A Finnish energy company has blamed dogs for corroding the capital’s lampposts when marking their territory. Helsingin Energia claims it is constantly having to replace damaged metallic items due to decay caused by urine. Read the full story

The National Veterinary Institute in Sweden (SVA) has warned dog lovers to avoid canine kisses after a potentially fatal parasite was discovered in the country. Read the full story

The Icelandic sheepdog came of age internationally this week when it was first allowed to enter the famous Westminster Dog Show in New York. Read the full story

In 2008, Denmark’s national postal service handed out more than 25 tons of dog treats to its postal workers to help them battle bad dogs intent on taking a bite out of them while delivering the mail. The problem has become a large enough issue that the national postal service is trying out any and all methods to deter angry protective dogs from biting their postmen. Read the full story

Several groups within Denmark’s parliament are behind a new campaign to require all “muscle” dogs in the country to be specially registered and licensed in a bid to keep track of potentially dangerous animals. Two of the nation’s largest political parties, the Danish People’s Party (DF) and the Social Democrats, have proposed new legislation that will make the registration mandatory.

The proposal will soon be submitted to the Danish parliament for approval. There are thousands of muscle dogs in Denmark that will need to be registered. The Copenhagen Post revealed that the Danish dog resister contains more than 6,000 canines that qualify as muscle dogs, although the Danish Kennel Club believes the actual number may be closer to 20,000. Most of the muscle dogs in Denmark are American bulldogs. Read the full story

Proving that they truly are man’s best friend, a pack of dogs saved a 75 year-old Swedish man as he was being attacked by an angry elk. The unusual incident occurred in a fruit orchard in the northern Swedish town of Gallivare. When the elderly man tried to chase the elk out of his yard, the formidable animal turned on him, causing several minor injuries. Read the full story

The use of canines in law enforcement is widespread practice, but police officers in Reykjavik are looking to use their dogs for other areas of police work, reports Iceland Review.

Local paper Frettabladid recently described how Reykjavik Police Force is investigating different ways of using their police dogs other than just detecting illegal drugs and bombs.

“We are thinking about getting other types of dogs, such as dogs that could be used to exert force which could be used in riots or other similar incidents,” explained Deputy Sheriff Hordur Johannesson. “At the same time we would also be looking for sniffer-dogs that could find things other than drugs, such as objects or biological residues.”

Johannesson said the force had been actively seeking dog breeders who could supply police dogs with specific nasal attributes. Special training programmes are already being devised for the new canine task force.