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Alaska Dogs Gone Wild Spring Fever Flyball Fest
May 2-3, 2009
Races at regular intervals from 10 am - 3 pm (with a lunch break)
Location: Wasilla, Valley Canine Camp & Training Center (next to Lowe's)

Come watch the exciting and fast-paced dog sport of flyball!  Flyball is a timed event involving head-to-head racing of 2 teams of 4 dogs each, jumping 4 jumps to trigger a ball from a spring-loaded box then returning over the 4 jumps to their handlers and a fun reward.  The fastest team with the fewest errors wins!  This sport involves dogs of all sizes and breeding - so come root for your favorites!

AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Day - Wasilla

Link: The Better Companion - Dog Classes, Manners, Agility, Rally, Training & Consultation.

Please Join Our First Responsible Dog Ownership Day

Responsible Dog Ownership Day

Please join us for our first

Responsible Dog Ownership Day: September is AKC's Responsible Dog Ownership (RDO) Month, and we'll hold our first annual RDO-Day on Sunday, September 28. This event includes:

    * Canine Good Citizen (CGC)-test at 10am:
      we're again looking for volunteers, and one volunteer-CGC-dog! Sign-up is at 10am, briefing for all after that (around 10:20-10:30), testing starts after the briefing in the order of sign-up
    * Dog Gear Swap Meet 12-4pm:
      Make some pennies on any dog-related items you don’t need any more or look for anything you’d like to add to your collection! No fees for sellers or buyers. Sellers: you can bring a tent for the grass area or come inside after the CGC test (around 12-1pm)
    * Homing Not Roaming - dog adoption (no sales) 12-4pm:
      The ADPR (AK Dog and Puppy Rescue) will have a booth and bring some pooches. If you need to find a home for a dog or want to look into a new friend, this is the time!!!
    * Meet The Breed - show your breed 12-4pm:
      Want to show us your purebred dog or an interesting hybrid (like a Labradoodle or Cockapoo)? Bring it up! We’ll show your dog to everybody indoors at every full hour, at 1, 2 and 3pm, and maybe even in between! We’ll talk about your breed’s specifics, so that people can get a good picture of the temperament as well.

Bring your well-behaved pooch with you!

Where: Regine Dog Training Facility, off mile 4 Fairview Loop Rd
When: Sunday, September 28th, 10am-4pm
Questions: Call 357-2521 or Email

Why sled dogs are super dogs - Pet health- msnbc.com

Link: Why sled dogs are super dogs - Pet health- msnbc.com.

Alaskan huskies that participate in the grueling Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race must run 1,100 miles while enduring heavy blizzards, temperatures as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit and winds up to 60 miles per hour, all of which earn the hearty canines status as the world's premier ultra-endurance animal athletes.

How do they do it? New research suggests the canines are superior to most other mammals, including humans, in at least three key areas: They are unusually adept at adapting to exercise, they have superior aerobic capacity and are unusually efficient in using food as fuel.

Michael Davis, a professor at Oklahoma State University's Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, and his team have been studying Iditarod-racing dogs for 10 years.

Read the rest at the link above

American Humane's Basic Animal Emergency Services Training - Anchorage

American Humane's Basic Animal Emergency Services Training
                                           Anchorage, Alaska
                                              October 17-18
                                                          Anchorage 
Animal Care and Control

Who should attend:
Anyone interested in the welfare of animals following a disaster, 
professionals trained in disaster response, Emergency Medical 
Services personnel, firefighters, animal shelter staff, Animal 
Control officers, Veterinarians & Vet technicians, and animal 
handlers/trainers.

Topics include:
Day 1
        Intro to American Humane
        Perspective on national disaster response and relief
        Incident command system
        Structure of response team
        Reporting roles
        Incident specific response and interagency cooperation
        Disaster Public Relations 101
        Animal First Aid

Day 2
Personal Preparedness
        Temporary and co-location sheltering
        Local response coordinated with national team
        Small animal handling
        Large animal handling
        Mock shelter set up and response

Learning Objectives:
To develop the skills to respond to, care for and shelter animals 
during times of disaster, whether at the local or national level.

Tuition: $100 non-members ($85 for members). Training materials 
provided. Certificate presented upon completion. ***(Subtract $50 for 
each fee due to sponsor contribution)

Call Shelby at (303) 925-9461, visit www.AmericanHumane.org 
or email   shelbyd@americanhuman

Vote for Lance Mackey

Link: - CamPain '08 | Versus: Red, White, Black and Blue Summer -.

Lance Mackey is in the Final Round of the Toughest Athlete  Versus CamPain ’08 voting.  The final battle is now – only 2 athletes are left.

Lance Mackey is the only 4 time Yukon Quest Champion as well as being the only person to win both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same month, achieving that feat 2 years in a row.

Lance has already beat out 30 other athletes including sporting legends like Lance Armstrong, Muhammad Ali, Gordie Howe, Jackie Robinson, Terry Fox.

