PETA is celebrating the holidays—and who better to ring in a “Meowy
Catmas” than a chorus of singing, animated cats? They—along with a
special guest who pops up to wish everyone a “hoppy New Year”—are
the stars of PETA’s new holiday video, which you can view here.
http://features.peta.org/meowy-catmas/ I thought you might be
interested in sharing this fun, festive video with your readers.

Shoppers can also celebrate “Catmas” with gifts from the PETA Catalog,
which offers a Cat Gift Set—complete with organic catnip, three
toys, and a durable scratch pad—and a special Kitt-In Box, a cat
perch for home offices that allows kitties to curl up near their busy
humans. And the catalog has plenty to offer two-legged family members
as well, including holiday cards and 2012 calendars.

Thanksgiving may just be the most perilous day to be a turkey— after all, we call it Turkey Day. When the birds are under all that stress, who can blame them for wanting to take a little revenge? From chasing after mail trucks to pecking at presidents, you’ve Gotta Watch these turkeys unleash their wrath.

Wild turkey chase—A turkey might not seem like a very menacing animal — until it’s chasing you. One Sacramento TV producer went to check out reports of a turkey named “Terrible Tom” terrorizing a neighborhood. She got a lot more than she bargained for. See her hilarious reaction to this wild turkey.

Watch the hilarious videos here

Most conservationists would agree that you should not interfere with mother nature. But there are exceptions to every rule.

Staff and tourists at Kapani Safari Lodge in Zambia were caught by surprise when a mother and baby elephant became trapped in mud.

Saying they couldn’t just “stand by and watch them slowly die,” what ensued was a dramatic rescue.

Together with the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS) and the local wildlife authority, the team devised a plan to get the elephants out. The rest of the herd initially tried to help the screaming mother and baby escape, but they were stuck too deep.

Team managers from the conservation society slipped a rope around the baby and after a few attempts managed to pull her out of the muddy pit. The team says it took a lot of coaxing to get her out and on her feet though, adding that she “was terribly frightened and wouldn’t leave her mum’s side”.

Getting the adult elephant out of the mud was a far more challenging task — by the time the baby had been rescued, its mother was dehydrated and exhausted. But the SLCS team eventually pulled her out too, using a tractor and rope.

Staff at Kapani Lodge say it was “heart-warming to see how many local people joined in the efforts to free the two elephants… it was the happiest possible ending.”

Rocco Beats Out Hundreds of Wagging Tails to Become ‘Top Dog’

East Greenwich, R.I. — After more than 1,000 votes were submitted to
help PETA select the cutest mutt in America, Rocco beat out nine other
finalists to be crowned the winner of PETA’s third annual Cutest Mutt
Alive contest. Rocco, whose guardian is 12-year-old East Greenwich
resident Sarah Vican, edged out more than 650 other lovable mutts to
become a finalist. PETA created the contest to show that all
dogs—whether they’re purebreds or mutts—are created equal and that
the kindest thing a person can do for dogs is to adopt one from an
animal shelter. Rocco will be featured on PETA.org, and along with the
title, Rocco and his guardian will receive a “Mutts Rule” T-shirt, a
copy of Ingrid E. Newkirk’s book Let’s Have a Dog Party!, tasty dog
treats, and a framed certificate.

“Rocco is living proof that the dog—not the papers that accompany
him—is all that matters,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy
Reiman. “All rescued mutts are winners in PETA’s book because when it
comes to giving and appreciating love, nobody does it better.”

Rocco—whose full name is Rocco Diogge (pronounced “D-O-G”) Mandozzi
(because, according to Sarah, “He’s the man!”)—is neutered, and he’s
about 3 years old. Sarah’s mother found him on an adoption website
after he’d been rescued from the streets of New Jersey. Rocco loves to
play fetch and go for car rides, which he’s convinced are intended
solely for his enjoyment. He also has a dedicated tone of voice for
each emotion, and each is remarkably similar to a human voice
expressing those same feelings, according to his guardian. Sarah sums
up her loving relationship with Rocco best: “A brother and sister who
are also best friends,” she says. “I can’t remember my life before
him!”

Why are mutts top dogs with PETA? Every time someone buys a purebred
from a breeder or a pet store, a shelter animal loses his or her
chance at finding a home. Every year in the U.S., an astounding 6 to 8
million dogs and cats end up in animal shelters, and roughly half must
be euthanized because there simply aren’t enough good homes for them.
Most of the millions of dogs who are abandoned and euthanized are
mutts.

