OK Go White Knuckles Video

OK Go is a talented band. Even more, they are brilliant at making videos ... viral videos that get absolutely millions of hits. The first one we saw was the treadmill dance http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA. They've done dancing wallpaper and Rube Goldberg themed videos among others. But for dog fans, they've outdone themselves this time.


I was one of the early viewers ... when I saw the official video it had only 25,000 views. By the next day it was 1.7 million. As I write this it is 2.8 million. OK Go themselves are shocked by how quickly the numbers are growing, according to this article http://www.nme.com/news/ok-go/53092. We're not. People love their dogs, especially agility dogs and rescue dogs, which most of these are.

The coolest thing about the video is that it is not edited. There were 124 "takes", and the final one chosen was take 72. Many of these were disastrous, I'm sure. None were entirely perfect, but take 72 is as close as it gets. OK Go insisted they did not want any editing, and they got their way.

The blog http://talentedanimals.com/blog/?p=426 tells the whole story ... a video three years in the planning, a month in the setup and practicing, and three full days of filming before they finally decided they were satisfied that it was what they set out to do.


Kudos to you, OK Go, and even more so, kudos to those talented animals ... 12 dogs and a goat. This video warms our hearts every time we see it.

DogShirtStore.com Donates!

Quite a few years back, I had three feline furbabies. Unfortunately, one was a bully. Well, really, he had mental problems and was on medication which kept him sane until his kidneys failed and I had to take him off the meds. So, once he was off his medication, he started picking on the oldest and more gentle cat. It wasn't pretty - I had to break up a particularly bad fight once, and I wound up in worse shape than either cat.

Since then, I'm on a new generation of felines and I've added a few canine kids along with a husband, and we have worked very hard to build a harmonious household with the cats and dogs. So, although we would love to be able to foster and adopt hundreds of homeless dogs and cats, the nightmares of those years of cat fights still haunt me and I just can't bring myself to open our home up to any outside influences.

Instead, I've tried to help animals in other ways, including joining the board of an animal welfare group, only to find a few of the other directors seemed to have less than altruistic motives for being there. I couldn't handle the politics. After all, we were SUPPOSED to be there to support the animals, not our individual agendas! Still wanting to help our four-legged friends in need, years ago I decided the best way I could do that would be to fundraise. I wanted to bring awareness, and hopefully some cash, to several active and effective animal welfare organizations. Although I can't Rescue, Adopt, or physically Love animals in need, I am grateful that I can Care for them through fundraising (and love them in my heart, of course).

One of our newest ways of helping is through our Pet Awareness Ribbon. It's one of our original designs, and it has quickly become our favorite! There are two different shirt designs and we also have a sticker and a vehicle magnet. We are donating a portion of the proceeds of these products to animal welfare. Best Friends Animal Society of Kanab, Utah (home of the TV show Dog Town on National Geographic) (www.bestfriends.org) will be the main beneficiary, although if a supporter of one of the other organizations we work with, such as Greyhound Rescue & Adoptions of Tampa Bay (www.great-greyhound.org), places an order, that organization will receive the donation.

We are also pleased to offer a smaller version of the ribbon as a $2.00 addition to the back or sleeve of any shirt, 100% of which will be donated. It looks great with any design, even our non-pet related ones!

DACOF 2010 Under Our Belt

Well, another DACOF (Dog Agility Competition of Florida) is over. It was a fun weekend, with lots of exciting runs! Our youngest Miniature Schnauzer, Trooper, was the only one of our three kids who ran this time, and he did really well. His only disadvantage was his handlers, my husband and me. :-)

Trooper ran with me for the first two runs on Saturday, but I wasn't feel well, so Del took over. He hasn't been training as much with Troopie, but I think he did great, all things considered (including taking an embarrassing spill). So, of course, we just have to show our runs! Enjoy (especially 3:25 into the video)!

Yes, You CAN Do It!

My husband, Del, and I love words.  We debate them, argue about them, research them, and enjoy reading them.  We are also adult literacy volunteers, helping adults to read so they may get better paying jobs, manage their households, and broaden their imaginations through reading a good book.  And maybe, just maybe, eventually venture into the world of writing.


A few months ago, we found out about a short story contest called "First Line Fiction", which is a monthly writing contest designed to help you expand your horizons if you are a "wannabe writer".  Del, always having words in his head, decided to give it a try.


