Episode 17 - loving lions, biting burglars, dumped dogs and more

The Dog News Show

Dogs' ability to recognise and nurture the young of other species is the story that kicks off episode 17 of The Dog News Show. A Pointer-cross dog in a German zoo has been helping raise a lion cub whose mother rejected him. It doesn't seem to matter where it's playing with the children who live in the same house as them, and orphaned litter of kittens or a more exotic species, dogs seem to have an innate sense that a young creature should be cared for.
However, dogs can also sense who is acting out of the ordinary - and that's just what happened in our second story. When eleven year old Rottweiler Missy was left home alone she took exception to an arm that came through a catflap and bit it. Missy did so much damage to the would-be burglar that there was a pool of blood on the floor from which police extracted enough DNA to catch the culprit - hoorah! If only there was a Missy waiting to distribute retribution to all burglars.
Next up is the holidaymaker who attempted to get rid of her dog by dumping him on a beach. However, unbeknown to the woman, her husband had microchipped their dog and keen dog wardens were soon knocking on her caravan door to return her dog - and demand some money for wasting officers' time and public money. Needless to say that as a seasoned rescuer this story has Debbie's hackles well and truly up.
Lancelot Encore is a clone of a dog called Sir Lancelot, and he is now the father of a litter of puppies. The litter are being heralded by their breeder as "future pups from the past" - but aren't all puppies a product of their ancestors? So is cloning your dog a tribute to your love for him, or is it disrespectful to his memory? And is making a business out of breeding a clone's offspring and marketing them as such exploitative? Julie feels strongly that each dog is an adventure and takes you on a unique journey, and is just not comfortable with this whole business.
That a dog should be dumped is shocking enough, but when a puppy was abandoned from a car and found to have been brutally beaten it was doubly shocking. This is an appalling crime that someone has committed. The young black Staffordshire Bull Terrier was left by blue convertible BMW near the underpass of the A1M at junction 8 near Graveley Road at around 11.30am. Anyone with relevant information should call DC Tucker via 101 quoting 368 of 30/07/12, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
You've probably noticed that the Olympics 2012 are in full swing in London, and if you want to attend the game with an assistance dog there is some fantastic advice on the Assistance Dogs website. Many thanks to Wendy Morrell for highlighting this information and congratulations to Wendy who along with her friend Karen Ruddlestone advised LOCOG about assistance dog considerations for the games, and took part in the Olympic torch relay - both accompanied by their own devoted canine partner.
To send you off with a smile Schmaltz Corner brings you the video of a very small dog puffing and panting to carry a rather large cat - see it and smile! So does Julie finally escape a stomping from Debbie? - well maybe, but don't miss Debbie's wild goose chase story, in which our wildlife warrior heroine steps in to save the lives of some Canada geese. Two happy endings for the price of one this week.