I just found an awesome little comic on petting a kitty, must read!

How to pet a kitty <<link to comic

Now-a-days walking dogs has become a part of our lives. It’s a great way to get out of the house, a little exercise, and to have fun with your pup. As more and more dogs become smaller by breed preference we are neglecting the training they need to follow walking rules. Obviously with big dogs without training they will rip your arm off, it’s the little dogs we just yank to get into line when we should focus more on these tips dog walking tips. More information on dog obedience training is available from your local dog training services or search Google for helpful tips.

Eliminate choke chains and prong collars.

I believe devices that cause a dog pain, such as choke chains and prong collars, do not belong in dog training. Using painful tactics only teaches a dog to be fearful of our causing her pain rather than strengthening our relationship. There are better and more effective ways to communicate with her. We want our dog to want to be with us by our side — because we give her clear boundaries as well as constant praise and reward for the desired behavior.

Instead, use a flat collar and follow my method to ensure a stress and pain-free way to teach your dog to walk with you, all the while creating a deeper bond between you.

Make walking by your side a positive experience.

Screaming “heel” or “no pull” at your dog does not work and is certainly not fun. Instead, randomly reward your dog with a yummie treat when he’s by your side as you reinforce his behavior with the word “close.” Don’t use the phrase “good dog” — because your dog has no idea what he did that was good, so how can he repeat it? Instead, acknowledge the behavior by naming and rewarding it.

Once your dog is consistently walking close to you, you can begin to give him “jackpots” — where you randomly reward him with a quick series of 5-6-7 treats, one after the other. He can always have “dinner on the go,” with you feeding him his treats along the way for walking correctly. You can also bring his favorite toy along and walk to the dog park: His reward for walking correctly, once you arrive, is that he gets to play with it and you!

Keep the same length of leash at all times.

To keep your dog from pulling on his leash, you must teach him that he only has a certain length of leash available and that you’re in control of it. It’s a mistake to use a retractable leash in the teaching phase, giving him a longer leash anytime he wants it. Save the retractable leash for the everyday phase of walking, once he has learned how to walk correctly by your side and not pull you down the street.

When you hold the leash with your hand, it’s easy for your dog to pull away by forcing you to extend your arm. It’s also important that both your hands are free, assisting you in planting your body when he’s pulling. So wear a sturdy belt, slip the loop end of the leash around it, and fasten it snugly around your waist.

As your dog walks correctly down the street with you, remember to repeat the word “walk,”reinforcing his behavior.

Hold your ground when your dog pulls on the leash.

When your dog begins to pull on her leash, stop, plant your feet, lower your center of gravity and hold your ground like a sumo wrestler. She must learn that the walk (what she wants) will only continue (her reward) if she is not pulling on her leash and on you. If your dog is a serious puller, start walking by a railing or fence that you can grab onto as you stop.

Resume walking only after your dog stops pulling on the leash.

As soon as she backs up — even a little bit — creating some slack on the leash, resume the walk with the phrase “let’s walk.” The minute she starts to pull on the leash again, you must hold your ground as before, continuing only once she backs up and creates slack on the leash.

Constantly talk to and praise your dog along the way.

This is a great way to keep him in tune with you and your pace. Just like a child, if you don’t pay attention to your dog, the message you give him is that he’s on his own and can do whatever he pleases. And when you ignore your dog as he’s walking correctly, and only give him attention when he’s walking incorrectly, he’ll be more prone to continue the unwanted behavior just so you’ll notice him! So stay focused on your dog during the walk and make calls on your cell phone at another time.

Most dogs respond very quickly to this method, and you will find that if you and everyone that walks your dog (don’t forget about the other family members and the dog walker) are consistent, you’ll soon look forward to the fun you’ll have on your walks together.

Sometimes the only humane thing to do is to put a dog to sleep. Just three weeks ago, Erica Daniel steeled herself to take that difficult step with Harper, a small puppy in her care.

Daniel, 26, fosters dogs that need serious help, and Harper had come to her in the most desperate of circumstances. On Aug. 31, a woman in Sanford, Fla., first encountered the little dog when she spotted a squirming garbage bag.

