Ride-hailing apps ask us to get in strangers’ cars, something that our parents specifically warned us against. Now a new generation of gig economy apps asks us to let strangers into our homes and take our pets on walks. While most walks and boarding stays using services like Wag and Rover end well, enough have resulted in lost or killed pets that investors are becoming skittish, and maybe customers should be. [More]
actually about dogs
Family Says 5-Year-Old Dog Died In United Cargo Hold
By 8.8.17
United Airlines is facing blame for another pet death today after a family in Houston says that their 5-year-old King Charles spaniel died in the cargo hold of a flight from Houston to San Francisco. [More]
Utility Worker Accused Of Shooting Dog During Surveying Work For AT&T
By 7.31.17
A family in Michigan kept their dog safe in their own front lawn, hanging out behind an invisible fence. The problem with invisible fences, though, is that people wandering through the neighborhood don’t know that they’re present. Like the man who was reportedly performing surveying work for an AT&T contractor, and fatally shot the family’s dog, which he thought was attacking him. [More]
Blue Buffalo & Wellness Dog Foods Recalled For Hormone That Can Make Dog Sick
By 3.20.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
When people and animals have a thyroid hormone deficiency, that’s treated with doses of the hormone. When you don’t have a deficiency, extra thyroid hormone can make you sick, which is why beef-based dog foods from popular brands Blue Buffalo and Wellness have been recalled. [More]
Evanger’s VP: Dog Food Recalled For Euthanasia Drugs Contained Horse DNA
By 2.22.17
An executive at pet food company Evanger’s, which recently recalled its own and Against the Grain beef canned dog food due to drug contamination, recently admitted to a Washington state newspaper that the recalled food contained horse DNA. The company has thus far blamed these issues on its meat supplier, but this is not the first time Evanger’s pet food has included an animal meat that wasn’t advertised. [More]
Petsmart Recalls Grreat Choice Canned Dog Food For Potential Metal Pieces
By 2.10.17
Sure, most dogs will eat anything, but there are things that they shouldn’t eat. Like xylitol, raisins, and metal shards. Petsmart has recalled one manufacturing lot of its house-brand Grreat Choice (no, that’s not a typo) canned adult dog food after customers reported metal pieces in the food. [More]
Evanger’s Dog Food Recalled Due To Contamination With Euthanasia Drug: Wait, What?
By 2.6.17
How did a sedative used in euthanasia end up in cans of a premium brand beef dog food? The company behind the food, Evanger’s, would really like to know. So would the owner of three pugs that became sick and one that died after eating cans of Evanger’s Hunk of Beef. [More]
Man Sets Porch Pirate Trap With Giant Box Of Dog Poop
By 12.9.16 — Updated: 12.15.16
Packages left unattended on porches and stoops are low-hanging fruit for thieves who comb neighborhoods looking for something to steal. You can keep parcels safe by setting up a locked drop-box, having packages delivered to a safer address, asking for items to be held for pickup — or you can teach them a lesson with the help of a box full of dog turds. [More]
Man With Guide Dog Kicked Out Of Popeyes, Told ‘No Pets Allowed’
By 11.18.16 — Updated: 2.10.17
Guide dogs and other service dogs are not pets, and federal law protects their right to go anywhere that their owners are allowed to be. Yet the owner of a Popeyes restaurant in Brooklyn wasn’t clear on that concept, and used the “no pets” policy to kick a blind man and aspiring chicken-orderer out of the establishment. [More]
Mars Petcare Recalls Cesar Dog Food For Small Plastic Pieces
By 10.11.16
The mascot of Cesar brand dog food is a small, white, fluffy dog, but you are not supposed to find small, white, emphatically non-fluffy pieces of plastic in your dog’s wet food. Mars Petcare, the company behind the Cesar brand, has recalled dog food containers in the Cesar Classics filet mignon flavor, and multipacks that include that flavor. [More]
Legal Battle Over Smiley Bulldog Is Over, Pit Bulls Still Banned In Town
By 9.15.16
You may remember Diggy, the Michigan dog who appeared in an adorable selfie with his new owner, only to be threatened with losing his new home when the photo caught the attention of local police. They accused his new owner of violating a local ordinance, because Diggy appeared to be a pit bull. Now the town and owner have settled their dispute, and Diggy gets to stay in his home. [More]
Dogs Left In Running Car Shift It Into Drive, Plow Into A Walmart
By 8.1.16
A dog owner in West Virginia did what she probably thought was the responsible thing while out with her pets, leaving them in the car with the engine running while she was inside Walmart. However, in one of the best arguments against automatic transmissions that we’ve ever seen, the dogs shifted the car and drove it very slowly into the outside of the store. [More]
Postal Worker Caught On Security Camera Pepper-Spraying Family Dogs
By 6.28.16
Last week, something pretty normal happened at a house in Houston: the postal carrier brought the mail, and the dogs hanging out in the yard barked at him. What happened next, caught on a security camera, was unusual: the man sprayed all three dogs with what appears to be pepper spray, even though they were secured behind a heavy gate. [More]
Uber Driver Claims Dog Urinated In Car, Sends Pictures Of Different Car
By 7.23.15
It’s not news that someone did something inappropriate in a hired car: that, unfortunately, has been happening for as long as taxis have existed. No, but one woman in Chicago disputed Uber’s claim that her dog relieved himself on the floor of an UberX vehicle and that she owed $200. [More]
Petco Stops Use Of Kennel Dryers, Fires Groomers Caring For Dog Who Died
By 6.4.15
Last week, a woman in Virginia left her healthy 2-year-old golden retriever at a Petco store for a routine bath and grooming. The store called her and asked to meet at a nearby veterinary clinic, where she learned that her dog was dead. Petco has now taken full responsibility for this incident, and says that the grooming salon workers involved have been fired. [More]
Owner Accuses Petco Groomer Of Leaving Dog To Die Of Heat Stroke
By 6.1.15
Most dogs are not fond of blow dryers, which is why pet groomers use a quiet, hands-off method to dry them off after a bath. Drying cages are simply cages that blow hot air onto the animal inside. Users are not, however, supposed to put a dog inside and then leave the shop, and that’s what a Virginia dog owner accuses her local Petco of doing. [More]
Nylabone Recalls Puppy Starter Kits For Possible Salmonella Contamination
By 4.27.15
Puppies chew everything: fingers, toes, shoes, furniture…well, anything else within their reach. Nylabone offers a kit with a few different types of durable bone for your puppy to try in order to redirect their chewing urge toward something more that’s cheaper than shoes and healthier for their teeth. That seems like a good idea…unless the bones they’re chewing are contaminated with salmonella bacteria. [More]
