rifle paper company

I found these cheeky and adorable dog cards today at the Rifle Paper Company. A dog in rainboots? Excellent. I think I need these for all my after-Christmas thank you notes.

it takes two to tango...

Matilda: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH... LET'S PLAY!!!

Penny: Bring it on, new kid...

dogpile

UP

I realize I'm very late to the game on this... but once I missed it in theaters, I had to wait for it to come out on DVD. UP became available this week, and since I had a rainy day off from work yesterday, it was a perfect opportunity to finally watch it.

And let me say... it did not disappoint. It's a BEAUTIFUL movie, with a very touching storyline, lots of humor and it provides a fantastic portrayal of dogs.

When the movie originally came out, I had read an article in The BARK magazine that looked at the movie from a "dog perspective." From that, I learned that Pixar had consulted Dr. Ian Dunbar - he's pretty much a rock star in the animal behavior and training community - to make sure that their portrayal of the dogs in the film was as accurate as possible.

Dug wearing the "Cone of Shame"

That was all I needed to hear. And the movie definitely lived up to my expectations. Dug - the Golden Retriever/Lab mix that is the main dog character - was perfect. From his body language to his actual speech and speech patterns... it was so on point that you could almost forget that dogs don't usually have the ability to communicate with speech.

I got the DVD through Netflix, but I'm planning to go buy the 2-disk deluxe edition that includes a short film featuring Dug called "Dug's Special Mission" and a documentary called "Canine Companions" that showcases the amount of study that went into crafting the dogs in the film. There are interviews with Dr. Dunbar and footage of lectures he gave the Pixar animation crew about dog psychology.

If you haven't seen it... you're missing out. Any dog lover will want to watch it again and again.

guess what I found in my backyard?

And then somehow... it ended up here:

(please forgive the picture quality. Camera phone + 6 AM = bad picture)

the perfect gift

As we begin creeping closer and closer to the holiday season, we'll all be searching for the perfect gift for those special people in our lives. I think I might have found it.

These custom "pet doodles" from LMNOPrint are so cute and quirky, AND they're a great price.

All you need to do is email her photographs of your pet along with your (or your friend's) pet’s name and breed. She also asks to know about any unique markings, and asks you to describe your pet’s personality in three words (i.e. “goofy, loyal, loving”) so that she can accurately depict your pup (or cat!).

You can also find her web site here.

more holiday collars...

I finished up a few more Holiday Collars over the weekend. I'm so in love with the reindeer... I've named him Bob.

Check them out here.