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Jordan Correa, a developer on the Microsoft Robotics Team, built a robot to interact with his dog, Darwin, while he was away at work. It’s got a lot of neat features. Geeks that don’t even have dogs would enjoy having one of these around! -via The Daily What Geek
The person who submitted this photo to Black and WTF took the picture himself in the 1950s. Link -via Buzzfeed
Aw, how cute, a dog with a kitten in its arms. Uh-oh, better watch what you dangle in front of a kitten! And now we know where the phrase, “Cat got your tongue?” came from! But Murkin the dog still loves kittens. -via The Daily What
Maizey aims to please as she works in the front office of the veterinarian. That’s a good dog! -via reddit
How do you make the 2012 Best Picture Nominees even better? Recast them
with dogs!
That’s exactly what Next Movie did, and we’re not the least bit disappointed:
Link
- Thanks Andie!
If you ever have the occasion to install a door stop, be sure to get one with a heavy spring, because 1. puppies love to play with them, and b. they make that wonderful “thwannng” sound. -via Arbroath
Your cute video of the day is brought to you by the Hillside Animal Sanctuary, where Tabitha the Pig plays with her best buddy Susie the Dog.
Andrew Hough and Martin Coutts of The Telegraph has the story:
Five-week-old Tabitha was found close to death by the side of a road in Norfolk when she was just a couple of days old. She was found "shivering and alone" by a member of the public on a country lane on the outskirts of Norwich.
Susie, who is five years-old, was rescued from appalling conditions at a Welsh puppy farm two years ago where she had been used to breed from.
Wendy Valentine, the founder of Hillside, said: “They just took an instant shine to each other and whilst Susie wanted to mother Tabitha at first as she’s grown older they seem to be the very best of friends.
“They are constantly with each other and don’t like being separated. "They go to sleep with each other and eat next to each other. It’s lovely to see them playing with each other, Susie is very gentle with her and seems to know she’s only young."
Who does better tricks, Kaiser the Bengal cat or Nana the border collie? I’d have to give the title to the dog, because I have a border collie, and can attest that they are always in a hurry to do everything perfect, as far as they understand it. However, getting a cat to do any tricks at all is a major accomplishment! This competition is from the pet trainers at Use Your Clicker. Link -via Laughing Squid
No, I’m not telling you what they are. If you already know, you’ll do well on today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. Can you name the 20 most popular breeds in 2010 according to the American Kennel Club in three minutes or less? I only thought of half of them before time ran out, then I was embarrassed to see the answers I missed! Link
Mace the ninja dog takes on his arch enemy the plush turtle. His greatest assets are his stealth and amazing self-control. -via I Am Bored
Bizzle had a hard day, what with people telling him he has the face of a dog and all. So he came home and treated himself to a snack of Dunkaroos. This trick has been done a lot, but rarely this well. -via reddit
This dog has a lot of energy! She manages to burn it up, while cats are ready for a nap anytime. -via Buzzfeed
Bulldogs
sure are endearing, and bulldog lovers may love their pets to death, literaly.
You see, bulldogs are bred to look that way, and the lengths that people
are willing to go to get that cute look is killing the breed:
“It is the most extreme example of genetic manipulation in the dog-breeding world that results in congenital and hereditary problems,” Pacelle said.
Brenda Bonnett, a consulting veterinary epidemiologist and a speaker at the conference, outlined the results of her study of Swedish dog-insurance data from 1995 to 2006. She told conference attendees that bulldogs are significantly more likely than other dogs to suffer from a wide range of health issues, including ear and eye problems, skin infections, respiratory issues, immunological and neurological problems and locomotor challenges.
Can the bulldog be saved? Benoit Denizet-Lewis wrote an interesting article for The New York Times Magazine about how the bulldog breed can redesigned ... and whether we should do so: Link (Photo: Andrew Bettles for The New York Times) - via PopSci
Despite of what you may hear, cats are not the King of the Interweb. According to a new study of shared links by Bitly, dogs are still the top dog of cute animals on the Web:
While cats have a respectable lead, the winner is clear — dogs are 37% of the total results in the cute animal set, and feature in 50% more pages than cats!
Link - via ReadWriteWeb
Besides being cute, Purin the Super Beagle plays catch a bit differently from the way most dogs do it. And he gets better at it as the video goes along! -via Arbroath
The dog Kenzie cannot reach the pot at the back of the stove, so now he’s glad to have spent all that effort protecting his friend Queenie the cockatoo from the cat. Rodents aren’t the only pets who like spaghetti! -via Arbroath
Suzanna Bolton of Darwen, Lancashire, England, has an African Grey parrot named Sam and a Pomeranian named Sally. Sally was due to deliver puppies in a week when she went into premature labor in the middle of the night. Sam responded by jumping into Bolton’s bed and saying “Come on, come on,” in Bolton’s voice.
“That night he seemed to know what was going on and came looking for me to help.
“He’s never been in my bedroom before in the eight years I’ve had him, but he came up the stairs, climbed on the bed and started talking to me in my own voice with the words “come on, come on”, which I often say to Sally.
“I wondered what on earth was going on and took Sam back downstairs to his perch, but then he looked at me and squawked.
“It was then I looked in the kitchen and saw the puppies. One had died and the other five boys were all very, very cold and wet. I quickly got the heat pads out for them and got them next to a radiator, and luckily they’re now doing well.
