This is what real dog shows should be all about. At the ASPCA dog show, adorable little prince, a three-legged pit bull mix won best in show after he impressed the judges with his great attitude and his ability to catch three baseballs.

Joanne Lefson adopted Oscar from the local shelter in her hometown of Capetown, South Africa. He was one day away from euthanization. After a short period of falling in love with her new best friend, Joanne realized that there were way too many potential companions locked up in shelters around the globe.

To help make a difference in the lives of animals throughout the world, Joanne took it upon herself to sell her home and take Oscar on a $40,000 trip around the world to help bring attention to the plight of shelter pets. To the left, you can see Oscar at Machu Picchu.

During their trip, Joanne and Oscar fell in love with another pup in Romania, and their new friend Zara will soon join them at their permanent home in South Africa.

Puppy Bowl VI went off without a hitch this year, and the animal shelter stars were absolutely spectacular –like always. This year’s MVP was a delightfully rambunctious chug (chihuahua/pug) mix named Jake. This little devil not only won MVP, but also took first place in the online viewer poll. Way to go Jake!

To see Jake in action, be sure to watch the video on Animal Planet.

California has been suffering from an overpopulation of chihuahuas this year, in part thanks to idiotic things like Legally Blonde, Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Paris Hilton. The shelters are loaded up with the little guys, but there is hope. A number of organizations have been taking chihuahuas to other states where they will have better odds of being adopted.

The sweetie seen above is one of fifteen to be flown for free on Virgin America a few weeks ago in order to find them new homes in New York. Passengers on the flight were offered a free round of cocktails to celebrate the event. Now there’s a plane I wouldn’t mind being on.

One of the big problems with purebred dogs are the breeding standards that promote unhealthy conditions that are purely cosmetic. One of the biggest problems is ear cropping. Now the inventor of Neuticles is promoting a new product to help dogs who have failed ear croppings get their floppy ear to stand up straight. As if the invention itself isn’t bad enough, there is apparently huge support for both of these moronic products. One of our friends over at InventorSpot blogged about all the downfalls of these products only to be attacked. So throw her some support. Real dog-lovers know how stupid these things are, and so should the general public.

A new English documentary covers the problems associated with breeding purebred animals. The documentary even covers how these breeds have changed in the last century as long as the breed-specific diseases associated with many breeds. The show will be appearing on BBC America for those who are interested in watching it.

The recession has led to tons of animal surrenders and more shelter pets than ever before, but you can help. PetFinder has a great list by location of rescue groups in your area that are participating the Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays program. The goal is to provide even temporary loving homes to dogs, cats and other animals in need. –Of course, organizers are secretly hoping that you fall in love with the animal and keep it after the thirty day foster period, but even giving these pets love for thirty days can help, so look into helping out a critter this month.

There’s something wrong with a world that not only allows convicted dog fighters to get their old lives back, but actually rewards the person with a  contract for a new reality tv show. Officials still haven’t said how much he is earning, but it’s easy to assume he’s making a few million dollars for the deal.

“People who abuse animals don’t deserve to be rewarded,” said PETA spokesman Dan Shannon. “They shouldn’t be given multimillion-dollar contracts . . . or given the privilege of being a role model.”

October is adopt a shelter dog month and to help show my support, I recently posted on Neatorama about famous dogs who were adopted from shelters or the streets. Featured at left is famous little Pabst, this year’s ugliest dog winner.

Click the link, I’m sure you’ll like the article.

An Eagles fan who, like most of the world, hates Michael Vick was told he had to wear a shirt displaying an anti-Vick message inside out if he wanted to attend the game.

“Not only has (Eagles owner) Jeffrey Lurie and the Eagles organization supported a dog murderer by signing this convict,” she said, “but now they want to take away my freedom of speech just because I don’t agree with them?”

This is sickening. I can’t agree more with her, it’s bad enough to have signed Vick, but to try to silence protests against that fact is just terrible.