The Powder Puffington Post

R.I.P. Puny: 2009-2011

2011-06-15T21:48:00.007-04:00

Yes it has been over a year since I have written for "The Powder Puffington Post". Let's just say I was on an extended sabbatical which takes seven times longer than human sabbaticals. However today I felt I had to post again for the obituary of my dear departed farm friend Puny (aka Rupert) the hen.

It is highly suspected Puny fell ill to fowl play and was carried off by a hawk whilst she strutted her stuff in the backyard paradise that was her home on James Island, Charleston, SC. Her human caretakers Aunt Sandy and Uncle Frank are very distraught as Puny was part of the family on their own little real life Farmville.

Aunt Sandy is very sad as she recalled to my mom today how cute and tiny Puny was when she first adopted her. Although her name was Rupert, she was so tiny compared to her two chick sisters that she was nicknamed Puny and the name stuck.

Although Puny was taken from this world much too quickly she did live a very fortunate life here on earth (especially for a hen). Handpicked as a small chick she lived in Aunt Sandy's backyard (the farm) with her two sisters-hens free of any Roosters trying to boss them around and wake them up too early. I personally liked to call the gals, "The Triplets of Henville" (yes my little take off from "The Triplets of Belleville).

I recall the first time I met the triplets. As I jumped out of the car I encountered what I thought were very strange feathery dogs as the hens were about my size. My basic wolf like instinct was to charge them and that I did. They scatted around the yard while my mother chase me out of fear I would eat one of Aunt Sandy's pets. That was my first encounter with Puny. However by the end of the day the triplets were chasing ME around the yard as they were all three tough birds. I quickly learned the pecking order at the farm and I was near the end of the line. Yet it was a delightful holiday for me and my mom.

A life of grazing, eating healthy food, laying yummy eggs (according to my mom), sunning on the porch, gossiping with her sisters, playing with Sparky and Tweety (let's not forget the two fish) and being loved by Aunt Sandy and Uncle Frank. Yes, Puny lived a charmed life. She will be remembered for the spunky, petite beauty that she was and life at Farmville will never be the same without her. "The Twins of Henville" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Puny, my next Cesar's chicken flavor canister will be eaten in your honor. R.I.P.

Chow for now!
Powder Puff

Happy Birthday Mumsy!

2010-02-25T16:47:00.003-05:00

I've been a lazy journalist lately passing on some celebrity animal stories i.e. Cesar Millan's dog Daddy passing away or Jesse James pit bull Cinnabun found after missing for three weeks but today there is one story I can't pass by and that is my mom's birthday! Hey, I know where my bread is buttered.

Mom is going on a date tonight for dinner and she is wondering how she is going to get there since there is a snow storm going on now, but since it's a free dinner she'll find a way! Tomorrow her friend Rebecca is hosting a birthday party for her in Nolita and I get to go! I am very excited!! I am going to see many people I haven't seen in quite awhile. What to wear? What to wear?

So mom! We have gone through a lot together and even though I seem very apathetic lately in my attitude (due to those short winter walks) I do love you and you know in the end I always end up walking to you and pawing you to pick me up, I am your momma's boy.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Chow for now!

President Chinchilla of Costa Rica

2010-02-10T22:52:00.004-05:00

I knew Costa Rica was a magical land. Tropical weather, beautiful beaches, magnificent volcanoes, a high literacy rate, eco-friendliness, good surfing and to top it off a nation that is so peaceful it doesn't have an army. However little did I know that Costa Rica was so evolved that it would elect an animal for President. A FEMALE animal at that!

Costa Rica elected it's first woman chinchilla President. Her name is Laura Chinchilla and she won by a landslide. Yes, where in American it is still considered a far reach to have a female as President (the rest of the world doesn't seem to have a problem with that concept), in Costa Rica they have pushed the envelope even further to have a female animal for President. I told my mother that we should move there as the possibilities for me to serve in the government are just endless!

There is much celebration going on in Costa Rica now as you can tell from the images on this post.

Okay, I now that Laura Chinchilla is a human who just happens to have the last name of Chinchilla. I am allowed to dream, aren't I? Well, I still think it's quite evolved to have Central and Latin American countries with females for Presidents when as I mentioned above, it is not a welcomed thought in America. I still like the thought of moving there and learning to surf.

Presidente Laura Chinchilla

Chow for now!

Lucky Dogs!

2010-02-01T01:18:00.002-05:00

This past Friday Oprah turned 56 years and old and gave herself the best possible present one human can give one's self. No, not self love, me thinks Oprah has learned how to do that already (no sarcasm really!!). Oprah gave herself two new puppies! She is now the proud mommy of two 14 week old Springer Spaniels, Lauren and Sonny.

Lauren and Sonny are actually rescue dogs that would have been put to sleep if they were not taken in by Paws Rescue Center in Chicago. Oprah had asked the owner of the shelter to look out for Springer Spaniels for her as she was ready to move on and become a doggie mommy again after the lost of two of her dogs, one to the illness of Parvo and the other who choked on a toy. A few days before her birthday Oprah received a call letting her know that two Springer Spaniels had been found for her and as fate would have it one of them was named the name she had already selected for her next dog, "Lauren". Yes, that was certainly meant to be.

Lauren and Sonny, you two are very lucky dogs!! You have Oprah for a mommy so you will never go without anything which includes lots of love and attention (and not having to share her attention with bratty children). Only Valentino treats his dogs better so you have incredible doggie karma.

Am I envious? Yes, I would be flat out lying if I denied it. However I have a great mommy who loves me and let's me take lots of naps throughout the day not to mention the tons of love and kisses I get all the time. A private plane, a mansion in Montecino and penthouse in Chicago wouldn't be too bad, but I have accepted my lot in life...hopefully it will get a little better??

Chow for now!

Popcicle Pups Found at JFK

2010-01-29T22:14:00.005-05:00

Well, again I have been neglecting my Powder Puffington Post duties but my mom made me watch "Julie/Julia" tonight so again I am inspired by the art of blogging and by the many stories out there concerning animals. We have one bittersweet story today about a puppy and how he was saved from nearly freezing to death from a flight he was on from Mexico City to JFK.

The puppy was found nearly frozen to death in the cargo of the jet aircraft that he flew in. The customs officer who luckily also happens to be studying to be a vet found the pup and performed mouth to mouth resuscitation on the pup and saved his life. What a hero!! After wrapping the pup in a heating pads and blankets he came back to life. The pup was only six weeks old, unfortunately his little brother did not share the same fate as he was found frozen to death in the same kennel hence the bittersweet aspect of this story. RIP little bro!

Usually the airlines do not fly animals in the cargo bay at extreme hot and cold temperatures so this case is especially sad as they should have not been allowed to fly in the cargo bay in the first place. As you can see from the image, the pup is especially small and fragile.

I have flown many times but never in the cargo bay and I know my mother would never let me fly in the cargo bay as I would not be able to handle the cold (remember I have hair not fur). One day hopefully Pet Airways will be an international airline and pets could fly in safety and comfort as they deserve to.

Good to be back writing inspirational, informative stories for the canine world again!

Chow for now!

Only in Hollywood...

2010-01-08T02:17:00.003-05:00

Dead Heiress Casey Johnson

A few days ago Casey Johnson, one of the heirs to the Johnson and Johnson fortune was found dead in her home in Beverly Hills. It's been speculated that she overdosed as she was just thirty years old. As sad as her story is what is most sad for me is that her dogs were taken from her "fiance" by Nicky Hilton (Casey's childhood friend) under the guise that the dogs were to be returned to Casey's family.

However Casey's "Wifey" Tila Tequila (don't ask) said that she was told that Casey's dogs will be put to sleep so they can be buried with her. What??

"Wifey" Tila Tequila

Tila stated, "They don't care about the dogs. They are putting them to sleep to bury with Casey," Tequila exclaimed - an allegation flatly denied by a family spokesman.

The Orphans

One of the pooches, an 18-year-old toy poodle named Zoe, "is very old and sick and has a lot of issues," said Jesse Derris, a spokesman for Casey Johnson's heartbroken dad, Jets owner Woody Johnson.

"The family plans to seek veterinary help for those issues," he said, but is not planning to put the dog down.

Besides Zoe and a second dog, a Yorkie, Casey Johnson's friends also took a rack of her clothes, including several fur coats, along with packages of insulin she took for her diabetes.

Asked if there was any plan to bury the dogs with Johnson, Phillips replied, "No." Then she loaded a red suitcase filled with her friend's gear into a black Range Rover.

All I can say as a dog is, this is not Indian years ago when the wife was thrown on a fire pier with her husband when he pasted away. Those days are long past and we dogs deserve to live out lives to our natural end. It's bad enough tens of thousands of pets in America are put to bed because there is no one to adopt them but when you have a billionaire family to back you up with enough money to take care of you that is sad and pathetic.

I hope to hear in the future months that Casey Johnson's dogs are living and doing well. She has an adopted daughter Ava and you don't see the family sending her back to the orphanage. I would hate to see this become a trend as my mom knows better. She has about five friends and families that are more than willing to take care of me should anything happen to her. Which is a good thing considering my mom wants to be cremated.

Chow for now!

Our 200th Post!! Dedicated to Virgin Airlines!

2010-01-07T01:14:00.003-05:00

Wow! Needless to say I should have reached this milestone a few months ago but I will still give my self a paw on the back for doing 200 meaningful, hard hitting posts worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.

For my 200th post I am going to post an amazing story about how Virgin Airlines (we love Virgin Airlines!!) is helping San Francisco animal shelters deliver a group of Chihuahuas in "Operation Chihuahua" to animal shelters in NYC who have a demand for Chihuahuas on the East Coast. Apparently there are too many Chihuahuas on the West Coast (thank you Paris Hilton and a large Chicano population) so instead of putting them to sleep someone came up with the brilliant idea of transporting them to NYC.

Here is an excerpt from Virgin's press release:

"Virgin America is assisting the City of San Francisco Animal Care and Control by flying Chihuahua pups from San Francisco to New York so they can be adopted into loving homes to ring in the New Year. The massive overpopulation of Chihuahuas in California is forcing animal shelters on the West Coast to look to shelters on the East Coast for help – where there is demand for the dogs. The San Francisco Animal Care & Control asked Virgin America to spare a seat during the busy holiday travel season to help fly these needy pups. Several Virgin America teammates have volunteered to escort the pups on the flights to the East Coast – and will track their journey with real-time updates via the airline’s fleetwide WiFi service.

Virgin America will be sending the dogs off in high-style, with a red carpet send-off at the gate, complete with doggie treats and plenty of toys to play with until departure. The Chihuahuas will be received at JFK by the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) – who will place the little dogs in loving adoptive homes."

There has been many fund raisers on the West Coast lately to raise money to send the surplus of 10,000 Chihuahuas to other parts of the nation for adoption. So if you know if anyone who is interested in adopting a Chihuahua just have them contact the ASCPA in Los Angeles or San Francisco. I had a Chihuahua once and he was so cute. His name was Snoopy (yes, very original) and he was a great pet (until the day I walked into my room and caught him humping my stuff animals which I had to immediately discard of). That's why it's important to do the "snip, snip".

Well I love that Virgin Airlines is such an out of the box airline. My mommy always loves taking Virgin so now she will make an extra special effort to use Virgin in the future.

Well, Chow for now!

Happy New Year's Day! A Day Late...

2010-01-02T01:29:00.003-05:00

Well I was hoping to get this to you on time but my mommy was out all day having brunch with her friends and she wound up staying very late because she was eating Francesca's snacks and playing Tombola (Italian Bingo). She won ten dollars so I know she will buy me extra bones this week.

Anyhow I hope you had a great New Year's Eve and Day. I was home alone, reflecting on the last year and what I want to accomplish in the next. My mom went to Jivamukti Yoga and did a three hour silent meditation leading into a half an hour chanting service into the New Year which was a new way for her to spend the new year as she woke up without demanding any Advil, bagels and Coca Cola.

So for this new year I am going to give you some animal fluff; celebrities and their dogs! Plus we honor Jessica Simpson's dog Daisy who was killed this past year by a coyote. This was the flyer posted around her neighborhood. Daisy we miss you and we know you and Q-Ball are having fun playing together in Doggie Heaven.

Chow for now!

Happy New Year! Actually, Happy New Decade!!!

2009-12-31T19:38:00.003-05:00

We here at the PPP want to wish you and yours a very Happy New Year Year and a very happy new decade. I know in my doggie bones that 2010 is going to be the start of something great! Mom has been thinking about the last ten years and she says it was definitely much more positive than negative. Hey, Q-Ball and I came into her life with this past decade so it must be special.

My New Year's resolution is that I will start working on a daily basis on the PPP and use it for animal rights and animal stories. I am going to start using pictures showing my vantage point so you can see the world like I see it.

So I hope you continue to log onto the PPP and join me on my journey.

My mom is starting her own blog tomorrow and it's based on the remarkable information she has learned over the years from living in NYC, traveling and having such smart, remarkable friends.

Have a happy, safe, sober New Year and well...Chow for now!!

Merry Christmas Everyone from the PPP!!

2009-12-25T14:50:00.002-05:00

Me at Rockefeller Center taking all the holiday season magic in.

This is my favorite holiday as I spend the majority of it napping and chewing on a brand new bone! So I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas from the PPP. I hope Santa was good to you this year.

Peace on Earth!

Chow for now!

This Would Be My Mom's Fantasy

2009-11-13T23:08:00.004-05:00

This story sounds more like the ramblings of my mommy's fantasies but it actually happened in Victoria, Australia.

Some strong wind came and blew Sue Drummond's dog Bibi off the pier they were walking on and into the water. Sue didn't think she was strong enough to jump in the water and save Bibi but luckily for her a male underwear model saw what happened, stripped and jumped into the water. Bibi's savior was Raden Soemawinata who said, "It was pretty cold and windy, but it wasn't such a hard decision to jump in, it wasn't such a great feat. I'm a part-time model, so getting into my jocks isn't so different to what I do for work."

I hope my mother doesn't get any ideas into her head and start walking me close to the edge of the East River during Fashion Week because I am skinny with hair (Maltese's don't have fur) and I would croak from the shock of the cold water. Bibi is a much sturdier breed than me.

To make matters even mushier, Raden was on the pier to spread his grandma's ashes. All that sensitivity, braveness and strong pecs rolled into one. Now I know why my mom's been Googling airfares to Australia. Forget Berlin!

Here are some pics of the rescue. Yes I was kind enough to slip in a picture for the readers of the PPP who enjoy male, wet, clingy underwear shots.

Chow for now!

Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken with Matching Maltese

2009-11-04T13:10:00.002-05:00

My breed of Maltese was the chosen canine companion for the Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken. Yes Mattel has done it again! They have taken everything we ever thought Ken was and ran with it. Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken is depicted here as a Palm Beach gay man in search of a house boy (Maltese included). Here is Mattel's description of Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken. No joking!!

"Cool sophistication in breezy Palm Beach! Sporting a dashing jacquard-patterned jacket with a light pink polo shirt and crisp white pants, Ken doll is ready for Palm Beach social season, sunning by the pool and a stroll with his little companion. Fashion designed exclusively for the Silkstone Barbie doll body (Ed note: aka Palm Beach Fag Hag Barbie). Includes Ken doll, jacket, pink polo shirt, white shoes, dog with leash, swim trunks and accessories, doll stand and certificate of authenticity."

Apparently I am a fancy dog, living in a fancy world with fancy people. I have to admit I am a little envious of Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken's dog. He has my dream life. Oh well, off to meditate for some creative visualization!

Chow for now!

Brilliant Humane Genuis = Vegetarians

2009-11-02T16:38:00.003-05:00

Ever since my mother got back from her retreat this summer, actually even a month before she went to her retreat she stopped eating meat. She did it for spiritual reasons at first but after the retreat she continued on for ethical reasons.

My mom was first a vegetarian for five years in her mid-twenties as she briefly dated an author who wrote about vegetarianism. One of the first sentences in a book he gave her said, "Why take a life when the earth provides such an abundance of fruits, vegetables and grains." That one sentence alone made sense to her and resonated deeply in something that she felt she always believed even when she was a child. She knew she was being a hypocrite by eating meat. With the mind connection it was an easy thing to do, however she had a tiny kitchen and did not really like to cook back then so her health suffered a little and her doctor felt strongly that she should go back to eating meat if she wasn't going to be a proper vegetarian. So she like most just turned a blind eye to eating meat again.

Now that she is older and a little bit wiser she is a vegetarian again. Eventually with more research she will also be a vegan as ignorance of how dairy and eggs are handled in the United States reflect eating some bad karma. Especially if eggs and dairy aren't free range or come from an organic farm, you almost might as well be eating meat. Mom has also realized that vegetarian diets are not like they were fifteen years ago. Vegetarian menus are much more tasty and filling. She says she honestly has not missed eating meat for one second. She also around the time she decided to continue with a vegetarian diet happen to meet a few vegetarian chefs and nutritionists so the universe was definitely encouraging her direction of diet.

Lastly, how could you eat meat when you have the love of your pets, Q-Ball and Powder Puff.

-It would seem my mother is in good company. Um, make that excellent company!! It seems some of the most brilliant individuals who ever walked this earth were also vegetarians. I have collected some of their quotes and I just wanted to share them with you.

-Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men. ~Leonardo da Vinci

-I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other.... ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

-You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

-While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth? ~George Bernard Shaw

-"Thou shalt not kill" does not apply to murder of one's own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai. ~Leo Tolstoy

-Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstaining from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of soul or mind the first man did so, touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, he who set forth tables of dead, stale bodies and ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds? ~Plutarch

-It is only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation that it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion, and that the sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable loathing and disgust. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab Notes

-To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body. ~Mahatma Gandhi

-Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. ~Albert Einstein

-Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn! You bury it in the ground, and it explodes into an oak! Bury a sheep, and nothing happens but decay. ~George Bernard Shaw

-If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. ~Paul McCartney

-A man of my spiritual intensity does not eat corpses. ~George Bernard Shaw

-My tummy is not a graveyard. – Swami Sri Purna

Something to think about...

Chow for now!

Happy Birthday Uncle Adrian!!

2009-11-01T23:49:00.003-05:00

Hello All!

I know, I know, it's been quite a while since you have received a post from the PPP.

I have been going through a transformation, a sort or a metamorphosis and I needed some time to get inspired again. Well is there any better reason to start up the old PP than to wish my Uncle Adrian a very Happy Birthday.

He has been the closest human being I have had as a father figure and I have learned so much from him. I also am very cared for by him even though he and mommy are just friends, how lucky am I? He could have just as easily forgotten about me but he didn't and for this I will be forever grateful and love him always.

So Uncle Adrian have a great birthday and don't worry about my sprain paw, it will heal...eventually!

In the meantime here is a photo of me last night in my Halloween costume (again for the second year in a row, Captain Jack Sparrow, hey we had to justify spending that much money on the costume). Just in case you think that is a wooden peg I am wearing, no it's my ace bandage for my sprain which went very well with my costume this year! I got lots of treats and my photo must of been taken at least 20 times last night. I am a Upper East Side legend.

It's good to be back!!

Chow for now!

Natalie Rivera Jewelry at Atmananda's Boutique

2009-09-19T22:12:00.002-04:00

Hi All! The PPP is very proud to announce that my mom's entire jewelry collection is going to be featured at the boutique at Atmananda Yoga Studio located at 324 Lafayette Street, 7th floor, New York, NY 10012 (between Bleecker and Houston Street).

Buy a piece of jewelry and get a free yoga class!! The more you buy the better my life becomes so think of it as giving to the universe for good karma :)

www.atmananda.com

Chow for now!

Coyote Ugliness

2009-09-16T00:53:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Mom has been very busy lately and I have a hard time doing the posts myself without opposesable thumbs.

Today we report the death of a celebrity dog who died in a heinous manner. Jessica Simpson's Maltipoo, Daisy, was taken away by a coyote who managed to get into her yard. Jessica Twittered that she watched in "HORROR" as those evil coyotes took Daisy. Jessica has posted this flier all around town and on Twitter asking the coyotes to please e-mail her. She is ready negotiate!

Q-Ball and I once encountered a coyote in California while walking at grandma's house. It looked liked a dog but it jumped over bushes and fences. Mom scared it away as she knew that the coyotes were notorious for eating little dogs and cats. So it is with great sadness that we write this post today as we know what happens when coyotes take away little dogs.

So RIP little Daisy. You were quite a looker, I must admit I had a crush on you and your Carmel colored hair. It's sad that this happened near the anniversary of Q-Ball's death. I am sure Jessica Simpson is inconsolable as that is how we were went Q-Ball died.

Daisy you are now a flower puppy in heaven.

Chow for now!

In Memory of Q-Ball, Sept 7th 2009

2009-09-08T00:14:00.002-04:00

A picture of Q-Ball in happier days.

Today was a hard day for my mom and me as it was the first year anniversary of Q-Ball's death.

I can't believe it's been one year already since that horrible day that changed my life and my mom's life forever. We still miss her greatly as she had such a strong spirit that inspired us and made us love her so much.

