Talk about clever accommodations. A couple from North Yorkshire in the United Kingdom had to put miniature Wellington boots on their baby pig after she was the only one of seven siblings who wouldn’t let her pig tootsies touch mud.

The Daily Mail reported the story of Cinders and her owners, Debbie and Andrew Keeble, who are former sausage farmers.

No worries for Cinders though. The Keebles now keep pigs solely as pets.

Photo via the Daily Mail’s Web site  

No, not lizards (though I guess some of this may work for them too.)

Just got a link to this review of the new Paw Luxury shop (online and in person) which sells organic pet products. Sounds great! Like people products, you’ll generally pay a bit more for environmentally friendly animal must-haves, but it’s a great way to keep your pets healthy and give yourself a healthier carbon foot print.

My dogs would LOVE this eco-friendly bed made from recycled and organic materials. But at $119 for a medium-sized bed, they may have to ask Santa for this one come Christmas.

But there is a lot on that site I can afford and would buy, from shampoo to their oh-so-cute cupcake tank tops, all eco-friendly of course.

A personal fav? A product that owners can use to prevent their pets from becoming amorous in inappropriate settings. Or Dog Smog, which helps control gas.

Been there, done that. Don’t care to do it again, thank you.

An Associated Press article details the accident in which a Utah teenager crashed into two cars while chasing after her pet gerbil that had gotten loose in the car. Two people were injured (the gerbil was unharmed.)

I myself was about 18 when I was on my way back to college after a weekend at home. I had my aquarium containing my two lizards on the front seat, but the heat lamp (still very hot to the touch) slid off the top of the cage and on to the fabric seat.

Fearing the lecture I’d get from my father about burning a hole in the car seat, I reached down get it, looked back up and—I swear that mailbox was coming straight at my car.

I didn’t just hit the mailbox, I sent it flying into the next yard—post and all- spewing the day’s mail between the two properties. So as I ran around collecting all the mail and leaving it in the mailbox on the front porch I suddenly became aware of the guffaws coming from the construction workers across the street.

It was my first accident, but at least I didn’t hit anyone. Though I did have to replace the mailbox and STILL ended up getting a lecture from my father about the hole I ended up putting in the hood of the car.

Moral of the story folks—make sure your pets and their accoutrement are secured before shifting into drive. And if you have to make adjustments (or find that lost gerbil)—pull over!

I’ve seen it too often and it’s heartbreaking every time—a pet owner runs into a store and leaves the animal (usually a dog) in the car alone on a hot day with the windows open a crack.

That crack—it does virtually nothing in warm temperatures. I even called the police last year on a car in the grocery store parking lot after finding a dog crying and breathing heavily in a car in more than 80-degree heat.

The Animal Protection Institute (and thanks to the faithful LoHud.com reader who has sent me this card two summers in a row) issues a reminder card telling pet owners the dangers of leaving animals in hot cars.

In 85-degree weather a car’s inside temperature can rise to 102 degrees in 10 minutes and to 120 degrees in a half hour—and that’s with the windows cracked open.

Dogs who are not killed by being left in hot cars (this counts as animal cruelty and is illegal, by the way) run the risk of suffering seizures, heat stroke and brain damage.

And may I also just remind pet owners not to leave your pets outside on hot days unless they are guaranteed a supply of fresh, cool water and adequate shade.

For more information on summertime tips, click here.

Poor Trouble. A Manhattan Surrogate Court judge has reduced the trust fund for Leona Helmsley’s dog by $10 million, leaving the orphaned Maltese with a paltry $2 million to live on.

The dog, who has been living with the general manager of Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel since the “Queen of Mean” died last year, is 9 years old.

The $10 million taken from Trouble’s  trust fund will go to a charitable organization.

(AP Photo/Jennifer Graylock)

The Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, one of the oldest of its kind in this country, will host a memorial service for military dogs and those who have been trained to assist fire, police and the like at 1 p.m. on Sunday at the cemetery, 75 Central Park Avenue in Hartsdale.

The cemetery includes a bronze and granite War Dog Memorial, first erected in 1923, that stands 10-feet high.  Started in 1896 by a Manhattan veterinarian, there are now nearly 70,000 animals interred at the cemetery.

Yeah it’s cute to see a dog with its head hanging out the car window on a hot day, but is it safe?

Not according to the video of one German crash test for pets, which showed the consequences of securing dogs (or not securing dogs) in a variety of ways, including crates and seatbelts.

I don’t speak German, but the results are pretty clear. My own dogs ride in the car in a shared hard-sided plastic crate that sits on the backseat with the door to the crate facing the backseat passenger door.

I had always thought that was pretty safe, but was surprised to see how quickly a plastic crate disintegrated upon impact. My crate, however, is not tied down, which is what looks like caused most of the destruction.

Thoughts?

It’s long been reported by researchers and behaviorists that animals can have a positive effect on a person’s health. That’s one reason why many hospitals are eager to let working therapy dogs visit seriously ill patients.

This report from NBC’s Nightly News with Brian Williams showcases another way dogs can help humans in the most difficult of positions. The feature showcases Puppies Behind Bars, a program which involves dogs being trained by prisoners and then sent to live with people who need their assistance and companionship.

As the report noted, these dogs not only provide the prisoners in this women’s maximum security prison a way to give back to the society whose laws they violated, they give those who are suffering, including soldiers, a reason to get on with life.

The Journal News reported today that Lenore, the miniature goat reported missing last week from a home in West Nyack has been found dead in her barn.

The Szymanski family had been concerned that Lenore had been stolen and used for some kind of black magic or witchcraft sacrifice. But in the end, Lenore, acting out in a way many animals do, went off to find a private place to die.

Readers on our forums have been blasting the family for going to the police and the media about a missing goat, but they still lost a member of their family.

(Photo courtesy of the Szymanski family. Lenore is the smaller of the two goats pictured.)