Caplin Rous We Will Miss You

I have followed Caplin Rous the Capybara on his website, gianthamster.com, for about a year now. Unfortunately Caplin passed away at the beginning of this month. I know that I will miss you Caplin, and I wish your owner and all who loved you the very best.

Here is Caplin, next to the stuffed version of him:

If you do not know about Caplin Rous I encourage you to check out gianthamster.com and see a life well lived by a Capybara. He was a wonderful ambassador for his kind, and I enjoyed seeing the world from his point of view.

If you want to help Caplin’s owner out with his final medical expenses, or just to give money to a charity for medical care for Capybaras please visit Capybara Madness where you can donate, or purchase Capycoppies (the stuffed Caplin in the above photo) and calanders.

From everyone here at Puppy Bunny Guinea Pretty – we miss you Caplin!

Here is my guinea family with our Capycoppy:

Cola and Capy

Fizz and Capy

Capy

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Designer Dogs: The Doodles

Designer dogs or hybrid dogs, crossing two pure bred dogs, are incredibly popular these days. There are many different crosses which now have almost standard names of their own and you can easily find puppies of these varieties. However, exact names do vary as do the resulting puppies appearances and temperaments.

Pure bred dogs have a written standard against which individual dogs are judged and usually only those that match well are bred on to ensure the breed remains consistent. Bringing home a purebred dog means that you generally know the dogs personality based on breed, size, energy level, instinctual abilities (like tracking, pointing, digging, etc.) and if they make good family pets. Of course every individual is different, but you have a sound idea of what you are getting if the breeding has been good. Designer dogs attempt to take the best attributes of two breeds and get a consistent outcome in their puppies that has the best of both parents.

It is argued that this craze for crossbreds began with the Labradoodle, first bred in Australia by crossing the Labrador retriever (intelligent and easily trained) with the Poodle (intelligent and has a nonsheadding coat) to be an allergy friendly guide dog.

Today I am featuring poodle designer dog crosses – dogs that now have doodle in their name. Here are pictures of common poodle crosses:

1. Labradoodle – Labrador Retriever and Standard Poodle

2. Goldendoodle – Golden Retriever mixed with Standard Poodle

3. Aussiedoodle – Australian Shepherd and Standard Poodle

4. Airedoodle – Airedale Terrier and Standard Poodle

5. Bernedoodle – Bernese Mountain Dog and Poodle

6. Bordoodle — Border Collie and Poodle

7. Boxerdoodle — Boxer and Poodle

8. Cadoodle — Collie and Poodle

9. Doodleman Pincher — Doberman and Poodle

10. Irish doodle — Irish Setter and Poodle

11. Pyredoodle — Great Pyrenees and Poodle

12. Saint Berdoodle — Saint Bernard and Poodle

13. Sheepadoodle —

14. Sheltidoodle — Sheltie and Poodle

15. Shepadoodle — German Shepherd and poodle

16. Springerdoodle — English Springer Spaniel and Poodle

17. Weimardoodle –Weimaraner and Poodle

 

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The Year of the Rabbit Approaches

The chinese new year falls on February 3, and the  new year will be the year of the Rabbit. Rabbits are thus becoming very popular as pets and as gifts. A particular breed of rabbit, the Blanc de hotot, or a panda rabbit is enjoying particular popularity. The breed is white with black circles around its eyes, making it resemble a panda:

I am excited, I was born in a Rabbit year.

Here is a picture of a rabbit dressed up a pet store to celebrate Christmas and the new coming year of the Rabbit:

Read more at allvoices.com.

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Pandas at Washington’s National Zoo

The panda couple at the Washington National Zoo, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, who are on loan from the Chinese government have been allowed to stay in the US for another 5 years. This is very good news for the US and for panda kind. Hopefully we will see new baby pandas soon!

The original agreement for the pair was for ten years at a cost of $10 million dollars – which went to panda conservation in China. The new agreement rests on the condition that the pair will breed again, and if not one or both of the pandas can be exchanged for another in the hopes of baby pandas.  Their first baby, Tai Shan, born in 2005 was a hit at the zoo but all babies of this loaned panda pair must be returned to China and so Tai Shan went back in February of 2010.

