Weekend open thread: Pet Connection gives you the floor

Good morning! Gina's out of town, and you all know what that means by now, right?







Rawley Deerhound told me this morning when he woke up that he was very upset that he was too young to play in last year's Puppy Bowl, and too old for this year's. I told him I really thought that basketball was probably more his game, but he was not consoled.



I didn't have the heart to mention that the Puppy Bowl is only for shelter dogs!



I'll confess additionally that I've never in my life seen a football game and only know who's in this year's Super Bowl because the Wisconsin Humane Society keeps making these agonizingly cute videos with their "Packer Pups." Like this one (couldn't get embed to work!).



Who can resist that? And all those puppies are available for adoption. Genius campaign, and thanks to the Internetz, pretty much free, too.



So, how do you all feel about the Puppy Bowl now that it's gone all sponsored and fancy?



I saw the first one, and it was a very different event then! This is what I posted at the time (2005):

Is anyone else watching the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet?



This is the best thing I've ever seen on TV, ever.



I can just see them, though, trying to pitch it:



Producer: OK, so, what it is, is a big box painted to look like a football field, full of different kinds of puppies playing.



Animal Planet Executive: OK, what do they do?



Producer: Well, they play. And nap. And poop.



Executive: OK, but what else do they do? Is there a voiceover?



Producer: No, just the camera on the puppies playing. And sometimes a guy comes in and pooper scoops.



Executive: No, really.



Producer: Really. It'll be great.



Executive: Seriously. What's the show about?



Producer: Puppies. Playing. For hours. You know, like the Christmas Eve shows that are just a fireplace burning while Christmas music is playing? It's like that, only it's puppies.



Executive: Puppies.



Producer: Yes. And we have instant replay, too.

Good times.



Other than watching (or not) the Puppy Bowl, what are you all doing this weekend? Watching the Super Bowl, or boycotting it because the NFL let Michael Vick play again? Pretending it doesn't exist and taking advantage of all the extra parking available at the mall?



Talk to us!

Comments

[Rosemary]

Vet with Maisie am Saturday - fortunately turns out that I am an over-anxious mother and the wiring of her jaw is NOT starting to work its way out through her cheek!



Then drop off food and litter to fosterer and on to our charity shop to receive donation for our Christmas appeal (I do realise it is now February, but things move slowly over here).



Tomorrow at the charity shop all day, so hoping for good weather to bring out the customers.

[Gail]

I was a serious football fan during the decade of the 'niners, but I guess I am a "fair weather" fan, because I don't even know who is playing this year. I'm meeting up with some Portuguese Water Dog folks, doing dog stuff and working (always doing that) ...and ...and ...waiting for the new episode of Glee!

[Eucritta]

My husband will want to watch the Super Bowl, but he's got errands to run so I'll be watching the Puppy Bowl until he gets back. And probably in spots throughout, flipping back and forth.



I do think the Puppy Bowl could be improved. Well, not the puppies part - that's fine. But the kitty half-time show, it's too flashy and noisy to show kittens off well. I wish they'd tone it down and give us a chance to actually see the kittens. Personally, I'd go for letting a whole lot of sponge-balls loose in the stadium, and letting it go at that.

[H. Houlahan]

Here at Brandywine Bone & Breakfast, it is ALWAYS the Puppy Bowl, with the two remaining Indiana Plague Puppies providing a nearly non-stop show.



This morning, video of 12-pound puppies who still have their baby teeth separately terrorizing an entire herd of goats, each one of which is 10X the size of said puppy.



No, it's not just gratuitous goat torture (though, you know, the goats are kind jerks and are asking for it on general principles), but a marketing effort to let people see how bold and confident these girls are on stock. Cowdog, anyone?



And one of them already shows a little bit of balance!



The same one who just discovered my coat draped over the back of a chair inside the puppy mayhem kitchen zone.

[Eric Goebelbecker]

Well since you brought it up, I used to watch the occasional game but I just can't get behind the game since they embraced Vick. And his recent role as "underdog" makes the idea of trying to watch a game seem even more painful. They're all a bunch of entitled crybabies.



But, to be honest, I always thought it was too tedious to watch. I'll never understand how a football fan can call baseball or golf boring when football is the most TV network and advertiser friendly game ever modified to fit in more commercials. It's not a sport, it's an advertising vehicle. The *video game* has commercials!