My mom and I had a great Labor Day Weekend at Shelter Island with her friends Francesca and Donald. It really helped us usher in this sad day surrounded by good friends, wonderful scenery and good food. I will update on our Shelter Island weekend in the next PPP. When we got back to New York City we decided to go to the spot where Q-Ball was run over as we had not been there since that terrible day. We thought we should do memorial service for her.

Well we got some roses and braced ourselves on our walk to the Great Lawn.

To our surprise we were encountered with a significant improvement of the signage in Central Park about no bicycling on the path. There were tall triangular signs that said "No bicycling on the path" at every entrance to the Great Lawn and spray painted signs on the sidewalk saying that "Bikes must be walked on the path". Can it be that our letters to Central Park Organization have actually helped the organization in bringing about change in signage? Can it be that our beloved Q-Ball's death was actually not in vain? It had been a year that we went to this part of the park so I don't know how long this remarkable change has been taking place. It was a miracle for us. We are so grateful that Central Park has gone the extra mile to make both humans and dogs safer from bicyclists.

However we did see a guy speeding on his bike in the path and when my mom tried to tell him that he was not supposed to be riding his bike on the path he told her where to go. She ran after him calling for the police (no police where around unfortunately) but we are going to call for police every time we see someone doing this. We might even make a citizen's arrest one day.

We left flowers on the path, said a few prayers and wished Q-Ball much happiness in heaven.

Q-Ball we will never forget...

Chow for now!

The Summer of Death Continues...

2009-09-05T01:04:00.002-04:00

Never in my short life have I lived in summer with so many deaths of famous people. We even had the death of Chanel the world's oldest dog just last week. Well brace yourself, I hate to be the bearer of more bad news but this is The Powder Puffington Post and we are here to report the news no matter how sad :( it might be. Scooter, a contender of the world's smallest dog has passed on.

I am particularly heartbroken because Scooter is a Maltese and looks a little like my girlfriend Bacci (only Bacci will get a little bit bigger I am told). Scooter's owner said he broke his leg after jumping out of her arms. The vet put Scooter's leg in a cast and gave him some medicine to take at home. Sadly, the medicine gave him a stomach ulcer and Scooter now resides in heaven. Just the thought of Scooter's tiny leg in a cast the size of a thimble is making me cry in my dark ale (hey just because mom isn't drinking doesn't mean I have to jump on the wagon too).

Scooter's owner added, "I put him in the box with flowers and a little dove picture to take him to heaven – he looked wonderful."

6-month-old Scooter, who was 8cm tall, 20cm long and weighed 400 grams, was going to try for the title of the smallest dog in the world when he turned 1.

Between Q-Ball and Scooter, Heaven must be the cutest spot in the Universe.

Just so you don't think the PPP is a messenger of doom, here is a cute link of a puppy that seems to have a hard time getting off his back. Me thinks this little guy must come from a puppy mill and be a little bit defective (in a cute way). And let's give mom snaps for finally learning how to insert a link. It only took almost a year but hey, better late than never!

Chow for now!

I'm In Love! I'm In Love! I'm In Love! I'm In Love!

2009-09-01T13:45:00.003-04:00

Yes it finally happened to me! I Powder Puff Rivera am in love!!

It took me awhile, I am 42 in dog years but yesterday in Central Park, along the hilly area of Cedar Hill, I came upon my new girlfriend, Bacci. Bacci is a purebred white Maltese dog just like me. She is 6 months old (don't you dare judge me!!). This is the real thing, not some May-December romance. Besides I live in New York City and drink the tap water so it would be no surprise I act like a "dawg", a New York City dawg! I have a feeling all the players are giving me "high-five" in their minds.

It was love at first sight. When I saw her I immediately charged after her and knocked her off her feet and out of her harness (I am not a subtle lover). I then started chasing her around and around the tree, the bushes, up the hill, down the hill in circles, in figure eights and then after awhile, she started chasing me and showing me her spunk!

We played like this for over TWO HOURS! Then I thought we knew each other for me to get a little frisky and do the dance of the hump. However Bacci's mother gently took me off of Bacci every time I did this as she didn't want her daughter "deflowered" whatever that means. I couldn't help myself, I was so happy and excited. My mommy kept telling me the same things she use to say when Q-Ball was alive; "No means no", "Don't be rude", yada, yada, yada.

Well, my mommy became friends with Bacci's owners and they agreed that we can have more play dates in the future. Yes! There is a Mrs. PP in the future, I guess I just have to wait for her to reach legal age for marriage and consummation. I am so happy my mom made sure Bacci will be in my life. I can't wait for you all to meet her, she is the sweetest, prettiest girl ever (next to Q-Ball that is).

Life is new again, the colors are brighter, the air smells sweeter, my Caesar's dog food is even edible again. I have a jaunty prance in my walk again. Life is beautiful! I'm a dog in love.

Chow for now xoxo!

CHANEL 4-EVER!

2009-08-31T15:35:00.002-04:00

This is a sad day in doggie land as Chanel the world's oldest dog has passed away at the ripe old age of 21 (hey that's 147 in dog years). Chanel, the wirehaired dachshund who held the Guinness World Record for oldest dog, died Aug. 28, 2009.

Earlier this year, the dog's owners, Karl and Denice Shaughnessy of Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., said that Chanel, who wore sunglasses for cataracts but was otherwise in good health, still had plenty of pep. "While I go to work she sleeps all day until I come home and then when I get home she is like a ball of fire,”.

Chanel did have her "senior moments" which include wandering around the house in the middle of the night until she got a snack (yikes! I do that too and I'm only 6!!). Her owners said the dogtreat Dogwell help Chanel reach her old age (mental not to add to my mom's shopping list).

I feel bad for Chanel's parent's as they must miss her so much because she has been a part of their life for so long, but as I have been learning in my studies on the path (yeah we dogs can learn something too) that Chanel was here to bring joy and love, in which she did, but she is going on to a place of pure love so we have to be happy for her. She lived a long, happy fulfilled life here on earth.

Chow for now!!

Bo's Summer In Martha's Vineyard

2009-08-28T23:31:00.003-04:00

Where to go on summer vacation when you are the nation's first pet? Martha's Vineyard of course! Right now Bo, the first family's dog is living MY life! I kid, I am living my life because apparently this is my karma but I wouldn't mind spending some time on the island as my mother went for two summers a few years ago and she says it was quite idyllic.

The Obama family is spending their summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard staying at Blue Herron Farm. Bo will get to roam the woods and scale the bluffs as he runs down to the beach (private beach) that his property entails. Am I envious? Just a little. Okay a lot, but my mom assures me that one day this will be my life and she is trying to get me to the beach a few more times before summer ends.

In the meantime my mom and I have been spending lots of time in Central Park. She has found some places where I can roam around free and feel like I am in the real countryside and not a urban oasis.

My mom has a visualization board but I think that I need one now with all that I want to experience in life. Actually I think I will make my next post in the PPP my visualization board so you all can see and help me attain my wishes and dreams.

Chow for now!

This Is Not A Toy

2009-08-27T21:21:00.003-04:00

This is an Axolotls. An Axolotls is a Mexican amphibian that never grew up and is on the verge of going extinct in the wild. The PPP had to do massive amounts of research to make sure that this animal was for real and not a Mattel toy as he looks so darn cute. Like a hairless creature from Fraggle Rock.

New survey work suggests that fewer than 1,200 Mexican axolotls remain in its last stronghold, the Xochimilco area of central Mexico. The axolotl is a type of salamander that uniquely spends its whole life in its larval form. But they usually do so in response to their environment, for example, if temperatures are too cold to emerge onto land as an adult salamander, the tadpole larvae may just keep growing underwater instead.

The Mexican axolotl is the only species that never undergoes metamorphosis. Its odd lifestyle, features and ability to regenerate body parts make it a popular animal kept in labs, schools and as pets.

As the human population grows, the wetlands where the Axolotls lives have grown smaller. The most recent work shows that the reduction in water quality is one of the main factors driving the axolotl to extinction in the wild.

Another is the presence of large numbers of introduced carp and tilapia fish, which both compete ecologically with axolotls for food and resource, and also eat axolotl eggs.

Reintroducing the axolotl to other axolotl is dangerous because it may introduce disease and wipe them out completely.

I personally think the axolotl is a little Mexican fairy and he is disappearing because this world has lost faith in magic, but hey that's just my opinion. I wouldn't mind one as a pet but I know my mother would mind feeding it bugs as she is a vegetarian know and would probably want to serve it cold pressed flax seed (very good for the heart, immune system and skin!).

This little fella is so darn cute! He looks like he is smiling in the picture. I'm thinking maybe we can do a cartoon with me as the lovable cute Maltese and Alessandro the pixie-like axolotls who rides on my head looking for adventure in the forests of Mexico and in New York City. What do you think? I gotta get Uncle Adrian to start drawing up some story boards.

It's a million dollar idea! Chow for now!

Oh BTW...

2009-08-25T23:46:00.001-04:00

Happy Half-Birthday MOM!! Now is the time to reflect on your life!!

How Would You Like It If Someone Did This To You?

2009-08-25T23:10:00.002-04:00

It's a good thing that the PPP is back in business as it is up to us to disclose the injustices done to dogs everywhere and that brings me to our story today.

Apparently around the world there are what you would call "creative grooming shows" that take poodles and turn them into other animals like camels, pandas, horses, even characters from movies like Jack Sparrow. In two hours perfectly normal poodles are made to look like animal drag queens. Then they are judged by a panel of twits who have nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Expert dog snapper Ren, from Florida, USA, said: "When these dogs come into the arena for a show or a competition you have absolutely no idea what they are going to be turned into.

"The groomers do colour them before they arrive but basically all you see at first is an extremely fluffy poodle that has weird coloured patterns on it.

"The transformation they go through is simply spectacular. There's no other word for it. It's amazing what they can do in so little time."

He is the only professional photographer who is brought in to capture images of the winning poodles on behalf of the show organisers.

"Watching the owners turn these balls of hair into something so intricate and detailed really does baffle anyone watching.

The artistic owners - almost entirely women - colour their beloved dogs with powdered paint sprayed on using blow pens which is non permanent.

"The dogs seem to love the whole experience," said Ren. "One of the reasons I love my job is because I love animals so much. I much prefer working with them than people.

"By the time the dogs get to me after they have been through the tournament they are bounding around and very happy.

Umm, I beg to differ. Only someone into furries would say that, this man just outed himself as a man who dresses like stuffed animals to have sex.

Anyway, as my mom's boss would say, "Bad, bad karma to you!" Get a life and love your dog for what they are, dogs! Not camels!!

My mom may put a LaCoste polo shirt on me and there is that time I was made to wear a Jack Sparrow Halloween costume but it WAS Halloween and my polo shirt looks good in the Hamptons.

Well, Chow for now!

I'm Back Baby!

2009-08-25T00:08:00.003-04:00

Umm, yeah, I didn't mean to take a three week vacation from the PPP but I guess I needed it to recharge my batteries and stir up my creative juices again. Anyway I am back and it has been a very awesome past three weeks as my mom and I are now "on the path".

What is "the path"? Well it is the path to enlightenment and I am along for the ride. Except for the part where my mom is thinking of making me a vegetarian dog, I am quite excited. How are we going to do this? Through daily meditation, constant vigilance, yoga, refraining of alcohol and other stimuli, a vegetarian diet (yikes, no more pulled-pork sandwiches), mantras and using the great city of New York as a daily reason to crank up the love as we are tested on a daily basis in this city. So far I have failed on a daily basis as I can't see to help myself as I charge for the big scary dogs that come my way but I am hoping that being on the path will one day change both my mom and me and transform us into more loving, spiritual beings.

We have our very own guru to follow now (Swami Purna) and mom has been engrossed in one of his books, "The Truth Shall Set You Free". She highly recommends the book to all her friends who want a more spiritual life. However we promise not to ever preach to anyone, we hope to inspire you to the path by showing how it has made our life much better as we search for self bliss.

Anyhow, it has been quite an eventful August and I had some beach time in Shelter Island (see pic above). I really need to meditate on getting my mom and I to the beach more often as it definitely is the life for me!

I hope everyone has been having a great summer so far and is planning on enjoying what is left of August. I missed you and look forward to posting more on the PPP.

Chow for now!

Pet Finder Pet of the Week - Rusty

2009-08-05T23:33:00.002-04:00

It's been awhile since I have done a Petfinder Pet of the Week Spotlight so today in honor of my mom going away for a few days for a spiritual retreat and my friend Leroy we are going to spotlight a Yorkshire Terrier, aka, a Yorkie.

This week we will spotlight Rusty, a male senior Yorkie who is probably a difficult adoption due to his health but this week we are going to believe in miracles. Here is his story.

Rusty is such a wonderful little guy. All he wants is to cuddle up with you and give kisses. Unfortunately Rusty is very afraid of other dogs. He will try to hide from our dogs and when at the vet he gets very worked up . We now know that we can only consider a home without other dogs. Rusty does love children but due to his health he should not be in a home with young children. The vet has advised us that he needs to stay calm and is not permitted outdoors in severe heat or humidity. It has been very challenging to keep him from getting excited. Even though he is sick he tries to run around and play like a pup. The perfect home for Rusty would be with someone home during the day and with an understanding that he will need daily meds for the rest of his life. We have a long way to go with his medical bills and we have several more bills in the near future. 6/1/09 Meet Rusty.....this sweet little guy was surrendered to a kill shelter by his owner. The thought that this sick little guy was left in a crowded shelter to spend his final days is just heart breaking!! Rusty has been diagnosed with a collapsing trachea, enlarged heart, ear infections, eye infection, and nuclear sclerosis just to start. He is also battling kennel cough from the shelter. At this time he is just settling and we are hoping he will have some quality of life left. We are not sure if he will go up for adoption or live out his life with his foster family. Anyone that has experience with these conditions and has a quiet home where Rusty can relax may be considered to adopt him. Right now we are looking to do what is best for him. You may contact Dina at resqnsavealife@aol.com if you think you might be a perfect match for our little guy. PLEASE READ: Adopters will not be considered without completing an application. Please visit www.AmericanBulldogRescue.org to apply! Remember - Adoption is always the best option! If you can't help by adopting a homeless pet, please consider making a tax-deductable donation to American Bulldog Rescue, 4 Terry Drive, Suite 1D Newtown, PA 18940 or paypal AmericanBulldogRescue@verizon.net

After having Leroy with us I am very sad to hear about Rusty's story. I hope he finds a loving home to live out the rest of his days.

Well while my mommy is away I will be staying with Aunty Annie at Uncle Adrian's place. He is away in the UK visiting his dad so I have her all to myself. I love to sleep with models (well I am a dog) and we are going to the beach so it will be a swell weekend ahead for me.

Chow for now!

People Let Me Tell You About My Best Friend...

2009-08-01T00:09:00.004-04:00

He's a warm hearted dog that'll love you till the end.

What you lookin at?!

I am a little sad as my BFF Leroy the Yorkie has left to go back home today. We were getting along so well too! He even found a good friend in Judge (they liked to make out all day, hmmm...) Judge didn't even like Mom playing rough with Leroy as he went to protect her from him as he thought she was harming him. So I gather Judge is sad and missing his little friend Leroy too.

Here are some exiting shots taken today.

I mean it, don't come any closer lady!

Pretend the crazy lady is not there...

Ebony and Ivory live together in perfect harmony.

Well, my mommy went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art today with Papa, Aunty Lillian and Matt. This was Papa's first time at the Met and he seemed to enjoy it and learn a lot (so my mommy informed me as I am not allowed in).

Here are some shots of them enjoying the Arms and Armor gallery at the Met.

Tomorrow they are abandoning me again to do a tour of downtown Manhattan and the Museum of Natural History.

I will be home alone gnawing at my paw (just a little passive-aggressive guilt trip I learned along the way).

Have a great weekend y'all! Chow for now!

Some Sad News...

2009-07-30T00:40:00.002-04:00

Sorry, it's been awhile since I posted but I have been busy being a big brother to Leroy the Yorkie. We have bonded in the last few days (and I don't mean when I excitedly hump him). He is my little compadre now. Well onto the news...

Very sad, um yes very sad indeed. Sybil the cat, who moved into Downing Street shortly after Prime Minister Gordon Brown took office two years ago, has died after a short illness.

The black and white feline, named after Basil Fawlty's wife in the hit 1970s comedy Fawlty Towers, was brought to London by Alistair Darling after he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in Brown's government in June 2007. Sybil died earlier this week at the home of a family friend, a Downing Street spokesman said.

It's always a national tragedy when the nation's first pet dies. However in her short life, Sybil lived large. Darling's official residence is number 11, next door to Brown's 10 Downing Street home, but a spokesman for the incoming premier admitted in 2007 that the cat would have the run of both houses.

"It's quite difficult to confine cats, so, yes. The prime minister doesn't have a problem with it. (The prime minister's wife) Sarah Brown doesn't have a problem with it," he said at the time.

Well, here's hoping Sybil is chasing that big mouse in the sky. RIP.

Chow for now!

Introducing Solia Beatrice Gipe

2009-07-26T22:30:00.003-04:00

Awwww!

There's a new little angel in town and her name is Solia Beatrice Gipe. She is Leroy's little human sister and she is ADORABLE!!

Little Solia is almost a week old and she came to this earth through a tough, long, painful labor in which her mommy's gallbladder decided to act up (I think Solia may have kicked it during labor-ALERT, future soccer player of America!).

Solia has her parent's good looks and even more important, their gentle temperament. I am looking forward to Solia cooing over me when she gets older as mommy and me are hoping for babysitting duty (you know, for "date night"). Now that Leroy and I are like brother's I am thinking that makes me Solia's step-dog brother??

Anyway here are some shots of the "Familia LaChapgipe".

Ian trying to burp "old school".

Ian burping Solia "new school" with the theory that if her spine is straight the burp will flow quickly through her body (with a tiny bit of rattling). I think it's working, I see a burp bubble forming in her mouth.

Wow! Look at those cabbage filled knockers!! Yousa! We need to put pictures of missing children on "the girls"!

Chow for now!

Okay, 1,2,3, All Together Now...Awwww

2009-07-24T23:02:00.002-04:00

Today's story comes from The Daily Mirror, although a tabloid, sometimes they do bring a tear to the eye.

Collies usually round up sheep not each other... but as the eyes of her blind canine companion, little Bonnie steers Clyde away from trouble.

The five-year-old long-haired border collie, who has lost his sight because of a degenerative disease, relies entirely on Bonnie as his guide dog. He follows her everywhere.

And like the American gangster lovers they have been named after, the friendly dogs are on the lookout for a safe, new hideaway.

They were recently dumped in the street during a storm and are currently being cared for at Meadow Green Dog Rescue Centre in Hales Green, near Loddon in Norfolk.

The centre's Cherie Cootes said: "If Clyde's unsure where he is, he will suddenly go behind Bonnie and put his face on the back of her so she can guide him. He totally relies on her.

"And when she walks she tends to stop and make sure he's there - she does look out for him. When she's about you wouldn't notice he is blind, but when she's not about he refuses to move. There's no option of homing them separately. They've got to go as a pair."

A driver found the dogs running through Blundeston, near Lowestoft, Suffolk, during a storm three weeks ago. Neither Clyde nor Bonnie - a short-haired border collie aged two or three - had identifying collars or chips.

Cherie, 40, added: "They've got very nice manners and they walk well on the lead.

"They really are a very sweet pair of dogs."

Okay now! AAAWWWWW! This story makes my 1 1/2" diameter of a heart beat hard. I love a good doggie love story. Uncle Adrian I smell a screenplay here. Jump on it!! Maybe I can play Clyde and Leroy can play Bonnie?

Oh well! The end to another fascinating week here at the PPP. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Chow for now!

And Then There Were Three...

2009-07-23T20:47:00.003-04:00

Look to the side...
My mommy's friends Marielise and Ian had a beautiful baby girl, Solia Beatrice Gipe, this week so my mommy said it would be okay to take care of their Yorkie Leroy for a few days while they gel as a nuevo familia.

So now I have Judge the French Bulldog and Leroy the Yorkie living with me. It's a regular three-ring circus here at The Powder Puffington Post.

Look straight ahead...

We are all actually getting along. My mom can't believe how messy the house is as every 15 minutes someone is using the wee-wee pad. She says she will never invite anyone to the house again. We just saw a product on TV called the "Potty Patch" which is synthetic grass that dogs like to go on and at the end of the day you just pour out the pee-pee. Hey sounds like it will save hundreds on wee-wee pads and the environment.

Now down, look down...

Any how, it's been interesting to see all of us try to prove who is top banana here. I know one day I will be the master of my domain again.

Okay, I'm having fun, I will admit it. I have some friends, I am not alone and it's summer in New York.

Chow for now!

Welcome to the Taco Bell in the Sky!

2009-07-22T21:28:00.004-04:00

It's our 175th post and we at the PPP are very happy and grateful for this milestone. However we have very sad news to relate to you today. Gidget, the Chihuahua best known for her Taco Bell ad campaign, died from a stroke on Tuesday night at age 15.

