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Your Dog May Be More Popular Than You — 20% Have Over 50 Facebook Friends [Infographic]

How many pets are online?  How many pet owners are tweeting and Facebooking for their cats and dogs?  How many pets have a YouTube page?  A new infographic from eBay Classifieds reveals that Fido and Fluffy are hitting the social web a lot more often than you may think!

The ‘Social Savvy Critters’ infographic reveals that 14 percent of dog owners maintain a Facebook page for their pet, 6 percent tweet for their dogs on Twitter, and a whopping 27 percent have their own YouTube page!

In addition to providing stats about how many pets are online, the infographic also offers up some advice for pet owners looking to get their furry friends online.  They provide 8 Twitter tips for dogs, tips on creating a blog from your pet’s perspective, and a list of pet-related social networks:

Blind dog and blind dog's seeing eye dog find their forever home

"Maddison is Lily’s guide dog. If they are out and about, for the majority of the time Maddison will lead and Lily will walk nearly touching her so she knows where to go. It’s lovely to watch. Maddison is always looking out for her.

London, England - The Daily Mail reports another happy ending for a special needs blind Great Dane and the canine partner who has become her "seeing eye" companion. Lily and Maddison have been adopted by the Williams family and will live the charmed lives they so deserve.

Lily, six-years-old suffers from an eye disease that caused her eyelashes to grow into her eyeballs causing extensive corneal damage leaving her blind. Maddison, seven-years-old bonded with Lily, and together the dogs go everywhere. This past summer their owner gave them up because they were too much work. They have been living at the Dogs Trust in Shrewsbury, and the shelter was having a hard time finding new homes for the dogs.

When the Trust decided to advertise for a home for the dogs, the heartwarming story of the two dogs went viral. The Daily Mail reported 2000 responses to their article from people inquiring about adopting the dogs. The Trust reported hundreds of inquiries.

more on the story here

A robot dog to help lead the blind

A Japanese company has designed a robotic guide dog for the sight impaired using Microsoft's Kinect hands-free gaming technology. NSK and the University of Electro-Communications built a prototype of the robot, which uses a pressure-sensitive handle and a synthesized voice to guide the user in a number of environments. The company said future iterations will include voice commands and GPS technology.

 

27 Heartwarming Photos Of Animals Being Rescued

Here's proof that firemen and rescue workers do have soft spots in their hearts. The title says it all, and it's worth the look: 27 Heartwarming Photos Of Animals Being Rescued 

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27 Heartwarming Photos Of Animals Being Rescued

Here's proof that firemen and rescue workers do have soft spots in their hearts. The title says it all, and it's worth the look: 27 Heartwarming Photos Of Animals Being Rescued 

View all images

Chemotherapy for Dogs: A Tough Decision

Chemotherapy, while it creates many challenges for dogs, is often less grueling than it is for humans, writes John Rennie in the online magazine Txchnologist.

When a beloved pet is diagnosed with cancer, many owners aren’t sure whether they should pursue aggressive treatments. John Rennie, the former editor of Scientific American, faced this decision when his dog was diagnosed with brain and lung tumors. He chose to give his dog chemotherapy treatment, an issue he wrote about recently in the online magazine Txchnologist. One of the surprises he encountered: chemotherapy, while it creates many challenges for dogs, is often less grueling than it is for humans.

The reason, however, is that they do not receive comparable doses of the toxic drugs. Justifying months of chemical hell is easier with people who might gain decades of added life. The tradeoff, of course, is that the dogs’ chemo is less potent.

During his previous eight years with us, our canine Rasputin had survived eating a box of chocolates, New York City garbage, some kind of wire clip that snagged in his intestines and a mouthful of rat poison. So it was no surprise that Newman took chemotherapy in stride. He continued to lead me on daily walks that went for miles, and his vigor and sociable nature held up well, pushing far past the early benchmarks for his mortality. Periodic checkups confirmed that the tumors in his lungs were stable or shrinking. It was easy to forget that he was sick at all.

