Mirth Watch Thursday: 7 Smiles, 1 Scream & A Giveaway

A week or so ago, there was an article in the Wall Street Journal on the benefits of smiling. According to the article, "Researchers are finding that wearing a smile brings certain benefits, like slowing down the heart and reducing stress." One of the researchers added, "You can influence mental health by what you do with your face, whether you smile more or frown less."

So, bring your face over to Pooch Smooches and engage in some smiling. No, it's not just dorking around and a waste of time. You're reducing your stress levels!

In order to induce today's smiles, I give you: seven smiling dogs, one screaming pepper, and a chance to win fun stuff.

Seven Smilers

An adorable pup from the shelter where I volunteer. (He got adopted!)

Wordless Wednesday: To The Beach!

Snapped a few shots of Rita on the way to the beach the other day. These are taken after we turned on to the little one-way road that leads to Fiesta Island, or Disneyland for Dogs as I call it. I just held my camera over and snapped, without looking, but they still came out kinda cute.

This one is taken w/ window up, no flash

Monday Mischief: Helping *AGAIN*

I've been needing to paint our hallway ever since we moved in to this house over 2 years ago. I finally got my act together and painted it last week while the hubs was away on business.

Of course, my little helper was right there doing what she could to make the job go more quickly, as evidenced by the paint on her tail:

Mirth Watch Thursday: Rita's Rant

Hi everypawdy. Rita here. I have a bone to pick with the authors, illustrators, screen writers, directors, claymation-ers and muppeteers of this here world!

I want to know - where are the bitches that a little girl-pup like myself can look up to?

I beseech you. Seriously... what gives??

Wordless Wednesday: Breakfast With a Side of Oxytocin

Unfortunately, my hubs has a very stressful job. He also has trouble managing his stress. Rita apparently knows this, since she suddenly decided she should sit between us while we eat breakfast on the sofa in front of the news. (Sorry about the picture quality - took it with my iPad, shooting in to the light. Should know by now to always have the camera handy.)

Administering the proper dosage of oxytocin

She's supposed to be over on "her" side of the sofa, on her towel. But since the hubs can use a dose of oxytocin before work, I don't mind a little dog hair. (Besides, our house is practically covered in it anyway.) You can read about dogs and oxytocin here, but here's a key nugget: "Oxytocin, which is sometimes dubbed 'the cuddle hormone,' helps reduce blood pressure and decreases levels of cortisol, a hormone related to stress and anxiety." Keep that stuff coming, Rita!

You might suspect that she only chose to sit there to have access to our breakfast of peanut butter toast and yogurt - but you'd actually be wrong. She's totally gone off peanut butter, and if I offer her a bite or my plate when I'm done with it, she turns her head and acts like I've put the most disgusting thing ever in front of her. As for the yogurt, she might lick a bit off a spoon when you're done, but she does NOT want to lick the cup. (She's so odd.)

Do you try to extract some cuddle hormone from your dog?

Monday Mischief: Such a Great Helper

I posted before about how "helpful" Rita is with projects around the house. This past week was no different, when I was doing some spring cleaning on our patio chairs. I laid the chair cushions out in a row so I could give them a quick scrubbing, and guess who immediately popped over to "help":

"Thanks, Momma! This is comfy."

Mirth Watch Thursday: Your Doggy Doppelganger

Do you have a doggy doppelgänger? Or maybe your dog has one?

I started thinking about doppelgängers the other day when one of my fave blogs, I Still Want More Puppies, posted a link to the "2013 Oscar Nominees and their Animal Doppelgängers". You should really check that link out (I think my fave is Tommy Lee Jones = Grumpy Cat, but there are other funny ones as well.)

Anyway, it reminded me of two things:

1) I once noticed that my friend's angel dog, Max, had a puppy pic that looked exactly like Ron Swanson (a hysterically gruff character on Parks and Rec, played by Nick Offerman). Am I right? Since Ron really likes meat, and Max did too, they were even somewhat of a personality match.

2) There is a web site that lets you find your doggy doppelgänger, appropriately called: Doggelganger. It's from Pedigree and the New Zealand SPCA. The tag line is: "Human to canine pairing software. Your best friend search starts here."

It's fun to play with. You're supposed to be able to add your own image either with your web cam or by loading a picture, but I couldn't get the web came image thing to work. So, I loaded a photo. (They say to load one with a neutral image - but, other than Ron Swanson above, most people smile when you point a camera at them.) Anyway, first I loaded my b&w "author photo" and I got a 62% accuracy match with this adorable 7 mo. old female Mastiff/Greyhound mix.
 

I also tried a color photo - but I guess I look a lot older in this picture since I got a 67% accuracy match with this sweet 12-yr-old Fox Terrier mix: (at least she's a fox....)

I do have the same worry wrinkles as both of these girls, so I think they did a pretty good job. It's a fun thing to play with - so hopefully the NZ SPCA is getting a lot of local folks on the site who then find their new best look alike friend!

I also looked up doppelgänger for this post - I thought it just meant "a look alike", but the actual definition from Miriam Webster is "a ghostly counterpart of a living person". Ghostly... hmm. So Tommy Lee Jones = ghostly Grumpy Cat I guess. 

Anyway, go have some fun and find your doggelganger.