News

Helping Paw

December 31, 2020

A Girl Scout project that calls for making a lasting improvement to the community has generated a young local author and an educational children’s book that she hopes will pass on some of what she has learned. Catherine Bezio, a high school senior who lives in Erving, has been training service dogs since she was […]

Dogs Ease Pandemic Isolation

December 31, 2020

Eileen Nagle sees her family in video chats and drive-by visits, but that hasn’t made up for the lack of warm hugs in the nine months since the pandemic led her nursing home to shut its doors to visitors. Enter Zeus. “Zeus is a friendly little snowball, very happy,” said Nagle, 79, after the peppy […]

Pets Being Recognized

December 31, 2020

It has long been established that dogs are “man’s best friend,” but animals in general have been a part of human society since the dawn of humankind thousands of years ago. Domesticated animals helped our fledgling species in so many ways: cats reduced rodent populations allowing for safer food storage and disease prevention; dogs served […]

Service Dogs

December 31, 2020

ECAD, Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities held two team training sessions in October and December, placing five service dogs and two facility dogs in new homes. The sessions were unusual, because the five service dogs placed were successor dogs – five amazing canines stepping into the paw prints of the five amazing service dogs who […]

New Furry Companion

December 31, 2020

A Panhandle veteran is overcoming his recently worsened PTSD with the help of a new best friend. What seemed like a normal drive home from work for Jose Flores turned into a PTSD nightmare. A Dumas fire he drove by brought back some of the horrors he faced fighting overseas for our country. “The smell […]

Home For Strays

December 31, 2020

A stray dog and cat were neutered for free at an animal rescue center in the Pudong New Area, as the neutering reservation service for the public issued on WeChat account “ala_chong” was launched yesterday. The male dog was recently taken in by a Shanghai Public Security Bureau dog shelter, and was quarantined for seven […]

Service Animals On Planes

December 30, 2020

Those days of taking peacocks and pot-belly pigs as service animals on airplanes are over according to the Department of Transportation. Tony Stokes trains dogs everyday, one wagging tail at a time. They sit, jump and come. “Dogs can be very easy to train because they are constantly seeking reward, just like we are,” said […]

Support Animals In Michigan

December 30, 2020

A plan to limit the use of emotional support animals in Michigan will not become law. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed House Bill 4910 on Wednesday, which would have required people to obtain a disability diagnosis to receive an emotional support animal and made it a crime to falsely claim a pet is an providing emotional support. […]

Dogs Provide More Than Comfort

December 30, 2020

The news came on December 21, the shortest day of what has been the longest year of our lives. The vet confirmed our worst fears. Our stalwart COVID canine companion, “Tashi,” an 11-year-old yellow lab, has a rare form of cancer, one beyond the abilities of veterinary medicine to cure. The only good news is […]

Hospitals’ Pet Pals

December 30, 2020

The Pet Pals haven’t been able to visit the hospital because of the pandemic, but that didn’t stop them from dressing up and spreading holiday cheer All year long, the specially trained Pet Pals at University Hospitals help to bring joy and reduce stress in hospital patients. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic however, the Pet Pals […]