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This is the 2nd & final night, culminating in Best in Show. Tuesday, February 14 - 8-11 p.m. (ET) live on USA Network Groups: Sporting, Working and Terrier Groups Best In Show

Tonight & tomorrow night 8PM ET... Begins on the USA channel and switches over to CNBC after the first hour All Hound, Toy, Non-Sporting and Herding breeds and varieties will be judged on Monday, with Groups judged on Monday evening. All Sporting, Working, and Terrier breeds and varieties will be judged on Tuesday, with Groups judged on Tuesday evening. Best In Show will also be judged on Tuesday evening. Six needs breeds will be added this year: AMERICAN ENGLISH COONHOUND (Hound Group) CESKY TERRIER (Terrier Group) ENTLEBUCHER MOUNTAIN DOG (Herding Group) FINNISH LAPPHUND (Herding Group) NORWEGIAN LUNDEHUND (Non-Sporting Group) XOLOITZCUINTLI...

Sleek cropped ears may soon be a thing of the past on Dobermans and other breeds if B.C. veterinarians follow Manitoba's lead and ban the practice. Detractors say the procedure is merely cosmetic, and causes unnecessary pain to canines, who have no say in the matter. Similar bans have been enacted in Newfoundland and Labrador, and many European countries. Cherie Holmes, president of the Doberman Pinscher Club of Canada, said the procedure is not just a cosmetic indulgence, but contributes to the health and functionality of dogs' ears. "All wild dogs have pricked, standup ears because it gives better air...

It was time. Murdock's hips were failing, his hearing was gone and other ravages of age had caught up with him. So his family, the Monty family from Wauwatosa's west side, convened a tearful meeting at the dining room table. It was decided that they all - mom, dad and the three boys - would go with Murdock to the vet's office the following Monday and hold him close during the final moments of his life. But first, they would spend the weekend doing the things Murdock liked best, spoiling him with treats and giving neighbors a chance to say...

DNA Test Helps Enforce Pet Clean Up Policy SAN DIEGO - The same DNA technology that has solved cold case murders is now being used to crack down on a whole new class of criminals: dog owners who don't clean up after their pets. "Unfortunately, people leave surprises in my yard, but I always carry plastic bags, so I can clean up those surprises," said dog owner Ted Stevens. Now, BioPet Vet Lab ,a company in Knoxville, Tenn., has developed technology that is says can identify the dogs that leave unwelcome calling cards on neighborhood lawns. The system, called Pooprints,...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is again cautioning consumers that chicken jerky products for dogs (also sold as chicken tenders, strips or treats) may be associated with illness in dogs. In the last 12 months, FDA has seen an increase in the number of complaints it received of dog illnesses associated with consumption of chicken jerky products imported from China. Now, four months later, pets are still dying from these treats. And, since the FDA testing has been inconclusive, the pet food companies that sell them aren’t recalling them. Again, that’s even though many pets are dying. Some of...

Gail Collins loves telling the story of how Mitt Romney drove his family to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car — and telling it, and telling it, and telling it. The liberal New York Times columnist has mentioned the incident in print 19 times, by our count. She devoted a column to it in 2007 when Romney first ran for president. In another column, she suggested John McCain pick Romney for his running mate "so I can repeatedly revisit the time Mitt drove to Canada with the family dog on the station-wagon roof." She...

It might be unseemly to bring this up just as Mitt Romney celebrates his win in New Hampshire on Tuesday night and seems to be a strong front-runner for the GOP nomination. But the story of his putting his dog in a carrier on his car roof for a 12-hour family trip is spreading again on the Internet and disturbs me the more I learn about it. And I am betting the more it gets out, the more votes Romney loses — red, blue and purple. When, in a campaign debate, Romney opposed allowing a non-documented worker who has lived...

Watch the video. Romney laughs almost the entire video. Although it was against the law to transport people or animals on top of vehicles, Romney's excuse was that he didn't know about the law. Nevermind the fact that the dog had diarrhea in the kennel during the trip.

