Link Image Via Daily Mail

Higgins A.K.A. Benji

Los Angeles trainer Frank Inn was a true animal lover who was always taking in animals from shelters to save them from euthanasia. When he couldn’t train them, he would work to find them a home with his friends or fans. He found Higgins in the Burbank Animal Shelter. Higgins was only a puppy at the time, but Inn saw a world of potential in the little critter.

His first role was in “Petticoat Junction,” where he appeared in six of the show’s seven total seasons. During that time, he also made guest appearances on “Green Acres” and “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Directors and co-stars quickly noticed his ability to convey broad range of facial expressions and his aptitude at learning new tricks on a regular basis. Inn said he was the most talented dog he ever worked with and that Higgins could learn a new routine every week. Some of his tricks included climbing ladders, opening mailboxes, and yawning and sneezing on cue. He was such a capable animal actor that he was featured on the cover of TV Guide and won the Picture Animal Top Star of they Year (Patsy) award in 1967.

In 1971, he starred in “Mooch Goes to Hollywood” with Zsa Zsa Gabor and Vincent Price. He retired after this movie, but he came back at age of 14 to star in “Benji,” his best known role. His daughter, also trained by Inn, continued his legacy in the following “Benji” films.

Source Image Via Wikipedia

Pabst The (Current) World’s Ugliest Dog

It may not be the most distinguished of titles, but Pabst, the current holder of the “World’s Ugliest Dog” title was also once a shelter dog. Notably, he was the first mixed breed winner of the competition in the last seven years –most of the past winners have been pedigree Chinese crested hairless dogs. Some of his stunningly ugly features include a prominent under-bite, a scrunched face and floppy ears.

Before winning $1,600 in prize money for his owner, Pabst was rescued from a shelter in Citrus Heights, California. He was also awarded a modeling contract with House of Dog –not bad for an ugly shelter mutt.

Source Image Via AP Photo/Noah Berger

Spike A.K.A. Old Yeller

Animal trainer Frank Weatherwax found Spike in a Van Nuys, California shelter. He was very young at the time and soon became Weatherwax’s star pupil. His first big role was also the one he was most famous for –”Old Yeller.” After that, he starred in “A Dog of Flanders” and he periodically played in the TV show “The Westerner.”

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Jake The 9-11 Rescue Dog

Jake was adopted when he was only 10 months old. His owner, Mary Flood, found him abandoned on the streets with multiple injuries, including a broken leg and dislocated hip. After he recovered from these injuries in 1995, Mary trained him to rescue humans and he ended up being one of the most famous search and rescue dogs from both September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina. He served as a rescue dog for almost 10 years when he had to retire due to cancer in 2006.

Source Image Via FEMA

Chanel The World’s Oldest Dog

Chanel was only around 6 weeks old in 1988 when she was adopted from a Newport News, Virginia shelter by Denice Shaughnessy, a soldier in the U.S. Army. In her older years, Chanel had to be transported in a stroller because he had difficulty walking around and she also had to wear special goggles for her cataracts.

In 2009, Denice’s husband noticed there was no Guinness Book of World Records listing for the World’s Oldest Dog, so he sent in records verifying Chanel’s age to the organization. The dog was awarded a certificate announcing her official title at her 21st birthday bash in Manhattan. In the next few months, she because a major celebrity and appeared on The Today Show and Live! With Regis and Kelly. She died a few months ago on August 29.

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Mr. Winkle

Mr. Winkle’s unique, teddy-bearish appearance has made him a minor celebrity. No one really knows what his mix is, but some claim he seems to be a Pomeranian and Chihuahua cross. Before he started appearing in newspapers, magazines and TV shows like Sex and the City, he was living on the streets.

Fortunately, magazine photographer Lara Jo Regan found him as a stray and adopted him. She immediately fell in love with his quirky look and began photographing him in various costumes, settings and poses. It wasn’t long before she started publishing calendars and books with Mr. Winkle and soon enough, he was scouted out for a wide array of media appearances.

