Hi friends and puppers, Bruti here, momma took a break for a while today so I could write about something important to us pups.

A friend of mine sent me a story yesterday about a pooch who would eat all kinds of weird stuff and this was right after I read another story about another pooch who was also eating weird stuff… golf balls!

Now, first off, I can’t figure out why any dog with a brain in his head is gonna eat something silly like golf balls, I mean, they don’t taste all that good but this guy, Oscar is his name, a Labrador pup, sure ate them anyway. And Oscar, he’s no silly little puppy either, he’s five!!

Seems his owner heard him rattling, yup, a rattling dog, so he took him to the doggie doc (YUCK!) and when they checked him out, the doggie doc could feel something weird. Then they had to do surgery on him and were just amazed… not one or two or even three golf balls…. no…. thirteen golf balls!!!

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In an age of straining finances and people giving up their pets citing financial problems, this column is an amusing look at the financial benefits of dog ownership. Gotta admit, I never looked at it quite this way although even though my dogs are spoiled and pampered and that doesn’t come cheap, I would never think of giving them up anyway.

Below are a list of some of the ‘chores’ that the writer has found their dogs handle in their own doggie way that makes them productive and also saves time and money.

So read on and get a tickle, I did. Far too amusing not to share!:D

Vacuum Cleaning
I no longer buy vacuum bags. My dogs eagerly take care of accidentally dropped food. They will sit under the table at mealtime to provide our family with instant clean up service.

Actually my vacuum cleaner is in use more than ever otherwise I would be wading through dog fur and the backyard dirt they tend to transport into the house on their paws.

Identity Protection
There is no need to buy a paper shredder or sign up for expensive identity protection services. I simply give all my financial papers to my dogs and they are unreadable in no time. The dogs also do a wonderful shredding job on old magazines, towels, and even blankets (when playing tug of war) which cuts down on overall trash while making all of it so indistinguishable that not even an identity thief would want to try and decipher it.

Luckily, mine are beyond the tearing and shredding anything in sight stage… *whew!*

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There’s no doubt that everyone in rescue has stories to tell, good and bad, happy and sad and I’ve heard many of them. My good friend Caroline from Saving Furry Friends shared this one with me the other night and I laughed so hard I cried. Now, it probably wasn’t quite so funny for those involved but hopefully after all the clean-up, they’ll be able to laugh about it later.

I changed the names to protect the besmirched…..

Because the local shelter is so full and we are trying to make room we transported more dogs and puppies than originally planned. I transported Katie her 6 pups, Jimmy, a beagle/lab mix, Josh, a boarder collie and Stevie, a beagle/terrier pup, up to one of my awesome volunteers. Some of these TEN babies were going to their forever homes and some where headed to their fosters families.

Well as luck would have, while I was driving my part of the transport, a few of Katie’s pups poo’d. Pups are funny that way and thankfully they were crated.

We met as planned everyone had a bathroom break, paperwork was exchanged and Jane and her husband were on their way with John driving and Jane keeping an eye on the dogs and puppies.

Now one thing I need to point out, Jane and John, wonderful people that they are, are very neat and John is a little on the anal side. Their car is beyond clean, not a dog hair to be seen, no smears or smudges…. prior to this incident anyway.

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We all love hero stories and good news, and here when you hear about a hero, it’s most likely going to be of the canine variety. I’ve written about dogs saving kittens, playing surrogate mother to other animals, saving their owners from burning houses, working as therapy and service dogs. They’re amazing animals, intelligent and intuitive, loving and giving. And although we laud their heroic deeds, to them, they are just doing what they are meant to do or trained to do.

Well, one dog in Argentina in truly a hero and all she did was follow her mothering instincts. La China, a 8 year old mix breed dog, a mother dog caring for her puppies, found a baby that needed a mother.

Now this baby was not another puppy or animal, it was a newborn human baby, only hours old. It’s 14 year old mother had the baby prematurely and panicked, she left the baby in a field surrounded by boxes and trash.

La China found the little 8 lb 13 oz. boy and somehow she managed to carry the baby over 50 yards, back to her home in the field and snuggled him in with her 6 own puppies.

The dog’s owner heard the baby crying in the field behind his house and investigated, finding the baby covered with a rag being kept warm with La China and the puppies. It was only 37 degrees and if the dog had not found the baby, it most likely would not have survived.

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This is one pitbull that was very appropriately named, ‘Angel’, especially to some abandoned kittens!

Nevada Humane Society shelter volunteers, Frank Gomez and 9-year-old stepson Joel Fontes, were out walking one of the shelter dogs, Angel, a 2 year old female pitbull/boxer, when her attention was drawn toward something in the bushes. She could not be distracted.

Finally Gomez decided to investigate to see what Angel was so obsessed with and he found a box of tiny three week old scared, hungry kittens that someone had callously dumped. The temps were in the 90s and if Angel hadn’t found the babies, it’s doubtful they would had survived.

One of the tiny kittens tried to scamper away from its would be rescuers before a shelter worker could be summoned to take the kittens to safety. Angel wasn’t having any of it! She tracked down the the tiny runaway kitten and brought it safely back where she gave it to Gomez.

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“He was just a good dog,” Corye Ramsey of Monroeville Volunteer Fire Department No. 6 says. “More than a dog. He was one of our kids.”

Ramsey is talking about Denver, the Great Dane that had been the firehouse’s mascot until recently. At eight years old, Denver had underwent several surgeries and between complications and age, he had to be put to sleep.

Corye Ramsey remembers sitting on a couch at Monroeville Volunteer Fire Department No. 6 and hearing an animal welfare representative express concern that Denver, the department’s mascot, didn’t have a water dish.

“I said, ‘He has a water dish,’ ” the deputy chief recalled. “I said, ‘Denver, go get a drink.’ “

The Great Dane walked to the water fountain, stood on his hind legs, pressed a button with his right paw and lapped from the stream of water.

“She lost it,” says Ramsey about the animal welfare representative. “She said, ‘All right, I’m done here.’ And she never came back.”

Denver was named after the “Denver Tool” used by firefighters to gain forcible entry into a structure.

He was introduced to firefighters and residents of Monroeville’s Garden City neighborhood after a couple of the firefighters adopted him from Animal Rescue League in Pittsburgh.

The firefighters were kicking around the idea of getting a dog but worried about a Dalmatian because of that breed’s temperament, Ramsey said.

Later that night, a friend called to let him know that Animal Rescue League had a Great Dane and wanted to find a home for the dog quickly because its food costs were high.

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