PolitickerNY has a report out Tuesday that Seamus, the dog Romney famously put on the roof of the car when the family drove to Canada in 1983, may have actually run away once the Romneys reached the Great White North. As any Gail Collins readers will know by now, a 2004 Boston Globe story revealed that Mitt Romney strapped his dog's crate to the roof of the family car, terrifying the pooch in the process. Though it was intended as an illustration of Romney's quirky crisis-management, pet lovers everywhere have let it live on as evidence of candidate's cruelty. PolitckerNY's...

President Obama's campaign strategist David Axelrod chimed in Monday on the scandal surrounding the time Mitt Romney drove to Canada with his dog in a crate tied to the roof of his car in the 1980s. "Crategate," as the stupid pet trick was inevitably dubbed, has been an issue championed by New York Times columnist Gail Collins, who somewhat gleefully drops a reference to the story in as many columns as she can. On Monday, Axelrod tweeted a photo of Bo Obama, the first family's dog, in the back of a limo with the words, "How loving owners transport their...

This image says it all. A Dogs Against Romney Pack Member was stopped by the Littleton, Colorado police yesterday for having a dog crate on the roof of his car. The Pack Member , identified only as "Oredigger," was on his way to protest at a Mitt Romney event yesterday with the crate atop his car carrying a stuffed toy dog when the police officer, believing he was actually transporting a live dog on the roof of his car, stopped him. Says Oredigger, "I was pulled over for suspected animal abuse."

Researchers hoping to develop a promising new approach to treating cancer in people are trying it in another group: pet dogs. The aim of personalized medicine is to design an optimum cancer therapy after analyzing genes in a patient's tumor. Dogs, which have strong genetic similarities with humans, get many of the same types of cancers as people and have similar responses to cancer-fighting drugs. When diagnosed, dogs often have a shorter survival time than humans, allowing researchers to see if a drug is making a difference in a shorter period. In people, it can take three to five years...

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 6, 2012 – Navy veteran Hector Hernandez leans down to hug his dog as she pants noisily from her most recent dash around the living room. She nuzzles into his hand -- a momentary calm in the storm of activity that’s Bella. Hector Hernandez watches his wife, Anita, play with their foster dog, Bella, as their daughters, Tiffany, left, and Anita look on in their home in San Antonio. Bella belongs to the Defense Department's Military Working Dog Breeding Program on Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. The program, which breeds Belgian Malinois for a variety...

Out for a walk with 42 Saint Bernard dogs Lasquite's Saint Bernards on Lasqueti Island Canada (Click onto the link to view the two-minute + video on the Fox 43 WPMT webpage)

Dog: man's best friend for over 33,000 years He's been man's best friend for generations. An ancient dog skull found in Siberia and dating back 33,000 years presents some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication. When combined with a similar find in Belgium, the two skulls indicate that the domestication of dogs by humans occurred repeatedly throughout early human history at different geographic locations -- rather than at a single domestication event, as previously believed. "Both the Belgian find and the Siberian find are domesticated species based on morphological characteristics," said Greg Hodgins, a researcher at the University...

PITTSBURGH—Amber, a canine athlete, recently won first place in an agility competition, narrowly beating out Daisy, a Chihuahua, in the 4-inch-tall category. The 3-year-old, four-pound Yorkshire, who wore a ribbon in her hair for the event, cleared several hurdles and tunnels, zigzagged through poles and traversed a teeter-totter at an average two yards per second in a race against the clock. Amber's owner credits her success to practice and mentoring from a family member, Tiffany, who competes in the 8-inch category and has several titles, including Teacup Agile Dog Champion. "Amber just follows everything Tiffany does," says Phyllis Bandi, who...

A Dutch Muslim politician has called for a ban on dogs in The Hague, the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Islamic legal tradition holds that dogs are "unclean" animals, and some say the call to ban them in Holland and elsewhere represents an attempted encroachment of Islamic Sharia law in Europe. This latest canine controversy -- which the Dutch public has greeted with a mix of amusement and outrage -- follows dozens of other Muslim-vs-dog-related incidents in Europe. Critics say it reflects the growing assertiveness of Muslims in Europe as they attempt to impose Islamic legal and religious norms on...

