Tillie The Dog Artist

Is is art? Or just a dog playing with paint? From the Conan O’Brien Tonight Show:

Arabian Horse Foundation begins Swayze scholarship

The Arabian Horse Foundation has established a scholarship in honor of the late actor Patrick Swayze and his wife.

Swayze and wife Lisa Neimi owned Arabian horses and competed in shows for several years. The foundation is the charitable arm of the Denver-based Arabian Horse Association.

Foundation President Larry Kinneer of Dayton, Ohio, said Friday that the scholarship honors Swayze for his career and the couple’s “love of the Arabian breed and contributions over the years to AHA youth programs.”

The scholarship will be awarded each spring to a youth involved with Arabian horses who seeks a performing arts career. It was launched with a pledge from Iron Horse Farms in Canton, Ga.

Swayze died in September of pancreatic cancer at age 57. His wife survives him.

Full story: AP News

Rescue Ink

This is a new twist to the usual animal rescue show. And it shows that pet owners come in all shape and sizes.

“If you don’t like us from the way we look, we can’t help that. But if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem, so stay out of the way.”
— Joe Panz, Leader, Rescue Ink

In New York’s war on animal abuse, some of the worst offenders are pursued by a group of tattooed motorcycle-riding tough guys on a mission to save animals in danger. They call themselves Rescue Ink, and these are their stories.

In a metropolitan area with more than 20 million residents, thousands of animals — dogs, cats, and even chickens and piranhas — are neglected, abused, hoarded or housed illegally. A few years ago, eight tough guys from the mean streets, who frequented hot rod shows and tattoo parlors, discovered their strongest bond was actually a passion for animals — and they formed a rescue organization like no other. Some have violent and turbulent pasts, complete with run-ins with the law, but all are seeking redemption and solace in their mission to save animals from human abuse.

This new weekly series that documents this unlikely group of animal activists on their crusade to save helpless, abandoned and abused animals. The eclectic band of brothers — composed of club bouncers, security guards and even a retired New York Police Department (NYPD) detective — is on call 24/7 to take on cases no one else will. They’re not cops, animal experts or even animal control. They’re just big guys with even bigger hearts and a desire to save animals from deplorable living conditions and abusive or simply misguided owners.

Dog Whisperer Inside Puppy Mills

Puppy mills have been a strong discussion topic on our site. So we think this is a must see. This Friday on National Geographic.

Every year, millions of dogs are mass-produced at puppy mills – often packed in tiny wire cages, neglected, dehydrated, dirty and chronically sick – and then sold legally to pet stores throughout the country. In this powerful episode, Cesar sees puppy mill horror and works to rescue and rehabilitate caged pups with the animal rights group Last Chance for Animals. With hidden cameras, LCA operatives spot check Los Angeles county kennels, rescue eleven dogs considered worthless by breeders and learn from Cesar as he teaches them how to immediately rehabilitate the traumatized pups.

Dog Whisperer

Miley Cyrus Interview

Miley Cyrus is the star of a long-running television show and films, a recording artist and an accomplished stage entertainer.  Now, the 16-year-old Cyrus is adding another credit to her resume.  She stars in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ latest project, BOLT, as Penny, a young girl with her own action-adventure show that she shares with her best friend—her dog named Bolt.  But off-screen, Penny isn’t allowed to enjoy time with the pup, because that would spoil the illusion painstaking created and maintained by the director and crew…Bolt believes he actually possesses the special effects-driven super powers that save Penny on a weekly basis.  Cyrus recently took a break from her dizzying schedule to speak to us about BOLT.

Q:  You’re an actress and a performer.  In animation, we only get to hear your voice.  What was it like just relying on your voice?
MILEY CYRUS:  Ever since I was little, people would always make jokes about my low voice.  But they also complimented me on it—‘it’s so different, it’s so low.’  But still, in school, people would make fun of it.  But now, I think it’s so cool that you don’t have to have the picture-perfect, girly voice to do an animated film.  I think it’s great for kids with different voices to know that they could do something like this.

Q:  How many dogs do you have?  It comes across in your voice when your character is playing with Bolt.
MILEY CYRUS:  I have six.  You could tell?  You could hear the baby voice?  ‘Come on, boy, c’mon Bolt!’  Everyone was laughing when I was doing that part—they thought it was the greatest thing that I was speaking to Bolt like he was real.  Yeah, I have six dogs, and I love ‘em!

