Puppy Bowl and UBER Team Up

This year Puppy Bowl XI did something incredibly special and awesome! Animal Planet teamed up with UBER to bring puppies to your office! That is right, you could order a car full of puppies to play with for 15 minutes!

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UBER is a company which allows you to use a cell phone app to order a taxi, private car, or rideshare. They are prominent in the news because the company employs any qualified driver and car for use as a taxi in the face of existing taxi medallion systems and companies, and has been rapidly expanding to new areas.

Unfortunately, The Human only heard about this after the time you could try to order this service which was Wednesday February 28 from 11am to 3pm. It was also very limited due to the demand for such a service and the difficulties of moving puppies around to many play dates. Maybe, just maybe if this works out this year they will offer the same type of service in the future. It was also extremely geographically limited, available in only 10 major cities so many were out of luck to begin with.

Where, How, Why, and How Much?

Where:  Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, DC, Denver, Indianapolis, LA, Phoenix, and Seattle.

How: You had to use the UBER app and request the PUPPIES option, which could only be viewed by those using the app in the above cities.

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(UBER)

This is what was displayed if all the puppies were busy:

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It was stated that puppies only be delivered to office buildings, and you had to make sure ahead of time that your office manager/building manger/boss was okay with this. You needed a room available for the puppies to go in and/or an enclosure to keep them safe and contained.

How does UBER even have puppies to drive around? They partnered with local shelters in each city. Many of the puppies that were involved were adoptable.

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Why: This event draws attention to puppies in need of a home. It also brings exposure to the shelters who participated. In most cities the puppies in the car were adoptable and the representative who traveled with the car of puppies could help. Plus, who wouldn’t want to play with a bunch of puppies while at their office?!

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Here are the participating shelters:
Phoenix – Arizona Humane Society
Atlanta – Atlanta Humane Society
Baltimore – BARCS Baltimore
Cleveland – Cleveland Animal Protective League
Dallas – Dallas Animal Services
Denver – Dumb Friends League
Indianapolis – Humane Society of Indianapolis
LA – Wags and Walks
Seattle – PAWS
DC – Washington Animal Rescue League

How Much: $30 for 15 minutes of puppy play time. All the money went to the shelter that participated in the event.

Puppies from the UBER promotion in Dallas:
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(Twitter/City of Dallas)

You can read the rules here and find out more.

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The puppies also went to schools and children’s hospitals to brighten their day!

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The Human is very sad to have missed this, but the opportunity was amazing!

– Fizz

 

Puppy Bowl 2015 is this Sunday

It is once again time for Puppy Bowl! YES!!!! This Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!!!!

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Puppy Bowl is a show on Animal Planet which always airs on the Sunday of the Super Bowl. It is to show off cute puppies playing a fake game of football for your enjoyment. You can watch puppies both before, during, and after the big game. Puppy Bowl XI will air on February 1 2015 at 3 pm. It will start and end before the big game begins. However, PBXI will also replay a few more times so you can watch it instead of football or you can catch it after the game if you do not have time before.

As usual, the show features puppies from animal shelters playing with football (and other) dog toys on a miniature field inside a mini fake stadium. Puppies are switched out throughout the game and a touchdown is made any time a puppy makes it over the goal line with a toy. A ref calls penalties and makes sure that the puppies play nice. The halftime show features kittens playing. One puppy usually wins an MVP (most valuable puppy) award for playing the best. But I am not sure if that is true this year with the addition of an online fantasy draft. The point of the whole thing is to show off cute puppies to encourage people to go to their local shelters and adopt dogs in need of homes. All of the puppies featured have been adopted into new homes.

This year they are also featuring a fantasy draft, which might take the place of the mvp award.
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You go online here to sign into the site and pick three puppies for your dream team from the starting line up. The puppies are split into two teams: Team Ruff and Team Fluff. You can pick three puppies in any variation and across both teams.

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You also get to pick which team you think will win. Team Ruff is in the lead!

