Rarely is a regurgitated turkey gizzard the centerpiece of a charming story.

When you add such characters as the overeager Pomeranian and the intrepid schoolgirl, the tale is more easily swallowed.

Ten-year-old Tori Grimm’s family was cooking Thanksgiving dinner two weeks ago in their New Albany home. Five-year-old Gizmo peeked with interest over the dog gate in the doorway, until Tori’s grandmother tossed him a piece of turkey.

“He’s not used to getting scraps, so he just ate it whole. He just fell over and started gasping,” Tori recalled.

The family is still struck by how fast it happened, how instantly Gizmo was affected and unable to breathe. But luckily, Tori moved quickly, too.

“Everybody was yelling different stuff” — frantic suggestions for saving Gizmo, such as sticking a hand down his throat — “so I just gave him the Heimlich maneuver,” Tori said.

The Community Montessori fifth-grader learned the technique last spring in a seminar at school.

Tori wrapped her arms around the stricken dog’s trunk and applied pressure with her hands, three times in 30 seconds, until Gizmo coughed up the food and resumed breathing.

No discriminating diner, Gizmo reacted predictably.

“He just started chewing,” Tori said.

Tori’s experience impressed her teacher, Heather Wathen, who recalled Tori attended the Heimlich seminar after research into the subject sparked her interest.

“I think it’s awesome,” Wathen said. “She came in and told me, and I was just very proud that she knew enough to even try the Heimlich maneuver on her animal.”

Gizmo isn’t Tori’s only animal, though. He’s one of three dogs, dwarfing a Chihuahua and a Yorkshire terrier as well as the four cats and a rat.

Tori said she’s interested in becoming a veterinarian, having volunteered at the Floyd County Humane Society two years ago. She taught puppies to sit.

Gizmo has recovered from his misadventure, barking and wheezing himself into a frenzy Wednesday when two strangers from the newspaper visited his turf.

He’s overweight and has trouble breathing, but grandmother Margaret Tyler reported he seems to have learned a lesson.

“When I hand him his food now, he takes it a little slow,” Tyler said, chiding herself: “No more real food again, Nana broke the rules!”

Tyler, a diabetic, said she’s taught Tori basic medical techniques that could help her in an emergency.

But as for CPR, Tori said, “I don’t know it that well.” That’s bound to change, since her mother, Jill, is certified in the life-saving procedure.

Tori has set the bar high for herself and others looking to practically apply knowledge from Montessori seminars. But if a bizarre emergency calls for someone to skateboard and milk a goat, she’ll be ready.

Bill Campbell used to have a near-phobia about dogs based on a bad childhood experience. But after suffering brain injuries from repeated explosions in Iraq and dealing with the resulting mental challenges, he might find that a dog raised by an inmate in New York is his best friend.

Even his wife, Domenica Campbell, thinks so.

Starting in February, Stevi, a 17-month-old golden Labrador retriever, will be by Bill Campbell’s side at all times as his specially trained assistant, protector and companion.

Campbell, 46, lives with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. He will be the first service member diagnosed with PTSD to receive a dog under a new program started by Puppies Behind Bars, a New York-based nonprofit that trains inmates to raise service dogs.

The 10-year-old organization has raised 190 specially trained canines that are working a variety of jobs, including “seeing” for the blind and sniffing out explosives.

Gloria Gilbert Stoga, the organization’s founder and president, wanted to donate one or more dogs to service members wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq.

On the other side of the country, Domenica Campbell arrives at the only explanation plausible for why her husband was the first chosen.

“For whatever reason, fate put this dog in his way,” his wife said.

Wine, roses, chocolate; all of these gifts help impress our better halves. I for one am partial to the romantic “gift certificate” for backrubs and other tasks, mostly because I’m forgetful and cheap.

Male dolphins in the mood for love need none of these things. It turns out that THE gift in your classier dolphin circles is the ever popular clump of weeds or twigs. Bring your fine lady dolphin friend a bunch of organic material in your mouth and you’ll be blowhole deep in dolphin action in no time. Just remember to surface every once in a while.

