Taryn Fiol

Ever since the skateboarding dog pedaled its way to YouTube fame, pooches everywhere have been in training to become America's next big athletic sensation. That's the only way to explain why 65 dogs mounted surfboards and tacked the West Coast waves this weekend.

The dogs competed in the fifth annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Competition in California on Saturday, an event to benefit the San Diego Police Canine Unit.

The competitors -- ranging in size from an 85-pound Bernese mountain dog to a 5-pound Pomeranian -- hit the shores of Imperial Beach, braving stormy weather to ride the waves on human-sized surfboards. Each life-vest adorned dog was placed on a surfboard and released onto the shallow waves to see how long they'd last on the board. They were judged not only on the length of their ride, but also their confidence and overall ability.

Of course, this isn't the first canine surfing event, and many of the competitors are veterans of the sport. Tonic.com reports that many of the pups competing Saturday have websites, Facebook fan pages and even sponsors.

Among the 2,000 fans in attendance was another famous dog; the Great Dane starring in the new Twentieth Century Fox Film, "Marmaduke" was present along with the film's two-legged stars, Owen Wilson and George Lopez.

The trophy was taken by Abbie, a 3-year-old rescued Australian Kelpie.

As tempting as cool pool water is on a hot day, it can be dangerous for your dog. An estimated one out of every 1,027 pets drowns in swimming pools each year. But there are things you can do to make sure you all have fun.

Evaluate Your Pooch
Most dog breeds have the ability to swim, but that doesn't mean yours can or will. Also, certain breeds such as bulldogs can't swim at all, and other dogs have physical limitations that put them more at risk in the pool, so you may need to be extra careful.

"When you've got an older dog or a dog with a handicap, like a dog that can't see well, definitely get a fence around the pool when you can't watch them," Shannon A. South, D.V.M., of Briarcliff Animal Clinic in Atlanta, Ga. tells Paw Nation. Even if the dog isn't attracted to the pool, they could always fall in. So keep an eye out when you and your dog both are pool-side, and be wary of letting a non-swimmer in the yard near the pool without you.

Be Careful With "Protective" Gear
While items such as pool covers do have their purposes, they may not be the best option for your dog. South points out that sometimes, covers actually can be riskier. If a dog jumps onto the pool cover, it may cause the entire cover to sink, possibly trapping the dog underwater.

Displacement alarms, which measure the water levels in your pool and can be set to sound an alarm when a pet or child falls in, may be a good way to prevent against accidental drowning as long as someone is around to hear it.

The Wii game system has been a major success for Nintendo in part because it's easy for just about anyone to use. So easy, in fact, that even your family pet can get in on the fun!

The Wii's popular "Wii Fit Plus" fitness game allows us humans to play body-toning games and track our weight , (weight loss, hopefully), all from our living-room TVs. But because the game includes a cat-and-dog-friendly "Pet Stats" feature, I wondered exactly how our pets are supposed to get involved.

For those not familiar, the Wii Fit Plus game and the included pressure-sensitive Wii Balance Board are the latest tools in the Ninendo Wii game console's active-play phenomenon. After you create a profile and a digital doppelganger (called a "Mii") you can exercise and track your weight with daily body tests.

I've had the Wii Fit Plus game for a while and always found tempting the button to create a Mii for your pet. But with only a fish in the house (who's weight I cared not to monitor), I held off.

Once I welcomed a Boston trerrier puppy named Bacon into my home, I knew the Wii Fit would be a fun way to track his growth from tiny little nugget to full-grown dog.

Our favorite childhood collectible candy dispenser just got a pet-friendly makeover.

Pez for Pets works just like a regular Pez dispenser except it's bigger -- about 10 inches tall -- and it doles out dog treats instead of candy.

There are currently only two doggy Pez "heads" available: beagle or hound, priced at $14 each. Both come stocked with six yummy treats to pop from the top made from 100-percent corn starch in cheese, bacon, and beef flavors. And since you know how quickly those little treats disappear, make sure you grab a refill pack of 12 all-natural treats for $6.

Our only question -- how the heck do you pop the top without opposable thumbs?

In a group of animal lovers or "The Price is Right" hosts, it's easy to see a passion for adopting homeless pets and controlling the pet population. But thanks to a national survey commissioned by PetSmart Charities, we now have an insight to the overall national perceptions and opinions about pets.

Among 1,000 new pet owners (those who acquired a dog or cat in the past year), the study found that only 24 percent were adopted from shelters. This means a whopping 76 percent of pets were received from sources other than shelters, with the primary reason being a desire for a specific purebreed.

Interestingly, when those who purchased pets were asked what might motivate them to choose shelter adoption instead, knowing that "millions of purebred animals end up in shelters" was found to be the least motivating factor.

Despite Bob Barker's tireless encouragement, the study also found that nearly half of people who have acquired unsterilized pets in the last year haven't fixed them. As a result, more unwanted pets are being born into the world. Owners reported that more than half of the litters born to their dogs and cats were unintentional.

Other interesting findings from the study are that people earning $55,000 or more per year are more likely to adopt from shelters, and southerners and the under-35 set are the least likely to sterilize their pets.

"We hope that by providing this data to others who share our passion for saving the lives of homeless pets, we can break down the barriers to pet adoption and spay/neuter that survey respondents identified," said Susana Della Maddalena, executive director of non-profit PetSmart Charities, Inc. "We can all use the data to develop new practices and messages based on what we now know to be key motivators and barriers."