Venjo, a Belgian Malinois, was trained as a police dog. But his handler couldn’t, well, handle him.

So Venjo was consigned to a kennel in Pennsylvania, where he languished for three months.

Luckily for him, Sergeant Dave Harris came along.

Sgt. Harris belongs to the Elkton, Virginia police department. He needed a replacement for his former K-9 partner, Rainer.

Venjo and Sgt. Harris went through an intensive 8-week training camp in Orange County, VA. Venjo learned to protect his new partner, and can detect every street drug by scent.

Harris, for his part, learned 18 commands in Dutch. He also uses hand signals with Venjo.

The Elkton Neighborhood Watch (shown above), along with several other business and private donors, contributed money toward Venjo’s purchase.

Normally, said Harris, it takes 18 months for a Belgian Malinois to bond with its trainer. But he and Venjo, thanks to their training camp, are ready to go.

Shiloh the beagle has a nose for trouble. He’s spent eight years working as a detection dog at Los Angeles International Airport.

But Shiloh has reached his federal mandatory retirement age – 9 years.

So on Tuesday, he sniffed his last piece of luggage.

Shiloh at his retirement party

Law enforcement officers and several of Shiloh’s canine colleagues turned out for his retirement party. He got a specially baked cake, and the officers shared stories about his exploits.

Shiloh has found drugs as well as contraband agricultural products. He’s credited with over 20,000 detections.

Shiloh inspects his party cake

Another beagle has joined the canine corps. But Shiloh’s handler, Officer Donna Kercher, will continue her work alone.

Dogs can work much more quickly than human inspectors. But Kercher says, “I’m so attached to Shiloh. I don’t know if I could get another dog like him.”

She may not work with him anymore, but they’ll still be together. Shiloh will live out his retirement years with Kercher.

She adds, “I’ll miss the passenger interaction, parents teaching children about working dogs. That’s really been fun.”

Vernon Hills High School students Beisa Velasco and Anna Szczurek are spending their afternoons high-fiving dogs.

They’ve teamed up with Chicago’s Canine Companions for Independence, a nonprofit that trains dogs and matches them with people who have disabilities.

Kiowa, a 10-month-old black labrador mix, is learning a variety of skills that will one day be useful. The high-fiving, for instance, will enable him to one day summon an elevator.

Yellow & black lab love card from Dogstuff

He and his classmate Tank, a yellow labrador, are also learning to open doors, switch on lights, pull a laundry basket and navigate around a wheelchair.

And the students?

“Teenagers try to be so cool,” says organizer and school psychologist Nancy Skeffington. “And yet when they’re with the dogs, I think they’re more themselves.”

Even New York City, business capital of the world, isn’t immune from our economic woes. Realtors are driving taxis; Wall Street brokers are selling cupcakes and teaching yoga.

When Deborah Chusid was laid off from her advertising job, she called her ex-husband to see if he could put their son, Jonah, on his health plan.

The news wasn’t good: her ex had lost his job the same day.

Feeling a bit desperate, Chusid is hoping her dog, Louie, can help out.

Louie with Deb and Jonah Chusid

Louie, a 5-pound Mi-Ki, has been registered with Advertising for Animals, once home to Toonces the Cat of Saturday Night Live fame.

Linda Hanrahan, the firm’s president, says owners shouldn’t count on their pets to make ends meet. But Louie is “a cute little dog,” and he passed his audition – sitting and staying for five long minutes.

Louie is also a registered therapy dog, so Chusid figures he’s ahead of the competition.

Louie shows off for the camera

So what’s in his future? “Louie would be good sitting next to a fancy pocketbook, coming in or out of a limo with a beautiful woman … selling quality products,” says Hanrahan.

The Alameda, CA Animal Shelter sends along these tips for SAFE animal-child interactions:

• Supervise. Keep them in your vision at all times or physically separated — children in a play pen or the dog in crate.
• Anticipate and stay alert. A dog only has a few ways of protesting. He can move away, hop on furniture or go under a bed. Once the dog has done this, he has no other means to stop a child other than a bark, growl or nip. If you see your dog retreating from a child, stop that child. Anticipate problems before they happen. Do not expect your dog to tolerate something you wouldn’t.
• Follow through. If you say it, mean it. If you tell your child to stop bothering the dog, enforce that. If you tell the dog to sit, make it sit. All things are easier if your child and dog know that you mean what you say, and say what you mean.
• Educate both the dog and the child. Teach your child by word and example that animals are to be treated with care. Do not allow hitting, teasing or other harassment. Teach your dog by practice and patience that people, children in particular, make mistakes, and how to behave when those mistakes happen.

Friendship card from Dogstuff

Tootsie the dachshund disappeared from his family’s yard when he was only six months old. That was five years ago.

But this week, Tootsie was reunited with his family.

Tootsie

No one knows how Tootsie got from New Jersey to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 350 miles away.

The Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania found Tootsie and scanned him for a microchip.

He had one – but there was no answer at the number that came up. That didn’t stop League workers, who wrote a letter that reached Tootsie’s family.

At first, they didn’t even realize what dog the rescue workers were talking about, it had been so long. But when the League confirmed that the dog had an extra toe on its back foot, they knew it was Tootsie.

Yesterday, the family and League workers met halfway, and Tootsie went home with his family for a very special Thanksgiving.

The orca population in the Puget Sound area is in steep decline.

Tucker, a black lab, is helping researchers find out why.

He’s been trained to scent orcas. Well, actually, orca scat.

Tucker in action with a team of University of Washington scientists

Researchers analyze hormone levels in the scat for clues to the orcas’ health.

They’ve learned that mortality rates are highest when thyroid hormones are lowest. This strongly suggests that the orcas are not getting enough food.

Orcas are part of a complex food chain that includes salmon and herring. Saving the orcas means restoring all the species in the chain, from as far north as Alaska to as far south as Sacramento.

Tucker, of course, doesn’t know any of this. He just knows that whenever he finds orca scat, he gets to play with his ball.

But the more balls he earns, the closer researchers will be to finding the answers they need.