Happy Hound Newsround: June
Every month we bring you the best, and most ridiculous, dog stories from the depths of the internet. This week the Happy Hound team learnt that their’s a dog film festival, some dogs can be just as socially awkward as humans the number of dog tv addicts is on the rise.
Dogs are TV addicts
It seems dogs love TV just as much as humans. A recent study, carried out by pet food producers Wagg, discovered that 91% of dog owners admit their canine friends watch TV with them with 36% of those believing their dogs to be “TV addicts”. Of course this isn’t news to anyone who has heard of Chiko, the Netflix watching Shiba Inu who is regularly seen on social media channels enjoying TV shows like any person would. Unsurprisingly the most popular show with dogs was Crufts with 20% of owners saying their dogs love it.
The world’s loneliest dog becomes a Hollywood star
It’s a true rags to riches story. Freya the Staffordshire Bull Terrier had been rejected for adoption no less than 18,000 times due to her epilepsy but now she’s going to be a movie star. Everyone loves a true underdog story it seems, even one of Hollywood’s biggest directors in the shape of Michael Bay who heard Freya’s story and has now given her a part in Transformers 5. The filmmaker, who also directed Bad Boys, The Rock and Armageddon, has said that as well as making Freya a star he’s determined to find her a new home and if he fails, she’ll come live with him. Does anyone else have something in their eye?
The world’s first dog film festival
If you like dogs and you like film then make sure you book your tickets next year for the Los Angeles Dog Film Festival. This year the festival kicked off at Crest Theatre in Westwood on the 5th June and showed such doggy delights as The Hardly Boys In Hardly Gold, which was written and directed by artist William Wegman and stars his Weimaraners Fay Ray, Battina, Crooky and Chundo and David And Goliath, a true life story about a German Shepherd and a Jewish resistance fighter in Nazis Germany. The festival was created in 2014 by New Yorker Tracie Hotchner and is sponsored by the Petco Foundation.
Touch screens for dogs
Tech for animals is both funny and, arguably, a bit weird. But Animal Computer Interaction (ACI) could well help us achieve a better understanding of our dogs and in doing so help their welfare. From monitoring our pets while we’re out of the house to letting them play games to entertain themselves when we’re busy, research conducted by app company CompanionViz showed that such devices allow owners to get a better insight into their pet’s health as well as forming a stronger bond with them. In fact one study found that dogs, when allowed to chose what they watch on television, will tend to gravitate towards shows with dogs in them. The hope is that such discoveries will allow dogs to be better stimulated while owners are out of the house.
The world’s ugliest dog’s owner speaks out
In a world in which we’re obsessed with the aesthetically beautiful it’s good to know that dogs really don’t care. Because Quasi Modo, officially The World’s Ugliest dog, loves people. Born with a condition called short spine syndrome, which prevents her from moving her head, Quasi just won the competition with her owner Virginia Sayre stating “This isn’t about making fun of her, it’s about celebrating our differences”. Take tat Kim Kardashian.
The socially awkward pup pool party
You know when you go to a party and it’s quite easy to immediately tell who is an introvert and who is an extrovert? The introverts are normally penned into a corner somewhere with someone talking at them while they quietly nurse their only drink of the evening. The extroverts are the ones jumping on tables singing Girls Aloud songs. The good news is that it seems dogs are exactly the same, well, maybe without the Girls Aloud bit. As this video of an introvert dog looking petrified by the extroverts around her proves. The dog in question is Beya and she is apparently happy just chilling out and watching the world around her. We get it.
The airport’s latest hire
For many seasoned travellers, the site of a dog at an airport is not unusual. They’re normally trying to sniff for anything that shouldn’t be going on the plane. But in Michigan, USA Piper the dog has just as important a job in keeping birds away from the aircraft. Many airports use loud noise machines to achieve this but Piper prefers a good bark that does the job just as well.
Britain’s oldest dog dies
We’ve lost some true icons this year and it’s sad to say another one has joined the ranks. Yentl, who was a Jack Russell-Collie cross and was believed to be the oldest dog in Britain, has sadly died aged 24. As a pup Yentl was nearly shot by his original owner before being adopted by Marlene and Charlie Martin from Bude, Cornwall. He went on to compete in dogs shows and loved to chase a rabbit right into old age. Bow-wow old friend, bow-wow.