Read more at Reuters.

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Puppy Bowl VII Starting Line-up

Today Animal Planet announced the starting line-up of puppies for Puppy Bowl VII!

There are 20 puppies listed on the Animal Planet website complete with names, pictures, breed, age and a fun fact. Here are a few of the puppies you will see this year:

1. Amy

Golden Retriever/Corgi Mix

2. Booda

Pug mix

3. CB

Shih Tzu/Beagle mix

4. Duncan

Golden retriever/bulldog mix

5. Mae

Great Pyrenees/Newfoundland mix

To see all of the puppies in the starting line up please visit Animal Planet’s website.

If you have never heard of or watched Puppy Bowl, it is a show which takes place on Animal Planet on the day of the Super Bowl. It features puppies which you watch while they play on a miniature football field. There is commentary on the puppy play, using football terminology, as well as replay shots. A halftime show features kittens playing with various toys.  There are cameras to watch the puppies from different angles, one interesting one is the “bowl cam” which looks up at puppies drinking water through the bottom of the water dish.  Last year featured aerial shots from the Twizzler’s blimp which was driven by hamsters, but I am not sure if this will be continued for PBVII. Also new last year were bunny cheerleaders on the sidelines.

To find out more about PBVII, to see behind the scenes clips, highlights from years past and more visit Animal Planet Puppy Bowl VII.

Puppy Bowl is on February 6, at 3 pm…ending before the actual football game even starts, so you can watch both.

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Open Season 3

I will admit that I have not seen any of the Open Season movies, so I cannot personally say how good they are – but they have done well enough to have a third movie on the way.

On IMDB the movie has a 5.2/10 rating, based now on 8 reviews. The movie has a release date of January 25.

Here is a synopsis provided by Sony Wonder:

“In Sony Pictures Animation’s OPEN SEASON 3, Boog, Elliot, and their forest friends return with an all-new adventure, this time in a Big Top Circus! The comedy begins when Boog’s pals choose their family obligations over the annual guy’s trip, and a disappointed Boog decides to take a trip of his own, which leads him right into the middle of a circus ring… literally. When he switches places with a devious look-a-like circus grizzly and falls for an alluring Russian troupe member, he’ll come to realize that maybe you don’t have to choose between family and friendship after all..”

Open Season

Open Season came out in 2006, and has a rating of 6.1/10 on IMDB.

Open Season 2

Open Season 2 came out in 2008 and has a rating of 5.5/10 on IMDB.

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Miniature Cows

I was not aware until recently that farmers have been breeding mini cows for some time now! On Today I read about a rare, miniature “Panda” cow:

The panda cow has been genetically modified to create its special panda like markings. What truly intrigued me about the article was that these animals are bred solely to be pets.

Do mini cows make good pets?

Mini cows stand at a height of about 33 to 40 inches, and can weigh between 300 to 500 pounds. Compare that to a regular sized cow that can be 5 to 6 feet tall and weigh upwards of 1500 pounds for cows, more for bulls. Aparently these little guys have mellow personalities like dogs, enjoy attention, and are social. They will come when called and can be taught tricks.

Another perk? Feeding mini cows is relatively cheap – if you have a good sized lawn. These guys will eat your lawn and can be kept that way so that you would not have to spend money on feed. In the winter it only costs about $30 a month to keep them fed with hay.

For human consumption: mini cows can produce up to 2 gallons of milk a day – which can meet the needs of a small family for their milk requirements! Just think, no more trips to the store to get milk, you can just go to your backyard!

Downsides: Mini cows are not indoor pets! They are not like dogs and cats in that regard. They need a bit of space, weigh a lot, and might not be able to be house trained. They can also be rare to find. Specially marked animals, like the above mentioned panda cow can cost around $30,000. This does not mean to say they are impossible to find or are always near that expensive, but it might take some research to find the animal you want.

Here is a comparison of a normal cow by a miniature one:

They are quite cute, even fully grown:

There are a number of different breeds of miniature cow, and they are used for different purposes. Some are best as pets, and other people actually raise them as farm animals which they use for milk and meat. It is a way to make sure that your animals are raised in good conditions and completely organically – especially if you do not have the room for fully sized cows.

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