Farewell to Jack

Perhaps there is nothing more profound that our pets do for us than teach us how to die.Joan and I got Jack from the East 92nd Street ASPCA shelter in March of 1996. We were both in corporate jobs in Manhattan and though we wanted a dog, it was out of the question with our schedules. Also our building in Brooklyn Heights had a no-pet rule, but grudgingly accepted cats. Jack was our second cat at the time, and Arthur, the cat my wife had when I...

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Bite Patterns When Dogs Attack Children

As a therapy dog handler, I am more cautious when I visit facilities with children. Children can rush upon my dog, put their arms around her neck, punch her more than pat her, pull her hair, and other things. One autistic boy clamped his hand so tightly to her back that she was whimpering while two teachers took half a minute to unlock his grip. Fortunately, Chloe is highly trained and something of a teddy dog (see the picture on the bio of this...

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Agency Ineptitude and Congressional Inaction Leave Many Puppy Mills Poorly Regulated or Not Regulated At All

Video of Animal Rights Discussion: At an appearance at the Ford Hall Forum, I discussed some difficult issues regarding animal rights.  The USDA Inspector General’s 2010 Report on USDA inspections of large-scale dog dealers found that some large breeders were circumventing the Animal Welfare Act by selling animals over the internet. Inspections of large-scale dealers are conducted by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS)...

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Malinois May Detect Prostate Cancer Better Than Standard Lab Test

Dogs have been trained to detect bladder, lung, and breast cancers (see blogs of July 9, 2009, and July 11, 2010). Now a study published in European Urology adds prostate cancer to the list. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood testing remains the most widely used too for detecting prostate cancer, which strikes about 200,000 men per year in the U.S. Research continues to look for volatile organic compounds in urine as alternative biomarkers....

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Sleeping with Our Best Friend Carries Risks of Rare but Deadly Diseases

The percentage of pet owners in the U.S. is increasing (more than 60% of households), as is the percentage who let their dogs and cats sleep on their beds. More than half of dog owners consider their dogs to be members of their family, and approximately 56% let their dogs sleep in their beds. The smaller the dog, the more likely it will sleep with its master. Women are more likely than men to let dogs into the bed. These trends are not confined to the U.S. and have been reported, for instance, in England, the Netherlands, and France.A professor...

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Once Majestic Companions to Kings and Queens, Greyhounds Spend Their Lives in an Institutionalized Hell in Seven States

This week there was international outrage on the news that as many as 100 sled dogs had been slaughtered after they were no longer needed for entertainment at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The New York Times reported that the killing of the dogs was not itself illegal, but the fact that there was undue suffering might result in a prosecution under cruelty statutes. This should be prosecuted, but the U.S. cannot point fingers at Canada....

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Abu Ghraib Dog Handler Court-Martialed: Rogue or Scapegoat?

Michael J. Smith was a military working dog hander at the Abu Ghraib Central Confinement Facility in Iraq. MWDs were used at Abu Ghraib primarily as a show of force to deter detainees from attempting to escape or riot. Smith participated in the interrogation of Ashraf Abdullah Al-Juhayshi, believed to be connected to al-Qaeda, in late December 2003 or early January 2004. Colonel Thomas M. Pappas, then commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade in Iraq testified that he had authorized the use of MWDs in interrogations in December 2003....

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