In case you missed it on the main Dogster page, there’s a best dressed contest underway.

I know many of you like to partake in dressing up your pups, whether it is for special occasions or every day walks around the block. Well, now’s your chance to show it off.

Submit your photo into the Best Dressed Contest being organized by Shandi. Any pup can enter by uploading their best dressed picture to their profile page and tag it ‘BestDressed08′

Winners will be announce August 29th in the forum thread.

Good luck to all!!

If American Idol took the US by storm, imagine the frenzy in Canada as a mere four days remains before the final selection in their Canine Idol competition.

If you want your proud pooch to be Canine Idol top dawg, get his or her mugshot in to the Winnipeg Free Press now.

The second annual prize-winning Canine Idol contest closes Friday Aug. 22 and entries can be uploaded to our website at www.winnipegfreepress2.com/canineidol until then.

The first 1,000 people to enter will receive special limited-edition Canine Idol dog tags and a Royal Canin discount voucher.

Plus, you get cash if you win it all!!

However, you gotta be in it to win it, but even if you choose not to enter, the pictures that have already been submitted are worth the jump over.

Just a reminder of the ongoing contest for a free, two night stay at the dog friendly Ponder Cove bed and breakfast.

To win Ponder Cove’s distinguished “How DAWGS Do Travel” Award it’s time to take keypad to paw and, in 100 words or less, write in the comments section of the original post why you would be the best guest ever.

We want to hear about all your good manners and what you think makes the ultimate traveling “dawg”. The judging will be done by the Ponder Cove management team headed up by Ponder himself. Do yourself a favor and click on Poner’s link. Seriously, how could you not want to meet him?

The contest runs through August 31s^t.

Go post now, you could be a winner!!

So last night the family sat down for another episode of Greatest American Dog. It produced a few cringe worthy moments, almost making me turn the channel. What can I say, I don’t deal with conflict very well. We’ll get to that shortly.

The dog bone challenge this week was an intelligence test; put some people food behind a wall and see how long it takes the contestants to figure out how to get at it.

It looked like Teresa and Leroy or JD and Galaxy were going to win with times of 15 seconds. Then whaddya know, Bill and Star came on the scene and totally destroyed that number, getting to the food in 8 seconds. Star knows what she likes, and she likes her people food!

Bill, reciprocating Teresa’s kind act of last week, gave her the dog bone suit and the leg up on this week’s Best in Show competition. People being nice to each other, we love to see that. Unfortunately, we weren’t going to see much more of it on this week’s show.

The Best in Show competition was focused on dog painting. Basically the contestants were given a blank canvas and they were tasked with creating a work of art that spoke to the relationship between the owner and their pup. The difficulty? Only the dog could paint the canvas.

All types of methods were crafted to let the inner Pawcaso’s (thanks Beth Joy) out. It ranged from stencils to sponges on feet and backs to peanut butter powered paint rollers. In the end some of the paintings were pretty good, albeit only if viewed through the prism of a six year old’s eyes. But hey, it’s canine’s painting!

So let’s talk about the controversy from last night. When Beth Joy was creating her masterpiece, she put Bella Starlet’s paws into a paint pan. Don’t worry, all paint was canine friendly. It was made apparent that Bella Starlet has issues with anyone touching her front paws and she made a yelping sound. This happened several times, prompting others to look over to see what was going on. From a distance it appeared the dog was being forced to do something it didn’t want to, but I leave that judgement up to Beth Joy who would know better than anyone if this was the case. There’s no doubt she loves Bella Starlet more than anything in the world.

Enter Laura and Preston. I don’t know why they were up against the clock when everyone else seemed to have been done, but their painting wasn’t very good. I forget what it was supposed to represent but it just looked like a few paint cans had been tipped over. Yup, Bo could have done that.

When Laura was pressed on why it was so bad by the judges, she indicated she only worked Preston up to his limit and wasn’t willing to push him past it…unlike others in the competition. Yikes! The judges asked who, and Laura backed the bus over Beth Joy.

Next thing you know, Travis pipes up and supports Beth Joy. Not the greatest move if you’re looking to have a relationship with the accuser. Then, while the judges were making their decision, a confrontation occurred between Beth Joy and Laura. This is the point I wanted to change the channel. This is not why I’m watch the show.

So in the end we had the bottom three…JD and Galaxy, Laurie and Andrew and Laura and Preston. Based on the paintings it wasn’t hard to see who to expel. Bye, bye Laura and Preston.

A couple of highlights from last night, at least for me:

-  Star holding a pretzel in her mouth until Bill finished reading the ingredients on the package to make sure it was OK for her to eat it.

-  There was a quick shot of Leroy on the bed sleeping with his tongue out. Gets me every time.

-  Galaxy showing how good he is at catching frisbees and Presley showing how good he is at attacking doggie beds.

-  The dogs with paint on their faces.

-  Travis admitting he has commitment issues to the judges and then pushing his budding romance with Laura away by siding with Beth Joy.

