Category: News

Tissue Alert! World Dog Awards Features a Touching Reunion

For the second year in a row, the World Dog Awards, which airs Thursday night on The CW, will celebrate pooches for their work in entertainment, health services and the military, along with everyday dogs who found fame on the internet.

The show, hosted again by George Lopez, was taped Saturday in the appropriately named Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport. (This seems to be a pawpular venue for canine-related shows. “The All-Star Dog Rescue Celebration,” which has aired on Thanksgiving night the past two years, is also taped there.)

“Dogs are man’s best friend, and tonight we celebrate the best of the best,” Lopez said at the start of the show. “By the end of the night, there won’t be a dry eye in the house – or a dry place to stand. I’m still cleaning off my shoes from last year.”

During the ceremony, winners received edible awards in categories ranging from “Top Movie Dog,” to “Celebrity Dog Selfie,” to “Most Dog-Like Animal.” The winners were determined by online votes.

Have a box of tissues handy: For the first time, the World Dog Awards will feature a live reunion between Brandon Harbaugh, an active-duty U.S. soldier, and Saint, his pet dog. This touching reunion was arranged in partnership with Dogs on Deployment, a nonprofit that connects service members with volunteers who take care of their pets during service commitments.

The celebrities appearing at the World Dog Awards include Paula Abdul, Amy Brenneman, Melissa Rivers, Joanna Krupa and JB Smoove.

Kirstin Maldonado, from the Grammy Award-winning vocal group Pentatonix, sings “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” in honor of Toto from “The Wizard of Oz” and “The Wiz,” who’s receiving The Dog’s Life Achievement award. The award celebrates an iconic dog character in pop culture that has had a huge cultural impact.

And the Golden Hydrant Goes To…

Congratulations to all the 2016 World Dog Awards winners and nominees. The following dogs took home the coveted Golden Hydrant.

Dog of the Year: Gabe, who is the service dog — and served as the best man — for U.S. Army veteran Justin Lansford, who lost a leg in an IED explosion.

Top Movie Dog: Carlos as Max from the film, “Max”

Most Amazing Journey: Sissy, a Miniature Schnauzer who managed to find her way to her dog mom in a hospital

Top Trick: Norman, the Bike Riding Dog

Hot Dog: Dally, the Horserider

Top TV Dog: Scruffy as Whoopty Woo in the television series “Empire”

A-List Dog: Finn and Amanda Seyfried

Pawpular: Manny the Frenchie

Supporting Actor to a Dog: Jason Schwartzman in the film “7 Chinese Brothers”

Best Dressed: Doug the Pug

Top Spot: “Mastery” / Chase (a commercial that featured a dog)

Celebrity Dog Selfie: Wolf and Joey Graceffa

Happiest Reunion: Calla and Wrigley and Army E-5 SGT Krista Coey

Most Dog-Like Animal: Amy Trotter, the Pig

My New Puppy: iJustine and Matt

Pop Dog: “All of Me” (Charity) – John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Puddy and Pippa

Performing Pups: Nathan

Best Rescue: Joel Silverman and Duchess

Top Video Game Dog: River as Dogmeat from “Fallout 4”

The World Dog Awards aired Jan. 14 on The CW.

Photos via Twitter; Twitter

Raging New Internet Debate: How Would a Dog Wear Pants?

JAN. 15, 2016 UPDATE: Even the president of the United States has now officially weighed in on this very important debate. In a YouTube interview released today, Barack Obama said he believes dogs would wear two-legged pants on their hind legs. Four-legged would be “a little too conservative,” Obama said. “Too much fabric.”

Earlier this year, hundreds of thousands of internet users debated whether a dress was gold and white, or blue and black.

Now there’s something equally important to argue about. If a dog could wear pants, how would they be worn?

The query, tweeted last night by Jared Keller, the deputy editor of Maxim magazine, had already been shared more than 25,000 times by this afternoon.

“On Monday night, I shared a photo on Twitter of two dogs wearing pants. This doesn’t sound like that exciting an event, but the internet quickly lost its damned mind,” Keller wrote on Maxim today.

The illustration is by someone named Norbert, the administrator of the Utopian Raspberry – Modern Oasis Machine Facebook page.

“I created it [Sunday] night at about 2 or 3 a.m.,” Norbert told Maxim. “I saw some dogs wearing pants, and I thought about how they don’t really have arms so their pants should technically go on every leg. I just tried both versions.”

Here’s what I think: Since pants have two legs, the dog would wear them on his rear legs. According to Keller’s Twitter poll, which has gotten more than 20,000 responses, most people agree with me.

So does Norbert. “Personally, I think the second one looks better,” he told Maxim.

Social media users are voicing their opinions with the hashtag #dogpants. Some are including photos of their dogs in denims.

So, how do you think a dog would wear pants? Please leave a comment below, as this is a very important question.

Photo via Twitter

Thanks to Their Dogs, Canadian Couple Wins $14 Million Lottery

Kira and Chancey probably got a good scolding earlier this month after the German Shepherd and Golden Retriever ripped apart boxes of brownie and scone mixes.

One of the culprits had white flour around his mouth, while the other dog’s muzzle was covered in brown powder.

“They couldn’t blame each other,” their dog mom, Monique Etienne, told the Edmonton Sun.

To clean up the mess, Monique sent her husband, Christian, to the store to rent a carpet cleaner.

While he was there, he decided to buy a lottery ticket. It was a really good decision.

The Etiennnes are now $14.5 million richer — thanks to that big mess made by their dogs Kira and Chancey.

