Category: News

New ‘Fetch’ App Identifies the Breed of Your Dog — and You

If you’ve ever wondered what’s the main breed of your lovable mutt, but don’t want to spend lots of cash on a DNA test with dubious results, Microsoft has just launched Fetch!, a new, free app that may answer your question.

And if you’ve always wondered what breed of dog you happen to look like, the app does that for you, too.

Fetch!, released to coincide with the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show next week, uses artificial intelligence to determine the breed based on a photograph. It also provides information about dog breeds.

“We wanted to bring artificial intelligence to the canine world. We wanted to show that object recognition is something anyone could understand and interact with,” said Mitch Goldberg, a development director at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, U.K., where his team created Fetch!.

“There was an interest in creating a framework that would allow you to take a domain – in our case, dogs – and recognize numerous classes, such as breeds. We were interested in enabling an app to allow you to make object recognition extraordinary, fun and surprising.”

It’s surprising, for sure. It identified my Pit Bull mix Ella as an Italian Greyhound in one photo, and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier in another.

And it identified my former dog Ginger (R.I.P.) as an Old English Sheepdog when she was, in fact, a 10-pound Maltipoo — although, okay, I can see a slight resemblance in her facial features.

Fetch! did a slightly better job with my dog Leroy, which it identified as an American Staffordshire Terrier. He’s more of an American Bulldog/Mastiff combo, but at least the app didn’t say he was a Pug.

If the dog’s breed is unknown, Fetch! displays a percentage of the closest breed, and you can tap it to display the top five breeds that could be in the dog.

Should you use a photo of, say, a cat or an inanimate object, the app will respond with the message “No dogs found!” and will even try to identify the non-dog with a question such as, “Hmm … this looks more like … flower?”

But if you take or upload a photo of a person, the app “will kick in to its hidden fun mode,” Goldberg said. “And in a playful way, it’ll communicate to you not only what type of dog it thinks you are, but also why. It’s fun to see if the app knows it’s not a dog. A lot of the time, it’ll tell you what that image is. When there’s not a dog, you still want to use it.”

I tried using a selfie, and apparently Fetch! thinks I’m a Chihuahua: “Quick-witted, loving, wary of strangers & other dogs.” Except for the “wary of other dogs” part, I guess this is pretty spot on.

Fetch! features the same artificial intelligence used by other Microsoft Project Oxford-powered apps, including How-Old.net, which guessed my age as 39. These apps really are amazing!

The free Fetch! app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store. If you don’t have an iPhone or iPad, you can try Fetch! online at What-dog.net.

These 3 Super Bowl 50 Commercials Are Doggone Good

Like me, I’m sure a lot viewers watch the Super Bowl for the commercials more than for the game itself. Last year, the best and worst of those commercials all happened to feature dogs. Could this be repeated with Super Bowl 50?

Well, unfortunately, some beloved dogs from previous years will not be appearing in Super Bowl 50 commercials.

Because they didn’t increase beer sales, Budweiser commercials will no longer feature cute puppies. And Subaru is not a sponsor this year, so we won’t be seeing any adorably hilarious dogs driving cars — but the good news is that Subaru will instead be airing brand-new commercials during my favorite game this Sunday, Puppy Bowl XII.

Although the Budweiser puppy and Subaru pooches will not be with us during Super Bowl 50, the following three ads airing during the game feature dogs, and will likely show up at the top of most “Best Super Bowl 50 Commercials” lists. Here’s a sneak peek.

Heinz Ketchup’s ‘Weiner Stampede’

The most talked-about commercial for Super Bowl 50 is this spot that features dozens of Dachshunds in hot dog costumes racing in slo-mo across a field to people (“The Ketchups”) dressed as Heinz products, as Harry Nilsson’s mournful “Without You” plays.

As the weiner dogs leap into the arms of the humans, covering them with kisses, a voice-over says, “It’s hard to resist great taste.”

“It’s a really simple idea that pairs two things that people really love to see,” Michelle St. Jacques, vice president of marketing for condiments and sauces at Kraft Heinz, told TODAY. “One, which is a stampede of wiener dogs, and two, the Heinz brand, which consumers feel a lot of love for.”

While it’s a little disturbing to present dogs as food products, this commercial will likely be considered one of the best of the best.

Doritos’ ‘Doritos Dogs’

FEB. 8, 2016 UPDATE: Congratulations to Jacob Chase — “Doritos Dogs” was the $1 million prize winner in Doritos’ final “Crash the Super Bowl” commercial contest.

This contender in the final Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” commercial contest stars three rescue dogs, Miz, Bolt and Logan. After a few failed attempts to enter a store and snatch some Doritos, the trio comes up with a disguise that somehow fools the store manager.

Jacob Chase, the writer and director of “Doritos Dogs,” had to call several stores in the Los Angeles area before he found one — Gerrards Market in Redlands — willing to participate in filming the commercial.

The specialty supermarket’s owner, Tom Reingrover, “was so very generous and accommodating,” Chase told The Press Enterprise. “He loves dogs and was already aware of the Crash the Super Bowl commercial contest. It was such a lovely place to film.”

Honda’s ‘A New Truck to Love’

You might get “Babe” flashbacks watching this Honda commercial that stars a flock of sheep.

But instead of chanting “Baa-ram-ewe,” these sheep begin singing Queen’s “Somebody to Love” after a rancher and his dog drop them off in a field and then drive off in the Honda Ridgeline pickup truck that brought them there — with the song playing on the audio system.

So, why are the sheep singing? Because their mode of transportation is the “only truck available with a truck bed audio system,” the dog explains at the end of the spot. “A new truck to love.”

