#Husky in #I*ditarod #saved by #Mouth to #Snout

                #Iditarod Dog Saved With Mouth-To-Snout CPR

Sled Dog Rescued By 'Mushing Mortician'             An Iditarod sled dog, who collapsed navigating a steep section of Alaska's Dalzell Gorge, was saved by his racer-owner thanks to some #mouth-to-snout CPR.

     Scott "Mushing Mortician" Janssen, 51, told the Anchorage Daily News that the 9-year-old husky, named Marshall, was pulling hard at the sled and then fell to the ground.  "I know what death looks like, and he was gone. Nobody home," the Anchorage funeral home owner told the newspaper.

According to the publication, Janssen saw that the husky stopped breathing, so he started #CPR by putting his mouth over the dog's snout, breathing air into his lungs and compressing his chest.  "I'm like 'C'mon dude, please come back.' And he did," Janssen said.

Janssen told the newspaper that Marshall was carried in the sled for the next 32 miles until the team reached the Rohn checkpoint. He was treated by a veterinarian, given an IV and was prepped to be flown back to Anchorage.  "He's doing just fine. He's still at the checkpoint, and they're flying him back home today," Janssen said.

According to the Anchorage Daily, Janssen is running in only his second Iditarod after placing 42 out of 47 finishers in 2011.  Janssen said Marshall is likely one of his oldest sled dogs and has finished about six Iditarods -- mainly with another musher.

     “The trees in Siberia are miles apart, that is why the dogs are so fast.”  Bob Hope   

SCOUT, our neurotic family #yellow #Lab

By Katherine Cobb, journal-news.net

Our family currently includes one pet - a female yellow Labrador mix we named Scout after my husband brought her home 10 years ago.

        All dogs have their quirks, the qualities that make them unique, but no dog has ever behaved like my Scouty-girl. She has been plagued by neuroses since birth, a combination of Woody Allen and David Sedaris.

     •  Scout will come across her reflection in the stove front or kitchen door and bark madly at the intruder.

        •  She feels the need to smash her head into a wall, when she's sleeping.

COMMENT: I FEEL THE SAME AFTER A TOUGH DAY.

     •  She likes to lick the air, and the carpet, and can do it for 15 minutes at a time.

     •  She tends to eat in a certain order - milkbone first, kibble second.

COMMENT: HOW MANY HUMANS, AGES 4 AND ABOVE, DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT, EXCEPT FOR THE KIBBLE.

     •  She will not exit or enter a door unless you are on the correct side (her perceived correct side). She also requires you grant her wide berth when entering a door.

     •  She won't lick a metal bowl, but she will clean off a metal broiler pan, even if it takes her an hour.

COMMENT: THE BROILER PAN SEEMS TASTIER TO ME.

     Once, she burned her backside on a portable heater in our den because she was so intent on a guest's hamburger. When we smelled burning fur (an awful smell, I can assure you), we could hardly believe it. Even being on fire was not enough to move Scout from her food post!

COMMENT: FOOD FIRST, BURNING BUTT LAST.

        I usually take her for a walk after exercising, where the lunacy continues. Much like with the food, where she acts as if she's never been fed, Scout also acts like she's never been for a walk. She pants like a madwoman, yanking the leash in a zigzag formation in an effort to smell every foreign scent. She nips at the grass, a humorous sight when she's in jogging mode.

COMMENT: SOUNDS LIKE A CASE FOR THE #DOG #WHISPERER.

         "I love my dogs. They're the only people I know who, when I step through the door, greet me like I'm the Beatles." ~Bill Maher   

#robot #dog killed while# chasing a #car

In 1939, a #robot #dog was killed while chasing a car. Really.

Rutherford Review:  Sometimes you stumble across a piece of  history that is too good not to follow up on, the robot dog, is one such piece of history. Prepared for the World's Fair in 1939, he got out of his pen, chased a car, and was killed. No fooling.

      One of the most tragic cases was Sparko, the electronic dog. Sparko was a litter of three Sparkos, inspired by Philidog, a French robot exhibited at the 1929 International Radio Exhibition in Paris. Philidog would follow a specific light obediently, and when it got too close to the glow, would stop and begin to bark. A decade later, the Sparkos were meant to upstage the French.

     All the Sparkos were modelled on Scottish Terriers and meant to be shown off with their master, a smoking robot, at the 1939 World's Fair. They were supposed to follow any light, and chase after visitors playfully.