First Line Fiction is a "peer review" contest, meaning that the contest entrants are assigned six stories to read from their competitors, and they must rank them from most to least favorite.  Anyone who fails to rank their six stories is disqualified from winning.  Only the first three placing stories receive cash prizes.  It's not big money, the main thing is the exercise of writing.


The first story Del wrote was in May 2010, and it did not make the top three, but if you'd like to read it, you can find it here:
http://firstlinefiction.com/contests/contest-9/the-mischievous-factor/


In June, he entered another story, but of course with no real expectation of winning.  To our surprise and delight, it won third place!  http://firstlinefiction.com/contests/contest-10/the-little-big-day/

Sometimes we wonder about stepping outside of our "comfort zone", and although we often fear it, you never know what might happen when you do.

 If you're an aspiring writer, you may want to give First Line Fiction a try.  If you have other aspirations, we encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone and give them your best shot, too.  You just never know what will happen!

If it Seems too Good to be True . . .

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I opened my mail yesterday afternoon, and was stunned to have received a cashiers check in the amount of $2,990.00 from Collin Bank of Texas!  The check was enclosed in a letter from the Grants Processing Center of Financial Solutions, New York, NY.  The letter stated that I had won a grant in the amount of $35,000.00 total, which should not be considered a loan.  It was for me to use to "start a small business, pay tuition fees, make a down payment on a home, and do housing repairs or to pay medical expenses."  Wow!  Who couldn't use $35,000.00!  Jackpot!  Oh, wait, it said the $2,990.00 check is to help pay for the administrative, processing, and applicable fees.  Then a commission fee of 10% will be deducted from the total amount, and then I would receive $31,500.00.  
The cashiers check looked very genuine, and even had the newest security features.  However, a closer look at the check showed a single flaw - the bank logo was a bit pixelated in comparison to the crisp print of the rest of the check.  On further examination we also noted that there was no bank number under the check number. 

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A Healthy Alternative for Flea Control

We've always felt a bit uneasy about putting insecticide on (or in) our pets as a means to control fleas and ticks. However, living in Florida, the fleas are just terrible all year long, and we hate the thought of bugs residing on our four-legged babies. Well, we FINALLY found a product that keeps the fleas and ticks off of our pets while also improving their health, especially their skin and coats - and it will save us hundreds of dollars a year!!  FLEA TREATS are a healthy, safe way to keep fleas and ticks off pets.

Imagine that you're going on a camping trip, and you have three choices to avoid bug bites:

1. You can take a hormone pill once a month. Every female bug that bites you will be sterile AFTER it bites.

2. You can apply insecticide drops to the back of your neck, allowing the insecticide to spread all over your body or your skin to absorb it into your system, and then, when the bugs land on you, hope the insecticide will kill them before they bite you.

3. You can take a safe, tasty vitamin daily, and the bugs won't even land on you at all.

Which method would you choose? Which method do you think your pets would choose for themselves if they could??

Each "treat" is a human grade, B-complex vitamin, with real liver added for taste. It's safe for puppies, kittens, pregnant, and nursing pets. We've taste-tested them in our home, and our Mini Schnauzers and cats all love them, but if you have finicky eaters, Flea Treats can be easily crushed and sprinkled into their food. Flea Treats work so well, it's guaranteed or your money back!!

 

To learn more about Flea Treats or to place an order, please visit our webstore at http://www.dogshirtstore.com/

Oil Spills - Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

An oil spill. A catasrophe. It affects our environment, our economy, and most importantly, the lives of countless animals. So, what is our individual responsibility when it comes to something like this? How far would you go to help clean it up? How about getting a haircut or having your dog groomed? Yep - that's it. Pretty simple and fairly inexpensive, but very powerful.

With the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico hitting home for many Americans, there is understandably a lot of concern about oil and the environment. With the world's need for oil, offshore drilling will continue to be a solution for many years to come, in spite of the risks.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and that old adage has never been truer than right now, while we're in the middle of an oil spill crisis. At "A Matter of Trust", they've been collecting human hair and animal fur for the past 10 years to use in making mats to absorb excess oil from oil spills.

Although individuals can send in clean hair or fur, a more effective way is to tell your hairdresser or groomer about it. They have lots of good hair and fur that just ends up in the trash, and it really can help with the control of oil spills, which can save marine life and coastal areas worldwide.

Some have asked what happens to all the contaminated hair when they're done with it. We're not sure what's been done in the past, but there is research being performed with the idea that mushrooms can eat the oily hair and detoxify the waste to create landscape-grade compost.

