What a beautiful day it is in Santana Row *SPiNS!* Won’t everyone come out to play?! I can’t believe it’s actually sunny after all the wacky weather that’s been happening all around! Sunshine makes touleh one very happy poodle.

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Anyway, I hope the bad weather hasn’t been making any of our fur-pals sick! Because we CAN get sick you know?! And you humans must be on the look out because we can’t speak for ourselves. So, here is a chart of things to look out for to know whether there is something wrong with your pup or not!

Remember, these are only some symptoms, and sometimes these things could mean so much more!!! Bring your pet to the vet as soon as you notice any of these things! A healthy pet makes a happy pet : ).

I hope I helped! Go out and enjoy this beautiful weather with your furrr-riends!

Happy Sunday!!!

xoxo, touleh

Hi furrr-riends! touleh here. It is Saturday and it’s beautiful out in San Jose… with a few sprinkles in San Francisco. Oh well! Don’t rain on my purrr-ade! BOL! I am not a cat.. why did I just purr?

Anyway, I’ve had a lot of customers come in the store that hasn’t been bringing their furry friends with them… why?! Come out and play! Well…. the answer to my question though, is that they don’t want their doggies to get wet from the rain. I’ve posted safety tips on the rain before.. however, I never told you guys how important it is to actually walk your doggy!! You can not .. I repeat, you can not let the rain stop you! Walking is very important.. and it can also help you bond more w/ your pup!

A 30-minute walk every day cures most dogs of most vices within a few weeks. Dogs are meant to roam. A house or a yard are confining to them. Letting a dog out in the yard does nothing to cure his “cabin fever.” You know how you feel when you’ve been in the house with the flu for three days? You need to get out. You need fresh air, sunshine, a change of scene, somewhere to go. So does your dog. So if you see him/her becoming restless, barking more, getting into things he/she shouldn’t, chewing up you bedspread, digging and being more aggressive toward others, start walking. You’ll be surprised what it does to not only burn off excess energy, but strengthen your relationship with the dog.

Happy Furr-riday, everyone!! Time to pawwwwwty!! Woooo-hooo!! *spins* Yaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy–

Wait – before I break out the celebrations, I have to finish my blog. Work hard now, pawwty hardy later, right? *woof!* I though I’d get my education on and learn something brand new today, something not many other people know… so I headed over to the HuffingtonPost animals section (looove it!)  to read up on what’s goin’ on in the Animal World, and I found the craaaziest animals you’ve never seen before, I promise!! Check out the gallery of creatures with weird names, creepy faces, and hopefully in far-away places, ‘cuz I don’t want any of these things near me!!

AXOLOTL
The Axolotl is a Mexican neotenic mole salamander. Neotenic means
that as an adult, it holds onto traits that juveniles have.

CICADA
With 2,500 species of cicada insects around the world,
some are just plain uglier than others, don’t you think?

STAR-NOSED MOLE
The star-nosed mole can be found in eastern
Canada and the northeastern United States.

AYE-AYE
The Aye-Aye is actually a rodent-looking
lemur found in Madagascar. Scary!

PHILLIPINE TARSIER
Although the tarsier used to be found in wide range of locations, it is
mostly found now in Southeast Asia. Didn’t I see you on YouTube?

ANGORA RABBIT
The angora rabbit is a domesticated species, known for its
cultivated hair. Need a brush, or detangler or something?

GIANT ISOPOD
Found primarily in the Atlantic Ocean, these guys
dwell thousands of feet under sea level.

YETI CRAB
This furry-looking crab is a recently discovered
species, found in the South Pacific Ocean in 2005.

LEAFY SEA DRAGON
Related to the normal looking sea dragon,
this lil guy is better suited for camouflaging.

BOL!!! That Angora Rabbit made me fall on my tail, I was laughing so hard! I should submit that a World’s Worst Hair contest… ahhh, such fun. But really, guys, weren’t some of those animals the WIERDEST thing you’ve seen? Which one do you think is the strangest one? I’d vote for the first one, the Axolotl… it seems like it would be a Pokemon character or something! Bol!!

Well, that’s all for now, pals! It’s a cold night in San Francisco, so stay warm and PAWWWTY HAWWD on this fine Friday!! Warm wishes and love, peace be with you, and always love your pets as much as they love you (if possible)!!

xoxo, touleh

*woof!* No, touleh won’t be going to the Winter Games unfortunately (you all know how much I loooove the cold… not!!).