It was nice to see a bit more dog action than what we’ve seen in the past. Hopefully they’ll concentrate on that more than the human issues going forward.

Hey, next week we get to see puppies in action!!  Puppies on camera!!!  Yeah, can’t wait.

I know you have opinions…let us hear ‘em.

Greatest American Dog continues it’s journey in selecting America’s greatest dog tonight at 8ET/7CT.

Take a break from the Olympics and watch your favorite canines compete for the gold, doggie bone gold to be exact.

Tonight’s competition is focused on painting, and with Michael Phelps busy at the Olympics, it’s anydog’s opportunity to win.

If you want to get to know each of the contestants a little bit better, don’t forget to check out their Dogster page. There’s also a lot happening on the Greatest American Dog Fan Club group, so make sure to check it out

Enjoy the show and we’ll do a recap tomorrow.

I need a break. No, not a break off of a Kit Kat bar.  But a mini vacation. I know you’re probably looking for one too. Well, I’m here to help.  Here’s your chance to win a free, that’s right, free two night stay at a dog friendly bed & breakfast in Asheville, NC.

Bo recently found out that his good buddy, Ponder, runs a dog friendly B&B along with his family. I’m told his owners are only involved because somebody has to clean up after the guests. As Ponder says, “there isn’t a self respecting dog in the world that’s going clean sheets and do the windows. So I keep ‘em around.”

Well, Ponder has been looking to meet some of his dogster buddies, wet nose to wet nose, and has been gracious enough to offer the community a chance to win two nights’ free accommodations at his gorgeous bed and breakfast. Being a magnanimous owner, Ponder is also allowing parents to take part in this offer if accompanied by the winning dog.

Ponder Cove is located just 30 minutes from Asheville, NC. This dog friendly bed and breakfast country inn provides total seclusion, luxury accommodations and gourmet breakfasts.

To win Ponder Cove’s distinguished “How DAWGS Do Travel” Award it’s time to take keypad to paw and, in 100 words or less, write in the comments section below why you would be the best guest ever.

We want to hear about all your good manners and what you think makes the ultimate traveling “dawg”. The judging will be done by the Ponder Cove management team headed up by Ponder himself. 

The contest will run today through August 31s^t. Get those paws typing, this one is too good to pass up. Good luck!!

FYI: I’m told that comments about how Spanish Water Dogs are the best breed ever will not improve your chances.

It’s Friday 8/8/08 and it’s opening night of the Beijing Olympics. In keeping with this theme, I’ll give 5 zealies to the first person that can tell me the answer to the following question:

What dogster member is the only one to have a video tagged with the word olympics?

It’s easy

Remember, all you need to do to enter is leave a comment why you want to win a DogPause bowl.  Twenty lucky winners will be selected at random.  Time is up Thursday at midnight (PST), so get typing.

Introducing DogPause, the first dog bowl with proprietary SlowZonesTM and integrated portion control.
You know how you feel when you eat too fast (or eat too much). Same thing with your dog - it’s not healthy for him or her to inhale the food.

It’s Thursday, you know what that means.  That’s right, we have episode number three of Greatest American Dog to watch tonight on CBS at 8ET/7CT.

We’re down to ten contestants, twenty  if you count the helpless humans. Who will be leaving us tonight?  Going in to last week, I was sure I knew who was taking the last walk, but boy was I wrong.

Be sure to check out each contestants’ Dogster page and don’t forget to join the Greatest American Dog Fan Club to find out all the latest and greatest info. It’s great. I know, I’m a member.  Well, my fuzzy ones are members. Me? I wasn’t smart enough.

Enjoy and we’ll do a recap tomorrow.

Is your pal a chow hound, gulping down food without swallowing?  If the answer is yes, you’ll want to know all about a great new product.  DogPause,  a bowl designed to help slow dogs down when they eat.  The best part…we’re giving away twenty bowls!  All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on why you would like to win a DogPause bowl, twenty  lucky winners will be selected at random.  Now there’s something to bark about.

Introducing DogPause, the first dog bowl with proprietary SlowZones^TM and integrated portion control.
You know how you feel when you eat too fast (or eat too much). Same thing with your dog — it’s not healthy for him or her to inhale the food.

We experienced a recent episode with Logan, our Bernese Mountain dog.   He scarfed down a bowl of food and started showing symptoms of what we thought were the early signs of bloat.  Luckily, it ended up being “the gulps”, but now we now realize the importance of slowing down his eating time.

DogPause is the only dog bowl clinically proven to slow down dogs’ eating. In clinical tests run by professional vets, DogPause slowed down dogs by an average of 50% vs. standard dog bowls. As vets will confirm, a slower eating dog is a happier, healthier dog with less risk of experiencing (or doing) all sorts of yucky things like vomiting, gas, belching, gagging, life-threatening bloat, etc. Which makes life better for you and your dog…

So get those paws typing because the contest starts today and ends July 31st.