If you can’t take in your own kitty, you can still celebrate this great holiday though by voting for Petfinder.com’s The Whisker’s Contest, or by enjoying the article I wrote for Neatorama about the World’s most famous cats.

This pup was saved in her final hour before euthanasia. While the authorities thought it was aggressive, it turns out the poor dog was just scared. It’s now a happy rescue success story.

To read more about the specific dogs included in the stamp series and the entire set of pictures, see the article on Ohmidog.

The Vitahides are a great idea, as they take rawhide bones and make them even more irresistible to pups by wrapping them in dried chicken breasts and then adding vitamins they need to stay healthy. The result is a delicious treat that’s good for doggie teeth and, depending on the variety you buy, filled with heart or joint healthy vitamins. Percy didn’t seem to notice the difference between the two varieties, but since he’s getting up there in age, I think I’d be more inclined to buy the joint treats in the future.

As for how he liked the treats, I’d say these are his favorites of the samples as they are delightfully chewy and filled with meaty goodness.

Next up was the Gourmet Wraps, which consist of dried chicken wrapped around a variety of dried fruits. My samples included apple, sweet potato and banana and I would say Percy’s preferences were in that order.

The dried apple ones smelled delicious and he’s always been strangely attracted to apples when I eat them, so it’s not surprising that they are his favorites of the bunch.

As for sweet potato, these are great for a pet’s health because they include fiber, but I’ve found it to be difficult to keep putting spoonfuls of the fresh or canned stuff on his dinner every night, so this is a great way to give him fiber and reward him for being good.

While Percy enjoyed the bananas, it seemed like most of the pleasure came from the chicken breast around them. He’s never seemed interested in bananas when I eat them and I think the flavor wasn’t his cup of tea.

Lastly, I received a few samples of the company’s Vegitopia treats, which are simple dried veggies. My samples were sweet potatoes and as I said earlier, Percy’s always enjoyed sweet potatoes. Still, as much as he likes these, he is certainly more interested in the chicken-wrapped Gourmet Wrap versions. Still, sweet potatoes are filled with fiber and vitamins and sometimes you don’t want to spoil your pooch by giving him too much meat, so these are great for those times.

Personally, I give Percy treats for different reasons and these fit nicely into my rewards systems. Sometimes I want to give him something to keep him busy and make him stay in his bed, and the Vitahides are perfect for this purpose.

On the other hand, I also like to give him treats for no reason sometimes or just because he’s cute. The Veggietopias are great for rewarding without spoiling.

Lastly, I sometimes need to give him treats that he can eat quickly while he does something he hates to do, like getting his nails filed or taking a bath and the Gourmet Wraps are a great option for this purpose.

Overall, I’d recommend the entire collection and will likely be buying more myself when these samples run out. Thanks a bunch to Loving Pets for the samples, and just to keep you aware, I was NOT paid for this review, I just really loved the samples.

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.