Women share darkest secrets with their dogs

Dogs may be considered man's best friend, but it is actually women who are closer to their pets and some even admit telling their dogs their darkest secrets, a survey has revealed.

The survey for dog food company Winalot showed that nearly one in five women respondents told those secrets that they wouldn't dare reveal to anyone else, Daily Express reported Thursday.

Some women share a strong bond with their pet and 14 per cent of the respondents believed their dog could read their mind.

In contrast, barely 10 per cent of men were open with their dogs. Most described their pet as a "trusted companion".

Almost a third of dog owners described their as their "most loyal partner" and half of the respondents said that their pets make them feel "more optimistic".

Woman disputes Md. sheriff's department's account of shooting of family dog

A Forest Heights woman disputed the official account of the incident in which her dog was shot to death Friday by Prince George's County sheriff's deputies who had gone to her home to serve an eviction notice.

In a statement, the sheriff's department said that deputies knocked on the front and back doors of the home and made a commotion, but they received no response indicating that a dog was present.

But Donya Williams, 38, said Monday that her 21/2- year-old Rottweiler, Kato, barked whenever anyone knocked on the door or walked by outside. "I don't believe they" knocked, Williams said at a news conference outside the Prince George's courthouse in Upper Marlboro. "He would have barked."

Williams said Kato would be alive if deputies had waited for county animal control officials.

According to the sheriff's department statement, the deputies had called animal control officers to restrain the dog. They had been told by the landlord that the dog was kept in a crate in a basement, the statement said. But the officers, apparently thinking the dog was not in the home, did not wait for animal control officers.

As the deputies went through the home, the Rottweiler "charged them from an unknown location. Due to being in a confined space, with no place to retreat, the deputy discharged his firearm to protect himself and his partner from serious bodily harm," the statement said.

Asked to respond to Williams's claim that the deputies had failed to knock before entering the home, spokeswoman Sgt. Yakeisha Hines said, "That's her opinion."

Hines said that the deputies had been trained how to enter a home where a dog might be present and that she was confident they knocked before entering.

She said it would not have mattered if the deputies had waited for animal control officials, because the deputies would have entered first. Deputies search homes to make sure they are safe before allowing civilians inside, Hines said.

The deputy who shot the dog is on administrative leave with pay while the sheriff's department investigates the incident, she said.

The sheriff's department was criticized two years ago after members of its SWAT unit stormed the home of the Berwyn Heights mayor and fatally shot his two black Labradors during a botched drug raid.

Authorities said Mayor Cheye Calvo's home was raided because a package of marijuana had been delivered there. Authorities later acknowledged that the mayor and his wife had nothing to do with the delivery and were not involved in drug trafficking.

An internal investigation by the sheriff's department found no wrongdoing by the deputies who killed Calvo's dogs.

Williams, an executive assistant for a national association in the District, said she was hospitalized for post-traumatic stress for two days after the shooting. She said she had spoken with Sheriff Michael A. Jackson.

Williams said Jackson told her that he was sorry but that his deputies did what they had to.

"He's already told me he believes they did the right thing" before the investigation is complete, Williams said.

Jackson did not respond to a call seeking comment.

By Ruben Castaneda

Dog Saves Man's Life by Biting Off Toe: Jerry Douthett Has Best Hangover Ever

A Michigan man says he has his dog to thank for saving his life by chewing off his infected big toe as he lay in a drunken stupor.

For months, Jerry Douthett had refused to see a doctor for the festering digit, in spite of his wife's pleas and her suspicion that he had out of control diabetes.

About two weeks ago the couple went to a bar, where Douthett told the Grand Rapids Press that he drank four or five beers.

"Jerry had had all these Margaritas, so I just let him sleep," his wife Rosee, a registered nurse, told the paper. "But then I heard these screams coming from the bedroom, and he was yelling, 'My toe's gone, my toe's gone!'"

Kiko, the family dog, had suddenly become a surgeon.

"It wasn't an aggressive attack. He pretty much just ate the infection, so he saved my life," Jerry Douthett said.

He was treated at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids where physicians said he had type 2 diabetes and was suffering from a dangerous toe infection. Surgeons amputated what was left of the digit.

"Maybe he thought it was not part of Jerry's body," Rosie told the Grand Rapids television station WOOD-TV, "that it was a dead animal laying on the bed. But he chewed off the infected part so he knew when to stop, which was great."

Jerry Douthett says Kiko, a white terrier with brown ears, is a hero. Now that he knows he is diabetic, he has given up drinking.

By Aina Hunter