I received a very sad email yesterday from Dogster member Minika Hall.  She wanted to share her recent tragedy at the dog park, which resulted in the loss of her beloved dog Miles’, as a warning to other dog owners.

Miles’ was an adorable Yorkie who loved the dog park, and Hall enjoyed taking him there on a daily basis.  On Sunday they went for a visit but this time Minika did something she had never done before, brought him into the big dog side of the park.

Here are the details from The Buffalo News.

Miles, an eight-month-old Yorkie who frequented the park with his owner several times a week during the warmer weather, was enjoying a late-October romp.

But Hall made a decision she will always regret. She let her five-pound pooch make his first visit to a separate running area that generally accommodates larger dogs. Until Sunday, Miles had always frolicked in an adjacent area reserved for dogs that weigh less than 30 pounds. On this evening, the special area was empty, and she wanted Miles to have company.

“Miles wasn’t afraid of big dogs,” said Hall, her voice shaking. “He loved to play with the bigger dogs.”

The Yorkie was playing with several other dogs, none of them very large or aggressive, according to Hall. She said what happened next is a blur, but she recalls Miles being stepped on and instantly falling to the ground.

At first, she thought he just had the wind knocked out of him or — in a worst-case scenario — was paralyzed. But after she and another Barkyard patron rushed the dog to an emergency clinic, reality set in. Miles’ tiny neck had likely been crushed as the dogs played, she said.

“People need to see my dumb mistake,” the distraught owner said. “They need to understand that when their dogs are playing, they have to consider the size of other dogs. I knew it, but I never recognized the importance of that until now.”

On the side reserved for small dogs there is a warning that it is only for pups 30 lbs. and under, there is no size specifications on the larger side.  Lisa and I bring the ‘kids’ over to our local dog park and we see many dog owners bringing their smaller dogs into the large side, and for the exact reason Minika did, there was no one in the smaller dog area to play with.  I’m sure just like Hall the owners don’t give a second thought to it being dangerous, why would they?

I know Minika feels guilty over her decision but this tragedy could have happened to anyone. If she had seen an article like this I have no doubt she would never have taken Miles’ into the large dog side, and that’s why she contacted me, to get the word out.  Keep in mind, the dogs in the park were just playing with Miles’, no one was vicious, but when you have a bunch of big dogs engaging in rough play it only takes a second for a tragedy to occur.

I want to extend our heartfelt condolences to Minika over the loss of Miles’.  Thank you for sharing your very painful story to keep other dog owners from experiencing the grief you are now going through, I know it wasn’t easy.

This is a strange story about a Yorkie who escaped from a house, was found by animal control, and given away as a gift.

It all started when Janet Torren took her 4-year-old dog Shai over to her son’s house for a visit. When the two of them went out Shai managed to get out a sliding door and was eventually picked up by animal control. Torren searched for her beloved dog for 12 days, knocking on doors and making phone calls.

She had called the Stoughton Animal Control many times but was always told her dog was not there. Shai had a microchip so Torren called the company to see if any vets had scanned it in, no one had. However, she decided to call another company and then learned the chip had been scanned by the town pound in Stoughton, the one she had been calling.

Here are the details from Boston.com.

So, once again, Torren called Kristin Bousquet, the town’s animal control officer. There was no answer. After Torren left a message threatening to call police, Bousquet called back and tried to suggest someone else at the pound or the local rescue league may have scanned Shai’s microchip, even though Torren said the company told her that Bousquet had registered Shai.

“It was a continuing change of the story,’’ Torren said. “There was nothing solid to what she was saying. If I asked her a question, she changed the answer. It was one lie after another.’’

After a brief investigation, Murphy found that Bousquet had given the dog to a police officer’s girlfriend, who was planning to move to Florida with Shai. He found that the dog was well fed and in good condition. The officer and his girlfriend, neither of whom Murphy identified, did not know that the dog had been missing, Murphy said.

Torren decided not to press charges against Bousquet, but she was fired from her job as animal control officer last week.

* Pic courtesy David Abel/Globe Staff. Call me crazy, but that doesn’t look like a Yorkie to me.

A Sicilian woman told her husband she was taking their dog for a walk.  A bit later the husband was out with the kids when he heard a familiar bark. He found his pup tied to a tree in front of a bar.

According to the Metro.co.uk, the husband looked in the bar and found his wife in a passionate embrace with the owner. This probably won’t come as a surprise, the couple is planning on divorcing. I wonder if there will be a custody fight over the dog? I’m thinking the dog goes with the husband.

If  anyone out there needs to keep their spouse in line, Princeton is up for adoption. He’s 3-months-old and was surrendered by the breeder who could not get him adopted. He is on Dogster’s Dog Adoption & Rescue Center, totally unrelated to the story, there was no picture of their Yorkie.

Her mom participates in lots of groups and has been very active in the Dogster community until recently, she found out she has cancer and is about to undergo surgery and chemo.

I don’t want to go into all the details but Morgan’s mom has a lot on her plate, understandably she is scared and trying very hard to keep her spirits up.

Although she isn’t going to be on Dogster as much because of all that is happening it would mean a lot if you could stop by Morgan’s page and leave a little message, show her that we care and are thinking about her.