"She made so many people happy," says Gidget's trainer, Sue Chipperton. Even at 15 Gidget was a consummate pro and delighted the crew with her playful nature. The mostly retired actor lived out her days laying in the sun – "I like to joke that it's like looking after a plant," says Chipperton – and entertaining at shoots when her trainer brought her along. "Gidget," says Chipperton, "always knew where the camera was."

"When she's on a set, she comes alive," Chipperton said at the time. But when the mostly retired canine actor wasn't joining her trainer on shoots, the 15-year-old was happy to just kick back. "She goes on hikes with me and she loves the sun," said Chipperton, who added that Gidget was happy to sleep "for 23 hours and 45 minutes a day. She'll lay outside when it's 105 degrees!

In addition to her gig as spokesdog for Taco Bell, Gidget appeared in a commercial for the '90s edition of Trivial Pursuit and played Bruiser's mom in Legally Blonde 2 (Moonie, the dog who played Bruiser, was her best friend and sometime roommate at Chipperton's house).

Other than a few other small cameos, Gidget's working life didn't continue much beyond her Taco Bell legacy. But she left quite an impression. "One time, I kid you not, she actually pushed her stand-in out of the way because he was still there when she arrived on set," Chipperton recalled with a laugh.

Me loves a ham! Adios Gidget, adios!

Chow for now!

We're Jammin'!

2009-07-19T22:20:00.004-04:00

This is a rarity. Actually this is a first. The first time I did two posts in one day, so let's pretend the post I did this morning was a VERY late post from yesterday. I just wanted to share my day as I went with mommy and Dag to Central Park Summerstage to hear Alpha Blondie, the rasta group from the Ivory Coast. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor concert.

My mom finally got the plastic tag off my pup tent and I really did like having a little home of my own that made me feel safe in the middle of the park. However I did not appreciate it when mom put me in the tent and zippered it up like a jail cell whenever I did something naughty like chase the really big dog breed called "horses".

Here is Dagomatic!! One of mom's oldest friends and a photographer for Natalie Rivera Jewelry.

You can't see but across the way Summerstage was happening. The line was too long so we sat across the way and listened to the music. It was my first Rastafarian concert. Had it been a few days before I would have had white rasta hair. Now I look like a clean cut Princess dog.

Heeerrreee's Rick! As hilarious as always!!

Photographic evidence that I pee like a racehorse (and I mean my position, not that I always am going to the bathroom). Q-Ball raised one leg, I crouch.

Me tasting some of mom's snowcone. We tried and tried but there was NO flavor at all in the entire $3 snowcone. Should have gone for the Creamcicle.

Well, here's hoping I get to go to more concerts in the park to increase my exposure to different music genres. We are hoping to get to the beach one day this week so I can run in the sand and mom can float in the ocean as we are just itching for it.

Chow for now!

I've Got The Look!

2009-07-19T12:50:00.002-04:00

Well a summer time puppy cut look without floppy ear look!

Here is how I look with my new haircut. Everyone now thinks I look like a little puppy so there are twice the amount of little girl groupies stopping me on the street for a little cuddle.

Well I am more comfortable now and I can actually feel the breeze now on my skin.

Now it's time for you to tell me, "How Do I Look?"

My mom's friend Marielise is in labor now so we are going to host her little dog Leroy the Yorkie for a week so it should be really interesting here with three male dogs trying to declare themselves Alpha Dog. Speaking of which...

Have a great weekend, we are headed to Summerstage in Central Park to listen to rasta band Alpha Blondie. Ay man!

Chow for now!

A Day In The Life Of PP

2009-07-17T00:45:00.006-04:00

I was wondering what to write today for the PPP and then I thought, "Why don't I write about myself and show my readers how I spend my day?" Brilliant huh!

Well here is a photo journal of my day.

It starts with me waking up. As you see I inherited my mommy's allergy to waking up early and not being a natural beauty.

Then I eat some breakfast. I have it fast before Judge comes and tries to bully me out of my meal. He likes my Little Cesar's more than his organic Stella and Chewy beef patties. I used to eat that and I understand why Judge likes my food better.

Then we walk to Central Park and I look for lovers in the midst of a picnic who won't se me borrow their food. This Japanese couple had no food with them. It was a wash!

I sit with my mom but it gets too hot even with the water.

She brought my little pop-up tent but we couldn't open the packaging. This is what it would have looked like if we could use it.

Made in the shade.

I hunted birds. Don't worry, it was catch and release (without a head, he-he, just kidding).

My mumsy and me.

Walking back home with my Kate Spade leash. I am in the Upper East Side after all.

Thinking of an idea for the PPP, by golly I think I have an idea!

Working on the PPP! Deadline is looming upon me, waiting for the proof's and Uncle Adrian's editorial comments (which are always the same, "Spelling PP, check your spelling!")

Racing home after the evening walk. I beat mommy upstairs. Last week I went to the six floor as a joke and she dangled me over the roof as she thought making her race after me to the top of our building was not too funny.

Sleeping in the nude! Goodnight all. That's my charmed life. Stay tune for tomorrow as I go to the groomers and will not look like a dust mop anymore.

Chow for now!

Umm, I Wonder If They Fly To London?

2009-07-15T21:26:00.003-04:00

Since I was a little puppy my mother took Q-Ball and I on airplanes cross country to visit the familia in California and friends down south. Q-Ball and I actually have flown more than most people on this earth (but not as much as Puff Daddy's Maltese). Because we are small dogs we can fly underneath the seat in most airlines. So we have flown American Airlines, Continental and Jet Blue (um, I think I am black listed from Jet Blue for an certain incident involving me having a little tummy ache during the flight and EXPLODING all over my bag, mom and her chair - okay PP go to your happy place...).

Well this isn't an option for larger pets, especially large dogs. They usually are treated like baggage and have to fly in the cargo area which would be sooo traumatic for me. I would need to see a doggie therapist AND doggie psychic if my mom ever had me fly that way. Many animals have died from either being too cold or too hot in the cargo area. My mom's stepsister flew her dog across country and he was left on the tarmac during a rainstorm. He soon after developed a terrible cold and died. She was devastated! That was my step-cousin dog I think.

Lately my mom has become on Facebook a fan of Pet Airways. This is an airline that has the entire cabin as kennels (almost a little jealous as that sounds much better than being stuffed under a seat in the small space like a handbag). According to Pet Airways, "pets aren't packages, they're 'pawsengers.'" Great tagline! So pets are treated with the same safety and protocol as human passengers. Now we pets get the same opportunities that humans do like; being ignored by the flight attendant, no food on the flight, drool from the kennel above landing on us, no movies and no explanations for why we are sitting on the tarmac for hours. Hey at least we won't have crying babies on board!

Initially, the airline will only service Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles... with only one flight a week per city.... but the company hopes to grow to multiple flights to 25 cities over the next few years. So at least a larger pet can be flown to to a city and then have a shorter drive instead of being driven across the country and having to deal with humans that long in such a small environment.

My question is when are they going international? I hear dogs are welcomed in the UK now as long as we fly through Gatwick. I want to be a European dog as I hear we are welcomed in bars and restaurants there. I want to be walked along the Thames or the Seine and eat foie gras and pate and shepherd's pie (even though I have no idea what that is) and drink a pint of dark ale. Yummy!! My mom would love to go to an ashram so maybe one day they can fly to India! I think I would be very popular in India or Asia (and not on the menu, mind you).

I don't think I am ready to fly to Africa because if humans can't treat each other like humans beings should be treated imagine what they would do to me??

To check out Pet Airways go to www.petairways.com

And mom I promise next time I fly with you that I will not mortify you with my little poopy explosions as I got the feeling that you were a little turned off with flying with me anymore. Remember we still have that travel memoir to write...

Chow for now!

Say It Ain't So!

2009-07-13T13:01:00.002-04:00

The PPP has in the past reported the love of gay zoo animals from all around the world. However it looks like male gay penguins can be just as fickle as gay men and be on the DL (down low for those not familiar with the gay penguin vernacular).

It seems Linda the penguin has come between Harry and Pepper, a male gay penguin couple who have been together for six years and have nested and egg together from another female surrogate penguin.

"Of all of the parents that year, they were the best. They took very good care of their chick," said zookeeper Anthony Brown of Harry and Pepper.

Enter the widow Linda, who began courting Harry in her partner's old burrow shortly after his death this past winter, Brown said.

"To be completely anthropomorphizing, Linda seems conniving," Brown said. "She's got her plan. I don't think she was wanting to be a single girl for too long."

Though Harry and Linda have been nesting in recent months, molting season in late summer tends to reshuffle couples.

"It'll be interesting to see if Harry spends any of that time with Pepper," Brown said. "We'll have to wait and see."

My mom says it's just like college all over again. You date the cute frat boy, he meets up with other men in the science hall bathrooms. Then after graduation they go back and marry the sorority girls. Years later they are driving around the Meat Market district looking for men, easily identifiable by their New Jersey license plates.

Yes, penguins and humans are becoming eerily similar in habits.

Chow for now!

A Funny Thing Happen On The Way To Doggie Playdate...

2009-07-11T21:34:00.002-04:00

Oh what a day!!

Well not funny ha-ha, more like, "WTF!!".

Today on the way downtown to have a doggie play date with Leroy the Yorkie, my mommy was exiting the Wall Street station turnstile with me in my doggie bag, her handbag and a gift for her friend Marielise who is about to give birth any day now. As she was trying to fit all of us in the turnstile, the man behind us who obviously was in a rush because he is soooo important, pushed the turnstile while my mommy still wasn't fully in and her foot was still out. The force of his push torn the skin above my mom's heal in a jagged gash.

My mom gets out of the turnstile and looks down at her torn foot and yells at the man, "Hey!". He just looked down at her foot that is starting to bleed and maybe said, "I'm sorry" we really don't know we didn't hear anything and he rushed upstairs without looking back or offering to help us. My mommy was PISSED!!! People of course just looked at her and walked on by us.

She hobbled upstairs and noticed that blood was dripping everywhere as she limped down Rector Street. That was when we noticed there was a large police presence in the vicinity. As we walked down Rector a policeman came to us and asked us if she needed any help. I think mom was a little in shock because she didn't know what to do as she noticed that she was leaving a blood trail down Rector. We went to the ambulance and two very handsome (her words not mine) paramedics looked at her wound. They told us she had to get stitches as the gash was too deep to heal properly on it's own. They asked if we wanted to call an ambulance but since we don't have an extra six hundred dollars to waste we said we will manage to get to the hospital on our own.

The paramedics cleaned her wound, tied a gauze strip around her heel and even cleaned some of the blood from her shoe. They were really sweet and amazing and we felt like someone was looking out for us from up above to have these men right there when we needed them most.

Mom then hobbled to her friend's apartment in Battery Park City and after explaining what had just happened asked if I could stay with them while she went to the emergency room at NY Downtown Hospital. So that was my introduction to Leroy the Yorkie and the beginning of our play date together.

My mom went to the hospital around 2 o'clock, by 5:30pm she walked out with 4 stitches to her the skin right above her right heel. The anesthesia took away the pain and she was grateful that everyone at the hospital was so nice to her and had a great bedside manner.

She then went to get me and as Marielise had just come from taking Leroy and I to the dog run at Battery Park. We met at PJ Clarke outside next to the water and in the end we all managed to have the doggie play date we had been planning for some time now.

On the way home going down Rector Street we stopped to ask the police why they were there all day and we found out that a woman had been found hacked to death in a building on 2 Rector Street. So in an ironic way her death provided us the paramedics my mom needed. Sad but true :(

Anyway we are home now, I am pooped from all the drama and playing with (trying to mount) Leroy. My mom has her foot up and a Tylenol with Codeine in her system and we are just happy to be home. We are so glad there are so many helpful people in New York. They far outweigh the jerks that do things like push turnstiles before others are fulling in them. Oh well, it could have been worse.

Have a great weekend and chow for now!

Drunkeness...Not Just a Human Problem

2009-07-10T10:01:00.003-04:00

This could only happen in Germany.

Police in Goslar, Germany got a call from motorists about a dead badger in the middle of the road blocking traffic. When they arrived, they found that the badger wasn't dead, it just loved to party and had a serious case of the drunks. The badger ate too many overly-fermented cherries and had stumbled out into the middle of the road to pass out.

After getting some cold water thrown on it and awakening (hmm, I am sure I am bringing back memories of university for most of my readers) he was moved off to the side of the road.

The police officer stated: "The animal's stomach had turned the fruit to alcohol and the badger was, to put it crudely, drunk as a skunk. It could not immediately be established whether the badger got into trouble with his wife when he came home in such a state."

Why do Germans always think they have to be a comedian?

I myself like to partake of the fermented grains once in awhile. Dark ales are my choice as they are much more tastier than the water bowl I am now forced to share with Judge.

Oh well, it's summertime. Just a reminder to humans, badgers and canine to drink responsibly.

Chow for now!

Back To The Olde Grind!

2009-07-07T23:49:00.003-04:00

Aunty Susan's and Aunty Carine's New Paltz home.

Oh to be back in New York after such a nice weekend in the country. My mom and I had a great time with Aunty Susan and Aunty Carine at their upstate home in New Paltz this past Fourth of July weekend.

Once we arrived there and I was let free I felt like a little wolf. A real animal not some pretty boy dog who sits on a lap all day. I was over stimulated and had a great time chasing wild turkey (or as I like to call them, "really big mutant pigeons"), deer "big dogs with bones on their heads", rabbits, turtles, you name it I chased it!! However I did notice as I ran along the lawn that there were some big birds in the sky flying around and perhaps mistaking me for a white bunny and their dinner. Mom kept her own eagle eye on me to make sure I did not end up as dinner.

My presence however kept the cats on the property away from the house. I actually was in too good a mood to care as I was given a lot of freedom and much needed attention by all.

We were invited to three bbq's given at the homes of Susan's and Carine's friends. All were populated by children who were ignorant of the fact that they shouldn't be feeding me their burgers and various other meats. My mom was sure I would never eat my dog food again. There were lots of little girls dog handling me all weekend. They LOVED me! I was a rock star in their eyes.

Yes Erica, keep the hot dogs coming!!

Little Juliet LOVED me.

I went on a kayaking trip with my mom in which I sat in between her legs. This wasn't my first rodeo, I have gone kayaking before. What you don't know is that my mom is terrible at paddling and she must have hit me in the head with her paddle over 80 times (I exaggerate not!). Then the sun decided for the first time this summer to come out so eventually I went into the bow of the kayak with my mother throwing water at me to make sure I didn't faint from heat stroke.

Not happy with mom's paddling!!

The men we met at the bbq's were a little upset with my mommy on my given name as they thought it was a cruel thing to do to me, so I was renamed "Rocco". My mom is a little worried because I have answered to it once or twice, but I do think I will be Powder Puff 4EVER!

So good company, good food, good chasing (much better than tough NYC squirrels), great weather, beautiful home and property, happy mommy, freedom from leashes, lots of love and adoration from the young and old. What more could a dog ask for?

My wonderful hostesses, Carine and Susan.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend too!!

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!!

2009-07-03T10:57:00.002-04:00

The Powder Puffington Post would like to take this time to wish you all a Happy Fourth of July and to raise a toast to living in what will once again be the greatest country in the world!!

We hope you all have a great weekend wherever you choose to spend it. We ourselves are headed to New Paltz today in upstate New York to spend the holiday with mommy's friends Carine and Susan.

I am looking forward to being out in the country and chasing animals bigger than city squirrels. Just being away from NYC will be great.

So no posts until Sunday night where hopefully I will have some great shots of our holiday weekend if mommy manages not to forget her camera once again.

Oh and by the way, that is NOT me in the picture above. My mommy and me have come to an understanding in how ridiculous she can dress me and the outfit above is definitely a NO.

So Chow for Now!

Pet Finder Pet of the Week - Lola

2009-07-01T22:53:00.002-04:00

This week when we were thinking of what breed to pick for our Pet Finder Pet of the Week Spotlight we thought of a Boston Terrier because our Aunty April thinks she would like to adopt one and even though she lives in Berlin maybe she can look at the Petfinder.com website and adopt a Boston Terrier before she returns to Berlin???

So today we put the spotlight on Lola! Here is her bio:

Lola is a cute, sweet little 16 month old girl who is full of energy. She needs some basic training and lots of structure. She's learning to walk on leash with much success. She tends to play rough with the other dogs, but this could be because she just needs to learn some manners. She likes to play with tennis balls and soccer balls and will fetch them endlessly. Lola would do well with a family with children over 8 or 9 years old, since she is very energetic and jumps a lot. She is not food or toy aggressive and would be good as an only dog or with others. She can entertain herself with the balls and toys. Since Lola is so young and has had two owners already, she needs stability so she can feel secure. This will be the secret to her success...when she feels like she has a real home.

Lola is currently being fostered in Southern New Jersey/Philadelphia, PA area. Transport assistance is available with adoptions.

We require a home check, application and adoption fee Please visit our website to complete an application www.nebostonrescue.org.
Lola is up-to-date with routine shots, house trained and spayed/neutered.

That Lola is a cutie and I like her name. My mommy use to have fantasies of having three girls named Lola, Lupe and Lulu so we like the Lola name. So we hope Lola gets adopted ASAP because she needs a home of her own.

Well, Chow for now!!

Boycott Petland Pet Store!!

2009-06-30T00:11:00.002-04:00

A puppy mill that Petland buys from in Kansas.

This article comes from the Humane Society of the United States:

The Humane Society of the United States released the results of an eight-month investigation in November showing that pet store chain Petland Incorporated is the nation's largest retail supporter of puppy mills.
Our Puppy Mills team has been working hard in the months since that exposé was released, and today reveals disturbing new revelations about Petland.
The investigation revealed at least two Petland stores in Florida, the Orlando East and Largo stores, still buying puppies from the facility linked to Kathy Bauck, who was convicted on three counts of animal torture and one count of animal abuse in March. We also found some Petland stores still buying from at least two other puppy mills that we filmed and identified as part of our initial investigation.

Our team conducted an intensive six-month search of public records in multiple states and tracked shipments of puppies from massive commercial brokers to more than 95 percent of Petland's domestic stores. We revealed once again that the store chain is misleading customers about dealing with a special selection of breeders. Instead, Petland's franchisees buy most of their dogs from puppy mills either directly or indirectly through large-scale wholesalers, like Hunte.

This deceptive behavior continues to harm both animals and consumers. More than 600 people who purchased dogs from Petland have already contacted us about the class action lawsuit Petland is currently facing. If you haven’t already, please tell us your story if you bought a puppy from Petland.

We’ll continue to keep the pressure on Petland to join other national pet store chains that refuse to sell dogs from puppy mills, until the company does the right thing for animals.

Thank you for your continued support in our campaign to stop puppy mills.

Chow for now!

A Contest I Could Never Qualify For...

2009-06-28T16:18:00.002-04:00

Yes it's that time of the year again, time for the "World's Ugliest Dog Contest 2009"! A contest no Maltese could ever win.

Pabst, a boxer-mix with a serious under bite from Citrus Heights, CA, beat out a dozen beautifully fugly dogs to win the crown as well as $1,600 in prizes and a modeling contract. Pabst is the first non-Chinese Crested dog to win the title in 5 years.

Pabst, who was given his name because he had a “ bitter beer face”, according to his owner quickly won the crowd and the judges soon followed. Pabst won $1,600 from the Sonoma-Marin Fair for sweeping all three rounds ($100 for mutt class, $500 for runoff with the pedigree class winner, and $1,000 for World’s Ugliest Dog). This year sponsor House Of Dog upped the ante with another $1,000 in prize money, a table of “bling” that included collars, leashes, and bowls plus a year-round modeling contract that Pabst signed with his paw.

Pabst was a rescue dog adopted by Egstad three years ago. Aww, isn't that sweet!! It was the first time a “mutt” has won the contest in more than seven years. Halligan who is a vet, performed the screening for contestants to make sure all the animals were healthy. Contestants this year had to provide veterinarian releases documenting the health of their dogs. As Judge and Fair Board Member Brian Sobel says, “We were looking for dogs who were naturally ugly.” And Pabst was.

I got Pabst's blue ribbon on my mind, more and more lately I find, I got a taste for living, I'm thinking old blue ribbon, I got Pabst's blue ribbon on my mind.

Chow for now!

Our Guests

2009-06-25T00:02:00.004-04:00

Uncle Franzi corrupting a minor

The "adults"

Well I have not been posting lately BUT I have a good excuse. We have had visitors over for the last few days and my days and nights have been full of company and entertaining my Aunty April and Uncle Franz.

Uncle Franz throwing down a brewskie.

In the morning Aunty April and Uncle Franz take me for my daily drag around town. She thinks I am being stubborn but in reality I am just doing a drill for just in case someone decides to try to kidnap me. What concerns me most is that no one else on the street seems to recognize my distress and my efforts to escape her and back into the arms of my loving mama.

