In 2010 Barnes, a former emergency room veterinarian, started Eleos Veterinary Service that exclusively offers at-home euthanasias in Northern and central New Jersey.

“Ultimately it provides a lot more privacy for the family,” she explains, adding the procedure is less stressful on pets because they don’t have to go a veterinary clinic. Rather they die in a familiar environment surrounded by those who love them.

Appointments can be made quickly with at-home euthanasia veterinarians – often the same day as the procedure.

“We let clients lead the way,” says Barnes of the amount of time she and her veterinary technician spend with each client. “Some people will say at the door ‘I just need to get this over with.’ Other people will have different family members there and they want to take their time saying final goodbyes.”

Dogs are first given a sedative injection that takes about ten minutes to work, she says. Then the dog’s front or back leg is shaved and an IV catheter is inserted. When the family is ready, an injection of pentobarbital – an anesthetic agent — is given for a quick, painless death.  

Veterinary euthanasia specialists currently operate in about 30 states although their numbers are still relatively small.  Expect to pay a premium for the end-of-life service, though – anywhere from 30 to 100 percent more than what a veterinary clinic charges.  

To find a veterinarian in your area click on: www.inhomepeteuthanasia.com

Emotionally rescuing people after the death of a loved one is a job held by only a handful of dogs in funeral homes nationwide, and the results they’re able to achieve are almost instantaneous. Turner, a former social worker, says just the sight of Aragon often brings a smile to peoples’ faces, despite the painfully sad and stressful period in their lives.

During funerals or visitations, the 80 pound yellow coated dog calmly sits next to family members, occasionally resting his head on their lap to offer comfort and support. Other times Aragon patiently waits in the back of the room with Turner for people to pet or hug him, if they so choose.

Some clients, of course, are allergic or don’t like dogs but almost all of them — about 95 percent — request Aragon’s presence, she says.

Before arriving for duty at the family run funeral home in 2004, the Lab mix underwent several months of intense training with the nonprofit Canine Companions for Independence where he learned more than 40 commands.

He was then placed with Turner as a “facility dog,” which is one of four types of assistance canines CCI trains to help bolster the emotional health of others.

“Having Aragon there is never going to take away the hurt they’re feeling,” says Turner of the men, women and children he interacts with daily. “But it takes their minds off it for a little bit, and kind of normalizes things too.”

Guide Dogs for the Blind, which provides highly trained service animals to visually impaired people, needs volunteers to temporarily house and train its puppies.

Qualified volunteers receive their tiny canine charges — Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, or their mixes — around 8 weeks of age to teach them basic obedience, good house manners, and begin introducing them to the real world. That means these pups go everywhere you go — grocery stores, restaurants, even PTA meetings — to become familiar with life’s sights and sounds.

Dogs are then returned to the nonprofit between 13 and 18 months of age for formal training and possible placement with a visually impaired person.

For most people the hardest part of the job is giving the puppy back after spending so many months together. But veteran puppy raiser Tawna Crispin of Everett, Washington says most parents liken it to sending their kids off to college. “They have bigger, better and more important things to do,” she says.

Prepping puppies as future service animals is a lot of work but volunteers don’t do it alone. Local puppy raiser clubs meet a few times each month to give volunteers guidance on proper training and socialization.

Guide Dogs is currently looking for volunteers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington.

As for Crispin, who is now raising her 21^st puppy as well as four young children, the best part of the experience is going to the nonprofit’s graduation and seeing the pup she raised transformed into a visually impaired person’s independence by leading him or her onto the stage. “It’s truly awe-inspiring and brings tears to my eyes every time,” she says.

To learn about volunteering for Guide Dogs for the Blind call 800-295-4050 or click on guidedogs.com.

 Rescue dogs are increasingly joining the staffs of hotel chains nationwide including the Fairmont, Kimpton, and Ritz-Carlton. And in the posh ski resort town of Aspen,Colorado, where world class hotels abound, concierges happily arrange for tourists to spend the day hiking, shopping or snowshoeing with a shelter dog.

Veterinarian M.A. Crist, clinical assistant professor at the Texas A&M College of  Veterinary Medicine, believes this trend in providing travelers with dogs for companionship during their stay will likely continue, in part, because pets enhance the physiological and psychological well- being of people.

