The Muttropolis Blog

Dogs Rule at Annual Surf Dog Contest

Zazou, Kiki, Schmoo and the Muttropolis team and I had a blast last weekend at the 5th annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon held at Del Mar Dog Beach in Southern California. Benefitting the Helen Woodward Animal Center, the event raises funds for orphaned animals at the Helen Woodward Animal Center and promotes responsible pet ownership.

This year, we enjoyed judging the hilarious Surfer Babe and Beach Bum Costume Contest alongside none other than Shorty from Animal Planet's Pit Boss and one of his darling Pit pups, Hercules! 

The contest featured countless creative costumes, but we all agreed that a slightly portly German Shorthair Pointer, nicknamed "Surfer Joe," deserved best in show for costume creativity and spirit! Our second favorite costume was terrier mix who had a darling Palm Tree sprouting from his haunches and a surfer riding his rump! Check out the gallery below for some of our other favorite moments from the event!

The Best in Surf Was....

None other than our favorite Extreme Sports Sporting dog, Abbie Girl, mastered this year's winning ride, clinching the title of "Best of Surf." Abbie really wowed the crowds with a particularly tricky move at the end of her ride - check out the video of her amazing move here> 

 

   

 

  

 

100 Cats Set Loose in IKEA

Hey! Check Out The New FAAAHCK Over Here!

What happens when you let 100 housecats loose in an enormous IKEA superstore? One clue: Not one high-tailed it to the $4.99 meatball line or ball pit of hell. 

Why Housecats You Ask?

The experiment of releasing 100 cats into IKEA was the brainchild of Mother London, IKEA UK's ad agency. As part of their new advertising campaign for IKEA, they wanted to see how 100 cats would make themselves at home inside a superstore.The result is a stylistically beautiful one-minute ad that is nothing short of adoro! 

Feh Tarty, creative director of the ad tells the Guardian, "Cats know better than anything what makes them feel happy inside, they live their lives in pursuit of their own comfort. So we released a hundred cats in to the Ikea Wembley store, for real, to see where they went and what furniture made them happy."

Hats off to Mother London for the beautifully executed finished piece. Check out the video below for a fun look behind the experiment of IKEA UK's release of 100 house cats into its Wembley store. 

ps. I particularly enjoyed watching the cats investigate the LACK, MUCK, FAARFEGNUTGEN, BERGSBO and AAACK models - didn't you?

K99 Ice Cream Truck: Where Every Dog Can Have Their Sundae

First ice cream truck for dogs has British dogs howling with delight.

There's mobile dog groomers, mobile dog teeth-cleaners, mobile dog trainers and mobile doggy day-care, so why the heck not give mobile doggy ice cream trucks a go? London-based K99 Doggy Ice Cream Truck, the first ice cream truck for dogs, made its debut appearance at The Boomerang Pets Party at London's Regents Park last weekend. K99 was a huge hit and served up two dog-friendly flavors: Dog Eat Hog World (pork and chicken sorbet topped with a biscuit) and Canine Cookie Crunch (mixed dog biscuits and dog-friendly ice cream). Scoops cost just 99 pence (about one dollar), a fee that's donated to a local volunteer group, the Berkshire Search & Rescue Dogs. 

According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail and PeoplePets, a team of scientists investigated the perfect combination of temperature, texture and taste, ensuring the treats would be delicious to dogs and completely safe.

The K99 van can be found in British parks this summer and, rather than the traditional chimes, the van will be playing the theme tune to Scooby Doo! Love it!

 

 

Article reprint courtesy of Animal Planet's The Daily Treat with Janet McCulley

How You Can Help: Dog Hair Needed to Help Clean Up Oil Spill

 

We shampoo our own hair because hair collects oil - so why not use the millions of pounds of absorbant, natural, renewable human and dog hair, fur and fleece clippings to help with the Gulf Oil Spill clean up?