“There was a man outside the Save-A-Lot selling pit-bull puppies for $50 a pop,” Daniel explained. “This woman approached him and noticed a noise coming from a garbage bag he was holding. She asked him, ‘What’s in the bag?’ and he said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ ”

The woman pressed the issue and the man opened — and gave her — the contents of the bag. Inside was a puppy so deformed that it couldn’t walk or hold up its head. Shelter workers and veterinarians grimaced when they saw the dog and came to the same conclusion: It really should be euthanized.

That’s when Daniel, a regular at the local animal shelter, stepped in. She decided to take the puppy home for one full and final day of unabashed affection. “I had to show her what it was like to be loved,” Daniel said. “I’d planned on taking her home that night, letting her sleep in bed with us, and having her humanely euthanized in the morning.”

What a difference a day can make. Today, Harper is not only alive — she’s thriving. The frisky gray puppy is gaining more and more mobility each day, to the astonishment of onlookers and medical professionals.

Harper’s rapid recovery began on that initial day with Daniel. The puppy had been born with a condition commonly dubbed “swimmer puppy disorder,” and most dogs afflicted with it don’t survive. The formal name of Harper’s disorder, pectus excavatum, causes puppies to lie flat on their chests with their legs perpetually splayed out, as if they were humans — or perhaps frogs — swimming through water.

“The longer she was like that, the more she stayed in that position,” Daniel said. “It felt like rigor mortis — like her legs might break.”

Despite that, Daniel kept massaging Harper’s tight muscles, hoping to alleviate at least some of her stiffness and pain. Within just a few hours, Harper started lifting her head and looking around. Her front legs became more limber as well, so much so that she tried using them to walk and pull herself around.

Daniel’s reaction: “WHOA.”

Convinced that this determined little dog needed a second opinion, she canceled the following morning’s appointment and made a new, hopeful one with a veterinarian at the University of Florida. At first, the vet described the reasons Harper probably would need to be put to sleep. The list included the likelihood of degenerative bone disease, brain abnormalities and a severe heart murmur.

They decided to do a few tests just to be sure. And, as it turned out, the rumors of Harper’s demise were greatly exaggerated. Her organs were functioning just fine, and she had no heart murmur or serious brain abnormalities. The medical conditions she did have required treatment — but nothing that warranted putting her to sleep.

Some nice people at Hip Dog Canine Hydrotherapy & Fitness in Winter Park, Fla., heard about Harper and donated free hydrotherapy and massage therapy to the puppy. Harper responded remarkably well, and before long she actually started walking.

“She started out on grass, then carpet, then concrete,” Daniel said. “She still can’t walk on tile or hardwood floors, but she’s getting there.”

Bev McCartt, a Hip Dog therapist, explained that swimming has helped teach Harper what her natural gait should be.

“Her brain kicked in and by the end of her first session, she was like, ‘Oh, I can do this,’ ” McCartt said. “She’s a walking miracle. She’s a real testament to a dog’s determination to get up and just go.”

Today, Harper is about 11 weeks old, and she’s holding her own playing with the seven other dogs at Daniel’s home. Daniel estimates that Harper should be ready to be adopted in about a month — that is, if she can handle parting with her.

“Right now we’re saying that eventually she’ll be available for adoption because we haven’t made any decisions,” Daniel said. “If I give her up, that will make it possible for me to foster another dog. But she’s like a baby to me. I just don’t know!”

This is not the first time Daniel has taken on an impossibly sad case and witnessed an incredible transformation. In April of last year, she began fostering Dolly, a pit bull that had been used as a bait dog in a dog-fighting ring. Dolly’s injuries were severe; her mouth was so swollen that she couldn’t eat. With careful attention and lots of love, Dolly recovered. Today she’s a happy girl and an American Kennel Club-certified “Canine Good Citizen.” (You can watch a YouTube video about Dolly here.)

Dolly’s saga prompted Daniel to establish Dolly’s Foundation on Jan. 1 of this year. The organization rescues and rehabilitates homeless, neglected and abused American Pit Bull Terriers and other bully breed dogs, and it has plenty of puppies and dogs available for adoption.

“They’re just dogs,” Daniel said of pit bulls, noting the breed’s negative image. “Dogs need love, and they need homes.”

That’s certainly proven true in Harper’s case.

“The whole world was against her, but she’s such a fighter,” Daniel said. “She’s a blessing. She’s awesome.”

