Veterinary students and other pet owners bobbed for dog toys while their canine pals looked on during Dog Fun Day, held this October by the UC Davis Canine Medicine Club to raise funds for the club's Shelter Dog Rescue Program.

VETERINARY MEDICINE NEW HOMES FOR POUND PUPS It's a Pygmalion success story--of the canine kind. A program launched this fall by veterinary students in the UC Davis Canine Medicine Club is transforming problem pups--lovable but unwanted dogs from an animal shelter--into well-behaved adoptable pets. Under the Shelter Dog Rescue Program veterinary students arrange for temporary homes and provide obedience classes for abandoned dogs who would be adoptable if given some training and tender loving care. 4-H students from the Westwind 4-H Club in Fairfield were brought into the program as foster owners and trainers. During winter quarter, the program will be expanded to include 4-H members from Yolo, Solano and Sacramento counties, as 12 more animals are prepared for adoption. Each participating 4H-er, age 9 to 13, brings home one of the shelter dogs, provides daily care and attends a weekly training session taught by the veterinary students. The young trainers are provided with daily dog-care checklists and learn how to teach their dogs basic obedience--to sit, lie down and stay. The kids and their dogs also compete in fun games and learn agility tricks such as jumping over hurdles and running through tunnels on command. It's a regimen that's working. "We had an eight-month old Boxer dog, who was just hell-on-wheels," said veterinary student Cindi Delany. "He was still jumping up on people and doing things that should have been corrected when he was two months old. Now, thanks to the hard work of his foster 'dad,' 4H-er Kenny Hambright, he's turned into a lovable and obedient pet that anyone would be happy to own." And an overly submissive Australian cattle dog just needed some reassurance and coaching to overcome her fearfulness. The formerly timid pup gained a new sense of self-confidence and wound up being adopted by her 4H-er. "We never choose dogs that are aggressive or pose a threat of biting," Delany said. "One of the most common problems is a lack of house-training, which only takes about a week to do, but is one of the reasons people won't adopt a dog from a shelter." The rescued dogs were provided by the Sacramento County Animal Shelter, which allowed the vet students to hand-pick those dogs best suited for the rescue program. Delany is quick to point out that the program has definite benefits for participating veterinary students. "It's important for veterinary students to get into the shelter and see the enormity of the problem of abandoned dogs and cats. And it's a great way to apply what we are learning in our animal behavior classes," she said. "Plus a lot of vet students just love working with the 4H-er kids and the shelter dogs, while providing an important service to the community." But how do the vet students squeeze the rescue program in between studies and clinical duties at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital? "Don't ask," said Delany ruefully. "Don't ask."