Q:  When your fans and friends come see BOLT, what sort of message do you think they’ll get?
MILEY CYRUS:  There are certain movies you go and see, and then after, you wanna go home and talk to your best friend and tell her that you really love her.  I hope on this one, people will want to go home and love on their dog.  I hope that they realize, one, that you love your pets and know what great friends they can be.  And two, that no matter what you do for a living, realize that that can go away in a second …it’s people, like Penny or your best friend, that matter.

Q:  What was the process of making this animated film like for you?  How long did it take?
MILEY CYRUS:  I recorded it in about five sessions, so it was pretty quick.  That was great.  I loved going in there in my sweats—that was my favorite part.  ‘All right, I’m a mess, let’s roll it, let’s get it done!’  Then I’d go home and take a shower!

Q:  What was it like, working with the directors?
MILEY CYRUS:  I worked mostly one-on-one with Chris [Williams].  It was great, working that way, having the director right there to tell me what was needed.  That really made things easier…and fun, too.

Q:  But if you’re recording sporadically, you have to remember what you were doing the last time, what your character was feeling…did that come easily to you?
MILEY CYRUS:  Yeah, it was something that came easily.  The only thing that was hard is that I’m really strict with myself—I want everything to be perfect, if I’m going to do it.  I had to realize that this wasn’t me on-camera, I wasn’t animating and that I didn’t get to use my hands or anything.  It was hard not to be able to use my body to get across what I was trying to do.  I thought that was a little frustrating.

Q:  How is your character of Penny compared to you?  How are you different, how are you alike?
MILEY CYRUS:  Penny is a little hard core—I love the opening scene, that is my favorite.  Everyone was always asking me what my favorite scene was, and I’d say, ‘I love it when she comes in with her hair all chopped off, and her Doc Marten boots and she’s riding her skateboard.’  I think that’s so cool, something that I’ve never been able to do.  I’ve always kind of wanted to be that girl.  And I love how vulnerable she gets when she loses Bolt.  So she shows that that’s just a persona.

Q:  Tell me the set-up of the film.
MILEY CYRUS:  I think it’s a wonderful film, it’s really well done.  It’s about Bolt, a dog, who thinks he has all of these super powers because he’s on a television show.  He comes to realize that what makes him special isn’t all of these things that he uses to catch the bad guys, to fight them off, but that it’s Penny—she’s the one who gives him his strength and confidence.  When he’s not with her, he becomes vulnerable, and not as confident.

Nightline Investigates Puppy Mills

This Friday night (March 27), ABC’s Nightline will investigate puppy mills. ABC correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi and investigators from Nightline travel the byways and back roads of Lancaster County, Pa., visiting numerous puppy mills and filming Main Line Animal Rescue’s volunteers as they rescue breeding dogs and puppies from Lancaster County’s notorious Amish commercial breeding facilities. This promises to be a very special program.

If you are involved in rescue, advocate on behalf of the millions of puppy mill dogs interned in our nation’s commercial dog breeding facilities, or if you just simply love animals, you will not want to miss this. Sharyn Alfonsi interviewed, on camera, an Amish breeder while touring his facility — a first for network television. With approximately 500 dogs housed on his property, this commercial breeder speaks openly about an industry cloaked in secrecy and suspicion — the cruel factory farming of man’s best friend.

PLEASE tell your friends, your family, your co-workers to watch Nightline at 11:35 p.m. (ET) Friday. Please take the time to forward this to all the rescues, shelters and legislators in your area. It has been almost a year since Oprah Winfrey’s puppy mill show aired. That program received the highest viewer response of any Oprah show in years. Now we need to spread the word about this very special Nightline. Only by educating as many people as we can, will we be able to help these animals. And after you watch the program, please don’t hesitate to contact ABC and Nightline to thank them for casting such a strong light on the plight of our nation’s puppy mill dogs.

10 FUN FACTS ABOUT BOLT

10 FUN FACTS ABOUT “BOLT”
Mittens, the street-wise alley cat, was originally called Mr. Mittens, because her owners never took the time to figure out if she was a boy or a girl.

The creative journey began with the desire to evoke the painterly style of classic Disney Animated Features and American painters such as Edward
Hopper, George Bellows and other Ashcan School Artists from the early 20th century.

To get a feel for the locations where Bolt and his entourage would be traveling, art director Paul Felix, director of lighting and look Adolph Lusinsky and others packed it up and hit the road. Exploring such locations as New York, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.