Photo via YouTube

Police Officer Uses Drone to Find Dog Lost in Woods

While drones may be generally regarded as an annoyance rather than an asset, they can actually serve some very positive purposes (like saving endangered whales, for instance). In Pennsylvania over the weekend, Upper Gwynedd Township Police Officer Yin Young found another great way to use an unmanned aircraft: to find a young dog lost in the woods.

After Kasi, a 10-month-old German Shepherd, escaped from her yard Saturday, her dog dad, George Burns, tried to find her on foot, according to the Upper Gwynedd Township Police Facebook page.

When that didn’t work, Burns got the attention of Officer Young, who came up with the idea of attaching a high-definition video camera to his personal drone. He sent it flying over the nearby woods.

It took only about 20 minutes for the drone to find Kasi. She and Burns were happily reunited soon afterward.

“It was a good idea,” Sergeant John Brinkman told NBC10. “We don’t want the owner to get hurt unnecessarily looking for the dog.”

In the near future, this good idea might be used more often by the police department to locate missing pets as well as people. “It’s all about keeping people safe,” Brinkman said.

Photo via Facebook

Nominate Your Own ‘Superdog’ for a Hero Dog Award

Did your working or non-working pooch do something extraordinarily good this past year? Nominations are now being accepted for the 2016 American Humane Association (AHA) Hero Dog Awards.

The purpose of these awards, sponsored by the Lois Pope LIFE Foundation, is to “celebrate the powerful, age-old bond between dogs and people – and give recognition to courageous acts of heroism performed by our four-legged best friends,” according to the official website.

“Every year, hundreds of dogs vie for the coveted title of ‘American Hero Dog’ at the American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards,” said Dr. Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of AHA. “Dogs do so many extraordinary things to improve and even save our lives, and this contest is our way of saluting our best friends.”

Through March 2, you can nominate your hero dog in one of the following eight categories:

  • Emerging Hero Dogs (ordinary dogs who do extraordinary things)
  • Law Enforcement Dogs
  • Arson Dogs
  • Service Dogs
  • Therapy Dogs
  • Military Dogs
  • Search-and-Rescue Dogs
  • Guide and Hearing Dogs

Beginning March 16, you can vote online for your favorite in each category. The winner of each category will receive $2,500 for their designated charity partner, a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating the role of working dogs.

The category winners will be flown to Los Angeles to attend the 6th Annual Hero Dogs Award ceremony, to be held Sept. 10 at the Beverly Hilton. The ceremony will be televised on the Hallmark Channel in the fall.

During the awards ceremony, one of the category winners will receive the prestigious American Hero Dog of the Year honor, and an additional $5,000 for their charity partner.

The 2015 recipient was Emerging Hero Dogs category winner Harley, a 15-year-old Chihuahua who spent the first 10 years of his life living in a cage in a filthy puppy mill. Harley suffered several physical ailments, including the loss of an eye when his cage was power-washed while he was still inside it. He was the inspiration for the Harley to the Rescue campaign, which raises funds to rescue and provide medical care for more other puppy-mill dogs.

According to AHA, the Hero Dog Awards show is viewed by more than 1 billion people around the world each year. It has featured celebrity participants including Betty White, Martin Short and Fred Willard.

Founded in 1877, AHA was the first national humane organization in the U.S., and is the only one dedicated to protecting both children and animals.

Photo via Facebook

Ohio K9 Officer Jethro Dies After Grocery Store Shootout

As police in Canton, Ohio, entered a grocery store early Saturday in response to a burglary alarm activation call, a suspect opened fire.

The only officer shot was Jethro, a 3-year-old German Shepherd who was hit by four rounds. The suspect was shot in the leg and taken into custody.

Jethro was rushed to the Stark County Veterinary Emergency Clinic.

“Jethro is still resting,” the Canton Police Department wrote on its Facebook page this morning. “Three rounds struck him but none struck vital organs and did not require surgery. He did take a round to the bridge of the nose but it did not penetrate. However, it did cause some brain trauma.”

Jethro’s partner, Officer Ryan Davis, never left the K9’s side.

According to a Canton Police K9 Association Facebook post last night, Jethro was a “bullheaded badass tough guy. He is fighting the good fight.”

Tragically, it was a fight the hero dog could not win.

“It is with heavy hearts that we must tell you all that we lost Jethro,” the police department wrote on its Facebook page today. “He took a sudden turn for the worse and has passed.”

A touching video posted this afternoon on Canton Police K9 Association Facebook page shows officers saluting as Jethro’s body is removed from the clinic.

 

“We at the Canton Police Department want to thank all of you for your support over the last couple of days,” the department wrote on Facebook. “Your prayers and well wishes have meant so much.”

Beth Philley of the blog doggies.com launched the Canton K-9 Jethro Vet & Vest Fund GoFundMe campaign to raise money for bulletproof K9 vests. As of late Sunday afternoon, more than $19,000 has been donated.

“In visiting with several officers at the emergency clinic today, I was told that the bulletproof vests in Canton are very old, very heavy and very rarely used,” Philley wrote.

As for Jethro’s unidentified shooter, “Although there are federal statutes that specify harsh sentences for killing a federally employed K9, the rules here in Ohio are pretty weak,” Philley wrote on her blog. Killing a police dog is considered a third-degree felony, and can result in a prison sentence of up to five years and a maximum $5,000 fine.

“Not nearly enough,” Philley wrote, and I’m sure a lot of us agree.

Donations in Jethro’s memory may be sent to:

Canton Police Department
Attn: K9 Unit
221 3rd St SW
Canton OH 44702

Liberty Tactical Equipment, a clothing store in Wooster, Ohio, announced it is printing $20 T-shirts in honor of Jethro. All of the proceeds will go to the Canton Police K9 Association.

Rest in peace, K9 Officer Jethro.

Photos via Facebook; Facebook

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