German Shepherd

A $3,000 gift from Carroll County Bank and Trust Co. and its employees has enabled state police at the Westminster barracks to purchase and train Ajax (pronounced Eye-jax), a European-bred German shepherd, who will begin patrol Oct. 10 with his handler, Tfc. John Carhart.Capt. Lawrence W. Faries, former commander at the Westminster barracks, also said that Tfc. Gerard Ables and Jake, his patrol dog, have been reassigned from Waterloo to Westminster.The police dogs will be used in search and rescue missions to track people and to assist in making difficult apprehensions, Carhart said.

It's a common injury but often goes unnoticed. And the pinched nerve that kept Ken, a 5-year-old German shepherd, from getting into a cruiser, using stairs or moving his tail could have abruptly ended his career as a drug-sniffing police dog. That is, until he went under the knife. Compression of the nerve roots in the lower back - a pinched nerve - is not uncommon among dogs. But the condition is difficult to diagnose unless the owner notices a change in the animal's behavior, said Dr. William Bush, the veterinarian who performed the surgery on Ken. In younger dogs, pinched nerves cause pain and can prevent them from using their tails and engaging in other forms of common activity.

The judging for the grand champion of the Westminster dog show was on TV the other night, and I had no trouble picking a dog to root for.Part of it was a simple process of elimination. Several of the dogs looked like shaggy blankets, balls of yarn or dust mops. One looked like a man's blond hairpiece with tiny legs.I have nothing against little dogs that look like dust mops. I'm sure they make wonderful pets and companions. Even fierce watchdogs, should your home be invaded by midget burglars.

Susan "Suzie" Parthemos, who with her family owned a popular Irvington restaurant, died Friday of a heart ailment at St. Agnes Hospital. The Charlestown retirement community resident was 77. She, her husband, James Parthemos, and her parents, Lillian and Sam Malas, opened Duffy's restaurant in 1954. Later, she and her husband took it over before selling it in 1999. It was known for seafood dishes - she negotiated prices early in the morning with watermen - as well as large dinners at reasonable prices, a homemade green goddess dressing and a congenial atmosphere.

Carroll County public schools officials plan more random drug searches of cars, lockers and gymnasiums, with aid from the sheriff's newest police dog, authorities said yesterday.Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning said Kurt, a 2-year-old German shepherd trained to sniff out narcotics, will begin routine patrol next month with Deputy 1st Class Jay Prise, the dog's handler.Purchased from Europe with about $4,000 donated by Union National Bank of Westminster, the dog will be available anytime school officials need more resources to help monitor their buildings and parking lots, Tregoning said.

Tests have determined that a Baltimore County police dog died of a collapsed lung and had no abnormal levels of heavy metals in its blood -- easing worries that the death was linked to the canine unit's temporarily closed facility, county officials said yesterday. Harley, an 8-year-old German shepherd, was the fifth animal at the facility to have died this year. Four other dogs that the Baltimore County police union said had cancer or showed signs of tumors have been euthanized. All five dogs had been stationed at the department's canine center in Southwest Area Park in the Baltimore Highlands area.

A television commercial for the area's only private veterinary blood bank has collared a top honor in the advertising world.Earle Palmer Brown, a Richmond, Va., advertising agency, won a 1994 National Creative Award for the free 15-second spot it created for the Eastern Veterinary Blood Bank in Annapolis.The company decided to stretch its creative muscles for what it considered a worthy cause, said Ty Harper, senior art director at the agency.The award came from Communication Arts, a publication for the advertising business.

The fugitive's tattoo gave him away, as two Baltimore police officers apprehended the subject of a citywide escape alert yesterday morning. Rolf, the bomb-sniffing German shepherd, had been at large since disappearing from his handler's home Saturday night. He was returned to the custody of the Maryland Transit Administration Police. On Sunday the MTA Police put out a "be-on-the-lookout" bulletin to police agencies and the news media concerning the 2-year-old dog, assigned to Officer Donald Paige.

Never mind whatever's on the tube. For the sheer human drama of man's relationship to man and beast, you can't beat an evening with the Howard County Animal Matters Hearing Board.The board hears appeals from citations issued by the county animal control division.The citations, which carry fines, are issued for assorted crimes and misdemeanors that animal residents of the county are charged with committing against human residents.Which brings us to the case of the alleged cat theft, flower bed and yard violations heard by the board last month.

A Howard County police officer was bitten repeatedly by a dog in Columbia's Wilde Lake village on Wednesday night while breaking up a fight between two brothers, one of whom was wielding a sword, police said.Officer Bradley Neff, 29, who has been with the department since March 1995, required 23 stitches in his lower right leg after the attack, which ended when he shot the German shepherd.The dog later was euthanized at the family's request.Police refused to identify the two brothers, ages 24 and 34, because they have not been charged, said Sgt. Steven Keller, a police spokesman.