“Interacting with the animals may provide some travelers with the opportunity to meet others, or for other travelers to be alone without being lonely,” she said.

At Kimpton the idea of employing a “Director of Pet Relations” started years ago at The Bedford Hotel in San Francisco where founder Bill Kimpton visited every day with his collie Chianti. Guests found Chianti so friendly and comforting that she quickly became a fixture at the hotel.

Today about 15 hotels in the chain keep well trained pooches on staff. The dogs – of which about half are rescues — live full-time with employees who take them to work each day.

Sara Nielsen, Public Relations Coordinator for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants said the dogs welcome guests with an enthusiastic wag, help the concierge make suggestions for pet-friendly hot spots, graciously host the complimentary evening wine hour, sniff out potential pet amenities and services, and make celebrity appearances.

For more than a decade, The Aspen Animal Shelter has run the wildly popular “rent-a-dog” program where tourists (for free) pick a pooch to take with them around town or out on the trails.

“It’s a win-win,” explains shelter director Seth Sachson. “Not only do the dogs get exercise and socialized but often times they’re adopted by having people take them out and expose them to the rest of the world.”

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have left lasting impacts on the American population. While many human rescuers are showing respiratory health problems a decade later, their canine colleagues have had minimal setbacks, according to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine 9/11 Medical Surveillance study.

With nearly $500,000 of financial support from the AKC Canine Health Foundation (CHF), the study monitored the long-term health impacts on 95 search-and-rescue dogs deployed to the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Staten Island landfills. Researchers also compared their health to a control group of non-deployed search-and-rescue dogs.

“The most striking thing is that many of the humans that responded have developed reactive airway diseases, such as asthma, sinusitis or other chronic infections in their nasal sinuses. The dogs on the other hand have fared extremely well,” explained Dr. Cynthia Otto, DVM, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine associate professor of critical care and principal investigator of the research. “They’re not developing any problems with their lungs or sinuses. That is a real surprise.”

Dr. Otto pointed out that the vast majority of canines suffered minor cuts and scrapes despite not wearing protective gear. Kaiser, now a 12-year-old German shepherd, was one of only four dogs in the study that required stitches while working at Ground Zero.

“On our second day there, Kaiser sliced a pad on the pile,” said Tony Zintsmaster, Kaiser’s trainer and a charter member of Indiana Task Force One. “Once he was stitched up and felt better, Kaiser went back to work. He was quite amazing. He was able to adapt to the situation and showed great agility. He seemed happiest when he was on the pile working.”

Zintsmaster, along with other handlers who participated in the study, submitted annual X-rays, blood samples and surveys on their dog’s health and behavior to researchers.

Tom Andert and his 12-year-old chocolate Labrador Tuff are former members of Missouri Task Force One and also participated in the study. “Not only was my veterinarian performing the X-rays, taking the blood work and reading the results, but Dr. Otto was looking at them as well. It was a piece of mind to know that Tuff was healthy,” Andert said. “It was a comfort every time they came back and said, ‘You have a healthy dog.’“

The study also found that the average lifespan of deployed dogs was 12.5 years, while non-deployed search-and-rescue dogs lived an average 11.8 years. Today, at least 13 deployed search-and-rescue dogs that were part of the study are still alive.

“These dogs are a national resource and it’s remarkable to know how well they were able to endure such harsh conditions,” said Terry Warren, CHF chief executive officer and general counsel. “It has been an honor to work with Dr. Otto to fund this groundbreaking research. Our goal is to help dogs live longer, healthier lives and this research is one example of that.”

Because canine and human genomes are similar and most canine diseases also occur in humans, future research could center on learning why the search-and-rescue dogs were able to endure the challenging conditions with minimal respiratory complications. Identifying respiratory genetic markers in canines could lead to the development of treatments of respiratory ailments in humans.

“The findings may open our eyes to the difference between dogs and people that makes them so resilient,” Dr. Otto said. “If we could tap into that, we might actually help move human health forward.”

“Dogs are part of our family and more than ever people are taking them everywhere they go,” says Charlotte Reed, author of The Miss Fido Manners Complete Book of Dog Etiquette (Adams Media, 2008) “But the most important thing to remember is, wherever you go, you are a doggie ambassador.”

