MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A scarred but friendly pit bull named "Louis Vuitton" was the star witness Tuesday as an Alabama state board denied parole for the man convicted of spraying him with lighter fluid, setting him on fire and beating him with a shovel. After the 8-year-old dog was led into the packed hearing room, ...

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) — Gina was a playful 2-year-old German shepherd when she went to Iraq as a highly trained bomb-sniffing dog with the military, conducting door-to-door searches and witnessing all sorts of noisy explosions. She returned home to Colorado cowering and fearful. When her handlers tried to take her into a building, ...

Cool as a cucumber … but what if you are a horse!  Summer heat and humidity can be a dangerous combination for active horses. “Heat and humidity affect the horse, and with intense exercising, the excess heat has difficulty dissipating,” notes Dr. Glennon Mays, clinical associate professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Otters sweltering in the summer sun suck on “fishsicles.” For carnivores like the Amur leopard, it’s “bloodsicles.” Zoos across the country are using icy treats, shade, water and every conceivable form of cooling machine to help hundreds of thousands of animals, visitors and workers beat the heat this summer. Even animals from Africa ...

MYSTIC, Conn. (AP) — If you think you're hot now, imagine wearing a fur coat. When temperatures near triple digits, pets often have it the worst, inspiring their owners to give them at least one measure of relief: a haircut. "People are calling left and right," Cyndi Lyon of Cyndi's Pet Care and Grooming Salon in Mystic ...