Posts tagged "AnimalPlanet"

"These guys are not gonna be happy when they figure out what we're doing here."

It's baby-sloth bath time in this clip from Animal Planet's "Too Cute." The sloths receive a weekly bath, and apparently they don't like it, but it's tough to tell when they take it so casually. Then again, sloths by their very nature appear to take everything casually. So we'll take their keeper's word for it that this is a stressful activity for them, though adorable to us. But all is well when the freshly scrubbed furballs are given a special snack of hibiscus flowers, aka "sloth chocolate." Could these creature be any cuter? It's like everything about them was invented by an 8-year-old girl with too much Lisa Frank art in her brain.

Get ready; the most depressing show on Animal Planet is back for a third season! "Confessions: Animal Hoarders" is the animal-focused version of the immensely popular genre of hoarding reality shows. Whereas other hoarding shows feature people who refuse to throw out any of their garbage for decades at a time, "Confessions" documents folks who own, let's say, "unreasonable" numbers of pets. We mean enough animals to make life unsafe and virtually unlivable for the hoarders and for the pets.

To get an idea of what we're talking about, watch this interview with Yolanda, a "Confessions" hoarder to shared her story on "Today" this morning. Learn about how keeping 38 dogs and cats affects a person and their family. Want more? The new season of "Confessions: Animal Hoarders" premieres tonight at 10 p.m. on Animal Planet.

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Do you consider your cats members of the family? Would you rather purchase them a special kitty condo than buy yourself something special? If so, you might be just what Fresh Step and Animal Planet are looking for in their Feline Fanatics Contest!

Animal Planet is debuting a new show next year called "Must Love Cats," and in celebration, Fresh Step has teamed up with the network to hold a nationwide search for the families that love their felines the most. Whoever has the best cat tale will win an appearance on an episode of "Must Love Cats," an editorial feature in "Star" and a year's supply of Fresh Step cat litter.

John Fulton, the host of "Must Love Cats" (pictured here) has seen some extraordinary displays of kitty-cat love, including a cat birthday party with 200 guests (and a cat fashion show). But he knows there are more great stories out there, saying, "We're hosting this contest for all feline fanatics in America so we can find and honor the everyday people doing extraordinary things for their cats."

Think you qualify as a Feline Fanatic? Enter now through Oct. 17 at Fresh Step's Facebook page or the contest website by uploading one photo of your cat, sharing a brief description explaining why you qualify as a Feline Fanatic. Judges from Animal Planet and Fresh Step will select five finalists, and then America will choose the winner by voting at Fresh Step's Facebook page from Nov. 9-29.

And remember, they're looking people who have done things for their cats, not necessarily to them, so telling a story about dressing up your pretty kitty won't necessarily beat out someone who built their cat a two-story kitty castle!

When you see a cute litter of puppies or a box full of kittens, the desire to keep a couple of dozen of the little critters around is almost overwhelming. Most of us recognize, however, that we don't have the space or the time to attend to large numbers of animals.

But then there are the hoarders: People who love animals so much that they can't stop "rescuing" them, even when they have hundreds of cats and dogs in their homes.

Animal Planet is launching a new series called CONFESSIONS: Animal Hoarding, which looks into the lives of pet lovers who have a compulsion to possess and control an unmanageable number of animals. The series coordinates interventions by psychologists, animal welfare experts and friends and family to help these people -- and their pets -- recover from animal hoarding.

In this video from Today, Matt Lauer interviews Robin, one of the women featured in the show, along with psychologist Karen Cassiday, to gain insight into this troubling phenomenon.

Mississippi realtor Shelly Bookwalter is always showing houses and rescuing dogs, often at the same time.

"The more houses I sell, the more dogs I can save, so I go very fast in both categories," said Bookwalter, the star of a new Animal Planet series, "Last Chance Highway," developed by Al Roker's production company. "I can't say how many times I've scooted clients over in the car to make room to load a couple of dogs. I'm not going to miss a single stray dog that's going down the road; I don't care who's with me."

