From the Dogster about page:

“Why Dogster? We are dog freaks and computer geeks, unafraid to admit that when we see a dog, any dog, our heads turn and we howl with delight. Who wants a cookie? Who does? Well, we do and we think it’s about time there is a social networking application that is truly for the dogs. We hope you do too! All the dogs in the house say Wooooof! … Wooooooooof!”

Catherine has just posted (well, yesterday actually) the top things our dog Pinto has taught us

(I’m including myself because, well, I’ve learned these things too and it’s better than just saying “Ditto” :-)

I got this one from Ted, which of course came from here (LOL!!)

“NEW YORK—At a press conference Monday, representatives of the Association of
American Dogs announced that the nation’s canines are dangerously
underpetted. “Every night, thousands of U.S. dogs go to bed without so much
as a scritch behind the ears,” AAD president Banjo said. “If this sort of
neglect from our masters continues, it could lead to widespread jumping on
the furniture.” Upon his owner’s arrival in the press-conference room, Banjo
abruptly ended his speech, frantically barking, leaping, and rolling over on
his back in an effort to communicate his need for a vigorous belly rub.”

My wife Catherine stated today what I hope will be an ongoing series of articles about pets. (So please encourage her :-)

The first article outlines the five steps to finding the perfect dog.

Of course she knows this because we found our “perfect” dog, but on top of that she has much more particle experience by volunteering at a shelter and studying canine massage.

Apparently a group of French Sony researchers thought it would be interesting to have the Aibo Dog Robot and a “REAL” Dog compete for a piece of raw meat.

What were they thinking?

Did they really expect different results?

Ok, if this comes to the US, perhaps our dog will be big enough for … “A mobile phone giant has opted to use big dogs as moving billboards to advertise
its new handset. ”

“And the company behind the innovative form of advertising is appealing for
owners of larger dogs to register their pooches for future “dogverts”. ”

From: BBC NEWS Phone giant opts for ‘dogverts’

I never thought I’d be reading a debate about dog breeding on Slashdot, but aparently a new study about the origin of dogs has generated some interesting Slashdot posts like this one from R.Caley:

“Dog breeders have problems not because of the genetic base of all dogs, but
because they make money breeding dogs with their close relatives. The result is
the doggy equivalent of banjo players and European royals.”

Insightful and Funny :-)

Via NextDraft from an article on MSNBC: “A new study confirms what many dog owners have long-believed. Since being domesticated thousands of years ago, dogs have developed the ability to read certain human social behaviors. “

From Ananova “Scientists … have concluded domesticated dogs originated from wolves in East Asia nearly 15,000 years ago.”

This is a fascinating article from NY Times: “A dog collar equipped with a wireless microphone that records a pet’s barks, interprets them as emotions and transmits them as text messages like “I’m bored, let’s play.” (I think I already know that bark all too well ;) …

However, “…could meow-activated cat doors or drug-sniffing police dogs whose barks can be decoded be far behind? “If you can classify the morphology of the signal, it can be synthesized,” said Marc Hauser, a professor of psychology and neurosciences at Harvard University who imagined a system that would let pet owners track down runaway dogs. Playing aloud recorded samples of Rover’s bark while canvassing the neighborhood would elicit responses from nearby dogs, whose voiceprints could then be analyzed instantly for a match. If this sounds far-fetched, remember that Americans spent $30 billion on their pets last year, more than twice as much as in 1994.” Woof!

Why am I not surprised? “Dogs are probably much cleverer than most people think, according to a new study.” [ more here ]

“Loch Ness monster dog tries to mate with postman” [more here]

Pinto and Pongo … ok, yes, i’m a pet person :-)