Sparky Tweets!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Social networking is going to the dogs.

In its first-ever toy created for the canine community, Mattel is introducing a product called "Puppy Tweets" that meshes the hugely popular Twitter with consumers' love of pets.

Puppy Tweets is a plastic tag with a sound and motion sensor that you attach to your pet's dog collar and connect its USB receiver to your computer. Then you create a Twitter account for your dog and enjoy updates all day from Sparky or whatever its name is on your computer or smartphone.

The tag is set with several pre-recorded tweets that are triggered by the dog's activities. So if he's running around, you might get a tweet that says "I finally caught that tail I've been chasing and...OOUUUCHH!"

If Sparky is napping, he'll tweet "Somedays it feels like my paw is permanently on the snooze button!" If he's making a ruckus, his tweet will let you know that as well, saying"YAHOOOOOOO! Somedays you just gotta get your bark on."

"Puppy Tweets capitalizes on two popular trends - the use of social media and real time communication, as well as peoples' extreme love for their dogs," said Susan Russo, Mattel's director of marketing.

Puppy Tweets is part of the No. 1 toymaker's line-up of new products for 2010 that it showcased to members of the media Thursday ahead of the industry's annual Toy Fair in New York next month.

Jim Silver, a toy industry analyst and editor-in-chief of TimetoPlayMag.com, said he was "curious" about Puppy Tweets when he first saw it.

"I thought that a 5-year-old doesn't know about Twitter," he said. But he said that Mattel is going after an entirely different market and "expanding beyond kids" with Puppy Tweets. "This is a product for adults."

"It's a good thing to try especially since no one else has come up with a pet product quite like this."

Puppy Tweets will be available at retailers in the fall, and will carry a suggested retail price of $29.99.

Dog Town - Free game trial!

Thanks to John McFeely for sending us this info:

With the huge success of the National Geographic Channel’s show DogTown, National Geographic Games decided to jump on board! National Geographic Games has developed a new PC user game titled DogTown.

In this game the player is a volunteer at DogTown and it is their mission to rehabilitate every dog that enters their facility.

Working with the DogTown staff and the stars of the hit show, the player will not only improve a dog’s physical health but also work to improve the mental strain and heartache that many unadoptable dogs feel. The player will spend significant time with each dog diagnosing ailments, playing catch, and teaching tricks, pampering the dogs and introducing them to the big world outside of DogTown!

Visit this link to see more and play: http://games.nationalgeographic.com/

Mother arrested for directing son to harm pet

I know this isn't a dog story, but it's disturbing none the less as it demonstrates that no matter how many times animal cruetly is reported and profiled on the news, there are just some people that just don't seem to get it.

Not only are we disturbed and greatly saddened by outcome for the pet in question, but also for the child that was asked to perform this task by his parent. What kind of world are we living in where this is deemed acceptable as a just corrective message by any parent. How will this affect the child later in life in social setting and his own development? And what state of mind is this parent in?


WARM SRPINGS, Ga. — A Georgia woman is in jail after police say she forced her son to kill his pet hamster with a hammer as punishment for bad grades.

The sheriff of rural Meriwether County told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday that the 12-year-old boy told his teacher about the killing. The teacher reported it to the Division of Family and Child Services, who contacted police.

Sheriff Steve Whitlock said 38-year-old Lynn Middlebrooks Geter of Warm Springs faces one charge each of animal cruelty, child cruelty and battery.

The sheriff's office said she remained in the Meriwether County jail early Friday. It was not immediately known if she had a lawyer.

Meriwether County is located about 90 minutes southwest of Atlanta.

Woman to use insanity defense in treatment of pets

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — A Long Island woman has pleaded not guilty to abusing family pets in front of her children. Investigators say 42 dead animals were later found buried in her yard.
Defense attorney James Saladino told a judge Thursday he's considering an insanity defense for Sharon McDonough.

McDonough also is accused of using excessive corporal punishment because her toddler's crying woke her up.

She could face up to two years in prison if convicted of the top charge, aggravated animal cruelty. She also is charged with child endangerment and animal torture.

Her adult son contacted authorities about the living conditions of his younger siblings. He also complained that five dogs and a cat were mistreated in the Selden home

MI man arrested for living with too many dogs.

DEARBORN, Mich. — A man who had hundreds of live and dead Chihuahuas and Chihuahua mixes in his Detroit-area home has pleaded guilty to an animal cruelty charge in a deal that keeps him out of prison.

Fifty-six-year-old Kenneth Lang Jr. of Dearborn made the plea Tuesday in Wayne County Circuit Court. He had faced up to four years in prison.

Under the deal, Lang gets five years' probation, may not own animals and must pay $3,000 restitution to the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

In July, authorities found Lang was hoarding the dogs. They say some dead dogs in freezers in the home may have been killed with an injection.

Defense lawyer James Schmier says his client needs treatment for an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Chihuahua rescue

SAN FRANCISCO — More than a dozen Chihuahuas from San Francisco are flying in style to new homes in New York.

The 15 animals are flying in the main cabin of Virgin America flights scheduled to leave from San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday morning.
Officials from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will meet the animals at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and help find them homes.

San Francisco animal control officials say Chihuahuas are in abundance at California animal shelters, but they're in demand in other states like New York.

Experts say pop culture is to blame for the overpopulation of the dogs in California, with fans imitating Chihuahua-toting celebrities like Paris Hilton.

Facelift for Adoption

A wrinkly dog has received a full face lift and a double eye lift costing $897 so he won’t go blind.

The abandoned shar pei, named Roland, from Australia, is highly prized for his wrinkly skin. But the breed suffers from entropion, a painful condition in which his wrinkles cause his eyelashes to turn inward and rub against his eyeballs, The Daily Telegraph in Sydney reported.

If left untreated the condition could have caused Roland to go blind and was preventing him from finding a home. So the dog has had cosmetic surgery.

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals chief veterinarian Magdoline Awad said the 90-minute surgery was not about vanity.

"What we have done is made him adoptable," she said.

"It is not uncommon in this breed, it is a congenital problem."

Roland now has a better chance at finding a good home as a family could adopt him without having to pay for the surgery, Dr Awad said.