The Poodle (and Dog) Blog

Heroic stray dog from Afghanistan brought to his new home

Sgt. Christopher Duke and wife Lauren greet Rufus at PetAirways 

When Georgia National Guardsman Chris Duke was serving in Afghanistan, he made friends with three stray dogs he named Sasha, Target and Rufus. "A lot of us used the three of them as an escape when you're homesick," Duke said.

But the dogs did more than keep them company. "I firmly believe I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for him," Duke said.

Last February a suicide bomber tried to get into Duke’s barracks. But the dogs barked and attacked the intruder. Before he could kill the 50 soldiers inside, the attacker blew himself up. Five soldiers were injured, but none seriously.

Sadly Sasha died in the attack, but Target and Rufus were nursed back to health.

When Duke returned home the dogs had to be left behind. Duke sought help from a veteran’s assistance group called Hope for the Warriors and other groups. Together they raised the $21,000 to bring the dogs to the United States.

Target will live in Arizona with another soldier, while Rufus will stay with the Dukes.

"To think that I'm going to have him for the rest of my life - it's exciting," Duke said. The story

So while $21,000 may be a lot to pay for a stray dog from another country, stories like this underline the bond that humans and dogs can have for one another.

P&G Voluntary recall dry pet foods

CINCINNATI, July 30, 2010 – The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) (NYSE:PG) is voluntarily expanding its recall to include veterinary and some specialized dry pet food as a precautionary measure because it has the potential to be contaminated with salmonella. No salmonella-related illnesses have been reported.

Iams Veterinary Dry Formulas All dry sizes and varieties 01Jul10 – 01Dec11 All UPC Codes
Eukanuba Naturally Wild All dry sizes and varieties 01Jul10 – 01Dec11 All UPC Codes
Eukanuba Pure All dry sizes and varieties 01Jul10 – 01Dec11 All UPC Codes
Eukanuba Custom Care Sensitive Skin All dry sizes 01Jul10 – 01Dec11 All UPC Codes

The affected products are sold in veterinary clinics and specialty pet retailers throughout the United States and Canada. No canned food, biscuits/treats or supplements are affected by this announcement. A full listing of UPC codes can be found at www.iams.com.

  For further information or a product replacement or refund call P&G toll-free at 877-340-8823 (Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST). Media Contact: Jason Taylor 513-622-3205

A recently discovered photograph of the Red Baron

From historic lols

Strongheart, superstar dog of the silent screen

Strongheart, a German Shepherd who became the first dog movie star, helped to begin the country’s love for the German Shepherd dog which continues to this day.

He was born in Germany in 1917 to a carefully bred line. After being trained to be a attack dog, he was assigned to the German military.

Meanwhile American film director and animal trainer Laurence Trimble and his wife, Jane Murfin, a screenwriter, had been searching in Europe for a dog to appear in American films. When they came across the 3-year-old, 135 pound German Shepherd dog, they knew they had found a dog with star quality.

A major problem was that Strongheart had been trained as an attack dog and had not been socialized with human beings. Fortunately Trimble was a patient trainer since it took months to retrain him to forget his harsh military training. Trimble kept the dog by his side, continually rewarding him for good behavior until finally his sweet personality emerged and he became a well trained, socialized animal.

His first movie, The Silent Call, 1921, made him an overnight star. He did all of his own stunts in every movie. His movies were short on plot, but long on dog heroics.

When he traveled to make personal appearances he was greeted by crowds of adoring fans. He went on to appear in five other silent movies during the 20’s and found the doggie equivalent of love with his co-star, Lady Jule, a female German Shepherd dog. They produced many litters including pups who would sire movie stars themselves.

At the height of his career he was burned by a studio light. The burn became a tumor and he died in 1929.Two grandsons, Lightning and Silver King, went on to star in movies during the 1930’s.

His popularity led to the production of Strongheart Dog Food, which is still available today. Strongheart is one of three dogs to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame along with Rin Tin Tin and Lassie.

Meerkats...mostly

Pet dogs, wild animals and self professed experts

This is one of those stories that make you think the world of animal control has gone mad hopelessly stupid.

Copper is an 11 year old AKC registered Shibu Inu. She escaped from the fenced backyard of her owner, Lori Goodlett, on July 3rd. On that day a local police officer, Major Fred Heaton, picked her up as a stray and took her to the humane society in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Thousands of years of domesticity were evident as Copper made no effort to attack the officer or run away as he brought her in.

About an hour or so later, “personnel from the Humane Society called and told us that the officer would have to return and get the animal, because it was a coyote,” he reported. Coyotes, they told him, were nuisance animals and should either be killed or released into the wild.