Aunty April modeling her new shoes.

Anyway sometimes I was welcomed to come along with the humans, sometimes not and I was left alone. With Judge.

Aunty reaching for kiss.

I have been relegated to sleep with my mom on the couch which I just don't understand as it is my bed and I know if they just gave me the chance that they would see that I quite snuggly. Anyway tonight is the last night I have to stay on the couch which my mom and I quite perfected by now. Tomorrow night I get my bed back and mom gets to stretch her legs whilst sleeping and she is going to need her bed tonight as she starts her intermediate salsa dance lessons tomorrow.

Aunty April telling me I won't be sleeping with them again.

Oh well, it's been fun to have Aunty April and Uncle Franz stay with us. The Rivera family motto is "the more the merrier" so we hope in the future they come and visit us again as it has been a lot of fun. Hopefully next time they stay with us our place is a little bit bigger and they get their own room.

Christ I'm cute!

Come back Aunty April and Uncle Franz, come back!!

Judgey McJudge

Hope you enjoy the pics of my guests!

Chow for now!

Happy Father's Day!!

2009-06-21T23:15:00.003-04:00

Although Father's Day can easily be swept under the rug as a Hallmark holiday, I think it's important to acknowledge the important people in our life, especially our family and most especially our parents and parent figures. So today on Father's Day I salute all the fathers of the world, especially the ones that have stepped up to the plate and have embraced what it really is to be a father or father figure.

President Obama made a statement about how important it is to be a good father as he had an absentee father throughout most of his life. However he had his grandfather as his father figure so he himself has been inspired to be a good father by both someone that was there and someone that was not there.

It's a big responsibility to be responsible and care for others and to make sure that they make it through life unharmed, happy and productive whilst keeping your own happiness intact. This is the job of both parents. However as mothers have a closer physical bond with their family as nurturer, fathers can easily walk away from this hard task at hand (and many do). To stay there for your family and make sure that their needs are met always makes me as a dog admire humans as my daddy was a breeder who after knocking up my mom was never to be in my life again. Klaus was my birth daddy and Uncle Adrian was the closest person I have to having a daddy. We are actually quite alike, I am the son he has yet to have.

My mommy has a daddy (I call him Papa) and he has been the daddy to not only my mommy and Aunty Lillian but all his sisters and brothers, step-daughters and many of his nephews and nieces. He has been a pillar for his family and because of him we have been able to go on with our lives and follow our dreams and goals because we know that if anything ever goes wrong, we have a home to go back to that he provides for us. He has been our safety net and in this hard world, especially lately, that fact does not go unnoticed by any of his family. We love him very much.

My mommy also has a step-daddy, David, who has been there for her and Mema's other children. He never lets us down and he is just a pleasure to know as a human being. He is one of the kindest and patient people I know as I love to sit with him and watch football when I visit my family in California. These men help make living in this world much easier and for that I salute them!!

So Happy Father's Day to the men who deserve it (and they know who they are!). I love you Papa and David!!

Chow for now!

Not Too Shabby!!

2009-06-20T11:25:00.003-04:00

Here is the official portrait of the Obama's family dog, Beau. I must say he is looking quite dapper. From this picture it is quite obvious that Beau is very happy and has adapted to living in the White House. And what's not to adapt to? A big lawn, many handlers, all the food you can eat, little girls to squeal over you and walks from the most powerful man on earth (although I am sensing he is not the one holding the pooper scooper).

We here at the PPP are happy that Beau is such a strong, positive presence in the White House as we feel with the need of so many dogs needing to be adopted he is a good role model on how most households in America should experience the utter happiness of owning a dog as a pet.

Well, my mom and I are going to go out now and take advantage of the weather before it starts raining and I am cabin-bound. Yesterday she and Aunty April dragged me all around downtown shopping with them. I didn't mind. I was happy to be out and about and I would like to think I was responsible in a way of helping them chose their outfits and shoes as I like to consider myself a pretty good stylist (something I learned from living with a woman who LOVES her shoes).

Have a great weekend and enjoy the beginning of summer!

Scientific Proof!

2009-06-19T10:25:00.003-04:00

What I and millions of dogs have known over the years have finally been proven by the scientific community, dogs ARE smarter than cats!

The thought processes of 15 cats were tested by attaching food to the end of lengths of string and observing whether they could figure out that pulling the line brought the treats closer.

The cats had no problem with tackling single pieces of string. However, when faced with two options, experts discovered that unlike their canine counterparts, cats were unable to consistently pick a baited string over a dummy.

Psychology lecturer Britta Osthaus, who conducted the study, said the findings shatter the myth that cats are smarter than dogs. "This finding is somehow surprising as cats regularly use their paws and claws to pull things towards them during play and hunting. She added that the results show that cats do not understand cause-and-effect connections between objects.

The experiments involved attaching fish and biscuit treats to one end of a piece of string, placing them under a plastic screen to make them unreachable.
They were tested in three ways, using a single baited string, two parallel strings where only one was baited, and two crossed strings where only one was baited.
With two crossed strings, one cat always made the wrong choice and others succeeded no more than might be expected by chance.

Mrs Osthaus added: "If we know their limits we won't expect too much of them, which in turn is important for their welfare.

"I am not trying to say cats are stupid, just they are different. We are so anthropomorphic we can't see the world through their eyes."

Well to be honest with you I never really met a cat up front before so I can't tell you from experience but I do know from watching cartoons with my mommy that dogs are always portrayed as the dumb oafs and cats are the smart manipulated creatures. I am glad to have this study so next time some snug cat owner tries to belittle my brilliance I will go to this post to rub it in their face the same way my face was rubbed into my urine when I had an accident as a puppy.

Well, off to sniff other dogs bums! Chow for now!

Do Not try This At Home!

2009-06-16T17:01:00.002-04:00

Poor little Dyno stuck in waste for four hours!!

Oh the horror!!

This is every dog's worst nightmare! A four year old boy (aka DAMIEN!!) decided that the new family puppy (a one week old cocker spaniel named Dyno) needed a bath so he put him in the toilet and PULLED THE CHAIN!! Dyno was stuck in a waste pipe for nearly four hours before he was rescued by a drainage pipe company after the firefighters failed to free him.

Eventually, using specialist camera gear, the firm managed to locate the puppy who was stuck some 20 yards from the house.

The tiny cocker spaniel was trapped in a waste pipe for nearly four hours after Daniel Blair, four, decided he 'needed a wash' and put him in a toilet before pulling the chain.

Eventually, using specialist camera gear, the firm managed to locate the puppy who was stuck some 20 yards from the house.

Trapped: The puppy was nudged along the pipe to a manhole with the camera until he could be grabbed by a firefighter

He was then gently nudged towards a manhole cover before being plucked to safety.

Their mother Alison, 40, told the PPP: 'Daniel told me the puppy had gotten muddy so they put it in the toilet and pulled the chain to give it a wash.

'I ran to the bathroom but the dog was nowhere to be seen. I assumed it was dead. I went into the garden, managed to lift up the drain cover and was amazed to hear him crying.'

Onlookers broke into cheers after the rescue was completed.

Daniel said he was 'so, so sorry' after flushing Dyno down the toilet. 'I won't do it again,' he added. Umm, yeah I heard that before!! This is why you have to be especially wary of having small children and small dogs together, we are not toys. Poor Dyno! What a welcome to planet earth. It really is a miracle that he survived so hopefully his family will cherish him from now on.

CORRECTION: Uncle Saad actually ran 1:05:40, not 1:06 as previously reported.

Chow for now!!

You Snooze You Lose

2009-06-16T00:55:00.002-04:00

Mom and I have been working on an invention lately that we felt every woman who wears heels would have loved. Flip Flops or ballet flats that roll up and can be carried in your handbag as an emergency set of shoes for when your feet are killing you.

We loved the idea, our female friends loved the idea and apparently now someone else loves the idea as a man in England invented a vending machine that dishes out flats for girls in nightclubs who are suffering from footpain or blisters!! Genuis!!

Our idea did not require a vending machine we were just thinking of packaging it like a very tiny umbrella and it would be a pair of shoes you can carry around at all times because it could fit into your bag. It was a little like the "Skins" idea (which I never thought would be successful with women the way it was packaged) but with much smaller packaging. Here is the website for the product called Rollasole:

http://www.rollasole.com

There is a word although I cannot recall it now for when people around the world are working on similar types of ideas completely unaware of each other and I am guessing we just had a case of that now.

Oh well, it's important to write your ideas down when you have them and to act on them quickly because ten seconds of a good idea can change your life forever.

Maybe next time! Chow for now!!

And The Winner Is...

2009-06-14T21:23:00.003-04:00

Saad Hajidin!!! He ran his first 10k race yesterday and he came in at a very respectable 1, 06. His personal best btw. The picture is not of Uncle Saad, it is of the actor Ben Cross crossing the finishing line in "Chariots of Fire" as I didn't get a shot of Uncle Saad crossing the finishing line so I thought this image would do.

My mom and me went to see Uncle Saad run the race but we couldn't figure out where to find him so we camped out on the grass near 102nd Street and were lucky enough to spot Uncle Saad, Uncle Michael and a friend of theirs that also ran the race. I was very excited to see them as I haven't seen them in awhile and I knew this would be a good story for the PPP (btw, I am sorry I haven't been doing daily posts, all I have to say is it's my mommy's fault for not being home this week!!!). I had multiple stories I wanted to post but to no avail. Hopefully this week I will be able to post daily.

I hope you all had a great weekend! My mommy had a great weekend and she feels like a lucky gal to have so many great friends in her life.

Chow for now!

Sunday Sermon - The Best of Intentions

2009-06-07T22:46:00.002-04:00

Hi All! I hope you had a great weekend. In New York the weather was magnificent and whilst I was playing and chasing squirrels in Central Park I thought how long it had been since I had done a Sunday Sermon. It was then as I rolled around in some funky scent that the topic of my sermon came to me, Intentions.

I am an animal that lives on pure instinct so whatever I am doing is pretty much my pure intention whether it be eating, sleeping, chasing squirrels or cuddling. I don't stop to contemplate, "Should I be nice to Judge today so he can feel like he can come into the living room without any drama from me?" When Judge comes into the living room there is a pretty good chance I am going to try and attack him especially if he comes close to my mother. I can't help it, I don't care if he is behaving. I am an animal.

However humans are a little bit different from us animals even though you are technically considered animals too. Over a few millions years I hear that your brain evolved and even though you still have instincts, you now have more complex feelings and emotions that make you not trust your instincts anymore. You stop and think about things before you do them (at least in theory). Then you act out your intentions.

The definition of the word intention is "a determination to act in a certain way". This means you take the free will that the universe gives you, you make a decision on how you are going to act and then you follow through (that's too many steps for a dog to think through).

My mommy tells me that intention is very important to consider in your relationships. For instance someone could hurt you but their intention was not to hurt you so that should be considered if you plan to forgive them or not.

Some people do things to hurt you and they definitely mean to hurt you. That is what we should look out for in our lives. Forget about words, just look at people's actions and the meaning behind their actions. How do you feel when you are with them? That is the way to figure out what some one's intention is to you. Do you feel special? Loved? Joy? Laughter? Fear? Pain? Hurt? Lonely? Superior? Inferior?

This guy my mommy used to like hurt her feelings a few months ago and then got in contact with her a few days ago like nothing ever happened. Although my mommy and I use to like him a lot, we now know that he is capable of hurting us. However at the same time we are pretty convinced it wasn't his intention to hurt us so instead of telling him to go to H-E-double hockey sticks, we let him know he hurt us (if you hurt my mommy, you hurt me, grrr) but we aren't sure about how he fits into our life anymore. Hopefully he will thinks about blending his actions and intentions more successfully in the future and will learn to avoid hurting others and act more with his good intentions which I am sure he has plenty of.

My mommy has been thinking about bringing someone from her past back in her life. She was always suspicious of this person's intentions towards her but she has a lot of people from her past coming back in her life and it brings this person along too. My advice to her is to think a little like me and act on her instinct (or as my mema likes to call it, "intuition"). If this person has to be back in her life again, listen to her intuition about how this person's intention makes her feel and act from there to protect herself. Are they the best intentions?

Well, there I go again getting all deep and it had been such a lovely weekend! Sometimes it's just easier being a dog.

Chow for now!

Hansard Possum

2009-06-05T23:17:00.004-04:00

No this is not a post about making possum stew. This is a post about a very "special" type of possum who has gained some notoriety in Hansard, Australia. So much so that he is now referred to as the "Hansard Possum".

He's been wreaking havoc at Parliament House in Australia. HP has been breaking in, stealing food belonging to staff members and pooing on the floor (umm, sounds like Judge). He usually takes a siesta in the Hansard Department which is how he got his name.

They have caught and evicted him several times, but the crafty possy keeps coming back! So they decided to build a little house for him in the back on a fig tree. They give him bananas every day. For some reason, there's a law that states he can't be moved to the bush. It's estimated that it has cost taxpayers around $2585 to keep HP in check. The building manager said, "We are not going to evict him and leave him, we are trying to look after him. He has a possum house, we keep it topped up with fruit. He loves bananas."

Well I am not surprised that a country that was colonized by prisoners would be so forgiving to this animal that has committed multiple misdemeanors and actually reward it with a home and food. That would never happen here (I guess except for me??).

I don't know, once the weather starts getting cold I have a feeling that the HP will start finding his way inside the building again and start "gifting" everyone. He has tasted human comfort and that he will not forget or give up. I should know, I have my mother sleeping on 1/4 of her bed as I have claimed most of her home and Judge has pooped on the remainder of it.

Well hopefully the weather is better this weekend as I had cabin fever today and it would be nice to be outside in the sunshine again.

Here's wishing you a great weekend! Chow for now!

Only In Jamaica!

2009-06-04T11:23:00.002-04:00

Although I like to keep the PPP mostly about animal stories, sometimes I hear a human story that is quite hilarious so I have to post it.

This time the story is about a little thing called, "Daggering". It's a dance that Jamaicans do and the dance has cause a threefold jump in the incidences of men breaking their penis's. Yep! Only in Jamaica folks. My mom hates Jamaica because she had a bad vacation in Jamaica. She got mugged, the people had a chip on their shoulders, they couldn't get service in the restaurants, the vendors would hike the prices of the souvenirs she would try to buy. So when she heard of this story, she thought it couldn't have happened to a more deserving group of men.

The dance has been called “dry sex” on the dance floor, which usually includes the couple simulating various sexual positions, and often times, rough sex, to the beat of the music. Because of the obviously suggestive nature of the dance, it is not surprising that it has become popular activity in the bedroom, too. A Kingston doctor has said, “During very rigorous intercourse, the man can hit the woman’s pubic bone and sustain a fracture. There is a loud popping sound, excruciating pain and swelling.”

The problem of broken penises has become so widespread that the Jamaican government is considering a ban on daggering, including music with daggering lyrics. Below is a link of the dance on YouTube (the PG rated version), just cut and paste into your browser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtRDezPmc_o&feature=player_embedded

Only in Jamaica, only in Jamaica. So the next time you are on the dance floor and someone moves suggestively against you offending you, just think it could be much worse, they could try to dagger you.

Chow for now!

An Ounce of Prevention...

2009-06-01T23:32:00.001-04:00

No this isn't a post about birth control for horn dog City Folk, this is about a potential killer that hits dogs and pets in the summer, heat stroke!!

Lately with the temperatures rising I am counting more and more on my mommy carrying my water bottle in her bag (forget the clutches) as I tend to get overly excited in the first place so I need lots of water in the summer.

People are used to hearing about dogs dying in cars on hot summer days when owners don't crack a window but do you know you can have the window open and we can still easily die? There are potential problems whenever a dog is left in an enclosed space with no shade or no water on a sunny day.

Here are some tips from The Telegraph's Peter Wedderburn:

Dogs do have sweat glands in the pads of their feet but the most important heat-losing process is panting. The breathing becomes rapid and short (up to 400 breaths per minute), the mouth is opened and the tongue becomes enlarged as its blood supply is increased. The movement of air causes evaporation of water from the surface of the tongue, which carries with it excess heat from the body.

Panting is an extremely effective process of heat loss, but it uses large amounts of water, which is why it's essential that dogs have access to plenty of fresh water in hot weather.

The most obvious signs are panting and an increased pulse rate. Affected dogs stand still, looking anxious, panting rapidly, and unable to do anything else. They feel hot to the touch and the body temperature may be over 104'F, and up to 109'F. If a dog is not treated, the body temperature will continue to rise until the dog collapses. Vomiting and diarrhoea may occur, the dog enters a coma, and will often die.

This is a situation where first aid can be life saving. Obviously, the first thing is to remove the dog from the overheated situation - get into the shade and out of the sun. The dog should then be immediately immersed in a bath of cold water. If this is not possible, soak the dog with cold water either from a hose or using a bucket. The skin should be massaged vigorously, and the legs flexed and extended, to maximise the blood flow to skin and limbs.

The owners should rush the dog to the vet as soon as possible after a 10 minute cold bath. The vet will be able to give other treatment to bring the temperature back to normal.

Ten rules for dogs in hot weather.

1. Never leave a dog alone in a car
2. Be aware of keeping your dog cool when on car journeys together e.g. leave a window open for fresh air and stop regularly to check your animal properly
3. Always ensure a plentiful supply of drinking water.
4. Never leave a dog in a sunny place with no shade.
5. Give long haired dogs a short clip.
6. Exercise the dog out of the heat i.e. morning or evening.
7. Take your dog for a cool swim rather than a walk.
8. Give your dog 10% less food than normal.
9. Give the meals at cooler times of the day e.g. morning and evening.
10. Carry water with you when out on hot days, and give your dog frequent small amounts.

So next time you see a dog on a hot day overly panting, whether it is your dog, your friend's dog, a stranger's dog or little old me please check for symptoms of heat stroke and offer us a glass of H2O.

Chow for now!!

IIIIII Hate A Parade!!

2009-05-31T23:16:00.003-04:00

Here is a picture of me and my mommy today in Central Park. We look very happy but today was the Israeli parade and there's nothing my mommy and me hate more than a parade. It was so loud and messy (at least their drum line was better than the Greek parade two weeks ago).

If I were mayor (um, I wouldn't get rid of term limits) I would banish all parades except for the Memorial Day Parade and Veteran's Day Parade. I would also allow any ticker tape parades when our sport teams won championships.

I would have one parade a year in the summer that encompasses all the nations just like the Olympics. They would parade around the loop in Central Park and all nationalities would be represented. It would be far more exciting that way, be less on the tax payers because cops would only have to be hired for one day and best reason yet the traffic wouldn't have to be disrupted every Sunday on Fifth Avenue. It would bring everyone together in peace and harmony. Every one would come so it would be good for the businesses around Central Park.

I think this idea would bring down the garbage, drunkenness and bad behavior found in most parades. Just have a few floats represent a nation instead of a mile of children walking in the heat suffering from heat stroke dressed like European peasants waving a flag. This way each country would only have their best represented which would be more entertaining.

More entertaining, save money, less crime, less garbage, less noise, less traffic jams, promotes peace and harmony amongst the people. I think it's a smashing idea!!

I should write a proposal to the mayor. In these hard time I don't see what he would have to lose.

Well, next parade is the Puerto Rican Day Parade and I plan to be out of town for that one. Nothing like seeing Ricans roasting a pig on the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue!! Umm, on second thought that sounds fantastic! I don't know why my mom is complaining. She loves pork!

Chow for now!!

150 Posts And Going Strong!

2009-05-29T23:51:00.003-04:00

WOW! We can't believe it! Today we are celebrating our 150th post at the Powder Puffington Post and we are jazzed!

We can't believe we found 150 subjects to write about. Not bad for a dog!! I hope that you have noticed that my spelling and grammar have improved over the months.

We have made our readers aware of many charities, causes, pets that need a home, strange animal stories from around the world, the crazy life of celebrities, doggie fashion, my Sunday sermons and the peeps in my life.

It has been an honor and a pleasure to come into your homes and lives. I hope I have provided at least minutes of enjoyment to you and perhaps you learned a little something at the end of the day.

So I celebrate with watching my mommy eat cake (as she tells me I cannot have some because it gives me some serious tooting) and a picture of me and my beloved Q-Ball. Today we came within the vicinity of where she died but we still couldn't go there, it hurt too much.

I look forward to our next milestone of 200 posts. Have a great weekend!!

Chow for now!!

Pet Finder Pet of the Week - Snoopy (Snoop Dog)

2009-05-28T21:27:00.002-04:00

We have been remiss with our Pet Finder of the Week spotlight pet so today we will spotlight Snoopy (Snoop Dog). I like his name as I can relate to it since my name Powder Puff can easily translate to Puff Daddy the rap artist just like Snoop Dog. Snoopy is a 4 year old male English Bulldog.

