Doggie Surfing! Filming for Dog Movie "Marmaduke"

She is as happy in this frothing ocean as a Thoroughbred at the racetrack. She adheres to the surfboard as if her feet are made of Velcro.

How does an Australian Kelpie, bred to be a hardworking ranch hand, do an about-face and become an aimless surfer dude?

Easily, says her owner, Michael Uy. She has many talents, only one of which is herding sheep. The girl also enjoys mountain biking and rock climbing.

"But surfing is her No. 1 love," says Uy, 39, a software program manager in San Diego. "We surf together almost every day after I get off work."

Abbie girl is front and center in a dog-surfing craze spreading along California's beaches. These coastal canines fuel the real-life action scenes in the film Marmaduke, due in theaters June 4 from 20th Century Fox.

One of the story lines about the popular comic-strip character centers on the Great Dane being pressured to enter a surfing contest after his family moves to Southern California. Lee Pace, William H. Macy and Judy Greer are human stars in this live-action comedy in which the dogs speak. Owen Wilson is the voice of Marmaduke, an awkward teen Dane who is a very reluctant surfer up against champions such as Abbie.

Abbie got the nod to be a film extra (and earn $400) when the professional animal trainers who work with the Great Dane that plays Marmaduke saw Abbie surf in a contest, Uy says. Several of the other surfing dogs cavorting in the rough water with Abbie and Uy this particular day also will be extras in the film, which Uy says will show dogs surfing some spectacular waves.

Dog surfing is mostly recreational, but Uy and the dedicated followers bouncing up and down in these San Diego-area waves are taking it to new heights. Five competitions, up from two the year before, were held in California last year, drawing hundreds of dogs and thousands of spectators. The number of surf classes for dogs also is growing.

[Source: USATODAY]

Puppy Cam! Famous Dog Has New Litter

Doggonit, they're back!

Tens of thousands of dog lovers were glued to the tube Monday as a puppy cam captured every move of a California shiba inu and her new brood.

The San Francisco pooch named Kika became a canine Web celeb in 2008 when a total of 3 million Internet users clicked in to watch her care for her puppies.

The live video feed went viral and puppy fans from 74 countries spent a total of 1.2million hours watching as the mother dog groomed and fed her babies.

More than 100,000 were watching last night on ustream.tv/SFShiba as the cute mom nursed a litter of five puppies, which were born Saturday.

This time there were three males and two females - the last litter was equally split with three of each sex.

The tiny pups squirmed in a doggie bed and battled to nuzzle up close to their mom.

Two of the newborns were snoozing late last night.

[Source: NY DAILY NEWS]

Obama Dog Bo Has His Very Own Christmas Stocking!

Bo, the White House dog, has his very own Christmas stocking.

First lady Michelle Obama made the revelation in an interview with Oprah Winfrey for her "Christmas at the White House" special, scheduled to air Sunday night on ABC. Winfrey's company, Harpo Productions, released excerpts of the interview on Friday.

Asked which members of the Obama family have a stocking, Mrs. Obama named President Barack Obama, herself, daughters Malia and Sasha and said "of course" the family's Portuguese water dog has one too. This will be the first Christmas for the puppy, which the Obamas got in April.

She did not give any details about what might be going into Bo's stocking, but said Santa loves Bo.

[Source: The Associated Press]

Honda's Element Aimed At Pets

Selling cars used to be an easier game: Pick a wide swath of the market and advertise your products to as many people as possible. But that's not working so well these days. Customers want products tailored to their needs and desires.

Enter Honda's Dog Friendly Element, a version of the boxy, small sport utility vehicle aimed at dogs -- and their owners.

A $1,000 dealer-installed accessory package on the 2010 model that went on sale today adds a ramp, a soft-sided dog cage, a water bowl, special doggy badges and a few other features to the Element.

[Source: Cleveland.com]

Judge Rules That Former Couple Must Share Pug

When a couple splits up, what happens to the pooch?

A New Jersey judge settled the question Monday in a costly legal battle that began after the Monroe Township couple called off their engagement in 2006. Eric Dare and Doreen Houseman are to share Dexter, the pug they both love.

