iPad Camera Tryout....hmmm

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Fuzzy Lia

Out of balance Zoe

Too dark Lia

Ok, that's kinda funny, Zoe

Bad symmetry, Lia - but great teeth!

Circus Mirror Effect...

eww...feel nauseated!

First time user - need more practice!!!

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We think the stick you threw washed out to sea....will this do?

via dogster 

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A Pitbull and a Movie Star - or two

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Did you know Mary Tyler Moore has diabetes?

Did you know her pitbull dog, Spanky, alerts her

when he senses her sugar waning?

Hundreds of former New York City shelter animals have Mary Tyler Moore to thank for helping them get into forever homes over the years. The comic legend, along with actress Bernadette Peters, is a founder of Broadway Barks, which had its 12th annual adoption event in Times Square on Saturday.

But, it turns out that Moore has her own pooch to thank for rescuing her on a regular basis. Spanky, a pit bull, and one of the actress's four dogs, lets her know when her blood sugar gets low.

"He helps me with my diabetes –he can sense when something's not right," Moore told PEOPLEPets.com at Broadway Barks. "He will come and sit and stare at me until I do something about it."

Moore and her husband also share their home with Shadow, a 12-year-old golden retriever; Shana, an 11-year-old miniature schnauzer; and Bond, James Bond, a 9-year-old Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen. They each have wonderful vocabularies, she says.

Though the brood is getting older, Tyler Moore tries not to think about it too much. "They're all very healthy, and they get along beautifully. It's like having four kids."

Three of the kids share her king-size bed, and "they each have their specific positions on the bed," Moore says. "Spanky is happy down on the bottom. That is, until my husband gets in the bed, and then he somehow finds his way up to the top and spreads out across my husband's pillow."

And...did you know Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters

have "Broadway Barks" that sponsor

adoption events in Times Square?

I'm thinking THIS is the kind of press/news that the

wonderful Pitbulls need.  

And Broadway Barks, the book by Peters...awesome!

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We're In Love Again!

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Yep.

.

There's another AWESOME pet photographer "out there".

The Mommy and her connected on Facebook.

And...she's also a humanitarian and active in

supporting humane activities and speaks out against abuse!

Right now, she's in a competition for the best 'Odd Couple'
with The Pet Studio ~

and this is her entry (we voted for):

.

Sug & Coon

  Here's what she says about her own dog, Sug:

"Sug is the best dog ever. 
She's never met a stranger no matter what breed of animal or human. 
She's patient and loving 
and always mothering someone or some thing."

If you look for her on Facebook, this is she...

(we love Dog Mom photos!!!)

...and of course, her awesome site:
(yes, we started with the Pets page :)

Go See:

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Bob

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Happy Friday, from Bob the Goat

You all know that if she had her druthers,

The Mommy would live on a farm, don't you?

Zoe:  I'd hate it.

Lia:  I'd love it ~ bring on the chickens - woohoo!

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H2O

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The weather man claims the heat is "oppressive".

By Thurday, it will be 100+ degrees in Michigan

Thank God for water. 

The shooting/spraying type.

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Kraft Slices

Don't Cook Your Dog!

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...just a short Canine Service Announcement....

(of course, this also includes kitties, girbles and ladybugs!)

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Smile

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"Money will buy you a pretty good dog, 

but it won't buy the wag of his tail..or the smile on his face.."
- Henry Wheeler Shaw

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Missed a spot

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Pacemakers

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Beamer

Larry Foreman said he didn't hesitate when doctors told him two years ago that his dog would need a human pacemaker in order to live.
Foreman, head of genealogy and special collections at the Ouachita Parish Public Library, said his dog Beamer's heart had stopped beating while being sedated for a routine teeth cleaning at his veterinarian's office.
"The veterinarian told me 'The only thing that will save this dog's life is a pacemaker, and the only place to do that is the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine,'" he said. "My wife and I don't have any children, and when you tell me my dog's going to die, it's a no brainer."
Now Beamer, a 16-year-old Scottish terrier, can be seen running playfully around the yard and barking zestfully at passersby.