She has 25 to 30 dogs in her home at any given time, and saves an average of 650 a year.

When "Last Chance Highway" premieres Saturday at 8 p.m. EDT, viewers will see Bookwalter's quest to rescue unwanted strays and soon-to-be euthanized shelter dogs in rural Mississippi, where many owners don't spay or neuter their animals and shelters are strained beyond capacity. Many of the dogs come from the DeSoto County Animal Shelter near Bookwalter's house, where more than half the 2,578 dogs brought into the shelter last year were put down, according to the show.

"We're in such a rural area, there are a lot of dogs that just roam free, and if a dog roams free unspayed, they're pregnant immediately," Bookwalter tells Paw Nation.

Bookwalter has come up with a creative solution for saving the dogs -- sending them North to waiting families. The real estate agent spends what she earns selling homes to have dogs spayed and neutered, and treated and fed until they can be listed on Petfinder.com and placed in homes.

Each week, she takes the animals to Memphis, where Tennessee pet transport company owner Kyle Peterson picks them up and takes Bookwalter's rescues, along with more than 100 other dogs, up the coast to their new families in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut.

Mike Tyson is entering the realm of reality TV. This doesn't surprise us one iota. Nor does it surprise us that there has been some controversy. What does surprise us is that the show will be on Animal Planet and is based on pigeons. Yes, really.

Not every dog lays around all day, waiting for you to come home. Take Rosie the Newfie, for example. When her neighbor became seriously ill, she found a way to lend a paw and give a dying woman a reason to smile by leaping a fence to visit the sick neighbor every single day. And her owners had no idea.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are really doing their part to make tails wag across the country. Ellen has teamed up with the USPS and her dog food company, Halo, to raise awareness and feed homeless pets a million meals -- all you have to do to help is buy some stamps! Portia, on the other hand, is focusing on the feral cat population by working with Alley Cat Allies to tell people why the trap-neuter-return is the best policy.

If you're seriously hurt, you get yourself to the emergency room, right? Sure -- because you're human. Well, an injured German shepherd did just that after wandering away from home. Fortunately, the ER staff took pity on the pup and he's since been treated by the local animal shelter and returned to his owners.

The illegal trade of endangered animals is common in the Middle East, but the UN is taking measures to eliminate the practice. Delegates at a conference to discuss endangered species are looking at everything from animal abuse on a small scale to the sale of highly specialized species. It's going to be a hard (and heartbreaking) battle, but we're glad to see the UN addressing the issue.

For two days in December, nearly 4,000 dogs from across the nation and around the world gathered in Long Beach, Calif. to compete in the American Kennel Club (AKC)/Eukanuba National Championship. The event has the distinction of being the only dog show in the United States that is organized and held solely by the AKC, the country's oldest and only not-for-profit purebred dog registry.

With $225,000 in prize money available, the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship is the largest prize-money dog show in the world, according to Animal Planet, which will air highlights from the event on Feb. 6.

Elite dogs competed in several separate events, including Best in Show and AKC invitationals in agility and obedience. In addition, the Eukanuba World Challenge -- presided over this year by Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson -- featured dogs from 41 countries. The event brings together "some of the world's most beautiful and diverse dogs," promises Animal Planet. (Be sure to watch for Sadie, a black Scottish terrier, pictured left, who was ranked the number-one dog going into the competition.)

The AKC/Eukanuba National Championship premieres on Animal Planet and also on the Discovery Channel on Saturday, February 6, 2010, from 8-11 PM (ET/PT).

Forget about the Colts and Saints. This Sunday, we're cheering for the puppies!

For the sixth consecutive year, the "Puppy Bowl" on Animal Planet will provide a fluffy and adorable alternative to the Super Bowl. Viewers will watch 43 puppies play on a scaled-down gridiron. And don't worry; a referee will be there to watch out for "unnecessary ruffness." The halftime entertainment will consist of 20 kittens, while bunny cheerleaders will grace the sidelines throughout the game and a blimp will be flown by some very talented hamsters.