They'll get turns caring for the dog, starting promptly at 6 p.m. every fifth Friday.

Judge Ronald Tomasello said the arrangement would last until 6-year-old Dexter "goes to the Great Kennel in the Sky."

Originally, the judge awarded the dog to Dare. The police officer had paid for the dog.

Houseman appealed, saying a dog should not be treated as just another possession.

[Source: Philly.com]

Dogs Better Than Coffee & TV (Survey Confirms What We Already Know)

Nearly half (48 percent) of dog owners polled said they could not live without their dog on a daily basis — more so than their morning cup of coffee (35 percent), television (35 percent), car (26 percent), cell phone/BlackBerry (23 percent) or best human friend (15 percent).

In conjunction with the launch of a new website and contest, Beneful, a brand of dog food made by St. Louis-based Nestle Purina Petcare, has released the results of its recent survey on dog ownership.

According to the national survey, 95 percent of the 797 dog owners age 25 and up polled agreed that spending time with their four-legged friend lifted their spirits. Ninety-two percent said their dog helps them enjoy life’s simple pleasures! To check out all the survey findings, head on over to DogChannel.com

Puppy Love!

Wedding attendants are going to the dogs. Pet-loving couples are increasingly including their dogs (and other pets, to a much lesser degree) in the wedding parties of some very formal weddings — decking them out in silk and satin and including them in the receiving line, on the program and in the portraits.

"Many people think of their pets as family members, and they wouldn't think of having a special day like this without that member," says Celina Bojorquez, co-owner of Beverly Hills Mutt Club, purveyor of upscale accessories like doggie tuxedos & couture dresses.

Though pets have long been part of casual weddings in meadows, on mountaintops and at the seashore, their participation in chichi affairs at the most ornate churches and refined locales is a more recent phenomenon.

Lynda Barness of I Do Wedding Consulting in Philadelphia always warns couples of the potential perils — "animals are animals, and they can do animal things," she says — and so far all her clients have concluded that including pets in the wedding party isn't necessary. "But as part of the portraits, that's just fine."

Beth Anstandig of Los Gatos, Calif., acknowledges there may be matters to work out but says having her own two border collies involved made her wedding day even more special. "The guests loved it," she says. And she and her husband cherish the photos featuring the dogs — especially because both have since died.

"We are so happy to be able to look back and remember them as they were on that day."


To read the full story, USAtoday.com

Dog-O-Matic

When a dog comes home from a walk filthy and smelling of something unmentionable, the temptation sometimes is to throw the darn thing in the washing machine.

Well, now you can. An entrepreneur has come up with the Dog-O-Matic, a mini car-wash that transforms pets from filthy to fluffy in half an hour.

Frenchman Romain Jarry, 31, who insists the device is not cruel, hopes to introduce it to Britain next year after it proved a huge success in his home town of St Max, near Nancy.

Mr Jarry said: 'It doesn't take long to wash the dog - usually a few minutes. The longest part is the drying. The dogs don't seem to get bored. They just sit there and they come out clean.

'We are really hoping it will take off and that other places will start buying in the machines.

'I would love them to be available in England within the next year or so but at the moment people are still getting used to the idea.'

Creative Grooming

In my quest for something fun and Friday-ish, I stumbled upon The Pet Blog's post on creative grooming. Check it out!

Downward-Facing Dog Goes To The Dogs

In Chicago, Kristyn Caliendo does forward bends with a Jack Russell terrier draped around her neck. In Manhattan, Grace Yang strikes a warrior pose while balancing a Shih Tzu on her thigh. And in Seattle, Chantale Stiller-Anderson practices an asana that requires side-stretching across a 52-pound vizsla.

Call it a yogic twist: Downward-facing dog is no longer just for humans.

Ludicrous? Possibly. Grist for anyone who thinks that dog-owners have taken yoga too far? Perhaps. But nationwide, classes of doga — yoga with dogs, as it is called — are increasing in number and popularity. Since Ms. Caliendo, a certified yoga instructor in Chicago, began to teach doga less than one year ago, her classes have doubled in size.

Not everyone in the yoga community is comfortable with this.

