😹 Dog Has The Silliest Walk

😹 Dog Has The Silliest Walk

🎬 How Pets Become Stars

🐈 Night at The Meowseum

💸 Lotto Winner (at Bottom)

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^Heartwarmers
Rescue Dog Has The Funniest Walk
 

• Gabby was rescued from terrible conditions. She was left in a box and stayed there for an unknown amount of time before being rescued.

• When she recovered, her new owner realized that she had the silliest and most playful walk she’d ever seen.

• She found out that Gabby had a neurological condition that affected her balance, but that it didn’t cause her any pain and she doesn’t need to be on any medication for it.

• Gabby’s condition simply makes her plop and skip around like the cutest little fur ball you’ve ever seen!

• Gabby’s mom is the owner of 11 other dogs with disabilities, so she’s in the best possible forever home surrounded by people and pets who understand her.

The advertising industry is a monolithic beast, worth an estimated $425 billion in America alone in 2024. As consumers, we’ve gradually become used to being bombarded with ads relating to almost everything imaginable – and a few things beyond some people’s imagination – from TV and radio to websites and magazines.

Pet owners are a top priority among advertisers, alongside motorists, parents and junk food lovers. The 2024 APPA National Pet Owners Survey reported that 58 million American households contain at least one dog, while 40 million include one or more cats. That’s a vast target audience, demanding sophisticated and emotionally resonant advertising campaigns across both traditional and digital media.

A familiar tail…

Some media content can be made without featuring animals at all, such as animated videos or podcasts incorporating archive animal sounds. However, there’s huge demand for pooches and pusses to appear in still photographs, video clips and even live stage shows. In turn, this has spawned an entire industry of pet stars, coordinated by animal talent agencies. And no, you didn’t misread that. Sometimes run by vets, zoologists or other animal experts, these businesses are dedicated to recruiting and retaining animal talent, via their owners.

Once you get under the hood of the pet modeling industry, its true scale quickly unfolds. Many agencies have been around for decades, sourcing appropriate animals for anything from marketing campaigns to modeling contracts. Some agencies specialize in dogs, though most also represent cats. Others stray into the realms of exotic animals – ideal when you’re shooting a toothpaste commercial, and you need a crocodile in a snap. 

Reputable agencies adhere to animal safety best practice, follow Humane Animal Treatment Documentation guidelines and try to avoid animals enduring long days on-set in the way human actors may be expected to. They’ll have trained handlers on site, deploy transparent standards of ethical behavior and (in many cases) take a relaxed attitude to pet owners staying in the background.

Which pets have the most on-screen talent?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so you don’t need a perfectly bred Ragdoll or a fifth-generation Pembrokeshire Corgi. Quirky-looking animals might also be of interest to talent-spotters alongside naturally photogenic ones; tabby markings or a spindly tail aren’t necessarily barriers to entry.

Far more important than appearance is personality. Therapy dogs and former guide dogs tend to be well-suited to talent agency work, because they’re used to cooperating with humans in situations the majority of pets would find unusual or stressful. Dogs must have biddable natures and be able to follow a variety of different commands, even when issued by other people – you may not be around when your pet is hitting its marks. 

Any talent animal needs to remain calm amid loud noises, crowds or distractions in the distance. This is especially important in pet food adverts, where eating the merchandise will inevitably delay proceedings. Agents tend to favor animals capable of understanding and reliably responding to a handful of core words – sit, stay, come, and so on – which are useful when a scene or shoot is ready for action (or inaction!)

Is Your Pet Destined for The Silver Screen?
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First, a word of caution – most pets aren’t temperamentally suited to joining the books of a talent agency, in the same way most pets aren’t suited to attending cat or dog shows. It can mean a lot of travel and disruption for both of you, while removing one pet from a multi-animal household often distresses those left behind.  Any animal needs a calm temperament to endure hot or noisy conditions, being surrounded and handled by strangers, while navigating strange environments and periodic commands.

Many leading agencies will start their application process by requesting some high-quality images of your pet, a summary of their personality and the attributes which would make them well disposed to following instructions or completing a particular task (such as a cat capable of jumping onto a countertop or raising its front paw on command). It helps greatly if you live in either New York or California, respectively home to America’s advertising and film/TV industries. However, other big cities will have their own ad agencies – and potentially pet talent agencies as well.

Once you’ve registered your pet, don’t expect the phone to ring off the hook. There’ll be a constant churn of pets retiring/owners deciding not to pursue further bookings, but many smitten owners will be registering their own animals at the same time in the hope of one day seeing their kitten in a Vogue shoot, or their puppy in a movie. If vanity or profit are your motives, this probably isn’t the right move, but we can all dream about our furry friends having their own fifteen minutes of fame…

^{Front Page Pets}
Night at The “Meowseum”

• There’s a famous quote that says “We used to worship cats as gods.. they haven’t forgotten this.”

• Cats who may have forgotten were reminded last week when their owners took them to the Shanghai Museum’s “Meowseum Nights” which allowed visitors to bring their cats to witness ancient Egyptian artifacts.

• Workers made sure the museum was cat-proofed for the 10-night sold-out event.

• Click below to see a few lucky cats finally recognizing their greatness, just as the Egyptians did!

^{Best Friend Moments}
Puppy is Determined to Befriend Cat

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This Week’s Key Pet News

Therapy Dogs Save The Day During Finals Week

Two therapy dogs at the University of Montana offered students a much needed release from the stress of exams. Gidge and Boomkin were tasked with spreading a serotonin through the halls of the University in hopes of improving the students’ mental health.

Click below to learn more about these impressive pups and get the reviews from students they helped last week.

Dominance Training is Outdated, Here’s What Really Works

Research has shown that the punishment-based “dominance theory” to dog ownership doesn’t work as well as positive reinforcement. If you’re in need of a few positive training tips, the article below has them for you.

Hooray for kindness and love being the proven way to care for our pets!

Unraveling The Orange Cat Mystery

We’ve all heard stories about orange cats, their uncontrollable antics, and the fact that most of them are males. Still, scientists hadn’t pinned down the reasons for these traits until earlier this year.

Click below to learn how geneticists solved the orange cat mystery, and what it means for our understanding of tortoiseshell and calico cats as well.