Larry Foreman sits with his Scottish terrier, Beamer, who is to become part of an LSU study
to develop a pacemaker specifically for dogs. / Ben Corda/The News-Star

"He's a puppy again," Foreman said. "He doesn't know he's old."
Because of Beamer's success with the pacemaker, he has become part of a unique research study by the same veterinarians at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine who implanted his pacemaker in August 2009.
Dr. Romain Pariaut, assistant professor of veterinary cardiology at LSU, is the principal investigator in the study, which involves analyzing how to properly adjust pacemakers so they are more equipped for canines.
"There are no companies at this time that make pacemakers specifically designed for dogs," Pariaut said. "So what we are doing is figuring out the best way to program the human pacemakers so they will work better in dogs."
The pacemakers are usually donated unused by manufacturers and can cost a dog owner anywhere between $2,000 and $2,500 to have implanted into their pet, Pariaut said.
But because the device is programmed for a human's heart, there are some modifications that need to be made.
Pariaut said part of his research involves making the pacemaker's sensor more sensitive to the changes in a dog's heart rate.
"Dogs have faster heart rates than people, and the heart rate varies much faster and wider than ours do," he said, adding that a dog's heart rate can go from about 40 beats per minute while resting to more than 200 beats per minute while active.
The goal is to modify the pacemakers so they can accommodate such a wide range in heart rate, he said.
"With pacemakers, you can choose the range," he said. "We want to give them a big range so they can behave like normal dogs."
Because Beamer has had the pacemaker for two years, researchers can obtain more insight into how their adjustments are working, Pariaut said.
"Now that we have more information, we can see what the pacemaker is doing and adjust the sensors," he said.
Beamer will be making another trip to Baton Rouge this week for his next checkup, which he does about every six months, Foreman said.
The veterinarians will conduct exercise tests that will monitor Beamer's heart rate while resting, walking and running. Pariaut said there are around 20 dogs involved in the ongoing study.
Pariaut said he usually has around 15 to 20 dogs brought in to receive a pacemaker in a year, but that the number of dogs that actually need the device is probably much higher because some owners may not be willing to pay for it.
But Foreman said it was worth the expense to have his dog healthy and happy again.
"This will impact a lot of dogs going forward," he said. "It's a huge deal because there aren't many dogs with pacemakers out there. He's become quite a celebrity."

via TheNewsStar.com

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Dog Art on Mondays ~

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Ralph & Simon

We are SMITTEN with these brothers~

Ralph is the Daschund and Simon, the English Bulldog...

...and the Master Photographer: Serenah

They are Serenah's kids.

See more:

serenahphotography.com.au

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Smile......

Macaque monkey takes great self-portraits!

To capture the perfect wildlife image, you usually have to be in exactly the right place at precisely the right time.

But in this instance, David Slater wasn’t there at all and he still got a result.

Visiting a national park in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, award-winning photographer Mr Slater left his camera unattended for a while.

It soon attracted the attention of an inquisitive female from a local group of crested black macaque monkeys, known for their intelligence and dexterity.

Fascinated by her reflection in the lens, she then somehow managed to start the camera. The upshot: A splendid self-portrait.

 One of them must have accidentally knocked the camera and set it off because the sound caused a bit of a frenzy, said Slater, 46.

'At first there was a lot of grimacing with their teeth showing because it was probably the first time they had ever seen a reflection.

'They were quite mischievous jumping all over my equipment, and it looked like they were already posing for the camera when one hit the button.

'The sound got his attention and he kept pressing it

'At first it scared the rest of them away but they soon came back - it was amazing to watch.

'He must have taken hundreds of pictures by the time I got my camera back, but not very many were in focus. He obviously hadn't worked that out yet.

'I wish I could have stayed longer as he probably would have taken a full family album.'

Slater, from Coleford, Gloucestershire, was on a trip to a small national park north of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi when he met the incredibly friendly bunch.

The crested black macaque is extremely rare and critically endangered.

These were part of a study group near a science base in the region, home to researchers from Holland.

'I teamed up with a local guide because I knew about the apes and wanted to photograph them,' said Slater.

I walked with them for about three days in a row.

'They befriended us and showed absolutely no aggression - they were just interested in the things I was carrying.

'They aren't known for being particularly clever like chimps, just inquisitive.

'Despite probably never having any contact with humans before they didn't feel threatened by our presence, and that's why I could walk with them during the day.'

via dailymail.co.uk

It's Love!

Thor nibbled on his owner’s ear. The pit bull worked hard to awaken Kemper Hunter and his girlfriend, Sarah Laughlin. Instantly, they understood Thor’s urgency. They desperately attempted to fight the smoke to get to Shelby, their 3-month-old baby, but couldn’t. The fire department arrived to find the panicked couple screaming outside their home, assuming they had lost their baby and their dog in the still-blazing fire.
Just then, they all witnessed Thor pulling the bassinet out the door to safety. Baby and dog were OK.

