🐕🐈‍⬛ Tiny Dog Fosters Kittens

“We allow friends into our company,
but we allow pets into our solitude.”
- Robert Brault

Oh, and did you win a $50 Visa gift card? 🪇 💸

You’ll find the answer to that question right below this week’s Front Page Pets.

^{Cuteness Factor}
This Week’s Heartwarmers
 

Tiny Foster Dog Becomes Mom to Dozens of Kittens

 
Kona went through a string of hardships on the road to her forever home. A tough childhood, separation from her babies, and a failed adoption led her to be fostered by her current owners.

She took a while to warm up and was generally very anxious in the household, but it was clear that Koda belonged in her new family. 
 

 
It wasn’t until a litter of skittish kittens showed up that she showed her true colors. The kittens didn’t like humans yet, but they loved Kona.

And Kona loved them. Watch her blossom into her role as a mother and truly take a litter of unruly kittens under her wing.

“I See With My Heart” - River’s Story
 

 
River’s loss of vision hasn’t held him back from expressing who he truly is - a kind, beautiful soul who works wonderfully well with children, as you can see here.

River travels to schools, interacting with children on his family’s mission to spread awareness about disabilities, shelter animals, and compassion.

^{View River’s children’s book “I see with my heart”.}

Watch his interview above, and try not to let your heart melt too much because there’s still a lot of beautiful things left to see in this issue!

Cute Video Binge

Want to watch them all at once?
click here & scroll.

1. Saying “Good Boy” to Shelter Dogs

2. Send this to the manliest man in your life

3. Dog tests his owner with “so what?”

4. “Paw Enforcement” pet is very noisy

5. Fluffy dog paraglides 1,000 ft high
   
    

^News
Front Page Pets
 

 
Canines “Hang Ten” 🏄‍♂️ 🐾

 
This year’s World Dog Surfing Championships are coming soon thanks to a clutch GoFundMe. The event was nearly cancelled due high costs. Before we get into that, let’s watch a few dogs surfing.

Here are some highlights from 2023:

Located in Pacifica, CA, the canine championships were almost driven out by a 100% increase in costs of doing business in the Bay Area. The saving grace was a GoFundMe that generated $12,000 to keep this event above board (pun intended).

Cat Safe After Shipping in Amazon Return Box

 
Galena slipped into an Amazon return package just before her owners taped it up and shipped it from Utah to California.

This is a scary possibility for any cat owners out there. Galena made it six days in the box without any food or water and was still in relatively good shape.

Her owners are lucky she was okay, and we’re sure they’ll never let her leave their sight again. That said, this is a pretty incredible story and we applaud Galena for her traveling grit and determination to get back home!

Dogs are Loving This Year’s Cicadas

 
If you missed last week’s issue, here’s a brief rundown on one of the sections: Cicadas are safe for dogs to eat, but eating too many could cause digestive upset.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

There is one type of cicada that you should keep your dog away from. These are cicadas that have become infected with Massospora cicadina - which is a fancy way of saying steer clear of cicadas with a big yellow fungus near their rumps.

 
This fungus has psychedelic compounds, and actually causes cicadas to attack one another. So, watch out for these.

Don’t be alarmed if your dog eats one, but try to avoid it if at all possible.

More News:

1. Rescue dogs hit the runway

2. 5-legged dog up for adoption

3. Hunting dog expert weighs in on Kristi Noem

4. Purebreds, mixes shown to be equally healthy

5. Saloon owners let pets run bar

^{Fact vs Fiction}
Can Dogs Talk With Buttons?

 
You’ve seen videos of dogs talking with buttons.

Here’s the idea: you record yourself saying common words onto pushable buttons. Your dog learns to push those buttons, and this allows them to communicate those words back to you.

Here’s a video tutorial:

If you want to give it a try,

Take a look at the product. If it’s in your price range and you want to train your dog something new, why not find out for yourself?
 

Dogs Expressing Complex Thoughts

 
This video of a dog telling her mom she has an ear infection has intrigued millions of people.

Bunny, the star of the video, is undoubtedly the poster pup for this trend and its largest company - FluentPet. It’s an exciting idea, but how much of it can we really buy into?

We know dogs are more intelligent than they let on.

There was a dog named Chaser who knew the names of over 1,000 toys. Chaser’s owner would say the name of a specific toy, and the dog would grab it from a pile of hundreds of other toys.

If you haven’t seen it, it’s very impressive.

Chaser wasn’t stringing together complex sentences, however. It would be another thing if Chaser could tell his owner how he felt about the toy, which is what Bunny’s owner is claiming.

On the flip side, biologists and animal experts aren’t as convinced:

The biologist above suspects that dogs like Bunny are pressing the buttons they know will gain them the attention they’re looking for. The complex thinking and communicating, to her, seem like a stretch.

But, she does say one thing that is encouraging for those who would like to try these buttons:

Buttons like these work for “operant conditioning.”

Operant conditioning is ultimately the process of training your pet to perform a specific action in order to achieve a certain outcome.

For example, you could train your dog to push the button when they need to go outside rather than scratching all the paint off of your door!

Wherever you stand on the true-false spectrum of belief about these buttons, they could be useful. There is even an option to have your dog send you texts whenever they hit the button.