Pet Wars: The Search for the Cutest Pet in America.

I came across this neat feature on Zootoo.com - where you vote for the cutest pet.

Concept is pretty simple, click among two pet's pictures...the one you lick wins that round. Too bad I can't do that for my own :(

Some more explanation from the site:

The first cuteness contest for ALL pets in America. Pick the cutest pet by clicking on the image or the "this pet is cuter" button. Your pets are already participating if you are a registered user. If not, join Pet Wars, where the only fight allowed is on cuteness, not cruelty.

Let's sign up at zootoo and have some fun, what say ya'll?

Pets (not hides) in the Catwalk?

We are so used to the idea of Fur coats, animal skins or leather being the connection between fashion and animals.

Nice to see some one is making a difference out there by holding up the animals and not their hides to quench some pompous person's accessory thirst.

Since, it is not my content please feel free to read the story at its source at Pet News.

Rescue Dogs Find Homes on the Runway

Rescue Dogs Find Homes on the Runway
By Annabella Asvik

March 28, 2008
LOS ANGELES -- The fashion trade is known for its use of furs and leather -- a fact that angers many animal lovers. But designer Ashley Paige is working to bring animals into the industry in a completely different way.

Paige was one of the top designers to show her collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Los Angeles last week.

The designer is famous for her knitted bikinis and sending gorgeous models down the runway -- rescued dogs in tow.

“The one thing about being in fashion is that you can be famous in fashion, you are interviewing me right and I can talk about animals, so in my heart I know that the bigger my company grows, the more I can give back to the animals and that’s my mission,” said Paige.

“Closing” a fashion show is a huge honor, which usually goes to the hottest new model. But when Paige is running the show, the honor belongs to the rescue dog.

“Today the star is Georgie, and he is a three-legged Pit bull from South Central that I rescued, and his leg was all mangled and messed up,” said Paige. “He had been severely injured … And we raised the money and had his leg amputated and he’s the happiest fastest three-legged dog you’ll ever meet in your life.”

Last week’s event was Georgie’s debut on the runway.

He shared the catwalk -- or dogwalk -- with models such as Sarah Larson, actor George Clooney’s girlfriend. He closed the show to huge applause.
The guests left with gift bags that had model cards and contact information for the three-legged dog.

But Georgie isn’t the first animal to be saved by the grave of Ashley Paige.
“I have rescued 500 dogs since I started four years ago,” she explained. “I pull them before they euthanize them at the pound.”

Paige does this all through her non-profit rescue organization RuffHouZen. And she also shows the dogs at her bikini boutique.

Every Sunday, she turns her boutique into a pet adoption center. Visitors can get a cute bikini or an orphaned pet -- that will be a part their homes longer than the season’s hottest fashions hanging in their closets.

On a good Sunday, Paige finds homes for up to five pets, but even if she only adopts one, she said, it’s worth it.

To find out more about Paige’s adoption site, go to ruffhouzen.com

What are the most important things to teach your new puppy?

Most puppy owners are eager to work on things like sit and stay. I want the focus to be on socializing that puppy (teaching the puppy about sights, smells, sounds, people, and other dogs), teaching the puppy not to jump up or nip at your heels, and teaching the puppy to pay attention to you when you say its name. If I had a puppy, my puppy would:

1 - Never see the inside of a food bowl: All food would come either from me for sitting, looking at me when I say its name, or coming when called. Any food I wasn't using for training would go into interactive feeding toys for my puppy to figure out.

2 - Go with me to a new place every single day: No matter how tired I was, my puppy would go to the vet's office to say hello, a Home Depot to see sights and sounds, a children's playground, or a shopping center every single day for the first few months of its life. I want a puppy that is not afraid of new experiences.

3 - Get fed for sitting from as many people as I could possibly find.

4 - Be crate trained and trained to stay alone comfortably.

Sure, there are other things I would teach and we would do a lot of training, but these are the things I'd focus on for the first couple of months of that puppy's life!

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This content is written by Cara, Austin Dog Trainer