obedience.

For some people, having a yippy dog can be a dealbreaker. Or just really, really annoying. But one owner of a Shiba Inu in Japan is either brilliant, lucky, or a little bit of both. She demonstrated for a TV audience her dog's ability to -- get this -- change the volume of his bark based on her command. While we should be reeling from how impressive this is, we're just as equally blown away by how cute it is. Like, look that at that face! That face! ...

Nacthfrost13, Flickr Cute Pet Name: Blue Velvets Pixipan, called "Paula" Location: Bonn, Germany Age: 4 years Dog Breed: Australian shepherd Favorite Toy: Frisbee. Likes: Activities such as agility, obedience, Dogfrisbee, running. Dislikes: Taking orders. Weird Quirk: She doesn't know the meaning of the word calm. Congratulations to our submitter, Nachtfrost13. If you'd like to submit your pet, upload your favorite pet photos to our Flickr pool! More Cute Pets ...

Ben Westhoff Each week, Ben Westhoff shares the ups and downs of owning Pippi, the dalmatian mix he and his wife, Anna, adopted as a puppy in late 2009. The reasons dogs jump on people is simple -- they want to be face to face with us. It makes sense; heck, if my head naturally sat 18 inches off the ground I would get tired of it, too. But it's also not something you want your dog to do. Even if you don't mind her jumping up on you, it sets a bad precedent for other people. Not everyone is a dog lover, and even those who are can be put off by a 50-pound wiggle worm getting up in their business. We wrote last year about a woman whom Pippi annoyed after jumping up on her collarbone. You ...

Pam Vojtas "After 125 years, American Kennel Club opens competitions to mutts," reports the Washington Post. Not all events of course -- your mixed-breed pooch won't be sharing the show ring during the beauty competitions, but your mutt can prove what he's made of in the skill contests. The American Kennel Club, which has been celebrating the best of purebred canines since 1884, has relaxed its standards a bit, creating a new option for owners of mixed breed dogs called AKC Canine Partners. Paw Nation got the scoop on the new program which allows dogs, regardless of fancy pedigree (or lack thereof), to participate in AKC Rally, Agility and Obedience competitions. We talked with Pam Vojtas, ...