Showing posts with label dog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dog. Show all posts

Friday, 14 June 2024

Ludwig the Dackel sniffs German Euro 24 win

BERLIN: 'Dackel' is short for dachshund in modern Germany. Ludwig, a cute dachshund, was, according to this Times report, enticed more by a bowl of chicken treats next to the German flag which indicated to Germans (! 🐶) a home win in their opening Euro 2024 match against Scotland. To be frank, if Germany don't beat Scotland then I would be shocked but then shock results to take place sometimes.

Update: Spain beat England in the final at Berlin! (●'◡'●). Just in case you were unaware of the result. So much for dogs predicting football competitions..😉

Ludwig the Dackel sniffs German Euro 24 win
Ludwig the soothsayer. Photo: The Times.

There is quite a nice desire by humankind to have animals select winners in sports competitions. In 2008, Paul the Octopus garnered a huge following as a sporting soothsayer. Paul also selected the winners at the 2010 World Cup. More about Paul below.

And then we have Emma the pig and Nelly the elephant. There was also Konstantin the elk and the ferrets, Snow White and Freddy. Finally, there was Lorenzo the parrot and Fedor the Tiger. I could go on but we do like to do this sort of thing.

And in line with this tradition, Germany has a prediction for Euro 24 football competition. The opening match takes place tonight and Germany will win because Ludwig says so.

He's been described as a "Dachshund Oracle". He was presented with three bowls of chicken treats. One bowl was next to the German flag. Another bowl was next to the cross of St Andrew (the Scottish flag) and a third bowl was by both flags indicating a draw.

Ludwig confidently trotted determinedly over to the German bowl said the man organising the soothsaying, Philipp Paulus, the owner of a marketing company. He said that "Ludwig believes the German team will win the opener against the Scottish team."

Ludwig is three years old and entirely unfazed by all goings-on including the photographers. He also picked the tournament winner: Portugal.

It's possible he may be asked to make more predictions. It's hoped that he will be accurate! Apparently there have been some failures which is unsurprising when you think about it.

His predecessor was Sisi, also a dachshund, who picked Byern Munich to beat Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League Final and was off the mark by a small amount because the German team lost on penalties.

Ludwig's owner has confidence in his ability and added: "He is a very relaxed even-tempered and thoughtful character especially for a dachshund".

It appears that Germany had a fascination with animal oracles which dates back to Paul the Octopus. Paul lived in the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen. He picked the winner in four of Germany's six Euro 2008 matches. He also picked all of their seven matches in the 2010 World Cup and he predicted correctly that Spain would win. Remarkable.

On each occasion Paul was offered two transparent boxes marked with a national flag and containing a mussel. The first one opened marked the winner.

He became more famous after each new successful prediction. He became so famous that he had to have guards outside his tank at the Sea Life Centre.

He became an honorary citizen of the Spanish village of Carballino. Russian reporters travelled to Oberhausen to interview him to pick the winner of the next presidential election! Comment: no point as it had to be Putin 😡.

My thanks to The Times newspaper for this story.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Tuesday, 16 May 2023

Whimpering dog dragged to euthanasia room at city pound in heartbreaking viral video

This is a classic story of an animal pound killing a dog who did not have behavioral issues but it was claimed that he did. There is a petition on change.org which explains it all (relevant extracts below) and The New York Times covered this. 

Nathan Winograd writes about these events all the time. There are still 'shelters' in the US where they have poor policies and management on dealing with dogs and which ones to save and rehome and which ones to euthanise (kill). 

The Pitbull breeds are branded bad almost automatically based on their appearance when the decent thing to do would be to assess each dog based on their behavior and even if it is not optimal whether it can be remedied by basic socialisation and training.

Screenshots from the video below plus NY Times' headline. Thanks New York Times.

This dog was Maverick. It was reported that he bit his owner but we don't the veracity of that or the backstory. We do know that police Officer Teng stated he had no trouble with MAVERICK, and seemed surprised and taken aback to hear that he had been killed by NYC ACC (New York City Animal Care Centers). Workers at the shelter said Maverick showed “serious aggression,” — leading to its decision to euthanize him.

This is taken from the Change.org website petition to:

Pass New York CAPA and Stop the Killing of Healthy and Treatable Shelter Animals!

