Chanel, World's Oldest Dog Record Holder, Dies at 21

A wire-haired dachshund that held the record as the world’s oldest dog has died on Long Island at age 21 – or 147 in dog years.Chanel died of natural causes on Friday at her owner’s home in Port Jefferson Station, a village 50 miles east of New York City.Guinness World Records officials honored Chanel as the world’s oldest dog in May at a 21st birthday bash hosted by a pet food company at a Manhattan dog hotel and spa.

Chanel, who wore tinted goggles to ease the strain of cataracts, loved peanut butter and ate home-cooked chicken with her dog food.The playful dachshund was only 6 weeks old when Denice Shaughnessy, then serving with the U.S. Army, adopted her from a shelter in Virginia.Along with her owner, Chanel spent nine years on assignment in Germany, where she became adept at stealing sticks of butter from kitchen countertops and hiding them in sofa cushions in the living room.

Chanel, World's Oldest Dog Record Holder, Dies at 21

A wire-haired dachshund that held the record as the world’s oldest dog has died on Long Island at age 21 – or 147 in dog years.Chanel died of natural causes on Friday at her owner’s home in Port Jefferson Station, a village 50 miles east of New York City.Guinness World Records officials honored Chanel as the world’s oldest dog in May at a 21st birthday bash hosted by a pet food company at a Manhattan dog hotel and spa.

Chanel, who wore tinted goggles to ease the strain of cataracts, loved peanut butter and ate home-cooked chicken with her dog food.The playful dachshund was only 6 weeks old when Denice Shaughnessy, then serving with the U.S. Army, adopted her from a shelter in Virginia.Along with her owner, Chanel spent nine years on assignment in Germany, where she became adept at stealing sticks of butter from kitchen countertops and hiding them in sofa cushions in the living room.

Elle Macpherson's Dog Bella Given Modelling Contract

The Australian supermodel’s labradoodle will star in a national advertising campaign.
The five year-old will be the face of designer dog fashion brand Dogside.com, with mini billboards placed on lamp-posts throughout Britain.
Elle, 46, who already has her own lingerie and cosmetics ranges, has often been photographed out walking Bella near her £7.5 million Notting Hill home.

The brand’s advertising materials boast that Bella is ideal for showing off its products, including leads, coats, scarves and bowls, for “today’s stylish urban dog”.

Dogside’s Flora Page said: “We approached leading models about their signing up their pets.

“Elle is a dog lover and was top of our wish list, so we were thrilled when she phoned up in person to say that she would love Bella to be the face of our brand.”

Celebrities owning labradoodles – a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Poodle also include Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond and comic Graham Norton.

Beverley Cuddy, editor of Dogs Today magazine, voiced fears about the high-profile ad campaign. She said: “When Paris Hilton took her Chihuahua everywhere, there was a rush in sales of handbag dogs.

“Adopting a celebrity’s hairstyle as they chop and change is fine but acquiring a dog for fashion to mirror a celebrity idol is disastrous. Lots of people chuck these dogs out after a few months.

“Having a labradoodle is becoming a fashion thing and they already cost more than £1,000 for a puppy more than pedigree dogs and are attracting unscrupulous breeders.

“This will not be any less of a trend by Elle Macpherson’s dog becoming a supermodel.”

(source)

Elle Macpherson's Dog Bella Given Modelling Contract

The Australian supermodel’s labradoodle will star in a national advertising campaign.
The five year-old will be the face of designer dog fashion brand Dogside.com, with mini billboards placed on lamp-posts throughout Britain.
Elle, 46, who already has her own lingerie and cosmetics ranges, has often been photographed out walking Bella near her £7.5 million Notting Hill home.

The brand’s advertising materials boast that Bella is ideal for showing off its products, including leads, coats, scarves and bowls, for “today’s stylish urban dog”.

Dogside’s Flora Page said: “We approached leading models about their signing up their pets.

“Elle is a dog lover and was top of our wish list, so we were thrilled when she phoned up in person to say that she would love Bella to be the face of our brand.”

Celebrities owning labradoodles – a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Poodle also include Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond and comic Graham Norton.

Beverley Cuddy, editor of Dogs Today magazine, voiced fears about the high-profile ad campaign. She said: “When Paris Hilton took her Chihuahua everywhere, there was a rush in sales of handbag dogs.

“Adopting a celebrity’s hairstyle as they chop and change is fine but acquiring a dog for fashion to mirror a celebrity idol is disastrous. Lots of people chuck these dogs out after a few months.

“Having a labradoodle is becoming a fashion thing and they already cost more than £1,000 for a puppy more than pedigree dogs and are attracting unscrupulous breeders.

“This will not be any less of a trend by Elle Macpherson’s dog becoming a supermodel.”

(source)

1-Year-Old Elephant Has His Birthday Cake — And Eats It Too!

Look who’s a big, big boy now! Samudra, a 1,304-lb. baby Asian elephant, celebrated his first birthday Aug. 23 with about 8,000 pals— visitors who came to the Oregon Zoo just to help him blow out the carrot candle on his peanut butter cake.

“We’re bringing [the people] closer to Samudra as much as we can,” Bob Lee, Oregon Zoo’s Senior Elephant Keeper tells PEOPLE Pets.

320-kg Giant Fish Found In The Ganga

A giant Bhetki fish weighing 320 kg has been found floating in the Ganga. The fish, eight feet long and three feet wide, was first
spotted Sunday at the riverbank in north Kolkata’s Kumartoli area by a group of young men who were bathing in the river.

“Initially we thought that a big sea animal was coming to devour us. Initially we were scared but later found that it was a dead fish which was floating in the water,” an eyewitness said.

According to locals, the fish had a ribbon in its mouth and a cut mark on its stomach.

Last month, around 200 fish were found dead in the area. Locals said contaminated water led to the death of a large number of fish in the river.

(source)

Vet Shells Out For B&Q Drill To Save Life Of Tiny Tortoise

Inventive vet Louise Rayment-Dyble showed that you really can ‘do it if you B&Q it’ as she turned to the high street shop to help her carry out an important operation.Twinnie the tortoise is barely the size of a 50p piece, so enterprising Louise chose to use a £100 B&Q drill and dremel cutting bit to cut through her shell.

‘She sliced into the three-year-old spur-thighed tortoise and removed a stone causing a blockage which could have killed Twinnie.Mrs Rayment-Dyble, who runs All Creatures Healthcare in Horsford, near Norwich, bought the special kit at the B&Q store in nearby Hellesdon.

Louise said last night: ‘The owners brought it in last week because it was starving and constipated.
‘We brought it in for an X-ray and there was a huge stone in there.’We could either put the tortoise to sleep to stop her from suffering or we could try and operate.’

She added: ‘When we’re cutting through the bone in the shell we need a high-torque force and needed something quite powerful, which is why we went to B&Q.’Unusually Twinnie, who weighs a paper-thin 28g, hatched in the same egg as a twin, hence both her name and her small size.