Weekly Dish For March 19 - 23

DOG DAYS

It's National Puppy Day! The adorable holiday was started in 2006 and is always celebrated on March 23. Puppy Day is meant to highlight and honor the unconditional love, cuteness and innocence puppies bring into our lives. The holiday also strives to raise awareness about the thousands of baby dogs in need of homes, and about the dangerous practice of puppy mills. Need more proof that puppies are paw-some? Check out our gallery of reasons why puppies are pretty close to being the best thing ever. (San Francisco Chronicle)

"SHORE" DOGS GET DYED

Jenni '"JWoww" Farley and Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi of "Jersey Shore" are not strangers to negative press, but this time complaints aren't about their partying ways or bad behavior. People are upset about their dogs. The pair decided to dye their pooches purple and pink, showing off the dogs' new hairdos as they walked the pups through Jersey City. While JWoww and Snooki seem happy with their canine color choices, some fans and animal-rights groups are not. Groups like PETA say that dyeing a dog causes the animal great stress and can lead to health complications, especially if the wrong type of dye is used. Neither of the girls have responded to the backlash yet. (Celebuzz)

KEVLAR CAT

We all know the character Dirty Harry, but this cat deserves the name Bulletproof Harry. Harry the cat survived being shot four times by a confused neighbor. Vietnam veteran Bob Lester believed that the fluffy, black animal wandering around his yard was a wild pig, only realizing after the shots were fired that it was his neighbor's cat. Harry's owner, Margaret Wetzel, was home when the shooting occurred and was able to get the feline immediate medical attention. Luckily, Harry had put on some extra pounds, causing three of the bullets to enter his fat without causing serious damage. The fourth bullet shattered part of the cat's leg, but Harry has undergone surgery and is expected to make a full recovery. In the meantime Wetzel is looking to press charges against Lester. (Courier Journal)

UGLY DOG DOES GOOD

Beauty truly comes from the inside for 2007 World's Ugliest Dog winner Elwood. The Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix has spent the time since his win doing good deeds for animals and children the world over. Recently, Elwood and his owner, Karen Quigley, were contacted by a teacher in Brazil to assist in a six-week program about accepting differences. Students wrote stories about Elwood, drew pictures and even video chatted with the adorable, yet decidedly ugly pup. Elwood is also helping his fellow animals, donating a portrait of himself to the Save the Animal Foundation for auction. Quigley says that she is proud of her award-winning dog for being able to connect with so many people and help individuals accept who they are. (NJ.com)

DC DOGS

Looks like Mr. Spaniel is going to Washington. While not everyone is welcome inside Congress meetings, pooches are. Lawmakers and congressmen often bring their dogs to the Capitol building to help them work. Senators and representatives alike say that having a pup in the room can greatly affect the emotion of a conversation and that many members of Congress prefer to have the animals there. Lawmakers have been bringing their pets with them when they do business for years. There are records of a dog stopping by the Capitol dating back to the 19th century. Maybe lawmakers should think about making "Bring Your Dog to Work Day" a national holiday. (Vetstreet)

THE POWER OF POOP

The Denver Zoo has some big, stinking news. They are introducing a motorized rickshaw which runs on animal feces and trash. The poop-powered ride is called a Tuk Tuk, and was created by the staff of the Denver Zoo. Workers say they wanted to cut down on their contribution to landfills and are ecstatic that they have found a way to turn waste into clean energy. The Tuk Tuk will be going on tour over the next week, stopping at zoos and aquariums around the country to show off the unusually powered vehicle. Zoo workers will never need to go to a gas station again. Now they can fuel right up at the elephant exhibit. (KDVR)

FLIPPING FIDO 

Everyone has heard of house flipping--buying an older house, sprucing it up and then selling it for more money--but now folks are flipping pets. Animal rescuers say they are seeing an increase in people adopting pets only to sell them for several hundred dollars a few days later. This is an upsetting trend, because animals that shelters believe are going to permanent homes are actually kept in cramped and unsuitable spaces until they are sold. The flippers avoid getting caught by selling the pets on Craigslist and other online classifieds where it is difficult to track sellers. So sad and wrong. (KFVS12)

LIMIT ON LOVE

A couple with four dogs found out about Wausau, Wisconsin's pet-limit law the hard way. James and Melissa Lecker moved their family of two kids and four pooches from their home in Steven's Point to be closer to James's work. Shortly after moving, the Lecker's learned from a police officer that Wausau only permits citizens to have two dogs per household. The family contacted the local alderman to see if a variance of some sort was available, especially because two of their dogs were 13 years old. Unfortunately, the dogs were not given a pass and the Leckers chose to move to another town to avoid being punished for the extra pets. (Today)

RUH-ROH ROMNEY 

For the first time this election season, voters were polled on their reaction to the infamous story of Mitt Romney strapping his Irish Setter, Seamus, to the top of a car during a family trip. After having the incident described to them, 68 percent of the 900 voters polled thought the action was inhumane, while 14 percent thought it was humane, leaving the remaining percentage with no opinion. The same poll also asked the voters is they believed Romney or Obama was a better president for pooches. 37 percent said Obama would be the better prez, while 21 percent said Romney. The rest had no opinion. Overall, 17 percent of those polled said that Romney's treatment of dogs would actually lead them to vote for someone else. (Wall Street Journal)

GORILLA GET-AWAY 

A 400-pound gorilla escaped from his cage at the Buffalo Zoo this week. Koga, a male West Lowland gorilla, slipped trough an unlocked door and out of his exhibit, surprising a zoo worker. The gorilla bit the female zookeeper before being tranquilized and moved into a secure area. The president of the zoo says she believes Koga acted out of surprise and not aggression when he came face to face with the zoo keeper.    The gorilla never escaped into the public part of the zoo, but patrons were moved indoors during the 45 minutes when Koga was out of his enclosure. (Reuters)

