Wednesday, 22 October 2014

You’ll never be alone – dog befriends mourning dolphin

Narrated from: Dog Stories

Dolphins and dogs have to support each other.

This may sound strange, since the species have very little in common – except that they harbor this strange love for the one species that is destroying the planet (that’s us, folks!).

However, it turns out that living in completely different environments can never stop true friendship!

The Dolphin

The main dolphin in this story is called Duggie. She lives around Tory Island, off the coast of Ireland. Duggie is a delicate flower, belonging to the bottle-nose dolphin group, and settled there in 2006, to the surprise and delight of the locals.

Of course, naming her took some time, especially since initially everyone believed that Duggie was male – and because of her acrobatic tricks, they named her after local dancer Willie Duggan.

The Tragedy

In 2006, when Duggie first appeared on Tory Island, the lifeless body of a male dolphin was washed up on the coast.

After it was discovered that Duggie was a girl, people came up with the theory that this had been Duggie’s mate – and dolphins mate for life. The dancing lady of Tory Island was in fact a lonely widow…

The mourning lady

Fortunately, Duggie still manages to find pleasure in life even after her mate’s death. She loves to play with the locals, enjoys their attention and never fails to perform whenever a crowd gathers to admire her from the local quay.

However, one of the brightest things to happen to Duggie was that she found a new friend – and a most unexpected one too!

The dog

His name is Ben, and he is a Yellow Labrador – and fortunately, Labs are no land-loving rats, and enjoy dipping in the sea now and then.

However, Ben formed a special relationship with Duggie – special enough to lead him to the local harbor almost every day!

The dog would descend some stairs leading to sea level, and jump right in – and almost at once, he would be joined by a graceful dolphin! The two new friends would then spend some blissful time playing together and swimming in the harbor – with the dolphin making circles around the dog of course, but never leaving him behind!

The friendship of a dog

As you see, a dog will never let you down – even if you are mourning alone at the bottom of the sea. Animals can sometimes feel when their loved ones are in pain, and try to help them as they might – for a lonely dolphin, a little company is always a good start! And things are looking brighter for Duggie, since Ben was soon to be joined by some of the local collies as well.

Dog gets addicted to drugs – the toad-sucking dog!

Narrated from: Dog Stories

Has it come to this? Dogs succumbing to one of man’s greatest weaknesses? Stealing money from home, converging with suspicious-looking guys in dark alleys, carrying syringes in their teeth?

No.

Dogs can get addicted to this kind of drug only if humans administer it to them – and that would be one bad owner.

However, some dogs have been able to find a way to circumvent the limitations of their species.

They have discovered one of mankind’s oldest forms of drug addiction – er, toad-licking.

Gross, eh? However, you would be surprised how many people do it nowadays…

In 2006, a suburban Cocker Spaniel named Lady discovered to her delight that the toads living around her home were toxic – this means that when they are licked, the fluids on their skin provide a hallucinogenic effect.

This ancient defensive mechanism against predators, as it turns out, can be not only distracting, but rather pleasurable for some predators – Cocker Spaniels included.

A Living Dead Dog

A drugged dog, especially if it is the beloved and adorable family Cocker Spaniel, is not a pretty sight. At some point the dog’s owners started to notice that Lady spent far too much time by the local pond, but couldn’t possibly imagine what the gentle dog was doing there.

The symptoms got more and more worrying – Lady would wander around aimlessly, with a glassy look in her warm eyes, and wouldn’t interact normally with the other members of her pack. However, the family owned many more dogs, and so for a while Lady’s problems didn’t cause that much concern.

Until, one late night, the dog came to her mistress in a very bad state, opened her mouth as if to vomit – and a toad leapt out!

Rehabilitation?

When winter came, and the nasty toads went away, Lady seemed to get better. The dog didn’t exhibit any signs of suffering from withdrawal, and seemed to be picking up the pieces of her doggy life.

However, come spring her owners found out that Lady had just been biding her time – and waiting for the toads to re-emerge!

Word quickly got out, and the neighbors were quick to forbid their dogs from playing with the drug addict of the canine district.

One never knows if this had any therapeutic effect, but Lady seemed to get some degree of control over her addiction (something which many people, sadly, fail to do) – and according to her owners, started to suck toads only on weekends!

Dogs injure football players!

Narrated from: Dog Stories

One of the greatest joys for many people would be to watch their favorite football team on a warm Saturday afternoon – with their favorite canine companion curled up at their feet!

Many footballers are also dog-lovers, and have canines waiting for them in their (usually rather expensive) homes.

However, it turns out that dogs and football don’t always mix – and a mere dog can cause a lot of stress for both footballers and fans!

