Archive for the ‘humor’ Category

The baby kitty picture shown below is my little (older) brother Sam the cat taken in 1998, and shows his little sister, Nikki the puppy who was the newest family member. Both pets were less than 1 year old at the time and would play for hours wrestling like best friends.

The photo of them hiding happened one day as they were playing. A storm blew in and a ferocious boom sounded as thunder followed lightning very near their home. Scared witless, the two took off on the wooden floor spinning in place trying to get a grip. Side by side they spun across the floor like in a cartoon with barely enough traction to make any progress.

Mom and Dad had to search to find out where they went, and found them in the bedroom huddled side by side under a stand near the bed. Lifting the cover as shown revealed the cuteness of cat and dog buddies hiding together like best friends. Nikki passed away within a year of this photo from a rare congenital blood disease that mystified the vet. At 11 years old Sam still has the same cuteness except those huge ears look tiny now on his adult head.

Watch as Corky the puppy (that’s ME) tries to trick Sam the cat into being gift wrapped for Christmas in this new video released on YouTube. The text transcript of Dad narrating the story is inserted below the video shown here. (Playtime 00:49 min/sec)

Transcript of Teaching Sam Christmas Wrapping

Here’s Corky teaching Sam our cat Christmas wrapping. Okie dokie, little buddy… in the box!

No, no. C’mon. Cooperate. I KNOW Christmas is 3 weeks away! You’re not gonna suffocate.

Imma making air holes for you after I close this flap.

Sam! You gotta stay in the box for this surprise to work. Imma writing “To Mom” on the box.

Argh! Come back Sam! Oh, brother. I never woulda guessed Christmas wrapping could be so hard.

The ongoing rivalry of squirrels versus dogs continues to heat up with this photo of an amazing squirrel tactic for evading dogs. The large squirrel shown is inside a stainless steel dog dish stealing food while a duck pulls lookout duty and waits her turn.

The caption of the funny animal photo reads “You cannot sneak up on a squirrel who keeps a two-headed duck for a lookout”, and features some digital magic superimposing two versions of the duck. A dog would have a tough time catching either one. How unfair for squirrels and ducks to team up and ruin our fun!

Add Your Funny Photo Caption

Readers are welcome to comment and add your caption for this amazing wildlife photo!

It began like any normal day with a puppy and his guardian going for their morning walk. Imagine the shock while passing under palm trees and suddenly hearing “FWOP! FWOP!” as squirrels dropped from the sky landing at the puppy’s feet! Wow! Incredible? Yes, but TRUE. This IS the true story of raining squirrels!

Late last week the event just described happened. I, Corky the Shelter Dog, was a witness. Stunned by squirrels dropping around us, my guardian (Dad) had no time to react and document the raining squirrels on video. He did, however, have his camera and after overcoming the shock was able to capture still photos.

The photo illustration inserted below has been marked up 1 through 7 to help you visualize this incredible day.

Photo Illustration of Raining Squirrels Story

1. Squirrel story protagonist perched atop a light pole
2. Photo insert of the scene of the Raining Squirrels
3. Wrestling squirrels fell from this 20 foot palm tree
4. Stunned temporarily, squirrel #1 then ran up the light pole
5. (Irrelevant daytime moon captured in photo. Nice shot, Dad.)
6. Squirrel #2 ran up this palm tree and hid out of sight
7. Closeup of squirrel #1 atop the pole and evil booby traps

You’ve probably heard the saying “raining cats and dogs”. Well, friends, this week it was squirrels. Given their choice of 3 palms trees, 2 squirrels fought for one and flopped 20 feet to the ground during the battle. They landed at my paws (and Dad’s feet) then recovered and scampered up that tree and pole.

Each stayed in place until we left. The one on the pole (1,4) had the safest hideout with wires and stuff (7) like evil booby traps. With a fortress like that, the closest I got was sniffing the tiny little squirrel tracks left behind. I’ll be ready next time.

This new Life with Corky video on YouTube was promised last week to the Twitter Squirrel Club after bragging about being an expert squirrel tracker. The evidence is in the video. I did get close to the squirrel. The transcript of Dad narrating is below the video display for those who want to read along (or can’t understand some of the words).

Narration script: This special video presentation is for the Twitter weekly Squirrel Club meeting.

Dad will narrate for me. I became a squirrel tracking expert as a puppy. You will be amazed at how close I can get to squirrels as demonstrated in this video. First step is find squirrels. Go to a known squirrel hangout and begin by looking for squirrels far far away.

If they see a puppy or especially a big dog they will run away. Spot them before they see you, and they’ll come closer.

Next, get down low to the ground. As you can imagine here, a white puppy stands out in the green grass, but when I scrunch down flat on the ground, and stay quiet… I’m invisible! Yep. That squirrel is coming closer and closer because he can’t see me… hiding… and waiting.

Okay, now imagine that little rascal is getting really really close. Stay down low to the ground because if you can’t see him, he can’t see you. Of course it’s okay to take a peek at the squirrel when he’s looking the other way.

Finally, it’s your choice what to do next. I just track squirrels. Didn’t say anything about catching them. When they get close like this little guy, I jumps out to scare the little critters away and teach ‘em a lesson.

Ever wonder about what dogs are thinking? You may enjoy this Time Magazine article The Secrets Inside Your Dog’s Mind, a 4 page article by Carl Zimmer.

Humans make the mistake of attributing human characteristics when analyzing canine behavior, and may be disappointed with how often they are wrong. The Times article reveals much more about what dogs really think that may surprise some of you humans. My guardians needed the lessons. Hope they help you, too.

Here’s an excerpt from page 2 of the article, but I advise you to read every page:

Take for instance the kiss a dog gives you when you come home. It looks like love, but it could also be hunger. Wolves also lick one another’s mouths, particularly when one wolf returns to the pack. They can use their sense of taste and smell to see if the returnee has caught some prey on its journey. If it did, the licking often prompts it to vomit up some of that kill for the other members of the pack to share. The kiss dogs give us probably evolved from this inspection. “If we happened to spit up whatever we just ate,” says Horowitz, “I don’t think our dogs would be upset at all.”

That have you thinking again about the real meaning behind those puppy kisses? Haha. Good.

Part of my puppy duties to earn a weekly doggy toy allowance is critter security patrol. In 9 months my record for doggy home security has been spotless. No alligators or elephants have dared enter my territory, yet as shown in the photo below while making today’s rounds my favorite palm tree looks highly suspicious.

What do you think? Feel free to comment or you may want to download the Corky on patrol desktop wallpaper (1200px x 900px) for a closer look. Thank goodness Dad explained that I only dreamed my palm tree was an elephant, and he made the trick picture. Haha!

My record for critter security patrol remains perfect because little animals like squirrels or lizards don’t count.

UPDATE: Curious about how this photo special effect was done? My pals in Twitter were and asked, so Dad posted an illustrated step-by-step xara photo edit tutorial on his blog.

October is adopt a shelter pet month and the perfect time to feature some good doggy pals of mine from Twitter, Jake and Tycho. They’re mutts like me, and did a Public Service Announcement video on YouTube that deserves a look and a listen.

After watching the PSA video here, go to the Jake and Tycho website to view their short and funny dog videos (more than 300) for lotsa smiles. Woof woof!

Sam, our cat, is 10 years old and tolerates this puppy though I admit we’re getting friendlier every day. It was time to feature him in My Little Older Brother video on YouTube. (Playtime: 43 seconds of fame)

For some time when I was first adopted I couldn’t get his name right. I thought it was Sam Malone. I’d chase him trying to get him to play and Mom would say “Leave Sam Alone”. Get it? Sam Malone. Haha.