Posts tagged "florida"

When it comes to the coveted Best in Show title at New York's illustrious Westminster Dog Show, it takes a precise blend of breeding, training and, of course, primping to impress the judges. Lucky for SeaWorld Orlando trainer Jamie Stanley-Bahnsen of Orlando, Florida, her Belgian Malinois, Harley, is all business when it's time to get in the ring.

Meet Harley
If the breed Belgian Malinois doesn't ring any bells, it's not just you. Although it bears a passing resemblance to the German shepherd, the Belgian Malinois isn't a breed you're likely to see at the dog park.

Like other members of the herding group, Harley's breed is best known for its high energy level and intelligence, two factors that some owners can find challenging. "They're a little like border collies in a way," Stanley-Bahnsen tells Paw Nation. "If they don't have a job, they'll find a job."

In fact, that's how Harley got his motorcycle-inspired name. When Harley was a puppy, Stanley-Bahnsen says he ran constantly at full throttle, circling around the yard. Fortunately, Harley mellowed out with time.

"He's a little unusual for a Malinois," says Stanley-Bahnsen. "Because if I want to sit on the couch for eight hours, he's fine with it. Or if I want to take him biking, he'll run for hours."

Brandie, the 11-year-old husky, is hoping for a last-minute reprieve from Gov. Charlie Crist's office. This one-time rescue pup has been awaiting her final punishment on death row for six months, per the unusually tough dangerous dog laws of Broward County, Fla.

According to the Sun Sentinel, Brandie was charged under the county's zero-tolerance law after a deadly run-in with an off-leash teacup poodle named Jack. State law allows a dog two attacks before declaring it dangerous. Broward County, however, allows only one and has put at least 56 dogs to sleep since the law's passage in May 2008.

Broward County's law states that any dog that seriously injures or kills a person or domesticated animal outside its owner's property receives an automatic death sentence, according to the Sun Sentinel. Brandie's owner, Lon Lipsky, thinks the county's one-strike-and-you're-out policy is unreasonable -- and he's not alone.

Brandie's Case
Brandie's deadly encounter occurred when she was being walked through her neighborhood by Lipsky's mother-in-law on a retractable leash, reports the Sun Sentinel. The poodle's owners say they were busy taking family pictures when Jack slipped out the front door. What happened next is the subject of debate.

Jack's owners claim that Brandie lunged onto their driveway "in a seamless motion, with no barking, no fighting and no sound, in an attack that finished in seconds," reports the Sun Sentinel. Brandie's owners, on the other hand, say the attack occurred on the public sidewalk. What's not up for debate, however, is that Jack didn't survive the encounter.

It's a victory for swine lovers everywhere.

Last fall we told you about Strawberri, a 300-pound Yorkshire pig who lived with a family in Southwest Ranches, Fla. After town officials told the Falk family that petite potbellied pigs were the only kind of porkers allowed in town, the family announced they'd move before they abandoned their beloved pet.

Seven months later, locals no longer have to worry about a 300-pound pig. Strawberri is now full-grown and 600 pounds! But she hasn't gone anywhere, and neither have the Falks. Last week, the Southwest Ranches town council voted unanimously to change the swine ordinance, making all pigs welcome in the Florida town, Miami's WTVJ reports.

As a piglet, Strawberri slept in bed with the Falks' daughter, Kai. Now that she's outgrown her bed, she stays out back in the barn, where she roams with the family's horses, goats and chickens.

"It was a relief. I'm excited it's over," owner Harmonee Falk told WTVJ. "It's something that should've happened a long time ago."

Looks like Strawberri can breathe a big squeal of relief.

Good news! There's finally a way to get your daily dose of puppy love, even if you aren't able to have one of your own.

A guide-dog school in Palmetto, Fla. has instituted a program that allows the public to help socialize its pups by letting dog lovers shower them with displays of affection. For five mornings each week, Southeastern Guide Dogs opens its doors to public. "We call it Puppy Hugging," says Southeastern Guide Dogs' PR Specialist Jennifer Bement. "We basically invite anybody in the neighborhood to come into our puppy playroom and sit on the floor, and then we let one of our litters out into the room."

