Would You Have a Dog Ringbearer?

True Blood costars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer haven't yet set a wedding date, but they have ironed out one thing for their upcoming wedding: Moyer's border collie, Splash, will be their ringbearer, according to People.

Photo via weddingwire.com

Celebrity wedding and event planner Michelle Rago told PawNation, "People love their pets. If my clients don't have their dogs actually participate in the wedding, they'll still incorporate their dog into their wedding somehow, by making custom stamps of their dogs to hand out, or cookies in the shapes of their dogs, or by donating to an animal shelter."

I know this happens a lot, but what do you guys think about it? Jen Aniston's character walking down the aisle with a lab in He's Just Not That Into You keeps coming to mind. ("What a beautiful dog!" one guest said as they both walked by.) Do you think a dog in a wedding is cute...or a potential disaster?

A Sex Doll for Your Dog's...Needs

Yes, it's another thing I thought was a joke, but one company actually makes sex dolls for dogs. It's marketed by a French company, and it's called, naturally, the "Hot Doll." I don't know about you, but I've never had a humper (probably because I've had only female dogs), but I'm betting this could be an awkward issue.

According to China Daily, a company spokesman said: "Dogs have sexual needs or domination problems, which push them to climb on various objects such as cushions, teddy bears, and in the worst case on legs of your neighbors, guest, postman or your own."

He added: "Its shape and materials allow the product to be stable, to grip on the floor, to be resistant and to have a soft touch." Um, yeah, the most icky part? "To clean it you just have to pull the hole out and wash it with soap and water," he said. Grody, no? Hours of pup pleasure are available for the bargain price of 399 Euros. Check out their site here: http://www.hotdollfordog.com/

Would you ever purchase a sex toy for your dog?

"Pup Crawl" This Saturday

One Williamsburg resident has organized a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge this weekend to draw attention to all the animals at risk of losing their homes due to the crappy economy. According to the ASPCA, one million animals could be left homeless due to home foreclosures.

Credit: www.nynytours.com

So, Joseph Hassan, 29, decided to do something about it. The City Room New York Times blog reported: "Mr. Hassan said his ideal outcome for this event would be to help a family forced to give up a pet readopt it when they weathered the storm. In the interim, the pet could stay in a no-kill shelter or with a 'foster owner.' But to do that, the pet shelters need additional funds, as they are being overwhelmed by the surge in pets while their sources of money are drying up. 'They are hit doubly hard,' Mr. Hassan said." Mr. Hassan's goal, then, is to raise much-needed funds for shelters. 

The trek will take place Saturday, with pets and owners gathering at City Hall Park around 5:30 p.m. The walk officially begins at 7 p.m., and will be a round trip across the bridge and back. You even get a doggie bag for participating!

To register or get more information, click here: http://www.thepupcrawl.com/index.html

Doggie Disaster Duds

You can now get a pet emergency evacuation jacket. Yep, I thought it was fake too, but it’s for real. According to Trendhunter, the jacket is “made from material used by Japanese firefighters” and “this flame retardant suit protects your pet and is equipped with a handle to quickly make a run for it when a situation gets deadly. The jacket holds an abundance of items—that could be heavier than your pet—like a food bowl, rubber booties, muzzle, rain coat, freezer gel packs, nutrition bars, etc.”

Yes, this could save your life as well as your pet’s in an emergency, flood, whatever, but it pretty much guarantees you’re going to have back problems for the rest of your life. Good times.

Bear in mind, this is also only for people who have extra cash to burn during the recession. It retails for about $475 at Japan Trend Shop.

(Thanks so much for sending, Nina!)

A Plan to Sell Dog Poop

Upstate dog owners have a plan to try to profitably compost the billions of pounds of canine crap produced each year in the U.S, according to the New York Post. The Ithaca group—led by the Tompkins County Dog Owners Group and Cayuga Compost—hopes to market the usable compost within the next few years, and in so doing, significantly reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills.

Image via treehugger.com

“There are 73 million pet dogs in the United States,” says the story. “The average dog produces about 274 pounds of waste per year, which means total dog waste in the United States is more than 20 billion pounds.” Um, yeah, that’ll make throw up in your mouth a little bit, no matter how much you love your pet.

While there are many small-scale pet waste composters available on the market already, the Ithaca group wanted to deal with all the doggy doo on a bigger scale. Large-scale composting has worked well for Montreal, where municipal officials have been composting dog crap since 2004. Those Canadians sure are geniuses…

What do you guys think of this strategy?