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Shop the Beach Bums Collection at Modern Tails and take 15% Percent Off Selected Items.

Use the coupon code BLBEACH at checkout to receive your discount, good until June 17, 2009. Limit one coupon per customer, per order; cannot be combined any other specials, discounts or coupons. Not redeemable for cash or gift cards, nor is it valid toward previous purchases.

Check Out This Adorable Animal Odd Couple!

It's the last thing you'd expect to see emerging from the woods of Tennessee - actually make that the last two things!

Their names, Bella, a once stray dog who wandered onto the property, and Tarra, the elephant.

They arrived at an elephant sanctuary one-by-one, but they tend to live out their lives two-by-two no matter what.

When Bella got sick last year and had to live in the sanctuary office, guess who stood vigil for three weeks? Tarra waited there. "We had no choice but to bring Bella down to see Tarra," said one of the workers.

[Source: Fox29.com]

FDA Approves First-Ever Cancer Drug For Dogs

The first cancer drug created specifically for dogs has been approved by the FDA. The drug, manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's animal health wing, is called Palladia and was developed to treat canine cutaneous mast cell tumors.

Cutaneous mast cell tumors account for about 20% of skin cancer in dogs. Although some mast cell tumors can be surgically removed with relative ease, other cases have historically proven more difficult to treat, and the cancer has been known to spread to other parts of the body.

"This cancer drug approval for dogs is an important step forward for veterinary medicine," Bernadette Dunham, director of FDA's center for veterinary medicine, said in a statement Wednesday.

"Prior to this approval, veterinarians had to rely on human oncology drugs, without knowledge of how safe or effective they would be for dogs," Dunham said. "Today's approval offers dog owners, in consultation with their veterinarian, an option for treatment of their dog's cancer."

"At the completion of a Palladia clinical study, approximately 60% of dogs had their tumors disappear, shrink or stop growing," Dr. Cheryl London of Ohio State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, who worked with Pfizer in the development of the drug, said in a statement. "Also, we determined that dogs whose tumors responded to Palladia experienced an improved quality of life."

The drug will be available initially only through a small number of veterinary oncologists; it's expected to be more widely available beginning in early 2010, according to Reuters. It comes in pill form and is given every other day, generally for a period of several months or longer.

[Source: LATimes.com]

Take Additional 10% off Dog Clothes Sale Items This Week At Modern Tails!

Shop our sale and save even more! (And yes, that adorable shirt is on sale!)

Take an additional 10% off all items in our Dog Clothes Sale Category this week at Modern Tails!

Use the coupon code BLSALE at checkout to receive your discount, good until June 10th, 2009. Limit one coupon per customer, per order; cannot be combined any other specials, discounts or coupons. Not redeemable for cash or gift cards, nor is it valid toward previous purchases.

Extra, Extra! Cesar Sunrise Wants You To Read All About It!

They say that the newspaper business is going to the dogs. A campaign for a new product has been making that sentiment come true, with humorous results.

The campaign is for a line of dog food from Mars Petcare U.S., a division of the giant marketer, Mars. The line is called Cesar Sunrise, part of the Cesar brand of offerings for small dogs, and it is being billed as “the first-ever gourmet canine cuisine breakfast.”

Marketers often refer to new products as providing “news” for consumers, assisting a brand to stand out in a crowded category. Mars Petcare U.S. and its agency, the BBDO West division of BBDO Worldwide, have taken that literally, by creating a make-believe newspaper to chronicle the arrival of Cesar Sunrise.

The newspaper, an eight-page broadsheet, carries the fanciful name of The West Highland Herald. There is an accompanying Web site as well, from which a PDF version of the paper may be downloaded.

An estimated 306,000 copies of the print edition of The Herald were distributed in a promotion that took place in eight major markets, including Atlanta, Chicago and Miami.

In two of those markets — New York and San Francisco — the free (fake) paper was accompanied by free (real) cups of coffee.

The jest behind the paper is that it was reported and edited by dogs for dogs. From the weather forecast (“It’s going to rain men and women”) to the classified ads (“For sale: Used stick. Hardly chewed. Has most of its original bark”), The Herald is completely canine-centric.

After all, if they say “Dog bites man is not news; man bites dog is news,” how newsworthy must it be when “dog writes newspaper”?

[Source: The New York Times]

Washington Community Rallies To Save Police Dog's Job

A police dog that was laid off due to budge cuts now has this coastal town rallying behind him in the hopes he could be brought back out of retirement.

"Nitro" can fight crime, but he can't fight the ailing economy. His job was eliminated earlier this month when the Aberdeen Police Department needed to cut its budget.

"(He was) definitely part of the family," said Aberdeen K9 officer Steve Timmons, pictured above with Nitro. "It's tough seeing him not a work."

Six-year-old Nitro has helped nab between 35 and 40 suspects since he joined the force in 2005.

But unemployment is at 14 percent in Grays Harbor County. The Weyerhaeuser plant closing means fewer tax dollars for the city to operate the police department.

That forced Aberdeen's only police dog into early retirement.

"It's still rough for him, he still misses it," Timmons said. "When I go to work, he runs to the door like we're leaving and I have to leave him there. So it's tough."

After people saw the story on Seattle PI last week, there was an outpouring of support. We received an e-mail from one viewer saying: "I'm a member of the Peninsula Dog Fanciers Club of Bremerton. I saw the story about Nitro the other day and was deeply moved. My club would like to donate $500."

Money has been coming in from all over the Northwest. But the department needs around $6,000 to get Nitro his job back.

The police chief says the outpouring of public support may just do it.

"We're getting such a positive outcry that I think we're going to reach our goal to sustain Nitro from just the people that are wanting to support us," said police chief Bob Torgerson.

But it's not a done deal. The chief wants to make sure there's enough money to keep Nitro on the job through next year as well.

He doesn't want to have to go through the heartache of laying off this dog twice.

Donations to Nitro's fund can be made to the Aberdeen Police Department.. The chief hopes to make a decision next week.


[Source: SeattlePI.com]

Chihuahua Scares Off Cougar. Yeah, You Read That Right.

A big cat picked the wrong little dogs for a fight. Chiquita the Chihuahua and Rosie the border terrier chased off a cougar that strayed into this small town near the Oregon State University campus. The dogs' owner, Loren Wingert, said Chiquita and Rosie are tough, but lucky.

The cougar pinned down Rosie, who squealed, but Chiquita convinced the big cat to flee by barking ferociously.

Wingert lives in a cul-de-sac atop a hill that backs up to a wooded area with deer trails. Warning signs about cougars are posted on the trails.

Wingert said the dogs are fine.

[Source: The Associated Press]