Rhino, the hamster, was originally supposed to be a rat. During the initial story retreat to develop the idea for the film, Rhino was morphed into a hamster riding inside a plastic ball.

The design for the main character Bolt was loosely inspired by the American White Shepherd.

It takes 4-5 months to get one shot all the way through production – from layout to animation to lighting (a shot averages 4 seconds in length on “Bolt”).

There are a total of 28 sequences in the film comprised of 131,738 frames and 1,239 shots. 110 terabytes of data are active at any second in the production.

Throughout production, each member of the crew working on “Bolt” would pin pictures of their pet in the “Production Pets Gallery.”

The production actually has a pet hamster named Doink! who has become a beloved crew member and is observed as reference for the animators.

Director Byron Howard served as the supervising animator for the character Cobra Bubbles in “Lilo & Stitch.”

Interview With Bolt

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with BOLT

Hi Bolt! Life as a super dog must be pretty amazing…
It sure is! My life is one big adventure because I spend all
of my time looking out for Penny. She’s my person and she
loves me to bits, but she often finds herself in some scary
situations.

Tell us about some of these spectacular adventures…
I’ve been involved in loads of daring chases and fur-raising
escapes. I’ve even saved a busload of schoolchildren from
an unexploded bomb! They didn’t realize how close they
were to danger, but I saved them all.

Is it easy to spot a baddie from a good guy?
Well, you can usually tell if they’re chasing you with a bomb!
A bomb is a bit of a giveaway really…

We’ve heard you’ve got loads of super powers. Does
that mean you can fly?
Can I fly? Don’t be ridonculous! Flying is for pigeons. I have
a variety of special super powers, but flying isn’t one of
them.

We’ve heard a rumor you can obliterate tall structures
with your superbark…
Superbark? Who told you about that? Have you been
following me? I thought I was good at keeping undercover.
How on Earth can you know about something so secret?

We’re only asking…
Well, I do have a super bark, but I can’t talk about it. It’s
classified. Next question.

Can you tell us about any of your amazing super
powers?
Oh, alright…I can out-run speeding missiles with my super
speed skills and I have super strength, too. I can also burn
through solid metal with my laser eyes.

Laser eyes? Wow! They sound incredible…
They’re great – and they come in very handy when you’re
up against an evil villain like the green-eyed man.
Who’s the green-eyed man?
He’s a cat-loving criminal mastermind – and he’s always
stirring up trouble for Penny and me. His real name is Dr.
Calico, but I never call him that. He’s got this glaring green
eye that creeps everyone out. Well, everyone except for
me, of course.

So you’re always saving Penny from this evil dude?
Yep, that’s what I do. I’m always on duty. I do not sleep. I do
not rest until my Penny is safe from his evil clutches.

What would you do if the green-eyed man walked into
the room now?
I would have no problem superbarking right here, right now.
If you choose to follow the route of evil, you will ultimately
lose – so watch out, green-eyed man. Your days are
numbered!

Wait aminute…What is that darkmarking on your fur?
It’s a birthmark. It’s wonderful, isn’t it? It’s in the exact shape
of a thunderbolt, which is very apt considering my name is
Bolt. My birthmark is my sign of power. It makes me who I
am.

Very cool indeed! Before we go, have you got any
words of wisdom for us?
Never underestimate the power of pink Styrofoam.

What?! Pink Styrofoam?
Yep. I’ve discovered that pink Styrofoam takes my powers
away. It weakens me. A small, peanut-sized piece of the
pink stuff can strip me of my abilities. It’s awful. Be careful
everyone! Don’t let the pink Styrofoam get to you…

Top Hollywood Dogs

We are back again. Due to other commitments, we’ve not posted new entries. So lets get this started again with a list of hollywood dogs. Theres been a lot of dog movies coming out recently (including our best bud, Marley) – so here is a list:

Marley & Me

Lady and the Tramp

The Wizard of Oz

Underdog

The Shaggy Dog

Lassie

Old Yeller

Beethoven

Air Bud

Lady and the Tramp

Turner & Hooch

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Rin Tin Tin

Snow Dogs

My Dog Skip

As Good as it Gets

101 Dalmations

Benji

Clifford

Cats. vs. Dogs

Post your hollywood dogs in the comments.

Sandra Bullock Pet Look Alike

What do you think?

Sent in by Sharon

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