The Toughest Athletes represent a lifetime of determination, competition, domination, and tradition.  Accomplished athletes, warriors and survivors, their outstanding achievements landed them on the list.  Now the fans decide.

Voting ends Mon, Sept 15^th so vote now.

http://campain08.versus.com/toughest.php

Wendy Morrison
Manager
Yukon Quest
#2 - 1109 First Ave.
Whitehorse, YT Y1A 5G4
Ph 867.668.4711
Fax 867.668.6674
questadmin@polarcom.com

Wasilla Teen Loses Service Dog to Cancer

Read the whole story from the Alaska Journal .

Teen struggles on after loss of service dog

CINTHIA RITCHIE The Seward Phoenix LOG

SEWARD, Alaska — The first few days were the hardest.

That's when Breeann Campbell missed her dog the most. Ingram Gerard Shay-Campbell, as he was formally called, died of vascular cancer June 24.

"We bawled for three weeks straight," said Angela Campbell, Breeann's mother.

Campbell, a shiny-haired young women about to leave for college, had Ingram for five years. The 9-year-old golden retriever entered her life as a service dog her first year in high school. Ingram was to help Campbell, who has cerebral palsy, carry books, pick up dropped pencils and open doors.

See link above to read whole story

Dog detects chemicals in fire ruins

Dog detects chemicals in ruins of restaurant: Alaska News | adn.com

An accelerant-detecting dog sniffing through the rubble at Peter's
Sushi Spot has detected chemicals in several areas near the fire's
point of origin.

Investigators are not using the word arson.
Samples are on their way to a laboratory for analysis, said Anchorage
Fire Department spokeswoman Jen Klugh.

The
fire broke out early Saturday morning at the Midtown restaurant near
its east wall by an entrance that leads into an office, Klugh said.
Investigators have been unable to determine conclusively if the fire
started in the office or outside the exterior door on a walkway, she
said.

"The investigators are not
indicating that they think it's suspicious, but since Jodi did get some
hits, they decided to get the samples to a lab," Klugh said. "It could
turn out that it's suspicious, but at this point the investigators did
not indicate that it was."

Two
Anchorage fire investigators, accompanied by the dog, Jodi, and her
handler, have spent most of the week sifting through the ashes and
pumping water out of the restaurant's basement as they search for the
fire's origin.

Though Jodi is
trained to detect 25 accelerants, her getting a hit does not
necessarily mean the chemical she detected was used in an arson, Klugh
said. The chemical could have been there - in a bottle, for example -
before the fire broke out.

The
cause of the fire will remain under investigation until results from
the lab come back, likely within a few weeks, Klugh said. If results
indicate the fire's cause was not arson, the cause might never be
established, she said.

In the meantime, the scene is sealed off in case investigators need to revisit it, Klugh said.

The
fire was reported at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday, when passers-by called
911. It was unclear how long the restaurant, at 4140 B St., had already
been burning, but by 8:50 a.m. the structure's east wall collapsed.

The
blaze drew a two-alarm response and was burning so fiercely that
firefighters had to pull out of the building shortly afer arriving and
attack it from the outside with power hoses.

The
building had a tar roof, foam insulation and no sprinkler system -- all
of which worked to the fire's advantage. It is considered a total loss,
with damages estimated at about $2 million, according to the department.

There were no injuries.

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

FixAustin.org - FixAustinRadio

Link: FixAustin.org - FixAustinRadio.
Tired of expensive animal services ordinances that don't work? This message is for you.
Forward From The FixAustin Team:
We've been amazed and delighted by the attention that our Austin v.
Reno report has received.  The report has been downloaded more than
6,800 times from readers all across the country, it has been talked
about on national animal-welfare blogs, and we've been contacted by
animal-welfare advocates as far away as California for advice on how to
achieve shelter reform through public advocacy.

We've also been interviewed on local and national radio.  The
nationally syndicated radio show "Animal Wise Radio" interviewed
FixAustin.org's Ryan Clinton on live national radio this Sunday to
discuss FixAustin.org's efforts, its goals, and the Austin v. Reno
report on shelter-reform efforts in each city.  To listen to the
roughly twenty-minute segment, just click this link:
http://www.fixaustin.org/page/FixAustinRadio.   To learn more about
Animal Wise Radio, visit their website.  http://www.animalwiseradio.com/

Local radio station KUT also interviewed Ryan in a story about Austin's
shelter adoptions.  You can listen to their brief interview here: 
http://kut.org/items/show/13146.

You can help Austin's homeless pets too!

1.  Listen to the radio segments and tell your friends about them.

2.  Tell the City Council to implement the no-kill method at Austin's animal shelter by clicking here.

3.   Donate to FixAustin.org's no-kill efforts by clicking here.  All donations over $50 get a free FixAustin.org t-shirt!

Thanks and best regards!

