Dr Amir Anwary enjoys treating dogs of every shape and size, but there is one pet-owner habit that drives him particularly mad: giving dogs ordinary human names.

The popular South African veterinarian has urged dog owners to think twice before choosing a human name for their pets.

‘I’m a veterinarian, and this is serious… This is the biggest issue I’ve ever seen,’ he declared in a light-hearted rant.

‘I don’t know which dog owner needs to hear this, but you need to stop giving dogs human names that have no business being dog names.’

Dr Anwary explained that the situation can become particularly awkward when vets carry out invasive procedures on dogs with distinctly human names.

‘I just had to express the anal glands of Craig. Craig… Do you know what that does to a person?’ he joked.

He said that was not the only time, recalling that he had also expressed the anal glands of dogs called Sarah, Geoff and Jared.

‘Stop giving your dogs human names. It’s enough. You need to stop giving your pets the most basic human names,’ he warned.

The vet did concede that some names traditionally associated with people can work perfectly well for dogs.

‘Some names that belong to humans are good for dogs,’ he explained.

‘Oscar is a good name; Harvey is a good name; Archie is a great name. So there are certain human names that you can give to dogs.’

‘But other names have no business being dog names. For example, Craig, Jared and Jason. Why would you name a dog Jason? Is it a philanderer?’

‘Daniel, William… No, guys. Some human names simply do not belong to dogs.’

‘You know what I’m saying? Someone has to say it.’

Patricia was another human name that appeared to particularly irritate him.

‘Patricia has no business being a dog name,’ he said.

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‘Shame, poor dog.’

His latest video has been viewed more than 300,000 times, and many viewers admitted that they had given their dogs human names.

‘Exclusively human names for dogs is my favourite thing ever. Have never disagreed with a take more in my life. It is endlessly amusing. If anyone has an aggressively human named dog please share it with me and bring me joy,’ one said.

‘My neighbour has a dachshund named Paul. It will never not be hilarious to me,’ another revealed.

‘My dog is Dave. David when he is naughty,’ one shared.

‘As an ER vet tech, please don’t stop this! I love telling Steven he needs to relax while I lube up my gloves,’ another added, laughing. 

One owner realised her mistake after giving her dog a human name.

‘I named my dog Kiara. I didn’t know it’s a human name. Imaging the confusion when I yelled: “Kiara! No!” and the neighbour’s (sad) daughter said, “Okay sorry” from the other side of the wall,’ she said.

Another jokingly suggested: ‘Use a human name that you’d name a child. Then you can use them as an excuse at work. “Sorry, I can’t stay late, I need to pick up Emily from daycare.” They think it’s your kid, but Emily’s a dachshund.’

Meanwhile, many revealed they felt ‘weirded out’ after hearing strangers call their name to a dog. 

‘Took my dog to a vet once. The vet came into the waiting area and called “Maisie”. I got up to answer as that’s my name, quickly sat back down when a woman got up and took her terrier through… Never been so embarrassed,’ one said.

‘I heard someone constantly shouting “Vicky”, but she wasn’t acknowledging me. Then she shouted “Vicky, biscuit” and a black lab ran over,’ another shared.

‘My daughter is Maggie, named after her grandmother. Do you know how many dogs are named Maggie? Like all of them,’ one revealed.

Gundlach Bundschu Winery, one of California’s oldest wine producers, has filed for bankruptcy with nearly $40 million in debt, becoming the latest victim of a severe downturn affecting the state’s renowned wine industry.

After almost 170 years of surviving upheaval, the family-owned winery has been brought to the brink by a damaging combination of heavy borrowing, reduced tourism and weakening consumer demand for wine.

The sixth-generation company was established in San Francisco in 1858 and endured Prohibition, earthquakes, wildfires, a destructive vineyard pest and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now, after years of efforts to stabilize its finances, Gundlach Bundschu has sought protection under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code.

The historic winery is expected to continue operating during the restructuring process as it searches for an outside investor. Any deal would require the Bundschu family to give up majority control of the business.

CEO Jeff Bundschu said the filing marked an event unlike anything his family had encountered throughout the winery’s remarkable history.

“The company has endured more than a century-and-a-half of historic challenges and transformational change; however, this Chapter 11 filing is unprecedented for our family and our company,” he wrote in court documents.

“We enter this process with great humility and remorse for the burden the company’s financial distress places on our employees, vendors, lenders, customers and community.”

Court filings estimate the winery’s liabilities at approximately $39 million.

The bankruptcy adds to mounting concerns across California’s wine sector, where producers are confronting declining consumption and a fall in visitors to Wine Country.

The development follows the decision by McManis Family Vineyards to list its 3,500-acre properties in San Joaquin and Sacramento counties for tens of millions of dollars as the industry’s downturn deepens.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Gundlach Bundschu’s financial troubles were partly driven by an expansion made just before a series of major disruptions hit the business.

In February 2020, the winery acquired a 60-acre estate in Glen Ellen for Abbot’s Passage, a separate label founded by sixth-generation family member Katie Bundschu.

The purchase was completed just before Covid-related restrictions inflicted severe damage on the company’s tasting-room and hospitality operations.

Court documents identify the debt associated with that acquisition as the “immediate cause” of the winery’s financial crisis.

“The growth required to support that investment did not materialize,” the filing says. “The industry’s subsequent contraction magnified those challenges.”

Abbot’s Passage finally closed its winery and tasting room earlier this year.

Katie Bundschu said at the time that the family wanted to ‘return to our roots and focus on Gundlach Bundschu.’