Few people have more intimate knowledge of my dog than Dr. John Trujillo does - he did, after all, relieve Ace of his reproductive bits - but as far as what Ace might be, breed-wise, Trujillo had never volunteered a guess and didn't particularly care. He gets the question from many mutt owners. "Lots of people want to know, but a lot more don't care," he said. "As long as it's a happy dog, that's all they care about." It's all I really care about, too. But, being curious - not to mention being frequently bombarded with the question myself - I was on a mission to find the answer.

The fugitive's tattoo gave him away, as two Baltimore police officers apprehended the subject of a citywide escape alert yesterday morning. Rolf, the bomb-sniffing German shepherd, had been at large since disappearing from his handler's home Saturday night. He was returned to the custody of the Maryland Transit Administration Police. On Sunday the MTA Police put out a "be-on-the-lookout" bulletin to police agencies and the news media concerning the 2-year-old dog, assigned to Officer Donald Paige.

Tests have determined that a Baltimore County police dog died of a collapsed lung and had no abnormal levels of heavy metals in its blood -- easing worries that the death was linked to the canine unit's temporarily closed facility, county officials said yesterday. Harley, an 8-year-old German shepherd, was the fifth animal at the facility to have died this year. Four other dogs that the Baltimore County police union said had cancer or showed signs of tumors have been euthanized. All five dogs had been stationed at the department's canine center in Southwest Area Park in the Baltimore Highlands area.

A Baltimore County police dog that had been found to have a brain tumor was euthanized yesterday, bringing to four the number of animals from the department's canine unit that have died since February. The dog was one of three whose medical condition was referred to in September when police closed the canine facility for environmental testing. Two other dogs that had been found to have cancer were euthanized earlier this year. The body of another police dog, who died Dec. 2, has been sent to the University of Maryland for a necropsy to determine the cause of death.

FORESTVILLE - Moses is a good dog. But the 40-pound pooch with big brown eyes is on doggy death row here in Prince George's County for one simple reason: He was born a pit bull. In the seven years since a rash of vicious attacks led Prince George's to outlaw the breed, the county has seized and euthanized more than 6,100 of the squat, muscular terriers. But some officials in this densely populated Washington suburb are having second thoughts. A county task force denounced the ban as costly to taxpayers and unfair to responsible dog owners.

Bubba, the Anne Arundel County police dog who assisted in more than 100 arrests during 11 years of service, died over the weekend after a long bout with cancer. The German shepherd made headlines for helping apprehend thieves and purse-snatchers. But his friendly way with others made him so popular that hundreds of people chipped in to pay for his medical treatment. "It was his personality that made him," said Cpl. Keith Baumann, Bubba's handler. "He was so social and friendly with people."

A Baltimore County police dog that had been found to have a brain tumor was euthanized yesterday, bringing to four the number of animals from the department's canine unit that have died since February. The dog was one of three whose medical condition was referred to in September when police closed the canine facility for environmental testing. Two other dogs that had been found to have cancer were euthanized earlier this year. The body of another police dog, who died Dec. 2, has been sent to the University of Maryland for a necropsy to determine the cause of death.

A Hollywood producer and Daphne Hereford have landed in each other's doghouse.Ms. Hereford, of the Houston suburb of Pearland, owns a descendant of the 1950s TV star Rin Tin Tin IV. But Herbert B. Leonard produced the series that starred the dog and owns the films of those episodes.Both claim exclusive rights to the Rin Tin Tin name. It appears the dispute is heading for a long dogfight in a California federal court.Ms. Hereford lives in a small house packed with memorabilia such as movie posters, statuettes and old tin cans bearing the popular canine star's picture.

Carroll County public schools officials plan more random drug searches of cars, lockers and gymnasiums, with aid from the sheriff's newest police dog, authorities said yesterday.Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning said Kurt, a 2-year-old German shepherd trained to sniff out narcotics, will begin routine patrol next month with Deputy 1st Class Jay Prise, the dog's handler.Purchased from Europe with about $4,000 donated by Union National Bank of Westminster, the dog will be available anytime school officials need more resources to help monitor their buildings and parking lots, Tregoning said.

Two Maryland women and their search-trained German shepherds flew to Africa yesterday as part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency team effort to rescue people trapped in the wreckage of the bombed U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.Elizabeth Kreitler, 51, of Annapolis and Sonja Heritage, 37, of Bowie took their dogs -- Garret and Otto -- on their mission of "air-scenting" to find people trapped -- but still breathing -- in rubble.The women are part of a 62-member FEMA task force based in Fairfax, Va., which responds on short notice to disasters around the globe.