Salt Lake County sheriff’s deputies have booked a 17-year-old boy into a juvenile detention center and are questioning another teen in connection with a burglary and beating last month that left a small dog clinging to its life. In August, the Kunz family, of Riverton, returned from a vacation to Yellowstone National Park to find their only pet, Ranger, beaten and lying in a pool of his blood after an apparent burglary. The dog - a 2 1/2 -year-old, 13-pound cocker spaniel-poodle mix (or “cockapoo”) - was in the middle of a seizure when the family returned on Aug. The family did not find a weapon and suspected Ranger had gotten inside after the burglars had broken in, then abused the dog with their hands and possibly picked him up and thrown him. read more

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NWjobs | NWautos | NWhomes | NWapartments | NWsource | Classifieds | seattletimes. A DNA test showed the dog, Batman, has traces of six breeds, ranging from a 10-pound Italian greyhound to a 185-pound mastiff. Mars Veterinary, which estimates that half the country’s 70 million dogs are mixed breed, expects a growing market for its Wisdom Panel MX test, said veterinarian and geneticist Angela Hughes, an independent contractor who helped develop Wisdom Panel. Oberlin, Ohio, veterinarian Emily Nicely said that since the test is not 100 percent accurate, she worries it might incorrectly determine that a dog is a pit bull, for example, and force the owner to get additional insurance. Batman’s owner, Limkemann, runs a nonprofit dog-rescue operation and would test her foster dogs if the test were cheaper. read more

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Moses Chia

The trick of “sitting up” is easily taught to small dogs, but should try not be included in a big dog’s education, as it is difficult for them to preserve their balance.

The training of sitting up is one of the first tricks to teach and forms the groundwork for many other dog tricks. To train a dog to sit up, prepare some treats as a reward, and set your dog on his haunches in a corner, so that he cannot fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no space to lose balance.

Keep him from pitching forward by holding one hand under his chin and with the other hand hold the treat above his nose and keep repeating distinctly and deliberately say, “sit up.” Do not make him sit up too long at any one time, but repeat the lesson frequently and reward him often with plentiful of praise and treats.

During his first lesson he will require considerable assistance from your hand to prevent him from pitching forward, but as he gets control of the balancing muscles and understands what you want, he will depend less and less upon your hand to keep him in position and you can gradually render him less assistance until you will only have to keep one hand in position two or three inches from his neck or chin, so as to be ready to prevent him pitching forward; later on you can withdraw this hand entirely and simply hold the treat just above the level of his head.

By constant practice he will sit up well after you set him up; then he should be set up against the wall, so as to afford him a support for his back only, and after he has been well schooled at this and can keep his position easily, practice him against chair legs, cushions or other objects that afford him less and less assistance, until finally he learns to preserve his balance and sits up without anything to lean against.

During all these lessons the words “sit up” have been impressed upon his mind by frequent repetition, and now comes the final lesson to teach him to sit up as soon as he hears the words, and the chances are, if he has been diligently drilled, it will be necessary only to call him out in the room, show him a treat, hold it up a suitable distance from the floor, say “sit up” and he will do so, when he should be given the treat while still in position.

The only necessity to perfection is to practice him several times a day until he will sit up at the word and without being shown a reward; that can be given him after he has obeyed.

You have now a foundation for many other tricks. He can be taught to beg by moving your hand up and down just in front of his paws, which he will move in unison with yours. He can also be taught to salute by bringing one paw up to the side of his head, or to hold a wooden pipe in his mouth, or to wear a cap on his head or other articles of wearing apparel.

In teaching a dog to submit to being dressed up, do not attempt to get him to wear too many things at once; try him at first with a cap and after he becomes accustomed to that you can put on a coat and gradually accustom him to the other clothing articles.

Enjoy teaching your dog the “sit up” trick and most importantly have fun along the way!

About the Author

Moses Chia is a dog lover and owner of DogsObedienceTraining.com - The dog training resource site for a happier and healthier dog. You are welcome to reprint this article if you keep the content and live link intact.

