August 15 - It appears that the dreaded dog flu has re-emerged in Virginia as numerous cases of the virus have been reported.

According to health officials in Fairfax County at least 6 cases of H3N8 virus, have been reported, resulting in the closure of a kennel in the area.

Currently as many as 26 dogs are in quarantine at the Fairfax county Animal Shelter as they were also exposed to the virus that has killed one animal already.

The virus is highly contagious amongst dogs, but humans can not contract it.

"It's a situation where we do need to alert the public. Now it's out there, and people need to look for symptoms," said Lucy Caldwell, Fairfax police spokeswoman.

The virus, presents with flu like symptoms, including; fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, tiredness, nasal discharge, and thirst.

July 27 – A dog has become the surrogate mother of three lions and a tiger cub.

The Hefei Zoo in China now has an odd family staying at the zoo. A stray dog is now the surrogate mother of lion triplets and a tiger cub.

After the cub's mothers had abandoned them the zoo found a dog that had just finished weaned her own pups off of her milk.

According to the zoo staff, the dog feeds, cleans and treats the cubs just like they were her own pups.

While this doesn't happen often, Chinese zoos have been known to pour dog urine on baby animals that have been abandoned by their mother. This helps the surrogate mother become more comfortable with their new children.

The stray dog, who is still unnamed, is expected to nurse the cubs for about a month or until she cannot produce enough milk to keep up with their growing appetites.

July 23 - On Friday, animal behavioural experts will begin assessing the more than 400 dogs that were seized earlier this month. The dogs were taken from alleged dog fighting Missouri and Illinois.

Most of the dogs that were seized were primarily pit bulls and they were taken to an emergency shelter in St. Louis operated by the Humane Society of Missouri, which played a primary role in the raid.

The Humane Society is looking to for help from other rescue groups from around the country, however, they have only heard from about a dozen so far. Debbie Hill, vice president of the Humane Society of Missouri said, "We're going to need a whole lot of new friends to help the animals in this case. There are so many more in this unprecedented raid."

July 9 – This morning officers seized 20 dogs that they consider are of dangerous breeds from 12 locations.

Operation Navara objective is to target "weapon dogs", which were believed to be used for fighting or to intimidate people.

20 dogs were taken from 12 different locations in south London. There were 20 pitbull terriers including a litter of puppies.

Wearing protective gear, padded sleeves and carrying fire extinguishers, handlers managed to get the dogs out of the homes and into cages with the aid of restraining poles.

Since March the Metropolitan Status Dog Unit has seized 273 dogs and 240 of them were pitbulls.

Lambeth North Superintendent Clive Wakeley said: “Gangs carry knives and guns and keep pit bulls as a weapon and as a status symbol.”

The animals will be examined by the Met's Status Dog Unit before a court hearing to decide their fate. This could mean that some or all of the dogs could be put down. These dogs are banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

July 9 - Calgary police are investigating a fellow police officer after he fatally kicked a dog.

On Sunday, July 5, Doug Shields took his dog Harley off his leash to let him in the house, when Harley dashed off to investigate another dog that he noticed.

According to Shields, Harley and the other dog were sniffing each other and when Shields took his eyes off the two dogs, he heard Harley yelp. Moments later, Harley was dead.

Shields yelled to the owner of the other dog, "Well, what the hell did you do to my dog?"

The other man (an off-duty police officer) replied, "Well, I kicked him. He deserved it, he attacked my dog," as he walked away.

Moments later, the 3-year-old lab was dead.

Shields said, "It's upsetting that someone else who is a dog owner would just walk away and refuse to leave any information. The callousness of that is just incredible. The fact that it's a police officer is disappointing." He later added, "I was within 30 feet of it, I saw this. There was no bite, there was no fight."

July 7 - Nearly 500 dogs were seized from a kennel near Bowie, Texas on Tuesday, July 7.

At 9:45 am Montague County Sheriff Paul Cunningham carried out the warrant and searched the Maggic Pets/Heddins Kennel.

While searching the 254-acre farm police found 497 dogs, however, police believe that there may be more dogs to be found. They also said that they found dogs with missing open sores, missing limbs and bones and they even found at least 4 dead dogs.

Cunningham said, “There is grass back there up to my shoulders. We have no idea how many dogs could be back there.” He later said that this is possibly the largest puppy mill ever in the state of Texas.

So far, no charges have been made, police are saying that their main concern at this time is to make sure that the dogs are taken care of.

July 6 - City officials in Lincoln, Nebraska are looking to crack down on irresponsible dog owners. They are saying that dog bites are occurring not just because of vicious dog breeds but also because of careless owners who let their dogs run wild.

The health department has a list of other possible changes to existing dog laws.

Some of these suggestions are:
- Charging repeat offenders with being “reckless owners” and impounding their animals if animal ordinances are violated three times within 24 months.

- Increasing fines for having dogs at large, menacing and biting.

- Requiring dogs to be physically restrained while outside on an owner’s property. If an owner was present, the restraint could be a leash rather than a fence. Currently, dogs can be unrestrained on their owner’s property when the owner is with the dog.

June 23 - Results of an Associated Press poll show that half of all American pet owners view their pets as part of their family.

The majority of us would do anything for another family member, and more often than not this devotion will bubble over when it comes to our pets.

Too often examples of how much a pet means to a family are exhibited, the most common example of which would probably have to be the vet office.

As a whole, we spend millions on veterinary care each and every year, now if we didn't love our pets as much as we do would we spend that kind of money?

In addition, 36% of poll respondants considered their pets part of their family, but not fully. Does this mean that a pet owner falling into this category would not pay a big vet bill to save their pet's life?

June 22 - A dog walker has been trampled to death by a herd of stampeeding cattle.

The woman was walking her dogs through a field in North Yorkshire when something startled the cows who took off in a frenzy.

According to police, the cattle were spooked upon seeing the 2 dogs who were on leashes.

"She was surrounded by a herd of cattle and calves, and as a result of dogs being present the cattle reacted in an aggressive manner," a spokeswoman for North Yorkshire police said.

This is not the first time that an incident similar to Sundays has been reported in England.

Last year another woman was killed by a herd of stampeeding cows in Suffolk.

Presidential Pet Dog Bo Has His Very Own Baseball Card

June 20 - The new pet dog attained by the Obama family will have his very own baseball card.

Bo Obama will have his very own trading card, which says on it that you can call him the "first dog of the United States."

We're not sure how that will go over with the millions of dogs that have preceded Bo, but what we can say is that no dog has it better than Bo right now.

One side of the card, shows Bow sitting on the White House lawn with his tongue hanging out, while the other side of the card features all his particulars.

For those wanting to read up on Bo's breed, visit our portuguese water dog page