“Doga runs the risk of trivializing yoga by turning a 2,500-year-old practice into a fad,” said Julie Lawrence, 60, a yoga instructor and studio owner in Portland, Ore. “To live in harmony with all beings, including dogs, is a truly yogic principle. But yoga class may not be the most appropriate way to express this.”

Appropriate or not, this is how it works: Doga combines massage and meditation with gentle stretching for dogs and their human partners. In chaturanga, dogs sit with their front paws in the air while their human partners provide support. In an “upward-paw pose,” or sun salutation, owners lift dogs onto their hind legs. In a resting pose, the person reclines, with legs slightly bent over the dog’s torso, bolster-style, to relieve pressure on the spine. Because dogs are pack animals, they are a natural match for yoga’s emphasis on union and connection with other beings.

Ms. Yang, 39, a financial analyst in Manhattan, has gone to doga classes for more than a year. Though she says that her 10-pound Shih Tzu, Sophie, has helped deepen her stretches by providing extra weight, the main reason she goes is to bond with her dog. “I always leave with a smile,” she said.

To read the full article, head on over to NYTimes.com

The World's 10 Smartest Dog Breeds (Aside From Your Dog, Of Course)

PetMD came up with a list of the top ten smartest canine breeds in the world. Your dog, obviously, is the smartest individual dog in the world. As is mine. Anyway, here are PetMd's top 3 picks:

#1 Border Collie - The Border Collie comes in at number one. Because of their extraordinary intelligence and high energy, it is essential to give Border Collies an occupation or purpose, or you may well find your home wrecked upon your return from a long day at work. They have an intense connection with humans, making them ideal work and home companions. However, keep this in mind: Border Collies invariably will not do well unless they are with people who are as high energy as they are; they do best with humans who can participate in dog sports with them. Also, because of their background as herding dogs, they may be frustrated by small children, as their inability to herd the children as they deem fit is confounded. For the right human, the Border Collie is well behaved, exceptionally good at learning, and a true-blue companion.

#2 Poodle - Easily trainable, steadfast, and sharp-minded, Poodles flourish in human company. Even with the frou-frou hairdos, Poodles are sometimes made to endure and can be quite effective as guard dogs, especially the standard sized Poodles. In fact, the “poodle clip,” was created specifically for the working Poodle, so that it could swim more effectively, while still having fur to protect its organs as it went about the business of hunting and retrieving. The Poodle excels at training and obedience, and also loves creative play time. This is what made them so popular as circus performers. But, this can be a drawback as well. If left alone to boredom, Poodles can be creative about finding ways to amuse themselves, sometimes finding trouble along the way.

#3 German Shepherd - The German Shepherd was originally bred specifically for intelligence. Smart, courageous, and protective, the Shepherd is one of the most dependable of companions. They learn tasks after only a few repetitions, and obey first commands nearly always the first time it is given. They are eager to learn new tasks, as this gives them direction and purpose — very important for a Shepherd. Besides being used for herding animals, they are often used as guard dogs, police dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, and have even been trained by the military for parachute jumps.

To read the full article, head on over to DivineCaroline.com

Creature Comforts in the Workplace

Dog-friendly policies that allow employees to bring well-behaved pets to work are popping up in many offices and, by all accounts, the downsides are minimal.

"We always say around here that dogs have never broken anything. People have, but dogs, never," says Jeanine Falcon of Replacements Ltd., the Greensboro, N.C., company that warehouses more than 13 million pieces of china, crystal and silver and ships out thousands of items every day.

"It's part of our culture here to have pets," says Falcon, adding that most days there are 20 to 30 leashed or crated or behind-baby-gates dogs in the building, and even the occasional cat or rabbit.

A recent survey by the American Pet Products Association Manufacturers found that 20% of companies now have pet-friendly policies (though experts believe most are smallish operations), and the Humane Society of the United States just released Dogs at Work: A Practical Guide to Creating Dog-Friendly Workplaces by California dog trainer Liz Palika and HSUS' Jennifer Fearing, who ushered in HSUS' dog-welcoming policy two years ago.