If you're a groomer or hairstylist, you may want to visit matteroftrust.org to see how you can sign up. If you're not, tell your hairstylist or groomer about it. It can only help!
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Mother's Day Sale

In honor of mothers of four-legged kids, DogShirtStore.com is having a Mother's Day sale!!  All "Proud Mom" products are $3 off through May 9, 2010.  You can find them as featured products right on our home page.

New Poop Removal Innovation

Do you want to be a responsible dog parent, but have back trouble and just can't bend down to pick up the poop?  Just don't like the feel of poop squishing in your fingers through a plastic bag?  Well, www.DogShirtStore.com has the solution for you!!  This product was developed by Dan Shalhoub, Tony (Monk) Shalhoub's brother.  (No, it's not your run-of-the-mill pooper-scooper).  We think it takes poop removal to the next level!
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A Story with Heart

A friend's Facebook post about finding a pile of pine needles near her barn that were blown into the shape of a heart, reminded me of something that happened about six years ago.

I've had dogs for most of my life, but when I was 28, I decided to get a kitten. Her name was Baby. When Baby turned 17, she developed mammary cancer, although she lived pretty much unaffected for over a year. One day she was having a health issue (unrelated to the cancer) and I decided to bring her to the vet for him to take a look at her. While we were there, Baby started having respiratory problems - she was really laboring to breathe. As most of us do, I have a very difficult time in making life and death decisions, and trusted my long-time vet to tell me when "it was time". Well, it was time.

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Fix Blue or Green Eye in Pets with Pet Eye Pilot

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Take lots of pictures of your four-legged loved ones?  Do they come out looking like aliens?  Then this product is for you!

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It's easy to fix red-eye in pictures of people these days ... almost every software out there has a "red eye button".  But those of use who take more pictures of our pets than people know that blue or green eye is not so easy to fix!

Pet Eye Pilot now makes it incredibly easy to get the blue or green out!  Only $29.95, it works as a stand-alone, or as a plug-in to most photo editing software, including Adobe Photoshop and Corel Photopaint. Free Trial available.  Click here to visit Two Pilot's website for more information.

Teacup pigs are so cute - where can I get one?

• If you cross your eyes, they'll stay that way!
• Swallowed gum takes seven years to digest.
• Dropped food will stay clean if you pick it up within five seconds.
• Touching a toad will give you warts.

All of the statements above are old-wives tales or urban legends - look them up - they just aren't true!  Well, similarly, the teacup pig just doesn't exist.

We have been loyal fans of the TV show "How I Met Your Mother" ever since it debuted, but found ourselves greatly disappointed at last evening's (March 1, 2010) episode. It portrayed a cute "little" Teacup Pig. Well, don't be fooled - it was just a BABY PIG!!! Admittedly, the tiny pig shown on the episode was adorable. 


*** Update - on July 20th, 2010, Jay Leno gave a piglet to Joey King on "The Tonight Show" ... although they didn't call it a "Teacup Pig", they did say "Tiny Pig".  It was also a very cute little pig, and Joey seemed truly thrilled to have it. The sad part is, however, that now millions of little girls (and boys) will also want one.  ***


So where can you get a tiny pig or a teacup pig?  The simple answer is ... you can't. Just like many urban legends, they don't exist!

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Agility, Flyball, and . . . Cake?

Most of us appreciate the unusual.  And some of the things we come across make us smile, some make us think, and some are truly astounding.  For example, this past weekend, Stacy, one of the competitors at our Flyball Tournament in Lakeland, Florida, and not a professional decorator, baked this very cute tennis ball cake to celebrate her team's debut, the Barkaholics from Sarasota/Manatee.  (It was also pretty darn yummy)!

We were reminded of Sue, another local cake decorating hobbyist, who did this cake as a wedding surprise for two of the people on her flyball team (the Barkaneers of St. Petersburg, FL). Complete with Border Collie, jumps, flyball box, and a basket of tennis balls - this was a true work of art.

These are two excellent examples of a creative outlet that many share: cake decorating.  We've probably all tried our hand at it at one time or another in our lives.  You buy a tube and some icing and try to write "Happy Anniversary" or "Happy Birthday" on someone's cake, and you may have found that it's not as easy as it looks like it would be (at least for me it isn't!).

