Holiday air travelers who plan to bring their pets with them on a flight need to be especially careful if their pet is a Persian cat or short-nosed dog such as a bulldog or pug.
Reports of pet deaths during flight by the Department of Transportation – who put out the report each month – have people wondering about the number of unexplained deaths with short-nosed, or brachycephalic, breeds that had no problems prior to take off.
It’s speculated that these particular breeds have a harder time breathing in the first place, and the combination of this and the atmosphere in …read more

Thanks a lot to my friend Sherry, who just passed on this video of a cheese-puff snarfing bulldog which caused both my husband and I to laugh so hard the laptop nearly fell to the floor!

After last night’s acceptance speech by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, wherein he mentioned his two young daughters had earned a puppy, I wondered what other pets had followed their families to the White House.
I found that there really weren’t many domesticated pets in the first few years: The majority of “pets” the early presidents and their families had were horses, goats, cows, and birds, and John Quincy Adams apparently had an alligator. There are dogs mentioned here and there but they pretty much belonged to the First Ladies or their children, with no other info given.

The Early Show on CBS did a segment last week on the smartest and dumbest dog breeds. I’ve heard of some breeds not being as bright as others, I’m not sure what their criteria was.
Anyway, they say the dumbest breeds are:
1. Afghan Hound
2. Basenji
3. Bulldog
4. Chow Chow
5. Borzois
6. Bloodhound
7. Pekingese
8. Mastiff
9. Beagle
10. Basset hound
and the smartest are:
1. Border Collie
2. Poodle
3. German Shepherd
4. Golden Retriever
5. Doberman Pinscher
6. Shetland Sheepdog
7. Labrador Retriever
8. Papillon
9. Rottweiler
10. Australian Cattle Dog
Like I said, I’m not sure what they’re basing their rankings on exactly. I’ve known a pretty smart beagle and a dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks poodle so it’s a …read more