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Service dogs are taught to perform all kinds of duties that keep their owners safe - everything from barking into a speaker phone to signal an emergency to alerting other people when their owner is in distress. They can also provide tactile stimulation for someone in the throes of a panic attack, or even react if someone is experiencing dangerously low blood sugar.

If your idea of a dog most likely to bite a child is a hungry, feral mongrel who comes upon a youngster accidentally, youre way off. Most dog bites inflicted on children occur at home by the family pet. Generally speaking, the younger the child, the greater the risk, research finds. And boys are more likely to be bitten than girls.

How many times have you heard people say their dog is less aggressive off-leash than on? Thats often because their aggression is born of fear. Off the leash, they are free to move away from whatever is making them scared - another dog, a person. But on leash, theyre stuck where you want them to be, which they might perceive as right in harms way. So they bark ferociously; they take one step forward in a threatening posture, then two steps backward to protect themselves. Sometimes, if their nerves really get the better of them, they snap.

Many tend to think of consumption of dog meat as something still going on only in undeveloped, far-off nations. But the import, export, and slaughter of dogs (and cats) has been legal in 44 states.

With which of these three animals do women get the best nights sleep: a dog, a cat, or a person? A dog, according to a survey of 962 women across the U.S. whose results were published in the journal Anthrozoos.

The delays, the people in Zone 4 trying to get ahead of you during boarding, the sterile atmosphere, the fear of flying…there are all kinds of reasons not to like waiting for your flight to take off. But what if you could pet or cuddle with a friendly dog to take your mind off the tedium and anxiety? At more and more airports, you can. Around the U.S. and Canada, airports have been instituting programs whereby people come and walk their friendly, well-behaved dogs around the terminal to soothe travelers strung-out souls.

My 12-year-old dog, Emmy, has been pure white her entire life - until the last 7 months. As you can see from the photo, she now has a rust-colored face and paws. Three different veterinarians have given me three different theories for why this has happened, ranging from old age to allergies. At this point she has been on four allergy medications, including steroids, but none of them has helped. I should note that she has also had pus in her left eye, which is red. I have been applying the over-the-counter eye ointment Maxitrol, but I am already on my fourth tube - it only works for a couple of days. Please help my baby girl. I dont know what else to do.

Could a hawk or an eagle carry off a small dog? We let our shih tzu, Lily, out in the yard by herself, and I worry because those birds circle round and round.

In the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack at New York Citys World Trade Center, thousands of people arrived from all over to help in whatever ways they could. So did hundreds of dogs, who put their lives on the line digging through smoldering debris in search and rescue missions (the last living person was found in the wreckage by a dog 27 hours later) and also as cadaver dogs trained to find human remains. In addition, many worked as therapy dogs to comfort traumatized and grieving people in shock.

Theres a common belief that once a child has been diagnosed with asthma, any dog (or cat) who lives under the same roof as the youngster should be re-homed because asthma leads to allergies, including allergies to pets. But according to the results of a new study from Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, that belief is nothing more than urban legend - as long as the child is properly treated for his condition.

My son John was a year old, sitting on the couch sucking a milk bottle while watching a childrens French video, when the video ended and he found himself suddenly at the start of a Law and Order episode. My wife didnt quite realize there had been a transition until she heard John pop the bottle out of his mouth and utter Uh oh. By the time she made it to the family room to see what was going on, he had already calmly popped the bottle back into his mouth. But on the TV screen, a woman who had been pushed off the balcony near the top of a tall building was lying dead in a bush.

Shock collars have now been banned in England, following a ban in Wales and ahead of what appears to be an upcoming ban in Scotland. Officials in England say that along with being misused to inflict unnecessary harm and suffering, there is also evidence that e-collars can lead to aggression or generate anxiety in pets, thereby worsening any underlying behavioral problems.