September 12, 2005
Dogs of New Orleans, cont'd
Puptastic thanks Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens and his wife, Madeleine for hiring a chartered flight to rescue a couple hundred animals from Louisiana, even if as it turned out,
Louisiana state officials blocked most of the animals rescued from the hurricane from being taken out of state, citing the need to quarantine the animals for 30 days, in case they are ill . . . The quarantine order was canceled later that day.
Jeers, once again, to the government of Louisiana; but cheers to T. Boone and Madeleine for spending, on top of the $5 million dollars T. Boone and his employees donated to the Red Cross, $50 thousand on this animal rescue effort, which helped to evacuate fifty stressed pooches.
posted by miranda at 12:35 PM
July 11, 2005
dogging the trends
32MollyCookie
Originally uploaded by wintermans..
Slate had a fascinating article on trends in dog breed popularity, and how Labs came to replace poodles as the #1 most popular dog in America. It's really worth reading the whole thing, but here is a sample:
. . . the Labrador's increasing popularity may be tied to the advent of exurbs and McMansions. . . . . In Manhattan, meanwhile, where space is at a premium, tiny dachshunds are the most popular breed.
The poodle, meanwhile, which used to be seen as an intelligent, energetic companion, now comes off as a high-maintenance priss.
In a side note: Yukino sends a link to a study finding that Cats can alter your personality. Phooey on cats!
posted by miranda at 08:21 PM
July 03, 2005
Dear Whomever: I Have Adopted Your Dog, and He is Safe
If you want to cry and cry and smile through your tears, this beautiful sappy story from Craigslist is perfect:
. . . I had dreamed of a dog the previous night, and (I know this sounds strange) my son and I went looking for him. The Rescue Group had done a good job on his coat, and he was fed and reasonably warm...but still, when I met him, his eyes and spirit were dull like someone who doesn't dare to hope. He rose on his back legs and put his paws on my waist, and looked, and looked. And I was smitten. In my heart he became my dog that day . . .
I know the shelter adoption process can be grueling and sometimes impossible to navigate. But to anyone who has successfully adopted a shelter dog: Puptastic thanks you.
posted by miranda at 11:45 AM
June 30, 2005
Pregnant dog photo archive
The introduction to this rather disturbing site begins:
My name is Simon 'Skunky' Morrison, and I very love animals. Probably it looks bizarre, but I very much like to see pregnant animals. I very much love to look at their huge, distended bellys. I have female dog named Marta, and each year she becomes pregnant, and I very like to observe her and touch her inflated belly. It's great!
The archive so far numbers around 1400 dog images. There are also sections devoted to horses, primates, cates, and "wild cats."
LINK:[wolfbar.servemp3.com/preganimal/]
posted by miranda at 09:38 AM
April 22, 2005
i heart showdog moms & dads
Depending on how you feel about reality shows and whether you show dogs or not, Bravo's new reality show Showdog Moms & Dads is either the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. I love reality tv and I don't show dogs (though I know people that do), so I'm barking mad about Showdog Moms & Dads.
The first episode was hilarious, the third episode just okay, but I think the second episode featured one of the most amazing moments in reality tv history -- and it didn't even involve one of the dogs or parents being followed for the show! No, it was a dog who attacked a man at a park that one of the showdogs was at. I transcribed his mom's tearful semi-hysterical monologue, because I love you:
"For many days I didn't bring him here because I suffer when he bites me. He bite me in my vagina! When I'm walking, he sees other dogs he right away he jump on my vagina because he get so crazy! He doesn't know who I am, he forgets everything. He bites the labrador on his penis. I don't want him to bite my labrador on the penis, my labrador is a baby, he's beautiful."
...
"In my vagina two times he bite me. but his teeths are very small and they don't damage very much. Just, they pinch!"
After all of that, the best part was when we found out what the vagina-biting dog is named.
"What's his name, the dog?" "Happy."
Can't make that shit up, ladies and gents. As my friend Alaina said, "happy the dog's mom is the BEST MOMENT IN REALITY TEEVEE. EVAR!!!111!!!!"
P.S. The production company behind the show, Worlds of Wonder, has a blog where they document their various projects, including Showdog Moms & Dads. Lots of interesting things on there, from news of the participants to miscellaneous dog news. Well worth a visit.
P.P.S. If you like Showdog Moms & Dads, you might also enjoy Christopher Guest's brilliant mockumentary Best In Show, starring Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy and Parker Posey among others.
posted by lia at 05:18 PM
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February 26, 2005
interview with irene dogmatic, part 1
Paintings by Irene Dogmatic
Puptastic is proud to bring you an interview with the amazing Irene Dogmatic. Ms. Dogmatic has been a punk rocker, a photographer, a cartoonist, a painter-- and for most of her life she's been drawing and painting dogs. She kindly agreed to an interview, and we'll be sharing her answers over the next few days.
