So here are two BIG Super Bowl ads you simply cannot miss this Sunday as they have our four-legged friends as the main attraction…

Funny Super Bowl ads from years passed featuring dogs and cats (or other animals as the main performers) have always been big hits! The past performers have always big big passed performers!!

So you must check out the just-released video link to the highly anticipated follow-up to the Darth Vader VW commercial:

“The Dog Strikes Back” (had tears of laughter from this one – first part is WAY funnier than second part)

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VW Super Bowl Dog Ad [Image Courtesy DesignYouTrust.com

According to Todd Wasserman’s post on Mashable Business, where I got it: “A chubby dog gets in shape to chase a Beetle in Volkswagen’s long-awaited sequel to its “The Force” Super Bowl ad from last year.

“And don’t worry, there’s a shout out to Star Wars as well.”

Is He a Bit Chubby? YES. Adorable? YES. Wanna Take Him Home? YES. Hilarious? YES!

Keep in mind, the #1 Most Shared Super Bowl Ad this year is “The Barkside:” VW’s 2011 Tribute: “The sequel to the most-shared ad of last year’s Super Bowl, and of all of 2011 for that matter, is leading the pack this year. Volkswagen released this video last week showing dogs barking to the tune of Star Wars’ “The Imperial March.” So does that mean there will be dogs in this year’s ad? More Star Wars? We’ll know soon enough,” Wasserman said on Mashable.

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♦ ♦ ◊ ◊ Now there is also THIS hilarious (and SUPER-CUTE!) one to watch out for – from the animal-loving ‘wilderness’ car company, Suzuki ◊ ◊ ♦ ♦

For the second year, Suzuki is throwing its ad/marketing hat into the ring during the Super Bowl with “Sled.”

The stars of Suzuki’s commercial (in addition to its Kizashi sports sedan, of course) this year, however, are of the four-legged variety Our favorite kind ∞

The sled dog team featured in “Sled” are actual snow dogs that Suzuki found at a touring company in Alberta, Canada, near where the ad was shot. The actor dogs were coordinated/handled by Flo Krisko, one of the most respected animal coordinators and trainers in the Motion Picture Association of America. All dogs were securely harnessed in while in the vehicle and a representative from the American Humane Association’s Film and Television Unit attended the “Sled” shoot.

“Sled“

2012 Super Bowl Spot Suzuki Dogs

American Suzuki Motor Corp. today premiered the final version of its 2012 Super Bowl commercial – entitled “Sled” – on its Facebook (www.Facebook.com/SuzukiAuto) and YouTube pages. After previewing its big game ad last week, Suzuki upgraded the music in its television spot with a music track by well-known rapper 50 Cent. The artist’s song “Movin On Up” is fitting for Suzuki’s “Sled” advertisement, which illustrates the exhilaration one can receive from upgrading their ordinary daily driver with a more entertaining mode of transportation. In the ad, an Eskimo trades in his dog-powered snow sled for an all-wheel-drive 2012 Kizashi sport sedan. 

Developed by El Segundo, Calif.-based advertising agency Siltanen & Partners Advertising, Suzuki’s “Sled” television spot is set in an isolated mountain location. “Sled” opens with an early morning scene where an Eskimo and his dogsled team ride off into the horizon. As the landscape changes from morning to evening, the quiet still of the frozen tundra gives way to vibrations and a hint of something new in the distance. A Kizashi – accompanied by 50 Cent’s “Movin On Up” – comes driving into view with one of the Huskies’ heads sticking out of the front passenger window enjoying its owner’s new mode of transport. The spot then cuts to the interior of the vehicle, revealing the other sled dogs buckled into the back seat and the Eskimo behind the wheel of the Kizashi – all of whom are digging the lavish accommodations and warm interior of the car, while bumping their heads and tapping their paws to the song’s beat. The Eskimo pulls up to his igloo and his wife comes out to greet him. With a puzzled look on her face, and in her native Inuit tongue, she asks, “Where’s the sled?” The man replies, “I traded it in,” (the conversation is subtitled in English).

A Suzuki Super Bowl Pup Enjoying a Pooch Pastime!

Suzuki’s 2012 Super Bowl spot will air both in 60-second and 30-second formats in the company’s top retail locations across the U.S. “Sled” will continue to run following the Super Bowl in conjunction with a new Suzuki advertising campaign scheduled to debut in March.

In addition, starting on Super Bowl Sunday, Suzuki will give away BARKCODE® tags to the first 1,000 consumers to register on www.KizashiKicks.com/sled.

Each personalized pet identification tag has a scannable 2D code, making it easy for pet owners to be reunited with their four-legged friends when they are lost or even misplaced during a natural disaster.

COOLEST PART????

— With each tag that is ordered through the Kizashi Kicks website, BARKCODE®, on behalf of Suzuki, will donate $3 to the American Red Cross for disaster relief and preparation to help people and pets!!!!

* For additional information on BARKCODE®, please visit www.barkcode.com/.

** A PUPDATE with more previously unseen commercials with pets on the way tomorrow **

Hooray for puppy love this Valentine’s Day!

