Dog Daily News

The best canine news and features, paw-picked by our staff of intrepid news hounds

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As bent out of shape as we were regarding the article about how wolves are more logical than us dogs, we kind of feel sorry for them after seeing a story in today’s New York Times. It seems that our ancestors (yes, even Zulu has a little wolf in him) may have originally been domesticated for their meat — not their loyal companionship and protection.

The theory goes that wolves “domesticated themselves” when scavenging around garbage dumps. Then humans captured them and bred them and argued over who was getting the drumstick, so to speak. The article states that dog lovers would find this repulsive, but they neglect to mention that dogs might not be so keen on the idea either. Here at the offices of Dog Daily News, the basket of Bully Sticks one of our readers sent us has gone untouched all day.

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So we have this container of Bully Sticks sitting in our office. We can’t eat them because we’re temporarily unappetized by the above wolf story. So ever curious, Zulu decides to Google Bully Sticks to see if he can find the secret ingredient that makes them so delectable. And now we are even more queasy. We can’t believe this is true, but one of our humans confirmed that it is. So since it’s news to us, it may be news to some of you. Therefore it’s a worthy contender for Today’s Top Dog Stories. Read this excerpt from BullySticks4Dogs.com, and gag.

“Bully sticks, also known as beef pizzles, pizzle sticks, beef sticks, steer stix, are made from 100% bull penises. Bull penis is a single ingredient of bully sticks. Some suppliers and merchants say that they sell bully sticks made of “beef tendons” or “dried muscles” as that part of the anatomy is a tendon and muscle indeeed, and this may sound less repulsive for some people with psychological barrier thinking of feeding bull privates to their furbabies.

“In the beginning of the manufacturing process, the bull’s penis that is usually 23-25 inches long, is removed and cleaned. It is hung vertically for the fluids contained to fully drain. Without these fluids bully sticks are odor free. At the next stage of processing bull penises are stretched, twisted or braided, dried and then may be smoked for flavor. The result is a 30-40 inches long very hard brown stick which is cut into pieces suitable for dogs of any size. Thus you can buy small bully sticks of 4”, large beef pizzles of 30 inches and any length between, such as 5”, 6”, 7”, 9” and 12”.”

The fluids to fully drain? Anyone want a lovely little container of Bully Sticks?

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Since no one around here is eating anyway, we thought it was time to bring you the tragic story of Mambo. On August 10, two people doused him with gasoline, set him on fire, and left him for dead in a picturesque Pyrenees village in southwest France.

But Mambo didn’t die, despite horrific third-degree burns that cover more than half his body. And he will soon face down his accused torturers — a 17-year-old man and 22-year-old woman — before a judge and jury.

“It will be like a scene out of a Lassie film,”  Jean Moreau, an animal rights activist, told the Daily Mail. “These despicable people thought they had killed the hero dog, but in fact he will be alive and kicking and helping to bring them to justice.”

Unfortunately, the maximum penalty they pair can get for this heinous act is six months in jail, a fine of up to about $5,000, and a lifetime ban on keeping animals. Apparently the local townspeople would like justice to fall a lot harder on the two: Court authorities have ruled that the attackers must remain anonymous for their own safety. “They have cause widespread disgust, and there have already been threats of violence made against them,” said a local police spokesman.

The punishment is not nearly big enough for the crime. But maybe one day justice will truly be meted out. In other words, in the unanimous vote of our canine staff: May they burn in hell. We know that’s not PC or objective, but since when do dog news commentators have to be either?