Dogs! In the News!
Dog Flu in New York City
It’s finally happened. Veterinary health officials have identified a potentially lethal strain of dog flu in New York City.
This past month more than 30 cases in Brooklyn were confirmed in the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods. Three more were reported in lower Manhattan and one on Long Island. I wasn’t able to find more up-to-date numbers.
The virus, which originated in Asia, first broke out in the US in 2015, with thousands of pets falling ill in Chicago and the Midwest and cases reported in at least a dozen states — including New York. Urban Dog first reported on it here, here, and here.
There is a flu vaccine for dogs. Bodhi got it last year. You should discuss the shot with your vet, as its efficacy is not all that certain. Also while the virus is in the area, you should limit the amount of socializing your dog does.
Check the Mayor’s Alliance for Animals for more info about dog flu in New York, including news on vaccination clinics. And here’s more from the New York Times and the New York Post.
Also, you may have read recently that dog flu is going to give rise to the next flu pandemic among humans. National Geographic says that’s highly unlikely. Read about that here.
Airline News
Delta Air Lines is investigating the death of an eight-year-old Pomeranian during a layover at Detroit’s airport. The flight was on its way from Phoenix to Newark. The dog, named Alejandro, was found dead in its carrier in a cargo facility at the airport.
Here are the details from the New York Post.
In a related story, United Airlines has reached a settlement with the owners of a dog who died on a flight from Houston to New York.
A ten-month-old French bulldog named Kokito was died in the overhead bin of the flight after a flight attendant told the passenger to put it there. Here’s more from CNN.
Check out Urban Dog’s complete guide to flying with your dog here.
Peak Cuteness is the Key to Survival
Scientists speculate that dogs evolved a unique trait geared toward their survival as a species: “peak cuteness.”
From National Geographic:
For the study, researchers Clive Wynne at Arizona State, Nadine Chersini at Utrecht University, and Nathan Hall at Texas Tech University brought in 51 college students and asked them to rate the attractiveness of headshots of puppies at different ages. The pups, which ranged from birth to seven months old, spanned three popular dog breeds, including Jack Russell terriers, cane corsos, and white shepherd dogs. The participants were asked to judge the puppies’ “attractiveness” rather than “cuteness,” because “we wanted to keep it neutral,” Wynne tells National Geographic. “We didn’t want to nudge people toward infantile features.”
The researchers thought that people would find pups most attractive between two and three months old. That’s around weaning age, the time when the puppies are abandoned by their mothers and need another caretaker to survive.
So that explains why cavemen adopted the feral dogs hanging around their camps, scrounging for scraps.
They were CUTE!
Read more from National Geographic here.
Dogs in Hawai’i Escape Lava
https://nypost.com/2018/05/15/missing-dogs-stranded-near-hawaii-lava-flow-rescued-after-10-days/
Two dogs who were missing for 10 days in the chaos of volcano evacuations in Hawaii were pulled to safety on Sunday morning after the animals were “surrounded by lava,” rescuers said. Here’s their Instagram.
Carol Hosley, the owner of the dogs named Brus and Little Dude, was evacuating from her apartment in Leilani Estates when the two dogs ran off in fear. Hosley and Aloha Ilio Rescue, the local nonprofit from which the pups were adopted six months ago, searched for the dogs — Brus, a Jack Russell terrier-pug mix, and Little Dude, a terrier mix — for more than a week as volcanic fissures continue to open up on Hawaii’s Big Island.
The Tail Part 1: Dog Saves Friend from Drowning
A family’s security cam caught this footage of a dog saving his buddy from drowning in a pool.
As if we needed more proof that dogs are the most amazing creatures!
The Tail Part 2: O Solo Mio!
I defy you not to laugh when you hear Walter the Frenchie singing opera.