How you act with your dog not only affects others around you but also how people think of dogs and dog owners in general. Here are a few doggie decorum tips for helping you put your best foot  – and your dog’s paw - forward.

1. Always cleanup after your dog and abide by licensing and leash laws.

2. Make sure your pet is a welcome guest. Call ahead to airlines, hotels and restaurants to discuss their pet policies.

3. When visiting family and friends, if your dog ruins something in their home offer to pay the repair fee or cleaning charge.

4. Only bring well behaved, quiet dogs to outdoor restaurants. For hygienic reasons don’t allow your dog to lick plates, drink from water glasses, or sit in the chair next to you. Dogs should stay in a stroller or lay underneath the table so the wait staff and others can easily walk past.

5. When a repairman or other service provider makes a housecall, crate your dog or put him in a spare bedroom and shut the door. Some people are afraid of dogs, or allergic to them.

6. Be a considerate neighbor by curtailing barking. Even hardened dog lovers are annoyed by constant yipping and yowling.

7. Don’t allow your dog to roam freely. It’s dangerous for your pet (think speeding cars) plus it’s disrespectful of other people who might be walking in your neighborhood with their leashed dogs.

8. Always ask permission before allowing your pooch to greet another dog.

Being a doggie ambassador consists of combining dog training skills with common sense and basic good manners. “Pet etiquette is about understanding that good behavior has to be practiced at both ends of the leash,” says Reed.

The three acre private park near Cincinnati, Ohio cost more than $2 million to build, and boasts a super-sized play station, splash pad, lake with dock diving board as well as speed and agility courses.

“It’s a park that has a little bit of everything,” said manager Mike Sweeney.

Private dog parks are popping up around the country as some owners seek a safer place to take their dogs for off-leash fun and fitness.

At Wags Park, for example, all dogs must be current on vaccinations and pass a temperament test before being allowed inside. Staff also patrols the grounds to enforce park rules and break-up any scuffles.

At public dog parks those extra steps are rarely, if ever, taken.

Lynn Badger, owner of Dog Wood Park in Jacksonville, Florida, says private fenced-in facilities, like hers, offer more perks than their public counterparts. They’re bigger, better maintained and offer more amenities, said Badger who, in 1998, was one of the first in the country to open a private dog park.

Her 42 acre park has a lake, obstacle course, sand pile (for digging), nature trails, picnic tables, hammocks, and lots of tennis balls. A separate area with playground equipment lets kids and dogs hang-out together.

“Most public dog parks don’t even come close to being as nice to the private parks I’m familiar with,” she said.

Of course, the draw back to private parks is the cost. At Wags Park annual memberships run $325; Dog Wood Park charges $289.

Don’t have a private park in your area? One might be coming soon. Sweeney said expansion of the Wags Park business , through a licensing arrangement, is slated to begin this summer.

To celebrate the news, the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum opened a new exhibit that chronicles Owney’s adventures.  According to the Post Office:

During the height of the Railway Mail Service, clerks in the Albany, New York post office took a liking to a mixed terrier named Owney. Fond of riding in postal wagons, the scruffy terrier followed mailbags onto trains and soon was known as a good-luck charm to Railway Mail Service employees who made him their unofficial mascot.

Working in the Railway Mail Service was highly dangerous. According to the National Postal Museum more than 80 mail clerks were killed in train wrecks and more than 2,000 were injured between 1890 and 1900. But no train ever met with trouble while Owney was aboard.

As Owney traveled the country, clerks affixed medals and tags to his collar to document his travels here in the U.S. and abroad. In 1895 the Tacoma, Washington, postmaster sent the beloved mutt on a trip around the world as part of an advertising campaign for the city. Owney traveled with mailbags on steamships and trains from Tacoma through Asia, the Middle East, and the continental U.S. before returning home more than three months later.

During his life the little dog is believed to have traveled more than 140,000 miles.

 The First Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix has been transformed into a no-kill animal shelter for abused and neglected pets rescued by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Animal Crimes Investigation Unit. Inside the shelter upwards of 100 animals – some so emaciated they look like walking skeletons — are nursed back to health each year.

Since the animals are considered evidence they’re kept at the facility anywhere from a few months to several years while court cases work their way through the criminal justice system. Afterward, nearly all of the animals are put up for adoption.

