Kennel

A reader asked that I research and report on a new fast-spreading virus causing "dog flu. " The information I located was first dated Sept. 27 out of the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine as reported by ABC News. The news item quotes Dr. Cynda Crawford, an immunologist at the University, as saying, "the disease is only deadly in rare cases - about 10 percent in puppies and old dogs - but is of concern because it is spreading rapidly. " The symptoms of the disease include coughing and sneezing.

PAINT LICK - Bill Deemer was attempting to have a relaxing Monday morning reading papers in the front parlor of his house on Old Railroad Grade Road. He says he heard a noise behind him, and when he turned around he thought it was a joke. "There was someone standing in my hallway wearing all black and holding a shotgun," Deemer said. The armed male was wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt with a ski mask and told Deemer to get down on the floor, but he refused. "I asked him what the hell he was doing here and who he was, but he said to get down on the floor again.

HARRODSBURG - Linda Cook, owner of a kennel on Hopewell Road, and some of her neighbors on Hopewell Road and Jackson Pike, are in the midst of a dispute over the behavior of the dogs in the kennel. One of the neighbors is attorney Lee Miller Dean, who has filed a lawsuit claiming the dogs are a nuisance and that Cook is seeking donations through an illegal organization. Dean says a non-profit organization with a tax exemption through federal tax law cannot be individually owned.

People trying to find lost pets often will go to great lengths to find them, from nailing signs to utility poles, to passing out fliers to placing classified ads. But Jeff and Jessica Conley of Perryville are taking their search for their daughter Jordan's rat terrier even further - they're offering a $500 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of the 2-year-old Sampson, also known as Sammy. And that's not all. A friend of theirs has contacted a psychic in Arizona who specializes as a "pet communicator.

Last Sunday evening I watched the news segment on firefighters working the forest fires in California. The reporter was interviewing a fireman just in front of a number of chain link pens with dogs in them. The fireman explained that they were trying to keep the fire away from the animals since there were too many to move. I watched with sadness as the smoke nearly fogged the entire area. There were 200 miniature pinschers in those pens and the fire was right in their backyard.