A Dutch Muslim politician has called for a ban on dogs in The Hague, the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Islamic legal tradition holds that dogs are "unclean" animals, and some say the call to ban them in Holland and elsewhere represents an attempted encroachment of Islamic Sharia law in Europe. This latest canine controversy -- which the Dutch public has greeted with a mix of amusement and outrage -- follows dozens of other Muslim-vs-dog-related incidents in Europe. Critics say it reflects the growing assertiveness of Muslims in Europe as they attempt to impose Islamic legal and religious norms on...

Not into small dogs but this is a great video.

While a postdoc at Cornell University a few years ago, Adam Boyko became curious about the little-studied village vagrants. Though dogs were first domesticated 20,000 to 15,000 years ago, most breeds go back only a few hundred years. Perhaps village dog DNA might shed light on the long, early history of domestication, when canines were hanging around humans yet not under our domain. But how to get samples? As it happened, around the same time Boyko's brother Ryan had married, and he and wife Corin were looking for a cheap honeymoon off the beaten track. The three Boykos decided to...

Scientists believe that two 33,000-year-old skulls unearthed in digs in Siberia and Belgium show dogs were domesticated long before any other animal, such as sheep, cows or goats. Researchers from the University of Arizona said the skulls had shorter snouts and wider jaws than undomesticated animals such as wolves, which use their longer snouts and narrower jaws to help them hunt. That suggested the dogs had been kept for protection and companionship by our ancient ancestors -- just as they are today. The researchers think dogs could have been the first species of animals to be domesticated by humans, long...

It's little wonder that with such cute faces peering out over the edge of their plastic bowl, these eight abandoned puppies have found new homes. But their futures could have been a lot bleaker. The puppies and their mother, a mongrel named Amy, had been found by a farmer stuffed inside a bale of hay on his land in Newark. But now, following an appeal by local newspaper the Lincolnshire Echo, the eight six-week old puppies have found caring owners ... The mother was discovered with a rope tied around her neck which she had bitten through. ...

SOMERSWORTH, N.H. -- New Hampshire police say two dogs ate food that was filled with fish hooks, killing one and injuring the other.

The average dog causes three family rows a week - as owners argue over where it can sleep and who should take it for walks, a survey has found. A study shows 'man's best friend' can also be his worst enemy, triggering nearly 2,000 family arguments during its lifetime Spats range from disagreeing about who should take the dog for a walk, feeding them too many treats and what to do with them when holidays loom. Nikki Sellers, Head of Pet Insurance at esure, said: ''Owning a dog is not dissimilar to having a baby. ''Round the clock care and...

Some residents at Danville Park Apartments are outraged over police firing at two dogs on the walkway outside their front doors. The residents said the shooting killed one animal, injured another and put the tenants in danger of gunfire that left bullet holes in doors, walls and a wooden deck around 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Witness accounts of the shootings contradict the reports of officers and a supervising sergeant. The shootings by officers Demetrius Hightower and Jarrod Birchfield are being reviewed by Decatur Police’s office of professional standards, police spokesman Lt. John Crouch said. Danville Park resident Steven...

A short tribute to man’s best friend, my constant companion for the past 14.5 years, a true loyal friend whom I shall eternally miss. Baily, a female border collie, expert herder, amusing canine and all around great dog. She suffered on for many years because she just couldn’t stand the idea of leaving us. She was always on guard for any potential threat, be it wolves, coyotes or bad people. She was smart, full of life and always ready to help out. R.I.P. Baily Lutz! Listen to the Tribute

A dog that reportedly bit a policeman during a domestic battery investigation last year was shot dead Wednesday night by a detective during a drug raid at the same house, according to Key West police reports. Buddie, a 5-year-old pit bull terrier mix, was shot in the head by Detective Michael Chaustit, who reportedly fired one bullet from his .45-caliber service handgun while the dog's mouth was clamped down on his left hand -- requiring three stitches at Lower Keys Medical Center. A veterinarian euthanized the dog at the scene about an hour laterreports say. During a 9 p.m. raid...