But Newman was also undeniably (if ever so incrementally) slowing down, whether because of the brain tumor, the drugs or his own advancing age. He was sleeping more and walking less. Jumping and running involved more obvious effort.

 

Full story here

Slain Navy SEAL's Loyal Dog Remains by His Side at Funeral

For Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson, 35, and his beloved and loyal dog Hawkeye, not even death could break the powerful bond of man and his best friend.

At Tumilson's funeral in Rockford on Aug. 19, his beloved canine lay at the foot of the casket throughout the ceremony. Tumilson's cousin Lisa Pembleton took the heart-wrenching photo of the devoted dog, known to Tumilson's family and friends as his "son."

"I took this picture and that was my view throughout the entire funeral. I couldn't NOT take a picture," Pembleton said. "It took several attempts since every time I wasn't crying and could focus on taking it, there was a SEAL at the microphone and I didn't want to take a picture with them for security and respect reasons. Our family is devastated to say the least."

Petty Officer Tumilson, from Rockford, Iowa, was one of 22 Navy SEALS who died when their Chinook helicopter was shot down by Afghan insurgents, claiming the lives of 30 Americans.

Gorgeous Vintage Dog Photos from the Kennel Club Archive

The Kennel Club in the UK has a treasure trove of vintage dog photos in their archive. A selection of these images were brought out into the public eye this week for a new exhibition in London, and the Kennel Club were kind enough to share some of them with Flavorwire. They’re fascinating viewing, whether they’re pictures of animals in strangely formal poses (a dog in a top hat! With a pipe!), photographic experiments (a dog surrounded by mirrors!) or just intimate shots of people with their best friends. View the slideshow preview here.

Photo credit: Statham Cook collection

About The Kennel Club Art Gallery:

The Kennel Club Art Gallery houses the largest collection of dog paintings in Europe.Located in central London, the nearest tube station is Green Park, which is a short walk away. Opening hours by appointment: Monday to Friday 9.30am – 4.30pm.

Photography Going to the Dogs': An Exhibition of Vintage Dog Photographs - 18th July 2011 - 13th January 2012

Consider letting your workplace go to the dogs

June 24 is Take Your Dog to Work Day! Big, successful companies such as Google and Amazon allow dogs in the office. A dog-friendly workplace can pay off for small companies, too, writes Rhonda Abrams, who lists employee recruitment, retention and morale among the benefits.

USA TODAY full story

Exposure to pets by age 1 helps reduce allergy risks

And living with a cat or dog in infancy may even be protective, researchers find.

Teens who were exposed to cats before age 1 were almost 48% less likely to develop allergic reactions to the pet, according to a study in the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy. Researchers also found a 67% lower risk of dog allergy in both male and female teens born via cesarean section who were exposed to dogs before age 1.

To see what effect, if any, childhood exposure to cats and dogs has on the development of pet allergies in children, the researchers tested blood samples gathered as part of the Detroit Childhood Allergy Study for the presence of a substance known as animal-specific IgE. The presence of this antibody would indicate that an individual was "sensitized" to that animal, which indicates an allergy. The study began in 1987.

Results of the study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit are published online June 13 in the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy.

At age 18, about 560 of the study's participants agreed to participate in this follow-up study. They provided additional blood samples and pet histories.

During their first year of life, 184 teens had an indoor dog and 110 had an indoor cat.

In males, the risk of having a dog allergy was decreased by 50 percent in those who had a dog during their first year. This association wasn't found in females, however. But when the researchers looked at teens born via cesarean-section delivery, they found that both males and females had a 67 percent decreased risk of dog allergy when they lived with a dog during their first year of life.

Wegienka noted that babies born via C-section aren't exposed to the diverse microflora that babies born vaginally are, which might make their immune systems more susceptible to allergies.

The researchers said that exposure to animals at other times in childhood didn't appear to be as significant as the first year. But, Wegienka cautioned that this study doesn't prove a cause-and-effect relationship between having a pet and avoiding allergies, just an association between those two factors.

full story here.