Dog

Deputed Testamony is 32-years-old. His dark brown coat is shaggy, and his biggest excitement is going into his paddock at Bonita Farm for three or four hours of grazing each day. He is a pensioner, an icon. The oldest living winner of a Triple Crown race. But when Billy Boniface looks at the horse in his paddock, he sees the striking colt that was born and trained at the family farm and raced to victory in the 1983 Preakness - the last horse bred or trained in Maryland to do so. "Oh my gosh, I still get goose bumps when I look at him and remember that day," said Boniface, who was 18 then and had just taken over the breeding operation at the farm.

The first time Frank Moraff entered his chocolate Labrador retriever Cali in aquatic competition at 8 months old, she stopped short at the edge of the 40-foot dock and stared as the toy he'd flung, and that she so desperately wanted, went sailing into the air without her. After considerable urging, "she finally slid off the dock and did a belly flop," he recalled, shaking his head and smiling. But in her second attempt that same day, she redeemed herself and jumped 17 feet. "I was thrilled," said the longtime Columbia resident, who is a member of Chesapeake DockDogs, a canine dock jumping club formed in 2003 that has 60 families as members.

The dog eats the chicken bones in the park. The dog eats the homework. But it's not everyday that the dog swallows $10,000 in precious stones. But one hungry pup in Georgia did. According to Georgia's WALB , it was a cutie-pie named Honeybun. When $10,000 worth of diamonds went missing from John Ross Jewelers in Albany, the store owners immediately suspected Honeybun -- a store pup who's more mascot than guard dog. While Honeybun's owners were helping customers, the little dog -- who looks to be a Pomeranian -- jumped onto a chair, and then onto a desk.

The search for America's next greatest talent continues in New York.  First up is The Flyte Cru, who I guess you could call basketball stunts-men. They use trampolines to do all sorts of somersaults as they shoot hoops. Their act is pretty entertaining, but I feel like I've seen it before, so I'm not very impressed. Judge Howie Mandel thinks the same thing and gives them a “no.” New judge Howard Stern has been surprisingly kind this season; he continues that streak and says he wants to see Flyte Cru move on to next round.

While "The Artist" is expected to do well at the Feb. 26 Oscars, the film has some new hardware for the mantle courtesy of its four-legged cast member. Uggie won a Pawscar. The Jack Russell terrier took home the prize on Thursday (Feb. 9) for "Best Scene Stealer" at the competition put on by the American Humane Association. "Not only did Uggie steal the hearts of [the] audience, he also stole the hearts of his co-stars," the AHA says in a release. "Uggie even managed to continue stealing the spotlight when the camera person at the Golden Globes couldn't take the camera off him during the cast's acceptance speech as 'The Artist' won Best Film.

People loooooove to complain about dog poop under foot. Understandable. Wait till they find out that wayward exrement is also turning up in the air. You can't escape it! According to a new study by University of Colorado Boulder, most of the wintertime airborne bacteria in Cleveland and Detroit is fecal matter. And most likely, it's the fecal matter of dogs. I'll repeat that -- it's not just that poop is turning up in the air sporadically in these cities -- it's MOST of the bacteria there.

I have never written a response to any article in the paper, but I could not let the article "Help the SPCA is rejecting" (Sept. 22) go by without my two cents. The more I read this article about a man charged with killing a dog being sent to do community service at an animal shelter, the madder I got. First of all, where does defense attorney Alan Cohen get off saying that in a perfect world, he would like the case to be dismissed? This is totally outrageous! Why in the world would it be OK to let a man off for beating a poor defenseless animal the way he did?

I never thought it would be me. Or, more to the point, I never thought it would be my dog. But it is. Teddy Bean has fleas. Fleas!!! My little pup! Why does it seem so embarrassing? So shameful? No one feels like they have to leave the groomer with a bag over their head if their dog is stinky, or muddy, or has a few mats. But fleas? I'm taking it personally. So here's what happened. I had been wondering for a couple weeks now about these little poppy seed thingies I'd been finding in Bean's fur. I had even mentioned it to a few people.

