Police Dogs to Wear Shoes

High rate of paw injuries on duty is the impetus behind the canine footwear.



BERLIN - Police dogs in the western city of Duesseldorf will soon be equipped with blue plastic fiber shoes. "I'm not sure they like it, but they'll have to get used to it," Andre Hartwich said.

The unusual footwear is not a fashion statement, but rather a necessity due to the high rate of paw injuries on duty. Especially in the city's historical old town — famous for both its pubs and drunken revelers — the dogs often step into broken beer bottles.

"Even the street-cleaning doesn't manage to remove all the glass pieces from between the streets' cobble stones," Hartwich said, adding that the dogs frequently get injured by little pieces sticking deep in their paws.

The shoes comes in sizes small, medium and large and were ordered in blue to match the officers uniforms.

"Now we just have to teach the dogs how to tie their shoes," Hartwich joked.

Germany or Florida?

There's a game on the Adam Carolla show I really enjoy. [FN1]

Germany or Florida originated from Adam's theory that all extremely strange stories come from either Germany or Florida. To play the game, you hear a story and guess the associated place.

Stories include things such as "A bank robber was caught when he tried to swim away with electronics" (Florida) or "During an airport search, a man's suitcase contained a midget and sex toys" (Germany). My rule of thumb is "white trash = Florida" and "bizarre sex = Germany." It works pretty well unless it's a drunk story, in which case all bets are off.

Recently I encountered two stories I thought perfect for Germany or Florida and then - guess what - they were both from Germany or Florida and they both involve drunks!! Take a stab:

(1) Drunk man stays overnight inside a bank...with a horse.

(2) Man receives DUI...in a wheelchair.

Answers found in the links obviously.

FN1: Why are people so surprised when I mention listening to Adam Carolla. I enjoy Adam and I enjoy Theresa and I even enjoy making disgusted faces and yelling at Danny Bonaduce. Maybe this should be another post completely. In that post I could discuss how I want to be friends with Adam, his wife, Jimmy Kimmel, and Sarah Silverman. Oh yeah this is definitely another post.