Not all dogs are great candidates as workmates, including those that have shown aggression to people or other animals; dogs that are territorial, hyperactive or vocal, and dogs that are very shy or fearful. They must have decent manners, be house-trained and well-groomed, and they must not be "food thieves … have constant flatulence, snore loudly or be excessive droolers," says Palika. "The owner may not be bothered by any of this, but co-workers probably would be."

Owners must be honest in appraising their pets, but many can't or won't acknowledge the realities of personality characteristics or behaviors that would make the animals an annoyance or distraction at work.

Palika estimates that only about one out of 50 or 75 dogs is already a perfect candidate for work detail. "The vast majority … need good, basic obedience training and better social skills," she says. About half of those, with training, can become office-appropriate.

To read the complete story, head over to USAToday.com

iPhone Goes To The Dogs

For its latest iPhone diversion, developer Ngmoco aims to give iPhone owners all the joys of having their very own pet with almost none of the housebreaking. The newly announced Touch Pets Dogs promises to combine the connectivity of a social network with the fun of playing with puppies- creating a pet simulator game for a new generation.

In Touch Pets Dogs, players will be able to adopt, pet, train, dress, and play with a 3-D puppy dog of their choosing. During a demonstration of the game at Ngmoco’s San Francisco office, I got to see the five breeds initially available to the player. I threw a ball around the room, took the puppy outside his home to the backyard, and watched as the l’il critter realistically responded to affection and in-game objects like Frisbees and brushes.

Players will also be able to customize the appearance of their puppy by buying gear with an in-game currency called “Puppy Bucks.” An easy-to-use dropdown menu allows you to navigate through the many grooming, toy, and clothing options.

While these interactions will surely please casual gamers, more dedicated players can enjoy a deep and rich experience as well. If you get a ball for your puppy, simply throwing it around the room will look different every time you throw it thanks to a sophisticated physics engine. You can train the dog to grab the ball, jump on command, and do many other tricks. You can then guide and train your puppy to unlock achievements, accomplish missions, and even pursue careers. You can share your puppy’s accomplishments with mission postcards and train your dog in one of five career tracks- like crime-fighting or fashion.

The most interesting aspect of Touch Pets is the app’s built-in social connectivity. You can create an account and show stats on your puppy and see your friends and their puppies in the global feed. The global feed will tell you many important things about a puppy beyond simply listing accomplishments and stats. For example, if you see in the global feed that your friend’s dachshund is hungry, you can hop over to his house and feed it.

[Source: Macworld.com]

Labs Fetch Top Dog

The lovable Lab is once again the most popular purebred dog in the U.S., the American Kennel Club announced this morning. For the 18th consecutive year, the Labrador retriever bested all other breeds in registration numbers by a wide margin.

Registration statistics for 2008 also show that the bulldog, which snagged a top-10 position last year for the first time in more than seven decades, increased in popularity, moving up two slots in the standings into number 8.

The other breeds on this year's top 10 include, in descending order: Yorkshire terrier, German shepherd, golden retriever, beagle, boxer, dachshund, poodle and shih tzu.

The AKC also released the most popular breeds in the 50 largest U.S. cities, a list that demonstrates an affection in some cities for breeds that don't make the national top-10 list.

The athletic vizsla leapt onto the year's top 10 for Chicago, just as in 2007 and 2003. The miniature pinscher made the top 10 in San Diego and Sacramento. The great dane was 10th in St. Louis, the Bullmastiff 10th in Indianapolis and the Siberian husky 9th in Long Beach.

[Source: USA Today]

Pet Owners Willing to Sacrifice for Fido

Despite a tough economy, pet owners are willing to sacrifice many luxuries to provide for the needs of their canine companions, according to a recent survey conducted by the American Kennel Club.

The survey of more 1,000 people on akc.org found that more than 96 percent of respondents with a taste for gourmet coffee would give up their latte habit to save money for their dog’s expenses. Ninety-seven percent also said they would forgo massages or spa treatments to afford a vet bill, and nearly 79 percent would cancel a teeth whitening appointment so that Fido could have his annual teeth cleaning.

The only item that seems to compete with people’s love for their pooches is Internet access, with more than 70 percent of respondents indicating they would not be able to abstain from their Web addiction.

Not at all surprising, if you ask me. How else are people going to read dog clothes horse?!