The nonprofit organization, Matter Of Trust, is providing a non-toxic, earth-friendly and effective way to participate in the Gulf Spill clean up. Donors from every state in the US, Canada and beyond are sending them dog hair, human hair, fur and wool clippings as well as nylons and funding for outer mesh. These materials are then used used to make Booms that can protect beaches and coastal waters from the ever-growing oil spill. 

How You Can Help

All salons, groomers, alpaca, llama, sheep fleece farmers, feather donors, individuals, & pet owners can sign up to be a part of this recycling system for hair, fur, fleece, feathers, nylons and more. Simply follow this link to the Matter of Trust website, sign up and get started today. Within two weeks, participating groomers and salons will receive an email address of the warehouse to ship their dog hair! Sign up now >

According to the Los Angeles Times, nearly 1,000 grooming salons in Petco stores have begun shipping donations of pet fur to aid in creating booms to soak up oil from the Gulf.

Watch the video below to see how amazingly effective oilspill clean-up hair mats and booms can be in absorbing oil. Learn more about their efforts at MatterOfTrust.org.

Article reprint courtesy of Animal Planet's The Daily Treat with Janet McCulley

Fur Real: Marmaduke + Surf Dogs Hang 20 for Charity

Surfer Doggy Dudes + Dudettes Shred it at Annual Competition

Super stoked pups of all walks hit Imperial Beach here in San Diego over the weekend for the 5th annual Loews Coronado Bay Surf Dog competition. Each dog (or team) had 10 minutes to catch their top two waves, and were scored on confidence level, length of ride and overall ability to "grip it and rip it." 

Among the epic pro-pooch surfers was our friend Micheal Uy and his constant four-legged companion Abbie girl, who is front and center in the dog-surfing craze spreading across the nation. In fact, Abbie was cast as a surfer-girl in the soon to be released film Marmaduke, due in theaters June 4 from 20th Century Fox.

George the Great Dane , the 200-pound dog who plays the miscreant Marmaduke in the film was also on hand for the surf competition, along with actors Owen Wilson and George Lopez who are voice actors for the film.

Article reprint courtesy of Animal Planet's The Daily Treat with Janet McCulley

Cuteness Overload Motherlode: The Worlds Tiniest Pony. Ever.

This is not a toy. Seriously. This pony is real.

Just when you thought you'd seen just about all the cuteness "teh internets" has to offer, we bring you the motherlode of cuteness, Einstein, the teeny-weeniest pony on the planet  - born just last week and measuring a mere 4 inches and six pounds at birth....about the size of a toy poodle!

Not a preemie, Einstein is a perfectly proportioned pony and was born at the Tiz A Miniature Horse Farm in Barnstead, N.H. to breeder Judy Smith. Einstein is owned by Dr. Rachel Wagner and her husband Charles Cantrell who live in Bellingham, Wash. 

Cuteness. Is. Paralyzing. Too. Much. Cute. At. One. Time.

"So we have this little foal that was born here on this miniature horse farm that set the Guinness World Record for smallest baby horse," says Wagner. "He's very perfect-looking little boy, not dwarfy at all."

Check Einstein frolicking about in the video below and be prepared for serious cuteness paralysis. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Article reprint courtesy of Animal Planet's The Daily Treat with Janet McCulley

Pupperazzi: The Doggie Gaga Project

 

Puh-Puh-Puh Pupper Face 

Armed with a Polaroid camera, plenty of dog treats, miniaturized Lady Gaga costumes and a healthy dose of humor, San Francisco bay-area photographer Jesse Freidin has gone where no photographer has gone before and become an overnight internet sensation with his Doggie Gaga Project.

Freidin and a small team of stylists created and photographed miniaturized Lady Gaga-esque ensembles on a host of pooches - including a Boston Terrier, a Mexican hairless, a Shiba Inu and two Pit Bulls. The resulting collection is nothing short of ridonkulous. 

