Judge rejects explanation for killing cocker spaniel

A judge has rejected a Christchurch woman's claim that she shot and killed her neighbour's cocker spaniel with an air rifle because she believed it was attacking her cat.

Judge Michael Radford said he believed the woman's explanation in court was the one she wished she had given police at the time, the Court News website reports.

Yesterday he convicted Henrietta Tania Campbell, 47, on charges of wilfully ill-treating the dog and unlawfully firing an air rifle near a house.

Several animal protection campaigners wearing black Paw Justice T-shirts sat through the 90-minute hearing in Christchurch District Court.

Afterwards, the daughter of the couple who owned the dog, Althea Carbon, said it had been hard to sit in court and listen to Campbell's evidence, but the outcome was the best the family could have hoped for. MORE>>

Sea slugs returning to Auckland beaches

The sea slugs which killed several dogs around the beaches of Auckland's North Shore last year seem to be on their way back.
(....)
It was unclear if the slugs found this year also contained tetrodoxin, but the surveys have prompted Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) to caution people to watch dogs and children on the beaches, and to ensure nobody ate anything washed up on a Hauraki Gulf beach. MORE>>

Festival fever snowballing

Excitement is snowballing at Coronet Peak as the ski area gears up towards the 36th Queenstown Winter Festival, which starts on Friday.
(...)

The festival's longest-running event is the Speight's Dog Derby, which will be held on July 1.

Dogs and their owners have to go up the mountain on the chairlift before hurtling down on foot to the base building. The first pair to make it down together wins. MORE>>

Coastguard rescues sick dog

The coastguard was called out yesterday to rescue a sick dog in the Hauraki Gulf.

The dog's owner, Peter Watson, had been sailing his yacht on the upper-east coast of the North Island, when his dog became sick.

With no wind to set sail and knowing the boat's engine would not be able to get to land quickly enough from where it was anchored at Motuketekete Island, Mr Watson called on the coastguard to get Charlie, a three-year-old mastiff-cross, to help. MORE>>

Top dogs converging on Gore

Up to 300 competitors with more than 500 dogs will gather in Gore next week for the South Island and New Zealand sheep dog trial finals.

Southland Sheep Dog Trial Centre spokeswoman Marie Horrell, said dogs and competitors would attempt more than 1000 runs during the event, which starts on Monday and finishes next Saturday. MORE>>

Doggy deposits upset new residents

Michelle Crossan, who moved to the city from Auckland this year, said the first thing she noticed about the city was the amount of dog poo on the streets.

She had travelled around the United States and Europe, and grew up in Timaru, but had never seen so much poo left on the ground, she said.

She hasn't been to Paris!

"When ... I walk down to the supermarket, I stand in it. It is not every time, but a very high per cent of the time. "I always thought the rule was if your dog poos then you have to pick it up, but it doesn't seem to happen here," Miss Crossan said.

(..)

It was a "big problem" in many of the parks and on walking tracks but council rangers could not be in all places all the time to catch the offenders, Mr Pagan said.

"There is nothing worse than coming out for a walk in the park and stepping in something and for the rest of the trip having the smell hang around," Mr Pagan said. MORE>>

The best way of making sure no one walks in dog poo is to train the dog to park its bum in a bush. Yes, you can train a dog to do this. Of course, people will comment saying that is still illegal, but ... as you can see, accorsing to this woman, people don't pick up their dog poo. Train your dog to do this, and pick up your dog poo when he can't park his bum!

Just by passing a law doesn't mean people will comply. A law only works with the consent of the majority of the people, otherwise you get those 'third finger saluts'

If you can't train your dog correctly, then do the right thing. Carry a small bag, and hopefully the City Council in your city won't take the rubbish bins away.

I just wish someone who pick up after all those ducks! the amount of crap they leave behind makes you need to wear gumboots in city parks!.. at least my closest park.

Dog's Harbour Bridge hijinks

A tiny dog dodged dozens of cars and crossed several lanes of traffic before being caught at the top of Auckland's Harbour Bridge in rush-hour traffic.

Police and animal control officers spent hours trying to discover where the terrier, named Milo, came from and found last night that it had run from St Marys Bay.

Milo, believed to be aged about 6, was being looked after by friends of her owner when she disappeared.

North Shore City Council animal control officer Phil Eagles said he was amazed that the dog, which was still trembling last night, had survived.

"She's well kept, she's clean and she smells good," Mr Eagles said.

I'm not sure why people are amazed at dogs, at they say 'antics'. I mean, there has been a number of reports of dogs finding cancer on skin, or finding their way home 2 years later, of finding people in snow...

This dog just wanted to go home, or get away from a place he thought he was 'taken to' against his will. Dognapping happens every day!

Hell, isn't that a great way for a human to see a dog's point of view?! :)

(...)

"A member of the public managed to open up their door and reach out and grab her - a mystery person in a white car," Ms Kahlenberg said.

"Funnily enough, it's the second dog I've found at the top of the Harbour Bridge."

Hey, they like the view!

The previous one was an English setter. "It looked like a bigger version of this little girl we found today."

Ms Kahlenberg has also seen a blue penguin rescued from the bridge.

"I thought, 'How the hell would a penguin get up here and nobody see it until it's right at the top of the bridge?"

MORE>>

Boy sees burglar kill dog

A Christchurch teenager saw an intruder choke the life from the family's pet dog.

Fern Gaber said four-year-old boxer Troy was a "loyal friend" to the family and playmate for her son, Tyler Corbett-Gaber, 13.

Troy died in Tyler's arms on Friday after an intruder entered the Spreydon house and strangled the dog to death with its own lead as it defended the property.

Gaber, 35, said Tyler was home ill and asleep in his room when a man entered the Milton St home through a window.

The burglar reckoned without Troy, and Gaber said the ensuing struggle left the house like a "war zone". MORE>>

How very very sad... sounded like It's Me or the Dog but not in terms of training, but perceived survival.