Fox attacks beloved pet dog while owner makes dinner in Earley home

A tiny Chihuahua/Yorkie crossbred dog caught by a marauding fox in her own garden managed to escape being eaten alive.

The fox had its teeth gripped round little Morag's body as her owner Claire MacKenzie, 59, made dinner in her kitchen.

"There are foxes round here all the time so I'd checked there were none in the garden before letting her out," she said.

"I'd seen her dancing round the back door. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a fox come from nowhere and grab hold of her.

"She managed to wriggle free, came in screaming and hid under the television.

"She was covered in puncture wounds from the fox's teeth and lost some of her fur. She was very shocked.

"I took her to the emergency vet and she didn't move for two weeks. It doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened. I was very stressed."

She urges owners of other small dogs to keep a careful eye on them when foxes may be about.

And she has asked residents around her area, Beech Lane, Earley, not to encourage foxes by leaving out food for them. She suggests it would also help if Wokingham Borough provided wheelie bins so household rubbish was not left out in bags for collection. 

Ducklings and cygnets have disappeared from nearby Maiden Erlegh nature reserve lake, she said. She suggested foxes, rats or larger birds may have been responsible.

The Wokingham Paper was told there are no cygnets this year because the female is away being treated for an injury.

Brave Morag's wounds later recovered well enough to beat dogs many times her size to gain second place at Hurst Show's terrier race earlier this summer. Morag, weighing just over a kilo, is famed for her speed: she has been fastest dog at Swallowfield Show.

Cllr Norman Jorgensen, Wokingham Borough council's executive member for Environment, Leisure and Libraries, and a member of the Public Protection Partnership board, said: "We were very sorry to hear of the unfortunate attack on a resident's dog, and understand that this is distressing both for the animal and the owner.

"The council does not have a remit to control the local fox population and there is no legal responsibility for councils to do so. But there is advice we can give.

"Make sure small dogs and puppies are inside at night, and take the right fox-proofing precautions for outside hutches, if that is where you keep guinea pigs or rabbits. Raise the hutches above ground level, and check for any signs where a fox may be trying to get access.

"We also suggest that if you witness your animal getting into a scrape with a fox, you should take your pet to the vet for a check up to make sure no parasites have transferred."

He added that the council had not recorded any complaints about foxes for the last two years.

"In relation to our rubbish collections, we will be staying with blue bags and do not have any plans to change this system to wheelie bins at this time," Cllr Jorgensen continued. "We know that it is not always convenient to put your rubbish out first thing, with many residents needing to place their rubbish for collection, outside at night.

"From April next year we will start collecting food waste, as well. We will provide containers which will keep the food waste safer. And it will also help reduce blue bags being attacked by animals.

"We do advise residents to present their blue bags in the following ways: on the top of their recycling boxes to avoid bags being ripped; contained in a dustbin that our crew will collect from; and if possible to present their rubbish and recycling by 6.30am on collection day."

Dogs can interpret owners' feelings and show empathy, study suggests

WASHINGTON — Does your dog know how you're feeling? A small study suggests those that have strong bonds with their owners do.

"Every dog owner has a story about coming home from a long day, sitting down for a cry and the dog's right there, licking their face. In a way, this is the science behind that," said lead author Emily Sanford of Johns Hopkins University in a news release.

The research published in the journal Learning & Behavior involved 34 dogs of various breeds separated from owners by a clear, magnet-secured door. The owners were instructed either to hum the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or to cry. Of the dogs that pushed through the doors, the ones responding to owners who were crying acted three times more quickly.

"We found dogs not only sense what their owners are feeling, if a dog knows a way to help them, they'll go through barriers … to help them," said Sanford, a graduate student in psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University who did the research as an undergraduate at Macalester College.

The experiment was prompted by the behavior displayed by the pet of co-author Julia Meyers-Manor, a former faculty member at Macalester who is now an assistant professor of psychology at Ripon College.

While playing with her children, Meyers-Manor was buried in pillows by her kids and began calling for help as if in distress.

"My husband didn't come rescue me, but, within a few seconds, my collie had dug me out of the pillows," she said in a news release. "I knew that we had to do a study to test that more formally."

The study's title, "Timmy's in the well: Empathy and prosocial helping in dogs," refers to an American cultural icon: Lassie, the canine superhero of 1950s TV, known for rushing to retrieve help for her person Timmy, a boy who had fallen down a well.

The research team also included Emma R. Burt, who's now a research technician at Cleveland Clinic.

Get ready for dogs – Phoenix is No. 6 city for pet-friendly vacation spots

Apparently, for 40 percent of people, going a week without the dog is more difficult than going a week without the significant other.

That's according to a series of surveys related to pet travel done by Orbitz, a travel company, and Rover, a pet care service.

They ranked Phoenix as the No. 6 city for pet-friendly vacation destinations.

It has lofty company: Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Chicago, New York and Houston make up the top five. Behind Phoenix is Atlanta, Denver, San Diego and Dallas.

It's not just significant others that take a back seat to pets. More people traveling with pets stayed at pet-friendly hotels than with friends or family or at a short-term vacation rental. Pet-friendly hotel searches rose 30 percent from the start of 2017 to that of 2018.

Not everybody can find a pet hotel, though, and that affects travel. Almost 30 percent of owners said they have skipped a trip to stay home with their pet.