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Here are a couple of the puppies from the starting line up:

Aria the Labrador Retriever mix, on Team Ruff:
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Keith Barraclough/DCL

Blue the Schnauzer Poodle mix, on Team Fluff:
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Keith Barraclough

Boomer the German Shepherd mix, on Team Ruff:
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Chicklet the Australian Shepherd Mix, on Team Fluff:
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Keith Barraclough

Falcor the Clumber Spanial, on Team Ruff:
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Keith Barraclough/DCL

Fritz the Mini Schnauzer, on Team Fluff:
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Keith Barraclough/DCL

Lee the Boxer mix,on Team Ruff:
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Keith Barraclough/DCL

Panda the Pomeranian, on Team Fluff:
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Keith Barraclough/DCL

You can see the entire starting line up here. There is a great mix of beautiful and adorable puppies this year, you won’t want to miss out!

Make sure you tune in and watch all the adorable puppies this Sunday at 3 pm on Animal Planet!

– Fizz

GoDaddy Removes Puppy Super Bowl Commerical

GoDaddy, a domain name registry site which you can also use to build your website, is well known for controversial and disgusting ads during the Super Bowl and in their general marketing campaigns.

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GoDaddy

As many other companies are doing in recent years they released the commercial ahead of game day. At first glance the ad seemed innocent enough entitled “Journey Home” and featuring a puppy.

Here is the puppy, named Buddy, featured in the ad:
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Journey Home – GoDaddy

The end of the commercial however made many upset. The commercial, which has been removed from Youtube and will not be aired during the Super Bowl, can be viewed here. We refuse to host it here because we do not agree with the commercial’s message which while not intentional was not well thought out either.

The overview of “Journey Home” is as follows:

Buddy a cute golden retriever puppy is traveling in the open back of truck with two other puppies which are irresponsibly in an open brown box. Buddy, not in any container, is bounced out of the moving truck landing hard and amazingly without injury in the grass.
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Journey Home – GoDaddy

The puppy then goes on what appears to be a long trek over at least one day and night through rain and hardship before reaching a white house with a red barn which you believe is the puppy’s home.
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Journey Home – GoDaddy

However, when the assumed owner greets buddy she exclaims in a sickeningly sweet tone: “Buddy! I’m so glad you made it home! Because I just sold you on this website I made with GoDaddy.” It seems to be okay that such a young puppy went missing, and she still sold him even wihtout knowing his whereabouts or if he would be alive to send to someone else.Screenshot 2015-01-28 at 3.12.52 PMJourney Home – GoDaddy

The puppy is then shown in a box, in a truck, being shipped to his new owner again irresponsibly in an open brown box with the last line from his previous owner/breeder being “Ship him out.”
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Journey Home – GoDaddy

The tone of the ad makes it appear that GoDaddy endorses or encourages the online sales of animals for profit without regard for their welfare. The use of a cute puppy was simply intended as a play on the fact that other incredibly popular Super Bowl commercials from companies like Budweiser have used puppies in recent years, and which Budweiser has been teasing as the subject of their ad again this year. The joking tone/twist at the end was to make light of that for GoDaddy’s own benefit.

The backlash to the tone and ending of the ad was immediate and often harsh. A change.org petition was started to get the ad taken down. Many took to social media sites like Twitter to make their opinions heard:

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At first the company defended the ad before realizing how much, and how many, people found their message disturbing.

Why yes, these businesses might want an online presence but they should not be treating their business, animals, sales, or shipping in any manner like which was conveyed in this ad spot regardless of if they are a breeder or shelter. Responsible breeders place puppies in good homes which are usually judged for condition first with owners who demonstrate they are ready to own such an animal. They are not simply shipped out to a mysterious new owner immediately, especially in such a short time frame as the commercial suggests. They will also show perspective owners something more than a mere website, like the condition of their facilities and the puppy’s parents. Shelters also benefit from background checking prospective owners, checking the fit of a dog with potential adopters, checking dogs for potential behavioral problems and making that information available before adoption, and overall showing an interest in making a good placement in a responsible home over just making money.

