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Of course you can’t resist your golden retriever’s puppy-dog eyes or your tabby’s silly antics, but you’re getting much more from your pet than unconditional love and great pics for your Facebook wall. Nearly two-thirds of American households include a pet — and our animal companions are proving themselves adept at enhancing human health in increasingly diverse ways. From calming patients before medical procedures to motivating owners to exercise, pets may be the best medicine we don’t even realize we’re taking. Here, the notable ways your animal companions can improve your health.

For people around the world, owning a dog comes as a rite of passage. However in Iran, lawmakers are trying to pass a new bill that would harshly punish anyone who buys, sells or walks a dog in public with either a fine ranging from 10 to 100 million rials (NIS 142 to NIS 14,177) or 74 lashes, according to a report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

**SNIP** FOR THE RECORD: A Nov. 2 op-ed about dogs and the environment said that methane was 30% more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Recent research suggests that the effect of methane on climate change is at least 30 times that of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. What, were you staring at your iPhone, dragging the dog behind? Daydreaming? Or are you with Sydney, Jason Segel's character in "I Love You, Man," thinking that dog doo actually benefits the environment. ("It's got tons of nutrients.") That's true, in a way. Dog poop does contain nutrients — the...

Dog shot dead by SWAT team during alleged dispute over neighborhood dog waste • A small dog was filmed being shot by advancing police officers in Racine, Wisc. on Saturday after police were called about violent threats made by the dog's owner, said a neighbor. Police Chief Art Howell said the owner threatened to kill the officers with an armor-piercing crossbow before setting his dog loose. A SWAT team sent to handle an alleged neighborhood dispute over dog waste ended up killing the dog, and igniting a firestorm of criticism against the local police force. In dramatic video capturing the...

Dogs and guns have been an effective crime stopping combination for as long as people have possessed them.   They were proven effective once again in Butler County, Ohio.   The suspect broke out a basement window to gain access to the rural home of Brian Hiner.    Brian woke to the alarmed barks of his dogs, which appear to black and golden Labradors.  He then heard the intruder coming up the basement stairs, called the sheriff, and held Michael Roberts, pictured above, at gunpoint for the responding deputies. The deputies arrived, and took Roberts into custody.    Somehow, Roberts managed to escape...

You can watch a BBC video of this dogs event in Malaysia by clicking on the "Enza Ferreri Blog" link above. Malay Muslims have discovered dogs: KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — A group of Muslims get acquainted with a dog at the ‘I want to touch a dog’ event at 1Utama’s central park earlier this morning. Around 200 dogs and their owners volunteered for the event, which sought to break cultural norms against dogs among Malaysia’s majority Malays. The video on the Malay Mail Online website quoted above is a mixture of people who surround a dog as if they'd...

Here they are, the Secret Service agents who take down White House intruders and protect your president, regardless of Party. The Secret Service tweeted out their photos Thursday. I see them around the grounds. Definitely two of my favorite White House employees.

A video emerged on social media late last week that appears to depict a Texas cop killing a 7-month-old dog in cold blood. Captured from the body cam of Cleburne police officer Kevin Dupre, the 22-second clip shows him pointing his gun at a pair of pit bulls wandering loose through a residential neighborhood. After making a series of apparent kissing noises to get the attention of one of the dogs, Maximus, Dupre opens fire on the animal, shooting him three times... Within 72 hours, a Facebook page demanding “Justice 4 Maximus” topped 10,000 followers and a petition demanding Dupre’s...

Muslims and non-Muslims animal lovers attend the ‘I wanna to touch a dog’ event in Central Park, Bandar Utama, October 19, 2014. — Picture by Choo Choy MayIf it’s not Cartoonophobia, it’s Gynophobia. And if it’s not Gynophobia, it’s Judeophobia. And if it’s not Judeophobia, it’s Christophobia. And if it’s not that, then it’s Dogophobia.Moderate Muslim Malaysia is now being torn apart by controversy over petting dogs. Since it’s a moderate Muslim country, no one has been stoned to death.Yet. More than 1,000 people attended the “I Want to Touch a Dog” event in the affluent Bandar Utama neighborhood...

Really? Is there anything that doesn’t provoke Muslims?Dogophobia hits moderate Muslim Malaysia as a dog petting event stirs up controversy. Why? Because Mohammed hated dogs and ordered them to be killed.Also Muslims consider dogs and women to be unclean. And it’s hard to get a dog to wear a Burqa. It’s another episode in the long-running Islam Show where everyone is crazy. (The Religion of Peace) The “I Want To Touch A Dog” event should not have been held in Muslim-majority Malaysia as viral images of Muslims petting dogs have caused great uneasiness and public discomfort, an Utusan columnist claimed...

