1. A dog-bites-woman story usually isn’t much of a story at all. But an incident in one of L.A.’s wealthiest enclaves has become something else entirely. What began in a Brentwood park on a summer day in 2022, when a dog owned by billionaire surgical-device inventor Gary Michelson allegedly bit another pet owner, has turned into dueling lawsuits and an allegation of blackmail. Michelson claims it’s a simple case of extortion. He says interior designer Sandra Evling tried to force him to pay her $85,000 by threatening to publicly humiliate him and report his dog to authorities, which she claimed would lead to the pet being put down. He filed suit first, seeking damages in excess of $250,000. (via The Los Angeles Times)
2. On a cool, windy day in February, two big white dogs escaped from a well-known nonprofit farm in Westchester County and ended up on a public footpath deep in a New York State park. They encountered a 10-pound miniature poodle on a leash. The larger dogs attacked, killing the poodle and then severely injuring its owner. Acting on the recommendations of state law, a local judge ordered the dogs to be euthanized. The disturbing encounter’s aftermath has been considerable. The farm, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, which is connected to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Pocantico Hills, filed an appeal on Thursday to stay the dogs’ euthanization. (via The New York Times)
3. One of my dogs, Olive, turned five years old this week and, while every minute for her holds unfettered joy, love and promise, the birthday was burnished with a little melancholy for me. Five! I’m doing the sums. Given the longevity of her breed – collie crossed with Australian cattle dog – she might be with us for another decade or more, I hope. But given the average human male life expectancy, I might well be expected to (touch wood!) outlast her. This raises the prospect of living without her. And a life without Olive seems imponderable. Just as life without Nari – the feisty labrador whose early death Olive followed into the house 18 months later – was similarly unfathomable at the time. Yet we do keep going after losing the animals we adore. (via The Guardian)
4. One night, watching a dog show on TV, I wondered: Are those dogs happy? That got me thinking about the connection people and dogs have forged over thousands of years. It also got me thinking about what dog shows are really like—all I knew was based on the fictional comedy classic Best in Show. That marinated in my head for a long time. Eventually, I told a book editor about it. And then one day I looked around and I was in New York City at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. That was the start of a three-year journey all over America on the dog-show circuit. The people who make up the circuit—handlers, owners, judges, and such—are collectively called “the fancy.” (via Garden & Gun)
5. Is it true that human yawns are contagious to dogs? Some dog owners swear that when they yawn, their dog does, too. Contagious yawning is a well-known phenomenon among humans — when we see, hear or sometimes even think about yawning, many of us yawn. And research shows that some of our canine companions can experience it, too. Unlike wolves, which have been shown to catch yawns from one another, dogs are more likely to yawn in response to humans, research shows. One study showed that dogs yawn even when they hear a recording of humans yawning. (via The Washington Post)
6. NBCUniversal’s leaders have been trying to encourage workers to come into the office more often, while also being sensitive to their wellbeing. With angst on the rise, Atlas came to the rescue. A six-month-old black lab, Atlas is NBCUniversal’s new office pup, trotting around the hallways and conference rooms of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. He’s appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show, sat with the writers of Saturday Night Live and visited parent Comcast’s headquarters in Philadelphia. (He’s even got his own employee badge and Instagram page.) Some companies allow all employees to bring their pets to work once in a while, but that wouldn’t fly inside bustling NBCUniversal, according to HR chief Vicki Williams. But, aware of the positive impact pets can have on workplace mental health, Williams researched whether there was some way to bring a dog into 30 Rock. (via Bloomberg)
7. Shortly after Bryan Graybill and Daniel Dokos moved into their dream home in Sag Harbor, N.Y., in 2022, the couple realized they had a problem: Their beloved Covid dog, a redheaded goldendoodle named Rufus, didn’t like the house. “He was sort of a little pouty,” said Graybill, an interior designer, who said they got Rufus from a dog breeder in Montecito, Calif., where they rode out the pandemic. (via The Wall Street Journal)
8. “It’s funny, in Lyme disease, animals have so many more options than humans do,” said Dr. Linden Hu, a professor of immunology at Tufts University School of Medicine. That includes several Lyme vaccines, as well as oral and topical tick-prevention medications. Safety concerns and doubts about public acceptance have hindered the development of these types of drugs for people. But with rates of Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses increasing in recent years, researchers are exploring new (and old) options, and a few are now being tested in human clinical trials. (via The New York Times)
9. Early detection, prevention, and delayed progression of eye abnormalities in dogs are at the core of the upcoming National Service Animal Eye Exam. Led by diplomates from the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ACVO) every May, the Epicur Pharma-sponsored program benefits formally trained working animals. This includes those providing the following services: guide, hearing assistance, drug detection, police/military, search and rescue, therapy, and those assisting people with disabilities other than blindness. (via Veterinary Practices News)
Dog Photo of the Week
Photo by Natasha Bazika, “Meet the four-legged guides who seek out the world’s rarest dolphins” (via National Geographic)
Dog Video of the Week
Video by Curiosity Stream, “The Science Behind Irresistible Puppy Eyes”.