Liam Lawrence

In 2008, Stoke winger Liam Lawrence got injured after he was tripped… and not by an opposing footballer, but by his own dog Max! The canine got under his owner’s feet while he was on the stairs, and as he stepped over the dog, his ankle gave way!

Lawrence got sidelined for three months, but made a full recovery and was soon back on track for both club and country. Stoke’s quick-tempered coach Tony Pulis let the dog get away with a warning.

Carlo Cudicini

Lawrence’s dog may have slipped under the radar, since Stoke aren’t exactly the most popular club in the world (sorry, Stoke fans) – however, back in 2001 a dog nearly caused mass heart-attacks in the growing number of fans of recently revived Chelsea.

Carlo Cudicini, the famous Italian goalkeeper of the Blues, got sidelined for a few months after he suffered a knee injury… while he walked his dog!

"I don't know whether his dog is a Rottweiler or a Pekinese but Carlo was out walking it and it must have seen a rabbit or something because it gave him a sharp tug," Chelsea assistant manager Gwyn Williams said after the incident.

However, the injury did not hamper the player, who remained an instrumental part of his club, and in 2003 even got voted Goalkeeper of the Season in England.

Frenchman Julien Escude also suffered a similar injury back in the days when he played in France and a host of European clubs, including Manchester United, were monitoring him – dog walk injury!

Darren Barnard

Goalkeepers, especially Chelsea goalkeepers, obviously have the worst of luck with dogs! Former Welsh international Darren Barnard can testify to this, though technically it wasn’t his dog that injured him – he simply slipped in a puddle… left by his dog inside the house.

The Welshman got sidelined for six weeks, and had to endure a lot of jokes.

The wackiest dog injury ever!

Perhaps the most bizarre injury in the history of football happened in 1970 to the unfortunate Chic Brodie. The Brentford goalkeeper (yep, dogs definitely have a thing for keepers), got injured on the field… after he collided with a sheepdog! The dog had run on the pitch, and, naturally, went after the bouncy ball! There wasn’t even a foul given, since the dog got the ball before the keeper…

Sadly, this led to a serious knee injury for Brodie, and actually ended his professional career. However, he was already 33 at the time, so took this stroke of bad luck like a man and even managed to comment good-heartedly:

"The dog may have been small.....but it just happened to be solid"

The moral of the story – never tackle a dog where bouncy balls are concerned!

Original pets - The Wild Dingo Dog!

Hey there, mates! You’ve probably heard of dingoes – why, they are one of Australia’s symbols! Now then, in the cartoons they are often portrayed like cute, reddish creatures (ever watched Taz-mania?). However, dingoes are quite feared in Australia – they are the local “top predator”, and can be a menace in rural areas.

So, for many people the dingo is just the Australian equivalent of wolves – a wild animal that has to be exterminated. However, it turns out that this is not the case.

You see, the dingoes are called “wild dogs” – they are basically one of the missing links between wolves and modern dogs. Dingoes are thought to be descendants of domesticated dogs brought to Australia from Indonesia thousands of years ago – actually, genetic experts claim that all dingoes could be descendants of a single pregnant bitch brought from abroad!

It turns out that dingoes make excellent pets, if they are trained from an early age. There is even an initiative that urges kennel organizations to recognize dingoes as an official breed of dogs.

There is still a lot of controversy on the issue and a lot of people don’t feel comfortable seeing pet dingoes on the street. Still, there is a simple proof that dingoes make good pets – capitalism. There are many breeding farms that sell dingo cubs – and no one would’ve bothered to do that if there wasn’t a market for dingoes.

Dingoes are, of course, tough nuts to crack – they have to be trained from an early age, or they become unruly. A well-trained dingo would be safe to keep even around little children – however, if you are unsure how successful the training was, it would be a good idea not to rush things!

Also, surprising or not, dingoes have no problem with extra aggressiveness – but catching a startled dingo might be hard! A dingo’s initial instinct is always not to fight, but to run. Another curious fact is that dingoes don’t bark a lot – in the wild, barking is used not so much for communication as for giving warning signals. Dingoes are very sociable animals and follow a strict hierarchy within their groups.

You may still be asking yourself: can a dingo truly be trained to be a pet? Well, some people have managed to train dingoes to herd their sheep – and the dingo’s most basic instinct would be to eat the sheep! So, a wolf may not be able to change his skin – but a dingo sure can!

If you want to have a dingo as a pet, there are only a few things you must keep in mind: find a young, sociable pup; if it is a male, neuter it or you will have a lot of trouble; provide a suitable training session and plenty of exercise; and don’t tell any Australians your pet is a dingo until they get to know it and adore it as much as you do!

Blind dog guides – three amazing stories!

Narrated from: Dog Stories

Dogs can truly touch one’s heart.