We will be having a small (for ThoughtsFurPaws) contest for the hub-a-bub heart-happy holiday; it’s being generously sponsored by the following brands: Stella and Chewy’s®, Spring Naturals™ and Lickety Stik® by PetSafe®!

This Contest Is Nothin' to Snooze About; a Previous Entrant Can Tell You!

Did you know that, according to Business Wire, pet parents are so so enamored with their special furry someones – that as many as 64% of Americans pet owners will spoil their pet with a special gift this love season? They spend as much as $15 billion dollars collectively to celebrate Valentine’s Day?

Well ThoughtsFurPaws and the aforementioned companies are happy to announce the Valentine’s Contest for Pooches for 2012!

Love to shower your pet with kisses? Then you’ll love Stella & Chewy’s® Carnivore Kisses™ Treats! These freeze-dried treats are made with only natural, premium raw meat and will perfectly compliment your pet’s diet. Every recipe is made without grains, glutens, fillers, added hormones or antibiotics, artificial preservatives and colorings. Carnivore Kisses are 100% nutritious and delicious and are available in 100% Angus Beef, 100% Chicken, 100% Duck and 100% Wild Alaskan Salmon.

Spring Naturals™ is a fresh new line of natural dinners and treats designed to nurture the health and well-being of dogs of all ages and breeds. The family of no-compromise recipes is made with real meats, whole vegetables, whole fruits and whole grains – meat, poultry or fish is always the first ingredient. Then whole chickpeas, green peas and eggs are added to offer pets a unique blend of high-quality proteins. And since these products do not contain meat, poultry or fish meals of any kind, they can be formulated without high-glycemic ingredients like corn, wheat, soy, potato starch or rice. Recently recognized by Pet Business in their 2011 Industry Recognition Awards, Spring Naturals was chosen as the year’s top pet food. Available in Whole Grain and Grain Free varieties (Organic line will arrive this March), Spring Naturals dinners and treats are made by a family-owned company in the USA.

For the pooch with model behavior here is a treat as lovely as he is. Lickety Stik® by PetSafe® is a new and innovative liquid treat for dogs that provides a healthy, all-natural snack while on-the-go. Designed with pet parents’ convenience in mind, Lickety Stik® is easy to throw into a purse or keep in your back pocket when heading out to the park or when packing for a road trip. Most importantly, dogs can’t get enough of this treat! With only 1 calorie in every 10 licks, this is a treat both consumers and their pets can feel good about. Lickety Stik® is available in three irresistible flavors – Savory Chicken, Braised Liver or Smoky Bacon. No matter your Valentine’s Day plans, Lickety Stik® is easy to pack, easy to treat and easy to fall in love with.

*** You can enter the contest by sending me a photo of your cute puppy or dog – he doesn’t have to be dressed up or doing anything silly – just send me your fave dog photo and tell me why it’s your fave and a little background behind the taking of the picture.***

 ♥ ♥ Email them to thoughtsfurpaws@gmail.com; please put “Valentine’s Day Contest” in the Subject Line. ♥ ♥

So here is the latest “Stella-Bella” update for all you Boston Terrier and puppy fans out there…

♥ ♥ First of all, let me tell you how SPOILED ROTTEN THIS GIRL IS: her Daddy, my manager, just bought her a Louis Vuitton dog collar and she looks ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE in it. ♥ ♥ I never thought I would be one to condone spending THAT kind of money on a pet, but I guess I surprised myself…!

Stella and Daddy Sleeping...

You recently read about Stella’s first Christmas - well the collar was a POST-Xmas present — that’s how much Daddy loves this little pistol of a dog… and trust me, she is a pistol. She runs so fast outside the office in the woods and her little fun areas, it looks like she’s a miniature black hovercraft (I know I said that about Henry once, but he’s too old now to move that fast…!) (You FIRST read about Stella HERE.)

Stella's New Amigo!

BTW, Stella recently met a new friend on a walk – we can’t remember his name, but he is pictured to the right there!

Stella is so energetic; her fave toy is a Frisbee. In our business, we do a lot of shipping and Stella has a knack for sneaking into the warehouse and stealing the lids off the shipping tubes, which are perfect frisbees for her little Boston Terrier body.

And by the way – my Manager brought up a point the other day that I argued him on a d I wanted to know what you all think. He said that Boston Terriers are actually NOT Terriers, which I don’t understand at all. I can’t remember who told him that – but they said that Boston Terriers do NOT have typical Terrier traits, i.e. they have flat heads and ears! HA!

Which other traits he was speaking of I do not know, because the ones I’m familiar with are the obvious traits of:

• “tinyness”
• being a bit wiry
• very active
• fearless
• three types are working, toy and bull
• females bark at EVERYTHING unless you train it out of them

Anyhow, I think Stella shows these in full force… what do you think?

Sooo, on to the Pet Product of the Week!