Link only: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9prhPV2PI

Cleburne police are investigating after a video circulated online of one of its officers coaxing a dog toward him before shooting it. The short video, taken from a body camera’s perspective, shows a man’s arms wielding a handgun while the officer summons two dogs toward him. As the animals approached with their tails wagging, the officer fired several times. As one of the dogs fell to the ground, the officer, who has not been identified, took aim at the second dog. The video ends abruptly, before showing what happened to the other dog. Although the video shows that the animals...

Two people were in critical condition in local hospitals Tuesday night after being mauled by four pit bulls near Bret Harte Elementary School in southwest Modesto. A 911 call from a juvenile brought deputies to a home in the 800 block of Glenn Avenue at 5:59 p.m., where they found an elderly man in the yard being mauled by four pit bulls, said Sheriff Adam Christianson. The deputies shot at the dogs, killing two and driving two into another yard. Officers found an elderly woman inside the home, also with severe injuries from dogs. Both victims are in critical condition...

My dog Jazz recently had 3 seizures. They were about 1 to 2 weeks apart, and each time they occurred at the same time each morning (4:50 a.m.). They were brief in duration, lasting only about a minute or two (although it seemed like an eternity). Each time she lost control of her bladder. Afterward, she seemed dazed and bewildered for a few minutes, then she bounced back as if nothing had happened. She's diabetic, but any connection with the diabetes has been ruled out by the vet. I know there are dogs who live with seizures, and this may...

MEDINA, Ohio (AP) — A police dog in northeast Ohio died from heatstroke after being left in a police cruiser for more than four hours last month, officials said. The Montville Township police department K-9, Beny, died on Sept. 28 after Sgt. Brett Harrison left the dog in a cruiser in the station parking lot from about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to a statement from police Tuesday. The cruiser was off and the windows were closed.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Madrid health authorities have put down Ebola patient Teresa Romero Ramos' dog, Excalibur, despite protests. The animal was sedated prior to euthanasia to avoid its suffering, the Health Ministry of Madrid said in a statement. More than 330,000 people had signed a petition on Change.org to save Excalibur. Ramos, a nurse's assistant, is in isolation after testing positive for the deadly Ebola virus earlier this week. Health authorities worried her dog may have also become infected. Which warrants the questions: Can dogs really get Ebola and spread it to humans? What about other animals? In Africa, Ebola infection "has been...

A horrifying threat has surfaced in the fight West Africans are waging against the epidemic of Ebola – dogs digging up corpses of virus victims and feasting on the remains, then carrying the infection with them wherever they go next. A recent report in the Mail Online in the U.K. said villagers in Liberia were complaining dogs were found digging up the corpses of Ebola victims buried in shallow graves and eating them in the street.

Reporter Nelufar Hedayat looks at the terrible conditions dogs are forced to live in just to keep the black market in dog meat supplied A shocking new TV documentary will reveal how hundreds pet dogs are being stolen every day in Vietnam for the lucrative dog meat trade. Unreported World shows disturbing evidence of how dogs are stolen, force-fed, kept in cramped cages and slaughtered for meals. Here, reporter Nelufar Hedayat exclusively reveals the horrors she witnessed. The smell of dog and filth permeated the whole room along with frantic, high-pitched barking from the hundreds of dogs crammed into the...

It is not the usual route for adverts making a statement about drink driving, but this Budweiser commercial has been already been viewed more than seven million times on YouTube. Featuring the bond between a young man and his adorable labrador, the advert focuses on worried loved ones when someone doesn't make it home from a night out. Entitled 'Friends Are Waiting', the commercial features a montage showing the bond between man and dog, before showing him leaving the house with a pack of beer and the words: 'I'll see you later buddy'.

1924: Pep, “The Cat-Murdering Dog” Pep "The Cat-Murdering Dog" was a black Labrador Retriever admitted to Eastern State Penitentiary on August 12, 1924. Prison folklore tells us that Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot used his executive powers to sentence Pep to Life Without Parole for killing his wife’s cherished cat. Prison records support this story: Pep’s inmate number (C-2559) is skipped in prison intake logs and inmate records. The Governor told a different story. He said Pep had been sent to Eastern to act as a mascot for the prisoners. He and the Warden, Herbert “Hard-Boiled” Smith, were friends. Pep was...