DOG

[DanaC]

*grins* I like that.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Bobbie Dogs in training...

[Gravdigr]

♪ ♫I woke up in a Soho doorway♪ ♫
♪ ♫A policedog knew my name♪ ♫
♪ ♫He said "Rowf rowf rowf rowf rowf rowf rowf♪ ♫
♪ ♫Rowf rowf rowf rowf rowf rowf rowf rowf!"♪ ♫

[Gravdigr]

[Carruthers]

Art Hound: Meet the Adorable Puppy That’s Helping the MFA Boston Protect and Preserve Its Collection

File this one under “news of the adorable”: The latest staff member at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is Riley, a 12-week-old Weimaraner puppy. The institution hopes his impressive olfactory skills can be harnessed to detect insects and bugs, to prevent infestations that might threaten the preservation of museum objects.

Riley belongs to Nicki Luongo, the museum’s head of Protective Services and will work with the MFA on a volunteer basis, reports the Boston Globe. As part of a new pilot program, he’ll be trained to inspect museum objects, sitting down in front of them if he smells moths or other bugs, which can cause damage, especially to textile, wood, or other organic materials.

“Pests are an ongoing concern for museums,” Katie Getchell, chief brand officer and deputy director of the Museum of Fine Arts, told the Globe. “If it is something that works, it’s something that other museums, or other libraries, or other places that collect materials that are susceptible to any kind of infestation like that could use as another line of defense.”

As far as the MFA knows, it is the only institution to add the art-world equivalent of a bomb-sniffing dog to its protocols for keeping bugs in check. (Another new program, K-9 Artifact Finders, from the Penn Museum, Penn Vet Working Dog Center, and Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law and Policy Research, is currently training four dogs to help US customs officers sniff out ancient artifacts, in order to detect stolen and smuggled objects, reports the Daily Pennsylvanian.)

“We use an integrated pest management approach, which means that we do not use pesticides but rather address the symptoms that cause the presence of pests—including pests’ opportunity to enter and leave the building; their food source; and the climate conditions that support their ability to survive,” a representative of the museum told artnet News of existing protective efforts in an email.

“New objects entering the building carrying pests are the most common means of their introduction, and we make every attempt to quarantine, monitor and, if necessary, treat objects as they enter,” she added. “If Riley can be trained to detect the presence of pests either hidden from view or prior to their becoming established, he would be a wonderful addition to the tools available to us.”

As a Weimaraner, Riley is a good choice for the MFA. The American Kennel Club cites the breed’s “ability to work with great speed and endurance in the field,” while Weimaraner Rescue of the South notes that they are “very hardy, with a good sense of smell, and a passionate worker.”

Sadly, for museum-going art lovers, floppy-eared Riley, as cute as he is, will be working almost entirely behind the scenes, leaving little opportunity for interaction with visitors.

The article and more photos at this LINK.

I've no experience of the breed but my cousin who was a police dog handler was not impressed by it.
He was allocated a Weimaraner and at some point in the training process it attacked him.
As he said to me a few months back 'I've got the scars to prove it'.

[DanaC]

Awwwwwww. I came in here to post a dog vid, but now I'm just gazing at the Art Hound.

I love Weims. Stunning dogs. There's one lives nearby called Polo and he is a total gent. They're really big and solid dogs. But very. very graceful. They're deceptively graceful and sculpted - much bigger up close than you think they're going to be.

[Griff]

.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Awwwwwww. I came in here to post a dog vid, but now I'm just gazing at the Art Hound.

I love Weims. Stunning dogs. There's one lives nearby called Polo and he is a total gent. They're really big and solid dogs. But very. very graceful. They're deceptively graceful and sculpted - much bigger up close than you think they're going to be.

I think that my cousin was just unfortunate with his experience of the breed.
I Emailed the Art Hound link to a friend who does a bit of dog sitting from time to time as I know that she had a Weimaraner on her books at one point.
She has very similar views to yours but said that her particular charge 'had legs that got in his way'.

[DanaC]

Oh! Dog with the biscuit on his nose. I never managed to persuade Carrot to do that trick. But Pilau was the champ at biscuit balancing - followed by the flip it into the air and catch it in his mouth trick.

Ahhh - that gave me a sweet little trip down memory lane to see my first boy. He was a great dog.

[Griff]

He's never gotten to the flip in the air. Could be he's too concerned with Aife stealing a miss. I had some anticipatory sadness about our aging rates the other day... I've had great and notorious dogs but this boy is really special.

[DanaC]

He is gorgeous.Those eyes. Goddamn.

[Griff]

Morning ski today wit da boy.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Griff

Morning ski today wit da boy.

And he's never ever said, I'm too tired, or not tonight I have a headache.

[Griff]

To be fair, Pete went along as well.


http://www.kansascity.com/news/natio...195743044.html

These dogs begged to be let outside. Then they saved a woman from freezing to death

[Carruthers]

Army dog Chips gets PDSA Dickin medal for bravery during invasion of Sicily

A US army dog who ambushed a machinegun post in the Second World War and met Winston Churchill has been posthumously awarded the equivalent of the Victoria Cross.

More than seven decades after his life-saving charge up a beach during the invasion of Sicily, Chips, a Husky-German Shepherd cross, was recognised with a PDSA Dickin Medal in London yesterday.

The dog and his handler, Private John Rowell, were in a platoon that landed ashore under the cover of darkness on July 10, 1943, as part of Operation Husky.

Chips landed on a beach in Sicily with his handler, Private John Rowell, before charging the machine gun post.

The US soldiers were immediately attacked by an enemy machinegun team hidden in a nearby hut. As they dived for cover, Chips broke free from his lead. He rushed at the hut “with ferocious intent” and entered despite the barrage of gunfire, according to Private Rowell’s account.

The dog grabbed at the machinegun by the barrel and pulled it off its mount. “There was an awful lot of noise and the firing stopped,” his handler said. “Then I saw one soldier come out of the door with Chips at his throat. I called him off before he could kill the man.” Three other enemy soldiers emerged with their hands up. Chips was treated for a scalp wound and powder burns.

Details of his heroics were uncovered by Robin Hutton, a history writer. She nominated him for the medal. “The various efforts made by his regiment to decorate Chips for his actions sadly failed, so I am utterly thrilled that he has been awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal,” she said.

Chips was also a sentry at the Casablanca conference in Morocco in January 1943, at which Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt mapped out the war’s next phase, and he met both leaders.

Chips’s medal was accepted by John Wren from New York, whose family donated him to the war effort, and Ayron, a military working dog.

Jan McLoughlin, the director general of PDSA, the animal charity, said Chips was a “very deserving, heroic dog” who was recruited from a family in 1942, then deployed during the Second World War and who “undoubtedly” saved military lives.

“It has taken over seven decades but Chips can now finally take his place in the history books as one of the most heroic dogs to serve with the US army,” she said.

The medal was awarded at the Churchill War Rooms. John Wren, 76, whose father donated Chips to the war effort, was four when the dog returned home, a day he remembers vividly. He travelled from his home in Long Island, New York, for the presentation. “If you look at what he did, it was pretty unbelievable,” he said.

Chips is the 70th recipient of the medal. Since its creation in 1943 it has been won by 32 other dogs, 32 Second World War messenger pigeons, four horses and a cat.

The Times. If the pay wall gets in the way, there's an alternative here: Stars and Stripes.

PDSA Dickin Medal. Please take a few minutes to read the Roll of Honour.