But one special pup in particular will be making an appearance in Vancouver: Tillman, the Guinness Book’s World’s Fastest Skateboarding dog! Most of you have seen the viral vids of this handsome pooch doing his thing on YouTube, and he’s been making appearances all over the country showing off his awesome skills, including the 2009 Rose Bowl Parade! Check it out:

“Tillman, the skateboarding/surfboarding/boogieboarding bulldog, will be off to the 2010 Winter Olympics this week with three other canine Americans and his owner Ron Davis, 40, of Oxnard, CA.

‘We’re going to be Olympic crashers,’ Davis said.  Tillman and three other bulldog athletes plan to hop onto their bus and motor on up to Vancouver, Canada.

The bulldogs won’t be participating in the Olympics, but they plan to do some exhibition snowboarding on a spot called [Grousse] Mountain, which is near the mountain used by the Olympic skiers. NBC and the Global Television Network have expressed interest in covering the bulldogs, Davis said.

After seeing the dogs in the Rose Parade this year, Mountain High ski resort in Wrightwood agreed to open up its bunny slope to the dogs for several days so they could do some snowboard training.

‘On a typical basis, we don’t allow any type of animals on the facility for the safety of our customers,’ said Kim Harmon, marketing manager for Mountain High. ‘But we opened up our learning facility at Mountain High East. That’s where beginners learn to snowboard. There’s a moving carpet so new skiers can get to the top.’

The dogs would snowboard down the hill, then ride the moving carpet to the top, where Davis would have another board ready for them to ride down the hill.”

Tillman practicing the slopes at Wrightwood Resort

Four-month-old Sully playing with older brother Tillman – take 5, boys!

Rose, the 1-year-old bulldog, rides the belt back to the top of the hill

Lookin’ good, pals! Keep up the great work and stay safe and warm! That snow looks toooo cold for touleh!!! *sigh* it must be soo awesome to be a pet celebrity, and not just a celebrity’s pet! AND this proves that not all short, fat and small dogs have to watch from the sidelines, they can be athletes themselves! Watch for Tillman on Grouse Mountain while they’re in Vancouver this week!

xoxo, touleh

*heavy sigh* …….. I don’t like rain. I can’t go outside. My paws will get wet.. and dirty. touleh does not like being dirty. touleh likes to stay white and clean.. and most of all FLUFFY! Will you just go away rain? Because of you… I have to stay inside and listen to rain drops. I much rather be soaking in some sun. AND I can’t see my teacher Steve because of you. : (

Oh well.. there will be better days. That’s what mommy says.

Anywho… I know there are you pups out there who enjoy the rain and water. Here are some pictures of doggies & cats in the rain : ), maybe looking at these will cheer me up a bit!

*SPINS* okay fine.. the rain isn’t too bad. These pictures cheered me up, BOL! : ) Well I hope you guys enjoyed them. My favorite was is the wet kitty!!! So funny…

have a wonderful Tuesday! Stay warm!

xoxo, touleh.

*SPINS* HOLY MOLY!!!!! It’s big-foot! No …. it’s a big monster! Oh wait.. no…… it’s just George, the Great Dane.. *phew*

George, the 250-pound Great Dane from Tucson, Arizona.. has been named the world’s tallest dog by Guiness!!! George is 3 feet, 7 inches tall from paw to shoulder, which is three-quarters of an inch taller than his closest rival – Titan, a white Great Dane from San Diego.

Below are some cool pictures of George!!

Congrats George!

Guinness is currently searching for pet owners who think they might have record-breaking animals in the following categories: Dog with Longest Ears, Smallest Dog (Length), Oldest Dog, Smallest Cat and Oldest Cat. You can submit a proposal via http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com.

Maybe touleh will break a record one day : ).

xoxo, touleh.

Sunday morning rain is falling …… *spins* hi fur-pals!!!!!!!!!! It’s SUNDAY! Do you know what that means? ….. well, me neither.. I just wanted to feel excited. BOL!

Anyway … I just wanted to let you guys know about a cool event going on at the Peninsula Humane Society / SPCA in San Mateo, CA. If you live in the bay area around the peninsula, you should definitely drop by for a visit. They are hosting an event called Dog Safety for Kids.