Well, if you haven't heard of the Ultimate Cake Off (aired on TLC), prepare to be amazed.  This video was brought to our attention recently, dealing with a reality TV show / competition wherein three teams of professional bakers / cake decorators competed to create agility-themed cakes over a nine-hour period.  All three of the cakes produced were mind-blowing, involving rotating motors, sculpted dogs, illuminated logos, and more. They were as tall as eight feet and weighed upwards of 500 pounds each.  The winning cake was displayed at the 2009 AKC Invitational in Long Beach, California, as the centerpiece of the competition.  The winner took home a $10,000 prize, but we'd bet if they were selling these cakes, they'd likely command even more than that.

Take a look!  http://tlc.discovery.com/videos/ultimate-cake-off-top-dogs-full-episode.html

Three Dog Night??

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No, not the rock band, although it is noted that they did take their name from the well-known phrase. Do you know the origins of the phrase "It's a three-dog night"? If you have pups at home, you probably already know, even if you don't think you do!!

Although there is a bit of controversy over where it originated, the more popular belief is that it started with the Aborigines in the Australian outback. The expression is used to connote a night so cold that one needs to sleep with three dogs to generate enough heat for comfort.

It must be an awfully cold night to need THREE dogs, as we know from experience that one small, not-very-hairy dog generates plenty of heat under the covers (thanks, Lili)!!

Greyhound Rescue

DogShirtStore.com is so proud to announce we are the exclusive supplier of GREAT-Greyhound.org wear. Greyhound REscue & Adoptions of Tampa Bay is a wonderful organization that has placed over a thousand Greyhounds since 1990, and we're pleased to be able to donate a portion of sales of GREAT-wear to them! Please check out all of our new Greyhound designs and help support a GREAT organization! www.DogShirtStore.com

Keeping Your Home Safe When You're Not There

For most dog-sport enthusiasts, travel is part of the game. Thanks to Reader's Digest, here are some things to consider when getting ready to leave our homes unattended (don't forget, for most of us, we take our "burglar alarm systems" with us: ruff - ruff!):



13 Things a Burglar Won't Tell You
From Reader’s Digest, September 2009
Interviews by Michelle Crouch

Should you spend your money on a home security system? A look inside a burglar's mind might help you decide:

1. Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your carpets, painting your shutters, or delivering your new refrigerator.

2. Hey, thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier.

3. Love those flowers. That tells me you have taste … and taste means there are nice things inside. Those yard toys your kids leave out always make me wonder what type of gaming system they have.

4. Yes, I really do look for newspapers piled up on the driveway. And I might leave a pizza flyer in your front door to see how long it takes you to remove it.

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DACOF - Dog Agility Competition of Florida

One of the most appealing aspects of running agility is the fact that it's an activity between just you and your dog, creating a wonderful bond. However, there is annual event in Florida where being a participant is very exciting. It is called DACOF (Dog Agility Competition of Florida), which embraces all Florida agility clubs.

If you run and/or train agility in Florida, whether you prefer NADAC (www.nadac.com), CPE (www.k9cpe.com), AKC (www.akc.org), or any other agility organization, this competition is open to you!

The teams consist of a minimum of six dogs/handlers to compete, and the scores from the dogs are added together to get a team total. There must be two novice, two open, and two excellent dogs on each team, and a club may have multiple teams. If you have three dogs per level on a team, you can drop the lowest score and keep only the best two.

We have attended as competitors since 2006, and as a vendor in 2008 and 2009. This year's event will be June 26 and 27, 2010, which is a departure from the traditional Independence Day weekend (July 4th). Once again we plan to attend as a competitor and a vendor ... if you're going to be there, please stop by our booth to say hi and enter our give-away drawing! DACOF will be at the Silver Springs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida. If you want more information, the best place to get it is to join the DACOF Yahoo group, at http://pets.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/DACOF/

Here's a video we shot of one of Trooper's DACOF runs in 2009, and a couple of pictures from the event; one a general shot of the arena, and the other is our vendor booth (while we were in the process of getting set up).

Extreme Agility and Obedience

This is amazing! As agility competitors, safety of the dogs and their equipment is always a concern, but these people and dogs take it to a whole new level. We certainly have a new respect for police dogs and Belgian Malinois!

You Asked for It - You Got It!!

We've had so many requests for blingy shirts, that we have finally acquiesced! We have two designs so far, made with Swarovski crystals, and more to come soon. One is a new design called 2010 MMX, and the other one is our most popular design - NKJD (No Kids Just Dogs). Come take a look - just click here .
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