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Man's best friend now a drinking buddy?

ST. PAUL, Minn., June 17 (UPI) -- Dogs can slurp a cold one to beat the heat of the dog days of summer with a non-alcoholic brew created by a Seattle company.

Jenny Brown, who founded the company that makes Bowser Beer, said her creation was a natural companion to the doggie pretzels she sells, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Sunday.

"It just seemed like the dogs would want a beer with their pretzels," said Brown.

Derrick Kunes, interim marketing manager for Axel's Bonfire restaurants in Minneapolis-St. Paul area, offered free samples of the brew last summer at the Paws on Grand festival and said he'll do it again at the festival Aug. 5.

"It's for the celebration of the dog days of summer," Kunes told the Pioneer Press.

Regular beer is hazardous to dogs because the hops are toxic, dogs don't care for the fizz and alcohol is harmful, Brown said. After more than a year of research, she developed a flat broth mixture with barley and fortified with vitamins and glucosamine.

Bowser Beer comes in two flavors: Beefy Brown Ale and chicken-flavored Cock-a-Doodle-Brew.

New grad gets car for perfect attendance

SEFFNER, Fla., June 17 (UPI) -- A new graduate of Armwood High School in Seffner, Fla., got a new set of wheels for not missing a day of school during the final semester.

Brenna McPhee's name was drawn from a pool of 200 eligible students for a key that may -- or may not -- unlock the grand prize of the Perfect Car for Perfect Attendance event at Toyota of Tampa Bay Saturday, The Tampa Bay Times reported.

"I'm kind of in shock," the 17-year-old graduate said. She turns 18 on Tuesday.

Six students before McPhee unsuccessfully tried to unlock the 2012 Scion xD.

"She told me she was going to win this," said her father, Richard McPhee, who had a stroke last fall. "I didn't believe her."

McPhee, whose mother died five years ago of cancer, will go to Florida Gulf Coast University, where she received a full academic scholarship to study biology.

She said her current car, a Ford Focus with a manual transmission, will be passed along to her sister, the Times said.

"I'll have to teach my sister how to drive a stick shift so she can have it," McPhee said.

Man dials 911 over deli dispute

EAST HARTFORD, Conn., June 16 (UPI) -- A man unhappy with the way a deli in East Hartford, Conn., prepared a sandwich for him tried to bring in the police to settle the matter, a dispatch call shows.

Rother McLennon called 911 Wednesday afternoon and told the emergency dispatcher he had asked the staff at Greatful Deli "for little turkey, and little ham, a lot of cheese and a lot of mayonnaise and they are giving me a hard time," WVIT-TV, Hartford, reported.

"I wonder if you can stop by and just …," he said.

The dispatcher said, "You're calling 911 because you don't like way that they're making your sandwich?"

"Exactly," he replied.

"So, then, don't buy it," she advised.

Deli owner Tila Azinheira told the television station the man had placed a phone order for 14 sandwiches and they were made the way he requested. However, he then did not want to pay for them.

Azinheira said the customer was told the sandwiches could not be taken back because they were special orders. That's when he used the deli's phone to call 911.

The deli owner said McLennon called the shop back the next day to apologize and say he would remain a customer.

Public safety alert packed in 17 syllables

PHOENIX, June 16 (UPI) -- The Arizona Transportation Department is looking for a few good poets to alert the public about the dangers of driving in dust storms.

The department challenged its 14,000 Twitter followers to write a haiku about driving safe during the storms, sometimes called haboobs, The Arizona Republic in Phoenix reported.

The challenge to make public safety poetic has drawn three-line, 17-syllable haikus from hundreds of followers, the newspaper said Thursday.

One entry: "Dust storms are deadly / Pull over, turn off lights, wait / As earth becomes sky."

The challenge is part of the department's "Pull Aside Stay Alive" campaign on safe driving during monsoon season, which officially began Thursday.

"We've never done anything like this before, so we weren't sure what to expect, and this is something different from the government," Timothy Tait, the department's assistant communication director, told the Republic. "It's taking a humorous, lighthearted approach for a serious topic."