Researchers previously thought that dolphins attracted mates with that playful behaviour we find so cute. I’m glad I didn’t know this before today. I used to love Sea World, and the thought that those adorably scampering dolphins were engaging in foreplay probably would have affected me in a negative way.

The discovery of object presentation as a mating behaviour sheds new light on dolphins and allows researchers to describe dolphin groups in a new way. Some researchers are starting to use the word “culture”, although that description is proving controversial.

Culture, as defined by this study, is a non-instinctual complex skill which can be passed on to future generations and other individuals through teaching by others. Dr. Tony Martin and Dr. Vera da Silva believe that this can apply to the dolphin groups they observed. Isolated groups of river dolphins throughout South America were observed using the behaviour, which suggested to the researchers that the behaviour was taught by members of the groups that displayed the behaviour. The behaviour cannot be considered instinctual because many dolphin groups did not exhibit the behaviour.

Martin and Da Silva found that in the groups that exhibited the behaviour, the dolphins that practiced object carrying were the most prolific breeders. Martin said: “I was struck by how many of the most frequent object-carriers were on the list of probable fathers of individual calves. It’s so unusual that many of my colleagues were sceptical when I first suggested the idea, but now I think the evidence is overwhelming.”

Martin and Da Silva aren’t the only ones to talk about dolphins while using the term culture. Other researchers in Australia noticed that certain groups of bottlenose dolphins are actually using tools. They break off pieces of sponge to carry around on their noses, which protects their snouts. The scientists who discovered this claim that it is evidence of social learning, and therefore the term culture is correctly used.

Dolphins are not the only animal species that has been bandied about with the word culture. In fact, they’re not even the only species that exhibits the object carrying behaviour as part of mating. Obviously humans do, but it has also been observed in chimpanzees. When male chimps are feeling lonely, they’ll often do a little courtship ritual that involves grabbing a branch and waving it about while they walk around with an erect penis. I’ve been assured this is considered very attractive in chimpanzee society.

Does this mean humans are no longer the only ones with a culture? It’s hard to tell. It really boils down to how you define culture. While the scientists who reported these behaviours in dolphins and chimps seem sure they are evidence of culture, the idea is still controversial and by no means universally accepted. It’s just one of the many scientific debates you’ll have to decide on for yourself.

A HORSE was rescued from a swimming pool in Rudgwick , UK.

Fire crews from Horsham and Storrington arrived at a house off Guildford Road at around 7.45pm where the animal was unable to get out of the pool.

The water level was reduced by pumps and firefighters lifted the horse out with the use of lines.

A vet checked the animal over and it was returned to a local stable at around 9.20pm.

For comprehensive coverage of all the stories making the local news, read Friday’s edition of the West Sussex County Times newspaper. Website users who wish to purchase a copy of the County Times newspaper but live outside our circulation area can do so by telephoning 01403 751200 and asking for reception. The cost of the newspaper plus postage in England is £1.53 which can be paid for by credit card. Overseas rates are also available, on request.

Police officer Rebecca Rosenblatt has a new partner. His name is Reese, and he cost $9,500.

He came to the police department courtesy of the Millbrae Community Foundation.

Reese is a 17-month-old German shepherd who is trained to track, search and protect, said Millbrae Police Cmdr. Marc Farber.

Reese and Rosenblatt are now on the beat after spending four weeks training at Tyson Kennels in Newark.

“He’s as good (or better than) a human partner,” said Rosenblatt, a

25-year-old Millbrae resident. “But the benefit of having a dog is, you don’t have to worry if he is in a bad mood, or don’t have to worry about him being mad at you.”

The Police Department hasn’t had a K-9 unit in five years, said Farber, who was once a canine handler.

