This is because acepromazine does little to nothing to help mitigate the fear and anxiety that these suffering pets experience from fireworks and thunderstorms,” Dr. Nicholas wrote. “What it does do though, and do well, is make them unable to move and/or exhibit any of the other outward signs of their fear and anxiety.”

The following Fourth of July, I created a “safe room” in the bathroom, with their beds, toys and a radio loudly playing classical music. Larry and Sophie were still a little agitated, but much less so than in previous years. Even after the holiday, the dogs would instinctively run into the bathroom when they heard a firecracker or other loud noise. One time I had the radio on while cleaning the house, and the dogs suddenly retreated to their safe room. Why? The song “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” by the Gap Band, which includes fireworks sound effects, was playing!

If you want your dog to have a safe and sane Fourth of July without drugs, here are some helpful tips I’ve compiled from American Humane and Humane Society of the United States.

Do:

  • Bring your dog inside your home.
  • Play loud music, or turn up the volume on the TV or radio.
  • Create a “safe area” in a bathroom or other quiet, escape-proof spot, filled with blankets and your dog’s favorite toys.
  • If possible, have someone stay with your dog if you’re going to a fireworks display or party.

Don’t:

  • Coddle your dog by saying something like, “It’s okay” or “Poor baby!” Just act naturally and go about your business as usual.
  • Take your dog to fireworks displays. (Duh.)

Photo: anneheathen

 

 

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