Sam is 18 years old and is able to mimic several of the family member’s voices. Link -via Arbroath
This dog is determined to get the ball and bring it back, no matter what! -via Arbroath
Comments Off
Tired
of incessant yapping of your neighbor's dog? Well, the city of Los Angeles
is on your side: they've decided to levy fines on the owners of dogs that
bark excessively (and if that doesn't make 'em silence those pooches fast,
I don't know what will).
Under the changes, dog owners would face fines starting at $250 for a first offense, $500 for a second and $1,000 for a third if a hearing conducted by the Department of Animal Services determines that a dog barks too much.
But exactly how much barking is too much?
The changes approved in the 12-0 vote would make that clearer to animal services officials, Assistant City Atty. Dov Lesel said.
A dog's barking would be considered excessive if it continued for 10 minutes or more, or intermittently for 30 minutes or more within a three-hour period, Lesel said.
I sympathize with those harrassed by barking dogs (one of my neighbor has a dog that barked all night for years) but ask any dog owner and they'll tell you that dogs are dogs and they will bark. Sometimes they bark a lot, especially if something unusual is up. And what happens if you're not there to silence your dog, say if you have to work and the dog is in the back yard?
Will the new rule penalize those in working-class neighborhood, who keep dogs for protection against break-ins? Or will it finally give peace to sore ears?
This lovable chihuahua in Hawaii was born with only two legs, but gets around just fine. You can see more in a second video. -via Buzzfeed
Boston
Terrier Chia Pet Costume by David Kittle
Here's the best doggie Halloween costume ever: the Chia Pet (now, how many of you immediately thought of Ch-ch-ch-Chia!).
From Inhabitat:
Anyone who grew up in the 80s is sure to remember the jingle announcing everyone's favorite terracotta pet plant, so this Halloween why make your pooch the most popular pup around by outfitting it as a real live Chia Pet. This adorable eco-friendly costume was one of the top finalists in our 2010 Green Halloween Costume Contest, and you can make it yourself from organic materials and eco-friendly felt by following a simple set of instructions courtesy of The Flirty Blog.
Link | DIY Guide by Stacie Tamaki of The Flirty Blog
Dog/font lovers rejoice! Christine Hale of Dahg Blahg has created the 26 letters of Dogphabet (plus two punctuation marks) for your enjoyment: Link - via Everlasting Blort
Bouncy kittens all around, and this dog remains ever calm and serene. -via Arbroath
Sid Russell, the Jack Russell terrier, plays fetch with himself. This is cute because he can do it, but sad because no one is playing with him. -via The Daily What
My Zombie Family Car Stickers – $9.95
Do you have a zombieriffic family? Tell the world, or at least the guy stuck behind you in traffic, with the My Zombie Family Car Stickers by Adam “ape lad” Koford from the NeatoShop. This frighteningly fabulous set comes with 8 stickers:
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Zombie fun!
Comments Off If you didn’t see the strings, you’d just think this was a skinny dog. This talented puppeteer was spotted on the streets of Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Bonus: “Stormy Weather.” -via Arbroath
One of the dogs got into the trash. Was it Jed, Xena, or Tank? I think they are all guilty, but one was not smart enough to get rid of the evidence! -via Arbroath
Jack Sprat is a greyhound who put every ounce of heart he had into racing, clocking 40 miles per hour in training. But when he made his professional debut at Wimbledon last year, he came in last in both of his races. It was only after his owner retired him and sent him to Dogs’ Trust in Snetterton, Norfolk, England, that veterinarians figured out how much effort Jack really put into racing -and everything he does. It turns out that the dog is blind!
Vets at the animal charity examined Jack and realised a rare condition had left him completely blind in his left eye and with only 20 per cent vision in his right.
They diagnosed him with Chorioretinitis, a swelling and irritation of the middle layer of the eye, which is irreparable.
Kate Brewster, 27, of the Dogs’ Trust, said Jack would have been ‘terrified’ racing with no vision in his left eye – used by dogs to follow the rabbit.
She said: ‘We don’t think Jack’s racing owner realised the severity of his blindness and it would have been terrifying for him to race because of the noise.
‘He must have followed the other dogs or maybe used his sense of smell to get around the track. He clearly had no way of seeing the rabbit.’
Jack stills runs very fast at the shelter, where he knows exactly where the fences are. The animal charity says Jack will make a great pet, and hopes to find him a home with no small children or other pets. Link -via Arbroath
(Image credit: SWNS)
Colin Heaton and Anne Lewis of Southport, North Carolina, adopted a Pit Bull/Rottweiler mix that had been rescued from a “bad situation.” They named him Thor. The dog has since protected chickens from foxes, coyotes, and even a snake which bit him. Earlier this month, Thor got the chance to rescue a human.
Barbara Simmons, 78, fell on the side of the road while checking her mail on a hot day earlier this month.
She said she yelled for help but no one came to her rescue for at least a half hour. Thor, a dog with a heroic name, noticed Simmons and went to check it out.
“He was just so gentle and like, ‘are you okay, are you okay?’” explained Simmons. “It was like somebody asking, ‘are you okay, are you okay?’”
Thor’s owners said he was acting strangely that day, ignoring their commands.
“He ran to this point and he stopped and looked back at my husband and barked at him a couple of times like, ‘I’m not going to listen to you,’ and he took off right around the corner,” said owner Anne Lewis.
Thor led his owners to Simmons nearly a block away. They called for help and the EMT told Lewis that Thor probably saved her life.
Link -via Fortean Times
Everything is big when you’re little! This puppy tackles what seems to be an insurmountable threshold with gusto and determination. -via Buzzfeed