Four days after an avalanche killed his master and buried him alive, a little Welsh Corgi dog named Oly walked out of the wilderness and into the arms of Cooke City rescuers, who brought him home to his grieving family in Bozeman. “It’s bittersweet,” said Kerry Corcoran Gaillard, whose husband, David Gaillard, was killed by an avalanche Saturday when the couple was cross-country skiing. “I was excited” to get Oly back, she said, “but it amplified the loss of Dave a little bit. You automatically wish it could be Dave.” David Gaillard, 44, was the Defenders of Wildlife Northern Rockies...

Dog lovers like to think it is their masterful voices that make their pets so keen to please. In fact, it is more complex than that – with eye contact playing an important role alongside spoken commands. Scientists have found the animals pick up not only the words we say, but our ‘intent to communicate’ with them. In fact, dogs are as advanced as a two-year-old child in following eye contact, a study has found. Who's a clever boy? Dogs have similar cognitive skills to babies, say researchers Jszsef Topal, of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, said: ‘Increasing evidence supports...

Ashlan Gorse and her Siberian Husky, Aurora Ashlan Gorse, host of E! News Now, is the proud mom to a rescued Siberian Husky named Aurora. Gorse recently went through a scare that no pet owner ever wants to face after Aurora was diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately for both dog and owner, Aurora completed daily radiation and is on the road to a full recovery. Gorse says the experience has been life-changing for both human and dog, as caring for a suffering pet has made the bond between herself and Aurora unbreakable. Gorse is now an advocate on how important it...

Funny video of a dog rockin' out!

AN emaciated dog was bound in chains and left to die in subzero temperatures. Dublin SPCA inspectors said they are constantly dumbfounded by the appalling acts of cruelty carried out on animals. Inspector Liam Kinsella was called to an area near the Bluebell flats off Davitt Road in Dublin where he found a terrified, shivering female dog. The Doberman is estimated to be aged between one and two years old. The dog was desperately malnourished and dehydrated and had severe pressure sores where the rope and chain were sawing through her skin. She had no body fat meaning her bones...

Arabs in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat complained Thursday that they were experiencing a plague of wild dogs roaming the area, but a spokesperson for the municipality said that catching the dogs was complicated – because of the threat to the physical security of dog catchers who would normally be sent in to catch the animals. At least 150 wild dogs, many running in feral packs, have ...been roaming the streets of the Ras Hamis neighborhood, at the edge of Shuafat, itself a village within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. The city has a full staff of dog catchers, but...

Enjoy! Pretty clever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbKejK2fDTo

YUMA, Ariz. — Aster, a 1-year-old long-haired Labrador Chesapeake, had an upset stomach and threw up in the examining room of the Yuma Proving Ground’s veterinarian clinic. The dog is one of several dozens that just arrived from Indiana, where they embarked on a military working dog training program. At YPG’s Mine Detection School, the dogs will train in detecting explosives in buildings, vehicles, buried in the roadway or somewhere in the field, probably in Afghanistan.

Sheriff Joe's Office says Tonopah woman was attacked Friday by a pack of dogs.

SIERRA VISTA — A woman was transported to the hospital for injuries to her face and head after being attacked by several dogs just east of Sierra Vista on Wednesday. The Sierra Vista Police Department, assisting the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, and a witness to the incident confirm that the woman was walking her dog in the area of Risner Boulevard and East Central Avenue when she was attacked by no fewer than three dogs. Area resident James Corcoran said he was drinking coffee on his porch on Central Avenue when he heard a commotion down the street. “I hear...

He’s no Underdog. Kai, a 2-year-old Shiba Inu puppy, thought he could fly, but it turns out he can only fetch. Yet he miraculously survived a four-story fall from the roof garden of an Upper West Side townhouse after hurling himself over an unguarded ledge. “It’s a miracle,” owner Tracy Aron, a Broadway theater producer who lives on West End Avenue, told The Post yesterday. “A week after falling 50 feet, he’s able to walk up and down the stairs.” Kai took flight Dec. 3 after Aron led him up to the roof for his morning constitutional. A lattice fence...