It's been proven that football games have more commercials and BS than actual game play anyway: http://on.wsj.com/aeXHnB



Here's hoping for a long strike next year!

[Lis]

My club has a business meeting in the afternoon, followed by a Super Bowl party at the home of two members who have a large screen tv with super-dooper sound system. And food. Good food.



So, tomorrow, I will leave my pup at home to go to church, come home for a couple of hours, go to the meeting, come home...and decide whether I'm going out and leaving her again. I'll probably wind up taping the Puppy Bowl, because, really, you just can't miss that. :)

[Kris Smith]

Hubby watches the game; I go trail riding.

[David S. Greene]

I've just returned from taking the dogs out for a romp in the snow. We'll probably do that again tomorrow, as long as it isn't too slushy (adding rain and sleet to more than 3 feet of accumulated snow creates an ungodly mess). Then, I have some work to do while watching Puppy Bowl.

I'm an unapologetic, lifelong sports nut, so I'd never think of missing a Super Bowl.

Theresa said:

That’s appropriate for toddlers and dogs, not adult humans!

I beg to differ.

[Lis]

Oh, and of course, you have to watch for the unexpected and the shocking. A couple of years ago, they had a streaker. Ran right across the field. Naked. Everything exposed.



No, seriously. A Hairless Chinese Crested. Very scandalous!

[Christie Keith]

Lis, as always, I'll be on the lookout for any critical breaking news!

[Cate]

No football here although I have always had a mild fondness for Green Bay. They are owned by the town and are named after Meat Packers. The fans wear wheels of cheese on their heads so obviously don't mind looking pretty dorky.

[Kim Thornton]

We are going for a stair walk in LA, possibly checking out a Chinese new year parade and of course will be back home in time for the Puppy Bowl. During the actual Super Bowl, I will either be working or reading.

[Mary Mary]

Waah ... because I'm working today, I'm missing BUNNY BOWL.



Everyone in Pittsburgh knows about this, but but just in case you've missed the ads:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Coz-3aiXrJU

[Theresa]

I'm going to flyball practice early afternoon, and then watching the Puppy Bowl. You don't think I'd waste my time watching a bunch of steroid-enhanced alleged humans chase after a ball, do you? That's appropriate for toddlers and dogs, not adult humans!

[Rori]

I’ve never seen a football game, either, and I’m not going to break my record now. I will channel surf in to the big game trying to catch the commercials now and then, but only because I’m a sucker for those Budweiser Clydesdales.



I have endless outdoor farm chores to catch up on, since we had crap, crap, shitty weather this past week, and it’s just now gotten back to nice. Four days of weather lockdown make for a very messy barn. And I might not ever finish picking up the branches and sticks that the freaking wind knocked down. But my pipes didn’t freeze or burst, so Yay for me; I’m one of the lucky ones.



Oh, and I just made walnut brownies that are currently cooling, awaiting frosting. IMO chores are SO much easier when done on a brownie-filled stomach!

[Christie Keith]

I will be sitting there with the sound off going, "Is it over yet? I'm waiting for GLEE!"

[Annie]

I'll be watching the game at a local bar. I'm a huge football fan so even though my team (Dallas Cowboys) isn't in the game, I'll still be watching. The bar will have the Puppy Bowl on before the game so I'm going to get there early to watch.



The most exciting part of tomorrow is that there will even be a local rescue group putting on their own live Puppy Bowl game right outside the bar. They'll have several puppies that are available for adoption playing during halftime.

[C.L.H.]

I don't pay for lots of cable, so no Puppy Bowl, alas. By osmosis, I know who's playing this year, though most years I don't. I'll be working on a quilt with a friend tomorrow. It will be raffled for the M.S. Society in March. We'll be working on keeping the animals off the quilt as we lay it out. Dogs and cats do not like quilts in the making. If they lay down in the middle of the quilt, they are once again the center of attention.

[VJ]

I'll never understand why a game that's played in 4 quarters at 20 minutes each, takes 4 hours to play. Yeah, yeah I know. The commercials, the time outs, the half-time show, yada, yada. Tried watching last year for the commercials and gave up. Couldn't stand all the hewey.

[Rob McMillin]

If Vick and the Eagles had made it to the Superbowl, I would probably have boycotted it. As it is, I'll be at my sister's, watching (or not) as the game drifts by.

