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10 Funny Pet Web Sites

by Blake Besharian, posted Oct 19th 2008 at 12:01AM

Perhaps one of the most popular things to do on the Internet is upload and broadcast pictures of your beloved animals. Everything from pictures and videos to podcasts of pet shenanigans have found ample homes online. Unfortunately, the vast majority of pet sites are of the nausea-inducing "cute" variety. Since pets can induce hours of laughter (regardless of whether they're wearing Groucho glasses or ladies' hats or not), we here at Switched decided to scour the Web for funny pet sites, and we found quite a few. What follows is a sampling of our favorite funny pet sites, some old, some new. Funny, of course, depends on the mind of the beholder, but we'd be lying if we didn't admit that we pretty much guffawed at every last site on this list. Check them out....




1. Lolcats
Lolcats are funny pictures of cats doing dumb things with broken, misspelled English captions placed over them. The result is often hilarious, such as a cat jumping out of a toilet with the following caption: "I'M IN UR TOILET USIN' UR FACILITIES." The central hub for all things lolcat, icanhascheezburger.com, is currently enjoying a resurgence of popularity after a few months of hype-trend-overload. The site has been online for two years and now includes a constellation of sites for lolcats, loldogs and political lolz -- the same thing, but for dogs and politicians.
If you're wondering how to make your own Lolcat, which is as simple as taking a goofy picture of your cat, adding a caption, and uploading it here, then check out the site's "wiki" tutorial designed to help people learn lolspeak, the broken English used on the site. The site also has a "lolz builder," which allows you to create your own lol-based-image with minimal effort and no software (they even supply pictures for you to caption). This means that there are new lolz posted all the time, which makes Lolcats the ultimate place to go for hilarious cat humor.

Dog Swallows Owner's Cell Phone -- Whole

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Sep 9th 2008 at 6:30PM

Dumb Dog Swallows Cell Phone
People love to talk about how smart their dogs are. They'll tell you about how Fido can identify their car just from the sound of the engine, that he knows when he has done something wrong and that he'll punish himself, or that he can do so many amazing tricks. The sad truth of the matter, however, is that dogs are stupid. Adorable? Sure. Friendly? Sometimes. But smart? Not so much.

Take the case of Nero, a Doberman-Great Dane mix, from Valhalla, South Africa, who got himself into a little hot water when he swallowed his owner's cell phone. Driekie Boojens, daughter of the dog's owner Marie Matthews, was feeding Nero when he snatched the woman's Nokia handset right out of her daughter's hands and swallowed it whole.

Nero was rushed to the local animal hospital and had surgery the next day to remove the phone. While they were in there, vets also found a small collection of rocks in the dog's stomach. More evidence of the intelligence of our canine friends.

Nero is fine now. The twelve-year-old mutt has a large scar on his abdomen, but is otherwise healthy. The Nokia on the other hand, had to be put down. Nero's stomach acid simply proved to be too much for it to handle. [From: Telegraph]

LED Gadget Translates Your Dog's Tail Wags

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 9th 2008 at 7:41PM

LED Gadget Translates Your Dog's Tail Wags

We've seen toys that claim to decifer dog barks (and even fancy computers that can decode the barks of a particular breed of dog better than humans can), but we still haven't seen a big glowing sign that spells out what your dog is trying to say -- until now.

Okay, truth be told, you still won't, at least not at home, unless you run to New York's MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) for a demo at the Elastic Mind exhibit, since this device is just a concept.

The proposed device would attach to the dog's tail, measure his or her WPM (Wags Per Minute) and use that to figure out what he/she is trying to say. It would then spell out your canine's message in LED lights in mid air as the your dogs tail wags, turning it into a tacky novelty message board.

From Engadget

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Pet Adoption Web Site Created by 6th-Grader

by Will Safer, posted Feb 25th 2008 at 3:05PM

Pet adoption Web site.

A Maryland sixth grader has combined her interest in animals with a healthy dollop of Web-page-building skills to build a site that matches cats, dogs and other animals that need homes with people who are looking to adopt the furry friends.

Eleven-year-old Jennie Lupkin of Ijamsville, Md., went from matching pets at a local animal shelter with people placing requests on Craigslist but soon went well beyond, creating the site "Helping Animals One At A Time" (www.freewebs.com/frederickanimalcontrol/).

Lupkin -- who has a bichon frise dog, a hermit crab, two birds and fish -- posts pictures of cats, dogs and other animals that are waiting for adoption at the local animal shelter. The site includes highlights of pets in need of homes and encourages people to volunteer at local animal shelters. It also features a page where site visitors can leave comments. So far, response has been on the positive side.

Besides Lupkin getting lots of attention for her age, the site stakes a claim to perhaps a new type of matchmaking Web site, in the spirit of dating sites like Match.com or Jdate.com.

Everyone is looking for companionship. Maybe a little furry friend is in your future?

From Examiner.com.

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Computer Interprets Dogs' Barks

by Will Safer, posted Jan 16th 2008 at 1:38PM


A Hungarian scientist has developed computer software that interprets the barks of a certain breed of Hungarian dog. This is exciting news, especially for so many dog owners who are convinced their pets are saying intricate and purposeful things whenever they bark. Turns out, they may be right.

