Archive for the ‘pets’ Category

During Twitter chat yesterday a Corky puppy pal had a wish list to pick just one fun thing for the weekend that included: dog park, bacon, long nap, long walk, or cheese. Dad decided we could try to do all in one day, and almost did.

The photo above was taken earlier today at Mill Slough Dog Park in Kissimmee, Florida, and shows Corky the shelter dog peeking over a tree stump. The long nap, long walk, and cheese were a snap. I’ll get bacon tomorrow to complete the weekend quadfecta.

Any day is a good day going to the dog park, and after days and days of rain today was perfect. The wish list and Dog Park Weekend Challenge will be a huge success even if we miss that bacon tomorrow. With so many pals still in animal shelters waiting to be adopted, I really am a lucky dog.

Thinking of adding a pet to your family? Visit your local animal shelter to rescue a cat or dog today.

The photo below shows me close to baby ducks (again). I figured I’d let out my secret for getting close to baby ducks. The photo is cropped for this blog illustration, so follow this link to the baby ducks and puppy pal wallpaper (1200 px wide) for a big version of the complete graphic, or click the illustration here:

The illustration shows a Momma duck with 8 baby ducks looking at me, Corky. Notice the leash is loose so I’m free to move about while Dad was taking the photo, and then realize Momma knows I won’t lunge at her or the ducklings.

The secret to this trust is revealed in the photo insert that shows a big knife used to prepare bread cubes. Besides those pieces of bread just cut on the paper towel, some are already in the plastic bag Dad carries to entice the ducks closer (and closer).

Look in the green grass between the ducks and me and see pieces Dad tossed on the ground. He has taught me “leave it” and “stay”, so he trusts me and so does the Momma duck after getting closer and closer over weeks and weeks. That’s my secret for how you become a puppy pal to baby ducks.

It’s my birthday! How time flies when you’re a rescue puppy in a forever home! I have nearly forgotten those distant memories of being dumped on the street at 4 months old, being scared about finding food and shelter, and then doing time in doggy jail including a jailhouse tattoo.

The photo below shows my new pal Beauregard met outside the groomers today on my birthday. He’s a rescue dog like me. I’m 2 today and Beauregard was born a day earlier only 3 years ago. If I’d asked “What WERE you… born yesterday?” his reply would have been “yes”.

That’s me (top left) and Beauregard (right) touching noses, and then two circle photo inserts of him showing off two more views in the lower corners with his BIG puppy eyes. He’s a rescue puppy and his parents live in Jacksonville, Florida. That’s hours and hours away yet they were in Kissimmee on business, and took Beau with them!

Besides the two puppy birthday boys, @PrincessGwenie my Twitter puppy gal pal and cutie patootie was 3 today! Happy Birthday to Beau and Gwenie!

This title describes ME, Corky the Shelter Dog. I am one of those dogs who entertain themselves. As one example, I play alone with my ball flipping it in the air, letting it bounce, stalking it, chasing it, and pouncing on it. I play from one end of the house to the other for long periods of time.

Watch my eyes and you’ll discover I’m in another world just pretending while having fun yet oblivious to anything or anyone around. Here’s another of those dogs who entertain themselves.

The photo of this medium sized brown dog stalking a dragonfly was taken 2 weeks ago at Fleet Peeples Dog Park near Orlando. The circle above his head shows the dragonfly in flight while the large insert shows an enlarged view of the bug.

Use the circle above the dog’s head for reference for a better look. How? View the brown dog stalks dragonfly wallpaper (1200 px wide) and study the look in his eyes as he stares at the bug. Remember the circle above his head, and the dragonfly should be easier to spot now.

Unlike this narrow strip illustration cropped from the original photo, the desktop wallpaper version shows a large and beautiful area of Fleet Peeples Dog Park including trees, grassy area, bushes in bloom, the wooden bench, and woods.

That brown dog stayed on the grassy area playing alone for 10-15 minutes as he leaped and chased the dragonfly back and forth in a 30 foot square open area. The fun time continued similar to me “in another world just pretending” while maybe 30-40 dogs frolicked on the beach just 100 feet away.

A dog can be alone at home or out with 40 dogs nearby while playing solo to entertain themselves. Dad’s theory concludes this canine behavior is a sign of superior intelligence. Who could argue with that?!

My newest puppy pawpal is a gentle giant English Mastiff met during a surprise trip to Fleet Peeples Dog Park near Orlando yesterday. Check out the photograph collage of my pal Brutus the Mastiff who weighs a whopping 170 lbs (77 kg), and he’s just a puppy!

His owner said Brutus may gain another 70 lbs before he’s full grown. That will make him bigger than my Dad, or equal to 12 of me at 19 lbs! Click the photo or this link for Brutus in desktop wallpaper size (1200px wide).

One problem being such a big dog as explained by the owner, is most dogs don’t want to play. Brutus the Mastiff tried and tried to make friends and play with EVERY dog there, yet most ran away. How sad. He truly is a gentle giant which you will understand once you look past the size.