[Source: Kansascity.com]

Puppy Cam Goes Viral

It takes a village of some 4 million to raise six cuddly pups, or at least to ogle them for hours on end.

What began as a way for a San Francisco couple to keep tabs on their pet Shiba Inu dog Kika’s litter while they were at work has become an unlikely Web sensation. Viewers flock to the Internet site Ustream.com to monitor the 5-week-old brood’s growth, watching the energetic pups paw and play with one another and have at it with their chew toys.

Ustream co-founder Brad Hunstable explained how a private dogsitting webcam became a worldwide phenomenon. “It started out in the Ustream offices; our employees found the puppies when they only had one or two viewers,” Hunstable told Holt and Robach.

“We fell in love with them, we forwarded them to our friends and our friends forwarded it to their friends. The next thing you know, mothers were forwarding it to daughters and daughters were forwarding it to mothers. Over 4 million people in the last week have tuned in to watch.”

The universal reaction among viewers is “Awwww...how cute!” as the fuzzy brown look-alike pups live their lives out in a “Truman Show”-like existence. Viewers know the pups by name and by the color of their collars. They include boys Aki (green collar), Akoni (black collar), Ando (blue collar) and girls Autumn (purple collar), Ayumi (yellow collar) and Amaya (red collar).

[Source: msn.com]

Massachusetts Bans Pet Rental Companies

Did you catch last week's entry on the dog rental company, Flex Petz? One of our readers (Thanks, snickdog!) tipped us off to the fact that Flex Petz will not be opening in Boston as planned, because Massachusetts passed a bill in September banning pet rental companies because of "public health, public safety, consumer concerns, and ethical issues."

What do you think? Is paying a price for part-time pet ownership better than nothing, or is it ethically unsound?

[Source: The Boston Globe]

Chihuahua: Hollywood's New Top Dog

For hard proof this economy is going to the dogs, consider the box office, where a little bitch wearing Chanel has had the no. 1 movie in the country for two weekends in row. In the last 10 days, Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua, the tale of a pampered Angeleno pooch who ends up fending for herself in grittiest Mexico, has wagged all the way to a $52.5 million take, beating two-legged stars like Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bill Murray.

When everything seems murky and complicated in the world, people are interested in checking their minds at the door," says Steve Mason, box-office analyst at FantasyMoguls.com. "So they're going to a movie about a dog in a purse."

Drew Barrymore is the voice of Chloe, a high-maintenance, pink booty-wearing Chihuahua with a hovering celebrity owner (Jamie Lee Curtis). When her careless dog-sitter (Piper Perabo) takers her to Mexico, Chloe is kidnapped by a dog-fighting ring. But in this pup's harrowing quest to return home to the Hills, she ends up finding her inner bark.

If that all sounds like a high-budget Taco Bell ad to you, you must be a cat person, because audiences have rated Beverly Hills Chihuahua an "A," according to Cinemascore, a company that exit-polls moviegoers. "People love this movie," says Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution. "When that happens, they become your marketing team." Thanks to good word of mouth, on the second weekend, more couples, as opposed to just families, chose to spend their date night with talking dogs.

A voice cast heavy on Latino talent has also helped make the movie a hit with Hispanics. George Lopez plays Papi, a Chihuahua-next-door with a crush on Chloe; Andy Garcia is Delgado, a German Shepherd with a shadowy past, and Edward James Olmos, Paul Rodriguez, Placido Domingo, Luis Guzman and Cheech Marin voice other key roles.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua has more than just escapism going for it. As the tale of an over-indulged heroine learning to do without her day spa, it might appeal to moviegoers tightening their family budgets. "Sometimes a Chihuahua is not just a Chihuahua," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office analysis firm Media By Numbers. "The whole riches-to-rags story resonates well in this economic climate."

In a season when studios typically start unfurling their Oscar fare, the success of mindless chow like Beverly Hills Chihuahua may not bode well for more serious-minded films due in coming months. "Anything with a dark theme this fall, I'm questioning," says Mason. "People are rejecting war and politics as a subject."

