Dogs make friends fur ever at day care

A thriving Mount Maunganui business is rushed off its feet providing luxury shampoo and conditioning treatments, grooming and spa treatments.

But it's not women, or even men, who are feeling the benefits of this extra TLC but pampered pooches. MORE>>

Pets help people feel loved and secure

A growing body of research supports the powerful, positive relationships between humans and their pets.
There is now compelling evidence to suggest that pets help children and adults feel secure and unconditionally loved.

It also seems pets contribute to a child's learning, and an elderly person's ability to carry out daily activities.
The research is really interesting – for example, one study showed the mere presence of a dog during a medical examination decreases a child's stress level.

It has also been shown children exposed to a school-based animal humane education programme showed increased empathy for each other. MORE>>

Dog trapped for eight weeks without food

A 16-year-old labrador survived eight weeks with no food trapped in an abandoned tunnel house in the Southland town of Riverton. Gail was able to survive by using her own body fat and getting water from a hole in the roof, the Southland Times reported.

The family pet was found by a neighbour in an unused tunnel house - or plastic greenhouse - across the road from the owner's property. Riverton man Lou Peterson said there were tears of joy when Gail walked up their driveway on Tuesday.
- NZPA

Intelligent tribute to the old Dog himself

When my husband first visited New Zealand he dragged me around the second-hand book shops on the lookout for Murray Ball and Dog. He returned to England with a case full of paperbacks.

The first gift I ever bought him was the video of A Dog's Life.

And now, at night, when I sit up in bed reading he is lying beside me chuckling as he leafs through yet another Footrot Flats book.

I hadn't realised until then just how famous "our" dog was.

Evidently, at one stage the Footrot Flats cartoon strips were syndicated to 160 newspapers and magazines throughout the world, including the UK. MORE>>

'Scuse me, that's the telephone barking

If you're deaf it's hard to know when your mates are knocking at the door and wanting to come in for a cuppa, scone and a chinwag, so a hearing dog comes in handy.
"The dogs are trained for the noises within a recipient's home. If someone is knocking at the door the dog will come and tug at your leg and then lead you to the door," Hearing Dogs for Deaf People New Zealand fundraising co-ordinator Frank Lowry said.
Recipients indicate what noises they need assistance for, the most common being phone calls, door bells, bedside alarms and smoke alarms.
Tomorrow is the trust's annual street appeal and volunteers will be hitting the streets of New Plymouth with orange vests and plastic buckets at the ready.
The money raised will be used for training – which takes about five months and cost $13,500 for each dog – and expansion of the current facilities. MORE>>

Dogs may help children with allergies

Life with the family dog will give young children hours of loyal companionship, cherished memories - and, in some cases, possibly even better health.
   
A study in the Journal of Pediatrics says that children with a family history of allergies may be less likely to develop eczema, an allergic skin condition, if they live with a dog when they are younger than one year.
   
But living with a cat may increase those odds, though only among children who are sensitive to cat allergen - substances in pet dander, saliva and urine.
  
Given the complexity of the situation, it is hard to give parents specific advice about pets, said Tolly Epstein, an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio, who led the research team.
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Truck driver saves puppy thrown across road

Northland animal inspectors say they are sickened by an act of cruelty in which a puppy was thrown or kicked across a busy road.

SPCA animal inspector Kaye Vezey said a truck driver stopped when he saw the young dog fly across the road in front of his truck in Kerikeri last week. MORE>>

Rangers ready to shoot kiwi-killing dogs

Armed rangers are ready to shoot two marauding dogs who they say are a threat to hundreds of Northland brown kiwi.
The dogs were spotted wandering on the Rarewarewa Reserve, northwest of Whangarei, by visitor who alerted the Department of Conservation (DOC).
The reserve is home to the greatest density of kiwi, for the size of the site nationally, but a search was unable to find the dogs.
DOC spokeswoman Sue Campbell said today the dogs would be shot on the spot if they were found.
"One is completely black and one is black with either brown or muddy feet and a white tip on its tail. It has quite long hair." MORE>>

Blenheim plaque for police dogs

A plaque commemorating the 23 police dogs killed on duty in New Zealand since 1972 has been unveiled at the RSA lounge in Clubs Marlborough in Blenheim.
 
The plaque, uncovered at the Police Remembrance Day celebrations in Marlborough yesterday, is believed to be the first of its kind at an RSA institution in New Zealand.

RSA president Geoff Stobie said police dogs were an integral part of the police requiring recognition.

"In talking to the police ... for every dog that's been killed it could have been a police officer. That's the significance."
Vice-president Peter Slape came up with idea after the shooting of police dog Gage on July 13 this year, Mr Stobie said.

Gage was killed when Senior Constable Bruce Lamb and colleague Constable Mitchel Alatalo were shot after entering a home in Phillipstown, Christchurch.
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Sam recalls golden moments at shows

He's been retired for a couple of years, but champion Hawke's Bay retriever Sam is always keen to go along to the show.

Sam's owner Lyn Morris is showing two dogs at the Eukanuba National Dog Show at Manfeild, which starts today but Sam will stay home. He's getting on in dog years at the age of 10 - golden retrievers rarely live past 13.

"Whenever we're ready to head off to a show he ..MORE>>