The man behind the jail’s conversion ten years ago is tough talking lawman Joe Arpaio, the county’s top cop, who makes clamping down on animal abusers one of his priorities. He’s ordered deputies to bring all violators suspected of animal cruelty or neglect directly to jail rather than cite and release them.

Inside the air conditioned shelter, women inmates wearing black and white stripped jumpsuits are brought-in daily from a nearby correctional facility (where they live outside in tents without air conditioning) to care for the animals.

Some people are angered by the idea that the animals lounge in temperature controlled cells while the inmates must endure the summer’s sweltering heat, often topping 110 degrees by mid-day in July.  

The sheriff’s department shrugs off the criticism, pointing to what one of the inmates assigned to care for the dogs once said about the controversy. When asked if she was resentful about not having air conditioning, she gestured to some of the dogs and said, “They didn’t do anything wrong. I did.”

The women inmates work five days a week scooping poop, filling water bowls and food dishes as well as playing fetch with their canine charges on the building’s roof top dog park.  Most of the women are doing time for non-violent crimes, such as shoplifting, dealing or burglary, and go through a stringent interview process before being allowed to care for the animals. 

Kate, a woman in her 20′s with shoulder-length, wavy hair (who declined to give her last name) looks forward to her daily eight hour shift at the no-kill shelter. The mother of two young children said the dogs lift her spirits on the “bad days” by showering her with love and affection. “I think the dogs have helped me just as much as I have helped them,” she said.

“I’ll take this one,” you say, turning to the adoption counselor and pointing to your new found love.

While many of us are charmed by a pretty face, looks can be woefully deceiving. Smart adopters know the real secret to a long lasting relationship is choosing a pet that fits your lifestyle. Now thanks to the ASPCA’s Meet Your Match Canine-ality program, used in hundreds of shelters nationwide, finding Mr. or Mrs. Furry Right is not only easy but lots of fun.

Here’s how it works: Dogs aged six months and older are evaluated for their friendliness, energy level, playfulness, motivation, and drive. Based on the results they’re placed into one of three main color categories.

Green dogs, for example, can either be the life of the party, a go-getter, or a free spirit. An orange pooch may be a wallflower, busy bee, or goofball. And a purple dog is classified as a couch potato, constant companion or teacher’s pet.

People are also assigned a color based on a one page application that asks about preferences and lifestyle (think magazine quiz, not home loan application.)

From there, adopters look for a color match by perusing cards posted on kennels that describe a dog’s personality – all of which were inspired by real life personal ads.

A purple dog, for example, that’s deemed a “constant companion” has a card that reads: Looking for an emotionally secure, mutually satisfying, low maintenance relationship? I am all you need. Let me sit at your feet, walk by your side, and I’ll be your devoted companion forever.

Even though the program takes a light-hearted approach to adoption, it’s not all fluff. Meet Your Match is based on years of honest-to- goodness scientific research to help people find just the right dog. And shelters benefit too.

“We’ve had great results from facilities across the country, from Washington State to Washington DC, as seeing increases in adoptions and decreases in returns,” says Emily Weiss, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist and Senior Director of Shelter Behavior Programs for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

As a graduate student, Weiss originally developed Meet Your Match for the Kansas Humane Society in Wichita that was experiencing a high return rate of dogs.

Since implementing the program, return rates dipped, mostly because people gained better insight into a dog’s behavior before taking him or her home, says Jennifer Campbell, director of communications for the Kansas Humane Society.

“It gives them an opportunity to adopt based on personality rather than physical appearance,” she says, “And that’s always been one of our biggest challenges in this field.”

In 2003, the first year the shelter used the system full-time, it had a 29 percent return rate, says Campbell. The next year that number dropped six percent, even though adoptions more than doubled.

As one of the largest shelters in the state – taking in 16,000 animals annually –Kansas Humane usually has 50 dogs and 40 cats available for adoption every single day!
“That’s a big selection and people kind of get overwhelmed so this match making process helps them narrow it down,” explains Campbell.

It also gives dogs that may otherwise be overlooked – specifically black coated beauties and bully breeds — a better shot at finding a forever home.

Weiss, the animal behaviorist, isn’t sitting still. She’s now looking into what feline and canine personalities get along with one another, so people can add a second (or even third) animal, regardless of species,