The couple told the Edmonton Sun they will continue to work, and the only thing that will change is “the number in the bank account.”

Monique said they’ll “enjoy New Year’s Day with a couple of snow bikes.”

Maybe they’ll spend part of the fortune on purchasing a carpet cleaner — although renting one instead may be luckier.

Photo via Twitter

Padi Is Free! Florida Judge Rules Dog Bite Law Unconstitutional

The holidays just got a lot merrier for Paul Gartenberg, a veterinarian in Brandenton, Fla., and his Black Lab mix, Padi.

In June, Padi bit off part of a 4-year-old’s ear when the boy lunged at the dog, who was hiding under a desk in the office of his owner, veterinarian Paul Gartenberg.

Padi, who’d been rescued from an abusive situation, often stayed under the desk in his “safe spot,” Dr. Gartenberg told the Associated Press.

“This dog was purely acting defensively,” he said. “I can’t think of a dog that wouldn’t have reacted the way Padi did.”

Even so, Manatee County Animal Services took Padi and determined he would have to euthanized under Florida’s “Damage by Dogs” statute. The decision was upheld by a county hearing officer.

Padi’s case sparked global outrage. The Free Padi Facebook community currently has more than 27,400 members.

According to the Damage by Dogs law, if a dog who has not been labeled as “dangerous” bites someone deeply enough to require stitches or reconstructive surgery — even if that someone provoked the dog or happens to be a murderous intruder inside your home — the dog must be confiscated and euthanized.

That’s right — the state that was first to enact a controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, which protects humans who defend themselves against real or perceived threats, does not extend that protection to most dogs.

Today Judge Andrew Owens decided the law is unconstitutional, and set Padi free, clearing the dog “of any type of death sentence, for lack of a better word,” Charles Britt, the attorney for Gartenberg, told WWSB.

“(The statute) results in an unconstitutional delegation of discretion in animal control authorities insofar as the statute provides animal control authorities no guided authority to select the severity of consequences for a dog’s actions,” the judge ruled, according to the Brandenton Herald.

“The Court finds it illogical and inconsistent that an owner of a dog facing a dangerous dog investigation and classification under (the dangerous dog law) may assert certain defenses such as provocation, defense of a family member or person from an unjustified attack, but an owner of a dog subjected to the provisions of (the severe dog bite statute) enjoys no such defenses, notwithstanding the statute’s constitutional validity, to prevent that statutory mandated execution of their dog.”

Florida Rep. Greg Steube also thinks the law is unfair, and has introduced a bill (HB91) that would save the lives of dogs who bite only to protect themselves or their family members, or bite someone who is trespassing.

“Most people don’t realize that the statute is so black and white,” Steube told 10 News. “If a dog does this damage and it causes this type of injury they have to be euthanized. I thought it was absurd when I read the law.”

If passed, the new law would allow all pet parents due process, giving them the opportunity to explain the circumstances of a biting incident. A hearing officer would then decide whether the dog should be euthanized.

The bill has been passed unanimously by two committees so far. Steube told 10 News he hopes it makes its way to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk by January.

In the meantime, Manatee County Animal Services has been ordered to no longer enforce the Damage by Dogs statute and to close any pending cases in which the law was said to have been broken.

A staff member at Gartenberg’s veterinary clinic told the Brandenton Herald the vet couldn’t talk at the moment, but was “ecstatic.”

Photo via Facebook

Why Carly Fiorina Has Probably Lost All Her Supporters with Cats

In the bizarre “Why Cats Are Better than Dogs with Carly Fiorina” video posted on YouTube yesterday before the Republican debate, the presidential candidate, surrounded by dogs on a sofa, rattles off the benefits of having them as pets.

A dog is happy to see you; dogs are your own security detail; dogs are sad when you’re gone; etc., etc.

She also gets in a dig at our current president: “You know, President Obama ate one of your cousins,” she says to the puppies on her lap. “Vote Republican.”

Oooh, burn! Funny how she doesn’t mention that former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney went on a long road trip with his dog on the roof of his car.

But she does confess she enjoyed eating Milk-Bones as a child.

Since dogs are so nice, Fiorina continues, they can help her prepare for debates. (Huh?) She names the dogs surrounding her after the other candidates.

Then it’s time for another Obama burn. “Not even Obama has a cat,” Fiorina says. Ouch! But wait — doesn’t this also burn all Republican cat owners?

“I mean, I really like cats, too,” Fiorina adds, as she’s hugged by a feline. Mmmkaay.

But wait, there’s more!

As Fiorina pets a fluffy puppy and admires its coat, she says she’s been unfairly compared to Cruella de Vil. Then a yellow Lab and Dachshund who are watching Fiorina’s video appear, and in very creepy voices say they don’t like cats and ask who Cruella de Vil is.

“Are those treats? Oh HELL yeah,” one of the dogs “says.”

The End!

“Although I love dogs myself… this is probably the worst campaign advertisement we’ve ever had,” wrote Dom Musser in a comment on the video, which as of this morning has around 190 thumbs down and 95 thumbs up.

The video wasn’t produced by Fiorina’s campaign but by the Independent Journal, a website “dedicated to reporting the latest news and politics that matters to you and can be shared with people of all political persuasions and information-levels,” according to its Facebook page.

It’s unclear why Fiorina thought it was a good idea to alienate so many of her voters. Perhaps she’s of the mindset that any publicity is good publicity.

As P.T. Barnum, the founder of another type of circus, once said, “I don’t care what the newspapers say about me, as long as they spell my name right.”

Photos via YouTube

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