Here are more details from Dogster HQ’s.

* The contest is open to anyone registered at Dogster or Catster. It’s free and only takes seconds to join.

* Submit photos in as many categories as you want.

* Vote for your favorites. The more you vote, the more Zealies you’ll get.

* Entries and user voting will run from October 14 to November 18.

* The top five vote recipients in each category will be named finalists, and the winner in each category will then be chosen by our esteemed contest judges.

* Finally, the vote goes back to the people. From November 18 until midnight, December 16, you can vote for your favorite finalists to determine the Best Dog and Cat in Show!

Don’t wait, there are great prizes up for grabs, get those photos entered.

* Kensy getting ready to enter the Costumes & Shades category.

Hi Dogsters, just wanted to let you know Bo is stepping in this morning to share some info on Santa Paws.

Sing along with me, “Here comes Santa Paws, here comes Santa Paws, right down Santa Paws Lane…”

Soon to be seen at a doggie mall in your area is the one and only Santa Claus. This time he’s dealing with the family pet.

Santa has a new troublemaker to contend with: the family pet.

Chickens, rodents, birds, cats, dogs – you name it – Santa’s being photographed with a lot of critters these days, and has the scratches, ripped suit and urine stains to prove it.

This is the first I’ve heard that the family pet includes rodents. I gotta ask…”Where does the writer of this article live?”

“I’ve been licked a lot,” said Harriet Farmer, 63, who’s posed with hundreds of pets over the past seven years as the Ottawa Humane Society’s volunteer Santa.

What? Santa Claus is really Harriet Farmer? I thought his name was Kris Kringle? But of course I kid, for we all know the truth. Just as most of you reading this, I was devastated when my parents told me that Santa Paws wasn’t real. My intent here is not to spoil all the young pups’ Christmas, so let’s continue on.

While dogs and cats make up most of Santa’s pet clientele, that’s not all that people are bringing in.

“My favorites have been the five baby ferrets,” Ms. Farmer said. “Oh, I had a rat with a Santa hat. He was lovely.”

Did Santa, aka Ms. Farmer, just say that his/her preference is for baby ferrets and freakin’ rats? Call me crazy but I’ve never seen a magazine titled Rat Fancy or a book about ferret friendly bed and breakfasts.

Anyway, the article goes on to provide some hints on getting a good picture with Santa and pet.

Pet and talk to the animals as much as possible so they don’t get bored.

…and don’t just make small talk about the weather. Make the discussion substantive…like talking about the pros and cons of moving back to the gold standard or what we should do about contaminated dog food coming from China or the best way to create a bunny rabbit shaped poo.

The high-pitched sound of a whistle or a squeaky toy just before the photo is taken will usually alert the animals and cause them to prick up their ears and look attentive.

This is the type of advice that gets Santa bitten. Take it from a veteran, when someone blows a whistle in your ear the last thing you’re going to do is smile for the camera. Cheese…don’t just say it, give it…and you will see a pet smile a mile wide.

Dogs can sometimes be coaxed into posing with a treat such as a dog biscuit or treasured toy.

Bag the toy and make it a biscuit, or better yet some people food. Since we’re probably taking this picture at the mall, I’ll opt for the sweet and sour chicken that’s been sitting out for 5 hours from the Chinese “restaurant”. Mmm…tastes like kitty snickers.

Cats are often aloof and don’t respond as readily to bribery. To persuade cats to stay put for a shot, conceal a hot water bottle under a favorite blanket.

Better yet, conceal a .44 magnum under the blanket and threaten them with their life. They may be cold and aloof, but they’re not stupid. You’ll get the picture you’re looking for…unless the feline punk feels “lucky” that day.

Harassing pets to get a good picture does not work. They just become more agitated.

Not only is harassing a pet a bad idea, it could result in a restraining order. We wouldn’t want Santa arrested on Christmas Eve because he accidentally delivered a present to a home that had a restraining order out on him. Think of all the disappointed young pups on Christmas Day!

Here’s my advice…say no to pictures with Santa and yes to pictures with bikini clad poodles.

Not only is it fun to vote, did you know you can get free zealies for doing so?

Go cast your vote(s) in  The World’s Coolest Dog & Cat Contest and get those zealies.

Here’s how it works…

# Cast between 500 and 999 total votes, and you’ll earn 10 Zealies.

# Cast between 1,000 and 1,999 total votes, and you’ll earn 30 Zealies!

# Cast between 2,000 and 3,499 total votes, and you’ll earn 50 Zealies!

# Cast between 3,500 and 4,999 total votes, and you’ll earn 70 Zealies!!

# Cast more than 5,000 total votes, and you’ll earn 100 Zealies!!!!!

Good news, read all about it!

All Dogster Plus members will now enjoy getting to post and share 100 photos for their pets at no extra cost, effective immediately.

We’ve also enhanced the Photo Book pages to make it easier to see and share photos. If you are not Plus, you can subscribe now.

Bo, Copper, and Logan are Dogster Plus members and they love all the extra benefits that come with membership.  They give it five out of five paws.

There are six different categories you can enter and two grand prize winners each awarded $2,000.  Now that will keep the biscuit jar full for a while.

All entries must be postmarked on or after June 15, 2008, but no later than July 31, 2008, and received no later than August 7, 2008.

I want to thank Jillian McDowell from American Humane for bringing this fun contest to my attention.

If you need some helping getting that great shot, here’s a little video to help you get it. Sure the video includes pictures of Pamela Anderson, Hillary Duff, Nicole Ritchie and a host of other famous folks but more importantly it contains pictures of their dogs.

Good luck, and we just may be seeing you in ads across the media spectrum!