Here is his bio:

SNOOPY IS BEING FOSTERED IN MONTGOMERY, NY...YOU WILL HAVE TO TRAVEL TO THERE FOR HIS ADOPTION. ADOPTION FEE 325.00

Snoopy is an approximately 4 y old male English bulldog. He has been doing well with the dogs in the home..great with the small dogs...with the large dogs at times he will posture next to them as if to say "go ahead and just try to start something"...all I have to do is say "knock it off" and he slithers off...I will keep an eye on him for now and see if his changes but as of right now I am looking for a home with a small dog or nod other dogs for Snoop.

He is a happy boy, tail wiggles and he trots around the house following me. He is kept in a separate room during the day and is fine...no barking, no accidents.

If interested in adopting Snoopy you can contact me for an application at
Email: tinaf0807@gmail.com

Snoopy (snoop dog) is up-to-date with routine shots, house trained and spayed/neutered.

Well Snoopy may look a little ferocious but I am assured he is a little sweetie. Can't you find it in your heart to adopt Snoopy, he deserves a home and lots of love.

Well, chow for now!

Snoopy (snoop dog) is up-to-date with routine shots, house trained and spayed/neutered.

Whatz Up California??

2009-05-27T23:22:00.003-04:00

Why all the hating California?? I don't understand how states like Iowa or countries in Latin America can allow equal rights for gays and California, the supposedly most progressive state in the union is opposed to equal rights for gays and gay marriage?

California is a weird state. Not as weird as Florida but a close second. My Mema lives in Southern California in a town called Riverside. It's only an hour away from LA, the most fit city in the nation, however once you get outside LA, the entire state (except for portions of San Francisco) is majorly obese. You actually have to LOOK for the skinny people as everyone seems to be morbidly obese. You wouldn't expect this in California with the year around nice weather which gives you no excuse to not be exercising but that's how it is.

Well just the same way you wouldn't except California to be all uptight and religious about gay rights (hello Hollywood!!) here you have their Supreme Court upholding Proposition 8 and denying gays in California the right to legally marry. The only caveat of this (yes PP knows the big words) is that the 18 thousand gay marriages held in California can remain intact.

So now maybe Californians will get out of their apathy and in the next elections vote to turn this over. And just the way Mormons helped fund this proposition the rest of the nation can help fund to get this overturned.

It looks like New York will soon be one of the states that allow gay marriages so I am very proud to live here and have the offices of the PPP in New York. Although personally I think we should have already done this as New Jersey, Massachusetts, Iowa and two other states have already given legal rights to gays.

So the PPP would also like to protect marriage too. We want marriage to go to any couple same sex or not who understand the commitment that they are making towards each other and what it says to society.

I hope you like the image above as I got a cute Maltese named Mindy to strip for the cause (he, he..).

Chow for now!!

Happy Belated Birthday Uncle Saad!!

2009-05-26T17:03:00.003-04:00

Happy Belated Birthday Uncle Saad!!

I know I am two days late in getting this out to you but I know you were away this weekend so you weren't checking the PPP, but it's back to work and I just wanted to wish you a Happy 29th Birthday(cough, cough)!!

I hope you were spoiled by your friends and Uncle Michael over the weekend and you had a great weekend at Mount Hillary. BTW, when am I going to Mount Hillary? It's that time of the year!!

Anyway I hope to see you soon so I can gift you (he,he we know I how gift people).

To a great uncle who is sweet, kind, loving, sooo talented and admired my all.

May this be the year all your dreams come true :)

Chow for now!

Dog Day Afternoon

2009-05-24T01:43:00.004-04:00

We here in New York City have been lucky enough to enjoy magnificent weather lately. I have been cooped up in our apartment the last few months due to winter and then the rains of spring. Let's not forget my new roommate Judge who makes living in my apartment a not so nice experience as he is constantly trying to mount me and become the Alpha Dog of our home. He even bit my mommy last week and made her bleed for awhile. I was HOMICIDAL when this happened! I don't even bite my mom and if I did I wouldn't break skin!

So in the last few days my mom found a place in Central Park where she can sit and read and let me off my leash so I can explore, rest and chase squirrels. It's a secret destination so I cannot let you know where it is as I like my privacy and I also do not want to get a ticket for being off my leash.

Here I am coming to get a drink of water as my mommy reads a romance novel she saved from her high school years. Yup! A little pathetic but I still love her. I kept the men away from her while she sunbathed as she is working on her base tan and doesn't need any men near her to do this.

I am very excited about summer coming and all the outdoors activities we will do with our friends and family. I hope you all enjoyed the day!

Chow for now!

Dogs of a Feather

2009-05-22T23:31:00.003-04:00

Lately I have had some flack from my readers telling me that I need to go back to having more daily posts as in the last two weeks I have gone for days sometimes without posting but ladies and gentlemen I have to place the blame on mame (or mom in this case). She has been very busy socializing and with this glorious weather lately we have been spending a lot of time outside (trust me I am not complaining).

However I am determined to get the PPP back on track as there are so many stories to post so there really is not an excuse to not post daily. The New York Times doesn't take a vacation on printing the paper so why should The Powder Puffington Post? I think not.

Well, I have discovered that I am not the only canine blogging. My good friend Paco also seems to have his mommy typing his daily blog for him. As you can see from the photograph, Paco is on his mommy's back whispering in her ear what to type. I actually like to sit on my mommy's lap while she is typing so Paco and I have different styles of working but in the end we have a post to publish.

Paco is a friend and colleague and he is half American and half Italian (I think the shoes give it away). His mom is Leslie and she is American and his father is Frederico from Italy. Paco is their baby (as I am me mum's).

Well, it's Memorial Weekend and it's the official start of summer, my favorite time of year as I am outside a lot. My mom has found a nice cut off part in Central Park that I can roam around without my leash and just chill out, chase squirrels, jump in between people on a date making out in the grass and grazing like a little Hebridean sheep.

We hope to get to the beach as much as possible this summer and I have a feeling we will as I love to run on the beach.

So I wish you all a great start to the three day weekend! Chow for now!

Michael Vick

2009-05-22T08:34:00.002-04:00

This week Michael Vick, the former NFL player sentenced to prison for organizing the cruel sport of dog fights was released from prison. He served 23 months behind bars and is now under house arrest and has to wear an ankle bracelet while he serves out his sentence as a laborer that earns $10 an hour.

Now as a voice for animal rights you may think that my post today is about demanding why is Michael Vick out of jail and allowed to be a part of society again? However I Powder Puff am not that kind of dog.

I have to admit that I thought Michael Vick was going to be cleared of these crimes as we all know having a good lawyer when you are wealthy can help you get away with murder in the United States. The fact that he was sentenced and served time (and not LA time as we know celebrities in LA serve only minutes of their sentences due to overcrowding in prisons), lost millions from his NFL contract and endorsements, Michael Vick did not walk away Scot free. He has paid and will pay for his crime the rest of his life. This so far is unfortunately his legacy.

Now as a free man Michael Vick has the chance to change his legacy and show the world he learned from his crimes (and not by just getting caught) and the value of all life. He has the chance to redeem himself by becoming a sincere animal rights activist and teaching society that this "sport" is really just another facet of the cruelty of humans.

Now I am sure after his experience he does not want to spend the rest of his life being the poster boy for animal cruelty but guess what, he is. His excuse that dog fights were part of his culture is inexcusable as a man with an education and the means to be a global citizen. Life will make him deal with the consequences of his actions as he has forever branded himself by dealing and profiting from his cruel actions.

Let's hope something positive comes from his crimes and that is someone who is sincere in helping end this torture for other dog fighting rings, educating the public on the cruelty against animals here and abroad and living the rest of his life as a law abiding citizen.

Chow for now!

Stop the Waterboxing!

2009-05-18T20:31:00.003-04:00

This is an investigative report from the PPP about a special kind of torture just for dogs that must be stopped! You heard of the human torture called "waterboarding", well the equivalent of torture for dogs is a horrible little box called the "Dog-O-Matic" but we call it "waterboxing!"

Some sadistic Frog (from the land of the Marquis de Sade of course!) decided to invent a contraption that supposedly washes us when we are stinky from rolling in mud and poo. It looks sooo innocent, a Dog-O-Matic for washing the dog like a person washes a car, without any of the fuss or love.

Frenchman Romain Jarry, 31, who insists the device is not cruel, hopes to introduce it to Britain next year after it proved a huge success in his home town of St Max, near Nancy.

It costs the equivalent of £13 to wash a small dog, £22 for medium size, rising to £31 for the largest customers.

Cats can also be catered for - at the small-dog price.

Mr Jarry said: 'It doesn't take long to wash the dog - usually a few minutes. The longest part is the drying. The dogs don't seem to get bored. They just sit there and they come out clean.

'We are really hoping it will take off and that other places will start buying in the machines.

'I would love them to be available in England within the next year or so but at the moment people are still getting used to the idea.'

Well I just ask you to look at these photos and see the torture, the look of desperation and the call for help this little dog (who bears a striking resemblance to me) as on his face. You be the judge. Doggie car wash or canine torture device.

All I can say is, my mommy knows better than to put me in this.

Chow for now!

Cannes Film Festival - The Great Escape

2009-05-15T13:47:00.003-04:00

Sorry about not posting in the last few days. My mommy has been working on updating her jewelry site and therefore she has been hogging up the computer. I told her that she is denying a handful of people of the wonderfulness of the PPP who have been going without news for the last few days but her response was something like, "Um, want to eat, have a roof over your head and snazzy sweaters, blah, blah, blah?" So I let her hog the computer but I do recommend you check out her site and give her your comments. www.nrjewelry.com

Cannes Film Festival started today and although I asked mom that we report live from Cannes this year we didn't exactly make it. A cheesy "French Tuesday" party was the closest we got to Cannes this year. Oh well! There's always next year.

Well this year at the film festival there was a special selection of a documentary about Midge the one eye cat called "The Great Escape". Midge will soon be the toast of Cannes when the documentary starring her debuts at the festival.

Almost every day, Midge's owner Martin Humphreys jogs around his village in England and one time, Midge joined him. After that, every time Martin went jogging, so did Midge. But Martin soon began to notice that when he tried to pass her she would not be beat. Martin decided it was time for Midge and him to settle this once and for all. He decided they would battle it out in a great race and he made a documentary about it for $2,000. It was entered into the Cannes Film Festival and accepted! The trailer for the movie is below.

http://video.telegraph.co.uk/services/player/bcpid1348426473?bctid=22976917001

Martin wants Disney to make a full fledged feature film starring Midge. ‘I want Disney or Twentieth Century Fox to come and take a look at the film.'

'Ideally, I would like them to come to Wrose and make a full-length feature film about her. I have in mind the outline of a children's adventure, in which Midge would face all sorts of challenges.

'It would involve car chases, explosions, and a lot of fun. I also have an idea that in the end Midge would take on the Olympic 100m champion Usain Bolt while hundreds of kids cheered on.

'She would make a great heroine and I really think it could be one of the greatest children’s films of all time,’ he added.

Midge couldn't make a personal appearance at the festival as her requests for the Royal Suite at the Carlton and all the catnip in the land was denied so Martin is representing her.

Martin's idea for a movie sounds great so it's quite guaranteed that Disney will not do it. Knowing Disney they will probably option the movie and then turn it into a pre-teen girl named Midge running through the town chasing cops in a mid-drift shirt and hot pants.

Anyway I wish Midge well even though she is a cat and I hope their documentary wins a prize.

Well, I am off to the park as the sun is out and it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood as Mister Rodgers use to say.

I hope you have a great start to the weekend! Chow for now!

Ouch! That's Gotta Hurt!

2009-05-11T23:58:00.003-04:00

I have been guilty of swallowing many things whilst on my daily walks on the streets especially in this dirty city. There have been many times when my mother had to reach down my throat to pull out a chicken bone, a semi chewed up hot dog, a chewed up mouse, a decaying dead bird. She wonders how I can be so finicky about food at home and yet manage to stuff anything I find on the street that was once living in my mouth. She is even considering carrying around a rubber glove on our walks so she doesn't have to touch the foul things I gobble up on our walks. Most of all she seems to be embarrassed as it makes it look to strangers that she never feeds me.

However bad I am at least I am not Alfie, a Cocker Spaniel who swallowed his toy puppy. The Daily Mail reports, "Owners Joanne Dutton and daughter Madeline, seven, were amazed when the vet's X-ray revealed the cause of the dog's illness."

Joanne, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, in the UK said: 'He was refusing to eat or drink and then became very ill.

'He just looked so sad, which is not like him, so we took him to the vet.

Gee, that girl already needs her teeth to be whitened! Typical bloody English!!

He felt his tummy and immediately discovered something there - and it turned out to be Madeline's toy puppy.

'He'd sneaked into her bedroom and swiped it from the dolls' house.'

Vet Mark Allington said: 'We took an X-ray of Alfie and it was fairly obvious what he had swallowed and it was removed after a couple of hours' surgery.'

Joanne said: 'Alfie is back to normal again now - running around like a lunatic.'

Why would you eat something that doesn't have flavor? Plastic taste like plastic, a rotten bird carcass can taste like Fillet Mignon if you really put your mind to it.

My Aunt Lillian once had a Dalmatian that ate everything in sight too. She would make daily trips to the vet to only be shown an x-ray of her dog with a rubber glove or a water spray nozzle in his tummy. She thinks she spent five thousand one year on surgery for the vet to remove these objects. Needless to say he was given away.

Then there is Q-Ball. Q-Ball didn't eat dead birds or inanimate objects but she did eat her poop from time to time. And boy did she know she was not supposed to eat it. My mom could always tell when she ate her poop because she would have the naughtiest look on her face. My mom would scream, "Let me smell your breath!" and Q-Ball would crawl to her with her tail between her legs as she knew it was so wrong yet I guess for Q-Ball it tasted so right.

Eventually Q-Ball did this less and less as it disgusted even me. My mom tried all remedies and all suggestions but in the end Q-Ball realized that it wasn't worth the spiral of shame mom would put her through after one of her incidences.

What can I say? That's life with a dog!

Chow for now!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2009-05-10T11:52:00.003-04:00

The PPP would like to wish every yummy mummy a Happy Mother's Day today and to especially wish my mummy a happy mother's day as she is my raison d'etre!

I have decided to honor her with by writing a list of ten things you may not know about my mom but I do and I think this is what makes her special. And there are:

1. She is an "empath" which means she is a person who has an acute or highly developed sense of empathy. When something is happening to someone else whether in real life or in a movie it is also happening to her. She has a hard time watching sad movies or witnessing embarrassing moments as she feels there are happening to her.

2. She hates when men tell her what to do or try to boss her around (even a certin little cute male Maltese). She is quite sure this is why she isn't married or is attracted to men with commitment issues.

3. Her favorite secret recipe is a sandwich she use to make for herself when she was a little girl. Two slices of Wonderbread (not toasted), lots of Hellmann's mayonnaise and Funnyuns Onion rings smashed into bits and spread on top of the mayonnaise (I didn't say this was going to be a pretty list now did I?). I can't kiss her for a day after she eats one of these, lucky she only eats them once a year.

4. Her favorite TV shows are "Mistresses" and "Coupling" all from the BBC. She is trying hard to break her addiction to "The Real Housewives" franchise but it has not been working as these mystical creatures keep bringing her back to the telly.

5. She has no rhythm! She is one of the few Latin people without one. This made growing up in an Hispanic family that loves to dance especially hard. Years of ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance classes did not help one bit. She now fakes in on the dance floor by letting the man lead (which brings us back to #2 as she resents the man telling her what to do).

6. She is terribly shy still even today. She is much better than when she was a child as she was "painfully" shy then but even now she is still shy. But she is improving.

7. Her biggest thrill is diving with sharks. Nothing makes her feel more alive than diving with sharks swimming around her. Her dream is to dive with the ever elusive whale shark which she still hasn't found in her over 100 scuba dives yet.

8. She is at her happiest walking on the beach or swimming in the ocean with her friends, family and me around her.

9. She won a contest in a bowling alley in Barcelona for the person who can eat the most jalapeno peppers. She is quite sure till this day that her stomach has suffered permanent damage from that contest. The prize was....a free Corona!!

10. And most important about my mom is that she is a wonderful mom and she would even make a great mom to a human child because she can sense what makes a child happy or sad. She thinks she knows how to create a good human being now with all her life experience and I know she can because I am a dog who can write a blog and has an amazing wardrobe which is quite an achievement in the canine world.

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and my MiMa! I love you!

Chow for now!

A Very Good Day...

2009-05-07T00:20:00.002-04:00

for Canadian baby seals not me. Here's what the Humane Society has to report on this matter:

Today is a day to celebrate. The European Union has slammed shut the door on trade in the products of the commercial seal slaughter by voting against it.

The Canadian government used every trick in the book to try to derail the ban: massive lobbying, misinformation, and even threats of trade reprisals. But the EU stood its ground and honored its citizens’ opposition to this trade in cruelty. By doing so, the EU has saved millions of seals from a horrible fate.

Every year, the ProtectSeals team has endured hazardous conditions to document the seal hunt. We are committed to showing the world that the Canadian government is lying when it claims that the hunt is humane.

What Does It Mean?

This is the beginning of the end for the Canadian seal hunt. The Canadian government estimates that losing this primary market will cost Canada’s sealing industry $6.6 million (CAD) each year. The hunt brought in less than $7 million last year. It's not hard to do the math.

Just the promise of an EU ban was enough to drive the prices for seal fur down to $15 (CAD) per skin -- a decline of 86 percent since 2006. As a result, many sealers stayed home. Out of this year's quota of 280,000 harp seals, fewer than 60,000 have been killed so far.

Now that the EU has banned its trade in seal products, countless more seals will live their lives in peace from this year forward.

The PPP is so happy that this cruel act is on its way out. It brings back all the faith I had in humanity. Humans can be quite wonderful.

Others dogs on the other hand can not be quite so wonderful. My mommy tells me that Judge just wants to play with me but he is always trying to hump me and be the new alpha dog in the house and I just will not relinquish that title!

Our apartment looks like the a scene from "The War of the Roses" were the gate has separated the apartment in two. I get the living room and mom's room and Judge gets the kitchen and his mom's room. The bathroom is neutral space like Switzerland.

Not much to tell since we have not been together much except for some walks. This weather has not been helping since it is keeping everyone inside and giving us all cabin fever.

Let's see what tomorrow brings...Chow for now!

Day Two. Drawing the Battle Lines

2009-05-04T23:25:00.002-04:00

I made it to day two.

It's day two of my war for Alpha Dog for 208 East 82nd Street apartment 12.

Last night at 5:15am Judge broke free from his room and barged in our bedroom. I started barking of course waking up my mom. She was not too happy. After rubbing my tummy to go back to sleep I woke up to face the day and Judge.

Jen decided to take us for a walk together so we can start bonding. I was just happy to get out of the apartment so Jen felt it was a success.

Later in the day Judge and I managed to be in the living room without barking and trying to kill each other. My mother was very encouraged as I peacefully stayed on top of the couch and Judge stayed underneath it. However she was not happy that Judge leaves pools of drool all around the house. She can no longer walk barefoot in the house without stepping into drool. Also Judge missed the wee-wee pad when he goes so she is disinfecting the kitchen now with bleach.

Judge also eats all my food and mom isn't giving me too much sympathy as she feels I should eat my food right away instead of letting it stay out. I think I am going to get skinnier in the next few months. Also Judge's food smells the house up like cheap meat so mom is upset as she feels she cannot have someone over to the house (not that we did much entertaining to begin with).

However I don't like it when Judge comes near my mom and I can't help but go on the attack when he goes near her. If Jen isn't in the room and Judge comes near my mom we seem to get into vicious fights. My mom is worried that something is going to happen to me and she doesn't want to take that chance. It seems it is going to take a lot longer for us to get along than she thought.

On our second walk Judge tried to hump me so I freaked out. I would certainly lose top dog status if I let a dog with balls hump me so I came back a little shaken. I am starting to feel like a little white man in prison with big muscular guys. I am certainly not going to let someone toss my salad in my very own home!

Well, it is almost midnight and as you can see by the picture I am exhausted getting use to my new life. My mom can't believe our lives have come to this and poor Jen is not feeling well as she has a hernia and is getting a divorce. She was married with a house in Boca Raton with a pool a few years ago and now she is in a tiny apartment in a tiny room. Hopefully both she and my mom break free of this apartment into a bigger, nicer dwellings.

I'm going into doggy coma land. Hopefully Judge stays in his room tonight.

Chow for now!

Judge Me Not!

2009-05-03T21:42:00.004-04:00

Meet Judge!

My mother has been warning me that my life was going to change soon and that my world was going to be rocked. She was right. Today my mom's roommate Jen's dog moved in with us. Enter the era of "Judge".

When my mom warned me that things were going to change I thought she meant more people moving in, us moving or longer walks. I did not expect another dog to move in. And if another dog did move in I thought it would be a little bit more like me, small, fluffy and dandy-like.

Well Judge is a French Bulldog (I call him Froggie behind his back) and let's just say our first meeting was not the most peaceful of meetings. I freaked out and repeatedly tried to attack Judge (hey, I was defending myself as he also went for me too). Then we kind of had a barking contest which I am sure our neighbors appreciated hearing on their Sunday evening.

