More on Lt. Dan

Adog named Lt. Dan graced the cover of THE WAG’s recent Fall issue. Unfortunately, we were unable to share his full story in that publication but are very excited about sharing it with you here.

Just over a year ago, this precious animal was discovered on the streets of Hermosillo, Mexico, in horrific condition. He had fallen victim to an unimaginable act of animal abuse. A monster, known as “Machete Man,” had mutilated and cut off his back legs. Thankfully, rescuers on both sides of the border brought him to safety, promising him a better life.

After being cared for by Mariana Cordova of Hermosillo, Mexico, the dog ended up in Phoenix, Arizona, where he found solace with Sky Sanctuary. It was there that Elli Smith, founder of Sky Sanctuary and the injured dog’s foster mom, along with Caitlin Beall, director, chose to name the injured warrior Lt. Dan after the shrimp boat fisherman who lost his legs in the movie Forest Gump.

After giving Lt. Dan (aka Danny) some time to settle in, Rachel Hendricks, practice manager of Pet Urgent Care in Phoenix, created molds for Danny’s new prosthetics. With a generous grant from Phoenix Animal Care and Coalition (PACC911), the molds were sent to Bionic Pets, a Virginia-based company that creates hand-crafted prosthetics and orthotics for animals. Within weeks Danny was learning to use his custom-made prosthetics.

Knowing Danny needed a special family to show him the life he deserved, Smith shared his saga on social media. Then fate stepped in. After seeing his story, the Altmans, a family in New Jersey, immediately felt a connection to the sensational survivor. On October 17, not only was Lt. Dan honored with a standing ovation at PACC911’s Annual Glimmer of Hope event, but he was awarded the family of his dreams that he so deserved. The Altmans traveled to Arizona to embrace and welcome “Danny” into their fold. A road trip with his new family back to New Jersey and that is where he is today…happy and dearly loved in his forever home.

STARR continued from page 24 ruled by the moon so Cancers tend to feel the effects more. thrillz.co.uk/talent/carol.starr

If you have a rescue dog with birthdate unknown, do you think you can get pretty close to determining their sign by assessing characteristics or personality traits? Rescues are different. They’ve often gone through many different things in life and experienced a lot of change. I could speak as to what the dog is going to be like or how he is going to respond to different situations.

Do you do actual readings on dogs? I do. I get information ahead of time on both the person and the dog. Information like the person’s date of birth, time of day, and location if possible and for the dog, month, or date of birth. Then I do a chart and either go over it with them in person, Facetime, or something similar. I can often track a pet’s personality traits back to their zodiac sign. Do I think it’s a science? I don’t know. But I do know that it works.

HOWL continued from page 28

Your dog may deliberately join in at a completely different pitch or note just to individualize his howl.

Some people think dogs howl along to AC/DC or a Bach flute sonata because it hurts their ears, but if your dog was in pain, he’d most likely run away from the sound, hide, or cover his head.

Do dogs prefer certain types of music?

Deborah Wells, a psychologist at Queens University in Belfast, set out to discover if dogs, like humans, have musical preferences. She exposed dogs at a shelter to different types of music and monitored their responses. Wells used popular music (including Bob Marley and Britney Spears); classical music (including Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” and Grieg’s “Morning”); and heavy metal (like Metallica).

The dogs responded very differently to the three types of music. Pop music produced no noticeable effect. Heavy metal, however, created a bit of canine pandemonium. The dogs became very agitated and started barking. Classical music, on the other hand, caused the dogs to stop barking, become calm, and even settle in one place.

“It is well established that music can influence our moods,” Wells says. “Classical music, for example, can help to reduce levels of stress, whilst grunge music can promote hostility, sadness, tension, and fatigue. It is now believed that dogs may be as discerning as humans when it comes to musical preference.”

If your dog has a favorite type of music, it doesn’t hurt to let him join in on the fun. You might find that you’re in perfect harmony.

This article originally appeared on akc.org on May 24, 2018.