“ACCORDING TO THE [NYPD] OFFICER WHO DEALT WITH MAVERICK…

Officer Teng stated he had no trouble with MAVERICK, and seemed surprised and taken aback to hear that he had been killed by NYC ACC. Officer Teng said the son in MAVERICK’s family brought the dog who was wagging his tail out to the police car and MAVERICK hopped right into the back, and rode calmly with Officer Teng without incident to the Precinct, where he remained calm and friendly until ACC later picked-up MAVERICK. Officer Teng stated that only the father of the family had ever had a problem with MAVERICK, who had bitten the father once before. Officer Teng clearly described a dog who was not unmanageable or vicious in any way, and was not, and did not need to be restrained at any time the Officer was with what he also described as a friendly and calm dog.”

WARNING - SOME MIGHT FIND THE VIDEO DISTRESSING.


The video is not great quality because it was poor in the first place and I videoed it from my computer screen. Sorry if that has infringed someone's copyright but needs must in the interests of justice and decency. It is good enough to get the message. It is distressing.

Cindi Lyn who started the petition writes on Change.org:

A horrifying video was recorded on Thursday, May 9th, 2019, at the New York City pound in Manhattan. The video shows a 'euth tech' attempting to block the view of a rescue volunteer who bravely kept recording as uncaring ACC employees dragged a frightened dog named Maverick to the kill room. Maverick seemed to sense his fate and resisted his killers by lying down, showing no sign of aggression.

Wednesday, 1 March 2023

Extraordinary totally white dog with a solid black head (video)

Extraordinary totally white dog with a solid black head (video)
Screenshot.

Get this. Very unusual. In cat fancy language the distribution of white and black fur is due to the white spotting gene. It is probably the same for dogs.

RELATED: 

Wednesday, 16 November 2022

Stalker abducted former lover's cockapoo in campaign of hate

NEWS AND OPINION: A classic story of an embittered man who harassed a pretty woman and abducted her attractive dog.

Hannah Rasekh with her cockapoo and the man Bashar Ayoub who harassed and threatened her
Hannah Rasekh with her cockapoo and the man, Bashar Ayoub, who harassed and threatened her. Hands up, this is a Sun montage. If The Sun objects, please tell me in a comment.

The basic story is pretty commonplace and rather typical but with a twist as a dog was involved. Sorry no cat stories today 😢😎.

Hannah Rasekh was born in the UK and has a Palestinian heritage. She is an influencer on social media and has a boutique in Al Amman, Jordan. 

She met Bashar Ayoub in Dubai in 2017. Bashar Ayoub is a property developer with some wealth, and he lives in a £2 million flat in a posh part of London (Belgravia). Hannah Rasekh lives in South Kensington, West London.

She decided to split up from Bashar Ayoub claiming that he had "emotionally and psychologically" abused her. Bashar Ayoub was obviously enraged, and he embarked on a campaign of harassment and nasty threats. 

I set out some of those threats below but before I do so I will bring into the story Rasekh's cockapoo, Ted, who was abducted by Ayoub. 

He turned up at her home while she was not there, but her parents were as they were housesitting and said that he was a friend who had offered to walk her dog. He took the dog and did not return him. He therefore abducted Ted. We are told that he returned the dog several weeks later.

He couldn't stop himself harassing her because even after Hannah Rasekh had contacted the police and the police were actually inside her home, Ayoub called her 85 times. The police warned Ayoub not to contact her but within hours he started his campaign again and phoned Rasekh 64 times together with sending her abusive messages.

In one he said: "Die you thief you thieving whore, I pray you die, I pray you die every day, you whore."

He also said in another text: "I'll rip you apart, all of you, your whole family you c****. He sent 35 emails to her between January 4 and January 5 in 2022 in which he called her a "bitch".

His behaviour inevitably led him to the criminal courts where he admitted one charge of stalking with fear of harm and violence between April 4 and September 5.

He was granted conditional bail. The condition is that he does not contact Hannah Rasekh directly or indirectly. 

He must wear a GPS tag to ensure that he does not go near her home. He will be sentenced at Westminster magistrates' Court on December 8. The max he can get is 10 years in jail.

My thanks to The Times newspaper.


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