Kenzie and Barney Sitting in a Tree ...

Who wouldn't want to date the First Dog? Check out Kenzie's bid to be that lucky female.

A Winter Reminder for Your Dogs

On Monday, Brian Marrin of Lewes played ball on the beach -- brrrrr! -- with his dog Daisy Duke while taking a walk in Rehoboth. When they got home, Brian probably had to brush the sand out of Daisy Duke's paws.

But if you're out walking your pooch, especially on sidewalks, streets and roads that are likely to have been salted, rinse your dog's paws with warm water when you get back inside, then wipe them dry. Lime rock salt and calcium chloride salt can irritate the foot pads. And dogs are likely to lick those paws if you don't rinse them clean, and that can lead to vomiting or diarrhea.

Tip one: To help protect those paws, try coating them with cooking spray before walks in very cold weather.

Tip two: If you dog's paws are irritated by the cold or if the pads are cracked, apply Vaseline or Bag Balm to foot pads to soothe those paws.

Or another option: Get your pooch some booties.

What other tips do you have for protecting your dog during winter? Share them here or e-mail me at jfredel@delawareonline.com

Celebrating Barbaro's Greatness

Barbaro wasn't a pet; he was a racehorse. He was a multimillion investment, he was a sports hero, he was a moneymaker -- and he was loved.

One thing is certain: No one wanted to see Barbaro die.

I remember the day of the Preakness. My sister owns racehorses, too, and she invited me to Pimlico. The crowd was buzzing that morning -- hours before the Preakness -- and the anticipation just grew as the race got closer.

It sounded like a football game -- the crowd was so loud -- when Barbaro and the other horses walked past the fans. We took our seats on the infield bleachers just in front of the start. First, Barbaro broke from the gate before the other horses. We worried that something was physically wrong with him. He was checked and loaded back into the gate.

This time, the start was good. The crowd roared as all of the horses raced past us and then, within seconds, so many people were so quiet. We saw Barbaro being pulled up and we saw him being attended to on the track. We worried. We didn't even know which horse had won the race. We walked right past the winner's circle, but no one was really paying attention. It was the quietest gathering we'd ever seen at a racetrack.

We heard all sorts of nuggets as we walked to our car -- Barbaro's injury was serious, but it wasn't life-threatening, he was going to be euthanized, he was already dead, he was going to be OK. We called my husband to find out what was being reported on TV. We turned on the radio.

We were in shock.

When you race horses you know this can happen. These animals weigh more than 1,000 pounds and reach speeds of more than 35 mph -- and all the while they are so close to each other. One bad step and the result can be catastrophic, as it ended up being for Barbaro.

Let's agree to save today for remembering the greatness of Barbaro -- the way he charged to the lead in the Kentucky Derby and won it so decisively. Everybody was talking about him being the next super horse -- the next Affirmed, the next Seattle Slew, the next Secretariat.

And in a way, he was. Never has a horse fought so hard to live after such a devastating injury. Never have people cared so much about a horse that wasn't even on the track.

Maybe it was because of Barbaro's owners, who decided to try to save him. Maybe it was the doctor who seemed always to be by his side. Maybe it was us ... maybe we just needed Barbaro to survive.

Save another day for the debate about whether horse racing is something that should be done at all. This day is for remembering just how great and valiant Barbaro was.

Finding Fish Favorites

It's been more than three years since "Finding Nemo" hit theaters, but guess which fish is still the most popular in tanks of all sizes?

Yep, the clownfish (top). That's what a staffer at Just Fish in Bear told me. They aren't cheap -- one clownfish goes for $20 -- but that movie made such an impression (and those fish just look so fun) that they're still selling well.

My favorite at the store in Fox Run Plaza was the lionfish ($99), a saltwater meanie.
It's a predator -- probably not a great companion for good ol' Nemo. And those spines that make it look so cool are filled with venom, so it's only for fish fans who really know what they're doing. Talk with the folks at Just Fish. They can help.

Wow Photo of the Day

This photo was posted on delawareonline by bear17. What a great shot -- and a great looking dog!

Here's the submitted caption: "Ziggy jumping into his favorite swimming hole near the Brandywine."

Have a better one? Jump in and post it here.

A Wonderful World of Pets (Expo)

It's going to be super cold this weekend, so why not take a ride to Timonium, Md., -- home of the Maryland State Fairgrounds, just north of Baltimore -- to take in the World of Pets Expo. These expos have great toys, gadgets, pet food, clothing, etc., and also dog exhibitions, reptile sales, and even potbelly pig displays. Lots of fun.

