The dog’s
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The nine-year old hero put the pitbull in a chokehold he had learned at martial arts class, reports the Bakersfield Califonian:
Drew was walking with his neighbor after getting the mail last week when the pit bull started attacking the neighbor’s dachshund. She tried to save her dog, but the pit bull started attacking her instead.That’s when Drew, who his mother described as a “passive, sweet little boy” who “gets beat up all the time” in class, stepped in. He wanted to kick it, he said, but thought the dog would just bite his leg. Instead he put the move on him. “He was moving really hard, like one of those rodeo bulls,” Drew said. “Then he went limp.”
For more than 20 minutes, Drew held the panting dog until Animal Control officials arrived. The dog is now being held at a shelter until Thursday. The city will decide what to do with the dog after that. Euthanization is an option, but Amy Heredia hopes someone rescues it, she said.
Neighbors found the frightened dachshund huddled in a corner of a house being built nearby.
Hats off to Drew and so glad this turned out well — all things considered.
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When Molly, a Springfield Dachshund, was viciously attacked in her own backyard by a neighbour’s dog, her owners paid almost $5,000 in vet bills to save her life. Then, they sued the owner of the attack dog to get their money back. Unfortunately, the 11th Circuit Court Judge, Paul Lawrence, was an idiot and ruled that Molly was only worth $200 and therefore all her owners should get was $200.
Thank goodness the case was appealed and a panel of judges overruled the logic-impaired first judge. The State Journal-Register reports:
On New Year’s Eve, appellate court Justices Thomas Appleton, Sue Myerscough and Robert Steigmann agreed. Appleton wrote the decision. The crux of it is that Molly’s market value at the time of the attack was negligible. The judges questioned whether anyone would pay $200 for a 7-year-old dachshund that was not a show dog.But, Appleton wrote, the Leiths “demonstrated how much Molly is worth to them by paying $4,784 for the dog’s veterinary care.” The family, said the court, should be awarded the full amount.
The attack dog owner has not said whether or not he will appeal. Whatever he does, the Daily Doxie hopes he loses. And it would be good if Judge Lawrnce wasn’t re-elected either.
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Scroll down for the update.
This sounds like a scandal in the making. According to the reader reviews at Amazon, the results of the BioPet DNA Breed Identification kit are — let’s try and put this charitably — questionable.
Writes Leah Quezada:
We’re pretty sure our mutt is a Chihuahua / Mini Dachshund, but Mini Dachshund was not on their list. We assumed she would identify as Dachshund instead, but I guess the miniatures have very different DNA, as she came up as a very very weird mix. I can see the Mini Pinscher maybe, but not Bichon Frise, Basenji, Collie (she’s only 9 pounds!) Airedale Terrier, or Schnauzer.
They were very fast with their results though. When the test goes on sale again we’re going to try with our Mini Dachshund, since we know for a fact he’s almost pure.We’re just going to try again with our mutt (who looks exactly like all Chiweenies) when the DNA tests get more exact.
Leah is more forgiving of the strange results than T. Camden who writes:
My dog was rescued off the highway and is a very neat and unique looking dog. He goes everywhere with me and I am asked “what kind of dog is that” almost daily. We were all very excited about this product as we would love to have another just like him, he is the perfect dog! I thought I had found the answer and could not wait for the results. However, there is no way the results could be right, Cocker Spaniel-Min Pin-German Shepard? Maybe the samples were mixed up at the lab. I was so disappointed as were all my family and friends.
Mariena notes that there seems to be a disproportionately high amount of Afghan blood in the US mutt gene pool:
The breeds that emerged for our dog were just really odd (German Shepherd, Yorkshire Terrier, Afghan Hound, Saluki and West Highland Terrier). Seems like Afghans come up a lot and you don’t see many of them running lose… I guess we all envision these dogs and how on earth they had opportunities to breed! The breeds in our profile didn’t make a whole lot of sense based on where she came from, her appearance or even behavior. But, highly mixed breeds may not look or act like you think they would, and environment is so important. So, not to say that the range of breeds listed weren’t detected by the test. It just seems the “known” breeds from the parentage would have come up strongly as noted in other reviews. In the end, a mutt is a mutt, and we love them just the same. I don’t think I really know more about the dog after doing the test….
