By: Brooke Hoese
January 6, 2017
Deaf Dog and Nonverbal Six Year Old Find Friendship Together
When Brandi Guillet adopted Connor as a baby, she knew he’d have special needs, and she knew she had to get her now six year old son a companion that would truly understand him.
When Brandi set out to find her son a special friend, she had no idea that she was about to find the perfect companion for him. She began her search for a dog at the Coastal Boxer Rescue of Florida, where she volunteers, when she met a white Boxer named Ellie who is deaf, but responds to sign language – which Connor uses to communicate.
Though it hasn’t been long, Ellie settled right in to the family and, as Brandi hoped, shares a special bond with Connor.
“Connor is on the autism spectrum and has meltdowns to where he is on the floor crying very loudly,” she told iHeartDogs. “Ellie always stands over him as if she knows he needs comfort.”
The two don’t need words in order to understand each other, and Ellie seems to be especially intuitive to how her human is feeling. Plus, there’s the language that they both understand.
“It is the most beautiful thing in the world to see my son be able to communicate through sign with Ellie,” Brandi said.
“I also believe that special-needs dogs are amazing for kids with special needs (or adults),” she said, adding, “there is something beyond special about Ellie.”
The Coastal Boxer Rescue of Florida is a non-profit organization that is run solely by volunteers. To help them support and re-home dogs like Ellie, click here – and don’t forget to browse their adoptable dogs!
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January 6, 2017
This Year’s Puppybowl Features Three Disabled Dogs
2017 truly is off to a great start.
For any unfamiliar, the Puppy Bowl is a television program organised by Animal Planet, and is, as youmay have guessed, the superbowl but better. Because it’s puppies.
A longstanding tradition for those who prefer animals to sports, the Puppy Bowl, with it’s guinea pig commentators and kitten halftime show, exclusively features dogs from shelters, and urges the importance of adopting over buying from breeders.
However there’s something extra special about this bowl, with three special needs dogs on the contestant list. Dogs with special needs have a much harder time getting adopted than the average dog, even though they’re equally manageable and full of love. Hopefully this year’s Puppybowl will help all the special shelter dogs out there find their furever home. Meet them below!
Doober is deaf but still willing to bring his A game this February.
Winston is both vision and hearing impaired but just look at that game face
Lucky lost one of her legs in an accident, but you can bet that she’s ready to kick some tail
Meet the rest of the 2017 lineup here
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January 6, 2017
2016’s Best Twitter Beef Was About Dogs
And no, we’re not joking.
It all started with twitter account @dog_rates, who, as you might have guessed, rates dogs. But then twitter user @Brant, better known as Brent, stuck his nose in their business and decided to critique just how they do their ratings. Bront felt that the dog rater was too easy on the dogs, who are theoretically rated on a scale of 1 to 10. The dog rater, whose name is Matt Nelson, disagreed — he believes every dog deserves a 10, and many deserve, say, an 11 or 12. Or more.
They’re good dogs, Brent
The original tweet itself now has nearly 5,000 retweets and 10,000 likes and most viral screenshot of the conversation has nearly 55,000 retweets,with the image has spread to other platforms like Reddit and Tumblr. Nelson now sells “They’re good dogs, Brent” T-shirts on his website, and gained about 50,000 followers for @dog_rates because of it.
Walker on the other hand has gained about 1,000 Twitter followers since September and now has a strange but predictable phenomenon in his Twitter mentions. Whenever he tweets, between 3 and 20 people reply to him with some reference to the meme.
The viral exchange even received a small nod on his wedding cake.
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January 6, 2017
Photographer Captures Tiny Humans with Their Enormous Dogs
It goes without saying that little kids and gigantic dogs are both pretty cute, but you won’t believe how much the cute factor increases when you combine the two.
That’s the concept behind the new book from photographer Andy Seliverstoff, titled, “Little Kids and Their Big Dogs.” The St. Petersburg, Russia-based artist was inspired to capture gargantuan dogs with their much smaller companions, and the resulting shots look straight out of a fairytale. Browse a few of our favorites below
Lisa and four Leonbergers
Sonia and Max with Irish Wolfhounds
Alexandra with a great dane
Alice with a Great Dane
December 30, 2016
Man Punches Cougar to Save His Dogs
Last week in Canada, a man punched a fully grown cougar in the head in order to save his beloved huskies.