You've been making art under the name Irene Dogmatic for decades! How did it all start? Which came first, the dogs or the name?
I started calling myself Irene Dogmatic when I wrote a letter (partly in jest) to a cake mix company asking questions about food additives. It was a silly letter, but I did wonder what was in that cake. There was a magazine around in Toronto around then called File Mag. which had lists of mail artists in the back, and articles on mail art, etc in the front. They had a food editor. I sent copies of my letter to several mail art people, and one to the food editor of File, to send to General Mills Foods. General Mills only responded to the editor at File, which figures. I can't recall what I said in the letter except it started out, "Dear General, how are you and the boys at the mill doing?"
That name stuck, and some friends started calling me that and it became my exclusive mail art name. I had experimented with names before that, Eye, Inc., and Nannette Doggerel were my favorites before Irene Dogmatic became "IT". I got into an article in Esquire 
Magazine in the summer of 1974 with some other mail and correspondence artists, it was called "Their Arts belong to Dada". I was pictured wearing a leopardskin jumpsuit and a dog mask, holding my dog wearing a devil mask, in front of a painting I did of dog angels (called the Adoration of the Doggie). So, the dogs came before the name. I have been doing dog art almost as long as I have been painting. Got into painting paintings of dogs in about 1970 in Grad school, and have been doing it ever since, although I got commercial with the dogs (I sell dog portraits to clients) in the late 70's. By then my actual paintings for me were of dogs with people's bodies, and all sorts of other subject matter. The use of dogs and other animals with people's bodies has continued, but I paint all sorts of other things as well.
How did you get involved in Mail Art? Or did it find you?
I used to do a great deal of mail art. I got into that in the early 70's thru a friend who is an artist. He sent me mail which included instructions to send on to other people. File Mag also helped by listing mail artists. This was in the early '70's, about 72 if I remember right.
Besides your visual art, you've been in bands and worked with The Residents...
I actually met the Residents thru Mail Art, and ended up being their neighbor on Sycamore Alley in SF for a few yrs. I did a special edition silk screen for their 3rd Reich and Roll LP. , and spent many hours over there visiting, watching TV, listening to music, and watching them film their infamous video. (They were going to go from video to a movie format--curious idea.....) I can't remember what they called it, or if they ever finished it. I think they got onto other projects.
I was in three bands, one called SST , which was an early punk band--we actually had an EP on Rough trade!!! It was always sort of white noise with vocals. I parted company with the band mainly because of a disagreement with one of the members, but also because I wrote the lyrics and sang and you could never hear me. I did enjoy dressing up in weird costumes though, and thinking up strange routines to go with the songs. At one event in LA I wore a smock and slit it at one point and spilled out a rubber doll at the audience, as if I was giving birth! Some girl got the doll, and was thrilled. It was a concert on mother's day! I was in another group, my favorite, called The Beautykillers. Those guys were good musicians, and I am still friends with two of them. After that I was in a loose venture called The Kahunas, with 4 guys and 4 girls. We had some fun, but it didn't last very long. One girl played metal trash can..... We also experimented with sound effects on tape--one girl and I taped ourselves breaking bottles in a vacant lot at one point to go behind the music....! I found this music sort of akin to performance art....
What other kinds of creative endeavors have you gotten yourself into?
I also have dabbled with black and white photography, and video (years ago) and also acted in some short plays a friend of mine wrote. He called them "skits", and is now more into doing actual plays and screenplays in NY. (Not bigtime, still freelance, but he has made at least one full-length movie. One of my dogs had a small role in it, a Bassett Hound named Rufus.) Another thing I have done is computer art, using mostly Photoshop. I was playing with this form 10 years ago, when it was fairly new.
Do you feel that there's a connection or theme between different kinds of artistic efforts, or are they separate spheres? (And is there any way we can get dogs into this connection?)
I think there is definitely a connection between different kinds of artistic endeavor. They all keep the creative juices flowing, and can easily feed into one another. When I was doing the mail art, I did a series of small booklets with cartoons of dogs and slogans. Illustrating ideas. Like song titles, " I left my dog in SF", or sayings, "Barking up the wrong tree", etc. These booklets were 
similar in theme to paintings, small ones, I did at that time. One was called "the death of dracudog" and of course it was a dog (dracudog with long fangs) in a coffin!!!
When I did performance, I made myself a dog costume out of fake fur which I once wore at an event Anna Banana sponsored in SF. The costume had brown and white fake fur, and little pink button tits on the stomach and a fake fur leopardskin fringe tail held up with a coathanger inside.
What are you up to these days? Do dogs still play a part in your personal work?
I am still painting--the large canvas I am doing now has no dogs in it, but it does have a man with a chimp's head..... I have done a couple of dog portraits(pretty straightforward) for clients in the past few months. One dog was a lovely Bull Terrier named Macho (apt name). Another was a black poodle named Chocolate(!)--when they got him, he hadn't been clipped and his fur had faded to brown. Oops.