Here is a hilarious picture of a lizard posing for the camera. We think he has a strong future in reptile modelling.

When disaster strikes and people are buried in rubble, there’s often no better search tool than a dog’s nose.

It’s a valuable asset that has already been utilized several times this year. Trained search dogs, along with their human handlers, have provided help in high-profile disasters such as the Japan earthquake in March and the Joplin, Missouri, tornado in May.

“After a disaster, there is a window of opportunity for finding live people,” said Wilma Melville, founder of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. “The first eight hours are critical.”

There are about 250 search-and-rescue teams, each made up of a dog and a handler, that are certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But Melville says that’s half as many as there should be.

“Approximately 500 teams, I feel, would cover the country well for the hurricanes on the East Coast, the great center of the country, which is bombarded and tormented with tornadoes, and the West Coast, which can definitely anticipate earthquakes,” she said. “We should have about 500 teams, highly trained, strategically placed, ready to reach a disaster site within 12 hours.”

Since 1996, Melville and her organization have been creating and training more of these teams. It starts by finding shelter dogs with the potential to become search dogs. Then it trains the dogs and pairs them with a firefighter or rescue worker who will live, train and work with them.

“The Search Dog Foundation is the only group in the nation that gives a highly trained, professionally trained dog, to a handler and then stays with that handler for the rest of the team’s life together,” said Melville, 77. “We provide health insurance for the dog. … We provide food for the dog. The big thing is, we provide ongoing training for that dog and handler.”

Melville’s nonprofit has also streamlined the training process so that it can be done in about a year rather than the three or four years it once used to take.

In all, the group has trained 131 teams around the country — for free. It has responded to 80 missions around the world, including Japan, Joplin, last year’s Haiti earthquake and the September 11 attacks in New York City. But it was a 1995 tragedy — the federal building bombing in Oklahoma City — that inspired Melville to create it.

She and her black lab, Murphy, had been training together for several years before they made the trip to Oklahoma City to help find victims. Melville had started the training as a hobby after retirement, and she and Murphy were FEMA-certified in 1994.

After arriving in Oklahoma City, Melville said, she was devastated by the scope of the tragedy, in which 168 people were killed. One survivor was found by a dog, she said.

Later, Melville was surprised and outraged to learn that there were only about 15 similar canine teams in the country.

“We are a huge nation, and this one building alone requires far more than 15 dogs that are highly trained,” Melville remembered thinking. “This nation is in a terrible situation. …

“I said: “Well, there’s only one thing to do. I either go back to my horseback riding in the hills, or I make a difference and find a better way to create canine disaster search teams for this nation.’ ”

Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2012 CNN Heroes

The Search Dog Foundation receives no federal or state money. Melville said it’s funded by grants, donations, awards and corporate support. About 90% of the dogs that it trains come from shelters.

Hundreds of dogs are tested each year for training, but only a small amount get selected. Even fewer make it through the training. The dogs must have drive, focus and high energy, Melville said.

Eric Gray’s dog, Riley, was a former shelter dog rejected by two foster homes because he was deemed too hyper to be a pet. But his search-and-rescue training “gave him a purpose,” Gray said, adding that Riley has become an important partner in his efforts as a firefighter.

“(Riley) was able to focus the incessant drive … that he had, and (he was given) an opportunity to really blossom as a dog rather than just being handed from home to home,” Gray said. The two recently helped with search-and-rescue efforts in Haiti and Japan.

Veteran handler Debra Tosch searched the World Trade Center with her dog, Abby, after the September 11 attacks.

“When I rounded that corner and was a little overwhelmed by the enormity of it, Abby had just the opposite effect,” Tosch said. “She started pulling on the leash, saying: ‘Great! We finally get to go to work. Let’s go.’ … She got very excited.”

Melville said search efforts are usually fun for the dog “because they don’t get a paycheck. They get a toy, and the toy is their reward.”

Even after winning several awards for her work, Melville believes she is far from done. Her foundation is building a national training center on 125 acres of Santa Paula hills between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

“In my heart, the number 168 is forever engraved,” she said. “I still want to train 168 canine disaster search teams — one for each of the persons who died in Oklahoma City. …

“Now, I see that it is possible — it’s even likely — within my lifetime. I wonder who number 168 will be.”

Want to get involved? Check out the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation website at www.searchdogfoundation.org and see how to help.