Dogs are great. They just are. They're a source of happiness, joy and unconditional love. I know mine is (pic above). However, they have a mind of their own which sometimes can be frustrating and other times a true danger. The good news is that with a little patience and knowledge you can hack your dog's brain. Read the rest
Miscalculation. Read the rest
Typing random thoughts into Google image search is always delightful, but "pets in lion manes" was especially delightful. Read the rest
Rover.com released its annual list of top dog names, with top ten lists for males and females. Many also made 2014's top human baby names. Read the rest
Ever wonder what it feels like to be a dog who FINALLY gets let off-leash? Witness the excitement as this GoPro-equipped yellow lab bounds across the rocks toward a very happy ending. Read the rest
I am always looking for dog toys that'll keep both a very large Great Pyrenees and a pretty small Cavalier King Charles happy. The Starmark Everlasting Groovy Ball is a winner!
The Groovy Ball is a big rubber chew with ridges to work your dogs gums. It has several holes that snugly fit the Everlasting treats. Dogs find the variety of treats delicious and work at the ball until its gone. Everlasting means 1-2 hours if your dog isn't a able to pop the treats out. Nemo, my Great Pyr, can remove the treat with ease while Pretzel the Cavalier enjoys a really long chew.
Most importantly the Groovy ball, as are all the similar Starmark toys, is quiet. This is a go to treat when I need to focus.
Triple Crown Everlasting Groovy Ball Everlasting Treat for Dogs, Chicken, Large, 2-Pack
Previously on Boing Boing: Treat Triad dog puzzle KONG Extreme dog toy Read the rest
Nemo and Pretzel love toys. On rainy days and lazy afternoons I am always trying out toy, after toy. The Treat Triad and the Kibble Nibble were both good finds, but nothing has eclipsed the entertainment power of our KONG Extreme. Read the rest
Leandro Almeida of Rio de Janeiro was cleaning out a storeroom at his family's home when a neighbor noticed a tortoise in a box meant for the trash. Turns out, the tortoise was Manuela, a family pet who they thought escaped back in 1982. From Edmonton Journal:
The red-footed tortoise feeds in the wild on fruit, leaves, feces and dead animals, a professor told Brazil's Globo.com, but can go up to three years without eating.
The family speculated that Manuela may have survived on termites while in the house.
"Family finds pet tortoise that was missing for 30 years as they clean out dead father's storeroom" Read the rest
[Video Link, by YouTuber GarrulousCrap]. Lonely cat is lonely. (via Tara McGinley) Read the rest
Photo: "Family Dinner," a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike (2.0) image from reway2007's photostream, shared in the BB Flickr Pool. Read the rest
An internet classic from 2010 by Chris Cohen. (via @nytjim @janinegibson @bengoldacre) Read the rest
Photojournalist (and author) Erin Siegal has a wonderful photo-essay up on the The Reuters Photographers Blog about "Fast Friends," a group that adopts/rescues "retiring" greyhound dogs that have been used in racing in Tijuana, Mexico. On Erin's personal blog, there are more photos that didn't fit in. What beautiful creatures. Read the rest
Sergei Barkmaninoff. (thanks, Joe Sabia) Read the rest
[Video Link] Hard to explain this web series, and this particular episode. Cats. Philosophy. Emptiness. Best to just watch. (via Andrea James) Read the rest
[Video Link]. Also contains an attractive woman in a bikini. (thanks, Tara McGinley!) Read the rest
There's a whole tumblr of stuff like this. Read the rest
Members of UKC Japan care for dogs rescued from inside the exclusion zone, a 20km radius around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (REUTERS)
As regular Boing Boing readers will recall, I traveled to Japan some months back with PBS NewsHour science correspondent Miles O'Brien to produce a series of stories about the aftermath of the March 11 quake/tsunami, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed.
In the course of reporting our story about Safecast's crowdsourced efforts to monitor radiation, we encountered abandoned pets inside the evacuation zone.
Reuters today published an article about new efforts to save animals abandoned by families forced to flee their homes after the nuclear disaster.
"If left alone, tens of them will die everyday. Unlike well-fed animals that can keep themselves warm with their own body fat, starving ones will just shrivel up and die," said Yasunori Hoso, who runs a shelter for about 350 dogs and cats rescued from the 20-km evacuation zone around the crippled nuclear plant.
The government let animal welfare groups enter the evacuation zone temporarily in December to rescue surviving pets before the severe winter weather set in, but Hoso said there were still many more dogs and cats left in the area.
"If we cannot go in to take them out, I hope the government will at least let us go there and leave food for them," he said.
Inset: Mr. Hoso, who is also director of the United Kennel Club Japan (UKC Japan), speaks in front of a destroyed house in Namie town, inside the 20km exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, January 28, 2012. Read the rest