The SPCA was very vocal about the ad:

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And finally the SPCA, like many others who tweeted GoDaddy, got a reply that made some sense:

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GoDaddy removed the ad from Youtube and went as far as pulling it from their lineup of commercials to air during the Super Bowl as the company explains on their blog:

This morning we previewed GoDaddy’s Super Bowl spot on a popular talk show, and shortly after a controversy started to swirl about Buddy, our puppy, being sold online. The responses were emotional and direct. Many people urged us not to run the ad.

We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress over the past two years, advancing the GoDaddy brand as a company that cares a great deal about small business and is in their corner to help them succeed. People increasingly know who we are, what we do and who we do it for.  At the end of the day, our purpose at GoDaddy is to help small businesses around the world build a successful online presence. We hoped our ad would increase awareness of that cause. However, we underestimated the emotional response. And we heard that loud and clear.

The net result? We are pulling the ad from the Super Bowl. You’ll still see us in the Big Game this year, and we hope it makes you laugh.

Finally, rest assured, Buddy came to us from a reputable and loving breeder in California. He’s now part of the GoDaddy family as our Chief Companion Officer and he lives permanently with one of our longtime employees.

I wish more companies would listen to the response of the public in regard to what impact they are making in the world! I also appreciate that the puppy in the ad was sourced from a responsible breeder and found a loving home in a manner much better than what the dog had to go through it the ad that made him famous.

GoDaddy has made a lot of commotion in the past and had to back pedal a lot – for how they use women in their ads online and in commercials – and now for how they portray animal welfare. I hope this will make them think before they decide what to do in their next commercial. It would be great for them to do something endearing, encouraging, or actually funny and not disgusting or distracting. They will need to make more improvements before The Human ever gives them any business because they keep making the same marketing mistakes.

What do you think, was it a good idea to pull the ad? Is the ad really as bad as it seems, or is it just funny?

– Fizz

Most Popular Dog Names List 2014

While there is no database of most popular guinea pig names the human made me look into the most popular puppy names of 2014, because someone keeps track of that. I guess it is interesting. Maybe there are some correlations between popular puppy and guinea pig names?

Vetstreet.com analyzed its database of puppy names for dogs born January 1st 2014 and beyond that were entered into their website to come up with a list of the most popular names. This could be surprisingly comprehensive, especially if you have run into lots of young dogs with these names this year, and is based on 969,517 dogs. That is a large cross section of puppies!

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(source)

Most popular female dog names:
1. Bella
2. Daisy
3. Lucy
4. Sadie
5. Molly
6. Lola
7. Sophie
8. Zoey
9. Luna
10. Chloe

Interestingly, since the site started to share this analysis publicly in 2011 Daisy and Lucy have retained the same spots as #2 and #3. Coincidence? Maybe. My human says other humans can be easily influenced. I also just think these names are very pretty. They are also short and easy to yell. Bella, the most popular name on the other hand, has held this spot since 2006 probably due to the 2005 release of the first Twilight book with its main character Bella Swan.

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(source)

Most popular male dog names:
1. Max
2. Charlie
3. Rocky
4. Buddy
5. Cooper
6. Duke
7. Bear
8. Zeus
9. Bentley
10. Toby

Max has been the most popular male name for 9 years. Buddy has changed spots a few times, being number one from 2004 – 2005, then #2 for 8 years, and is now #4. I enjoy how the male names tend to vary a bit more than the female names which seem to correlate with popular human baby names.

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(source)

Just for fun, the human wanted me to also look at the top human baby names of 2014 (from babycenter.com):

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(tehcute)

Top baby girl names:
1. Sophia
2. Emma
3. Olivia
4. Ava
5. Isabella
6. Mia
7. Zoe
8. Lily
9. Emily
10. Madelyn

Focusing on the puppy list – but comparing between humans and dogs – both share Bella, Sophia, and Zoe (with differences in spelling and long vs. short form) somewhere in the top 10. Lucy (while #3 for puppies) is #54 on the list of baby girl names, Sadie (#4) is #62, and Chloe (#10) just missed the top 10 being #12. Molly (#5), Lola (#6), and Luna (#9) did not make it into the top 100 girl names for 2014 so there are only rankings on each for 2013. Molly was #102, Lola #214, and Luna #185. But Molly and Luna rank higher in the babycenter specific population of babies than they do overall so there is a chance those names are increasing in popularity.