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Wheely Willy

When Willy was only a puppy, he was found abandoned in a cardboard box, suffering from severe spinal injuries and a cut throat. He was rescued and treated for his injuries, but he was rendered a paraplegic and was left unadopted for over a year. Eventually, pet groomer Deborah Turner heard that Willy would soon be euthanized if no one adopted him, so she took him home.

At first, Deborah had to carry Willy everywhere, but she was determined to find a way to help him move on his own. One of her attempts included attaching helium-filled balloons to his rear end and then placing him on a skateboard. Her efforts were met with little success until she read an advertisement for K-9 Carts, a wheelchair designed specially for dogs. Willy took to his chair immediately, and the curiosity he attracted by those who saw him eventually led to news coverage, then appearances on Animal Planet. Eventually, he became the subject of two bestselling children’s books, where he was nicknamed Wheely Willy.

Wheely Willy now makes frequent public appearances and Turner works with him to promote disability awareness. He often attends hospitals, where he serves as an inspiration to patients and staff alike.

Source Image Via Wheelywilly.com

The Real Rin Tin Tin

The original Rin Tin Tin was discovered by a soldier in WWI, who insisted his battalion check out a kennel that was bombed in Lorraine, France. Inside, Corporal Lee Duncan and the rest of the troops found the only survivors of the bomb were a mother German Shepard and her litter of five puppies. All of the dogs were brought back to camp, but Duncan chose a boy and girl pup to call his own. He named them for the French puppets given to soldiers at the time for good luck, Rintintin and Nenette. He then began training the dogs to perform the tricks he had seen the German war dogs perform.

Upon his return home to Los Angeles, Nenette died and the boy pup ended up being the only dog from the French kennel to have survived. Duncan continued to work with Rin Tin Tin and ended up bringing him to a dog show where the dog wowed the audience by jumping over 11 feet and 9 inches. After the show, a movie maker asked Duncan if he could shoot the dog in action. At that moment, the young soldier realized there might be a future for his dog in the film industry. At the peak of his career, Rin Tin Tin received up to 10,000 fan letters a week and was one of Warner Brother’s top stars. Some credit him with saving the movie studio from bankruptcy. The Rin Tin Tin legacy was continued through the years by generation after generation of his heirs.

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Faith

You may have seen videos of Faith walking on her hind legs before. She’s become quite famous for her successful adaptation to only having rear legs. When Faith was born with only two rear legs and one deformed front leg, her mother attempted to smother her to death. A boy saved her from the mother and brought her home to his family. When Faith was seven months old, she had to have the deformed front leg removed all together as it began to atrophy. A lot of people, including veterinarians, urged owner Jude Stringfellow to euthanize the puppy, but Stringfellow instead taught Faith to hop by using a spoon with peanut butter as an incentive. Faith soon surprised everyone by developing a unique walk on just her hind legs.

Since then, she has appeared on the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Montel Williams Show,” “Animal Attractions Television” and “Ripley’s Believe it or Not.” She also has been the subject of a book, With A Little Faith. She now even has her own website and MySpace.

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Maui A.K.A. Murray from Mad About You

Sitcom fans might recall the lovable, slow and bratty dog Murray that was a central character in “Mad About You.” The dog that made the show was really named Maui and was rescued from an animal shelter in Castaic, California by animal trainer Boone Narr, he was also co-trained by Betty Linn. Before his role in “Mad About You,” he acted in commercials and as a stand in for the lead dog in the movie “Bingo.”

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If you and your four-legged best friend are looking for a new city to move to, consider one of the top five most dog-friendly cities according to Food and Wine Magazine. Those listed are Boston, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and San Diego. Reasons for their choices can be found on the site.

Link Via Ohmidog! Image Via Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

“Katjinga is the best mother you can imagine. She immediately fell in love with the piggy. Straight away she started to clean it like it was one of her own puppies,” said owner Roland Adam.

Click on the link to see even more cute pics of the mom and baby together.

Link (Photo: Animal Press/Barcroft Media)

This poor little one has rolled over and can’t get up. He looks like a poor little tortoise on his back. I hope his parents don’t teach him to “roll over.”

