Learn Rover's Real Age: If your dog was human, how hold would he really be?

03/17/2010

 

New Dog Age Calculator Helps You Find Out

I've always been a bit confounded about how to best figure out my dogs' actual age...particularly because I probably don't like accepting the fact that they are getting older. Ignorance is bliss, right?

When figuring a dog's age, do you multiply how long your dog has been alive by 7? That's the calculation I've always been told to follow, but is that accurate? It would seem that a dog's breed and size plays a big part in their overall life expectancy.

If you have equally been in denial about your dog's actual age or perhaps just didn't know how to best calculate their age, Pedigree has developed a handy and more accurate way to determine how old your dog's age is in dog years with their handy online calculator which I discovered courtesy of our friends over at The Fun Time Guide .

Solve the mystery and use this dog age calculator to find out your dog's real age -- in dog years.  

NOTE: It may look like your dog is getting really old fast within the first couple of years, but notice that after your dog reaches the age of 3, you are only adding 4 years to your dog's age each year. 

A New Dog Breed of Bedbug Super Sniffers?

03/16/2010

Proud Graduates of the Bed Bug Scent Training Academy

Many of us have seen or heard of bomb sniffing dogs, drug sniffing dogs, cancer sniffing dogs and, of course, the ubiquitous crotch-sniffing dogs. But professionally trained bedbug sniffing dogs? Seriously?

Yes - you read right. Cruiser the bedbug sniffing Puggle and his handler Jeremy Ecker are founders of the Bed Bug Inspectors, a company that inspects hotels, college dorms and office buildings, suburban and luxury homes and apartments for bedbugs. Cruiser and his other canine cohorts are graduates of a bonafide Bed Bug Scent Training Academy and dogs like Cruiser can inspect a room for pests in minutes, whereas lesser mammals like human beings need hours to conduct a visual inspection.

The new and furry front line in an escalating and confounding domestic war on bedbugs

Bedbug-sniffing dogs are adorable yet amazingly accurate and researchers at the University of Florida report that well-trained dogs can detect a single live bug or egg with 96 percent accuracy. Gross, but amazing. 

The Bedbug Inspectors and their special sniffers are particularly busy in highly populated cities like New York, where neighbors are often separated only by bricks and mortar and one person’s infestation is everybody’s problem. Learn more about these specialized sniffers at The New York Times.

Warts and All: Rascal Reigns at the Annual Ugly Dog Contest

03/09/2010

Who're you calling ugly?

Rascal proved he's still got it at the 15th Annual Del Mar Ugly Dog Contest held here in San Diego, CA last weekend, as he reigned supreme at the annual contest attended by hundreds - all to benefit the Helen Woodward Animal Center.

A pure bred Chinese Crested pooch who is naturally hairless and born without a lot of his teeth, Rascal has scored a superfecta of Ugly Dog contests, as he is the only living Ugly dog to hold the coveted "Ring of Champions" title which makes him the current "World's Ugliest Dog." 

Fugly runs in the family

The butterface gene has apparently always run in Rascal's family, as he is a descendent of Chi Chi, who is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for winning the most ugly dog contests, according to his owner Dane Andrew of Sunnyvale.

“At first they think he’s ugly and then they think he’s cute,” Andrew said about Rascal's fans. “He grows on them in just seconds.” 

In fact, Rascal has amassed some famous fans along the way - as Andrew and Rascal have been interviewed by Jay Leno, Barbara Walters, Jane Pauley, Carson Daly and Kathy Griffin, according to his IMDB site.

Personally, I think he's darling in a "face-only-a-mother-could-love" kind of way! What do you think?

There's a Scotty in Your Potty: Top Random Gifts for Scotty Fans

02/18/2010

Sadie, the Scottish Terrier awarded America's top dog at the 2010 Westminster Kennel Club Show this week, secured what is considered to be the Triple Crown of dogdom, as she also took the National Dog Show in suburban Philadelphia in November and the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship in California in December.

The road was not always paved with biscuits for Sadie, however, as this was her third try at Westminster. In fact, she was spooked by strange sounds last time around at the big show and had a potty accident on the carpet at Madison Square Gardens. Poor girl! When you gotta go, you gotta go!

So in honor or Sadie, and all the super Scotty dog fans out there, I bring you the top five most random Scottie-inspired things to use while, well, in the potty! 

1) Scotty Dog Shower Curtain $29.99 

2) Scotty Dog Luxury Soaps $19

3) Scottie Dog Spare Roll Toilet Paper Cover $10

4) Scotty Dog Retro Tissue Box Holder $14.95

5) Embroidered Scottie Hand Towel $10