Farber worked with and took care of K-9 Tino for years. Tino, a 13-year-old, has since retired and still lives with Farber. The other police dog — Rex — took ill and was put to sleep.

For the department to buy Reese — who originally came from Czechoslovakia — the foundation received the money from a donor who wanted to remain anonymous, said Catherine Quigg, the nonprofit’s president.

Rosenblatt said that when Reese turns 2 years old, he will need a bulletproof vest, should anyone want to donate money. The vest runs about $1,000, she added. Farber said the community foundation is still fund-raising for the department to get another police dog next summer.

Rosenblatt was one of three officerswho applied to be canine handlers. She was chosen because she went to canine training on her own time, Farber said.

She choose Reese because he is friendly. But like her, during work, it’s strictly business.

Next year, the duo will be trained in narcotics detection.

Rosenblatt said she’s happy because she knows Reese has her back.

“You get what you put in (from training),” she said. “He’s a really good partner.”

The next time you see someone pushing a stroller, take a closer look.

The occupant might be furry, four-legged and diaper-free.

Dog strollers are the newest trend to hit the streets of Toronto. And the reasons range from all-out glamour to the more mundane.

“We sell more when the weather gets nasty,” says Mike Fitzpatrick, co-owner of Bark & Fitz, a chain of pet boutiques based in Mississauga. “People don’t want to drag their perfectly coiffed dogs through the slush. And the salt can sting their paws. I’ve seen dogs roll over on their side because they don’t want to walk.

“It’s something that started in California, New York, Miami and Chicago and has become more mainstream in Canada in the last three years. At first we were hesitant to bring strollers into the market because we thought they were a little over the top.”

But once you get beyond the Paris Hilton-indulgence factor, there are practical issues that make pet strollers appealing.

“High-quality food is extending the life of dogs, but they are getting hip ailments and can’t walk,” Fitzpatrick says.

Even healthy toy dogs can get too tuckered out to keep up with their owners. In the summer scorching pavement can burn bare paws. And crowds can be treacherous for small dogs and nerve-wracking for their walkers who fear they may get trampled.

“And there are places where dogs aren’t allowed, so a carrier or stroller comes in handy,” Fitzpatrick says. “If the flaps are down people won’t even realize there’s a dog in there.”

Pet strollers at Bark & Fitz range from $150 to $400, from bare bones to sturdier models with high-end windbreakers and waterproof covers. “They’re not all pink and frilly,” Fitzpatrick says. “Jeep makes a pet jogger that even a guy would be fine with.”

Jeep strollers are distributed by Vermont-based Pet Gear Inc. (petgearinc.com) which also offers ultra-lights and an all-terrain pet vehicle.

Kittywalk.com has double deckers for situations where pets are better off travelling in separate quarters.

“There really is something for everyone now,” says Connie Wilson, publisher of Vancouver-based Modern Dog magazine.

She got a pet trailer this summer so she could cycle to work with her 65-pound Wiemaraner-pointer cross, Kaya, attached to the bike. The Burley brand pet trailer is built to withstand a larger dog’s heft. “And it has a flat bed with easy access and different ventilation than a baby stroller.”

Another option is the Tutto carrier on wheels, which resembles a big black lawyer’s briefcase and would be ideal in a situation that requires a professional image.

A stroller came in handy at Modern Dog when another office companion, a miniature dachsund named Esther, suffered a partially ruptured disc.

“She’s only 11 pounds, so it’s easy to pick her up, but if you go any distance it’s a burden. That’s when you really appreciate a stroller,” Wilson says.

“Prior to this, people had to make do and convert baby strollers, but now there is something for all kinds of different needs. And you can even colour co-ordinate.

“It all stems back to the fact that pets are integrated into people’s lives,” Wilson says. “They hold a spot in the family that is equivalent to a child. They give so much to us; it’s a way for us to give back to them.”

But is there a danger dogs might not get the exercise they need?