Link Via Laughing Squid

If you think those professionally created dog costumes are mean to force pets to wear, then you really ought to see the options people turn to when they don’t just buy the pre-made costumes. I guess this is why Star Trek fans shouldn’t get drunk.

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I’m afraid that this product is exactly what it looks like: a bracket that holds a stringed plastic bag while attached to your dog’s tail. At the expense of your dog’s sense of dignity, you get to avoid scooping up after him:

People invented many useful technologies to make people’s life easier. All these inventions (car is among one of them) are to make people’s life more convenient. With our “PooTrap”, no need to worry that dogs will cause environment pollution, and as dogs owners may know, actually it’s difficult to pick up poop.

Link via CrunchGear (where there is a video)

A list of the biggest dog breeds in the world, including the usual suspects and such marvels as the Deerhound, the Neapolitan Mastiff and the Leonberger.  Strange how the bigger the dog, generally the softer and dafter that they get.  Out of this entire collection there is only one who would be good as a guard dog.

The English Mastiff, in terms of mass is the big daddy of all dogs and its dimensions particularly that of the male are something to be believed. Every inch of this dog gives off strength and power – if the planet Krypton had a dog then this would probably be it. The world record holding breed for weight, this dog can weigh up to two hundred and fifty pounds for a male and around fifty pounds less than a female.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.

On average dogs can learn approximately 165 words. The more intelligent dogs can acquire a vocabulary awareness of around 250 words. In math skills, dogs are aware of numerical differences up to five digits and can calculate the difference.

Link Image Via nyominx

Heart-Kun is an adorable dog with a heart marking on his side. He’s a minor internet celebrity and was even featured on the post we recently linked to featuring animals with heart markings. His parents recently gave birth to a new litter, including little Love-Kun who also has a heart marking. Now that is one special family.

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Although the fifth leg didn’t seem to bother the pup, Siegel intended to have it removed, but was shocked to learn it would cost another $2000 to do so. Fortunately, a Manhattan vet was so touched by Siegel’s actions that he offered to remove the leg free of charge.

“She is beautiful, she’s not a freak, she’s a normal little puppy dog and she should be just like all the others,” Siegel said.

Precious was born with a fifth leg protruding from her stomach, between her hind legs. The extra leg has six toes.

Link Via Dogster Dog Blog

If you were impressed with the dog who wet nursed the red panda cubs, just wait till you read about the dog who adopted these tiger cubs. The page also has photos of a dog in the same area that adopted two lion cubs.

What I want to know is why are all these wild animal mothers being so negligent to their young in the first place. Thank goodness for these good natured dogs or these cubs would be in big trouble.

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When rare red pandas in China were abandoned by their mother, zookeepers looked high and low for a wet nurse. The farmer’s dog pictured was one of three candidates for the wet nurse position.

“No one knew she was pregnant. Her plump body and bushy hair disguised her protruding belly until the babies were born,” said Ha.

Link Via Ohmidog

Of course, my first suggestion might be putting up lost dog posters and checking the local shelter, but I’m no animal behavior expert.

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Photo via Duo de Hale [Flickr]

A man in Kenya found his dog had ate eaten his rent money. To get even, he brought his dog to the police station and ordered the police to arrest his dog. When they wouldn’t do it, he offered them a “fee” to get them to lock the dog up. The officers put the dog in jail and ended up getting fired for taking a bribe as a result. The dog was returned to his owner who now is trying to sell the pup and trying to figure out how to pay rent.

I’m somehow doubting the landlord will buy the old “my dog ate my rent money” story.

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This is one well-trained pug puppy. Who needs a nanny when you can just have your baby and dog go out on a walk together?

Link Via I Has A Hot Dog

For those of you who love animals in costumes, WebEcoist has a collection of 20 great pet cosumes. There’s bunnies, kitties, doggies and more. I personally perfer the Harry Potter cat above. What’s your favorite?