The usual springtime ducklings were late this year as 13 baby Muscovy ducks appeared last week at the canal near home in Kissimmee, Florida. This puppy is almost 2 years old and gets an A+ in training, so I’ve become a well behaved puppy with baby ducks.

The 2 photos shown above are (left) the Muscovy Momma duck in the water at the edge of the canal in a closeup with some of her 13 ducklings, and then (right) a photo of me, Corky the shelter dog, less than a foot away while sniffing several ducklings.

In my dog training the leave it command can be for ducks, squirrels, cats, people, or whatever, so I don’t bark or lunge at the baby ducklings. In just 1 week they learned I won’t hurt them, so they get really really close to my sniffer. Not shown, but very cute: another duckling walked across my tail.

The photo collage below shows 24 thumbnail photos of Corky the Shelter Dog on Flickr. Dad upgraded his Flickr account which allows unlimited uploads PLUS the range of sizes includes the largest original version. Download the big ones for desktop wallpaper!

Follow this link to Corky photographs on Flickr and then look for the other new sets with lots of pix of my favorite park that include the Dogs at Fleet Peeples Dog Park and the Fleet Peeples Dog Park Scenery.

The thumbnail at the lower right is a video! Yup. I have a mini-video on Flickr, too. The new Corky photo set on Flickr means I’m one step closer to “almost famous”. Thanks, Dad.

Twitter pals had fun in March 2010 getting an anipal to number one in an online contest at one of the voting walls for faxo.com.

For Best of Twitter the winner was @MattieDog by a landslide. He promised stuff for your vote like genuine knockoff bacon beer, tickets to go bowling, and other smooth lies that you might expect from a real politician. Congrats, Mattie!

At the end on March 31st, out of the top 25 he was #1 and the ONLY pawpal in that group. In April the Twitter critter corner came out in droves in a winner take all free for all lusting for a top spot in the online poll. March madness to get Mattie a win became all out bedlam in April.

With less than a week left in the contest the TOP 50 for Best of Twitter were ALL animals.

As a result of all that fun turning to stress, I decided I would no longer participate and tweeted my “Down with the Wall” sermon. You are welcome to use that and these other tweets for your followers if you regret being involved. Copy/paste these to tweet:

“Down with the Wall” sermon: I decided to stop visits to enter or vote on the wall.

Wall voting 10 min/day is 60 hrs/year. Time better spent: [fill in the blank]

VOTE at the wall for 1 minute and just 10 times a day? In 10 years you waste 25 days.

10 minutes a day voting is 60 hours per year or a 10 day vacation if you work 40 hours.

Want out? Follow @VoteWall. They follow back. DM them to be taken off the wall. Voila.

To my surprise you do not have to enter to be in the contest. I first discovered my spot on page 12, or the top 300 out of over 600 contestants, because a friend tweeted that they had voted for ME, and I never chose to be there.

The system allows you to vote again every 20 minutes for as many entrants as you want. Thus, vote for yourself, and you could return once their timer expired in 20 minutes to vote again, and again, and again. At last check I was in the Top 100.

The ego inflation and voting frenzy did get out of hand. Imagine pressuring yourself to vote every 20 minutes. Yikes. Some people did. As a result, claims of voting fraud, vote bots, and worse got tweeted back and forth. Early on in April that Twitter vote wall just for fun became a battleground. Catfight. Dogfight. Cat-dogfight.

Read that last tweet suggestion again. You can easily be removed from the wall contests if you notice people voting for you. Defining time better spent means feeding ME (treats) not the ego.

The next Life with Corky video episode “First Doggy Store Shopping Trip” was released earlier on YouTube as well as in the shelter dog video story section of this website. Watch this new episode here or visit Corky’s channel on YouTube to see this plus exclusive Corky videos NOT on this website. (Playtime 01:32 min/sec)

Some visitors may wonder why the site includes a different version with our custom video player in the story section. Those videos have a text transcript of the narration for hearing impaired persons so they may read the story while they watch.

You are welcome to comment here on the blog or follow the link in the right column and comment on YouTube, also.

The critter corner of Twitter is filled with pawty (lolspeak for party) animals each month for the benefit of animal rescue. Donations during the online events are given to a different rescue organization each month as selected in advance by the participants. It’s a fun way to help rescue pets in need.

Sometimes other special events are held and at 2pm US Eastern today a pretend adventure over Area 51 in the Nevada desert began with tweeting animals worldwide. Here’s an illustration of Corky and his pal squirrel in his attack helicopter. View a different large wallpaper Corkster Copter here.

Want to follow real time or review results later? Use the online resource at TweetGrid for #Area51 to see all tweets. To participate just add the #Area51 hashtag to your tweets for other pals to follow. Note: Pet owners often tweet in first person as their pet (like me), so take no offense to the silliness, okay?