Shelter dogs are those that are housed and cared for in some sort of animal rescue center. Often they are abandoned or neglected pups that have been taken in by the center in hopes of finding new, loving homes for the dogs. Towards that end, the shelters often hold events designed to raise interest in the animals and hopefully place them with new families will love and care for them. One such shelter found a new, innovative way to do just that and at the same time, help “rescue” some humans, too.

The Lost Dogs Home in Melbourne, Australia came up with the groundbreaking adoption campaign. They offered to “rescue” some office workers from the tight quarters and solitude of their lonely cubicles. All the workers had to do was give up a small part of their lunch time to walk a dog or two.

Kate Hoelter, the general Manager of The Lost Dogs Home says that dogs are widely accepted for their stress-reducing capabilities. Locked away in cubicles for hours on end, away from fresh air, sunshine and contact with others, it is possible to overlook the importance of taking a break and getting away from the stress-inducing environments our jobs often hold. She advocates taking a lunch break and getting outside with a friend who will help you forget about your stress, even for a few minutes.

The shelter’s website claims the campaign was a huge success. They claim to have “rescued” more than 5,000 office workers. In addition to that and even better news, all the dogs in the program were adopted.

Reunions among soldiers who once served together are a long-standing tradition but a few of the men who served in Afghanistan with the National Guard recently enjoyed an unusual reunion.

While stationed in the Middle Eastern country, the adopted a 65-pound, mixed breed stray dog. They were reunited with her and her 7 frolicking puppies on Wednesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport shortly after the animals arrived.

A Long Island pet rescue organization made the reunion possible. Their motto is “Paws of War — No Buddy Left Behind.”

1st Lt. Joseph LaPenta of Staten Island said the dogs had become like members of their family. The mother dog, whom the men had named Sheba, was adopted by the group after they arrived in Afghanistan in January. She often accompanied them on patrol and chased off other stray dogs that could have posed a threat to her pack of men.

In March, Sheba gave birth to her puppies> she and the puppies were in a weakened state of health and the men saw to their needs, nursing them all back to health. This was accomplished in part by the beef jerky and MREs the guys shared with the dogs. Later, as word of their need spread back home, the men’s’ families sent bags of dog food.

As part of the U.S.’s plans to reduce their presence in Afghanistan, the men learned their base was to be closed. LaPenta said they were all heartbroken at having to leave them behind. Staff Sgt. Edwin Caba of Long Beach decided to do something about it. He contacted a former high school teacher who put him in touch with the Long Island-based Guardians of Rescue. The organization has been collecting donations for a number of years to assist with bringing dogs back from combat areas. Roughly 20 dogs had already been rescued when the request to help Sheba and her pups was received. They worked with a Kabul-based organization called Nowzad to get the dogs shipped to the U.S. where the soldiers were waiting to adopt them.

The cost of transporting a dog out of a war zone and back to the U.S. is roughly $4,000 each. It includes a 30-day quarantine period prior to shipment, vaccinations, food and the transportation.

The soldiers met with the dogs at a Save-a-Pet animal shelter on Long Island. The puppies are already 6 months old and have been given the names of Cadence, Rocky, Sarah, Jack, Buckeye, Breezy and Harris. Two of the soldiers are taking 2 dogs each and the 3 others will take one each. All but 2 will be staying in the New York area. The other 2 will be moving to the Cincinnati area.

Caba was grateful for the diversion created by the dogs. He lost his home in Superstorm Sandy and has just completed his third tour in Afghanistan.

As for Sheba, her situation is still being assessed. There is hope she can one day be trained as a service dog to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The way the cats in this video are claiming these dogs’ spaces, and not looking to be moving any time soon, is a hoot to watch!

In the first shot, the dog is seen walking around the cat, trying to negotiate somewhere to sit, but failing! Awwww!

The next dog makes a bit more of a protest and howls! The next two dogs resign themselves to sitting in a much smaller, less comfy bed (one of them in an INSANELY smaller area!)
The funniest is the cat that’s alllll stretched out with its limbs, just chilling.

