Wagger.co.uk

The Riviera Rescue organisation is importing ‘death row dogs’ from Santa Cruz.  Apparently California has an abundance of small breed dogs but no one seems to want to adopt them so they end up at the Santa Cruz euthanisation center. The dogs will arrive spayed, neutered and vaccinated. After their rabies shots, the dogs spent a mandatory 21-day quarantine at Bed and Biscuits in Live Oak, where they were groomed for Tuesday’s trip to France.  The French dog organisations are trying to discourage puppy farms so this could fill a useful function.

Twilight star Kristen Stewart  admitted that her pet dogs at home were pooches with a difference, as they are actually wolf hybrids. Talking on the David Letterman show she showed pics of her wolf friends. Showing the audience some snapshots of the beasts, the starlet - whose character is in a love triangle with a werewolf and a vampire - said: "This is my pet, this is Jack. He’s our oldest male. I know he looks kind of scary - he’s a wolf - but he’s really sweet, he kind of falls at my feet."

It must be Summer - here is a crazy story.  Princess Abby has won the worlds ugliest dog contest in California - the pics are amazing and show a real aesthetic in canine bad looks.

On a more philosophical point - Do dogs dream?

Research shows the frequency and length of dreams is linked to their physical size, said psychologist Stanley Coren, author of several books, including "How Dogs Think: Understanding the Canine Mind."

For example, he said, mastiffs and Great Danes might dream every 45 minutes for about five minutes, compared to their smaller canine cousins that enter a dream state every 10 minutes with episodes lasting less than 60 seconds.

Owners can tell if their dozing dog or feline is dreaming by looking for these clues: whisker twitching, paw tremors, irregular breathing and — in dogs — occasional high-pitched yips.

But what do our pets dream about? Researchers believe they know the answer. Older studies, done decades ago in cats, involved temporarily releasing the suppression of motor activity that happens during REM sleep so they’d act out their dreams.