Animals, Dogs | featured news

British dog owners may be forced to microchip their pets and take out insurance, part of a proposed crackdown on the country's dangerous canines.

Postmen are delighted, but civil libertarians grumble that Britain's sprawling surveillance state now wants to track the nation's estimated 8 million dogs. Others complain that the insurance plan would impose a financial penalty on innocent pet owners – while criminals who own violent animals will simply shirk the law.

A perky British Labrador whose bomb-sniffing exploits helped save lives in Afghanistan was decorated for canine courage in a ceremony at London's Imperial War Museum Wednesday....

A Great Dane from the US state of Arizona is officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the tallest dog ever on record.

A Scottish terrier named Sadie, the overwhelming favorite, was chosen the best in show Tuesday night at the 134th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Boomer may be a buster: Measuring 3 feet tall at the shoulders and 7 feet long from nose to destructive wagging tail, he might be the world's tallest living dog. Owner Caryn Weber says her 3-year-old Landseer Newfoundland keeps all four paws on the floor when he drinks from the kitchen faucet in her family's eastern North Dakota farm house....

The canine IQ test results are in: Even the average dog has the mental abilities of a 2-year-old child. The finding is based on a language development test, revealing average dogs can learn 165 words (similar to a 2-year-old child), including signals and gestures, and dogs in the top 20 percent in intelligence can learn 250 words.

As many as 350 dogs were seized and about 30 people arrested during raids in five U.S. states Wednesday that animal welfare groups are calling the largest simultaneous raid of dogfighting operations in America.

Dogs are being trained in Britain as potential life-savers to warn diabetic owners when their blood sugar levels fall to dangerously low levels.

This China policy is really for the dogs. Or maybe we should say, against them. The AP is reporting that Guangzhou, China, is instituting a one-dog rule. No exceptions, and no grandfather clause for households who already have more than one fluffy family member.

James Symington's essay about his deceased German shepherd wins him five free cloned puppies in a contest sponsored by a bioengineering firm.