In some of the clips, the owners do try to encourage the dogs to claim what’s theirs, but well, it doesn’t work. Poor things.

One little dog is seen barking at the cat, and the cat doesn’t move an inch. One cat fights back!

There’s a really cute clip where the cat’s soooo small (around 1:14).

…and then one where the dog tries to cover the cat with a blanket!

The next clips after that show the dogs dragging their beds with the cats in them - maybe in the hopes that they’ll tumble out.

There’s one dog that manages to fit itself in with the cat!

And then HURRAAAAAAH, some cats actually oblige and leave the bed, some of their own accord, others after being chased off it or tumbled out of it. Other dogs choose to share their beds, which is rather sweet. Some snuggle up too.

Lovely, funny video.

Dogs don’t have human hands so these two are obviously not really playing the banjo in this vid — but the set-up’s funny! The shirts - the caps they have on – the look on their faces while their ‘hands’ are strumming away.

The dog on the left is dead pan as if he’s self-taught on the banjo and ‘playing’ it comes as second nature to him. The other dog comes across really laid back, almost like he’s tired (or a bit tipsy!) and plans on taking a nap as soon as they’re both done playing. He also leans over towards his musical partner at times, maybe to check he’s playing in the right key.

The video was posted on YouTube just over a month ago and has garnered over a quarter of a million views to date.

One special canine, Daniel “The Miracle Dog”, found a new home today, ending the pooch’s long journey, from certain demise at an Alabama dog pound to a loving home.

The 5 year old beagle/pit bull mix narrowly escaped certain doom earlier this year when the unfortunate dog was slated for euthanasia, along with several other animals.

Miraculously, when animal control personnel went to open the box that the animals had been placed in and subsequently filled with carbon monoxide, Daniel was staring back at them unhurt, frightened but without a scratch.

Daniel has become something of a press sensation following the story becoming an international concern but his fate wasn’t entirely certain as the lovable dog still had not yet found a permanent home.

Daniel’s plight fell on the ears of New Jersey based organization Eleventh Hour Rescue and was flown into New Jersey to be rescued. The organization soon found an adopted home for the weary pup in that of John Dwyer and his family, also of New Jersey.

Eleventh Hour Rescue had received more than 100 requests to adopt “The Miracle Dog” but Joe Dwyer and his family were the lucky ones to win that coveted honor. Dwyer and his family had needed only two “meet-and-greets” with Daniel before their adoption was approved.

Daniel is now a permanent resident at the Dwyer family house, where he has four other dogs to keep him company.

As recently as Wednesday, ‘The Miracle Dog’ has received a glowing report from the vets following a much needed checkup.

He’s also making new friends with the Dwyer’s other dogs.

Dwyer told reporters, “By Thursday evening they were all lying down together. It was wonderful to see. … He’s in extremely good shape, especially in light of what he went through…His attitude is just incredible.””

His new owner said, “God spared his life for a reason”.

Eleventh Hour Rescue is a nonprofit that works to save dogs slated for euthanasia.

Therapy dogs have been used for a wide variety of things but this week a special group of therapy dogs have been getting quite a bit of attention. The dogs are part of a national group called R.E.A.D. which stands for reading education assistance dogs and from the name it is pretty obvious what their purpose is. Surprisingly these reading assistance dogs have been quite effective according to many teachers.

Across the country these specially trained dogs have been visiting schools to help children learn to read and further develop their reading skills. The idea of using dogs to help children develop better reading skills began in 1999 and ever since then the project has been gaining steam all across the United States.

The dogs are basically used as a reading partner, meaning that children will sit with these therapy dogs and just read to them rather than a teacher or peer. The concept is that dogs are not judgmental or critical of the students and as a result children are much more open to reading to them.

Reading dogs are being used in hundreds of elementary schools around the country and overall nearly all teachers agree that they are remarkably effective. Everyone from students with learning disabilities to children who are simply shy or intimidated enjoy reading to the dogs and overall teachers say basically all of the students show significant improvement after reading with the dogs. Amazingly the program has also begun expanding by using other animals as well; though at this time it is in the early stages.