i Still Love Dogs

Official Portrait of Astronaut Leland Melvin Is Best in NASA History

Okay, so maybe that title is a little bit on the superlative side, but I think most dog lovers will agree that the official NASA portrait of astronaut Leland Melvin is extra special.

Back when he was an astronaut, Melvin sneaked his two dogs, Jack and Scout, into the studio for his photo shoot. The portrait, discovered yesterday by journalist Adam Aton, went viral after he shared it on Twitter.

Melvin is multi-talented: He is the only astronaut to have played for the NFL. In 1986, he was drafted as a wide receiver by the Detroit Lions, and later played with the Dallas Cowboys. After a hamstring injury ended his football career, he started working for NASA in 1989.

While he was 25 feet under water, participating in training to perform spacewalks, Melvin could not hear the test director on his headset. It turned out he had injured his ears and become deaf. He underwent emergency surgery, which partially restored his hearing. Melvin was able to overcome this hurdle and went on to log more than 565 space hours, helping to build the International Space Station.

But wait, there’s more! Melvin was appointed head of NASA Education and helped develop the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education plan. He’s currently the host of the Lifetime series, “Child Genius,” which features gifted children preparing for a national intelligence competition.

According to his website, Melvin “uses his life story as an athlete, astronaut, scientist, engineer, photographer and musician to help inspire the next generation of explorers to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.) careers.”

Wow. And he’s a devoted dog dad.

Photo via Twitter

US Consumers Spent $73 Billion on Pet Products and Services in 2014

U.S. consumers spent a whopping $73 billion on pet supplies and services last year, according to a new report from market research firm Packaged Facts. That’s 38 percent more than was spent in 2013.

Pet ownership is also slightly on the rise. In 2014, 45 million U.S. households owned dogs, and 30 million households owned cats.

What’s slightly on the decline is the popularity of larger breeds of dogs. The results of the Packaged Facts Pet Owner Survey show that more households (52 percent) have small dogs under 25 pounds than medium-sized, 25- to 40-pound dogs (32 percent) or larger dogs (42 percent). The company said the increase in smaller dog ownership could be due to the aging human population.

The pet population is also aging, which Packaged Facts said accounts for the increase in spending, especially on products and services that treat age-related conditions such as arthritis, diabetes and cancer. Almost half of the pet parents surveyed — 45 percent — have a dog who is 7 years old or older.

Another factor in the increased spending is the obesity epidemic in pets. About 52 percent of U.S. pets are overweight, which can lead to health conditions requiring expensive treatment.

How much did you spend on your dog last year?

Photos: Sophie Shih Tzu, Packaged Facts

Meet 2 Chihuahuas and Their BGFs (Best Giant Friends)

Two Chihuahuas and their much, much larger canine friends have been making news headlines this week. A video of a Chihuahua sleeping on a Great Dane has gone viral, and news is spreading of an abandoned Chihuahua puppy in England who was taken under the wing of the shelter manager’s Neapolitan Mastiff.

But is it safe for such small dogs to be around dogs 25 or (many) more times their size? Yes, according to Pedigree.com, as long as the dogs are socialized at an early age and closely supervised the first few months they’re together.

Without further pawdo, meet Kizzy and Dayna, and Digby and Nero.

Kizzy and Dayna

Although it was posted on YouTube by Emma Pia back in 2011, an adorable video of a teeny Chihuahua in PJs falling asleep on top of a giant Great Dane has gone viral over the past couple of days.

Kizzy, the Chihuahua, is 3 years old and “little sister & bestie” to 4-year-old Dayna, the Great Dane, according to the unlikely pair’s Facebook page. (Check it out for lots of ridiculously cute pictures of this pair.)

Digby and Nero

Digby, an abandoned 5-week-old Chihuahua puppy who weighs only a pound, quickly became best friends this week with Nero, a 126-pound Neapolitan Mastiff. Nero, a former pound pup himself, belongs to Anna White, manager of the RSPCA Southridge Animal Centre.