This one is from 2 p.m.-7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.- 7 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $8, ages 8-12 $5 and younger than 8 free. For more info, call (800) 882-9894.

Favorite Photos of the Day

These are a couple of photos taken by Chuck Snyder at the Jan. 1 Hometown Pet Show at Bethany Beach before the Leo Brady Exercise Like the Eskimos plunge into the ocean on that rainy opening to 2007. The images -- and more will be featured in the next issue of Delaware Pets -- just made it into our photo system here. I apologize for the delay.

The top one is Elaine Herbert of Ocean View and her dog Maggie. Too cute for words.

The bottom one is John Verbillis of Bethany Beach and his dog Clover. Definite lookalikes!

Martinis for Mutts

If you're looking for fun and philanthropy in one place, check out Faithful Friends' Martinis for Mutts (and Cats Too!) from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at Deep Blue Bar & Grill, 111 W. 11th St., Wilmington. Suggested donation is $20, and all of the proceeds benefit Faithful Friends, the no-kill shelter on Germay Drive in Wilmington.

I've been to one of these events and the conversation is great -- lots of fun pet people; the drinks are tasty; and the appetizers are delicious. Plus, they have great raffle prizes.

Make sure to carry plenty of pictures of your pets to share with everybody. Call 427-8514 if you need additional info.

The Cats Will Perform For You

It's freezing outside. You're wandering around the Web. And you find this post. Play it. Play it. Play it. The cats will perform for you, and the music will warm your heart. (Don't miss the feline playing Pong.) Enjoy.

What A Sweet Birthday Party

Kate answered the call for photos from her pet's birthday party. And how sweet are those images? Notice the second one. Just like any birthday boy -- or girl -- there comes a time when you just plain tucker out. Poor Yoshi. Here is Kate's note:

"Here are some pictures from my dog Yoshi's birthday party. I really find nothing wrong with cakes & balloons & party hats for my dogs, but my friends think I'm crazy! Don't worry, it's all dog friendly! I wish I hadn't used my camera phone for the pictures, but you get the
idea."

What Will They Think of Next?

Remember when I said nothing in the pet toy business surprised me anymore? Well, this one did. More like stunned me.

A binkie for your puppy? In blue and pink? Yep, the folks at Kong have hijacked our puppies and turned them into babies.

The Puppy Kong Binkie comes in three sizes ($5.99-$9.99), and is recommended for those teething little puppies until their adult teeth come (6-9 months).

I've seen the binkie at Concord Pet and lots of online retailers. But you go ahead. I'll be here, waiting for the next surprising thing.

For a Great Cause

It's never too late (or too early) to buy a calendar. Let me make a pitch for the "Dogs of Delaware" calendar ($14.95), which I picked up Tuesday at Happy Dog Healthy Dog in Wilmington.

The calendar features wonderful images -- by Karen L. McMillan of Fido Photography -- of dogs who at one time were in need of a home. The calendar celebrates them and the loving homes they've all found. To the right, that's Cooper, Mr. January, who was adopted from the Delaware Humane Society and is "learning to like playing in the water."

The calendar's profits are donated to "Diamonds for Dogs," a fund established by Happy Dog Healthy Dog to help with the costs of medical care and rehab for local rescue dogs.

The shelters and rescues mentioned on the back of the calendar are A Buddy for Life, Animal Rescue & Adoption, Animal Rescue League of Sussex County, Delaware Action for Animals, Delaware Humane Association, Delaware Puppy Rescue, Faithful Friends, Kent County SPCA, Lost & Found Dog Rescue, Mid-Atlantic English Springer Spaniel Rescue, Petfinder, Salem County Humane Society, Save the Animals and Underground Dog Rescue.

Stop by Happy Dog Healthy Dog, 1825 Delaware Ave., Wilmington, or order by phone at 428-1919.

Dog Day Afternoon in Rehoboth

With a little snow in the forecast, is there anything better than seeing a dog romp in the surf at Rehoboth Beach? That's Abbey Quillen playing with her dog Bo on Sunday as the temperature flirted with 70 in this photo taken by The News Journal's Scott Nathan.

If you venture to the seashore state parks, dogs can swim and sunbathe (if there's enough sun) from Oct. 1 until April 30. Park rules restrict pets from such areas as surfboarding and sailboarding beaches and nesting areas of shorebirds. If you aren't sure about the rules, look for the signs that spell them out. And your pooch must be on a leash, except in designated off-leash areas.

Speaking of Pets' Diets ...