The FixAustin.org Team
Peggy Jennings

Technique Used In Human Ankle Injuries Modified To Treat Dogs' Knees

Link: Technique Used In Human Ankle Injuries Modified To Treat Dogs' Knees.
Technique Used In Human Ankle Injuries Modified To Treat Dogs' Knees
ScienceDaily (Jun. 16, 2008) —

A common sports injury in human knees is even more common in dogs.
Each year, more than one million dogs suffer from cranial cruciate
ligament (CCL) deficiency, which is comparable to the anterior cruciate
ligament (ACL) injury in humans. The common method of treatment by many
veterinary surgeons involves cutting the tibia bone to stabilize the
CCL-deficient knee in these dogs.

________________________________
Now, a new minimally invasive technique with less severe
complications than previous methods has been developed by a University
of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine researcher.

Unlike humans, CCL injuries in dogs typically do not occur because
of a single trauma to the knee but are the result of a degenerative
process that leads to early and progressive arthritis. For this reason,
and the unique biomechanics of the canine knee, techniques used to
repair the injury in humans do not work well for dogs.  The new
technique, known as Tightrope CCL, is modified from a technique used in
human ankles and allows placement of a device that stabilizes the
CCL-deficient knee through bone tunnels drilled using very small
incisions. MU veterinarian James Cook worked with Arthrex Inc. from
Naples, Fla., to develop and test the Tightrope device for dogs.
“Other current techniques require major surgery that involve cutting
the bone, which can potentially lead to severe complications, such as
fracture, implant failure and damage to the joint,” said Cook,
professor of veterinary medicine and surgery and the William C. Allen
Endowed  Professor for Orthopedic Research. “This new technique is
minimally invasive, relatively easy to perform and cost effective
compared to other techniques. The dogs in the preliminary trial study
experienced fewer and less severe complications with outcomes that were
equal to or better than those seen with the bone-cutting technique.”
Cruciate ligament tears are five times more common in dogs than
humans and cost U.S. pet-owners more than $1.3 billion each year. The
new technique is not for every dog. Because surgeons must be able to
drill tunnels in the bone, dogs must weigh at least 40 pounds for the
Tightrope CCL method to be feasible.  In addition, dogs that cannot
follow a physical rehabilitation protocol after surgery and dogs with
limb deformities are not candidates for this technique. The 10- to
12-week rehabilitation period is very important for any surgical
technique for CCL deficiency in order to optimize successful return to
pain-free function and reduce complications, Cook said.

“The times the Tightrope CCL technique has failed are when owners
did not give their dogs the full rehabilitation period and let their
dogs run, play or traumatize the joint before the knees were ready,”
Cook said. “A successful operation is dependent on postoperative care
so that the dog can heal well and build muscle for long term function.
The Tightrope CCL technique is designed to allow this to happen with
less surgery and less risk of a major problem arising, and so far, it
has been successful.”

Take Your Dog To Work Day June 20

Take Your Dog To Work Day

June 20, 2008

Annually, pet parents from across the United States pay tribute to and celebrate the loyal companionship they receive from their dogs by taking them to work on Take Your Dog To Work Day (TYDTWD), presented by Pet Sitters International. This year’s special day, when thousands of businesses will open their doors to employees’ dogs, will take place this Friday, June 20.   TYDTWD’s purpose is not just to pay tribute to “man’s best friend,” but to encourage adoption of shelter animals by coworkers who may not have pets, but may consider it after witnessing the loving bond between other pet parents and their dogs.

While this day is exciting and fun for both employees and dogs, it can also be a stressful and frightening experience for all parties involved. Comfort Zone®, makers of Comfort Zone® with Dog Appeasing Pheromone (D.A.P.®), an all natural tool to help relive stress in dogs, is a headlining sponsor of TYDTWD and is here to provide a few tips to ensure your dog’s office visit goes smoothly.

• Be Prepared – It is imperative that you plan ahead for any needs your dog may have throughout the day. You will want to be sure to bring a water bowl, leash, items to clean-up accidents, a bed for them to sleep and toys.

• Keep Them Leashed – Keeping your dog leashed, especially when initially arriving, will help keep your pet calm and avoid disturbing others.

• Respect Coworkers – Despite the lovable nature of dogs not everyone appreciates their company. Be prepared to make sure that your dog does not disturb coworkers who may dislike or fear dogs.

• Minimize Stress – While it is fun for your dog to spend a day at work with you it may also be stressful for them to visit a foreign environment. When arriving at the office, spend time walking them around and provide extra attention to assure them they are in a safe environment.

Utilizing pheromone based products like Comfort® Zone with D.A.P.® is also helpful in minimizing stress in dogs. If you would like to speak with a spokesperson from Comfort Zone® regarding TYDTWD, pet friendly work environments or Comfort Zone® products please contact me anytime. For more information on TYDTWD visit: www.takeyourdog.com, or for information regarding Comfort Zone® with D.A.P. visit: www.petcomfortzone.com.

Thanks,

Eric Kardesh
480-505-4509