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

 

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

Photo Doggies for Anthony

Sometimes people on the internet can come together to make wonderful things happen. Photo Doggies for Anthony is a Facebook event on which people around the world can post pictures of their dogs to cheer up a teen named Anthony who has cancer and cannot be with his own pets while undergoing chemotherapy. The instagram link is here: photo.doggies.for.Anthony.  Pet pictures have been posted from all over the world, of all kinds of pets, along with words of encouragement. More than 500,000 photos have been shared!

If you have a photo of your dog, or can take one, please consider sharing it on the event or instagram to help Anthony smile!

Here are a couple photos shared:

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(facebook)

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(facebook)

But as wonderful as the internet can be, it is also a terrible place. The above links are to a new event because the original event had to be taken down. Someone was overly negative, I do not know if that means the boy’s mom took it down for the sake of sparing her child or if that person reported the event to facebook so the bots behind the scenes automatically took it down. People can be sick, and I hope that this event continues to help this boy or anyone else who needs a pick me up.

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(facebook)

Anthony is 16 and has lymphoblastic leukemia, he has to undergo chemotherapy once a month. He was first diagnosed in July, and the leukemia is treatable, but he will have to go through chemo for the next three years. During this time he cannot be around his three dogs. He deals with depression during his treatments, and his mom said the only time he really seems happy at the hospital is when he is visited by a therapy dog. Since the therapy dogs cannot be there everyday, Anthony’s mom created the Facebook event so he can look at dog pictures whenever he likes to bring him joy.

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(facebook)

Anthony and his family are truly surprised and amazed by the outpouring of pictures and well wishes. His mom has been trying to go through all the pictures and comment on them or like them, she is quoted: “I just want to thank everyone I haven’t gotten to yet, I hope I’m able to get to all of them,” she said. “Every single one has made us smile.”

Take a moment to post those photos! You can do so here or here.

– Fizz

Original story with more quotes and information found here.

Police Puppy

Police dogs often face great danger while doing their jobs, and bullet proof vests can help them stay a bit safer.

Take a look at this German Shepherd puppy, named Tuco, from the Boston Police Departments K-9 force wearing his future vest:
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(boston.com)

He still has a bit of growing to do before it fits him, but he looks so cute!

The vest is from Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog, a nonprofit organization which works to provide dogs to law enforcement along with other essentials like bulletproof vests, other equipment, and training.

Just look how happy Tuco is!
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(facebook)

– Fizz

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 – Puppy Ears Edition

Wednesday is here, or it was yesterday, and you should look at this puppy just because:

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(imgur)

Look at those ears! There is no way to resist a face that adorable, unless you like guinea pigs more…Then it might be easy. And for the record guinea pigs are not good at keeping track of what day of the week it is, our human is supposed to be on top of that.

-Fizz

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?

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(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

Alaskan Klee Kai

I want to bring light to a wonderful dog breed called the Alaskan Klee Kai. You may see pictures of this breed on Pinterest – at least I have.

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(dogbreedinfo.com)

Why you might ask? Well, I have not seen these little guys receive enough attention recently given the huge interest I have seen online for Pomskies. While there are distinct differences between these two breeds, I thought I would feature this established breed that might just fill that need in your life or be an even better option for your family.

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(source)

The Klee Kai is basically a smaller version of the Alaskan Husky, standing up to 17 inches high and weighing 10 to 25 pounds. It has an established breed standard, and is recognized by the American Rare Breed Association and the United Kennel Club. All coat colors are acceptable as long as the face mask is distinct with a lighter color on the throat, chest, and underside. The coat should be thick and silky, with feathering on the ears and feet. Ears should be erect. You can read the full breed standard here.

The breed was created around 1970 in the US, but is still rare. The name Klee Kai derives from the Eskimo words for little dog. This breed is meant to be a companion rather than a working dog like the larger dog it resembles, and is therefore intelligent and energetic. They can be kept in small spaces like apartments, but they do need regular exercise. Klee Kais are cleanly dogs, requiring regular brushing but only really needing bathing every so often. They are loving with their family, but can be cautious of strangers, which makes them a good watchdog. They require a firm owner willing to train them.

Here a photo for size comparison of full grown Klee Kai dogs with humans:
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(United Alaskan Klee Kai Association)

Much smaller and more manageable for owners looking for a dog with that husky appeal but cannot have, or do not want, a large animal.

How much do these puppies cost? Well, they are a rare breed and costs do vary by breeder but they can go for around $2000 – $3000. Fair warning before getting too attached to wanting one of these beauties!

Here are images of Klee Kai dogs and puppies:
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(Top two puppy pictures and third adult picture all from Kika’s Klee Kai, Huskies in Miniature)

I just love the bright blue eyes that seem to be fairly common among this breed.

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(toyhusky.com)

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(southpack kennels)

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(Kika’s Kennel)

So think carefully if you are interested in one of these puppies. They are still rare and do cost a lot. This can lead to backyard breeders or puppy mill kinds of situations offering you less costly puppies that come from questionable practices. So be careful, do your research, and if you still want one of these guys look into the resources below:

If you are interested in buying a puppy, here are places to start your search:
United Alaskan Klee Kai Association – for breed information and links to breeders: uakka.org
Alaskan Klee Kai Association of America – breed info and more links: akkaoa.com
Breeder – Rocky Mountain Klee Kai – toyhusky.com
Breeder – Kika’s Kennel: Alaskan Miniature Huskies – kikaskleekai.com or on facebook at Kika’s Klee Kai Huskies in Miniture
Breeder – Southpack Kennel – southpackkennels.com

Have a video of a Klee Kai puppy enjoying a lime:

Another of one learning to go down stairs:

–Cola and Fizz

Sources:
DogChannel.com
United Alaskan Klee Kai Association – uakka.org
Wikipedia – Alaskan Klee Kai
Buying an Alaskan Klee Kai – alaskankleekaiscam.com

Wednesday Woof! – German Shepherd

It is the middle of the week!

One important thing to remember when getting your cute little puppy is that they grow up really fast! It is only a matter of months before your puppy will be looking like a dog. So enjoy your time with your puppy!

Here are two pictures of Ava, a German Shepherd, taken 6 months apart:
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(imgur)

If you want to see more photo time comparisons like Ava’s check out the article 28 Adorable Before and After Photos of Baby Animals Growing Up on Distractify.