Will Gibb, a 31-year-old technician from Red Deer, had just gone through the drive through at a Tim Hortons and let his two dogs, Sasha and Mongo, out of the truck to run around the parking lot. Soon after the two dogs exited the car Gibbs heard Sasha yelping in pain and went running to save her, apparently not realizing the animal that had her in its grips was a cougar until he had punched it in the side of the head.
Initially following the punch the cougar ran back into the woods while Gibbs attempted to pick up Sasha’s body. However the cougar soon returned and Gibbs was left fending it off with one arm while protecting Sasha with the other. Eventually Sasha ran for safety, causing the cougar to go after Mongo. Gibbs reportedly picked up a big stick, and got between the two, chasing the cougar back into the woods.
Sasha was quickly tended to at a local veterinary clinic wile local police found and killed the cougar, a species that is usually much more reclusive.
For the full interview, watch here.
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December 16, 2016
We Might Know What Dogs Dream About and it’s Way Too Cute
We were right. Dogs are way too good for this world.
Recently, People Magazine published an interview they conducted with an expert from Harvard about dogs, specifically, what they dream about.
Most dog owners have probably wondered what their furbabies dream about, if they dream at all, and we finally have answers. But fair warning, they may be too cute to handle.
During the interview Dr. Deirdre Barrett told People Magazine, “Humans dream about the same things they’re interested in by day, though more visually and less logically. There’s no reason to think animals are any different. Since dogs are generally extremely attached to their human owners, it’s likely your dog is dreaming of your face, your smell and of pleasing or annoying you.”
Can. You. Believe.
Here’s some pictures of sleeping dogs. Have fun crying and never letting go of your pup again.
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Most dogs love to go on walks, but these ones just might prefer going for a drive!
Meet Porter, Ginny, and Monty, three rescue dogs from New Zealand who successfully passed their driving tests on live TV last Monday.
Thought to be the world’s first driving dogs, they were cars altered especially for them and took to the racetrack after two months of training. There are special handles fitted on the steering wheels, dashboard-height brakes and accelerator pedals and most importantly a speed limiter to make sure the car doesn’t go above a walking pace.
“It’s all the dog doing it,” said trainer Mark Vette. “He’s started the key, put the paw on the brake to allow it to go into gear, put it into drive, paw on the steering wheel, accelerator on, and off he goes down the track.”
The two dogs were taught how to drive in order to show how intelligent and capable shelter dogs are, and above all, deserving of a loving and nurturing home.
Footage of these driving doggies went viral, and you can follow their success stories on their Facebook page here.
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December 16, 2016
You Won’t Believe These Dogs Who Killed the Mannequin Challenge
We wish we had this much skill
December 16, 2016
You’ll Love These 5 Short Heartwarming Videos
This veteran and his service dog who were hired together at Lowe’s
This man who gave a loving home to 10 senior dog (and a few other critters as well)
This dog who refuses to let his loss of limb stop him from having fun
This war hero
This sweet puppy mill dog who finally got the life she deserves
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About 5 years ago, an 11 year old Chihuahua named MoMo was rescued from Tiny Loving Canines Rescue in California by Julie Docherty. She immediately fell in love with the little guy, and even though he had been surrendered to a high-kill shelter a horrendous condition, he helped Julie as much as she helped him.
“My first senior adoption was a happy accident,” Docherty told website The Dodo. “I discovered MoMo, fell in love with him, and we bonded over his rehabilitation and care. I came to realize then how heartbreakingly overlooked this large category of shelter dogs are, and how ideal senior adoption was for me.”
Eventually their happy family got some new members, Choli Churro, Paloma Linda and Benito, all senior chihuhuas like MoMo, and most recently, a tiny kitten named Rosita!
Even though the group is a little unusual, they all get along perfectly, eating, sleeping, and everything-in-betweening with each other!
You can follow their adventures on Instagram at @jemandthemisfits!