Regular readers of this blog know that here at Unleashed headquarters, we hold a special spot for stories of interspecies love. Here's the latest. A female dog named "Yeti" has adopted four piglets in Cuba. Sweet...

Where do they come up with this stuff? Gina and Scott Keatley are dressed as Popeye and Olive while their dog, Buttercup, is their fortifying spinach. Love it!. Of course, a costume this good hard to be part of the 21st Annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade in New York. Keep those furry ones safe during trick-or-treating tonight! Happy Halloween!

Maryland dog lovers are upset by a ruling in the highest court in the state that says pit bulls are “inherently dangerous,” which means owners and landlords can be liable for the first bite a pit bull makes. But dog bites of all breeds turn out to be expensive. The Insurance Information Institute reports that last year insurers paid out nearly $479 million in dog bite claims with the average claim reaching $29,306. That's an increase of $3,230 per bite over last year. The number of bite claims last year totaled 16,292, up by 522 from the year before.

As jockey Joe Bravo slid off Teeth of the Dog to talk to trainer Michael Matz after Saturday's Preakness, he was smiling. It might have seemed an odd expression for a jockey whose horse had just finished fifth. But Teeth of the Dog was the highest-finishing Maryland-trained horse in the race - and it had been a glorious race. Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another came from 31/2 lengths back down the stretch to forge ahead of the betting favorite, Bodemeister, by a neck at the finish.

A routine traffic stop in Annapolis on Monday led to the discovery of a large stash of heroin and three arrests, police said in a Friday news release. The 80.3 grams of heroin seized, which would have been worth $16,000 on the street, were not found in the vehicle stopped but in a rental vehicle parked nearby, police said. The woman and two men arrested were all from Annapolis. According to police, officers first stopped a bright green Lincoln in the 1100 block of Medgar Evers Street for undisclosed traffic violations at about 4:40 p.m., and discovered the driver, Deon Matthews, 20, had a suspended license.

I wonder why strict liability is limited to pit bulls ("Pit bull fans schedule a rally today in Annapolis," May 15)? Blame becomes an issue only after a person is injured. If a dog is as loving and benign as most owners claim, why fear strict liability? William S. Ramsey, Columbia

Dog-lovers, get out your calendars and save the date for the annual Lab Rescue Dog Walk in Annapolis.  The 2.25-mile walk raises money for the nonprofit Lab Rescue organization, which last year rescued 904 dogs. The goal this year is to raise $50,000 so the group can continue to have a big impact in helping vet and find foster and permanent homes for homeless labs.   Carol Lagundo, VP of Lab Rescue, says they are expecting more than 250 owners and more than 150 dogs at this year's walk.

I devoted my entire professional career to working with individuals stigmatized by drug addiction. Yet during that time I saw the pendulum swing from addiction being treated as a moral weakness to the disease-based model backed by science. I'm now witnessing a similar evolution in my volunteer work with an animal rescue group that over the years has become very familiar with pit bulls. The recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision designating all pit bull type dogs as inherently dangerous is based on myths, not facts.

As a practicing veterinarian in Baltimore, specializing in house-call appointments for time-pressed and senior "pet parents," I travel throughout the city. I go into neighborhoods, many under-serviced by the veterinary community, and sit with pet parents of all ages, races and religions. While treating their pets, I listen to their stories, many of them compelling. I've walked in as worried family members — two or three generations' worth, some with tears in their eyes — exclaim with joy that I showed up, because they didn't want to subject their pets or themselves to sideline glances and furtive behaviors from wary staff in a veterinary hospital.

The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center is hosting its annual Maryland Half Marathon this Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon in the Maple Lawn community of Howard County. This is the race made famous by Dozer the Dog, who ran much of the course along with about 1,200 other runners. Proceeds will be used by the cancer center for breast cancer and health disparities research. There will be activities for kids as well as the 13.1-mile race. But Dozer will likely be a big draw.