Lori Lebda and Tami Bergeson have hit the nail on the head (in my case anyways) with What Dog Are You? Discovering Your Inner Pooch. This book, fresh from the printing press, lets the reader explore his/her traits, abilities and personality and associate them with a breed of dog.

Based on three quizzes, the “Pooch-onality,” Dapper Dogs,” and “Biscuits or Bones,” a number value is assigned to you. Each quiz results in a specific breed type and those three are your “puppy genetic makeup.”

Your overall score is your overall breed. I must say I was shocked when I read what breeds I was in the three quizzes because I had never heard of them: Basenji, American Foxhound, and Tibetan Spaniel. Overall I am a Dalmation and it’s remarkable how much the description of that type of breed fits my personality.

The book lumps us into categories of breed types after giving us our overall breed: Gems, Trend Setters, Private Eyes, and lots more. There are also many more surprises in here that I don’t want to write about because I don’t want to spoil it for you!

This book is wildly entertaining and was so dead-on about my personality that I couldn’t believe it! It’s really quite funny! It makes a perfect pet-lover’s gift, too!

Pick up a copy if you can. Otherwise, come back and visit this blog in a few weeks as I will be giving away copies in an upcoming contest!

Wags,

Jaime (the Dalmation)

I think I might have shown this before but it’s just too cute to not feature by itself. This is my favorite picture of my one Golden Retriever, Benson.

It’s time for the cute kitten of the week! (I love this time of week.) This guy looks like he is preparing to climb his human’s leg for a little treat or something. Perhaps he smells fish…?

This photo is courtesy Judy Thornsberry and Webshots. Check out Judy’s full album of kitten pictures or go to the Pets Category on Webshots for more cute kitten pictures.

Thanks to the United States Humane Society and Mary O’Connor Shaver from Columbus Top Dogs for this information. 

The U.S. Senate at the end of last week followed the lead of the House of Representatives and overrode President Bush’s veto of the Farm Bill, ushering in key new protections for animals.

The final bill (which is now considered law) - except for one section excluded due to a technical glitch - bans the import of puppies from foreign puppy mills for commercial sale in the U.S. The law spares young, unweaned and unvaccinated pups from harsh, long-distance transport during which they are exposted to extreme temperatures and often die in cargo holds — and will keep foreigh breeders from the tragic overpopulation of pets in this country.

The Farm Bill also adds a provision to federal law to make almost any form of animal fighting a federal felody. It’s also now a federal crime to knowingly possess or train animals for fighting, and the maximum prison time for a single violation of any section of the law varies from 3 to 5 years.

It’s hard to overstate what a blow this is to dogfighters and cockfighters and it brings us one step closer to eradicating these criminal industries!

The law also authorizes an increase in potential fines - quadrupuled from $2,500 to $10,000 - for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, fines that haven’t been increased in more than 20 years. Such penalties will more effectively deter abuses at puppy mills, laboratories, circuses and other facilities that use animals.

This is a HUGE victory for animals!

For the sake of keeping us all together and making new friends in the pet blogosphere I have started talking about my favorite pet blogs once a week. This week’s Pet Blog of the Week is Lab Tails.

Lab Tails is about the lives of FIVE Labrador Retrievers: Ridge, Pinot, Elsie, Baxter and Kenya. They are all great friends and seem to have so much fun playing together, sharing sticks and toys, cuddling on the dog hammock, etc.

Lab Tails is written by the labs’ human Mom. She says her blog is about “observations about and lessons learned from three (no, make that four) (now it’s FIVE) Labrador Retrievers.”

These five playful labs have a HUGE plot of fenced in yard to play in. They seem to be spoiled (just like we are - this is now Benson and Gibson typing this up - we stole the laptop while she wasn’t looking). Their human Mom bought them dog hammocks (raised beds) that we are just dying to try out! They are so cool and keep dogs off the ground!

These labs always have so much fun retrieving (check out this post of a triple-threat retrieve). Some (or one of?) them are bred so they can keep up the family name (how important for a strapping retriever!).

This is one of our favorite pictures of the Lab Tails’ dogs:

If you are looking for some entertainment and fun, we encourage you to check out Lab Tails. It’s one of our new favorites!

Wags,

Benson and Gibson

Okay so I couldn’t resist posting this cat picture (even though it’s not a kitten picture) because it’s of my little man, Theodore. He is such a cuddler in his old age. Check it out…

It’s time for the kitten pictures of the week again!

These guys look like they are taking over the family business in this home office. The human world is their jungle gym…

This cute kitten picture is from one of my favorite photographers in Webshots.com, Judy Thornsberry. Visit Judy’s Kittens Album for tons more cute kitten pictures, or take a gander at the Pets Category in Webshots.com.

According to BlueMountain.com, its Hug Your Cat Day! I don’t need a special reason to hug my cats - they get tons of love every day of the week, but how cool is this eCard? Send the Hug Your Cat Day eCard to all your fellow cat-lovers!

Okay, so these are my dishwasher duty dogs. Every night after dinner they help out with the pre-wash cycle. (Don’t worry — all the bad stuff is off the plates… :))

Can anyone come up with a quote for these pictures?

It’s time for the Cutest Kitty of the Week! This cute kitten picture shows how this little one has wedged himself between a bag of cat food and some kind of grate. What would kittens be if not mischievous?!

There are many other kitten pictures, namely of this littly guy, in the KelliMays album at Webshots.com. Webshots also has an extense Pets Category with tons of other great pet pictures!