Who wouldn't like to spend an hour or two each morning hugging puppies that are six- to nine-weeks-old? Sure, the love-fest would probably be embarrassing if it ever ended up on YouTube, but heh, it's for a good cause.

"It great for their guide-dog training," Bement tells Paw Nation, "It builds their confidence by getting the puppies used to different sights, smells, sounds and most importantly, different types of people." So not only can you get all the commitment-free hugs you can handle, but you can feel all magnanimous afterward.

As you might imagine, these puppy-hugging sessions are well attended by a wide range of dog lovers. "Yesterday a mother and her 18-month-old daughter came in to hug the puppies. Last week, a group from an assisted living facility came to visit the puppies, almost like a therapy session," says Bement.

The Florida family who was ready to move rather than give up their 300-pound pet pig may not have to pack up and leave after all.

After Rob Falk's family and their Yorkshire pig, Strawberri, made national headlines, their local town council in Southwest Ranches, Fla. decided it will consider changing its law banning all swine except for pot-bellied pigs, reports the Chicago Tribune.

The town had originally told the Falk family that they had until December 1 to find a new home for their pet, or face a fine of $100 per day. The Falks, who rent their home, consider Strawberri a part of the family and were prepared to uproot their lives to keep her. A vote on Strawberri's fate could come as early as January, but hopefully the Falk family and Strawberri will be able to enjoy the holidays at home. Town Councilman Doug McKay will testify before a magistrate to help the family get an extension on their deadline until the council can vote.

McKay said that at least ten other pigs who would be in violation of the code also live in the town so it was unfair to single out the Falks. Town officials responded that they don't typically go around counting swine.

"Strawberri is pretty big, but she's like a big puppy," the Falk's 11-year -old daughter Kai told the Tribune. "This is putting a lot of stress on me and Strawberri.

What do you do when your house isn't zoned for keeping pigs? If you're Rob Falk of Southwest Ranches, Florida, the decision is simple: You move.

Last week, city council officials gave Falk and his family 30 days to remove their pet pig, Strawberry, from their home, Fox News reported. But Falk balked at the suggestion.

Falk, his wife and their young daughter plan to leave their rented home -- and they're taking Strawberry with them, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.

The town does allow one pet pot-bellied pig per household, according to the Sun Sentinel. But Strawberry is no petite pot-bellied. She's a Yorkshire pig, and at nine months old already weighs 300 pounds. As a full-grown porker, she'll tip the scales at 400 to 500 pounds and sport a seriously big pair of tusks -- attributes that led the town council to vote down the pig.

For Falk, the choice was clear. "How do you tell somebody to get rid of one of their animals? The pig is like one of our children," he told the Sun Sentinel.

"Your car is meowing."

That's what the note on Patrick Mills's car said when he came out of a movie theater in Destin, Fla. this past Saturday. Little did Mills anticipate a two day long rescue of a month-old kitten that had gotten itself trapped in his cylinder block. Here's how the rescue mission went down as reported by the Destin Log:

First, Mills contacted the professionals anecdotally known for cat rescue: firefighters. Their initial strategy involved disassembling portions of the car to reach the cat and remove it from the vehicle's guts. But the spooked kitten wouldn't surrender to her rescuers. Concerned passersby stopped to try their hands; employees from local restaurants brought tuna and milk to use as bait; but nothing did the trick. By nightfall, the firefighters had given up and the cat was still stuck. Not wanting to risk harming the cat by driving the car, Mills called for a ride home where he contemplated new ways to extract the kitten.

The next day, Mills called the other experts who logically seemed suited to help: auto body shops on the one hand, and veterinarians on the other. No one that he called was of any assistance. But finally, real help came from Tami Baker, who was volunteering in the adoption center at a Petsmart close to Mills's kitten-clutched car. Though at first she was as stumped as everyone else who tried to rescue the kitten, Baker ultimately came up with a solution that was simplicity itself.

