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Following a spate of complaints from concerned dog lovers, the BBC was forced to issue a statement on behalf of its flagship program, EastEnders, announcing that it doesn’t condone the killing of dogs.

The furore exploded after EastEnders character Lucas Johnson, played by Don Gilet, made a remark that he may have killed the dog belonging to his son after it was sniffing around the burial site of his previous victim, Owen Turner. The remark clearly offended some dog loving viewers as it prompted over 100 complaints. The BBC then issued the following statement:

EastEnders does not condone the killing of dogs, just as it does not condone killing people.

Following the storyline, actor Don Gilet (who also doesn’t condone the killing of dogs) has claimed he’s scared to [read more]

When the first Jamaican bobsled team competed at the Winter Olympics in 1998 it became the subject of a famous Hollywood movie, entitled ‘Cool Runnings’. We hope Hollywood is taking note because the Jamaicans are at it again, this time with dogs in Canada.

It’s also not the comparative safety of the Canadian Winter Olympic that the Jamaicans are entering, but the very dangerous dogsled race known as the Iditarod, which is a 1,15o mile race through Alaska. We wrote about the race last year, and many of the dog teams suffered tragedy on the way.

The race takes place later this month, and 28 year old Jamaican Newton Marshall will be [read more]

A chicken named Mabel has taken its love of extreme sports to the max, and has adopted a litter of Rottweiler puppies. This it did after losing a fight with a horse that resulted in it injuring its foot, causing its owners to allow it to sleep inside the house – where it found the puppies.

Mabel, and her puppies, live on a farm in Shrewsbury. Mabel keeps her new charges warm by ‘sitting’ on them while they are asleep in her basket. Mabel is dicing with death because the puppies aren’t actually orphans; they have a mother named Nettle. Mable waits for Nettle to leave them before entering their basket and sitting on them.

The owners of the courageous chicken, and the Rottweiler puppies, are Ros and Edward Tate.

Edward Tate explains the bizarre situation:

Mabel was hatched here about a year ago. She would have gone onto someone’s dinner plate but we saved her and brought her into the house.

Unfortunately, she got into an accident with a horse, which accidentally trod on her foot. Because of that, she gets terribly cold during the winter so we decided to bring her into the house.

And then we had puppies about three weeks ago. Mabel observed Nettle’s behaviour and, as soon as there was a chance, she [read more]

‘The dog ate it’ is a well known excuse for a great many things, usually offered by schoolboys as to the reason they haven’t completed their homework. However, sometimes the dog actually has eaten it, and when the ‘it’ in question is a pair of tickets to a dog training show, you have to wonder about the real intelligence of some dogs.

Mike and Morag Evans, a couple from East Lothian, in Scotland, had purchased tickets for a show in Nottingham from Cesar Millan; his ‘Dog Whisperer’ tour. The show covers many aspects of dog training, something that the couple’s dog ‘Islay’ wasn’t too keen on experiencing.

The dog whisperer tickets cost £40, but that didn’t stop the couple’s Labrador from setting about them in a blatant attempt to avoid the show altogether. Mike was concerned that because the tickets had been badly chewed up, including damage to the barcode, that they would be refused entry. Something which didn’t seem to concern Islay.

When Mike contacted the Nottingham Arena they [read more]

The rollercoaster marriage between Chelsea and England footballer Ashley Cole, and his pop star wife Cheryl Cole, seems to be heading to the dogs – quite literally. After Ashley’s much publicised extra marital activities, Cheryl has finally done what many thought she should have done long ago and said adios to Ashley. This has left one problem however, who gets the dogs?

Girls Aloud singer and X-Factor judge Cheryl Cole has repeatedly stated in interviews recently that the most important things in her life are her two pet Chihuahuas, Buster and Coco. The problem is that Ashley also loves the two little dogs, meaning the couple could have a struggle on their hands deciding who gets to keep the dogs.

According to a close source however, the couple have [read more]

A couple were so desperate to find a puppy that they agreed to take a bulldog puppy that they saw in an advert on a website. The puppy, named Holly (pictured right), was advertised as needing a home and was set to cost the couple £200.

The couple, Karen and John McGuiness, paid the £200 for the puppy to be shipped up to their home in Edinburgh through a special pet courier company, however the dog never arrived. The so called courier company then attempted to get the couple to pay a further £150 so the dog could stop in a hotel room on its way up to Edinburgh.

Sadly, there was no dog and the advert, and courier company, were simply scamming the couple out of as much money as they could.

Karen has only recently overcome her struggle with breast cancer, and dearly wanted the bulldog puppy. She stated:

They told me the dog had become anxious so they stopped off at a [read more]

Adriana Xenides is Australia’s answer to Carol Smillie, and she even used to co-host the Wheel of Fortune on Australian TV. Adriana is currently very thankful to her pet dog, Red, who saved her life recently when she collapsed while at home.

Often dogs save the lives of their owners by alerting others so they can help, or by dragging their owners to safety. Red went a stage further however and began CPR (of sorts) on Adriana. Adriana has suffered a lot recently with heart attacks, experiencing five heart attacks in the last two years. Her most recent scare happened when she collapsed while she was home alone with her dog, but Red knew exactly what to do.

As Adriana explains:

Red saved my life. I collapsed at home recently. The pain associated with my condition was so excruciating I passed out. When I woke up, it was dark, so some time had elapsed.

I could see two gold eyes watching me and in my mouth was [read more]

A Black Labrador named Treo was yesterday given the PDSA Dickin Medal, the highest medal of honour that can be awarded to an animal. The medal is the animal equivalent of a Victoria Cross, and was presented to Treo at a ceremony in London yesterday by Princess Alexandra.

What did Treo do to deserve this high honour? Treo was one of the many sniffer dogs working with our troops in Afghanistan, and his bravery has saved the lives of many soldiers and civilians. Treo found explosive devices that had been hidden, and would have killed dozens of brave men, on two separate occasions.

Treo worked with 104 Military Working Dog Support Unit and completed tours of duty in Helmand province.

Treo becomes the 63rd animal to be awarded with the Dickin Medal from the PDSA, and the 26th dog. Other animals include messenger pigeons from World War II, a trio of horses and a cat.

Treo’s handler is Sgt Dave Heyhoe and they have been together for five years. Treo has now retired from active service and will live out his days [read more]

It seems that every few months we’re treated to a story of a dog that manages to fall of a cliff and survive, and it’s usually a spaniel! Last summer saw two dogs fall of a cliff, one was saved by his collar and the other, the spaniel, fell off the same cliff twice.

This time a springer spaniel has fallen off a 300ft cliff into the sea while she was chasing a seagull. Don’t panic though, as this springer spaniel, named Poppy, is fine and was rescued by a lifeboat and its crew.

The incident happened in Newhaven, East Sussex, as one of the lifeboat members, Gavin Butcher, explained:

She was shivering – she was cold and nervous but apart from that she was as good as gold.

Myself and another crew member have both got springer spaniels ourselves so we were very relieved.

After falling 300ft off the cliff, and failing to catch the seagull, Poppy [read more]