My barking is a normal small-dog-trying-to-be-big-dog bark however Judge sounds like an alien attacking planet earth. I never heard anything like it and my mom can concur on this matter.

Already he is shedding like most dogs as he has short fur and he tends to slobber a bit. You can't walk barefoot anymore in our home.

As the evening went on we got quieter and tried not to attack each other as our mom's were starting to think that our behavior was going to get us kicked out of the apartment.

Tomorrow Jen is going to take Judge and I on a long walk as she thinks that this would be a way for Judge and I to learn to just get along. Perhaps it would have been best if we were introduced in a park setting but it was raining all day and it will rain all week.

One thing that concerns me is that ever since Q-Ball's death I have had top dog, alpha dog position at my home. Now I think I am in danger of losing my throne as not only is Judge bigger than me and managed to lift my mom's 10 lb barbell with his teeth, he seems to have his cojones (which my mom has snipped from me at the tender age of 6 months on the advice of my vet as it is the politically correct thing to do). I almost didn't know what they were as I really have not seen a pair ever close up. All my friends have been fixed so this is like witnessing an urban myth come true. I hope Judge doesn't think because he has balls that he is the alpha dog here. I will not relinquish that titled so easily.

So I am guessing the PPP will be reporting the melding of Powder Puff and Judge in the next few days. This is one of the few days I wish my mom had not named me Powder Puff but something a little bit more macho like, "Midas" or "Hercules". Maybe I will get her to call me Power Puff at least for the next few days.

Oh well, wish me luck. I think I am going to need it. Chow for now!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

2009-05-01T23:49:00.003-04:00

I have been sitting on this story for the past few days but other stories kept on scooping it up however today Oprah did a little feature on it so I decided to make this a post about good news regarding animals so "here now the news!"

On April 28th The Utleys, of Rochester, had set up an outdoor display Saturday at a flea market in Waterford Township, 25 miles northwest of Detroit. Tinker Bell their long haired chihuahua was standing on their platform trailer when she was swept away by a 70 mph gust of wind. Dorothy (ha, just like the Wizard of Oz) and her husband Lavern went crazy trying to catch her but Tinker Bell flew away like a fairy.

The Utleys were of course devastated as Tinker Bell was their little baby. They looked for her nearby and when they couldn't find her dozens of strangers volunteered their time to look for Tinker Bell.

It was two days later when Dorothy and Lavern Utley credit a pet psychic for guiding them on Monday to a wooded area nearly a mile from where 8-month-old Tinker Bell had been last seen. The brown long-haired dog was dirty and hungry but otherwise OK. Tinker Bell answered her owner's call and went wild upon seeing them.

The PPP loves a happy ending they could relate to as I am only 8 lbs myself!

Our second animal story involves a story we have been closely following which is the slaughter of seals in Canada. The commercial seal hunt season is coming to a close. Thanks to all who tool action and sent their message loud and clear. Here are the some of the victories regarding the matter:

-The HSUS Canadian seafood boycott continues to gain ground -- more than 5,000 businesses and more than 600,000 individuals have pledged not to buy Canadian seafood until the seal hunt ends for good. The fishing industry is losing money, and prices for seal skins have crashed to $15 (CAD) -- an 86 percent drop from 2006. Most fishermen aren't bothering to leave home to join the hunt, and tens of thousands of seals have been spared.

-For the first time, Canadians have proposed legislation to support an end to the hunt, and we've found a true champion for seals in the government. Senator Mac Harb introduced the historic bill in the Canadian senate last month after returning from his visit to the ice floes.

-The HSUS community dug deep to help seals and met The Giant Steps Foundation's matching gift challenge to raise $500,000 in just a few weeks. That means a total of $1 million dollars will immediately go toward stopping the hunt before it starts next spring.

-Russia made headlines worldwide when it announced that it would ban the killing of seals less than a year old this year, effectively ending one of the biggest kills of harp seals in the world. Yuriy Trutnev, Russia's Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, called the seal slaughter "bloody," and remarked that the killing of defenseless animals can't be deemed a "hunt."

So hopefully by next year as the European Union votes on this matter to end the slaughter we will see the end of this massacre for good. And it was all do to you who helped us animals who have no voice for ourselves!

Chow for now!

Pet Finder Pet of the Week - Billy

2009-04-30T23:41:00.003-04:00

We haven't had a Pet Finder Pet of the Week for almost two weeks (although I did tell a woman who was looking for a dog to adopt about it so maybe that counts). So this week we will spotlight Billy the French Bulldog in honor of my new roommate whom I affectionately like to call "Little Bit". So we will spotlight Billy the French Bulldog.

Billy, the lovable stray found in NYC, certainly has a lucky star watching out for him, or maybe it’s the Mickey Mouse face that appears on his back! Billy was found wandering in one of the 5 Boroughs of NYC and ended up in a big, overcrowded NYC shelter. Thankfully, one of our volunteers was able to spring him and arrange foster care for him.

We think Billy is 2-3 years old, but he hasn’t had much in the way of training and still thinks he is a puppy. When he came to us he needed medical attention, and has since had his cherry eyes, nares and palate fixed, as well as the obligatory neutering. He had obviously been without adequate care, as he was very thin; he is still working on gaining weight. His paws were very tender, and it was obvious he had not been walked or taken outside to do his business.

Billy is a big, goofy adolescent frog in need of some training, but the payoff for his forever family will be huge. Billy is full of love and needs someone to share it with. He is diligently working on his housebreaking and is slowly getting the concept. He must be taken out frequently, so someone who is home all day is a must for him. He is crate trained, but will occasionally relieve himself in his crate if the wait to get out is too long. His forever family will have to consistently follow a routine. Like many puppies, Billy will still find ways to amuse himself if left alone, so puppy-proof the house!

Life is one big adventure for Billy, and everything is something waiting to be discovered. From wood chips to his foster mom’s coffee table, nothing escapes Billy’s attention--or his teeth. He is very good at giving big slobbery kisses, playing with his toys and zooming around the house. This guy needs a fenced in yard to burn off his energy, as well as explore the great beyond in. He is quite flexible and would do fine with other animals or kids in the house. Being a big kid himself, he would enjoy some playmates! However, if he is an only he can amuse himself: he has even learned to throw his ball to himself!
Billy is looking for his forever home and hopes that maybe you are it. He is currently enjoying spring in northern NJ. If you are his forever family, plan on visiting our nation's garden state in person, as he will not be shipped.

To apply to adopt Billy cut and paste this site:
http://www.frenchbulldogrescue.org/htdocs/onlineapp.html

This pet is up to date with routine shots.
This pet has been altered.

Wow! Billy sounds awesome! He would make the perfect pet. If you know anyone who would be interested please pass the info on and make your aura a little bit brighter.

Chow for now!

Natalie Rivera Jewelry and Inphorm Activewear Trunk Show

2009-04-30T01:30:00.002-04:00

Now for some gratuitous advertisement. The PPP is proud to announce:

Spring 2009 trunk show for Natalie Rivera Jewelry and Inphorm Active/Yoga Wear.

Natalie Rivera Jewelry is jewelry that brings a spiritual & holistic approach to life with contemporary designs.

Inphorm apparel is fashioned for comfort and function - easy separates for spa, gym, beach; for yoga or lounging. The materials and the energy to produce them are green - eco-forward clothing created at earth friendly facilities.

Trunk show will take place Thursday April 30th, 2009 at John Robshaw Textiles showroom from 5:30 to 8:30pm. Refreshments will be served.

John Robshaw Textiles
245 West 29th Street (between 7th and 8th Ave), Suite 1501
New York, NY 10011
212-594-6006

www.nrjewelry.com

Please come and support me (um my mom) as my food count on the success of her jewelry.

Chow for now!

After

2009-04-28T18:25:00.002-04:00

Well this morning I was rudely awaken early with my mommy practically force-feeding me my food and then telling me we were going for a walk.

I was as you can imagine very excited to be going for a walk on such a beautiful day. My mom brought along my red doggie bag so I knew we were going to take the subway which connotes an adventure.

I was right, we got on the train and a few stops later we got off at 28th Street. I was quite happy doing my puppy prance until we turned the corner and there it was, the building that houses all my nightmares; the groomers!! I tried my best to not walk there and pulled away but mom just scooped me up and into the little shop of horrors we went.

I don't know if you know what happens in when you go to the groomers but it is the equivalent of going to jail and having the prison guard do "the search". Literally every orifice of your body is violated, washed, lathered, snipped, shaved and then to top it off I am put in a box with a small hole to stick my head out that acts as a blow dryer. I literally shiver dry. Then when I am done I languor in wait for my mom to come pick me up hoping she doesn't abuse the "pick your dog up by six" rule and pick me up when they are done.

Anyway, as you can see I was given a very close cut but they left hair on my head and tail so I don't look like a freakish white rat like the California groomer made me look like.

Please forgive the penis shot and the little bit of lipstick showing as I was quite excited to be home when this shot was taken.

See, there WAS a morning after and I now have my spiffy summer hair cut.

Chow for now!

Before

2009-04-27T23:19:00.002-04:00

Well, I haven't had my hair cut since November 13th, 2008. I had a very short haircut previously so my mom waited till we got to California because she thought it would cost less but it didn't. It was almost twice as much as she pays in New York and even though I was a little matted, the woman decided to shave all my hair off (tail hair included).

I scared my family members when they saw me as they thought I was a big white rat. When we returned to New York I had to have a sweater on 24/7 since it was winter. It took a long time to grow my hair back.

By late March my mom realized that my hair was getting long and it needed to be groomed. We go to New York School of Dog Grooming and it is $30 per cut as opposed to $75 to go to any other groomers. Students train on me but I have been going since I was a puppy and they always did a good job. Well, someone did a documentary on the school and between that and the bad economy it now takes a month to get an appointment where in the past it took two days.

So the last month has been H-E-Double hockey sticks on my hair. I am as you can see in the photo quite matted on the areas where my harness goes. And a few other places. With this recent hot weather I am hot all the time. From all the running around in the park I look like a dust mop. Mom walks as far away from me as she can as she feels my looks are not up to par with hers. So tomorrow I go to the groomers and chances are quite likely that I am going to get all my hair cut again.

So tomorrow I will head out in the morning with my mom and take the bus downtown and get completely violated from top to bottom and come out looking very tiny and vulnerable. I instructed my mom to bring my Lacoste top so I don't go home looking quite so naked. I guess it will be my summer cut and I will feel much cooler.

This is the first time that I am going back to NY School of Dog Grooming without Q-Ball so that will be sad. The people on the phone couldn't believe the story of Q-Ball's death as they have seen us since we were little puppies.

Anyway this is my BEFORE picture. There's got to be a morning after!

Chow for now!

Golden Gal - Bea Arthur, Gone But Not Forgotten

2009-04-25T19:16:00.003-04:00

Noooo!! Say it ain't so! Today after a day of gallivanting around town with my mom as she looked for jewelry supplies and took me to the park we came home to find out that our beloved Bea Arthur has passed away. We here at the Rivera household are shaken, I had to cheer up my mom up by placing my paw on her lap and looking at her meaningfully.
Here is People Magazine's tribute to Bea Arthur.

Beatrice Arthur, the larger-than-life actress who scored on Broadway as the original matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof and the hard-drinking actress in Mame before she went on to star in the groundbreaking '70s TV series Maude and, in the '80s, the beloved sitcom The Golden Girls, died early Saturday morning. She was 86.

Dan Watt, a spokesman for Arthur's family, told the Associated Press that the star had been suffering with cancer, though he did not specify what kind. She died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family by her side, said Watt, who remembered Arthur as "a brilliant and witty woman."

Maude, which debuted on CBS in 1972 (and ran until 1978) was a spin-off of the hit All in the Family. As the liberal cousin of archconservative Archie Bunker's wife Edith, the much-married Maude wasn't afraid to broach such controversial (especially for TV at the time) topics as abortion and civil rights.

Golden Girls, a popular NBC Saturday-night staple from 1985 to 1992, featured Arthur as the outspoken Dorothy Zbornak, who shared a Florida home with three other retired women, including her mother, played by Estelle Getty – who died last July, at 84. The other stars were Rue McClanahan and Betty White.

New York Origins
Born Bernice Frankel in New York City but raised in Maryland, where her parents ran a women's clothing store, Arthur debuted on the Off Broadway stage in New York in the 1940s, with her Broadway musical triumphs – though her singing voice was deep and scratchy – in the mid-'60s.

Married and divorced twice, Arthur took her stage name (in part) from her first husband, the screenwriter, director and producer Robert Alan Aurthur, whose credits include the Bob Fosse film All That Jazz. With second husband, Mame director Gene Saks, she adopted two sons, Matthew, 47, and Daniel, 44. They survive her.

Of her powerful stage and TV persona, which often found her cast in the same sort of role, Arthur once said, "Look – I'm 5-feet-9, I have a deep voice and I have a way with a line. What can I do about it? I can't stay home waiting for something different. I think it's a total waste of energy worrying about typecasting."

Peace out Bea! Chow for now!

Gossip Friday - April 24th, 2009

2009-04-24T23:47:00.003-04:00

We here at the PPP have not had a Gossip Friday for some time. Perhaps we were trying to take the high road and be a more serious post but we here pride ourselves in covering both the high and low so "here now the news!"

Britain's Got Talent and new Scottish internet singing star Susan Boyle did the inevitable, she got a makeover. Not the heavy duty Hollywood kind of makeover where she got lipo, surgery, new lips and Madonna's cheek implants (along with breast implants). She got the "How Do I Look?" type of makeover. She got a weed whacker and got her eyebrows done (much to my relief as I as a dog have a pet peeve against bushy eyebrows), her hair was styled and she had her grays dyed away. Plus she is now sporting a new wardrobe that screams "virgin librarian!" Many people are disappointed that she is changing herself but personally I think she may have been a little bit depressed as people who are down can let themselves go a bit and now she has the world at her feet so why not brush herself off and enjoy the ride?

This weekend kicks off Salma Hayek's second wedding ceremony to her French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault on Saturday. There was some reports stating that the celebration was going to cost over 2 million dollars. In these times that seems very insensitive especially since Francois-Henri Pinault's company had some recent layoffs that got a little dangerous as workers surrounded his car and kept him captive for approximately an hour. Salma Hayek denied that they were spending 2 million dollars on wedding nuptials. She stated, "I think a wedding is about love, friends, family and fun." Mindi Weiss, Hollywood's premiere wedding planner who brags that most of her weddings are 1 million plus is the wedding planner.

The wedding weekend kicked off Friday with a rehearsal dinner at the Punta Della Dogana, one of Venice’s most historic buildings, which guards the south entry of Venice’s Grand Canal. The Carnival in Venice-style masked ball was held inside a white tent in the courtyard with many A-lists celebrity guests. On Saturday they will exchange vows again Saturday at the Palazzo Grassi, a historic white-marble palace owned by the Pinault family and the site where Hayek and Pinault first met in 2006.

Um, I am starting to believe Salma's when she says her wedding is not 2 million dollars, I think it costs more like three million! Hey she is a little minx who thinks she deserves the world so I say go for it Salma! You are an inspiration to gold diggers everywhere!! However do not forget what they did to the aristocracy in times of the French Revolution. "Let them eat flan!"

Our last post for the evening is about Beyonce. If you are looking to waste ten dollars and have nothing better to do than see God-awful movies then, "Obsessed" is the movie for you. In a movie script usually reserved for Jennifer Lopez when she thinks she will show her acting chops and go for an Oscar, Beyonce now got a hold of this script to show her acting range. I smell a Razzie!

The movie is basically a horrible version of Basic Instinct/Fatal Attraction. The movie wasn't screened for critics so you know that is the first red flag. The few reviews that have come in have been less than stella as we can all imagine. I personally don't mind movies like this, we all need another Showgirls for fun.

Here is a picture of the gown Beyonce wore to opening night for her movie, of course designed by her no talent mom for House of Dereon, or as Michael K likes to say, "House of Derriere" He further goes to say; "Beyonce is wearing House of Derrier's 80s catch-all dress! It can take you from prom to wedding to funeral. It's the only dress you'll ever need......if you lived and died in the mid-80s." LOL!!!

Oh well, today was beautiful outside. My mom and I had a few walks today including one in Central Park in where little girls attacked me for my cuteness. This weekend is going to be sunny and in the mid 80's! We are so happy to get a taste of our favorite season, that being summer. I just hope my mom remembers to bring my water bottle on our jaunts. So have a great weekend and wear some sunscreen.

Oh and just to put a smile on your face I recommend you play these three clips from You Tube.

The first is about Maru, the puss in the box:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdhLQCYQ-nQ&feature=player_embedded

The second is what Qball and I looked liked when we danced salsa:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDWTjkHb9nY

And a Chihuahua dancing salsa:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6qQJe-u83I

Chow for now!

A Sad Day For Pet Charities

2009-04-23T18:57:00.002-04:00

The PPP today is making Americans aware that trusts they set up for charitable foundations especially for specific causes such as animal charities may not be honored.

The trustees of the Harry and Leona Helmsley Charitable Foundation had allocated $136 million of grants, with just $1 million (or less than 1 percent) going to dog-related organizations. It was Leona Helmsley's specific wish that the majority of the grants go to the care of dogs in the distribution of its proceeds. 14 million dollars alone was left for the care of her beloved Maltese, Trouble.

According to Wayne Pacelle from The Humane Society of the United States, "Thwarting the intentions of those who leave their estates to benefit animal protection has a sad and deplorable history, including in the cases of Helen V. Brach, Geraldine R. Dodge, and Doris Duke, who like Mrs. Helmsley bequeathed their great wealth for the benefit of animals. The foundations these women left behind may be operating in their names, but their wishes are not being honored. There is a larger principle at stake in this situation, one of protecting the decisions of people who leave their money for the care of animals, a wholly legitimate philanthropic purpose."

So much could have been done for animal causes with these grants as Mr.Pacelle states, "Canine shelter medicine programs staffed by well-trained veterinarians and technicians. Dog behaviorists to maximize animals’ chances at adoption. Improved housing for dogs waiting for forever homes. Public education programs to boost spaying and neutering, and to improve canine veterinary health. Enhanced data collection systems to track and advance the goals of reducing euthanasia of unhomed healthy animals. Humane instruction for children so that they will know how to relate to and care for dogs. Then of course, there are the problems of puppy mills and dogfighting.
And that’s just on the domestic front. Once we look abroad, there’s even more work to do. There are hundreds of millions of street dogs worldwide. In most nations, these and other dogs don’t die a humane death, but are killed by the worst of means. Moreover, SPCAs operating in nations outside of the developed world are poor and without infrastructure, training, and management. A little funding would go a long way in these places. There’s even a major intersection of dog welfare and public health, given that thousands of people die every year from rabies caused by dog bites."

We dogs, we pets give so much to humans. We give unconditional love, loyalty, companionship, joy, happiness and humor. We deserve the funds to help us live better lives on earth and have a voice given to us. It is wrong to disregard the wishes of anyone who leaves money for a legitimate cause. Every charity in America, regardless of mission, should be frightened by the prospect of an absence of resources.

Hopefully this latest decision can be appealed and turned over otherwise why bother to have a will created stating the purposes of how you want your funds distributed after your demise. That seems very unamerican.

Chow for now!

Happy Earth Day! Or is it???

2009-04-22T16:30:00.003-04:00

Today the PPP celebrates Earth Day! We here at the PPP started to do our share of saving planet earth by making sure our computer is off when we don't use it and unplugging the computer and other household items we don't use all the time. We were very surprised as how much less energy we used and how much money we saved. In these hard times we feel if every one knew how easy it was to save energy and money they would all be on board.

Today Oprah had a great show about Earth Day and all the things we should know and do about saving our planet. Please go to her website to check it out: www.oprah.com

Her show began with a topic I only found out recently written in fiction so I thought it may not be true but it was. She spoke about the giant garbage patches that are located in every ocean on earth. Specifically she spoke about the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch which has been growing a brisk rate since the 1950s. It is an enormous island of trash twice the size of Texas and can be found floating in the Pacific Ocean somewhere between San Francisco and Japan. The trash stew is 80 percent plastic and weighs more than 3.5 million tons. 80 percent of it comes from what we throw in the rivers, streams, oceans, or what blows into the ocean. The other 20 percent comes from garbage thrown out by ships, especially cruise ships who dump their garbage into the ocean.

This garbage patch is 90 feet deep in some regions and each year tens of thousands of animals and sea life lose their life by either ingesting the garbage or getting caught up in the patch. As a site that likes to spotlight animal rights we at the PPP decided to harp on this point for Earth Day and to make humans more aware of this gigantic continent of garbage floating around in all our oceans and how humans destroy our ecosystem with their incredible waste.

Whales are now starting to show signs of getting breast cancer from eating plastic. Birds are dying with bellies full of plastic inside of them. On the Oprah show we saw a cute little sea turtle chewing on plastic thinking it was food. It was very sad to see these innocent animals caught in the web of human waste.