Nativity Scene at St. Patrick’s Cathedral – New York, NY Behind the Blessed Virgin Mary and between the donkey and cow is a new addition to the St. Patrick’s Cathedral crèche: man’s best friend.St. Patrick’s rector Monsignor Robert Ritchie sets up the nativity each year at St. Patrick’s. This year, he decided to create a new tradition to reflect the dogs’ presence.It’s a dog in the likeness of Ritchie’s own Lexington, a yellow lab he got 15-years-ago, just two days before Christmas.“It turned out that the dog they showed me looked very much like my own dog,� Ritchie told...

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- He carefully but thoroughly searched an abandoned bunker halfway around the world thought to house insurgent activity. Then taking point in the pursuit of an unidentified enemy, Telin confidently led the squad of troops through a desert trail, following footprints in the dirt. Telin didn't carry a weapon. He didn't have any specific intelligence on the situation. Nevertheless, he fearlessly executed his task to track. Telin was a Belgian Malinois and military working dog deployed from Edwards to support military operations in the Middle East. "I trusted him with my life," said Master Sgt....

RENO, Nevada — A woman says she was fired as a baggage handler at Nevada's Reno-Tahoe International Airport after she refused to load an emaciated hunting dog on a plane. Lynn Jones says her supervisor told her to load the dog last month because the animal's paperwork was in order and its condition wasn't her concern.

A Utah bird hunter was shot in the buttocks after his dog stepped on a shotgun laid across the bow of a boat.

The call came into the behavior specialists here from a doctor in Afghanistan. His patient had just been through a firefight and now was cowering under a cot, refusing to come out. Apparently even the chew toys hadn’t worked. Post-traumatic stress disorder, thought Dr. Walter F. Burghardt Jr., chief of behavioral medicine at the Daniel E. Holland Military Working Dog Hospital at Lackland Air Force Base. Specifically, canine PTSD. If anyone needed evidence of the frontline role played by dogs in war these days, here is the latest: the four-legged, wet-nosed troops used to sniff out mines, track down enemy...

Researchers at KTH say they have found further proof that the wolf ancestors of today’s domesticated dogs can be traced to southern East Asia — findings that run counter to theories placing the cradle of the canine line in the Middle East.Dr Peter Savolainen, KTH researcher in evolutionary genetics, says a new study released Nov. 23 confirms that an Asian region south of the Yangtze River was the principal and probably sole region where wolves were domesticated by humans. Data on genetics, morphology and behaviour show clearly that dogs are descended from wolves, but there’s never been scientific consensus on...

Chicken jerky treats may be to blame for dozens of new reports of mysterious illnesses and some deaths in dogs, prompting a renewed warning for pet owners by the Food and Drug Administration. At least 70 dogs have been sickened so far this year after reportedly eating chicken jerky products imported from China, FDA officials said. That’s up from 54 reports of illness in 2010. Some of the dogs have died, according to the anecdotal reports from pet owners and veterinarians. FDA officials say they have not been able to find a cause for the illnesses. Extensive chemical and microbiological...

PHILADELPHIA -- Michael Vick has to watch his teammates play from home. Vick won't play when the Philadelphia Eagles visit the New York Giants on Sunday because of two broken ribs. He won't even be on the sideline because injured players typically don't make the trip. Vince Young will make his first start for Philadelphia in Vick's place. He's thrown one pass this season -- an interception. Vick didn't practice this week because he broke his two lower ribs on the second play in a 21-17 loss to Arizona last Sunday. He got up slowly after taking a hard hit...

"Veterinarians are reporting an outbreak of canine flu in the New York metro area." "The Journal News reports that officials at the Cornell University Veterinary School say canine flu has been spreading in New York City, the lower Hudson Valley and northern New Jersey."

Wildlife photographer Norbert Rosing was taking photos in northern Canada when a polar bear arrived on the scene. Most of the tethered dogs went crazy, barking and jumping, and Rosing thought it was going to be the end of dog breeder Brian Ladoon's Canadian Eskimo sled dogs. But one dog, Hudson, remained calm and wagged his tail, and to Rosing’s astonishment, the bear nuzzled the dog and in return, the dog licked the bear’s face. Then another polar bear arrived and began walking toward Ladoon’s dog Barren, but the dog simply rolled onto his back and he and the bear...