For New Jersey's Finest Dogs, Good Deeds and Lots of Praise
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/nyregion/19ink.html
The bloodmobile was in town. The donors lined up, their tails wagging a bit
anxiously.
The emergency blood drive yesterday, in West Trenton, N.J., was the first
canine blood drive held at the New Jersey State Police headquarters. Nine
bomb-sniffing, narcotics-detecting dogs from around the state gave blood,
their trainers holding their heads for the few minutes it took to extract a
pint.
Dog donors have to be free of ticks and fleas, can't be in heat, must weigh at
least 50 pounds and be 1 to 7 years old.
Like humans, dogs need blood in cases of hemophilia and chronic kidney
failure, and, rarely, open-heart surgery. Unlike humans, dogs don't have a
universal donor blood type, and there are more than a dozen dog blood types,
said Donna Oakley, director of the University of Pennsylvania's canine blood
bank, which held the drive.
And canine blood drives are big in the sweet-talk department. Every dog is
praised, said Sgt. Stephen Jones of the State Police. "Big boy, this will be
over before you know it. Good boy!"
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