Garden Girl is, however, more trusting:
I’ve always wondered what my mixed breed is. He is a pretty dog and I thought maybe he had Border Collie or maybe some German Shepherd in him. Turns out he’s mostly Chow Chow which accounts for his coloration and his curved tail & purple tongue, Afghan Hound and Pembroke Welsh Corgi which is why his body seems long for his size, and he is part Collie which accounts for his instinct for herding. Now that I know his genetic background, I better understand his personality characteristics. It’s just fun to know what my dog is made of, and I’m really glad that I had the test done!
As for me, all I can say is that when I first heard about these tests, I remember discussing them with a guy at the dog park who said, “But they could tell you whatever they want, couldn’t they?” Guess so.
Update: From the comments, Doxie Mama says, “I had a friend who did this with her longhaired Dachshund who is clearly pure bred, and the report came back with 5 different contributing breeds and Mastiff was near the top of the list.”
OK, we’ll bite, here are some Dachshund and Mastiff photos:
Quit Pickin On Me!!, originally uploaded by Just Jo.
Ahhh…a bed that is king sized but fit for a queen, originally uploaded by bwdaigle.
All this leads us to another piece of news, namely the city in Israel that last year introduced a forensic dog-poop DNA unit. The New York Times Magazine reported:
About three years ago, the mayor of Petah Tikva, a city near Tel Aviv, called the veterinarian Tika Bar-On and said, “I can fix almost everything in this city, but I don’t know how to fight dog poop.” He asked Bar-On, the city’s director of veterinary services, if it was possible to use DNA fingerprinting to identify which dogs pooped on his city streets and — most important — which owners didn’t pick up after them. As a result, this year, Bar-On introduced the first-ever forensic dog-poop DNA unit.
Let’s just hope the unit’s tests are better at distinguishing between wiener dog and mastiff poop than BioPet is at identifying wiener dog and mastiff genes.
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Hands down the biggest story of the year here at the Daily Doxie was the tale of Pink the piglet who was fostered by mother Dachshund Tink and her litter of wiener puppies.
The year’s second biggest Dachshund broke in July, shaking wiener dog owners out of their summer hammocks as Doxies were rated the most aggressive dog breed, worse than Pitbulls and Rottweilers.
Britain’s respected Daily Telegraph reported that Dachshunds topped a list of 33 breeds which were rated for their aggression, after academics analysed the behaviour of thousands of dogs. The Terrierman wasn’t buying it, however, and he had some pretty good reasons.
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Released in early 2008, the American Kennel Club’s list of the most popular dogs in the US in 2007 showed the Dachshund falling to seventh place from sixth place in 2006 while the iconic Bulldog muscled its way into 10th spot. Hmm, wonder if the Doxies were too aggressive?
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Before those Shiba Inu puppies became an internet craze, there was Magic the Mummy Dachshund who gave birth on UStream and whose puppies also grew up in the glare of the ever-present video camera. And who can forget wiener dog Jerry and his special ball throwing machine, the Dachshund video hit of the year?
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In sad wiener doggy news, there was this story:
On the day his owner, Teddy Crockarell of Clarksville, Tennessee, died Sam the wiener dog ran away from home for the first time. He wasn’t seen again until two and a half days later when the family arrived at the church for the funeral and found Sam waiting for them. (Video from ABC News)
And in heartwarming and heroic wiener dog news, there was Annie the Oregon Dachshund whose persistent barking brought her owner much needed medical attention.
Talking about medical heros brings us to the cool dude below who assisted scientists from the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, MIT and Harvard with their research. He’s wearing specially designed sunglasses to help with his day blindness, which is caused by inherited cone-rod dystrophy (CRD).
Photo courtesy of Frode Lingaas, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science.