Two days ago, Digby was found dumped next to trash cans outside an apartment complex in London.

“When I first came across Digby, he was frozen and shaking, and had just been left to die,” RSPCA animal collection officer Natalie Ditchfield told the London Evening Standard. “He’s really tiny — small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.”

Digby and Nero became instant chums, White said. “It was as if the little fellow took on Nero as his personal minder,” she told the Standard. “Poor Digby had to be rescued once by the RSPCA, and it seems like he is taking precautions to make sure nothing can happen to him again.”

Ditchfield agreed. “He seemed to come out of his shell as soon as we arrived at Southridge and spotted Nero,” she said. “It really is a love story.”

Digby has been adopted, according to the shelter’s Facebook page today. Hopefully his new forever family will arrange play dates with Nero so this love story can continue.

Photo via Facebook

Uber Taxi App Delivers Adoptable Puppies for 15 Minutes of Playtime

The big game is this Sunday — that’s right, Puppy Bowl XI — and to celebrate a little early, the taxi app Uber has teamed up with Animal Planet to deliver adoptable puppies today in 10 U.S. cities.

Uber drivers will deliver the puppies and their representatives to offices only, not private residences. You can request a puppy until 3 p.m. today. When the puppy is delivered, you and your co-workers will have 15 minutes to play with the little guy or gal.

“If you’re lucky enough to request puppies to your office, please make sure your boss or building is going to be cool with the woofs and that no one in the area is allergic,” Uber advises. “Also, having a dedicated room for puppy playtime is preferred.”

The cost is $30, which is donated to the participating animal shelter or rescue in your city. If you want to adopt the puppy, the representative will assist you.

Here’s hoping the puppies don’t get too stressed out, and they all find forever homes.

For more information about “Puppies on Demand,” visit the Uber website.

Photo via Facebook

GoDaddy Pulls Offensive Puppy-for-Sale Super Bowl Commercial

GoDaddy — you know, the internet service provider whose former CEO bragged about shooting an elephant (a story I broke in 2011) — announced this afternoon that, due to growing social-media outrage, it has pulled an offensive commercial it planned to air during Sunday’s Super Bowl game.

The spot was apparently a bone-headed parody of a tear-jerking Budweiser commercial that is also airing during the game. (Budweiser is on a roll with tear-jerking commercials featuring dogs. Have you seen “Friends Are Waiting“?) The Budweiser spot features a lost puppy.

So did GoDaddy’s commercial, which was deleted from YouTube this afternoon. As it begins, three Golden Retriever puppies are in the back of a pickup truck. One of them jumps from the moving vehicle. As violin music swells, the puppy manages to walk all the way back home, through a rainstorm and across highways and train tracks.

“It’s Buddy! I’m so glad you made it home!” his dog mom says, happily scooping Buddy up into her arms.

“…Because I just sold you on this website I built with GoDaddy.”

What the hell?

According to the New York Times last July, GoDaddy was switching to the ad agency Barton F. Graf 9000, which created the spot, in an effort to change its image.

“The desire to alter brand perceptions was prompted by factors that included changes in ownership and the executive ranks at GoDaddy, a growing backlash to the sexy ads and a realization that more women were becoming part of the company’s target audience of small-business owners,” the Times reported.

Barb Rechterman, chief marketing officer of GoDaddy, told the Times, “We are for the entrepreneur, we are for women, we are for women entrepreneurs.”

Wait, so women and entrepreneurs want to see commercials supporting the online sale of dogs?

What the hell?

Bad, bad move, GoDaddy. Maybe no one shot an elephant this time, but you sure shot yourselves in the foot.

The internet provider Namecheap.com is offering to make a donation to the Humane Society of the United States for every account transferred over from GoDaddy (use the code PUPPYLOVE). Namecheap was also one of the first internet providers to donate account-transfer proceeds to elephant-welfare organizations after the news of the elephant killing broke. This is not a paid endorsement, but i Still Love Dogs is powered by Namecheap, most certainly not GoDaddy.

Photo via YouTube