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Ulrock the rottweiler adopted this eight week old wolf cub and the pair is quickly becoming best friends. If you’ve ever wondered how well wolf cubs could get along with a domesticated dog, here’s your answer. They sleep together and even howl at the moon in unison. Little Beldaran the wolf was abandoned by his parents at only four days old.

Preserve director Heather Grierson, 49, said: ‘It’s a true love story that has touched the hearts of everyone who visits the preserve.

‘You just can’t be in a bad mood when these two are around. It’s impossible to look at them and not feel good.’

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WebUrbanist has a great post with 15 images that look fake, but aren’t. The dog above has two mutant genes that make it look like it’s loaded on steroroids. The other 14 images are great too.

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A team led by Byeong-Chun Lee of Seoul National University in South Korea created the dogs by cloning fibroblast cells that express a red fluorescent gene produced by sea anemones.

Lee and stem cell researcher Woo Suk Hwang were part of a team that created the first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005. Much of Hwang’s work on human cells turned out to be fraudulent, but Snuppy was not, an investigation later concluded.

This new proof-of-principle experiment should open the door for transgenic dog models of human disease, says team member CheMyong Ko of the University of Kentucky in Lexington. “The next step for us is to generate a true disease model,” he says.

Link -via Buzzfeed

See also: Fluorescent cats, fish, pigs, and rabbits.

Gunther IV, the German Shepherd: This dog actually received his inheritance from his father, Gunther III, a German Shepherd who received an inheritance from Karlotta Liebenstein, a German countess. Gunther IV has bought a Miami villa from Madonna and won a rare white truffle in an auction. Learn more about Gunther IV on a Web site devoted to him and those he hangs out with. He’s worth about $372 million right now, thanks to his growing trust fund.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by sunnyspeaks.

A yearly contest in my hometown of San Diego is the Ugly Dog Contest, we actually held one of the first ugly dog contests in the world. This years winner was little Chomper, a boxer mix who can’t put her toungue in her mouth. A video of the event can be found here. It’s very cute to see happy Chomper’s toungue wagging about throughout the event.

The event actually is great for our city’s animal shelters, as all proceds are donated to them. The San Diego Kiwanis put the whole thing together and other catagories include best St. Patrick’s Day costume, Best outfit, cutest dog and best mutt.

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I have no doubt that this will probably upset the animal rights advocates out there, but at least it will provide a little more happiness to all of you Japanophiles. That’s right, it is exactly what the title post indicates, a dalmatian operating a tricycle. Personally, I love Japan.

Link Via Ohmidog!

This is quite possibly the most ridiculous picture I’ve seen of a dog all day -and I see a lot of crazy dog pics. Seriously, he looks like he’s ready to join a 1960’s all-girl singing group. More pictures behind the scenes of the Westminister Dog Show are availible through the link.

Link Via Cute Overload

But Puppy Bowl? That’s an event I can get behind. Plus, the website is kind of awesome. It gives you tips and tricks on how to throw the perfect Puppy Bowl party (tail-gate, hahaha), offers tongue-in-cheek interviews with the Puppy Bowl “ref,” lets you check out the starting lineup and even gives you a sneak preview of this year’s Star Spangled Banner Performer – Pepper the Parrot.

I confess – part of the reason the Puppy Bowl is awesome is because I think it’s funny to watch my dogs watching dogs on T.V.

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This is justs precious. I like to think of them dancing in this same formation when they grow up.

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It may be a little mean and silly, but I think this cute little dead dog purse is fantastic. Only problem, it’s $317.

“Based on Paris Hilton’s discarded pet Tinkerbell is an upside down dead Chihuahua. This design capitalizes on the trend of carrying a small dog as a fashion accessory.”

Link Via Craftzine

This little man’s snoring and sleeping position are just irresistible. It’s like a growling leaf blower. Plus, he’s unwake-able.

Link Via Giggle Sugar

If you’re a fan of Upside Down Dogs, Muttskis or any of the other cute dog blogs that have been featured on Neatorama, you are bound to love Dogs In Outfits. As the name says, it’s all dogs in outfits, that’s it. And it’s very cute as a result.

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