The officer reluctantly picked her up and again she went along quietly as he released her behind an abandoned Home Depot. It wasn’t until he saw the missing dog flyers for Copper that the officer realized his mistake.

Volunteers and the police have been helping to search for Copper, but an animal that has been a pet dog for eleven years does not have much chance surviving for long in the wilderness.

Her owner said, "I know in my head Copper is gone for good, but in my heart I would like to think some nice family found her and took her in.”

No one from the humane society will answer media calls to explain how an animal expert could think that a tame purebred dog was a coyote.

On a lighter note, there was a happy ending for Scrappy, a dog in Des Moines, Iowa, who was seized in April, 2009 by the city’s chief humane officer, Scott Raudebaugh.

Nine year old Scrappy was held for six months because Raudebaugh decided that she “looked like a wolf,” even though he had no evidence that in nine years she had been anything more than a loving pet.

After six months of being separated from her family, a judge ruled that she had been improperly seized from her owners and allowed to go home.

Municipalities today are passing laws banning certain breeds as dangerous. Unfortunately in some cases the way they identify a dangerous dog is for animal control "experts" to declare the dog dangerous based on looks.

Dogs and people deserve better than this.

Doggie ice cream—a big hit in England

When we first moved into the house where we still live, a neighborhood ice cream shop had a home made sign proudly announcing their August special

FRESH PERCH ICE CREAM

I quickly figured out that the “R” was just a sloppy “A” and it was really Peach. But I had a hard time getting “Perch Ice Cream” out of my mind.

They were perhaps ahead of their time in coming up with ice cream flavors more suitable to pets than to people.

Bacon, ham, or chicken ice cream cones may not sound appealing to us, but  some lucky dogs in London are gobbling them up.

The K99 van pulls up playing the theme from “Scooby Doo” and dogs line up at a window to choose either “dog eat hog world” or “canine cookie crunch.”

According to The Daily Mail, a team of scientists came up with the perfect combination of temperature, texture and taste to ensure that the treats were delicious and completely safe.

I'm not sure dogs would be that discriminating. Perch ice cream would probably be a big favorite.

Holy singing Pug, Batman

Pow! Whap! Biff!
Pug sings Batman theme song

Cerberus and Hercules

One of the great battles in all Greek mythology was between Cerberus and Hercules.

Cerberus, the three headed dog, was the faithful servant to Hades, Greek god of the underworld.

He was charged with guarding the underworld from the living and devouring any dead soul who tried to return to the land of the living.

Besides his three heads, Cerberus had razor sharp teeth and snakes growing out his tail. He was known to be so vicious that even the gods and goddesses were afraid of him.

Hercules was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, Alcmene, whom he seduced by disguising himself as her husband. Greek mythology would be pretty boring if Zeus had just kept it in his pants toga, but he seldom did.

Hera, the goddess wife of Zeus, was angry about all Zeus’s extra curricular activities. Sadly she took it out on his victims and children while remaining loyal to her husband.

Hera became a permanent enemy of Hercules, making several unsuccessful attempts to dispose of him. But Hercules had help from other gods and goddesses and became a mighty warrior, married a princess and fathered children.

One day as he returned from a battle, Hera saw her chance and made him go insane. In this state of mind, he killed his wife and children, thinking they were enemy soldiers.

When he recovered—because what would be the fun for Hera if he didn’t realize what awful thing he had done—he went to Delphi to consult the Oracle of Apollo. There he learned that he was the son of Zeus and as punishment for killing his family he would have to serve the cowardly King Eurysthesis and carry out Twelve Labors.

It took him eleven years to complete the first eleven Labors, helped along by some friendly gods and hindered by Hera every chance she got.

The final Labor, and the most difficult of all, was to cross into the underworld, kidnap Cerberus without using weapons and bring him to King Eurysthesis. With knowledge he gained from a mysterious Greek cult and a lion skin which gave him great powers, he was able to find the gate to the underworld, strike a bargain with Hades, and confront Cerberus.

Naturally Hercules emerged victorious because “The Eleven Labors of Hercules and the Time He Lost a Fight to a Dog” would not have made good epic poetry.

He brought the fearsome Cerberus to the cowardly King Eurysthesis who was terrified of the dog. In his fear he relieved Hercules of his service and allowed Cerberus to be returned to Hades.

Where he is today.

I write like what famous writer?

According to this website, you can

"Check which famous writer you write like with this statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers."

Just copy and paste.

I picked out three different paragraphs from three different posts and, wow, am I a versatile writer.

  I write like

Vladimir Nabokov

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I write like
George Orwell

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Which famous writer do you write like?