The software analyzes distinct barks that indicate the emotional state of the Hungarian Mudi herding breed (pictured above) in six situations: when the dog is alone, when it sees a ball, when it fights, when it plays, when it encounters a stranger or when it goes for a walk.

Not quite a full range vocabulary but it's a start. Down the road, he and colleagues expect the software to be applicable in consumer products to allow easy human-dog dialog.

For now, though, the software was only three percent better than humans at correctly determining which of the six scenarios was in play while one of the dogs barked, so it may be a while before you can find out specifically what your canine pal really thinks of the new chew toy you got him.

But wait. We seem to remember a little toy from a few years ago called the Bow-lingual. A little digging confirms this device from Japan's Takara company, which was clearly marketed as a toy, claimed to interpret dog barks and relay statements like, "I'm feeling great!" or "Come on, play with me!" Interestingly enough, the toy maker also determined there were six distinct vocal patterns do be identified within dogs' barks and took into account the differences between the barks of 50 breeds. Impressive. To our disappointment, the official Bow-lingual Web site is no longer active. (But back in 2003, the folks at ExtremeTech took a close look at the toy.) And cat lovers, don't feel left out -- there was also a Meow-lingual.

As for the Hungarian scientist, he says there is work to be done and improvements to be made to his software. The first thing we want him to do is develop a program that automatically helps us understand his Hungarian accent so we can figure out what else he's been saying.

From Reuters.

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Gadget Silences Noisy Neighborhood Dogs

by Evan Shamoon, posted Sep 21st 2007 at 12:27PM

Does your neighbor's dog bark incessantly all day and night, or worse, tell you to kill? Put down the arsenic-laced Scooby snacks and instead pick up Bark Free, a nifty little gadget that silences the sound of a dog barking from 30, 50 or 60 feet away depending on the model. When Fido barks, Bark Free flips on and emits ultrasonic sound waves, which are undetectable to the human ear. When the barking stops, the sound is switched off. Though not harmful to the perpetrating pooch, the ultrasonic sound is rather unpleasant for him and he quickly learns not to bark in the vicinity of your yard. Prices range from $70 to $120.

Man, cats are gonna have a field day with this one.

From GizmoWatch

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PetCell, the Mobile Phone for Dogs

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Sep 11th 2007 at 10:32AM

Calling Your Dogs
If you're prone to losing your dog or have a Barbara-Walters-like ability to communicate with your pooch, you may want to pick up the PetCell, which is exactly what it sounds like -- a cell phone for your pet. Our dogs' conversation skills tend to be a little lackluster, so the calling feature seems a little pointless for anything beyond a a laugh.

That said, dogs do have a tendency to wander off and get lost, which is where the device's built-in GPS features come in handy. Like Verizon Wireless's Migo phone with Chaperone Service for keeping track of your kids, PetCell's GPS capability lets you track Fido's movements, as well as build electronic borders for he or she to stay in -- if your pet steps outside of a predesignated zone, you'll get an automatic alert in the form of a text message or e-mail to your phone or computer.

And get this --the phone can also be programed to only accept calls from specific numbers so that telemarketers can't convince the poor pooch to subscribe to US Weekly. Did we mention it's also waterproof?

Besides the GPS capability, the device is fairly pointless, particularly when you factor in the outrageous $500 price tag before you add a service plan. For that money, we wonder why PetCell doesn't have media playback capabilities and a multi-touch screen.

Of course, pet gadgets -- useful or otherwise -- are always good for a laugh, so here are a few others that made us smile:

From Sci-Fi Tech

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Fido's Dog Tag Goes High Tech

by Tim Stevens, posted Aug 9th 2007 at 11:01AM

An LCD for FidoIs that engraved, dog bone-shaped tag dangling from your pooch's collar a little too low-tech for ya? You're not alone. A company called eTags has developed a more high-tech option dubbed the Dog-e-Tag. It's a $30-$40 electronic tag that includes a four-line LCD screen that you can program with your pet's name and your phone number. But, with up to 40 lines of information available to scroll through, you can also stack it up with your street address, e-mail, any medical problems your pet has and whatever else you feel like punching in ... your pooch's preference for Evian, perhaps? The tag is water-proof, shock-proof, cold-proof, and comes in six different colors. Battery life is rated at two years and, when it dies, you can pop in a new battery on your own. Take that iPhone!

From OhGizmo!

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Attack of the Clones

by Tom Conlon, posted May 20th 2007 at 6:02PM

Attack of the Clones
DasaTech Genibo
Last year, Sony put its line of Aibo robot dogs to sleep to the dismay of a small, but devoted following of bionic canine lovers. Thankfully, Korean manufacturer DasaTech has pulled a 'Pet Sematary' and resurrected Aibo in the form of Genibo (left, short for 'Genius Robot').

The Genibo trots around your house avoiding obstacles. It understands about 100 voice commands and can spout back phone numbers and calendar appointments. It even has a built-in camera that can transmit snaps to a PC via Bluetooth -- just in case you want photos of all the legs Genibo has been sizing up as potential mates. No word yet on price or availability.

Spotted at Engadget

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