Adam Shaw and his Labrador Retriever-Husky mix, Rocky, were walking by the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, Canada last weekend when they heard two screaming girls. The young sisters, Krymzen and Samara, were playing on a sled and ended up on thin ice. When they tried to get back on land, the ice broke and the girls ended up in the freezing cold water.

I love getting my twice weekly e-newsletter from the creative home and garden people from Houzz. Even better when they have design ideas on my favorite topic. Check out how one of their contributors put together a clever presentation of backyard ideas to delight both you and your dog.

A recent request by a Bark reader was, “how can I treat a hot spot at home without seeing a vet?” Hopefully I can begin to answer this, but first, one must be able to “spot” a hot spot.

A story from the New York Times brings up a different twist to a quandary that many might have to face. If a senior dog needs surgery how much is too much to extend a pet’s life? The twist is that the dog didn’t belong to writer Roz Warren. It was Max, her son and his wife’s 13-year-old dog, who needed the gall bladder surgery costing $6,000—and it was Roz who offered to pay a third of it.