In a study published online in Genome Research (www.genome.org), researchers identified a novel mutation in a gene associated with CRD in dogs, raising hopes that potential therapies can be developed for people suffering from these eye disorders.
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This being the internet, there were ridiculous Dachshund controversies involving, among others, slam poets and raw feeders. (Wish we could just feed the slam poets to the raw feeders)
Of course we also have reasonable rational readers who send us great tips and photos so a million thanks to all of you, and please keep ‘em coming. Below is Clara in front of historic Petworth House in West Sussex in April. (Yes, that was one tough winter)
And here is the wiener dog who dressed as Joe the Plumber for Halloween. A memorable costume indeed and one which captured the zeitgeist.
Speaking of Joe the Plumber, that brings us to President-elect Barack Obama, who dissed what he called “girly dogs” in a shocking interview with Barbara Walters. In reply, the Daily Dachshund and Dog News presented this YouTube video of three cowboys and their small dogs including a Doxie. We challenge anyone to call these guys’ dogs girly:
And here are some more indisputably macho men with nothing much other than their wiener dogs. Look for Picasso and Ian McShane, guys comfortable enough with their masculinity to opt for girly dogs. Not to mention the year’s best wiener dog joke, which featured a cowboy.
Finally, the Daily Dachshund and Dog News discovered this wiener dog in a hot dog costume balloon art at a balloon sculpting site. The artist is Suzanne Lively and she’s a full time family entertainer in Denver, CO.
May all our readers have lots of balloons and champagne for New Year’s and a very happy new year. See you in 2009 with all the Dachshund news!
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The Times Beacon Record reports that a 20-year-old wire haired Dachshund will be named the world’s oldest living dog in the new edition of the Guiness World Book of Records. Her owner says the secret to Chanel’s longetivity is that she’s an army brat.
Keeping a pet on a military base requires that dogs be properly cared for. The Army is “meticulous about it,” Shaughnessy said, since with other pets around any maladies would quickly spread. “Shots every year” and veterinary checkups were standard operating procedure. Besides, Shaughnessy said, “These are our kids.”
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The Wienerschnitzel Nationals — the Indianapolis 500 of wiener dog races or, for all you Euro readers, the Monaco Grand Prix — will take place Monday December 2http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif9th, with the winner appearing the next day at San Diego’s Holiday Bowl.
Poppy the Dachshund is one of the contenders:
Poppy, who is 13 inches long, 6 inches tall and weighs in at 9 pounds, is owned by Nancy LaVigne. The diminutive dog is an English cream, red long-haired dachshund and despite genetic setbacks, she has already proved she can win.
On a 50-foot track, Poppy was the big winner of the Tucson wiener dog race. She beat more than 48 other competitors in the regional Oct. 11 race to advance to the nationals in San Diego.
“I couldn’t believe it, I was shocked,” LaVigne said about Poppy’s victory and the all-expenses-paid trip to the national race. But the dog enjoys the exercise. “Since she was a puppy, she’s loved running,” LaVigne said.
You go girl!
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A reader very kindly tipped us off to this wonderful photo of Dotty the Doxie. It’s one of the Daily Telegraph‘s Cute Animals of 2008 pictures, but it’s proved a bit of a mystery to the Daily Dachshund and Dog News as the very same Dotty was featured on the BBC five years ago, and it’s hard to believe she would be having another litter of pups at age 13. If anyone has the answer, please let the Daily Doxie know.
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London’s Daily Telegraph has an obituary for a Graz wiener dog with a bad nicotine habit:
General Edi has been munching his way through half a packet of cigarettes every day since he was a puppy, said owner Wolfgang Treirler.But Edi has died after he was hit by a car during a walk to his favourite cigarette shop.
The Daily Dachshund and Dog News admits to being a bit sceptical about a lot of things in this story including the supposed age of General Edi, who was said to be 22.
The Long and Short of it All has a photo of the dog who looks to us more like a lab than a Dachshund.
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The rising number of home foreclosures in California is leading to more abandoned pets, according to the policeman interviewed in the video accompanying this news story.
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