While some might see a whole lotta wrong with these photos -  Friedin states in his press release that "no animals were harmed during the photo shoot ....or even irritated."  Despite being a big Lady Gaga fan, something tells me that my dog Zazou would not be down with Gaga's infamous lacy red VMA ensemble ...though he might be willing to chill with the hat on for a spell.

Would your dog sit still for something like this? 

To check out Jesse Freidin's entire Doggie Gaga Project collection, visit JesseFreidin.com

Photo courtesy of our friends at PeoplePets.com

Article reprint courtesy of Animal Planet's The Daily Treat with Janet McCulley

CatRoulette: Cat Video Chat

Chatroulette is a social website that pairs users with random Webcam partners. Attracting nearly 20,000 curious visitors a night, it draws mostly teenagers, inebriated twenty-somethings, college kids packed into dorm rooms and a whole lot of pathetic, half-naked dudes with nothing better to do.

In other words, Chatroulette is quickly becoming the go to site if you want to chat with the most socially depraved people you will ever interact with.....and cats, yes, lots of cats. 

Enter CatRoulette

In fact, so many cats have been spotted on Chatroulette that a new site, CatRoulette highlights (via screenshots) some of the best Cat chats spotted on the site. By Cat chats, we mean: cats scratching away on a scratcher, riding Roombas, playing with catnip toys and....well, doing what cats do!

source: Urlesque

Article reprint courtesy of Animal Planet's The Daily Treat with Janet McCulley

Warts and All: Rascal Reigns at the Annual Ugly Dog Contest

Who're you calling ugly?

Rascal proved he's still got it at the 15th Annual Del Mar Ugly Dog Contest held here in San Diego, CA last weekend, as he reigned supreme at the annual contest attended by hundreds - all to benefit the Helen Woodward Animal Center.

A pure bred Chinese Crested pooch who is naturally hairless and born without a lot of his teeth, Rascal has scored a superfecta of Ugly Dog contests, as he is the only living Ugly dog to hold the coveted "Ring of Champions" title which makes him the current "World's Ugliest Dog." 

Fugly runs in the family

The butterface gene has apparently always run in Rascal's family, as he is a descendent of Chi Chi, who is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for winning the most ugly dog contests, according to his owner Dane Andrew of Sunnyvale.

“At first they think he’s ugly and then they think he’s cute,” Andrew said about Rascal's fans. “He grows on them in just seconds.” 

In fact, Rascal has amassed some famous fans along the way - as Andrew and Rascal have been interviewed by Jay Leno, Barbara Walters, Jane Pauley, Carson Daly and Kathy Griffin, according to his IMDB site.

Personally, I think he's darling in a "face-only-a-mother-could-love" kind of way! What do you think?

Article reprint courtesy of Animal Planet's The Daily Treat with Janet McCulley

Rodent of an Unusual Size: Caplin the Pet Capybara

Last week I posted a photo I received of a woman posing with her outrageous looking pet -  named Caplin - which was a fuzzy creature resembling a combination of a gargantuan Guinea Pig and humongous Hamster. Outfitted in a royal purple harness that's normally reserved for big dogs and larger animals, the fantastical creature looked like something out of the latest Tim Burton movie and almost certainly photoshopped. 

However, some cursory Googling confirmed otherwise! This enormous rodent was not a fake at all but something called a Capybara - the largest of all living rodents. Entering the world at less than 3lbs, the Capybara is a close relative of the Guinea Pig and grows to nearly 100lbs in their adulthood! Excellent swimmers and divers, Capybara's can stay underwater for five minutes and can even sleep underwater with only their noses poking out. They also communicate   with a variety of sounds including soft whimpers, clicking noises, purring and barking. 

Caplin the Capybara turns out to be somewhat of a celebrity Capybara, as he not only resides in a lovely ranch-style home in Austin complete with his own personal swimming pool, but he also has a website and more than 3180 Twitter followers.

Learn more about this fascinating rodent of an unusual size in the video below:

 

Article reprint courtesy of Animal Planet's The Daily Treat with Janet McCulley