MONKEY JOYRIDE

Wildlife officers in Ashley, Pa. had an interesting morning when they stopped an unusual pair of joyriders. A 23-year-old Ashley resident and his Java macaque monkey decided to go for drive around 4 a.m. The troublesome duo took off on a stolen all-terrain vehicle and went loudly four-wheeling through their neighborhood. When the police caught up with them, both the monkey and man fled. The man was quickly caught and arrested, while his animal passenger was found a few hours later and transferred to an animal refuge. (Standard Speaker)

MUSIC FOR THE ANIMAL MASSES 

Humans aren't the only creatures that like to relax and listen to music. Scientists recently found that many pets also enjoy some tunes, although they have a different definition of what's "good." Research shows that animals respond positively to music that is in their acoustic and vocal range, and also has a tempo similar to their heartbeat. Most human music, especially rock and classical, does not follow these guidelines, making it sound grating and indecipherable to most animals. One exception is larger dogs like the Mastiff, which has a vocal range similar to a human male. For smaller pets like cats and petite dogs, the best music would most likely sound very weird to us. Sounds like you and your pet will have to take turns playing DJ. (MSNBC)

KIND DOG CATCHER GETS SACKED

You don't usually hear about animal-control workers taking animals out of the pound, but that is exactly what Bryan Jones of Joliet, Ill. did. Jones, an animal-control officer, connected with a Chihuahua at his shelter who was marked as aggressive. After playing with the pup for a few minutes, Jones saw no aggressive tendencies and decided to take the dog home to see if it would get along with his other pets and family. Unfortunately, Jones did not tell anyone that he was taking the dog with him, and now the Township Supervisor is demanding he return the Chihuahua or lose his job. Worried about the dog being euthanized and unwilling to return him, Jones chose to lose his job rather than turn over the dog. (Dogster)

HOUSE MOUSE HISTORY 

Next time you see a mouse, show some respect. This animal is like a four-footed textbook of human history. Thanks to the vikings' penchant for bringing mice with them on all of their travels, researchers can track and study the settlements of humans from over 1,000 years ago by looking at mouse populations. Scientists have already found patterns in population between ancient mice and their human counterparts, as well as an understanding of how countries were colonized based on what type of mouse is dominant in an area. For example, Greenland contains mostly European mice species, because they were the last of the country's colonizers. (Discovery)

CAN-SIZED PUP

This Beyonce isn't sporting the same curves as her namesake quite yet, but she is still attracting a lot of attention. The Chihuahua mix was born at the Grace Foundation earlier this month, after her mother was taken in from a high-kill shelter. Several days after adopting Beyonce's mama, the Grace Foundation helped her give birth to four puppies. Beyonce was the last to be born and was a quarter of the size of her siblings.  Since her birth, Lil' Bey has been bottle fed around the clock and is quickly gaining strength and size. (Ohmidog)

PRICEY PAW STAR

Here's something to gossip about: a Blake Lively fan shelled out big bucks to purchase a puppy that is related to the "Gossip Girl" star's Maltipoo, Penny. Annelise Peterson paid $65,000 to obtain a dog in the same bloodline as the celebrity pet. Peterson is not the first to take on this hefty price tag; the trend of purchasing animals related to famous pets is growing. So, does Uggie have any siblings? (StyleCaster)

SOCIAL NETWORKING SAVES LIVES

Turkish—an adorable and deaf cat who went missing last week—is back at home thanks to Twitter. The stunning white feline disappeared from his home outside of London, worrying his owner and others, especially due to his lack of hearing. When Turkish's neighbor, Robyn Pierce, heard about the cat's disappearance, she quickly turned to social networking. Pierce tweeted a picture of the cat and urged others to retweet the pic along with the hash tag #N16, a postal code for the area, in order to attract local attention. Thanks to this quick thinking, Turkish was soon found and returned. (Catsparella)

NEW BEST FRIEND

Could foxes be the new Fidos? Professor and author Ceiridwen Terrill thinks so. Terill recently visited the Belyaev fox farm, a facility dedicated to breeding foxes with the trainability of dogs. The farm is now home to thousands of foxes that Terrill says can fetch, respond to spoken commands and love a good belly scratch. But drawing a distinction between "tame" and "domesticated," Terrill says researchers need to observe the animal truly domesticated inside a home before they'll believe in the project's success. They may find out soon enough as Belyaev is currently selling foxes for around $7,000 to families. Terrill is still worried about the project, because many of the animals are sent to homes after their peak socialization period. (NPR)

ANIMAL ABUSE REGISTRY 

Michigan is introducing a bill that, if passed, will require animal abusers to be registered in a similar manner to the way sex offenders are recorded. Individuals convicted of animal abuse would be required to notify authorities of an address change, make their personal information open to police inspection and available on the internet, and pay a $50 fee as part of the registry process. Supporters say this measure would crack down on animal cruelty and prevent murderers who start with animal abuse before escalating to killing humans. Five other states are also looking into similar measures, which would help expand the power of the registry. (Sacramento Bee)

COWBOY BANDITS

New York's swanky shopping district, Soho, was hit with a surprising crime this weekend. A store called Alexander Berardi was robbed, but not of merchandise. The store's owners say two thieves wearing cowboys hats came in and, instead of running off with some pricey duds, stole the boutique's pet bunny, Miss Cooper. The couple who own the store bring in their two rabbits every day to play in the store's window and attract customers. Miss Cooper disappeared while the owners had their backs turned and the cowboy-hat-wearing couple were in the store. The pet parents are hoping the pair come to their senses and return the rabbit. (Gothamist)