She chased the cat out of the car by simply rattling a bent wire hanger in the cylinder block.

The cat, now named Lucky, remains in Baker's care while awaiting adoption. It's an apt name, given the kind cat lovers who were around to ensure her safe extraction.

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One of these things is not like the other: jellyfish, booze, and a pocketknife.

Okay, so maybe none of them are like the other, but for 41-year-old Keith Edward Marriott, grouping them together seemed like a good idea. According to the St. Petersburg Times, Marriott, who had reportedly been drinking since 9 AM, was pretending to drown beachside before he began throwing jellyfish at nearby teenagers. And while we agree that the combination of sea creatures and booze is a surefire way to take out one's aggression on pesky young'uns, it didn't bode well for Marriot who was later revealed to be carrying a pocketknife in his shorts -- no, we're not being cheeky.

Maybe next time he'll stick to seaweed and ginger ale.

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How would you react if you received a phone call informing you that your missing dog or cat had turned up 1,000 miles away from home? You'd feel the obvious relief, tempered with a great deal of confusion about how your plucky pooch or frisky feline could have traveled such a distance.

That's about how Jodi Head of Dallas, Tex. felt this week when a man found Head's beloved Yorkie, Sunshine, in Miami Beach, Fla., reports CBS4 Miami. Club promoter Micha Porat saw Sunshine roaming the streets and brought her to a vet. Luckily, Sunshine was microchipped and quickly traced back to Head, who reunited with her pup on Monday. Head rewarded Porat with $200, though according to the AP, he spent $100 flying Sunshine home to Dallas.

Reportedly, Head can't explain how Sunshine disappeared from Dallas and reappeared in Miami Beach, but according to the Miami Herald, "neighbors recently hosted some Sunshine State visitors," and "that's the only connection she can make" between Sunshine and Miami. Maybe the aptly-named pup was heeding the call of the Sunshine State!

In the meantime, the real lesson here seems to be: Microchip your dog or cat!

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In medicine, even a minor problem can lead to complications or malpractices that result in the unexpected death of a loved one. We are, at least on some level, conditioned for the possibility. But we don't expect to bring an animal companion to a vet for something fairly routine and then find our pet unnecessarily and accidentally put down. But according to a report in the St. Petersburg Times, Maria Velez and her young son lived that very nightmare when their cat, Buddy, was euthanized by a local animal shelter after a paperwork mix-up.

The unfortunate sequence of events that ended with Buddy's untimely death began when Velez asked a friend, Debra Yarzab, to look after Buddy while she was out of town. Yarzab agreed and went to Velez's house each day to feed and play with the lonesome but friendly cat. During one of these visits, Buddy bit Yarzab. She ignored it as a non-incident, but a few days later the bite wound had swelled, sending her to the doctor.

By this time, Velez had returned home. Because Buddy hadn't been vaccinated and his bite required medical attention, the health department ordered Velez to bring him to Hernando County Animal Services for quarantine pending testing for rabies. The tests eventually showed that Buddy was disease free, and he was cleared to go home.

Normally, this is where the story ends.

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A pet albino Burmese python strangled to death a two-year-old girl in her Oxford, FL. home last week. After the python's owner, Charles Darnell, awoke to find the snake's terrarium empty, he immediately ran to his girlfriend's daughter's crib to find the 8-foot python wrapped around the child. He stabbed the snake in an attempt to pry it from the girl while others dialed 911. Unfortunately, the girl was already dead when emergency crews arrived at the scene. The snake apparently had escaped and attacked the child during the night.

Darnell did not have a permit for his pet python as dictated by Florida law for all pets classified as "Reptiles of Concern" by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), nor was the pet housed under lock-and-key conditions as required. The necessary permit entails an annual $100 fee and an application that demonstrates the applicant understands the requirements for care of a Reptile of Concern. Darnell may face charges for child endangerment as well as FWC violations.