“Any responsible dog owner will understand a dog can’t be contained 24/7,” Wilson says. “But if you are out on a mission and you want your dog to be safe, then a pet stroller is a useful tool.”

A dog and his owner have been reunited after last Friday’s horrific tanker crash along Interstate 95 in Waterford.

The pit bull in a tractor-trailer struck by a tanker truck on the highway was reunited with his owner over the weekend.

As chaos broke out on I-95, a heroic pit bull remained calm, sitting in the front seat of a tractor-trailer hit by a tanker truck. As the truck crumbled, the dog stood tall, staying beside his owner until help arrived.

“I was calling to him, but he was just standing there and just guarding his person,” said Phyllis Martino, a witness at the scene.

That’s when another hero was standing by to step in. Vincent Gagliardi said the pit bull was frantic as his owner was carried away. So, Gagliardi took off his belt, ran to the dog, fashioned a leash and got the dog out of there.

“This guy was still sitting in the passenger seat, and there was diesel fuel all around, so I took him out of there,” Gagliardi said.

After making its way slightly off nature’s beaten path and into Wisconsin, one little green-breasted mango has found its way to safety, with the help of the human hand.

Neighbors in the area of Sandale Drive in Beloit - who had been receiving regular visits from the hummingbird since July - lured it into a cage Monday and carefully towed it to the Wisconsin Humane Society Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Milwaukee.

With winds growing increasingly frigid, there’s no way the exotic creature, a native of Mexico and Central America, could have survived a Wisconsin winter, resident and amateur birder Virgil Amundson said.

“Everybody said he wouldn’t leave, but we kept hoping he would,” he said.

About a month ago, Amundson, who resides at 4297 W. Sandale Drive, took down all his hummingbird feeders except one, installed a few heat lamps to keep his porch warm for the bird and waited.

“We just watched him to see when he’d start changing his actions, and he got to the point that last day on Monday, when the wind was blowing really hard and there were no leaves left on the trees, that he was just having a hard time,” he said. “They were talking about it getting so cold, so I didn’t want to wait any longer.”

Now under the care of Scott Diehl, manager of the Wisconsin Humane Society Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, he eventually will make his way to the Brookfield Zoo, outside of Chicago.

In the meantime, some expert ornithologists are criticizing Amundson’s decision to rescue the rare bird.

“Nature’s been doing its thing for longer than we’ve been on the planet and, in general, if an animal is in a naturally bad situation and it’s likely to die, that weeds it out of the gene pool - it’s natural selection, is what it is,” said Sheri Williamson, who has been studying and writing about hummingbirds for more than 20 years and currently serves as director of the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory.

Although she typically favors letting nature take its course, this situation was a bit different, Williamson added.

“In this case we’ve got a bird that has been dependent on human hand-outs that might have died completely anonymously in the wild of Wisconsin or Illinois, had it not stumbled upon these people’s feeders. So it’s already been a benefit of human kindness and I don’t think that kindness should stop just because the hummingbird water freezes over,” she said.

“This is a humane decision and not a conservation decision,” she added. “Whether this bird lives or dies is not going to make a bit of difference to its species, but it does make a difference to that bird and the people who care about it.”

After Mike Ramsden of Beloit’s Ned Hollister bird club identified the bird and placed an alert on the Internet in September, more than 700 people flocked to Beloit to catch a glimpse of it.

Now Amundson and his grandchildren, who he says have grown attached to the bird, look forward to the opportunity to visit it. Williamson doesn’t necessarily agree with that part of the picture, though.

“This is a bird we can help, not by sending it to a zoo, but by putting it in South Texas where it has a good chance of fulfilling its destiny as a green-breasted mango,” she said. “Being placed in captivity doesn’t seem to be much of a life for a bird that could be healthy living in the wild.”

Brookfield Zoo Vice President of Animal Care Kim Smith assures birders that the little guy will do just fine, though. Once he arrives, he will be quarantined for 30 days - the zoo’s standard procedure for any incoming animal - before joining about 25 other species of birds, including two species of hummingbirds, in the zoo’s aviary.