We all know for instance that it would be nearly impossible for many blind people to fit into our sighted society if it weren’t for their canine guides. Life in a world of darkness gets a little lighter when shared with the relentless loyalty of a guide dog.

But what happens when a guide dog goes blind? Well, to some extent dogs are better equipped for handling blindness than humans – nature has gifted them with an acute sense of smell and hearing.
Still, a blind guide dog would not be of much use as a guide.

It turns out, however, that the best thing to help a dog through blindness is… another dog. There are numerous touching stories of dogs helping out blind dogs – and these stories paint the perfect picture of a dog’s heart.

We have picked three for you, though there are many more – and we hope that they will be enough to illustrate that the conception of “caring” is not something that only children believe in.

Bonnie and Clyde

Finding a home for a homeless dog is no easy task – and becomes nearly impossible when said dog is blind!

However, 5-year old Clyde had a strong pro – he came with his own guide dog!

Clyde was put out for adoption in 2009, after he was found wandering the streets of Blundeston during a storm. The blind Border collie had obviously been abandoned in the rain! The people in the animal shelter knew that finding a home for a blind dog would be no easy task – but it turned out that Clyde was getting along just fine!

Clyde was found together with another Border collie – Bonnie. It turned out that the two-year old female had taken the burden of acting as a guide dog for poor Clyde. People were amazed, as the two dogs were inseparable – literally! Clyde seemed to be doing very well, and acted as capably as a fully-sighted dog – but only when he was with Bonnie! Left alone, he would refuse to move altogether.

Bonnie always stayed close to Clyde when she guided him on walks or towards food and water. They were able to run together, and every time Clyde got tired or confused, he would just rest his head on Bonnie’s haunches and she would direct him in the right way.

Of course, there was no doubt whatsoever that the dogs had to be adopted together. Luckily, their sad story gained them enormous popularity, and finding a responsible owner who could take care of a blind dog and a guide dog was no problem at all!

Lily and Maddison

A similar story unfolded in 2011. Lily the Great Dane suffered from a rare medical problem from when she was only six months old. As result, both her eyes had to be removed and the dog was left completely blind back in 2005.

Luckily, there was another Great Dane in the house – Maddison. And as it turned out – in your hour of need a dog would never abandon you. Maddison was seven years old at the time, and took young Lily under her wing without hesitation. The two dogs became inseparable. Maddison spent most of her life leading Lily, who had to walk so near to Maddison that she almost touched her.

Alas, six years later the situation changed and Lily and Maddison’s owners found out that they could no longer take care of two large dogs in the house. They acted responsibly, and gave up the two dogs for adoption at the local Dogs Trust center in Shrewsbury.

However, finding a home for two large dogs was very hard as there was no doubt that the pair could not be separated. People would just walk away seeing an eyeless Great Dane coming in a package with an even larger Great Dane.

Again, a public appeal had to be made, and only then people willing to take both the dogs in stepped forth – ultimately providing a new home for Lily and Maddison!

Graham, Opal and Edward

But really, let’s get back to the main question – what should one do when one’s guide dog goes blind?

Graham Waspe was faced with that question after his loyal friend Edward developed an inoperable condition. Edward had guided Graham through the streets of Stowmarket for six long years. Fate decreed that for the loyal service, the dog would be rewarded with his master’s fate.

The Waspe family was devastated when they found out that one of Edward’s eyes had to be removed – and dumbstruck when the second eye could not be saved as well. What should they do with a blind man and a blind guide dog in the house?

Well, abandoning Edward was never an option of course!

There was only one thing to do – get a guide dog for the guide dog!

Well, two years old Opal came in to fill the position of Edward, who officially “retired”. Graham would not part with Edward of course, so Opal simply needed to be trained to take care of both dog and master.

As result, the unlikely trio can now often be seen taking a walk, or paying a visit to local schools in order to raise awareness towards blind people.

And even though they are both blind now, Edward and Graham seem to be getting along just fine – because dog and master know full well that they can always rely on each other!

After This Guide Dog Lost His Sight, His Owner Did Something Remarkable

guide dog loses sight so owner gets a new guide dog for both of them (1)

When Graham Waspe’s loyal guide dog of six years was diagnosed with a rare form of glaucoma, Waspe was devastated. The local animal hospital did everything they could to preserve Edward’s sight, but ultimately had to remove his eyes to alleviate the pain and prevent further damage.

Graham was at a loss. He knew he needed a new guide dog to help him navigate his surroundings, but he didn’t want to abandon his loyal friend whom he loved dearly. Enter Opal, a two-year-old female that would soon guide both Edward and Graham.

The duo became a trio, and the three of have gotten along harmoniously ever since. You can read more about this touching story at the East Anglian Daily Times and Daily Mail.

[via Daily Mail, East Angian Daily Times]