One of things that you humans can do is to try your best to eliminate your use of plastic, especially plastic bags. I am going to have my mommy go to the grocery store with a reusable canvas bag from now on.

There are so many things we can do to make this earth better and all we have to do is educate ourselves and make an effort as it will not only make it a better place for the animals but also for yourself our the future of earth.

Chow for now!

Designing Dogs

2009-04-20T21:06:00.005-04:00

The PPP is very lucky to have a mom and many close friends who are designers. Besides my mom designing jewelry (here comes the shameless product endorsement: www.nrjewelry.com) we have Uncle Saad, Patrick, Uncle John, Aunty Annie and Aunty Marielise to name a few.

However upon further investigation the PPP has found out that besides Valentino being crazy about his six pugs as documented in "Valentino, The Last Emperor" being a lover of the canine species seems to be the common denominator for the following talented designers:

Isaac Mizrahi and Harry the mutt

Tommy Hilfiger with Jimi and Dylan, French Bulldogs

Donna Karan and Steph, Chocolate Lab

Vera Wang with Cooper, Sam, and Lucy, Papillon and Yorkies

Marc Jacobs The trendsetter loves cozying up to his bulldog terriers, Daisy and Alfred.

Frida Giannini The Gucci designer has a soft spot for her German shepherd, Gunner.

Stephano Pilati This Yves Saint Laurent tastemaker adores his longtime companion, his albino boxer, Bepi

Christopher Bailey The Burberry wunderkind has the perfect accoutrement for the English countryside: his Chocolate lab puppy, George.

Here is my mom and I, Powder Puff the ultimate designing dog.

So if you want to become a famous designer I highly recommend you get a dog. Hear that Uncle Saad!!

Chow for now!

Cute Things Come In Small Packages

2009-04-19T23:21:00.001-04:00

The PPP is taking Sunday off today to destress from yesterday's incident. I leave you here with a cute dog story from UK's Telegraph.

A cross between a Yorkshire Terrier and a Chihuahua, Tilly was born on January 15 at which time she was around three inches long and weighing less than four ounces.

Now fully grown, her owner Karen McPhearson has been told her growing days are over.

"Tilly is so boisterous and enthusiastic for someone so small," says Karen of East Kilbride.

"We took her to the vets last week and we were told that she will not grow any more.

"She has not got any bigger since she was four weeks old and now weighs just one pound four ounces and is just eight inches long and about eight inches tall from head to floor or six inches from her back to the floor."

Earlier this month, reports suggested that a Chiuahuah-Jack Russell cross puppy, aptly named Tom Thumb, could hold the record for Britain's smallest dog.

Measuring less than four inches from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail and weighing around three ounces the pup is considerably smaller than Tilly.

But at only three weeks of age, the tiny puppy has plenty of growing time left.

For Karen however, records are not so important as she and her husband Norrie, 46, now have another addition to their growing collection of dogs.

"Tilly weighs just one pound four ounces but she has a big appetite," says 45-year-old Karen.

"Apart from her usual five meals a day of dog food, she loves to drink tea and eat baby ruskies.

"Norrie and I are always running around after Tilly, her parents Sasha and Tyson (both Chorkies) and our fourth dog, CJ. a Japanese Akita.

"They can be quite a handful but they are definitely worth it."

Despite her tiny frame Tilly does not hold the record for the world's smallest pup.

That record, recognised by the Guinness Book of Records, belongs to Chihuahua Heaven Sent Brandy, a four-year-old Chihuahua from Florida in the USA, who is six inches long.

We at the PPP hope you had a great weekend. Chow for now!

I'm Okay!

2009-04-18T19:18:00.003-04:00

For those of you who heard reports of my demise as you can see from the photo that report is greatly exaggerated. I'm okay. I'm alive.

Well, here's what happened. Today was in my opinion the first real great day of Spring. My mom and I did not have to wear any sweaters. The sun was out and so was just about every New Yorker and tourist.

Mom decided to go to to SoHo to check out the shops and do some window shopping or as she likes to put it, "heavy visualization". Well, we hopped on a train and went all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge stop and then proceeded to walk to Reade Street. Everyone was commenting on how chipper and happy I was. After being cooped up all winter I was happy to be out and about as the Canadians would say. We made our way to one of my mom's favorite shops, Anbar Shoes.

Mom loves Anbar Shoes because she thinks it's the best kept shopping secret in New York. They sell all the shoe brands she loves for really low prices. It's because of Anbar that she developed her Imelda Marcos fixation and she no longer has a place for new shoes. Well we arrived at Anbar and mom promptly went to her favorite section when around the corner came this dog who was unleashed. He wasn't that much bigger than me, he was sort of a beagle mutt mix. He came to me and we started doing the sniff your butt dance. I still had my leash on which makes me a little defensive so I did my typical jump at ya move. Now when I do this I don't mean to harm anyone. I just do it to show bigger dogs that I am not afraid of them but Cujo here decided that he was in grave danger (yeah from little old me!) and started attacking me and biting me. My mom couldn't believe it! I couldn't believe it! Mom managed to grab my leash and tried to pull me away. Cujo's owner finally came to us and pulled her devil dog off me. We thought she was a sales assistant as she took her dog and place him behind the cashier. She was actually just a customer. She immediately started with the "I don't know what happened, my dog has never done that before speech." YEAH RIGHT! "Oh he is 12 years old, he never does this, yada, yada, yada".

Upon looking at my face my mom saw that I had a tiny bit of blood on my whiskers. She couldn't find the source of blood and I went into my "lick my lips" routine which I do when I am very nervous. All the people in the shop surrounded me and tried their best to comfort me and the shop owner gave me some much needed water. I think he was afraid that my mom was going to sue him. She was hoping at least for a major discount.

Anyway my mom was determine to still look for shoes even if that meant she had to hold me like a baby the whole time. She is a woman after all and can multitask.

After looking at every shoe she saw exactly what she wanted. A pair of hot, red patent leather Michael Kors shoes for only $98 dollars. They were perfect. She fell in love. My mom these days seems to only be able to fall in love with shoes and dogs. However we are on a strict budget so she said we will back when things aren't so tight.

We then walked to SoHo which was really stressful because there were a cazillion people out on the street and I really thought I was going to be stepped on the entire time. We made some stops at the new store Top Shop which was cute but a little young. We went to my mom's favorite place for jean, Uniqlo and then to Forever 21 where once in a blue moon they have cute stuff for really low prices. Mom "visualized" her spring wardrobe.

We then hopped on the train and made our way uptown and walked to Central Park which was great for me as mom let me off the leash to have some freedom. However I kinda blew it as I saw a squirrel and just went right off with my mom chasing me and yelling for me to stop. YEAH RIGHT! Well, mom had enough and we were heading back home.

When we arrived home mom and I plopped on the couch and took a much needed nap. Overall a day of drama and adventure. However we made it home alive. Mom is getting ready to go out tonight to her friend's birthday party. Mom seems to know lots of Aries.

So I will stay here and nurse my wounds and rest. I hope y'all had a great Saturday and had the chance to get out there and have fun.

Chow for now!

Another Crazy Day At The Zoo!

2009-04-16T20:23:00.003-04:00

Delivery!

Last week the PPP brought to you a zoo story of Ninio the gay Polish elephant. Today we have another zoo story. At the Berlin Zoo on Friday April 10th, a crazy lady decided to take off her shoes and pay Knut a little visit!

The 32-year-old German, who was visiting the zoo with her husband and baby, broke into the polar bear enclosure during feeding time! Yep, you know where this is going.

When she started swimming toward them in their environment she acted like she was in the Garden of Eden. The crazy woman swam towards one of the older polar bears as Knut was not around at the time. What was she thinking of swimming towards a hungry polar bear? Humans are stoopid!!. I think she thought they would have a nice cuddle but that didn't exactly happen.

Yum! Human sausage!!

The polar bears didn't decide to ignore her. It didn't take long for them to begin biting at the idiot! When the crazy lady realized the polar bears were gnawing at her instead of showering her with welcoming kisses, she began swimming towards safety. Some of the zoo workers tried to get the bears away from her while others hoisted the heifer up the wall with a lifesaver. The first time they tried, the lifesaver broke, but eventually they got her ass up there. The woman was taken to the nearest hospital where she was treated for bites to her arms and legs. If Darwin were there he would have told them to leave her alone in there to prove his theory of survival of the fittest and let her get eaten for the idiot she is. It would have may the human species jump ahead in the evolutionary cycle by millions of years.

Nobody knows why she decided it was a good idea to try to play with the polar bears, but I think I know why. It's because she's CRAZY!!! Let's be serious.

So there you have it, another day at the zoo brought to you from the PPP.

Chow for now!

Pet Finder Pet of the Week - Meatball and Beast

2009-04-15T16:05:00.002-04:00

In honor of President Obama's new pet Bo the Portuguese Water dog we here at the PPP are going to spotlight for our Pet Finder Pet of the Week not one but two Portuguese Water dogs, Meatball and Beast. Here is their bio:

Hey Meatball here I am with my brother Beast at the shelter, we have been here quite awhile. We are both about 2 years old. We are somewhat house trained. We are shy inside of the kennel but take us outside and we do a complete personality change. We will run around and play to our hearts content. We would both love to be adopted, but we don't have to go to the same home, that would be really cool though. Our adoption fees are $100.00 and includes our age appropriate shots and having us neutered at one of the participating veterinarians of Surry County. We are both very friendly and like to play. Kids are fun to play with too. Come visit us at the shelter Mon thru Fri from 2 until 430. You can contact me at 336-401-8469 or my county email at gansont@co.surry.nc.us,

* Surry County Animal Control
* Dobson, NC
* 336-401-8462

We are up to date with routine shots.

Wouldn't be great if both Meatball and Beast were adopted! Especially if they were adopted together!! They are quite cute and it's a shame that at two years they have not experienced the love of a real home. Hopefully that will happen soon.

Chow for now!

Won't You Be My Neighbor? Madonna Is.

2009-04-14T18:01:00.004-04:00

Wow! Exciting day here in the Upper East Side home to the PPP. We just found out Madonna bought a 40 million dollar townhouse on E81st and Lexington. We live on E82nd and 3rd Ave. so I can practically pee in her garden. I definitely will be pooping in front of her door now.

Upon leaving her place in the Upper West Side where she and children Lourdes, Rocco and David lived they will now have a $40 million dollar Georgian townhouse to call home. It even has a two car garage. That is how I know the townhouse she is moving into because me and my mom always marvel that the lucky owner has two parking spaces. The place also boasts 13 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, nine fireplaces, an elevator, wine cellar, and a 3,000 square foot garden. If Q-Ball was here she would be sniffing for a new home (don't tell my mom). Oh well, more room for the all the future orphans to be purchased in Madonna's life.

Madonna's rep has stated that Madge has planned extensive renovation and security upgrades before the home is suitable to move in so it's going to be awhile before I start stalking Madonna. Until then I will have to make do with Robin Strasser (Dorian Lord from "One Life to Live") who lives a block away.

Hopefully now that Madonna is moving into the neighborhood maybe we can finally get some cool restaurants and bars (that I cannot get into anyway). I wonder if Lourdes will be going to Sacred Heart or if there is a Kabbala school they go to. Anyway even with Madonna in the hood, the Upper East Side can still really never be cool.

So we here at the PPP look forward to having paparazzo in the neighborhood and stalking Madonna for future posts. I wonder what accent Madonna will speak in when she moves in? So exciting!

Chow for now!

He's Here!!

2009-04-13T18:01:00.003-04:00

Although he will be announced to the world tomorrow officially, this past weekend President Obama and his family welcomed a pet to the White House, a six-month-old Portuguese water dog - which the girls have named Bo - is now settling into the White House. They chose the name as their cousins have a cat named Bo and because mum Michelle Obama's father was nicknamed Diddley, after rock'n'roll singer Bo Diddley. The PPP would like to take the time to official welcome him to his new home as we are sure he will be the topic of many more PPP's.

Of course the PPP is a little insulted that the Obama's did not chose a Maltese as we are hypo-allergic (Malia has allergies) and as we all know Maltese and little girls go hand in hand.

Many animal rights activists were disappointed in that they expected the Obama's to adopt a dog from a shelter. The new First Pet was a present from Senator Ted Kennedy, who owns three dogs of the same breed, and who originally suggested the family get one. Portuguese water dogs are known for their good temperament and since they don't shed hair are perfect for children with allergies – like ten-year-old Malia, who has asthma. It's hard to refuse a gift from Senator Kennedy.

Bo was in a home, but was apparently returned to the breeder because he was just not the right fit. For that reason, he is called a second-chance dog. And we’re happy for Sasha and Malia, who have been very patient in waiting for a pet to join their family.

Only 20 percent of dogs in homes come from shelters. And there are nearly 2 million dogs euthanized each year. If we just increased that percentage of homes with dogs from shelters—to 30 or even 40 percent—we would solve the euthanasia problem. So we here at the PPP encourage you out there to remember to adopt from shelters when looking for a family pet.

We do hope in the future that President Obama is more proactive in animal rights. As Wayne Pacelle from the Human Society of American says, "Hold him accountable to make other decisions that will have enormous implications for animals. He can still laud shelters and speak about the urgency of supporting them. He can also get Bo neutered, as a reminder of the importance of spay and neuter as a way to combat pet overpopulation. And, at the end of the day, he can actively support policies that crack down on puppy mills, eradicate Class B dealers, enforce laws against dogfighting, promote regulations to ensure safe food for our companion animals, and much more."

Chow for now!

Happy Easter and Passover!

2009-04-12T11:28:00.002-04:00

The PPP wishes you a Happy Easter and Passover (do you wish people Happy Passover??).

We are getting ready to visit my grandpa (or Papa) in Scarsdale for Easter. But before we leave we wanted to leave you with some words of wisdom from Jessica Simpson who had her own Easter message for everyone:

Why do we let the sun SET with its beauty, then find ourselves ugly.
Didn't God, whoever he may be to you, create both? If a sunset is beautiful, then so are we.

Love yourself morning, noon, and night. Sunrise. Sunset.

Xo jess

Jesus couldn't said it any better.

Well have a great holiday and I leave you with a picture from the Cadbury Easter Bunny.

Chow for now!

Ninio: The Polish Gay Elephant

2009-04-11T12:55:00.002-04:00

There is controversy and a pending scandal erupting in the city of Poznan. It seems that the Poznan Zoo recently purchased an elephant. However it seems that the elephant, Ninio, may be gay. A gay elephant? Wow, I can't wait till the GOP hears about this.

Why is this a controversy you ask? The PPP has featured gay zoo animals before so it's definitely not news. Well in Poznan Michal Grzes, a councillor from the right-wing opposition Law and Justice party in the city of Poznan, Poland is outraged that the Poznan Zoo purchased an elephant for 37 million zlotys (approximately $11 million) because the male elephant prefers the company of other males.

Said Grzes: "We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?"

Russian news agency RIA reports: "Visitors have been flocking to a zoo in the western Polish city of Poznan to catch a glimpse of an elephant, who it is claimed is homosexual, Polish media said. The ten-year-old African Bush elephant, Ninio, has had to change zoos three times in the past five years because of his aggressive behavior toward female elephants, including pushing them into the pool (ah, Ninio is a queen for sure). However his attitude to male elephants is described as 'affectionate.' ... 'He only liked his buddies and hit the cows with his trunk, and was very disrespectful on the whole,' Michal Grzes, the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) deputy for Poznan said."

I don't know what the complaint is. Obviously Ninio has went from elephant to gay cash cow. I bet people were not flocking to the Poznan Zoo before. As for producing offspring why don't they do what gay men do; why don't they just get a grim lesbian elephant so they can go the surrogacy route?

BTW, the zoo's director notes that elephants don't reach sexual maturity until the age of 14. Since Ninio is only 10 years old maybe this is just the equivalent of a boy elephant thinking the girl elephant has "cooties" or he is acting like a jerk frat boy?

Hey what a week for gay rights! First New York State finally starts to introduce legislation to introduce gay marriage in the state and now a gay elephant. It's a brave new world! Chow for now!

Celebrities Who Own Malteses

2009-04-09T23:43:00.007-04:00

My mom knows she is a woman of good taste. When researching today's post it was definitely confirmed as today's post is about celebrities who have owned and loved a Maltese.

Some of Hollywood's most famous and iconic stars have been drawn to the small, white fluffiness that is me. I can't blame them, I would too if I were them. Here is a small list of celebrities both big and small, A-List and D-List that have been fortunate enough to have been loved by a Maltese:

Star Jones - "Sweetie Pie"

Jessica Simpson -"Daisy"

Elizabeth Taylor –"Daisy"

Marilyn Monroe –" Maf Honey" (given to her by Frank Sinatra)

Linsday Lohan - "Chloe"

Leona Helmsley -"Trouble"

Heather Locklear – "Harley"

Halle Berry – "Miss Polly & Little Willie"

Miley Cyrus - "Sophie"

Eva Longoria -"Jinxy"

Elvis Presley –"Foxhugh"

Tallulah Bankhead – "Doloras"

Anna Nicole Smith –"Marilyn"

Ashley Tisdale- "Blondie"

Kristin Chenoweth" Maddie"

Also included in this impressive list but with no picture (yes I know, I have yet to master Google) are:

P Diddy - "Sophie"
Bryant Gumbel – "Cujo"
Tony Bennett– "Boo"
Liberace "Charmin, Solo and Leah"

Now to convince Kanye West to adopt a Maltese so he can blog about us with the caps lock on and mt list will be done.

Chow for now!

Lucky Grill - The World's Most Durable Koala

2009-04-09T01:48:00.002-04:00

Here is a quick post to update you on the Koala Lucky Grill.

The BBC news reports: A koala has survived being hit by a car and then dragged for several miles with its head stuck in the vehicle's front grill, officials in Australia say.

They say the male koala was found with his bottom sticking out of the grill of a woman's car near Brisbane.

The animal was taken to a wildlife hospital in Queensland where tests showed it was not badly hurt.

The lucky creature - believed to be several years old - was nicknamed Lucky Grills after his ordeal.

The driver said she had noticed a koala on the road but drove on when she failed to see anything in her rear view mirror.

The trapped animal was only spotted when the driver pulled up at a railway station on the outskirts of Brisbane.

"Somehow the force of the impact propelled him through the grill. That sort of wedged him there. That is why he didn't come adrift. The rest of his body was dangling," spokeswoman Carolyn Beaton of the Australian Wildlife Hospital told the AFP news agency.

She added that "an examination showed that he was in good health and had no serious injuries".

It's been a hard week for animals on the PPP but luckily we have seen some remarkable success stories. Nothing warms the cockles of the heart like a Koala story.

Chow for now!

Canine Castaway Sophie Tucker

2009-04-08T00:07:00.002-04:00

Today on the PPP we bring you the story of Sophie Tucker, an Australian Cattle dog who was cast away for four months on a remote Australian island after being washed overboard from his owner's boat.

Whilst sailing through stormy waters off the coast of Queensland with his owners Jan and Dave Griffith last November they hit a rough patch.

"When we turned around the dog was gone," Mrs Griffith said.

"We were able to back-track to look for her, but because it was a grey day, we just couldn't find her and we searched for well over an hour.

"We thought that once she had hit the water she would have been gone because the wake from the boat was so big."

But unknown to her grieving owners, the crafty dog survived a long swim across shark-infested waters to the uninhabited St Bee island. There she lived on a diet of baby goats until being found by visiting rangers. The Griffiths were amazed to hear of the discovery and have now been reunited with their pet.

"She surprised us all," said Jan Griffith.

"She was a house dog and look what she's done, she has swum over five nautical miles, she has managed to live off the land all on her own. We wish she could talk, we truly do."

Sophie Tucker had been alone for four months on the island when she was spotted by rangers who patrol the islands.

"She was seen on St Bees looking pretty poor and then all of a sudden she started to look good and that was when they discovered she was eating baby goats," Mrs Griffith said.

"She had become quite wild and vicious. She wouldn't let anyone go near her or touch her. She wouldn't take food from anyone."

However when Sophie Tucker was brought home to the Griffiths it was quite an emotional reunion.

"We called the dog and she started whimpering and banging the cage and when they let her out she just about flattened us," Mrs Griffith told the AAP news agency.

Since then the Griffiths have reported that Sophie Tucker was reported to be in excellent shape by her vet and had adjusted to coming home with no problems.

What an amazing story! I really do wish Sophie Tucker could talk (or write) as this would make an incredible childrens book or movie.

I hate to think what would have happened to me if I was in the same predicament. As much as I would like to think I would have fared just as well, I am having a hard time envisioning me taking down a baby lamb.

Anyway, "Welcome back Sophie Tucker!" Chow for now!

Pet Finder Pet of the Week - Miss Bee

2009-04-07T00:55:00.003-04:00

It's our favorite column for the PPP, it's Pet Finder Pet of the Week Spotlight Pet and today it is French Bulldog; Miss Bee.