“We have a history of housing hummingbirds in captivity, and zoological institutions have a long history of maintaining hummingbird species in captivity for a long time, and breeding them in captivity,” Smith said.

With staff on hand to monitor its diet and environmental surroundings, Smith added that, “I understand other people’s concerns, but the animal won’t die - it will have a good home and a good life, so to us that’s obviously a viable alternative.”

The bird is expected to be transported to the Brookfield Zoo yet this week, where it likely will remain.

Tabitha Cain has fed a feral cat she calls Wild Oats for several years, but now she’s thinking of changing the feline’s name to Survivor.

That’s because she says the cat survived for 19 days with a peanut butter jar stuck on its head.

“We tried to get her, but being the type of cat you can’t catch, she kept running and hiding,” said Doretha Cain, Tabitha’s mother.

The family saw the cat several times with the jar on its head and tried in vain to catch it. But after not seeing the cat for a week, the Cains feared the worst.

“I thought she was going to die with that jar on her head,” said Tabitha Cain, 25.

They found the once chubby cat Wednesday, too thin and weak to flee. They caught her with a fishing net and used some oil to get the jar off her head.

They gave her water and treated her wounds and Friday she began to eat again.

“I’ve heard of cats having nine lives but I think this one has 19 because she survived 19 days,” Doretha Cain said.

Memphis veterinarian Gerald Blackburn said he’s heard similar stories of pets getting trapped for days or even weeks at a time and surviving. Blackburn said the cat may have lived off of its excess fat.

Walt Disney World is going after pet owners who might feel better about vacationing at the resort if they know their dogs will be coddled with bedtime stories or their cats treated to snacks such as tuna on Ritz crackers.

“We will be able to provide wonderful experiences for pets,” said Dennis Dolan, president and chief executive officer of Best Friends Pet Care Inc.

His Norwalk, Conn., company just got a contract from Disney to operate the resort’s five existing kennels — and to build a state-of-the-art boarding center where dogs and cats can board in two-room suites with patios and get all the pampering they have come to expect.

Walks? Sure. Runs on an obstacle course? If they wish, as shown on the right, at a Best Friends facility in New York. Ice cream snacks. Bottled water. Supervised socializing with other pets. Elevated beds with lamb’s-wool bedding. If special bedding is desired — even orthopedic beds — those, too, will be available.

For dogs used to curling up on a child’s bed and drifting off to sleep as a parent reads a bedtime story, bedtime stories will be available. For those conditioned to nap in front of a TV, televisions can be provided. And they won’t be playing just any TV shows; they’ll have dog movies, like Milo and Otis or Homeward Bound.

“A lot of people leave their televisions or radios on at home during the day to keep their pets company. This is really an idea that came to us from our clients who wanted a more homelike setting for their pets,” said Best Friends spokeswoman Debra Bennetts. “What we provide is luxury suites. . . . It’s really for that person who wants to make sure that their pet is being pampered the way they get pampered at home.”

Cats will get a different kind of pampering. Their “condos” will come with lofts. Their TVs will play videos of birds. They can have aquariums to watch.

Dolan said luxury boarding for pets has been emerging for years, and he considers his company to be one of the innovators. Best Friends has 44 other boarding centers nationwide. Most of the luxury features are available at most of them.

Note: an earlier version stated misleading rates for Disney’s kennels.

At those other Best Friends facilities, basic boarding fees for dogs range from less than $25 to more than $40 a day, depending on the local market and the size of the dog. Luxury features, such as 10 minutes of cuddle time, can be purchased separately for $2 to $12 per feature or in packages that add $12 to $38 a day to the cost.

The company has not yet set its Disney World luxury rates. Current Disney fees run from $10 to $15 a night, depending on the pet. Those basic rates will go up after Best Friends starts taking over operations in January — perhaps up to $20 a night, though the level of service will increase, too, Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said.