Bad Canine Roundup

If your dog spent the weekend getting into stuff that he shouldn't, here's a few stories that might make you feel somewhat fortunate in comparison.

In a tribute to Germanic dog training, a dog in Berlin that found a live hand grenade left over from World War II while on a walk was reported to have put it back down - carefully, we presume - on its owner's command.

But another dog, in liberal Seattle, was not nearly so well behaved, and learned his lesson. Fortunately, what he'd found wouldn't blow him up, but did blow his mind.

After a walk in the park where Lab mix Jack had off the path and disappeared for a couple of minutes, he began displaying odd behavior:

"His eyes were kind of glossed over, very out of touch, I mean, he didn't seem to recognize me at first," Nestor Waddell said. "When he was trying to walk, he was looking at his paw, and then looking at the ground and then trying to get his paw to reach the ground, but was unsuccessful."

Concern for Jack turned to relief when she heard the vet's diagnosis: Jack had swallowed a large amount of dried, harvested marijuana.

No word on whether the symptoms also included a ravenous craving for junk food - but after all, with a dog, how would you tell the difference?

And in other news of German canines redeeming themselves after behaving badly, a fox stole over one hundred shoes, but - unlike many dogs who get hold of an owner's footwear - allowed them to be returned in good condition:

A forest worker stumbled upon shoes strewn near the fox's den and found a trove of footwear down the hole which had recently been stolen overnight from outside locals' front doors...

Although many were missing laces, the shoes were in good condition and their owners were delighted to reclaim them, (a police spokesman) said, adding that no reprisals were planned against the culprit.

Photo from Flickr user Chicheaux.