Karen found this one for me. You remember Chubby Charlie, the 168-poound dog. This is Hercules, a 20-pound stray who got stuck in a pet door trying to rummage some dog food.

The tubby tabby was reunited with his owner, Geoff Ernest, in Portland, Ore. That's Tiffany Noreuil, an animal care technician at the Oregon Humane Society, with Hercules before the reunjon. Gresham, Ore., resident Jadwiga Drozdek found the feline stuck in the dog door of her home a few days ago, helped free him and gave him a plate of food on her patio. (Insert irony here.)

If your cat needs to drop a few lbs., here are some tips from the spring 2006 issue of Delaware Pets:

1. Monitor portion size and give your cat three to five tiny meals a day.
2. To balance cats' sedentary lifestyle, "find a toy they really like and spend time with them, even if it's just a few a minutes a day," says Renee Markowicz of Red Lion Veterinary Hospital.
3. Adding a playmate can help cats release some pent-up energy.
4. To force cats to exert energy, Markowicz recommends putting the litter pan upstairs and the food bowl downstairs.
5. Cats aren't exactly chomping at the bit to go on a walk around the block, but they can be trained to wear a leash. For indoor cats, taking a few laps around the house is enough to get their hearts pumping.

Garbage Pick-up Update

I went out again this afternoon with my Gopher Deluxe picker-upper thing. After 25 minutes around our Bear neighborhood, I picked up a fairly good load, including two plastic bottles, one crushed beer can, one crushed pop can, two Shoppers newspapers (all went into our recycling bin) and assorted other trash.

One word of advice: If you decide to this, make sure you wear gloves. It can get kind of yucky.

On the trash front, I was curious about the state's littering laws. I called the Delaware State Police and they're researching how many actual arrests were made. But a rep told me that an officer must see the trash being thrown out of a car -- if that's the case -- and even then he or she has discretion. The idea is to make sure people don't do it again.

The rep also told me to talk with DNREC because it also has authority to enforce the law. I need to give someone a call there, but I suspect the agency handles more cases of illegal dumping.

The bottom line: Sounds as if most small litterers won't get hit with a ticket. Stay tuned.

Someone asked me how much the Gopher Deluxe costs. It retails for $24, but the cheapest place I found it online was amazon at $9.99.

A Cat, A Bungee-Jumping Mouse and a Funny Commercial

How come we don't get commercials like this in the United States? Why do the British get all the fun? Although I do love the Bud Light commercial when the sitter at the vet office hauls out the animals as "sled dogs" to get to the Bud Light at his girlfriend's house during a raging blizzard.

What's your favorite TV commercial featuring animals?

Favorite Pet Photo of the Day

A reader submitted this to delawareonline -- and I just totally love it. Come on, I want to see some inspired captions for this image as posts. Atten-shun!

Happy Birthday ... to Pets

I'm offering a peek into the next issue of Delaware Pets, hitting pet-related businesses beginning Feb. 2. Stacey Tiedge Alatzas, a former News Journal staffer and one of our favorite free-lance writers, reports on the growing number of pet birthday parties.

Nancy Roberts, a New Castle County Justice of the Peace, celebrated the 4th birthday of Gonzo, her rescued greyhound, last Feb. 14. She says Gonzo had plenty of greyhound friends over to celebrate and even a cake with his image on it. And that's not the last of parties at the Roberts' home.

Nancy writes: "Funny that you are doing this story, because I just ordered a Happy Dog birthday cake for my 11-year-old-to-be Kami, a brood mom who we just adopted in August. She had lived on race farms all of her life until then. So this is the first time she's been in a real home with a family and she's amazing."

If you have birthday party photos of your pets, send them along to jfredel@delawareonline.com. I'll post them -- or maybe use a couple more in Delaware Pets -- and sent a shout-out to our pet friends.

More Power to Penguins This Summer

Just because the holiday season is over, doesn't mean you've seen the last of the penguins. Coming June 8 is Sony's "Surf's Up," with a great trailer.

Here are the details from a story in today's New York Times under the headline "A Procession of Penguins Arrives on Madison Ave.":

"The next significant date for peddling penguins -- and penguin peddling -- is June 8, when the Sony Pictures Animation division of Sony is scheduled to release an animated film, 'Surf's Up,' a mock documentary about a young surfing penguin (voiced by Shia LaBeouf) and his mentor (Jeff Bridges).

"Trying to describe the idea, Premiere magazine wrote, "Think 'Point Break' meets 'This Is Spinal Tap,' with penguins."