AMES, Iowa - A fire at an apartment in Ames has killed a dog and three cats. Officials with the Ames Fire Department say crews were called to the apartment Friday afternoon. The fire was contained to the apartment. Officials say it appears the fire started in the kitchen. The apartment, one of six in the building, was destroyed. Get Chicago Tribune home delivery and save big. read more

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Four-chinned delegates from places like Arkansas and Georgia are pouring joyously out the gates in search of bars where they can load up on Zombies and Scorpion Bowls and other “wild” drinks and extramaritally grope their turkey-necked female companions in bathroom stalls as part of the “unbelievable time” they will inevitably report to their pals back home. You can send their kids off by the thousands to get their balls blown off in foreign lands for no reason at all, saddle them with billions in debt year after congressional year while they spend their winters cheerfully watching game shows and football, pull the rug out from under their mortgages, and leave them living off their credit cards and their Wal-Mart salaries while you move their jobs to China and Bangalore. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she’s the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV -and this country is going to eat her up, cheering her every step of the way. Until the Alaska governor actually ascended to the podium that night, I was convinced that John McCain had made one of the all-time campaign season blunders, that he had acted impulsively and out of utter desperation in choosing a cross-eyed political neophyte just two years removed from running a town smaller than the bleacher section at Fenway Park. It even crossed my mind that there was an element of weirdly self-destructive pique in McCain’s decision to cave in to his party’s right-wing base in this fashion, that perhaps he was responding to being ordered by party elders away from a tepid, ideologically promiscuous hack like Joe Lieberman — reportedly his real preference — by picking the most obviously unqualified, doomed-to-fail joke of a Bible-thumping buffoon. Palin was chosen precisely because she is such a disaster - if McSame were to actually win this election, he would be guaranteed to stay in office because of her inability to understand even the most basic issues. read more

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Rick Gettle

Never Give Up
Persisting With Bulldog Determination By Rick Gettle

Ninety-five percent of all new businesses go out of business within the first five years or less.

Why Do They Fail?

There are many starters in life - but very few finish what they start. When the going gets tough, most people fold. They don’t persist hard enough or persevere long enough. They don’t have a red-hot flaming burning desire to succeed. They don’t make it their definite major purpose. They don’t take enough personal initiative to make it happen - they don’t go the extra mile. They don’t want it bad enough. They don’t have enough self-control and discipline. Shall I go on? I could write a book on why so many people fail, but I’d rather talk about those who succeed.

There Are Three Kinds Of People

People who make things happen - people who watch someone else make it happen - and people who don’t know what’s happening.

The Make-It-Happen People

Thomas Edison persisted through 4,999 different attempts to invent and perfect the incandescent lamp. He finally succeeded on his 5,000th attempt. This is a recorded fact.

What do you suppose he had that others didn’t have? Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.

“Never, never, never, never give up”. Winston Churchill

“The majority of people meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail” - Napoleon Hill

What Is Persistence?

It is the power to hold on in spite of everything, to endurethis is the winner’s quality. Persistence is the ability to face defeat again and again without giving upto push on in the face of great difficulty. Persistence means taking pains to overcome every obstacle, to do all that’s necessary to reach you goals.

To go on resolutely — in spite of difficulties - endurance. Having a fixed purpose — free from doubt or wavering. Firm in adherence to whatever one is bound to by duty or promise. Stubborn - Unyielding - never giving up - never surrendering - willing to die for.- never to yielding to physical force - even when tortured - would rather die than betray or give up information. Refusing to relent. To be steadfast in purpose - To prevail, endure, remain, last.

The Greatest Tragedy In Life

Millions of people come into this world and leave this world and never ever realize or develop their full powers and potential. They bargained in life for a penny, and life would pay no more, not realizing that any wage they would have asked of life - life would have gladly paid. Some of those people never even tried, they just settled for mediocrity. Others, got a dream, an idea, a desire or goal, and decided to go for it, but then dropped out when the going got tough. There are many starters in life, but very few finish. Too many people give up on their dreams too soon in life.

