The Poodle (and Dog) Blog

Tree climbing Poodle caught in a 35-foot fall

Firefighter/paramedic Brian Kukla made the catch of his life when Charlie the tree climbing Poodle went into a free fall from a tree.

Climbing trees isn’t part of the Poodle genetic code, but Charlie had spent many days of his puppyhood climbing a box elder in the Michigan yard of his owner Kim Reeves-Matthews.

After using ladders to rescue him, she finally put wire fencing around the tree several years ago. Figuring he was too mellow at 8 1/2 years-old to climb trees, she wasn’t worried when the fencing was tossed aside during tree trimming.

Until…

he disappeared one day when she and her granddaughter were having lunch in the backyard. They heard a squeak from above and there was Charlie balanced on a branch about 35 feet off the ground.

Animal Control officer Jessica Modrznski arrived at the scene and suggested calling the fire department. While the firefighters were trying to calm everyone down and figure out how to get Charlie down, suddenly he lost his footing and started somersaulting to the ground.

Kukla was matter-of-fact about what he did. “I just happened to be underneath him when he fell,” he said, adding he was watching him and trying to position himself underneath him.

But Reeves-Matthews' account is a little more heroic-sounding: “The fireman, he dives with one hand out, catches Charlie, sticks his arm out so he doesn't land on Charlie, tucks him under his arm like in a football hold.”

Kukla had never rescued a dog or even a cat in his career, but for a firefighter it’s all in a day’s work. He did ask that Charlie be kept out of trees from now on. Source

Charlie will probably stop channeling his inner cat after this embarrassing episode.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Djokovic is frustrated: Pierre the Poodle banned from Wimbledon

The world’s number 2 ranked tennis player, Novak Djokovic, has been told he can’t bring an important part of his support team to Wimbleton: Pierre the Poodle.

Pierre has been with him throughout his outstanding season and for Djokovic it is a very serious matter.

Reportedly he is pleading with authorities “at the highest level.”

Would that be the queen?

Pierre has become a celebrity dog. They were recently featured on the cover of the July edition of the fashion magazine L‘Uomo Vogue.

Pierre has his own Twitter page where he recently told his followers, “Fame has clearly gone to my head. Form an orderly queue for paw-tographs.”

Sadly Djokovic is so lonely for Pierre that he has befriended a little beggar who appeared on his balcony. He is hoping that eventually it will eat out of his hand.

Cute, but someone might mention that subjecting his serving hand to the whims of a wild animal might not be advisable.

Bruno the tire eating dog—is he haunted by a puppyhood memory?

Bruno, a 7-year-old mixed breed from South Auckland, went on a tire eating rampage, but his owners say it wasn’t his fault. He is haunted by a bad memory from his puppyhood.

First he attacked a tire on a patrolling police car. The sergeant drove away to change the tire and came back to investigate only to have Bruno eat through a second tire. Then when another patrol car and the animal control vehicle came to help, he punctured those tires as well.

Bruno’s owner, Fay Gock, said that Bruno is normally a docile dog, but he attacks certain tires because he was run over before his first birthday. She explained:

"He would have a go at their tyres because it was the tyre that ran him over. The tyre has registered in his memory. He doesn’t attack the tyres of all vehicles, only a few models trigger a reaction."

His family isn’t sure if he is reacting to the sound of the engine or the tires and they aren’t sure how to train him not to attack certain cars.

Animal behaviorist Les Slade said it was likely Bruno was suffering from something similar to post-traumatic stress. "He's biting tyres after that stressful situation ... Animals learn from their first experience of things, like humans do."

Bruno had been left in the garage where he can come and go as he pleases, but animal control won’t release Bruno until the owners agree to keep him confined. Source

Wiener dogs race for the cure

Promising to be an annual event in Terre Haute, Indiana, the “Dachshund Dash for the Cure” for cancer kicked off Saturday.

Hundreds of spectators cheered on their favorite weiner dog and placed bets to support the Wabash Valley affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Dogs came from as far away as Germany.

Spectators could place $2 bets on the dog of their choice in one of four heats. Winners received a T-shirt with the slogan “I Picked the Wiener of the Race.”

Two dogs bumped into each other at the start of one heat, as Winston flew to the finish line first.

Tiny mutt wins World’s Ugliest Dog contest 2011

  A 1.8 pound dog appropriately named Yoda has won the 23rd annual World’s Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in California last night.