     But the first to perish died tragically before the Fair even began, when a careless worker left the door to its storage area open. According to sources at the time, a car passed the door. Immediately, the dog saw its headlights. Off it went. Apparently it, 'rushed headlong towards it and was run over, despite the efforts of the driver to avoid it.'

       “Our dogs, like our shoes, are comfortable. They might be a bit out of shape and a little worn around the edges, but they fit well.”  Bonnie Wilcox, Old Dogs, Old Friends

#PAINTERS ALERT: #Dog pictures fetch big prices.

And to think: no one has painted this face!

  Dog paintings fetch big bucks: PAINTERS ALERT Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Dogs seem to be as popular on a canvas these days as they are on a leash, with paintings of dogs drawing big bucks and big crowds.

At the annual "dogs only" art auction held after the Westminster Dog Show, two price records were broken this year, said Alan Fausel, vice president and director of fine art at Bonhams, the auction house that runs the event.

"Déjeuner," a painting that shows dogs and cats eating from a large dish, set a record for the artist, William Henry Hamilton Trood (1860-1899), when it sold for $194,500, Fausel said.

COMMENT: WHEN DOGS AND CATS EAT TOGETHER, ISN’T THAT THE BEGINNING OF THE END TIMES?                                                                   That record was broken an hour later when Trood's "Hounds in a Kennel," showing dogs staring at a bird outside their cage, sold for $212,500.

COMMENT: NO BIG DEAL, ALMOST ALL DOGS STARE AT BIRDS.

Bonhams' Dogs in Show & Field auction is the only one in the country devoted solely to dogs. It was the best auction in years, Fausel said, adding: "The dog art market is certainly turning a corner."

COMMENT: and IS TAKING A LEAK ON THE CORNERSTONE?

The highest price ever paid for a dog painting belongs to George Stubbs (1724-1806). He painted mostly horses, but a 6-by-7-foot portrait of a Newfoundland sold for $3.6 million in 1999, Secord said.

COMMENT: PAINTING MAY BE WORTH MORE THAN THE ACTUAL DOG!

American painter Cassius Marcellus #Coolidge (1884-1934) was known for his whimsical, cartoonlike images of dogs playing poker. The Doyle Auction House in New York sold one of them in 2008 for $602,500. But while Coolidge's paintings and prints of gambling hounds have their devoted fans, they are not considered part of the canine art market, #Secord said, because they are not realistic.

COMMENT: SECORD, WHO MAY BE A SNOB, HAS PROBABLY NEVER PLAYED POKER AGAINST A ST. BERNARD WHO INSISTS ON DRAWING TO AN INSIDE STRAIGHT.

Bonhams used to include cats in its auctions, but a lack of cat paintings (and low prices) got them the boot, Fausel said.

COMMENT: TAKE THAT, CATS.

Historically, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel is the most popular dog ever painted, Secord said.

         “ I poured spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.”   Steven Wright 

#Ugly dogs to convene at fairgrounds, BUT NOT UGLY HUMANS?

                                     DEL MAR ---- Today marks the Del Mar Kiwanis Club's 17th annual Ugly Dog Contest.

        The annual event usually draws about 2,000 people (and about 400 dogs) for a contest that rewards pathetic pugs and cringe-worthy Chihuahuas.

     COMMENT: HOW MANY HUMANS ARE CRINGE WORTHY?

 Chomper, a bulldog mix from a local animal shelter who has a long, protruding tongue, will surrender his 2011 crown to a new canine eyesore.

The ugly-pet category draws a dozen or more entries each year, but there are plenty of other contest categories for canines that aren't as beauty-challenged.

        This year's contest also includes categories for Cutest Dog (adult and child categories), Best Trick, Dog Who Looks Most Like Its Owner, Most Unusual Markings, Cutest Puppy, Most Beautiful Female, Most Handsome Male, and Best Children's Costume (16 and under).

        COMMENT: WILL THEY ALSO HAVE AN UGLY HUMAN CONTEST AT THE SAME TIME?

        Entertainment will be provided by the "Ugly Dog Band" (also known as the Cheeky Monkeys)

     COMMENT: CHEEKY MONKEYS SOUNDS BETTER.

        “I was a dog in a past life. Really. I'll be walking down the street and dogs will do a sort of double take. Like, Hey, I know him.”  William H. Macy