© Alex Wroblewski for The New York Times
Kevin, a great dane from Iowa, is the same height as a three-year-old – but can’t stand up to his family’s vacuum cleaner
The Iowa great dane that was recently crowned the world’s tallest dog is the same height as the average three-year-old child – and is often mistaken for being a horse. But Kevin cannot stand up to his household’s vacuum cleaner, which “he is terrified of”, his owners Tracy and Roger Wolfe told Guinness World Records in a recently published interview.
“He won’t let it come within six feet of him!” Tracy Wolfe told the organization known for maintaining a database of more than 40,000 records. “He will jump and run to get away from it.”
Continue reading...© Photograph: Guinness World Records
© Photograph: Guinness World Records
Scottish-style right to roam deal should train owners and protect livestock and wildlife, say campaigners
Dogs and their owners must be brought to heel with the return of dog licences, registration for breeders and a ban on toxic flea treatments, campaigners have said.
The activists from the Right to Roam campaign want a deal for dogs to protect farmers’ livestock and vulnerable wildlife from being menaced by Britain’s rising dog population and out-of-control dog behaviour.
Do not allow your dog to approach animals or people uninvited
Don’t linger if wildlife is disturbed by your presence
Where possible avoid animals – release your dog if threatened by cattle
Always keep your dog in sight and under control – if in doubt use a lead.
Don’t take your dog into fields of vegetables and fruit unless there is a clear path.
Finish the jobbie – bag it and bin it. Take it home when bins aren’t available.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Farlap/Alamy
© Photograph: Farlap/Alamy
My assumption that all dogs vote Labour or, at a pinch, Lib Dem, was shaken by two people who identified theirs as likely Reform voters
If you’re feeling over- or underwhelmed by the election (probably both), have you considered how your pets would vote? This perennial can of worms was reopened on French social media recently by a creator asking whether viewers’ animals were leftwing or rightwing. Her luxurious-looking cat was rightwing, she said, with a “vibe de petit bourgeois”. Responses included another animal lover claiming, inflammatorily, that “all cats are rightwing”, a horse accused of having a Facebook account to post “you can’t say anything these days” updates and many rabbit owners regretfully identifying their pets as far-right voters.
In this household’s menagerie, past and present, we all think the tortoises – rampant individualists – are no-such-thing-as-society Tories (my elder son singled out the smallest, sexual harassing one as “incredibly far right”, which tracks). Consensus was complete on our deceased whippet: spoiled ballot paper or “they’re all the same” apathetic abstainer. Initially, I assumed all of my many hens have been socialists, but there’s the pecking order business, plus they like a strong leader and enforce aggressive anti-pigeon border control. I hope their strong collectivist impulses would win out, but I can’t be certain.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Photoboyko/Getty Images/iStockphoto
© Photograph: Photoboyko/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Fred was the runt of the litter – often poorly, terrified of loud noises, with an expression of permanent outrage. He didn’t know he was a comedian, but he couldn’t help being hilarious
Fred was the runt of a litter of pekingese puppies. He arrived at my parents’ house with his much more glamorous sister Lottie. They were so small that their tails had not yet fluffed out and were like little fingers sticking up. I was about six at the time and was enchanted with Lottie’s white paws.
Fred looked as if he was facing into a high wind, his little face an expression of permanent outrage. He was terrified of loud noises, which, as we lived in the flight path of Farnborough airport, was not ideal. When a plane went over, he would go into a fit and flatten himself against the ground (which was not very far, considering how short his legs were, so the effect was not as dramatic as perhaps he hoped).
Continue reading...© Photograph: Supplied image
© Photograph: Supplied image
© Philip Fong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
© Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press
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