After rescuing stranded people in mountains and hilly terrain and guiding the blind, dogs are now being used in German schools to boost performance in the classroom. Despite a grainy, gray September morning, the mood is upbeat in a class in Karlsruhe in Germany: and that's largely because Paula, a six year-old Golden Retriever, is here. Some parents were skeptical at the start, said teacher Bettina Brecht who has been bringing her dog to the classroom the past five years. Dogs are being brought into schools since the end of the 1990s and there are about 120 institutions welcoming canines.

Dog Gone Madness

A New Zealand man is recovering from surgery after being shot in the buttock by his dog.
Police believe the animal stood on the trigger of a .22 bolt-action rifle (pictured) in a freak accident.The dog's 40-year-old owner was getting into the rear seat of a four-wheel drive vehicle with the rifle next to him when the animal jumped in.
He was among a group of four people who had slaughtered a pig at Te Kopuru, 90 miles northwest of Auckland on New Zealand's North Island.
The group told police they had thought the gun, which in fact contained five shells, was unloaded.
Mark Going, a St John Ambulance manager, said paramedics who attended were told the rifle had been fired through the seat, lodging a bullet in the man's left buttock.
The victim, who was in extreme pain, was airlifted by rescue helicopter to Whangarei Hospital where surgeons removed the bullet.
He was in a stable condition in hospital on Tuesday.
The owner has not been named, neither has the breed of dog.
Senior Constable Ian Anderson, of nearby Dargaville, said the victim was lucky not to have been more seriously hurt.

Cat Lover (of sorts)

Dogs love nothing more than to chew slippers,boots and bones but one tiny terrier managed to scoff an entire family of toy cats.Little Snowy,a one-year-old white West Highland terrier,weighs just 3.6kg (8lb) but still found room for the five ornaments.

The vet initially thought it was a joke when X-rays clearly revealed a cat peering out of the dogs belly.

We were all stunned.I have been a vet for 10 years and never saw an Xray like this, said Nigel Belgrove.Weve had dogs that have swallowed golf balls and batteries before but Snowy beats them all,hands down, he added.

The terrier began to worry her owner Samantha Reed,42,when she suddenly lost her appetite and started vomiting several times a day.Initially,it was thought Snowy reacted badly to dog food and the vet recommended a diet of rice and chicken.She remained ill so they took urine samples to test for a kidney problem and tried a course of antibiotics.
It was only when they took the Xray that the feline face emerged.The cats were removed last week in a onehour operation and Snowy is now recovering well.