Over the past 18 months, Gundlach Bundschu slashed costs and went through ‘multiple rounds of layoffs,’ according to court filings, cutting its workforce from 102 people to just 63.

The family also sold significant real estate holdings outside the company and pumped the proceeds back into the struggling winery.

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The company has four loans with two major secured lenders, including approximately $20 million owed to agricultural asset manager Tiverton. That loan carries a huge 14.75 percent interest rate.

Another roughly $17 million is owed to agricultural lender American Ag Credit, while approximately 120 vendors and service providers are owed another $1.7 million in unsecured debts.

The family attempted to find a buyer or new investor and received three offers that its management considered viable.

But lenders rejected them because the offers came in ‘well below the secured debt amount,’ according to court filings.

Facing mounting pressure and unable to reach an agreement with its creditors, Gundlach Bundschu turned to Chapter 11.

Bundschu said the bankruptcy followed ‘years of operational restructuring, cost reductions, asset rationalization, family capital contributions’ and negotiations with lenders.

But ‘those efforts did not produce a consensual, out-of-court solution,’ he said.

Court filings say a prospective investor and operating partner has already been identified, although their identity has not been disclosed.

The family says the restructuring is intended to give the 168-year-old business a chance to survive while protecting jobs and relationships with customers, suppliers and the wider Sonoma community.

‘This is about creating a fair, court-supervised process that gives this historic business an opportunity to survive, preserve jobs, protect relationships with customers and vendors, and ensure the winery remains a meaningful part of the Sonoma Valley community,’ Bundschu said.

The vineyard has triumphed over adversity throughout its long history.

In the 1870s, phylloxera, an insect capable of destroying entire vineyards swept into California. Gundlach Bundschu became the first winery to switch to resistant native rootstock.

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was also catastrophic. The fire that followed destroyed the winery, three Bundschu family homes and one million gallons of wine.

The family then moved operations to its Sonoma Valley estate, Rhinefarm.

Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s dealt another devastating blow. The winery was forced to close but the family managed to retain 130 acres and its home.

The winery was finally resurrected in the early 1970s but disaster came once again with the devastating wildfires of 2017.

The family’s century-old home was destroyed. Katie Bundschu said her parents escaped ‘with just the clothes on their back’ and a handful of keepsakes.

The reconstructed home was later put up as collateral for the winery’s debt.

Today, Gundlach Bundschu owns approximately 100 acres, produces about 42,000 cases of wine annually and welcomes around 30,000 visitors.

At its height, more than 75,000 people visited each year.

An Ohio podcaster who said he had rebuilt his life after serving prison time for fraud is facing fresh scam allegations from the FBI.

Steven Comisar, 64, spent decades defrauding victims and has been convicted in federal court five times. His combined prison sentences exceeded 22 years.

In 2023, he launched a podcast called Scam Junkie, presenting himself as a reformed con man and fraud expert.

But on Wednesday, Comisar was charged in U.S. District Court in Cleveland over allegations that he carried out another fraud scheme—this time targeting an Ohio couple and involving at least $7 million, according to Cleveland.com.

Court records do not list an attorney for Comisar, and no initial court date had been set after his arrest in California.

Authorities allege that he spent the proceeds on gambling, hotel stays, food and other personal expenses.

Comisar first gained national attention as a con man in the 1990s. He later wrote America’s Guide to Fraud Prevention and made repeated television appearances as a fraud expert.

In the trailer for Scam Junkie, which began in 2023, Comisar calls himself the “Don of Con” and says he “perpetrated every scam known to man” before turning his life around.

He also claimed that he helped people protect themselves from scams while teaching techniques to “legally make money and influence people.”

His criminal record includes a telemarketing scheme involving horse racing, fake oil-well investments and a case in which he defrauded an Iowa man of $125,000.

In 2003, Comisar received an eight-year prison sentence for defrauding an 84-year-old Minnesota man of $480,000.

While awaiting sentencing, he attempted to extort more than $50,000 from an attorney. Comisar falsely claimed he possessed information that could clear her brother, who had been convicted of murdering a government informant.

After the attorney refused to pay, Comisar allegedly threatened that mobsters would go to her home and mutilate her husband.

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FBI agents said that after his release from prison in 2018, Comisar resumed scamming within about a year, allegedly targeting a couple from Massillon, Ohio.

According to court records, he used emails to pose as company CEOs, investors, a wealth director, an attorney and an unnamed person described as being among the wealthiest people in the world. The couple was persuaded to invest in projects that Comisar promised would produce a “huge windfall.”

Comisar allegedly told the Massillon man to send cashier’s checks quickly to cover fees, taxes and government fines before he could receive the millions supposedly generated by the investments—projects authorities say were fake.

FBI agents linked Comisar to the scam using phone and email records, court records say.

Some text messages directed the man to send cashier’s checks to ‘S. Comisar’ at a room at the Beverly Hills, California, Marriott hotel, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit.

Agents said they found out Comisar had lived there on and off for years and even had Amazon and FedEx packages delivered to the hotel.

The Massillon man sent 70 checks to Comisar from 2019 through July 2026, ranging in amounts from $7,000 to $300,000, according to court records.

While the total amount Comisar scammed out of the couple is still being investigated, an FBI agent wrote that it exceeds $7 million. 

Bank records show that Comisar also made around $1.2 million in profit from a thoroughbred racetrack in California, where he bet about $4 million between January and May 2026. 

The Daily Mail contacted Comisar for comment.