[Christie Keith]

Oh man, Gina just found out what I did!

[Marie]

I no longer watch any football on purpose because of the Vick bs. I think my husband plans on watching but I can watch the puppy bowl on our other set. I will also be waiting for the new Glee with my daughter. :-)

[Ericka Basile]

My weekend? I had my cat's geriatric panel come back as ATL is in 500+ range. So, next week an ultrasound ($300) is in order.



Clinically Sophia looks fine.

[Mary Mary]

Ericka, what is ATL?

[Ericka]

oops, ALT- liver enzyme.

[Leslie K]

Erika- milk thistle for liver support.

I'll watch & root for Green Bay, they knocked Vick & the eagles out after all.Will probably try to catch the commercials & then switch to puppy bowl though.

[Susan Fox]

I'm over at the Shattuck Plaza Hotel in Berzerkley with my husband, who is running a multi-day business meeting next week. Came down with him for a Mongolian music concert at Stanford last night (And yes, it was fantastic.)



We'll watch the game in the room and kick back. I like the old school teams like Green Bay and the Steelers, but will probably root for the Packers. However, if the Eagles were playing, we'd go birdwatching or do anything else instead.

[Christopher@BorderWars]

Just a reminder, wash those puppy feet off after a walk, Ice Melt is toxic! I got a call about an incident today where a pup had convulsions and shakes from licking it off before it could be washed away.

[Dr. Johnson]

OK - I will play. We are not sports people (Sorry, DSG!) so will probably spend the day cooking something great in our warm and steamy kitchen, and I believe my wife may make me take a trip to the gym.



Otherwise it is a book by the fire while the snow falls outside.



Have a good Sunday everyone!

[Dorene]

@Ericka -- I sympathize. Lindsey seems completely okay, but his liver enzymes are out of sight and the ultrasound showed some type of systemic deformity in the liver. He's on a Sam-e/milk thistle supplement, which has helped some and now he's on two antibotics because if it's not that, whatever he has is fatal.



However, "fatal" could be just "chronic" when dealing with an older kitty (Lindsey is 14) -- so there is some hope -- if it progresses slowly, our kitties could still just die of old age.



Hope your ultrasound is more definitive than ours. Liver biospy would be next if it isn't, but since all but one of the options in our case were fatal and his liver seems dicey, we opted not to put him under for the biospy.



He plays with his puffy balls, his fur is beautiful and he eats with a good appetite, so it's hard to believe he could be in "kitty hospice" -- I hope your kitty has something that can be helped.

[Ericka]

@Dorene

Thank you~ that was very helpful to read. Truly.

[The OTHER Pat]

My 14 year old dog (15 now!) had liver values at 300 but showed no other clinical signs - this just popped up on his biannual blood check. We put him on Denmarin (essentially a combination of Sam-E combined with the chemical that makes milk thistle work):



http://www.nutramaxlabs.com/downloads/Denamarin-Client-Brochure.pdf



At his re-check, his values had dropped to just below 100. I also made sure he was fasting for his re-check since I'd seen online that sometimes a non-fasting blood check could give artificially inflated liver values.



I hope your kitty gets better. I was greatly encouraged to learn that the liver is and organ that is capable of regenerating itself after an injury, and that sure seems to have been the case for my little guy!

[The OTHER Pat]

Hmmm . . . . not sure "biannual" was the right term. He gets his blood checked twice each year at this age.

[Gina Spadafori]

I'm starting to fear getting on a plane and leaving Christie in charge, I tell you!



Although, considering that I do sleep and she does live too far away for me to check up on her in person and plan my naps while she's walking the dogs ... it's a miracle we don't morph to Scottish Deerhound Connection more often. :)

[David S. Greene]

(wondering about the potential for Dachshund Connection)

[CathyA]

Not a football fan. About to go out in misty rain for a dog walk.



Parade magazine interview today with Frank Gifford:



"Do you feel Michael Vick was treated fairly?



I think people ought to get over it and let Vick put his life back together. What he did was wrong, but people need to think about what kinds of influences he was subject to as a kid. Frankly, I think he's one of the best ever to play the game, and I said that before he got into the dog trouble."



Sounds like Frank could, well, frankly, use a good book to read.

[Lis]

CathyA, Vick is a much better player now than he was before he got caught torturing dogs to death.



Sadly, it doesn't appear that we can say the same for his character.