1. Ken Solinsky wasn’t looking for a new business. He was living just outside Manchester, New Hampshire, after selling a military firm, Insight Technology, that he’d founded with his wife, Grace, to L-3 Communications (now L3Harris) in 2010. But in 2014 when an irrigation contractor he’d hired to work on a sprinkler system mentioned how often he’d accidentally cut the wires in invisible dog fences, Solinsky, a long-time dog owner, was intrigued. He wondered if he could design a completely wireless version that would get rid of homeowners’ frustrations and offer more flexibility. (via Forbes)
2. A German shepherd from New Brunswick, Canada who escaped from her family home and crossed the International Bridge in Fort Kent was located in good health in the United States after her owner sent out pleas for help on social media. Retrieving the dog from the United States would have been a simple matter under normal circumstances, but the coronavirus pandemic that has essentially closed the border between the two countries added a new complication. No one from Canada could go get her, and the people who found her could not take her back across to her home — even though her owners were friends of theirs. (via Bangor Daily News)
3. A Chinese county has been forced to reassess a ban on people walking their dogs in public after the extreme attempt to stop pet-related incidents and disputes triggered an angry backlash. The policy directive from authorities in Weixin, Yunnan province, said all dogs must be kept inside and repeated breaches would result in the destruction of the animal. An enforcement official said the directive was prompted by a string of incidents, including unaccompanied dogs biting members of the public. The policy was scheduled to take effect on Friday but the “strong backlash” from the community had prompted authorities to reconsider it. (via The Guardian)
4. Hearing the same holiday music over and over and over again, every year, has, until now, been solely a human struggle. But now dogs can join in the fun. A song that claims to be the first ever Christmas single designed exclusively for canines has been released, and early footage suggests it's getting a strong reaction from its four-legged listeners. “Raise the Woof” was created based on scientific research into the ways dogs interact with sound, and with input from animal behaviorists. (via CNN)
5. A group of researchers in Spain have been looking at how different regular activities affect your chances of catching the coronavirus, and there is some bad news: Walking the dog increases your odds of catching COVID by 78 percent. “Among all the sociodemographic variables analyzed, walking the dog was shown to have the strongest effect,” the study says. What they don't know is why. Yes, dogs have the same receptors that humans do making them susceptible to the disease, but researchers don't know yet if you catch the disease from contact with the dog or because dog walkers tend to congregate. (via The Connecticut Post)
6. “Here Fauci, Fauci!” Sometime soon Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease will be running down the street (he’s a jogger) and hear someone calling “Hey Fauci,” and they will mean their dog. Millions of pets are celebrating the pandemic, as adoptions and fosters are way up. And many of those pets have been given new Pandemic pet names. Fauci is the most popular pandemic pet name. (via Steve Dale Pet World)
7. Residents of the White House have had fur and feathers, claws and hooves, scales, stripes and prehensile tails. Some were found on the property, many came with the new tenants and others were delivered by foreign leaders. But for most of modern U.S. history, the president has had a pet. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to resume that tradition in January with his two German shepherds, Champ and Major. More often than not, presidential pets have been dogs and cats. But many less traditional pets have also lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, their quantity and variety depending on each administration. (via The New York Times)
8. Imagine flying around the world — Central America, Europe, Utah — visiting fabulous locations, taking on challenges and competing for a $500,000 prize. And then imagine doing it with your dog. That’s what a dozen lucky humans and their canine companions do in the new Amazon Prime series “The Pack,” which is both familiar and unlike anything we’ve seen before. It is, essentially, “The Amazing Race” with dogs, but there’s more to it than that. Utah native Mitra Najibeh Yosri, who competed with her dog, Bozley, found the “The Pack” deepened their bond. (via The Salt Lake Tribune)
9. Excerpt: A dog’s unlimited love and loyalty will win over almost anyone, but I have to say, speaking from personal experience, the relationship takes on greater significance when you also rely on your dog for mobility and independence. I was diagnosed with a congenital eye condition when I was just 4 years old. Over the course of my childhood, I lost my eyesight gradually and, into my late teens, I had to walk with a cane. I’m now 37, and 12 years ago I made the decision to switch from cane to guide dog, which has been the most important and transformative decision of my life. Though it may seem like a simple enough transition, the bond between a blind person and her guide dog is hard to compare to any other relationship. (via The Japan Times)
Dog Photo of the Week
Photo by John Heilemann, When John Heilemann, journalist and national-affairs analyst for NBC News / MSNBC and founder of The Recount isn’t assessing the state of American democracy, you can bet he’s with his beloved Great Danes DZA and Phife Dog. (Instagram: @phifedogdzadognyc)
Dog Video of the Week
By Great Plains SPCA, “Thanksgiving Dog Treats with Chef Larry”.