When they are willing to leave, the pet sitter must be reliable; 60 percent of millennials said they have missed a trip because they couldn't find one.

The average owner planned to take three trips this summer, while millennials averaged five.

And even if the pets can't join them, 70 percent of owners will still bring a souvenir home for their buddy.

Pet Tales: Carnegie's Dogapalooza celebrates and entertains dogs

When Cristy Crawshaw was a junior at Carlynton High School, she wanted to organize a community project that would earn her the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award.

"She came to me four years ago about doing a public safety program, and I said that is done quite often. I suggested she do something that would highlight dogs and the Carnegie Dog Park," said Jack Kobistek, who was mayor at that time.

Ms. Crawshaw organized and executed the Carnegie Dogapalooza in 2015, and she did get the Gold Award.

The event — with dogs as the honored guests — included a pet parade and costume contest. It was so popular with people and dogs that Ms. Crawshaw made it an annual affair on the first Sunday in June.

Now a rising junior at Point Park University, she's putting the finishing touches on Carnegie's fourth annual Dogapalooza, which will be 10 a.m.-2 p.m. June 3 at Carnegie Park on Forsythe Road. There is no admission charge and parking is free.

The number of vendors has grown from 20 last year to 30 this year, said Ms. Crawshaw, who lives with her family in Carnegie while working toward a bachelor's degree in sports, arts and entertainment management.

Pet Supplies Plus will offer free nail trims, Humane Animal Rescue will have low-cost vaccinations and Allegheny County treasurer John Weinstein will sell dog licenses. Hound Haven rescue in Washington County is bringing adoptable dogs.

The parade and costume contest starts at 1 p.m. with prizes for most creative and unique, funniest costume and Pittsburgh spirit.

There will be giveaways, including tickets for free games at Forsythe Miniature Golf, next to Carnegie Park. There will be raffles and donations collected for a dog-oriented cause not yet announced.

The Franktuary food truck will sell hot dogs and fries, and the Wish 99.7 Street Treat Patrol will hand out free snacks.

Carnegie Dog Park has two separate fenced areas where small and large dogs can play off-leash. They can also cool off at the "dog beach," which has three kiddie pools. There is also a free do-it-yourself dog bathing station, with shampoo.

Ms. Crawshaw credits borough manager Steve Beuter and Mr. Kobistek with helping her get Dogapalooza off the ground. They return the compliments.

"Dogapalooza is a big thing," Mr. Beuter said. "Cristy does a fantastic job and the borough supports her."

The dog park, which opened in May 2013, "is heavily utilized and is open to all, not just Carnegie residents," noted Mr. Kobistek, who is now a district justice in Carnegie.

On a recent sunny Sunday, many dogs and owners gathered in the large and small dog parks.

"The dogs here are all so welcoming," said Leeann Alley of Dormont.

Dogs played nicely, with no aggression. The owners — most of them regulars — supervised their pets while socializing and sharing dog stories.

Ms. Alley brings her high-energy 8-month-old puppy, Bailey, to the park for three hours every day. Ms. Alley said a DNA test indicates he is a Chihuahua-poodle mix.

Adopted last fall from Humane Animal Rescue, "this dog changed my life," Ms. Alley said. She served eight years in the Air Force, including deployments in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. "Bailey is like an emotional support dog for me."

Pet owners told to avoid buying dogs with cropped ears, as illegal trend grows

Pet owners are being urged not to buy dogs with cruelly cropped ears following an increase in reports of the practice.

The RSPCA has said it has seen a rising number of cases in which dogs have had their ears cropped or removed.

The practice is illegal under the Animal Welfare Act but has become more widespread as a result of people sharing pictures of dogs with cropped ears on social media.

There is now a growing trend for certain bull breed types to have cropped ears, such as American bullies, cane corsos, presa canarias and dobermans.

An RSPCA Special Operations Unit (SOU) officer - who works covertly and so cannot be identified for operational reasons - said: "Dogs with cropped ears are coming to our attention for lots of reasons. Many are being advertised on social media while others are being spotted at breed shows.

"We believe ear cropping is being carried out illegally in this country. And we also believe that many breeders, sellers and buyers are sending dogs abroad to have their ears cropped before bringing them back home."

The charity said there had been a 157 per cent increase in reported cases of ear cropping, with the number of going up from just 14 in 2015 to 36 last year. But RSPCA officials fear this may just be the tip of the iceberg.

"This is going on within certain close-knit breed groups so we believe that many cases are slipping through the net unnoticed and that the issue is actually much bigger than we are aware," said the SOU officer.

In November 2015, the RSPCA prosecuted a man and woman from Essex for causing unnecessary suffering to a doberman by 'splinting', the practice of inserting hard wooden or cardboard splints to force the cropped ears to grow upwards.

In some cases dogs are having their ears cropped in the UK illegally, while others are being sent abroad to have the procedure done.

Dr Samantha Gaines, RSPCA dog welfare expert, said: "Ear cropping is a process where ears are removed or surgically altered, usually for the purposes of appearance.

"It's a painful and wholly unnecessary process which does not benefit the dog in any way and can, in fact, be detrimental to their health, behaviour and welfare.

"We do not believe dogs should be mutilated for cosmetic purposes and we'd urge people not to buy a dog with cropped ears as - whether the process was carried out here or overseas - they still will have undergone this very painful process."