Hero Pets

Roxie, Coco, Carley, Mocha, Skeem, Moby and Pearl are all pit bull terrier rescues and crucial members of the Pit Crew, an all-pit-bull therapy group associated with Love-A-Bull, a non-profit pit-bull-advocacy group based in Austin, Texas. These spunky dogs belong to a breed believed by many to be misunderstood and misrepresented, a breed with as many detractors as defenders.

Love-A-Bull was formed as a spin-off from the Austin American Pit Bull Terrier Meet-Up Group that started in 2003. Lydia Zaidman, an attorney and pit-bull rescuer in Austin, began Love-A-Bull to educate the public about the breed, dispel rumors about pit bulls, advocate against Breed Specific Legislation (BSL), and support spaying and neutering for all dogs. Zaidman wasn't surprised when after extensive research, she learned that pit bulls were the second most common dogs used in therapy work.

Zaidman fought an uphill battle as she tried to introduce the idea of a therapy group made up of pit bulls and pit-bull mixes. Zaidman had her work cut out for her when she first approached local owners about bringing in therapy trained pit bulls into their establishments. "We keep trying to find ways to do good things like celebrate Pit Bull Awareness Day."

Yesterday we shared with you the video of a heroic chihuahua who chased off a couple of armed thugs robbing a smoke shop. If you're like us, you wanted to know more about this ferocious little pooch. His name is Paco and he's taken the Internet by storm. His sudden rise to fame even landed him a spot on "Good Morning America" yesterday so the world could get to know him a little better. Interestingly, everyone who knows Paco was shocked at his actions. They say he's normally very mellow, which is rather evident as he dozes off on the "Good Morning America" couch. Watch the video to learn more about this hero pet.

Picture this: a coupla chuckleheads bust into a bodega waving guns and demanding cash. As the frightened clerk moves to empty the till, an alert and angry guard dogs rushes the perps baring its teeth and barking ferociously. The burglars book it out of the joint empty-handed with the dog still in pursuit.

OK, now think about the guard dog you just pictured? A doberman? A rottweiler? Perhaps a German shepherd? Oh, you stereotyping fool, you. I bet you never thought this could be the work of a big, mean, fierce, nasty... chihuahua.

There are a few things going on in this video that really add some juice to the narrative. First, we love that the clip opens on a shot of the baby bird to establish what's going to happen, then pans up to the orangutan to show him picking his nose and eating his boogies. It really lowers your expectations for what this ape is capable of accomplishing. Then he immediately confounds your expectations by not only noticing and trying to save the bird, but adorably doing it using a tool (the leaf). Then there's a wonderfully tense moment when the orangutan picks up the bird and everyone gasps because they assume he's going to eat it or otherwise destroy it. But no, he gingerly sets it on the ground. Did you, like the people in the crowd, think he was going to eat the bird? Why don't you take a good, hard look at yourself, and ask yourself why you're always prejudging orangutans?

"The United States spent millions of dollars developing a space pen that could write in the anti-gravity of space. Russia used pencils."

So goes the apocryphal story about fiscally irresponsible American ingenuity. It was brought to mind again this week, although this time by the world-famously efficient Germans. While we may spend enormous amounts of time and energy training dogs to sniff out anything from drugs to bombs to, yes, dead bodies, the Germans have decided to just let nature work for them. That's why they're using vultures to help find corpses.

According to the BBC, three vultures named Columbo, Miss Marple and Sherlock are being trained at Germany's Walsrode bird park to help police search for dead bodies. The experiment is based on the idea that the airborne buzzards can outsniff police dogs for cases involving large search areas and/or difficult-to-navigate terrain.

While innovative, the concept isn't perfect. For one thing, there is concern that, as scavengers, the vultures may try to eat any corpses they manage to locate. Also, it seems that Sherlock is more keen on hunting by foot rather than in the air, which sort of defeats the whole purpose of avian corpse-sniffers. The training is currently ongoing.