We all know how talented our chief veterinary assistant Brandie is but did you know she is also heroic? And she is cool as a cucumber under pressure. Last Saturday night, Miss Brandie was driving home. As it was a beautiful night, she had her sun roof window open. Just as she was approaching her neighborhood, she saw a flash of wings outside her driver side window. She could not avoid the Bard owl that had decided to fly into her car's path. The owl cleared her car's side but bounced into her sun roof and became stuck partially inside her car! Our talented animal handler managed to pull over, park and open her trunk to retrieve a towel from among her emergency items. Brandie threw the towel over the struggling owl which calmed it, and then she managed to pull it out through the sun roof. After setting it down on the ground, she lifted the towel to see the owl looking at her like "what the heck just happened?" After a short time the owl gathered itself and flew off unharmed! Brandie probably made it look easy as she does with handling our animal hospital patients!

Attention travel afficionados and their pooches!

As reported by Sue Manning with the Associated Press, former MySpace CEO Mike Jones and dog owners Aaron and Karine Nissim Hirschhorn have started a company which promotes a doggy version of "couch surfing" for those that trave with their dogs. The company's website DogVacay.com heps pet owners find hosts who care for a dog in their own homes in areas they plan to visit. Prices average $25-30 per day. Check out their website!

Gypsy front page of Observer

Check out the front page article in today's Charlotte Observer about "Gypsy" the cute Keeshound rescued who now works as a therapy dog!