Fetch the Paper: Digital Dog Edition

Good News: Novato Cat Rescued from Drain

Copy is one lucky cat.  Yesterday he was stuck for almost 4 hours in a storm drain. I posted about his rescue over on my Pets page on examiner. com:

Don't you just love a happy ending? I know I do. So does Copy the cat, and his person, Lisa Hoytt, of Novato. Monday, Copy was chased down a storm drain by an over-eager terrier in Hoytt's neighborhood, and became wedged in the drain.

Who ya gonna call? In this case, Marin Humane came to the rescue, bringing the Novato Fire Department and Department of Pubic Works into the fray. And they used a bit of high-tech help: a cable optic camera (yes, not unlike those used in colonoscopies!) to locate twelve-pound Copy in the drain so they could chart his rescue.

Read the whole thing - and more photos - here.

Is your canine quirky?

I just posted this item about canine personality quirks over on Examiner.com. I'd love to get responses from the public--if we get enough good ones, we'll publish them in a future edition of FETCH.  Either comment there, or email 'em to me at sandy@fetchthepaper.com.

Virtual Pets

Maybe you're working long hours away from your dog, or maybe, like me, you live in an apartment where you can't have a dog at all. Whatever the reason, if you're having dog withdrawals you might try adopting a virtual pet. Some suggestions:

SLDogs provides dogs for Second Life avatars. The dogs come in several breeds (though no labs, I was sad to see), and can learn several tricks, including "pee." This is not a trick I've ever longed to teach a real life dog, but it's probably amusing in a virtual world where no cleanup is required.

You can also get yourself a dog on Facebook with Pet Pupz or Pet Puppies. (You might also try Pet Dragons, Pet Muppets, Pet Smurfs, or many other pet options.

Or you can skip all these social networking sites and go straight to Virtual Dog, where you can adopt a pretend puppy and explore a whole virtual world with your new friend. Or check out Furry Paws, a website that lets you raise, train and show your virtual pet.

Funny Cat Video of the Day

My niece sent this to me. The cat humor is good, the engineer humor as well. Enjoy!

Holiday Message: Let's Get Along!

Have you seen this one yet... the dog, the cat, and the rat?

Watch Video

(Sorry, I haven't figured out embedding video on my blog yet, so you'll have to follow the link.)

Happy Holidays.... however you and yours celebrate (and get along)!

Kitten Season!

It's Easter--spring time always means bunnies, and chicks, and... lots of homeless kittens.

Art of the Scratch!

Every day we do FETCH there's another surprise; someone thanks us for making a difference in their life, another advertiser comes on board, we hear about another pet adopted. Today, Pres Romanillos wrote to us and shared his dog Pickle's blog, Life As a Pickle, with us. We laughed out loud and appreciated Pres' talent (he used to draw for Disney Imagineering) and now Pres will send us some cartoons for FETCH (look for the first one in our next issue).

Here's a sample of Pres's work:

Pres and his wife Jeanine are animal advocates and foster homeless pets in LA.

Disguise Your Vicious Dog

If you are tired of the apprehensive looks and outright slurs against your "vicious"-looking dog, you could consider a simple disguise. Now your Dobie can be a poodle, your German Shepherd a Golden Retriever, or your Mastiff... well, you have to see for yourself.