We and Stella LOVE LOVE LOVED the Spring Naturals Beef Treats — they have a nice, refreshing, smelly “medley” of fruits & berries and are not shaped or formed like any other treat I have ever seen. They are baked, natural treats that are made from real beef with plentiful rations of veggies, fruits and whole grains. They’re a great way to reward your dog…

The best parts about Spring Naturals: first of all, Stella LOVES them because they smell and taste different from anything else she’s EVER had; secondly, because real beef is the first ingredient; and finally, because there is no wheat, gluten, corn, soy, by-products, artificial preservatives, flavors or colors!

So Spring Naturals totally makes “Pet Product of the Week” for ThoughtsFurPaws, with Stella’s four paws of approval!

Also, just to let you know they’re reputable and I’m not just saying this because they sent me a bag for review — Spring Naturals, in early January, won the Pet Business, a prestigious trade magazine, Industry Recognition Award in the dog food category!

** For a newcomer, that’s pretty darn impressive if you ask us! **

Stay tuned for more Stella stories and antics; you;ll soon see how smart Stella is:

she learned sit, high-five and more in just days at the hands of a very patient and smart co-worker of mine!

Here is a super-funny picture of a dog seriously trying to avoid a bath!!

Thanks to my friend Jason and his friend, the dog’s owner!

Have your own funny animal pictures? Email them to me and be featured on Wordless Wednesday: see About Page for contact info!

Stella the Boston Terrier rescue I wrote about here (she is our company mascot) turned 8-months-old on 12/23!

Happy Belated Birthday Stella! Woo Hoo!

Well as most north-easterners know, we had a nice blast of snow the past few days, at least on the east side of Cleveland, in Willoughby, where Cute Lil’ Stella the “Opportunist” resides. Stella just looovesthe snow and thinks of it as somewhat of a toy… or a bizarre treat or something!

Snow-Loving Stella, the Boston Terrier!

She has taken to sniffing and running and eating it all at the same time, barely stopping to breathe (she has been warned about yellow snow!) and just having a blast.She runs so damn fast that she reminds me of a hovercraft, lol!

Her Dad bought her a really warm furry sweater to beat Ole Jack-Frost since we Clevelanders face tough winters (particularly living on the East side RIGHT ON Lake Erie).

We’ll be updating you on Stella soon — stay tuned because she is quite entertaining!

RUFF RUFF

The results are in!

Here are the winners of the Annual Halloween Photo Contest!

I’m offering up two Honorable Mentions after third place because it was so contentious!

1. Hobbs the Confederate Soldier

2. Brulee

3. Petey Honors Fallen Soldiers

Honorable Mentions:  Dakota, “Wolfie in Sheep’s Clothing”

See all pictures (in a row) below…

Hobbs the Confederate Soldier

Brulee

Petey Honors Fallen Heroes

Dakota

Wolfie in Sheep's Clothing

Okay, so this is the last update…

♥ These are THEE FINAL ENTRIES for the Annual ThoughtsFurPaws.com Halloween Pet Photo Contest! If you sent me a photo after 8 pm EST last night, it has automatically been filed for inclusion in the next pet photo contest, a “Funny Pets Picture” Contest to start end-of-November. Of course, I will announce the start of the contest-as well as personally email each late entrant (from this month) a notice that their photo is going up.

Voting for the Halloween Pet Photo Contest, because of the delay in posting these final entries, is extended to NEXT Sunday, November 5th at 10 pm EST.

** PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THE ACTUAL PET’S PHOTO TO VOTE; click on the Responses/Comments section and leave your name and email address please. If you do not vote this way (or by emailing me at thoughtsfurpaws@gmail.com), your vote MAY NOT BE RECEIVED due to technical issues on the back end that arose this week. *** I cannot stress the importance of this…

And finally, at last count, here are the current leaders for the contest — in order — as of yesterday at noon EST:

1. TIE between Dakota and Angel (see 10/10 post for picture)

2. “Petey Honors Fallen Heroes” (see 10/10 post for picture) — Petey needs only 3 more votes to TAKE first place!

3. Brulee – who, to clarify, is a foster kitty and sib to the late Sweet Praline, not a “rescue kitten” as I previously mis-wrote (see 10/26 post for picture) – Brulee needs only two votes to tie for 2nd!

4. “Clyde the Native American” (Honorable Mention – but still gets a prize package) (see 10/22 post for picture)

5. “Wolfie in Sheep’s Clothing” (Honorable Mention – but still gets a prize package) (see 10/26 post for picture)

So, on to the final entries. Please be patient and scroll all the way down, there are about 15  photos in this post! And there are 15 more final entries above!

Ash

Baxter as Spaghetti and Meatballs

Beagle Doctor

Beagle Nurse

Bear and Daisy

Bentley the 2nd Chia Pet Entry!

Buddy and Bambi the Hair Sheep

Charlie the Cowboy

dog convict charged w/ ankle-biting & crumb-snatching!

"Gia's Drag Queen Impression"

Heidi the Cow & Sammi the Squirrel

Hobbs the Confederate Soldier (Close-Up)

Hobbs the Confederate Soldier

Holly the "Holla-peno" Pepper!

Sucrose

Please continue to weigh in on the final entries — get your contest votes in on these, the pics in the post above, and the several Halloween Photo Contest posts below…!