This workshop is designed for families with children ages 6-10 and is conducted in a playful atmosphere.  Instructor Martina Contreras will cover:

• Safe handling of dogs
• Do’s and don’ts regarding dogs
• Preventing dog bites and accidents
• Responsible pet ownership
• Importance of child-proofing dogs and dog-proofing kids

Includes slides, video clips, and interaction with the instructor’s own dogs.  Children must be accompanied by an adult.  Held in the PHS/SPCA Auditorium.  Suggested $5 donation per child.  Space is limited—please call 650/340-7022 x308 to sign up!

Martina Contreras started her own business in 1997 and works full-time as a dog trainer and behaviorist.  In addition to teaching basic dog obedience, Martina rehabilitates special-needs dogs with a wide range of behavior problems such as child aggression, fear biting and shyness.

This workshop will take place on Saturday, March 6th, 4:30-6:00pm. Call soon since space is limited!!

I hope you all get a chance to go to something like this if you have kids!!! Its also a good thing to participate in to start teaching your kids how to be responsible for their pets : ).

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!
Lets hope the sun comes out .. since it is SUNday!!!

xoxo, touleh.

Hi everybody! It’s SATURDAY! That means its time to pawwwwwwwty!! (party.. not potty, humans.)

Anyway, I’ve discovered something new! A board game for us fur-pals to play with our families & friends!!!! It’s called Funagle!

Funagle, the new board game people and their dogs play together. Friends and family match wits to see who is best at getting their dogs to “Moonwalk” or “Do the Wave”.

Players have one minute to “funagle” their dog into doing specific activities on removable tags that make up the game board. Funagling is using voice, treats and gestrures to get a dog to do something. If your dog does the activity, you win a tag. The player with the most tags at the end of the games WINS!

It’s a hoot to watch players getting their dogs to do sit ups, crawl or stick out their tongues. No skill is needed to play. Funagle side affects include laughing cramps, deeper dog-people bonds and dog self confidence.

Funagle can be played by 2 to 4 people and 1 to 4 dogs.

The OBJECT OF FUNAGLE is to navigate the game board to win the most Wag Tags by funagling your dog to perform fun activities. It’s easy to play and fun to leam!

DEFINITION OF FUNAGLE – fu*na*gle (pronunciation: fuhn-ney-guh-L), verb, to finesse a dog into performing an activity using positive rewards including treats, verbal and gestural communication.

Here’s a video of FUNAGLE featured in a news segment:

Sounds cool huh? BECAUSE IT IS!! Darf inc. makes a bunch of games to play w/ your pup, even kitty! Hopefully its coming to our touleh store soon!! So watch out for this product! I hope mommy buys this soon, too.. so I can throw a big pawty for me & my friends! *SPINS*

Have a FUNagle Saturday pals!

xoxo, touleh.

First of all, Happy Friday, furr-riends! Second of all, OMG!!! I’m not usually a big fan of cats, but since they were on my mind from yesterday’s Stephen Colbert post, I thought I’d continue the same though… Today I heard that a mommy kitty was taking care of her own baby AND an adopted baby squirrel (you know, those furry toy-looking things that run across the yard and up the trees? one of those!) in Colombia. That’s pretty darn cute in my book! … if I read books, of course! bol! *spins* Check it out:

“A baby squirrel has been adopted by a cat – and become best friends with her kitten. The unlikely pals cuddle up together with ‘mum’ Tita in Envigado, near Medellin, Colombia, reports The Sun.

The two baby animals suckle on Tita’s milk, scamper about the house and even share a cuddle from time to time. The squirrel was rescued by Ruben Gaviria who found him injured in a local park. He has been nursing the little rodent back to health with the help of his feline companions”

Aww… babies of anything are always sooo cute And it’s always great to hear that people (and their pets!) are taking charge to nurse this little squirrel back to health. Who knows where that little guy would be without Ruben Gaviria or his kitty Tita?? I sure wouldn’t want to know… might be bad news… but the good news is that he’s doing okay! *woof* One day I’ll use my motherly instincts to save a ferret… or a horsey, or something! … okay, maybe I’m taking on more than I can chew.. anyways, back to reality!

If any of you want to be a hero like this kitty, consider adopting a pet near you! Visit Petfinder.com to find the perfect animal for you! Have a fun and safe weekend, fur-pals!! *spin*

xoxo, touleh