Wednesday Pet Roundup

Hi and welcome to Wednesday Pet Roundup! Here's Kelly enjoying the fall leaves.

* USA Today Paw Print Post tells us of Bandit, a 15 pound terrier hero dog, who awakened the household by barking and jumping on the sleeping residents, to warn of dangerous smoke filling the kitchen (due to a neglected pot on the stove). Fortunately everyone--including Bandit--escaped safely.

* This is so funny, from The Oatmeal! How to Pet a Kitty. This cartoon includes whimsical instructions, and warnings, including: "An exposed belly is an invitation for a tummy rub. ...(it) can also mean that the kitty wants to ensnare you into a whiskered bear trap, composed of claws, teeth and agony.

* Why, according to Boston.com, was one MIT professor so taken with the way cats lap up water without getting their faces wet? Because these findings might help in developing soft robots that manipulate liquids.

* From SF Gate: a study by Sittercity.com found the best city to hire a pet sitter is Milwaukee, WI. This was calculated by number of pet sitters available, and average rate charged. Did your city make the top 10 list?

* Gotta love this picture (from the Huffington Post.) Dana Jennings, author of What a Difference a Dog Makes; Big Lessons on Life, Love and Healing from a Small Pooch, reflects on the four dogs who changed his life. Harry and Moxie, here, are definitely my favorites!

Hero dog Buddy leads troopers to fire

I was working out at the gym the other day, when I saw this clip on the news. Because I didn't have my headphones, I couldn't hear what the story was about. Why was that car chasing that dog?


When I got home and did some research, I discovered that the car wasn't chasing after the dog, but the dog was leading a police car through confusing back country roads in Alaska. Here's the amazing story:

On Sunday April 4th, Buddy the German Shepherd and his owner, 23-year old Ben Heinrichs were in the workshop of their home in Caswell Lakes, Alaska when a heater ignited chemicals in and started a raging fire. The owner, who suffered burns to his face, called 911.

Trouble is, the home was located in a forested area with many forks in the roads, and difficult to locate. Buddy took off, found a trooper responding to the call, and led him back to the house.

Buddy is being lauded as a hero.