Monday, September 24, 2012

Pig Rescues Baby Goat

A small pig becomes a hero when it dives into a petting zoo pond to save a drowning baby goat. Simply precious!

Bringing Home Bruno

What a truly amazing story of love and commitment.  Bless this wonderful family for giving Bruno the chance he deserved.

I, too, have been captured by a “set of eyes” many times over my 50 years in rescue.  Yes, they do indeed reach out through a picture or the computer screen, grab your heart... and NO, they won’t let go.  These are the dogs that have already chosen YOU to come save them.

It is an honor to put this video and the story of Bruno on my blog.  I hope it inspires others to get involved and adopt a dog in dire need of another chance at life.

May God Bless this family for their generous hearts and selflessness.  I wish them the very best.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

8 Ways Dogs Improve Your Health

By The Week's Editorial Staff | The Week

Canines can work medical wonders, from easing the side effects of chemotherapy to helping army veterans cope with post-traumatic stress disorder

A dog is man's best friend in the most ordinary situations, but it's when you're down and out that your canine partner really comes through in the clutch. From easing military veterans' battles with post-traumatic stress disorder to reducing heart and lung pressure for heart-failure patients, the tail-wagging beasts are walking therapy centers. They're also great motivators to get you off the couch and exercise, and can even improve infant immune systems. Here, eight ways dogs improve our health:

1. Lessen the side effects of chemotherapy

Once a week for the past seven years, Veronica Pardo, a volunteer, has brought two dogs to the only hospital in Quito, Ecuador that treats children with cancer. The dogs not only "bring a sparkle to the eyes and smile to the faces of little ones in the midst of a huge struggle to stay alive," says The Associated Press, they also have been shown to boost the children's adrenaline, which helps them bolster their resistance to the harsh effects of chemotherapy.

2. Help veterans with PTSD
Many veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from chronic fear, anxiety, depression, and other forms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and dogs are ideal companions to "draw out even the most isolated personality" and help "traumatized veterans overcome emotional numbness," says Chris Coling at Smithsonian Magazine. There are currently four experimental programs nationwide in which PTSD-afflicted veterans are paired with Labradors and Golden Retrievers as therapy.

Click here to read the full story.

Cheetahs and Dogs: Unlikely Friends

Dogs and cheetahs may seem like an odd pairing, but at the San Diego Zoo…

Click here to view the video on Yahoo! Animal Nation.

Baby I'm Yours

Beautiful images of dog and cat friends. Enjoy!


Famous Working Dogs

By Michael Barmish, CesarsWay.com

Ah, Labor Day. That one day a year when we Americans celebrate the contribution of workers to our society by… taking the day off.

But as we pause to reflect on those of us who toil away each day, we should also take time to reflect on some other workers — those that never go on strike, never ask for a pay raise, and never request extra vacation.

They are the working dogs. Working dogs come in all types, from search and rescue, to guiding, to performing.

Read the full story on CesarsWay.com.