Let’s see how many Dogsters we can get to send her the  Power of the Paw : the gift of encouragement, hope, support and prayer.

I’ve posted numerous articles on why not to leave your dog unattended in a car, but it still happens all the time.

Debby Brown will think twice, possibly 10,000 times, before she ever leaves her chorkie again.

CONCORD, Calif. – On Monday morning, Debby Brown was ecstatic, having been reunited with her tiny dog Lexi 2 1/2 days after the pet was taken from her Cadillac Escalade parked behind a Concord, Calif., restaurant.

But it was a tough weekend for the Concord woman, who offered – and paid – a $10,000 reward to get back Lexi.

“We got so many calls, about 40, and some of them wanted to meet us,” said Brown, who had posted fliers all over the East Bay region. “It was scary sitting in those parking lots, waiting, afraid of getting robbed. … It’s been a very stressful few days.”

Her ordeal began Friday night, when Brown and her boyfriend left the Elephant Bar on Willow Pass Road and found a window of their vehicle had been smashed. Lexi, a 2-year-old, 3-pound Chihuahua-Yorkshire terrier mix – a ‘chorkie’ – was gone.

So Brown posted fliers promising a $10,000 reward, no questions asked, for Lexi’s safe return. That brought out the callers – most of whom, of course, didn’t have Lexi.

She tried to meet with a few of the people who called over the weekend, claiming they had Lexi. None of them showed, she said. Then Brown received photos of her pet via e-mail, convincing her that this was the real deal. And indeed, early Monday morning, Brown and her boyfriend met with people in a parking lot in Alameda, Calif., where the cash and the dog were exchanged.

Since Brown offered the reward with no conditions she has not pursued the matter with the police. It would be one thing not to involve the police if Lexi had simply been found and returned. However, if what is reported is true,  Brown was blackmailed and the police should be involved.  If the perpetrators aren’t caught what’s to stop them from doing it again?

* Pic of Brown and Lexi courtesy Contra Costa Times

Other than cute, though, puppies almost always tend to do something goofy during a shoot and this one was no exception and produced this week’s caption contest photo.

Have at it, Dogsters. Give me your caption suggestions by commenting on this post and the winner of the 50-Zealie prize will be announced next Monday, June 15th.

Yorkie Puppies

Photograph© 2009 MarkRogersPhotography.com all rights reserved.

It feels like everyday I’m posting a story on a puppy mill raid. It’s great that something is finally being done about bad breeders, but where on earth are all these dogs going to go.

People are turning in their dogs at an alarming rate already, add on top of this thousands of dogs from puppy mills being thrown into the mix.  A recipe for disaster.  In this case, more dogs put down per year than ever before.

It’s time the laws are changed to make the penalty fit the crime. Backyard breeders will never stop as long as the reward outweighs the risk. The profit outweighs the penalty. The time to change things is now, before it’s too late.

J.B’s Precious Puppies located in Seneca, MO was raided after a tip came from someone who went to purchase a dog.  The tipster was shown an unhealthy looking dog and requested to see another one, after being turned down the buyer became suspicious.

A tiger and cat were seized along with over 360 dogs found at this facility. This is not the first time the owner has been in trouble with the law.

Public information indicates that the breeder has had previous violations, the Humane Society release said. In January 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture levied $10,000 worth of fines against the breeder for multiple violations within the Animal Welfare Act, the news release said.

In 2007, the state seized 150 dogs from the property and sold them at a private auction. The proceeds were given to the owner. No charges were filed at that time .

It is unbelievable that this woman received the proceeds of the dogs auctioned.  As mentioned above, until the penalty outweighs the profit these people will just keep going.  The animals just rescued were living in wire cages covered in urine and feces. There was no food visible and the water they had was frozen. Obviously, this person has no regards for the animals and needs to be stopped once and for all.

The dogs will be taken to the Humane Society’s headquarters in St. Louis for triage. This rescue comes just days after the Humane Society took in 100 Yorkies from a breeding facility in Greene County.

Dogs rescued from the Seneca facility included small-breed dogs including chihuahuas, Boston terriers, miniature pinchers, Lhasa apsos, Pomeranians and Westies, according to the news release. There were also 25 to 30 large breeds including huskies, chow- chows and Shar Peis.

So far the Humane Society has been able to cope, but they are calling on all their volunteers to help out. I’m sure they could use as many volunteers as possible, if interested visit their site for more info.

* Pic courtesy Missouri Humane Society

No, this wasn’t some kind of bizarre contest.  The dogs that were shaved came from a puppy mill in Greene County, MO raided last week.

So far, three of ninety-three dogs have been put down because of circulation problems that were caused due to the conditions in which they were kept.

The severe matting, which caused the circulation problems, was so bad some of the dogs could not bend their legs. A few of the dogs have had to have limbs amputated in order to save them. Other dogs with less serious conditions will still need weeks of rehabilitation.

The dogs were taken to St. Louis after the raid, where they are receiving medical treatment.  Interest in adopting the dogs has been overwhelming, even affecting the society’s phone system due to the volume of calls.

Anyone who is interested in adopting one of the dogs is asked to go to the society’s Web site at www.hsmo.org. The local Humane Society is not involved in the case and has none of the dogs.

The Humane Society is pushing for prosecution of the owners of these dogs.