Well, it’s that time of the year again and the Fourth of July is almost upon us. No doubt there will be many celebrations this weekend so I wanted to take the time to pass along some great health and safety tips for your dog from the ASPCA.

Fourth of July Safety Tips

For many people, nothing beats lounging in the backyard on the Fourth of July with good friends and family,including the four-legged members of the household. While it may seem like a great idea to reward Rover with scraps from the grill and bring him along to watch fireworks, in reality some festive foods and products can be potentially hazardous to your pets. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center offers the following tips:

• Never leave alcoholic drinks unattended where pets can reach them. Alcoholic beverages have the potential to poison pets. If ingested, the animal could become very intoxicated and weak, severely depressed or could go into a coma. Death from respiratory failure is also a possibility in severe cases.

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No more lonely cold nights or hearing that I’m bad
No more growling belly from the meals I never had.
No more scorching sunshine with a water bowl that’s dry.
No more complaining neighbors about the noise when I cry.
No more hearing “shut up”, “get down” or “get out of here”!
No more feeling disliked, only peace is in the air.

Euthanasia is a blessing, though some still can’t see
Why I was ever born If I weren’t meant to be.

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Poem by LeeAnne Hudson describing what every pet feels when their owners drop them off, abandons them or gives them away.

This year the annual Take Your Dog to Work Day is Friday, June 26. Take Your Dog to Work Day® (TYDTWD) was first celebrated in 1999 by Pet Sitters International to celebrate the great companions dogs. This annual event encourages employers to experience the value of pets in the workplace, even if just for one day! Ultimately, it’s about encouraging pet adoptions from shelters, humane societies and rescue groups.

Statistics show that 1 in 5 American companies allow employees to bring their pets to work with them to the mutual benefit of company and employee. This trend has shown increased moral, decreased absenteeism, increased employee moral and productivity, a higher level of creativity and even increased sales. We know that pets are beneficial to the health in a number of ways; lower blood pressure, lower heart rate, decreased stress level, just to name a few, so who loses here. Looks like a win-win situation.

Of course this is not feasible for everyone everywhere but how wonderful for those that can. Are you one of the lucky ones? Can you take your dog to work with you on a daily basis or at least on TYDTWD?

What can you do if TYTWD is a no-go where you work? How about taking a picture of your dog to work with you. Ask if your company will sponsor an after-hours employee-pet event.

“Take Your dog to Work Day” can also be great PR for a company! Announce it to the local media. Charge a small donation for employees to bring their dogs and donate it all to the local animal shelter or humane society. Take pictures of the employees and pets and post them on the company website.

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The past weekend, a woman walking her boxer, Boogie, and another dog,  near the town of Erkrath in western Germany’s Neander Valley had quite an unusual experience. Her pooch was wandering off leash near a stream and as dogs often will, was sniffing and prowling but when he excitedly brought his “find” back to his owner, she wasn’t nearly as excited as her dog was. She quickly recognized the dog’s new “toy” to be a rusty grenade.

“The two dogs were playing off leash when the boxer – a normal family dog called Boogie, as in ‘boogie woogie’ – found an object and brought it to the woman,” Erkrath police spokesman Ulrich Löhe told The Local.

She instructed Boogie to put it back, which he did, and then alerted authorities. Authorities cordoned off the area, removed the grenade, took it to their headquarters and diffused the still live grenade without any harm being done.

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Major Steven Hutchison, a Viet Nam vet, wanted to sign back up for duty after the 911 attacks but his wife persuaded him not to. After her death from breast cancer, Hutchison returned to active duty as part of a group of older seasoned soldiers that helped to train.

‘He’d been a soldier all his life, and that’s what he wanted to do,’ said his brother, Richard.

‘He hadn’t been drafted and he didn’t have to go, and he chose that he felt he could serve and make a difference,’ said US Army spokesman Lt Colonel Nathan Banks.

After a year tour of Afghanistan, Hutchinson’s life was taken on Mother’s Day when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Basra. At 60, he is the oldest casualty of the Iraq war. But like many US soldiers, this veteran and hero wasn’t alone. About 6 week previously he informally adopted a puppy and like many other soldiers, he did everything he could to keep his puppy, Laia, name after Princess Laia from Star Wars, safe and with him, including defying the military order of no pets.

Hutchison’s unit found Laia at just 1 month old in Basra. The local vet said he would have to euthanize the dog unless they adopted her as a mascot. As policy, soldiers are not supposed to adopt strays, and Hutchison defied orders to get rid of the dog, even moving her from base to base, his friend, Sgt. Andrew Hunt, told the SPCA. “He ignored this request several times up until it began to move toward punishment,” Sgt. Hunt said. “See, you couldn’t ever tell the Major he couldn’t do something, he [was] a stubborn old goat set in his ways. It was an endearing quality we loved about him.”

“Whenever Laia was around, his demeanor and personality changed 1000 percent,” Hunt told the SPCA. “He was never without a smile, he was so much happier in life, it was amazing.” (MSNBC)

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You can just imagine the heartbreak Scott Seymour must have felt two weeks ago when his beloved canine companion, Brittney, a 9-year-old American Bulldog, was diagnosed with several terminal cancerous tumors.  The vet advised that she might not survive surgery and Scott decided not to go with the chemo, fearing it would be just too hard on her.

The other option was euthanasia but Scott decided not to end her life but with the aid of meds, allow her to live as long as she would, possibly just another few weeks.

This decision not to end her life saved his own.

Early Saturday a fire broke out in his Grand Rapids, MI house and it was Brittney’s barking that awakened Scott in time to get them both out of the blazing inferno.

“Brittney might whine a little when she has to go out, but she never, ever barks when I’m sleeping,” said Seymour, 39, who has had the dog since she was 6 weeks old. “She was demanding that I get up.

“And it saved my life.”

Since the fateful news and his decision to let his canine companion’s life end naturally, Scott has been spending as much time with her as possible, to cherish what time they have left, thankful that the steroid therapy have been allowing them this time.

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Nia McFadden of Omaha, NE was just out walking her 4-month-old Shih Tzu puppy, Cookie, when Cookie took a misstep and wound up in a storm drain.  Toys and treats didn’t work to lure to frightened puppy out so rescuers had to go in and bring her out.

I love these stories, rescues and reunions.  Just gives ya something to smile about with all the horror stories out there!

In December when I told you about D-Boy, he was recovering from three gunshot wounds that he took protecting his family.  To them, his status as a hero is a given but it’s awfully sweet to get the recognition that the HSUS’ “Dog of Valor” award gives him.

“If he wouldn’t have distracted the guy, the guy probably would’ve shot me,” said Roberta Shoemaker. “I didn’t know what to do he told me to get down on the ground, and I was so scared, I couldn’t move.”

“If he wasn’t there and wouldn’t have done what he did, I could’ve came home to no family,” Angelic Shoemaker said.

After 600 votes between 15 canine hero finalists, D-Boy came out on top.

“D-boy’s story really touched the heart of the majority of the voters and he won the dog version of the People’s Choice Award,” said Cynthia Armstrong, director of the Oklahoma Humane Society of the U.S.

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A little Dachshund is playing surrogate mother to a baby tiger cub after the cub was rejected by its mother at a German zoo. You just gotta love these amazing stories. These animals don’t look at each other’s breed, they see in each other a need and a need fulfilled. They offer love and comfort, care and nurturing. Why can’t people take a lesson here?