Last summer, Hunter, who lives in Bristol, Ind., told me, “I’m convinced if it wasn’t for my dog, we would all be dead.” The firefighters agreed.
At one time, scientists believed that dogs responded this way to save themselves, and in the process, they sometimes happened to save human lives. But in this and many other stories like it, the dog clearly risked his life. It appears as if Thor made a conscious decision to seek out and save the baby. How can this behavior be explained?
Certified applied animal behaviorist Patricia McConnell has a pretty simple explanation. “It’s love,” she says.

Animal behavior experts once maintained that such self-sacrificing decisions are impossible for animals to make, and any suggestion they could was nothing more than anthropomorphizing — ascribing human emotions and thoughts to animals. To believe our pets react, and are motivated to risk their own lives based on love, was considered absurd and without any scientific basis in fact.
“As scientists, we’re taught to look for an explanation,” McConnell says. “Dogs form similar social attachments (as people do), and I believe it is quite simple: A dog does totally love us,” McConnell says. “People will place their own lives in jeopardy for those we love, and so will dogs.”
But are dogs truly capable of love? “We selected (over thousands of years) for a close bonding relationship with dogs,” veterinary behaviorist Karen Overall says. “And as a result, today the neurochemistry in dogs’ brains is nearly identical to ours.”
It turns out people and dogs both have corresponding rising oxytocin when they’re having a good time with one another.


Do dogs make a conscious decision to play Lassie in real life? Animal cognition researcher Alexandra Horowitz has a special interest in anthropomorphism. She says canine valiant behavior may be explained in terms other than thoughtful conscious choices, such as a dog acting out anxiety (the dog smells smoke and is overwhelmed physically by its affects) or exhibiting attention-seeking behavior. Dogs are creatures of habit, she says, and also extremely observant. Being social, dogs tend to “tell us” whenever there’s a change in the environment. It’s another thing to believe that dogs are actually intent on knowingly saving our lives; not that they wouldn’t, but Horowitz wonders whether they really have the capacity to think about it in those terms.

Overall is on a task force studying military working dogs. She says that when dogs fail and soldiers die, the dogs behave differently. “They seem acutely aware of human deaths,” she says. “Without question, they act depressed.”
Some cats, dogs and even parrots seem to mourn after the death of a family member. But are they mourning or responding to change?
Horowitz says that in some ways her dog probably understands her better than her husband does. “When I walk in the door, the dog doesn’t think, ‘Wow, she’s had a crummy day.’ But the dog knows instantly if something is wrong,” Horowitz says. “Dogs are such keen observers of cues which we are unaware we are even sending. It’s not what we say, it’s how we act. And probably how we smell.”


But do our dogs all unconditionally love us? “The truth is, probably not,” McConnell says with a laugh. “We have selected for dogs to be incredibly adaptable. There are so many examples of what they put up with. I’m not necessarily talking about abuse, but people who confound and confuse their dogs just because we are people. Yet, those dogs still hang in there. They still love us and might give their life for us. But do some dogs have a stronger bond with their people than others? Of course.”

Dogs are called our best friends for a reason. Call it love or call it social bonding, but whatever you call it, it’s impressive. And it works both ways. We still have a lot to learn about what dogs really think, but it’s likely that dogs understand us better than we understand them.

via USAWeekend

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Independence Day

"Here's to the land of the free...

and our hope for no homeless.

...and don't drink and drive, Zoe!"

"Mind your own business, Lia.  
Cheers, All!   (**clink**)

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Dogs of the 9th Ward - Louisianna

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D9's extremely intelligent and hardworking Slim, who was in rescue for over a year because he was too big and energetic for most families, has really found an amazing home in Wyoming on a ranch -- where he's learning to help out with the horses! Here he is leading the horses out to the pasture.

DOGS OF THE 9^th WARD

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Nice People ~ Oscar's Law

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Chris SUPPORTS OSCAR'S LAW

Oscars Law's mission is to:

1.Abolish the mass production of dogs. Make factory farming of dogs illegal

2.Ban the sale of factory farmed companion animals from pet shops, online and in print media

3.Encourage people to adopt animals from shelters, pounds and rescue organizations

4.Tell the Government to commence running a REAL campaign about true and responsible pet ownership

GO TO oscarslaw.org to find out how you can be part of the solution and help us shut down puppy factories.

via Last Chance Dog Rescue


P.S.  Mommy said to mention we support Oscar's Law also! 

 ~ Lia Louise and ZoeZo, Canine Princess Extraordinaire
 

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