Do you live with a dog or dogs yourself?
I definitely live with a dog--he is a black and white spotted Border Collie mix called Jack, and I found him thru a Pet Rescue in 2001. He is a charmer and a brat--very smart, definitely would do well to have some sheep to chase--sometimes chases other dogs at the dog run... He is the only dog I have ever had with black spots in his mouth and on his tongue. It looks like he drank some ink or something!
Before him I had a wonderful Bassett who I mentioned above named Rufus. He was comic and noble, and loved people (his audience) and loved to toss and catch orange peels (thought they were alive) and he had a fine bass voice, loved to howl.
Thankyou very much, Irene!
Coming next week: part 2 of our interview with Irene Dogmatic, and how you can commission your very own Dogmatic painting of your pet!
posted by ranjit at 09:56 PM
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February 17, 2005
the doggy woggy photo blog
Shelly and eo over at the Doggy Woggy Photo Blog take cute photos of the pups at their local dog park, talk about dogs, and probably dream about dogs all night. Our kind of people!
Some of my favorites from their photo album: go! go! go! ...ok, stop.
Photo by Shelly, who just got a new camera!
posted by ranjit at 01:53 PM
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February 14, 2005
happy valentine's day!
hobodogblog put up some lovely canine valentines in haiku form, they're all great but here are my three favorites:
Today I sniffed
Many dog behinds-I celebrate
By kissing your face.How do I love thee?
The ways are numberless as
My hairs on the rugI am your best friend,
Now, always, and especially
When you are eating.
If you've got a lot of love in your heart and no pup in your life to share it with, why not visit your local shelter or check out Petfinder? There are literally hundreds of thousands of animals out there waiting to find a good home, and one of them could be the one you've been waiting all your life to meet, even if you don't know it yet.
The great illustration above is by youyesyou.net. You can buy it on cards!
posted by lia at 02:54 PM
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February 11, 2005
people who look like their dogs
The Economist put an article from their print edition up online yesterday, Love me, love my dog, about the paper published by Christina Payne and Klaus Jaffe (of Venezuela's Simón Bolívar University) in the Journal of Ethology a while back.
Payne and Jaffe went to a dog show, photographed 36 purebred dogs and their owners (separately), and then had volunteers guess which dogs belonged to which dog. The volunteers sorted out the right answer more often than chance, just like in a previous study by other researchers which found that human couples tend to look alike. The phenomenon Payne and Jaffe are studying is associated mating characterized as "self seeking like", in which people prefer faces that resemble their own.
I got Jarvis as a present, he was picked out of a litter by a friend of my mom so we don't look anything alike, although I do know many people who definitely resemble their dogs. I bet Payne and Jaffe would get a good laugh out of the winners of the Cesar Select Dinners I Look Like My Dog contest, like these two fellows:
posted by lia at 01:16 PM
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February 10, 2005
dogs are a plus, not a minus!
I got a kick out of reading last week's Ask Dog Lady column, and I suspect anyone who's ever dated a rabidly non-dog person will too. Here's an excerpt from Micca's letter:
I've been dating a guy for a year now that is so crazy about his dog. His office at work has the dog's pictures all over and in every corner. He also has the dog's portrait hanging on the wall of his house, framed pictures on many tables and he carries a snapshot in his wallet. He spends hours walking his dog on weekdays regardless how busy he is at work. And he gives more time walking the dog on weekends when he's off from work. Sometimes even though he's already been with the dog the whole day, he will still go back to his house after we have a dinner date just to walk the dog (again) before he can stay at my place.
He also makes comments how important that dog is to his life. I think all this is too much. Is there any chance his unusual love and attachment to his dog can be changed?
And here's a bit from Dog Lady's reply:
Micca, your aversion to dogs is an insurmountable boundary preventing you from having an intimate relationship with any dog-keeping guy. It doesn't make you a bad person, just a woman who prefers not weaving dog fur into the daily routines. People who have dogs love their animals and want to include them in the warp and woof of their social lives. Your boyfriend must wish you could effortlessly join him and the dog on their epic walks, or allow his pet to spend a night over at your place.
I think Dog Lady's first sentence is right on the money, not a surprise when you consider my first rule of dating is "love me, love my dog". I don't think I'd ever want to spend a great deal of my time with someone who was only willing to have me without Jarvis around -- we're a package deal.
Have you ever dated someone afraid of dogs or someone who hated dogs? And how did that go? Share your story in the comments!
P.S. There are a bunch of dating sites specifically targeted at pet owners, I can't speak from experience but DateMyPet.com is the one I've heard bandied about the most. Basic membership is free and paid is $9.95 a month.
posted by lia at 10:54 PM
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