Detroit-area pet theft on the rise this holiday season

According to the Discovery Channel, approximately two million pets are stolen each year, and only about ten percent of them ever return home.

In the metro-Detroit area, stolen dogs have become almost epidemic. For example, on Tuesday December 8 a six-month-old puppy was stolen in a well lit drug store parking lot when a thief smashed a car window. Detroit resident Valarie Weems ran into the store to make a single purchase and when she returned to her locked car, the Yorkie mix was gone. The day before, a two-month-old female Shih Tzu/Maltese puppy was stolen from the Novi Petland in broad daylight!

What you can do to protect your pet:

• Keep your pet indoors, especially when you are not at home. Don’t leave pet alone in your yard.
• Remember that indoor cats live longer, safer lives.
• Properly identify your pet with a collar and tag, and microchip.
• Enroll your pet’s microchip, photo, and contact info with a national recovery service.
• Maintain up-to-date licenses on your pets.
• Keep recent photos and written descriptions of your companion animals on hand at all times.
• Spay and neuter your pets. Fixed animals are less likely to stray from home.
• Be aware of strangers in the neighborhood. Report anything unusual such as suspicious neighborhood activities or missing pets to the police and animal control.
• Keep your pet on a leash whenever you go outside.
• Do not tie your pet outside a store to wait for you.
• Never leave an animal unattended in a car.

If you have any information on either of these stolen pets, or to protect yourself today, please call 866-699-FIND (3463).

Contributed by Jessica Staton.

Rescued dog goes on to stardom

I’ve been trying to catch up on my pet-related Google alerts today, hoping to find some gems to share since I don’t have any fantastic stories from the office this week. Mission accomplished!

The Selangor SPCA (Malaysia) has recently produced a commercial starring two rescued dogs. Both dogs were found as strays, taken in, and trained by the new owners who gave them a second chance at a happy life. Duke, the star of the commercial is actually the highest-ranked, non-breed specific obedience champion — not bad for a dog that was thought to be near-death when he was first found! The goal of the commercial is to promote spaying and neutering pets and really clever; it definitely had me laughing.

Another Friday funny

I’m back in Michigan now and we’re having some pretty dreary weather – cold and rainy – which really makes me want to stay in bed all day. I saw this video a few days ago and it has served as a great pick-me-up for just such an occasion! Today I’m actually trying to use it as inspiration: if I can muster half of the energy that this dog has… Also, kind of makes me want to get a trampoline!

Social networking goes to the dogs

If you’ve got an internet connection, you probably know that social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, are all the rage right now and like anything else they see trends and changes. Jess recently tipped me off to a new social networking site – one that was created just for dog lovers.

LoveMeLoveMyDog.com has all of the features that you would expect from a social networking site: surprisingly detailed and customizable personal profiles, photo galleries, discussion forum, blog, groups, personal messaging, and various other tools and toys. What sets this site apart is that the founder, Kevin Lawrence, has an ideal of creating a community that will not only bring people with a common interest together, but also will promote responsible pet ownership and dog advocacy (promoting spaying and neutering, encouraging adoption, providing aid to homeless animals, and patronizing cruelty free businesses). So you’ll see that you can actually create profiles for your dogs, rescue groups can create their own profiles, and there is a directory of businesses that have been screened and meet the community values.

LoveMeLoveMyDog.com has already released in beta, so you can actually sign up and start “spreading the love of the dog” today! When you join, make sure to say “hi” – my profile is under julia2484. Kevin is doing an excellent job of communicating about new developments on the site and also makes himself available to members if they need help.

Picking a dog’s brain

As it turns out, you might have more in common with your dog than you think. Jen sent me a link to an interesting article about intelligence in dogs that was posted on Time.com a few weeks ago.

Understanding a pointed finger may seem easy, but consider this: while humans and canines can do it naturally, no other known species in the animal kingdom can.

If you’re like me and always want to learn more about the way that your pup’s mind works, it’s certainly a worthwhile read.