A bug-eyed, dreadlocked pooch called Scamp the Tramp took top honours on Friday at the 31st annual World's Ugliest Dog contest. Scamp beat 18 other contestants at the event, held in Northern California. Organisers say the contest is about bringing attention to the needs of rescue dogs.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Dogs
Scamp the Tramp is champ at World’s Ugliest Dog Contest
- California competition highlights plight of rescue dogs
- Owner: ‘I think the audience saw his beautiful spirit’
Scamp the Tramp, a bug-eyed, dreadlocked pooch, took top honours on Friday at the 31st annual World’s Ugliest Dog Contest.
Owner Yvonne Morones won an appearance with Scamp on the Today show, $1,500 in cash, $1,500 to donate to an animal shelter and a trophy the size of a rottweiler.
Continue reading...Dogs, a horse and a goat go to the polls – in pictures
Pets accompany their owners across the UK as the nation votes in the European elections
• This article was amended on 23 May 2019 to remove an image taken at the local elections in the UK in May
Continue reading...Women shouldn’t have to tell abortion stories to remind lawmakers they’re human
#YouKnowMe is both powerful and profoundly depressing – women shouldn’t have to justify wanting bodily autonomy
Sign up for the Week in Patriarchy, a newsletter on feminism and sexism sent every Saturday.
Continue reading...Dogs can smell when seizures are about to begin, scientists find
Scent linked to epileptic seizures could mean dogs can be trained to warn owners
Dogs can detect a telltale scent linked to epileptic seizures, scientists have discovered, raising the possibility that they could be trained to reliably warn owners when a seizure is imminent.
The findings may also help explain anecdotal reports that dogs are able to sense when their owner is about to have a seizure. Knowing when a seizure is going to occur could allow people with epilepsy to have greater control and independence, meaning they could take measures to avoid injury, seek help or take medication.
Continue reading...China clones ‘Sherlock Holmes’ police dog to cut training times – report
Kunxun was cloned from a police sniffer dog in Beijing but cost of process remains an obstacle
Scientists in south-west China’s Yunnan province have reportedly cloned what they called the “Sherlock Holmes of police dogs” in a programme they hope will help cut training times and costs for police dogs.
The dog, named Kunxun, was cloned from a police sniffer dog by the Beijing-based Sinogene Biotechnology Company and the Yunnan Agricultural University, with support from the Ministry of Public Security, the state-owned tabloid Global Times reported.
Continue reading...Šediváčkuv long sled dog race 2019 – in pictures
Only half of the 100 ‘mushers’ who braved one of Europe’s toughest sled dog races, the Czech long trail, finished the competition, which was hit by severe weather
Continue reading...They look cute, but should we rescue Romania’s street dogs?
Well-meaning Britons are saving abused dogs from hellish public pounds and death by cannibalism. So why are they making some experts anxious?
On a dank, dreary winter afternoon, I have come to a farmyard in Essex, just outside the M25, to meet – among others – Karine, Anna, Tommy Lee and Eskimo Joe. Tommy Lee and Eskimo Joe are from Romania, and are dogs. Rescue animals, hoping (if dogs can hope) to be adopted. Tommy Lee is missing a front leg – most probably from a traffic accident in Brasov, Transylvania – but is cheerful, inquisitive and friendly. Eskimo Joe is older, a little overweight, obstinate, camera-shy, resigned. I worry that potential adopters might not fall in love with Eskimo Joe.
Karine and Anna Hauser are Swiss-Finnish sisters (human) and run the charity Love Underdogs. Animal lovers, they were originally visiting a sanctuary in Romania for abused bears from all over the world. But they couldn’t ignore the dogs, and started to work with a shelter in Brasov, 100 miles north of Bucharest, and to bring to the UK for rehoming some of the most unwanted, abused and neglected ones. Love Underdogs is just one of dozens of charities in Britain importing rescue dogs from abroad – from Greece, Cyprus, Bosnia, and particularly from Romania, which has one of the biggest street-dog problems in Europe.
Continue reading...Commenter Lizzie Has A Question About Dogs and Cats Living Together
As we wait for 3:00 PM EDT to roll around and begin the Friday afternoon news breakening, we could use a new thread. And since commenter Lizzie's question deserves some broader exposure than the few folks who've seen it buried in the comments to the previous thread , here it is: Since it's an open threada .sorry in advance for the long post, especially by a lurker who rarely posts! But there are a lot of knowledgeable animal lovers here and I'd love some advice about whether to pursue adopting two dogs.
Trump needs a pet in the White House
I'm referring, of course, to the lack of a White House pet for the first time in more than 150 years. Even Vice President Mike "Bonecrusher" Pence has famously installed two cats, a rabbit and a snake in the official residence on the U.S. Naval Observatory grounds.