In case that doesn't give you enough of the warm fuzzies, chew on this: All of the puppies, kittens, bunnies and hamsters came from shelters and rescue groups that can be found on PetFinder.com, and almost all of the animals are of mixed breed. Plus, "Puppy Bowl VI" has earned the American Humane Association's "No Animals Were Harmed"® end-credit disclaimer!

Itching to get in on the action? "Puppy Bowl VI" will run on Animal Planet this Sunday, Feb 7 from 3 to 5 p.m. (EST/PST), and you can bone up on the starting lineup before the opening kickoff. (We think Coco looks like she's got real chops, but we have a feeling Jersey Boy might have some serious moves.) If you can't get the rest of your Super Bowl party to change channels, you're still covered. Animal Planet has five consecutive repeats scheduled.

Shorty Rossi, the star of the new reality series, "Pit Boss," may be one of Animal Planet's most colorful characters. He runs Shortywood Productions, a talent management company in Los Angeles, Calif. representing actors who are, like Rossi, little people. He readily admits to having served time in prison for gang-related felonies, but that's all in the past. For the past nine years, Rossi has been rescuing pit bulls, a breed with which he fell in love while growing up in the housing projects of South Central Los Angeles.

Recently, Rossi spoke with Paw Nation about his new show, why he loves pit bulls, and what you should know about little people.

How did the show "Pit Boss" come about?
The producers always saw that I had a compassion for dogs. This is something that hasn't been done before and Animal Planet took the chance. It's been one of the most amazing things because it's about my two passions: rescuing dogs, and my entertainment company.

What is your real name?
My real name is Luigi Francis Shorty Rossi. That's what's on my passport. I changed it years ago while in the entertainment business. When I check into hotels or go on the airplane, my ticket is under Shorty Rossi.

"Groomer Has It" put down its shears in June, but just because the cameras no longer are rolling on pet 'dos (and don'ts) doesn't mean you have to find another obsession. The marketing wizards behind the Animal Planet show decided to take to the Internets with a silly (albeit ridiculously satisfying) idea that lets you custom-design a stylish new look for your canine.

Upload a photo of your pooch's visage -- or choose from the dozen provided -- and let out your inner fashionista (or, y'know, groomer) by placing on your pooch a brand-spankin'-new 'do inspired by (among others) Whoopi Goldberg, Donald Trump, or Jennifer Aniston.

Doesn't Paw Nation's own in-house guinea pig dog, Atticus, look ready for prime time with "The Jay?"

Are Dalmatians really born without spots? What is a Xoloitzcuintli dog and how the heck do you pronounce it? Why does the Puli look like it has dreadlocks? A bevy of experts, trainers, veterinarians and dog enthusiasts answer those questions and more on the second season of Animal Planet's popular series, "Dogs 101".

Each episode focuses on a few breeds to showcase, imparting tons of information about a particular breed's history, personality and physique, but in a fun and entertaining fashion. "This series is a wink and a nod to what every pet owner knows -- that their dog ... is definitely the best, or the handsomest, or the funniest, or simply the most unusual," Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet Media, says in a statement.

This season, get ready to learn about some 37 different dog breeds. "Each person thinks their dog is the most special and unique, but a great majority of the breeds this season are ones that people probably never heard of," dog trainer and pet expert, Andrea Arden, tells Paw Nation. There's even an entire episode dedicated to "ugly dogs."

Joining the "Dogs 101" cast this season is Zak George (who has his own new show, "SuperFetch"), a dog trainer who believes anybody can teach their dog to perform any trick. "I talk about the dogs from a training perspective," George tells Paw Nation. "'Dogs 101' talks about the generalities of a breed, but is very responsible about not stereotyping dogs. All dogs have different qualities."

"I get a ton of emails after each show," says Arden. "Viewers really take the shows to heart."

"Dogs 101" premieres Saturday, October 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Animal Planet.

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