My human knows a Luna born this year. I guess the most popular female names work well for both dogs and people. The human prefers to make pet names unique, something she would never name her own human offspring. She says this is to make a clear distinction when calling out for an animal in a public place, and because she couldn’t a kid something she had already named one of her animals. Fair enough…

Male names on the other hand are vastly different between dogs and people.

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(Attackofthecute)

Top male baby names in 2014:
1. Jackson
2. Aiden
3. Liam
4. Lucas
5. Noah
6. Mason
7. Ethan
8. Caden
9. Jacob
10. Logan

Comparing the two lists, none of the top puppy names are on the human list. Are there simply greater choices in boy names?

Max (#1 for male puppies) is #54 on the top 100 baby boy names. Charlie (#2) is #62 and Cooper (#5) is #73. Toby (#10) is #550 for 2013, with no information yet being avaialbe for 2014 because it didn’t make the top 100 names. Rocky (#3), Buddy (#4), and Bentley (#9) barely made the top 1000 names in 2013. If you search Buddy in the social security online (SSO) tool for baby name popularity it states that it has not broken into the top 1000 names in the 14 years of data they go through for social security cards issued. Searching Bentley on SSO on the other hand suggests the name was #81 in popularity from their data. Duke (#6) was somewhere in the 700s in 2013. Bear (#7) is not ranked at all. It would be an odd human name, a popular nick name but not an actual name. Zeus (#8) seems to be in use as a baby name but is not in the top 1000 names on babycenter or SSO.

Of course, there are plenty of unique and awesome names apart from the top 10 lists. Do any of your dogs share these names? Any of your other pets?

– Fizz

Sources:
Most Popular Puppy Names of 2014 – vetstreet.com
Most Popular Baby Names of 2014 – babycenter.com
Baby name search on babycenter.com
Popular Baby Names – Social Security Online

Wednesday Woof! – Future Guide Dogs

Today’s Woof is a family of adorable lab pups hopefully destined to be guide dogs.

Just check them out with their little signs that display each dog’s name:
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(reddit)

How in the world did they get this picture? Between having all the puppies stay in one place, to having all the signs also stay standing, this is pure puppy craziness! Maybe some Photoshop magic?

Best luck to these pups!

-Cola

Wednesday Woof! – On Thursday!

Wednesday came and went and I forgot to post my Wednesday Woof! So here it is on Thursday. You know, sometimes being a guinea pig is hard work. All that eating, hiding, and sleeping… It makes posting difficult.

Have you ever just been so tried after you eat that you curl up in your bowl? Maybe you just love your food that much?

TeLQLXw
(imgur)

I just like to turn my dish over so that all the food is on the ground, a much more efficient method if you ask me!
-Cola

Wednesday Woof – 101 Dalmatians

Okay, so it is not exactly 101 Dalmatians but a dalmatian named Pebbles had a litter of 15 puppies back in 2011. That is the same number of puppies as Perdi had in the Disney movie 101 Dalmatians. 15 puppies is quite a litter size!

Just look at them all!
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You can read more about Pebbles and her litter on BBC News.

So many cute little dalmatian pups! I cannot imagine having so many puppies around at one time.

– Fizz

Wednesday Woof! – Husky Puppy

I know, I know, there have been lots of husky pictures on the site recently. I could not resist when I saw these!

Wednesday means I must post a dog picture, and as the snow is finally starting to melt I saw these pictures and found them very appropriate!

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(cutearoo)

This fuzzy little guy looks like he is enjoying the snow, but you can see the grass under there! We are getting so close to being able to see grass here. If it is the same where you live may this puppy bring you a smile!

— Cola