No matter what the level of our ability, we have more potential than we can ever develop in a lifetime. Deep within every man and woman dwells those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish them, which they never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize their life if aroused and put into action.

Potential means: undeveloped — and unrealized — powers, possibilities, and capabilities — that can — but have not yet come into being. In other words, the best is yet to come! You have powers and talent you have not developed or used yet. You also have dreams and fantasies you have not realized yet. Your unlimited possibilities are still alive, just waiting for you to give them power.

Topic: Tough Times Never Last - But Tough People Do.

How would you like to see a permanent end to all of your problems? We all have problems - and our problems only end - when we do. The only people without problems are in the cemetery. I’d like to stick around - problems and all. How about you?

No matter what problems you have to face today, there is a solution, because you have nothing to deal with but your own thoughts. As long as you think that your destiny is in the hands of other people, the situation is hopeless. You will need to confront your problems with courage, boldness and action.

There’s an old Chinese saying that goes, “If you live with a problem long enough, it could eventually become a blessing.” Within every adversity in life, there is always a seed of an equivalent or greater benefit. We have to look for it - find it - and act on it.

We learn courage - when we face danger. We learn patience - when we endure suffering. We learn tenderness - when we taste pain. We learn to prize true friends - when false ones forsake us. We treasure health - when illness strikes. We learn to prize freedom -when we are in danger of losing it. Without trouble we would be like plants that have sprouted, grown, and been nurtured in the overprotected shelter of a hothouse — too tender ever to live in the open. How can you possibly become a strong person, if you have an easy life? The tougher it is, the tougher you have a chance to become - if you choose to fight back.

When you see a highly decorated military person all dressed up with rows of battle ribbons and awards on their chest, you are looking at someone who courageously faced and conquered danger, hardships, adversities, problems, life-threatening situations, torture, injury, and heartbreak, watching their buddies die terrible deaths. These people had fortitude - the ability to endure and last. They wouldn’t quit, give up or run away. Yes there were times, I’m sure they knew, when they bit off more than they could chew, but through it all when there was doubt - they ate it up - and spit it out - the records show - they took the blows - and did it their way.

We don’t just get the sweet out of life without the bitter - we’d like to, but we don’t. The sun doesn’t always shine; sometimes there are storms, tornadoes, earthquakes, car accidents, fires and death. No one escapes the problems of life. If it doesn’t happen sooner in life, it will happen later.

We can overcome just about any problem, obstacle, or adversity that life deals us - if we have a strong enough will. Where there is a will, there is a way. Create a “bull-dog” determination and a “burning desire,” that will eventually mow down all opposition. Success is not measured by what a person accomplishes, but by the opposition they have encountered, and by the courage with which they have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds. Don’t pray for an easy life, without problems - pray to become a strong person. The higher you go in life, the more problems you will have to deal with.

Determination

” You will be what you will to be; Let failure find its false content In that poor word, ‘environment,’ But spirit scorns it, and is free.

“It masters time, it conquers space; It cows that boastful trickster, chance, And bids the tyrant circumstance Uncrown, and fill a servant’s place.

“The human will, that force unseen, The offspring of a deathless soul, Can hew a way to any goal, Though walls of granite intervene.

“Be not impatient in delay, But wait as one who understands; When spirit rises and commands, The gods are ready to obey.”

—————————————————————————– About the author: Rick Gettle is the President/Founder of: The Master Mind Alliance Success Clubs International For info, go to: www.master-mind-alliance.com Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this article for all nonprofit purposes only in its entirety and provided copyright, author’s name, and contact information are included.