You'll remember that The News Journal had a story about the power of penguins in the commercial world that began with "March of the Penguins" and grew with "Happy Feet." Our link is dead, but I found one in our sister paper in Cherry Hill.

Call It a Pugtoo

This photo comes courtesy of our sister paper in Rochester, N.Y. They have a pets magazine, too, and ran this photo. That's Cinnamon (great face) with his owner, John Daggs at a small dog playgroup outing.

Love the photo, but not ready to get a pug tattoo -- or any kind of pet or any kind of tattoo -- drawn into my skin.

Now, about playgroups -- are you and your pooch a member of any playgroups? We're planning to do a story about playgroups for an issue of Delaware Pets, and this is a good way to seed that reporting. Just post here or e-mail me at jfredel@delawareonline.com

Making a Better Place for Dogs

After a couple of glorious January days -- call it climate change, El Nino, global warming, whatever you want -- it just makes you appreciate being outside.

Growing up on a farm, my parents, especially my dad, always instilled in us an appreciation and a love for the land. To Dad, that carried over anywhere he went -- city streets, golf course fairways, sun-drenched beaches.

Wherever he did go, my dad picked up garbage. He just wanted someone after him to enjoy that spot even more than he did. And if he did it, we did it, too.

One of my gifts for Christmas was a tool to pick up garbage called the Deluxe Gopher. It's got a trigger handle that allows you to close the suction cups around the item you want to pick up. No messy items in your hands, and no bending over for a 40-something back. I went out today to pick up items around our neighborhood, with a carrier bag over my shoulder and a plastic garbage bag inside that.

One little boy asked, "What is that?"

"It's to pick up garbage," I told him. Maybe he thought it was a funky walking stick or some kind of virtual reality toy.

Anyway, after only 17 minutes of picking up trash my load included one crushed Pepsi can, four small plastic bottles and three Shoppers newspapers. Those items ended up in our recycling containers and the rest of it will head to the landfill. But as Dad told us: You left that place better than you found it.

Does Your Doggie Need a Diet?

Have you seen this? The FDA has approved the first drug to fight obesity in dogs -- first question, where's the human equivalent? -- called Slentrol and made by Pfizer. The liquid drug will be available by prescription through your vet for $1 to $2 per dose, beginning in the spring.

A couple of caveats: Don't try it on your fat cat -- the anatomy of dogs and cats are far too different -- and it's not for people either. If you do try it, you face such unpleasant reactions as abdominal distention, abdominal pain, diarrhea, flatulence, headache, nausea and vomiting.

The FDA says Slentrol works by reducing the amount of fat a dog can absorb, so the pooch feels full and he eats less. Throw in more exercise, and -- voila -- doggie loses weight. (Hmmm, sounds familiar.)

Now, to the dog above. That's Becky Jones from the United Kingdom and her 4-year-old labrador Chubby Charlie in a 2001 Getty Images photo. Chubby Charlie was forced to go on a crash diet after hitting 168 pounds. Wow.

Do you have a fat dog at home? Would you use Slentrol on him or her? Vets, do you think the drug sounds like you'll prescribe?

Send photos of your overweight pooch and I'll post them here or on the Delaware Pets site.

A Really Animated Dog

This is our first foray in this blog into animated images from a drawing, all courtesy of our terrific News Journal designer and artist Howard Johnson.

This pooch looks as he's had three venti cafe lattes at Starbucks. Zow!

If you want this original, animated image for work or for play, e-mail me at jfredel@delawareonline.com and we'll ship you out a gratis copy.

A Michael Jordan Lookalike, For Sure

The rain might have reduced the turnout for the Hometown Pet Show on Monday at Bethany Beach, but it did not reduce the cuteness factor of the People's Choice winner in the costume contest. Rosco, a puggle dressed as Michael Jordan, won the overall prize and also was named Best Pint-Sized animal. You can see why.

I don't have Rosco's owner name or where the two of them are from. I'll try to track that down, but in the meantime, if someone knows the info please send it along to me at jfredel@delawareonline.com and I'll update this post.

Amy Tingle of the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce says 15 pets showed up for the contest -- including the super-cute Rosco -- before the Leo Brady Exercise Like the Eskimos plunge into the ocean. Proceeds from the pet show benefited Bethany Town Cats and Safe Haven Pet Refuge.

A Hamster New Year

In honor of spending a big chunk of this weekend watching football, we found this McDonald's commercial featuring a would-be NFL mascot. It's always good when you can use a Ronald McDonald statue as your foil.

Enjoy!