Yoda, who is probably a Chinese Crested-Chihuahua-rodent mix was a crowd favorite from a field of 29 contestants.

Yoda’s owner, Terry Schumacher from Hanford, California, said that her daughter found Yoda abandoned in a field behind an apartment when the child was two years old. In true urban legend style she told her to put it down because she thought it was a rat.

That was 14 years ago and Yoda has been a beloved pet since then.

Ms. Schumacher had thought about bringing Yoda to the contest before but she couldn’t get away from her job. This year she was able to come because she owns her own business.

A dog grooming salon. 

Yoda won a trophy many times larger that she is, $1000, and a photo shoot and many minutes of fame and glory.

The annual contest raises money for dog charities.

Rottweiler guards forgotten baby overnight (while the mother goes on a bender)

Besides the Pit Bull probably the second most maligned dog by those who want to outlaw dogs based on breed is the Rottweiler.

They make excellent guard dogs and given the opportunity to be socialized they can be loyal and protective toward the children in the family.

From the Russian city of Saratov comes a story of 22-year-old Olga who took her three-month-old baby Vadim and their Rottweiler Lada for a walk in the park.

Olga met some friends and they decided to have a couple of drinks. After several drinks Olga now quite drunk and in no condition to think about her responsibilities went home and went to bed.

In the morning she realized that the baby and dog were missing. In a panic she called her parents screaming that her baby had been stolen.

When Olga’s parents arrived at her place they started calling all of her friends, they told the newspaper afterwards. Later, Olga’s father went out to check the nearby park and discovered the pram with little Vadim and the infallible dog next to it.

“The baby was found wet, hungry and in tears, but what’s more important, safe and sound,” say Olga’s neighbors. “The weather was quite warm, so the baby even managed not to catch cold. Thank God, the dog had been guarding the whole night and had been keeping away all strangers.”

It hasn’t been decided what if any punishment should be given to Olga, but currently the grandparents are taking care of Vadim. And I’m sure Lada is doing much of the supervising.

I’m glad I’m not writing a blog about how responsible and intelligent humans are.

Roto Rooter to the Rescue

Amelie Johnson and her family had moved into their Stockton, California home three weeks ago and didn’t realize that the county hadn’t capped a hidden sewer drain until they heard their tiny 5-week-old puppy whimpering from inside.

The puppy had fallen in and crawled 12 feet through the pipe into the neighbor’s sewer.

In a panic they called Animal Control, but they told her they weren’t equipped to handle the problem. The Stockton Fire Department and the San Joaquin County Public Works came out, but the puppy was too deep into the sewer for their equipment to reach.

That’s when they thought of calling a plumber and soon two Roto Rooter knights rode in on their white horses truck with cables and a snake-line camera.

Anthony Soares and his partner Alexis Depuy located the puppy and gently nudged it out with a cable machine they put in the neighbor’s yard. Soares watched the puppy's progress through the snake camera while Depuy pushed the puppy from behind.

It took two hours of gentle patience, but finally the puppy emerged from the pipe uninjured.

And they didn’t charge a fee for the rescue.

Roto Rooter Rocks!!

From KXTV, Sacramento

I found this video to be deeply disturbing

Dog afraid of baby

The poor dog is forced into his lizard brain,
terrified by a strange lunging creature he can't process.

Poor helpless baby.

Stupid people.

 

OK, this is weird. The video keeps disappearing and reappearing from the internet.

The first dog with four prosthetic paws is active and thriving

Dogs are amazingly resilient. I thought the video below would be sad to watch, but it is so cute.

Naki’o was abandoned in a basement when his owners left a litter of puppies in their foreclosed home during the winter in Nebraska.

When he was about five weeks old, he stepped in an icy puddle in the basement and all four paws were trapped in the freezing water causing severe frostbite.

Naki’o and his littermates were taken to an animal rescue center where he was adopted by veterinarian technician Christie Tomlinson. She organized a fundraiser to pay for his two back legs to be fitted with prosthetic paws.

Naki’o came through the procedure so well that OrthoPets donated prosthetic front paws.

The prosthetics are designed to replicate the muscle and bone structure of Naki'os natural legs. While they are far from bionic, they allow him to do everything a normal dog would be able to do.

Doesn't he look like a little kid wearing cowboy boots?