About the Author

President/Founder of The Master Mind Alliance and The Master Mind Alliance Success Clubs International Create, Market, and Conduct Success Achievement Workshops

Stop the Drug War (DRCNet) is an international organization working for an end to drug prohibition worldwide and for interim policy reform in US drug laws and criminal justice system. Defense attorneys in Florida’s Sarasota and Manatee counties are challenging the reliability of drug dog “hits” in drug possession and trafficking cases. Thanks to the US Supreme Court, which bizarrely ruled that a drug dog search is not a search, no search warrant or probable cause is needed for police to sic the dogs on unwary travelers. In one case reported by the Tampa Tribune , a now-retired drug dog named Talon “alerted” on every single vehicle he sniffed during a four-month period — even though drugs were found in less than half of them. read more

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Further efforts are soon to get underway to combat wild dogs in high country national parks. The National Parks and Wildlife Service will begin an aerial baiting program next month in the Kosciuszko, Yaouk and Scabby Range reserves in conjunction with local wild dog eradication associations. The Cooma Rural Lands Protection Board will carry out a similar program on neighbouring private property as part of a coordinated approach to the problem. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. read more

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Natacha Bunzl

Burberry is one of the world’s famous designer brands. But branded trenchcoats and sweaters for dogs? A thought that may make you raise your eyebrows!

Is today’s designer fashion selling out? Despite what you might think, high-class designer labels also cater for your pets nowadays as does British luxury label Burberry who has just released their own collection of Burberry clothing for dogs. Most notable features are the famous Burberry trenchcoat for dogs as well as the Check sweater and Burberry dog leash.

Where did this trend start? The origins of dog clothing most probably came from England due to its damp and cold climate, it was very easy for smaller dogs to catch colds when they were taken out. So for a while it was not uncommon to find small dogs dressed in cover-up “raincoats” and sausaged in small waterproof capes.

But the idea of actually dressing your dog and providing them with a wardrobe only came up recently. Sparked by such celebrities as Paris Hilton and her pet chihuahua Tinkerbell as well as the successful Hollywood movie ‘Legally Blonde’, dressing your dog up has become the ultimate in fashion and accesorizing.

From an alligator-skin dog collar and leash set to an elegant Burberry trench coat for dogs, shoes, t-shirts, hats and more you can find just about everything you wear yourself in ‘dog sizes’. Bloomingdale’s, Neiman-Marcus, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, all the biggest names in fashion have pawed their way into the very lucrative pet-accessories market, an industry that gathered an estimated $8 billion during 2004.

Though Burberry aren’t the only designer label to release their own dog clothing collection, Burberry for dogs is definitely the collection with the most fashion credibility if you consider that as well as being English, and therefore well accustomed to bad weather, Thomas Burberry’s initial success was for outdoor wear, trenchcoats and sweaters.

So if you are looking to dress your dog up, think of Burberry for dogs, with their trenchcoats, leashes and custom-made sweaters, your dog will always keep warm whilst looking elegant and refined just like Burberry clothes make you feel when you wear them. It’s a sweet way of extending your love for fashion to your pet.

Unfortunately, Burberry clothing for dogs are a little pricey with the Check sweater for dogs selling at $155 and only available from select Burberry stores. But why not coordinate and shop for a Burberry mesh hat, handbag or sweater for yourself online? Shops like Bluefly.com and Ashford.com sell authentic Burberry clothing and accessories at lower prices than in real shops.

Happy Shopping!

About the Author

Natacha Bunzl writes for best fashion shopping site Indelibles.com (http://www.indelibles.com/)whose aim is to enhance your designer shopping experience.
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In Tomorrow’s Paper Tanya Enberg looks at same-sex relationships in Sex Files. Check out recent columns here . Chris Hargett, the police chief of Russellville, Ala. An orthopedic surgeon confirmed that the foot belonged to a child and a search was launched in hopes of finding other remains, Hargett said. Daily Newspapers - Toronto Sun - Calgary Sun - Ottawa Sun - Edmonton Sun - Winnipeg Sun - London Free Press - 24 Hours Vancouver - 24 Heures Montreal - Brockville Recorder & Times - Chatham Daily News - Fort McMurray Today - Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Trib. MST each day and includes stories and columns from the day’s print edition of The Edmonton Sun. read more

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