Miss Bee is smart like me and can write. She even wrote her own bio:

Hello my name is Bee. I am a 2 yr old spay female that is looking for a place to call my own. I am pretty well house trained, I love to ride in the car, go for walk, snuggle and of course eat. I know some basic obedience and am crate trained. I would prefer to have a home all to myself but may allow a mellow male to share with me. If you have an interest in Miss Bee please request an application.
Home without cats preferred

This pet is up to date with routine shots.
This pet is already house trained.
This pet has been altered.

Here is the site for more information on adopting Miss Bee.

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/MD193.html

Miss Bee is such a cute name and she is such a cute dog. I can see her being adopted by two swell guys I know (hint, hint Uncle Michael and Uncle Saad). I will not stop till Uncle Michale and Uncle Saad give me a cousin.

If you know of anyone that would be interested in adopting the sweet Miss Bee please pass this post on. Chow for now!

Today Is My Birthday!!

2009-04-04T19:52:00.006-04:00

It's a grand day here at the PP, it's my birthday! Today I am six years old in human years and 42 in dog years. Yes, that's right, I am the same age as my mother now.

My mommy had planned a nice day for me. She decided I was to have a B-A-T-H. That wasn't my idea of a good start to a birthday but she seemed determined to get me clean. Then she planned that after running a few errands, we were to walk to 58th Street and 6th Ave to see the Tartan Day Parade. She had imagines of me taking getting my picture taken with men in kilts (possibly to lure them home and use me as bait??).

Anyway after the traumatic B-A-T-H incident, we were off on our way to complete some errands then go to the park to get to the parade. That is when everything went wrong. I had to take a poop (as I usually do when I go out for a walk) and I don't know if it was the excitement of my birthday or the stress from the B-A-T-H but I became constipated. When this happens I kind of freeze and squeeze my buttock muscles over and over again hoping for release. I can't move or walk when this happens. My mom knew she had to take me back home to do "the removal procedure". She was not happy, however it was my birthday so she grimaced, picked me up carefully and brought me back home. After the deed was done, we then went out again did our two errands and were on our way to the park.

On the way we stopped to talk to mom's friend Casey Archer. I waited patiently until they were done then we went on again. As we entered the park it happened again! My constipation came back. I got a little scolding from my mom as she couldn't carry me back at this point so she found a grassy private spot and proceeded to do "the removal procedure" with grass and leaves. Mom thinks if I chewed my food more this would not happen.

Anyway as we made our way through the park by the time we reached 58th Street, the parade was over :( and we were only able to witness two bagpipes bands leaving. My mom was a little bit peeved so onto Plan B which was to walk back through Central Park and take pictures st famous park points. This went along well, except that every time my mom went to take my picture I turned away so eventually our batteries ran low and we didn't get "the money" shots she wanted. But we did get some shots and after we got home she cooked a steak for me, gave me my favorite treats, and she sang "Happy Birthday" to me with her coffee cake (which she let me have a taste of). I then made a wish which I will not tell you what it was.

Overall, a great day! If I was around more of the people I love and if maybe I was at a beach or in the country (hint, hint) running around like crazy it would have been perfect. However the park, the love of my mommy and all my favorite foods (and lots of it) made today sweet.

Here are some of my birthday pictures and what I did today.

Waiting at the light, starting to feel a little weird...

Bagpipe band walking away :(

After 20 shots I am finally looking into the camera.

King of the World!

Wishing I could iceskate.

At the Dairy Farm.

That's a big dog!

Going down "The Wall".

Watching the acrobats at the Bandshell.

Where am I?

A pretty fountain. Enough Mom!

Watching the duckies near The Boathouse.

Come to the dark side Powder Puff, we have treats...

The Birthday Boy!

Eating my birthday steak.

Chewing my birthday treat. Lots of them.

Happy Birthday PP!

Well thanks for sharing my birthday with me. I am taking tomorrow off from the PPP to enjoy myself. Have a great weekend! Chow for now!

Crazy Little Thing Called Hormones

2009-04-03T21:31:00.003-04:00

Ah! TGIF!! It has been a long week here at the PPP. WE had incredible ups and downs this week and are happy to have the weekend here. I am sure you do too.

Today I was home watching Oprah (you don't have to be a bitch to like Oprah) and the topic today was "The Laws of Attraction". It talked about all these studies on why people are attracted to each other.

Now for us dogs, it is very easy; when a bitch is in heat she lets out a scent with a hormone and any dogs within whiff is welcome to come and enjoy the party and try our best to procreate. Well, now science has found out that is actually quite similar for humans as well.

Research has found that when women are ovulating, they produce copulins, a scent that attracts men. The researchers believe when a man gets a whiff of copulins, his testosterone levels rise. As a result, he secretes androstenone, an odor that repels women who aren't ovulating.

Sex therapist Dr. Laura Berman says attraction has a lot more to do with science and evolution than people might think. "We are innately all puppies in heat," she says. "We are capable of discerning 10,000 different scents consciously. But then there's a whole realm of unconscious scents that we're not even aware that we're smelling."

These odors let people know when a woman is fertile and when a man's testosterone levels are high, Dr. Berman says. As a result, individuals can tell when someone else is most ripe for reproduction. "It's all about survival of the species," she says.

My mommy thinks this explains so much. It explains all the weird combinations of couples, the older men going after the younger women who are ovulating still whilst their older wives may have stopped. This makes so much sense! Hormones really do rules the world.

One common complaint Dr. Berman hears among women with relationship problems is that they love their partner, but they're not in love with him. "There is a difference between love and chemistry," Dr. Berman says. "Take a really good whiff of him without cologne when he's relatively clean. If that smell turns you on, that's a really good cue of chemistry." My mommy agrees, she always says that if she doesn't like how a man smells she cannot have a relationship with him. We dogs are a little less picky but we seem to all operate on the same level.

In one recent study, Dr. Berman says researchers had women smell men's T-shirts. The women were most attracted to the shirts of men with a different major histocompatability complex (MHC) from them. MHC is a collection of genes that are related to immune systems. "We unconsciously want to mate with someone who has a different immune system than ours because that helps with the survival of our offspring," Dr. Berman says. Again my mommy agrees as she loves to smell the t-shirts of the men she dates.

The T-shirt study also found that women taking hormonal contraception were attracted to men who had similar MHC as they did. "If you're on the pill, your body is being tricked into think you're pregnant, so you're not ovulating," Dr. Berman says. "The bad news there is that they have looked at these couples who have similar MHC, and not only do they have higher levels of infidelity and higher levels of marital discord, but they also have higher infertility issues." So see gals, you really did not have bad judgement, it was the pill's fault.

Science has also shown that women physically change during ovulation. An unexpected factor that has been found to directly affect attraction is voice pitch. Dr. Gordon Gallup, a professor at the State University of New York at Albany, says that women with higher estrogen levels have higher voices, which makes them more desirable to men. "When females are midcycle, when they're the most fertile, the most likely to conceive, their voices are rated as being significantly more attractive," he says.

Besides your voice, a females face changes during ovulation. It's hard to pinpoint what distinguishes a gorgeous face from an average one, but some researchers are getting pretty close. Psychologist Dr. Lisa DeBruine of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland says she's found that women's faces get more attractive to men when they are ovulating. "We're not entirely clear why there's this difference, but we think that the women might look healthier, have a bit of a healthier glow when they are ovulating."

Not everything that goes into finding a partner is biological. Researchers have also found that if a woman looks at the face of a man whom she knows nothing about, she will give it a rating on a scale of 1 to 10 that's different than if she is shown the same face and a corresponding income. When a man makes a lot of money, a woman will rate him higher on an attractiveness scale than she would that same man with a smaller income.

Dr. Berman says this isn't a case of women being gold diggers. "It goes back again to evolution. When we were having babies who were very dependent on us, we couldn't hunt and take care of ourselves, so we were looking for the man who had the most social status, who was the best hunter, who was going to bring home the biggest chunk of meat for our babies," she says. "It's the same thing today." I am sure that if the tables were turned that men would do the same thing too as we have evolved to that stage these days.

Smell, voice pitch and face symmetry might be unconscious detectors of attractiveness, but if you're trying to consciously assess the future of a relationship, Dr. Berman says there's one surefire way. "You really learn a lot from a kiss. … Sixty-six percent of women say they would dump a guy after a bad first kiss," she says. "It's not only because you're getting that good whiff of him so you're seeing if you like the way he smells. All your senses are engaged, and you get a sense of his sensuality, his connection, whether he's a take-charge kind of guy or more of a stepping back kind." I myself am an avid licker with a darty tongue.

When it comes to relationships, Dr. Berman says kissing frequency is a direct indicator of happiness. "It turns out that couples who kiss and cuddle regularly are eight times less likely to be stressed and depressed than couples who don't get that," she says. "You have to have a minimum of a 10-second kiss every day." Well that explains why my mommy and me love each other so much, I like to lay on the kisses all day and she seems to love them.

Well, it would be just like Oprah to explain how the world works and why humans chose their mates. Now it all makes sense. I hope this post will help you understand how you attract your mate. I know you ladies are going to be looking for copulins this weekend. I know my mommy will :)

Hope you have a good weekend, Chow for now!

Happy Birthday Q-Ball! Have A Heavenly Party in Doggie Heaven Today You April Fool!!

2009-04-01T14:08:00.004-04:00

Today is a bittersweet day for us here at the PPP. It would have been Q-Ball's sixth birthday today had she not been killed last year in Central Park. We miss our little April Fool and can't believe she will not be around to celebrate her birthday from now on except in our memories. So I asked some of those closest to Q-Ball as a birthday gift to her to celebrate her birthday and memory by telling some of their memories of Q-Ball and here are a few stories and words of wisdom from Uncle Adrian.

Last weekend I visited Q-Ball, who is sleeping on our hill in a grave
marked by the two golf balls that she liked to play with. Those visits always
remind me of the time she went under the front porch to bother the woodchuck in residence, how we pulled her out covered with mud, and Saad washed
her in the kitchen sink. With her hair soaking wet, there was hardly any
Q-Ball there -- but her spirit was huge and fun-loving (and we hope it still
is).

Uncle Michael and Uncle Saad

We loved Q-Ball's southern foray... when she visited us in December 2007 in the 1800s house on the creek in McClellanville, SC.

Aunt Sandy

I had a date with a guy a met through one of those on line dating sites. It was my first time meeting him so I of course didn't know if all of my dreams would finally come true. So, I met him a cozy little spot on the upper east side. Well, my questions were soon answered, he was not going to be THE ONE. After sitting through a grueling hour listening to this guy talk (in the third person) about how wonderful he was and how blessed I was to be in his presence, I made up an excuse that I couldn't go on to another fun spot with him because I already had plans to meet my girlfriend. He insisted on walking me to that spot. This was off the cuff, I was trying and trying to shake him but he was like white on rice.

I couldn't believe my eyes as we were walking down 2nd avenue and I walked into Natalie, Powder Puff and QBall as if the whole meeting was planned. It was like fate had intervened to answer my prayers. Natalie, Q Ball and Powder Puff were all so cool about the whole thing, not really knowing what was going on but playing the part. Q Ball was a terrific actress totally acting like this was a planned meet up, jumping on my leg to greet me and hanging out with me as if I was her date!

Thanks Q Ball!

Aunt Lisa

Natalie, I missed Q-ball when you and PP came to visit us. I enjoyed all the time she spent with us.

Love David

Some of my favorite memories of Q-Ball are, when she walked upright, pushed her way onto my lap and then growled at PP. She always got her way. True female.

Love Mima

Better by far to smile and forget than to remember and be sad. Q-Ball had a great life, and we were lucky to share it.

Uncle Adrian

How about the time we filled my tub with bubble bath and put Olivia, Ariel, Coco, Powder Puff and Q-Ball into the bubble filled tub and took pictures of them and sent the picture as our Christmas card that year?
Then their was the time when you came to California and we let the dogs out to to go potty and we noticed that the side gate was open. That's when we noticed Q-Ball was missing! We rushed out to look for her and we could not find her anywhere! Then Uncle Jason got in his car and drove around the neighborhood and found her in front of someone Else's house thinking it was the house she should be in! She had no fear!

Aunt Lillian

I have so many memories of Q-Ball; waking me up in the morning with her paw, howling at me and laying upside down for attention, flirting with everyone around her, giving me sweet kisses, being patient with me when I dressed her up and used her as a photo prop, running toward me with her tongue hanging out of her mouth as I shouted, "Crazy baby girl!", jumping on my lap and claiming me like Columbus claimed America. Snoring like a drunken sailor, slapping down PP when he tried to dominate her, doing her crazy flapper dance across the floor, running around in the grass or by the sea as she loved being off her leash, giving me her guilty look when she did something naughty but most of all I will remember how much she loved me and I loved her and how she let me be her mommy and baby her. She was smart, sweet, funny, a great spirit and so missed by all.

Love Mommy

Q-Ball and I may have fought as she was the Alpha Dog and didn't let me rule the roost in our home but if anyone did anything to threaten us I would kill for her and she for me. She is my soul mate and irreplaceable. I still miss her greatly today as we had many great adventures together and we were a loving family. One day we will all be a family again, but until then here's to you Q-Ball! I love and miss my big sister-lover.

Happy Sixth Birthday Q-Ball!!!

Chow for now!

Unemployment. The Most Fun You Will Ever Have Without A Job

2009-03-31T23:48:00.004-04:00

With so many people unemployed these days due to our terrible economy, it is funny how people start to pass their idle time.

First we have the snuggie pub crawl. The Snuggie™—that adawable bwanket with sweeves that's basically a hoodless monk's cowl with a trademark. With the Snuggie™, your hands are free to work a remote control, massage your lover's feet, or pound Jäger in public.

New York's FIRST Snuggie Pub Crawl is in the works, and already over 50 Snuggie™ enthusiasts have signed up! The date is still T.B.D., but the vision of a mob of pseudo-ironic drunks stumbling around in their creepy Snuggies™ makes the ritual orgy scene in Eyes Wide Shut seem somehow comforting by comparison. And while we don't want to contemplate what a drunken Snuggie™ hook-up would look like, now we can't help ourselves!

Second we have the Unemployment Olympics held this week in New York City. The lighthearted competition was only open to the unemployed, and included a such games as 'Pin the Blame on the Boss' and 'Office Telephone Toss'.

Christopher Dawes tosses an office phone during the Unemployment Olympics in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

A participant in the Unemployment Olympics wearing a Lehman Brothers shirt, tries to find the boss in the game 'Pin the Blame on the Boss' in New York.

People sign up for the Unemployment Olympics in New York.

There are so many things you can do when unemployed in New York. What me and mom like to do most is act like tourists, go to museums, spend time with our friends and family, ice skate in the early afternoon, see movies with friends in the early afternoon, walking in Central Park, walking up and down Madison Avenue with your best clothes on visualizing a better future.

We here at the PPP are into taking a bad situation and making the best of it and that includes unemployment. So if you find yourself suddenly unemployed, relax, have a drink, go get a massage, go see a comedy, sleep late, watch Maury Povich and enjoy the downtime because trust me it's not going to last. Believe me when I say your former colleagues who are still employed and doing the work of many with a pay cut are very envious of you now. Take it from one who's been there. Chow for now!

Babies! Babies! Babies!

2009-03-31T00:19:00.004-04:00

I woke up this morning trying to figure out what to write about today but there were so many pictures of celebrities and their babies I thought today we would have a "Celebrity Baby Update".

First baby: Jessica Alba's baby Honor Marie Warren. The funny thing here is that Jessica Alba is infamous for not smiling at the camera and always scowling. Here we see that her daughter Honor has inherited her mother's lack of a sense of humor as she sports her own perma frown. I look like this when my mom eats chocolate in front of me as she doesn't share her chocolate with me. Something about it being toxic and me dying. Yeah right!

Second baby: here is Halle Berry's adorable little girl Nayla who is now one year old and loves to dress in girly tutu's. I wouldn't mind dressing in a tutu. It looks like fun. However I don't know if I can explain the tutu with being a metrosexual dog. It may be pushing the limits of metrosexuality. I'll have to ask my Uncle Adrian.

Third baby: this story is a little bizarre. In this April's Vanity Fair top model Gisele Bundchen talks about how she feels her husband's child with his former girlfriend Bridget Moynahan, feels like her child. I don't know if it's because English is not her first language but my mommy says if anyone said this about me she would "bring the bitch down". Here is a little of the interview:

"I understand that he has a mom, and I respect that. But to me, it's not like because somebody else delivered him, that's not my child – I feel it is, 100 percent. I want him to have a great relationship with his mom, because that's important, but I love him the same way as if he were mine. I already feel like he's my son, from the first day. He's a little angel – the sweetest, most cuddly, loving baby. I feel blessed to have him in my life."

Them are fighting words! We are definitely on Team Bridget! She basically said, it's my baby and I don't mind if he has a relationship with his mother. Very disrespectful to the real mom.

Another bizarre baby story is OctoMom and Angelina Jolie. It is rumored that Angelina Jolie wants to give OctoMom a little financial help with the babies. "Angelina is worried about the best interests of the kids. As a mom of six, she knows how chaotic and costly raising a big family can be. She doesn't necessarily approve of Nadya, and she doesn't want to turn the situation into even more of a circus."

I have my own theory of why people like OctoMom and Angelina have so many children. Neither of the women seem like very likable or approachable. They aren't women who are popular and have many friends. I think they are creating their own world by adopting or having so many children so they don't have to make friends and deal with their problems. Yup, just a little pup psychology. Good luck Brad!

An even more bizarre baby story than all the above is Madonna trying to adopt another child from Malawi. She has her eye on a three year old girl named Mercy. Don't get me wrong, I think adoption is great when done right but I am so tired of celebrities just going into a country and thinking they have pick of the litter. Especially when the child still has a parent or grandparent alive. In both Angelina Jolie and Madonna's adoption of African children the children had parents that were alive but the child was in an orphanage because they could not afford them. If you have such a strong bond to this particular child, why not give the parents enough money so they can be raised by their kin? Why take them away? Also why not pick a child that is truly an orphan? These days orphanages aren't what they use to be in the old days. Because of extreme poverty many kin leave the children at the orphanages so they can be fed and not starve to death. Many families have plans to get the children back when they can afford to and work toward that goal.

Madonna's adoption was delayed because the government now has some questions for Madonna. First being that now she is a single mother. Also she would be too old to adopt in most countries by FIVE years, so why give her any special privileges? Isn't her 22 year old boyfriend enough for her? The girl's grandmother also is very upset as she had the child put in the orphanage until six years old and then she was going to take her back. She had an agreement with the orphanage and now is very upset that her granddaughter is on the auction block. Also Madonna has made the village angry because she is going to built a school in the village, however she is building it on people's personal property without their permission and they don't want to give up their land and homes. The government is making them (you know like when they build a highway through your land and you have no rights). When a journalist asked Vadge if she was worried about the situation, she shouted back, "NO!" She apparently feels since she is willing to compensate them financially that should be enough.

Umm, don't know if you can tell, but we here at the PPP aren't exactly Madonna fans. Adoption is too serious an issue and the rules shouldn't be bend for celebrities.

My last baby story is Gwen Stefani's cutie patootie baby Zuma. Here is Gwen playing in the park with her little Buddha baby. He is almost as cute as the Powder Puff. Almost!

Well, that it's for now. If you didn't have a biological clock before, you do now!

Chow for now!

I Ask You...

2009-03-29T23:42:00.003-04:00

On April 1st it would have been Q-Ball's 6th birthday. The PPP ask you to please contribute any story or memory you have of Q-Ball so we can do a post it in her memory.

So any thoughts, memories, stories, observations you have of our precious Q-Ball will be posted this Wednesday. You can leave your comments on either the PPP comment section or email us at natalie_nyc@yahoo.com

We appreciate taking your time to help us keep Q-Ball's memory alive. We miss her very much and can't believe she is not around to celebrate her birthday as she was the ultimate April's Fools.

I hope you had a nice weekend! Chow for now!

Gossip Friday - March 27th 2009

2009-03-27T22:45:00.004-04:00

It's our silliest post of the week, Gossip Friday! Or more specifically Celebrity Gossip. I have been working hard this week to find you the silliest post and here they are:

First, I came upon some of these pictures of animals getting a B-A-T-H (we spell this word out in our household to make sure I don't get anxious). Well, I am sure somewhere in my hard drive there is evidence of how silly I look when I take a B-A-T-H but who has the time to search so I will show you some other pets and their love of B-A-T-H-I-N-G.

In Hollywood there is a new type of plastic surgery on the rise and it's called Madamism! Remember Madame? (from Wayland Flowers and Madame.) She was a tranny looking and acting puppet who appeared on Solid Gold, Hollywood Squares and had a short lived TV show, Madames Place. It's been noted about Joan Rivers' growing similarity to Madame. But when we really looked around we saw that many celebrities like Dolly Parton, and Madonna looked like Madame something clicked... overdone facework turns you into a puppet-head!... we are calling it Madamism!!

We have been sick here in at the PPP offices so we are making it a short post for today so we can get to bed and rest. I wish you all a great weekend! Chow for now!