Those needing even more canine catharsis will not have long to wait. Bolt, an animated movie about a doggie superhero, with Miley Cyrus and John Travolta in the voice cast, opens in November. In December there's Marley and Me, in which Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson learn life lessons from a neurotic Labrador. Because at the end of the day, moviegoer, there's no problem man's best friend can't lick.

[Source: TIME Magazine]

Hollywood's (Unlikely) Hot Dog: the English Bulldog

Hollywood's dog o' the moment is an unexpected breed, one that has famous owners ranging from Samantha Ronson to Adam Sandler to John Legend. That dog is the English bulldog, he of the blunt nose and invisible neck and solid legs. To a lesser extent, stars also have fallen in love with the French bulldog, but really, right now, it's all about the English.

Sound exciting? You too can have one of these trendy canines, which come complete with frequent breathing problems and the occasional snoring habit. And all for the A-list price tag of...about $1,000 to $2,000! That is the average price of a purebred bulldog pup. For that sum, you can get the whole package: the adorable squashface, the bat ears (in the case of a French bulldog) and the chocolate brown eyes. The eyes! That will melt your sooouuul!

SamRo's English bulldog is named Cadillac. Legend has one called Puddy. And Adam Sandler has had three: the late Meatball and Matzoball, and a newer English bulldog named Babu. (You can see photos and video of the dogs on Sandler's official site.)

"Some English bulldogs are very energetic," L.A. Dogworks president Andrew Rosenthal tells me. "Others are kind of laid-back. French bulldogs are out of their minds. When we have a bunch of them in our dog park, they all hang out together. I call them the French mafia. But the English are more like dopey troublemakers."

[Source: E! Online]

The Latest in Social Networking: Take Your Dog for a Walk

For Melissa Hotchkiss, going on a hike with her Shar-Pei mix, Jesse, took the bite out of meeting new people. The two were among 13 humans and 6 dogs on a hike at Harriman State Park, 45 miles north of New York, by Leashes & Lovers, a social networking group, and its partner, Outdoor Bound, to meet new people. If love or friendship was in the air, their dogs would sniff it out.

Hotchkiss said she's not a social person, but that having her dog along made meeting new people less stressful because the emphasis was on sharing an activity both she and Jesse could enjoy. "I'm coming for her to be outdoors, and I'm just tagging along," she said.

Leashes & Lovers is among a handful of social networking Web sites catering to dog-centric lifestyles, hoping to help the similarly minded connect for fun, friendship or romance. Similar groups include datemypet.com, ­doglover.biz and dogup.com. Rather than simply give dog lovers the virtual tools to meet online, Leashes & Lovers works to bring them together. The New York-based group has held swim meets, pub crawls and cocktail parties. It partnered with Outdoor Bound to bring these hikers and hounds together.

Dogs are always invited on these outings, but they're not required. Some people with shy dogs bring photographs of them to share. The point is to be with people who understand when you tell them that you grieved for weeks when your puppy died, said Sheryl Matthys, a former TV reporter who founded the company. "You really feel like you get to experience something special with your dog and other dog lovers," she said.

Linda Biel, 44, of New York, said she had been to several dog-lover events, including a scavenger hunt, with Bolly, her Shetland sheepdog (named after the Bollinger brand of champagne). On this hike, Bolly would bound up the trail ahead of the pack, then return to Biel, who would spurt water from a bottle into the dog's mouth. Biel said she, too, wasn't on the hike to find love. ”The important thing is I'm doing something I like as opposed to an event that's geared toward meeting people,“ she said.

Matthys said about 70 percent of people who go to Leashes & Lovers events are women. That would seem to bode well for Henry Lin, 44, one of the few men on the hike. He brought along Nala, a shepherd-chow mix. He said such events can help weed out mismatches. "There's dog people and non-dog people,' he said. "I've gone on dates where I didn't proceed because the women didn't like the dogs."

Matthys, who also writes a column for the Web site under the name DogSexpert, said she does not know of anyone who has developed a significant relationship after meeting through Leashes & Lovers. Said Connie Magee, the leader of the hike and founder of Outdoor Bound: "We don't ask. But I do see lots of friendships formed, and lots of phone numbers and e-mails are exchanged."

[Source: Lexington Herald-Leader]