Petfinder Blog

People's pets dressed up in holiday garb always makes me laugh. So this year I put some antlers on my dog and snapped his picture.

But making my friends chuckle isn't my only good deed this season, thanks to a little help from the new Petfinder.com Foundation Photo Store.

This year you can personalize holiday gifts while helping homeless pets at the same time.

The Petfinder.com Foundation's Photo Store offers pet lovers top quality digital photofinishing, personalized photo gifts, customized special occasion cards and more.

Best of all, a large portion of the proceeds goes straight to the Petfinder.com Foundation to help even more homeless pets this holiday season!

Check it out, make your own personal holiday gifts, and include your mutt's mugshot -- your friends and family are sure to love them.

You can bet that this year both Luckie and Scarlett, my adopted dogs, will be doing a lot more then just smiling for my family and friends -- they will be giving back to homeless pets with help from the Petfinder.com Foundation Photo Store!

Have you ever wondered what it would look like if dogs ruled the world? What if they selected their forever families at shelters?

Members of the band You Scream I Scream teamed up with Petfinder member shelter the MSPCA Adoption Center -- Nantucket in Nantucket, MA, to find out ... with hilarious results.

We're celebrating Adopt-a-Shelter-Cat Month by partnering with LOLcats site Icanhascheezburger.com to bring adoptable cats to a whole new audience.

If you check out any adoptable cat on Petfinder, you will see a button under his or her photo that says ADD TO ICANHASCHEEZBURGER.COM.

When you click, you have the chance to write a creative LOL-worthy caption. You know the pictures ... the ones that when you look at them, you can't help but put words in the cat's mouth?! Well, here's your chance.

Once you submit a captioned adoptable kitteh (that is LOL-speak for cat!), she will go into the gallery and Icanhascheezburger visitors will vote on their favorites.

The top vote-getters make it to the home page with a link back to the cat's Petfinder profile. It's fun -- and it will also, we hope, get more people to check out the adorable, adoptable cats on Petfinder.

I want to thank everyone for their comments and guesses as to the breed of my dog, Alan.

Many of you were on the right track: According the the Canine Heritage breed identification, there were no clear primary breeds (neither parent was a purebred) but they did identify Greyhound as a secondary breed.

Now here's a head scratcher -- the only other breed they identified "in the mix" was English Coonhound!

Clearly he is a true mutt, and it goes to show what gorgeous and fantastic pets mixed breeds are. I tend to agree with some of of you who considered Great Dane, Rottweiler and/or Doberman in there somewhere.

I particularly like the idea of him being a "Great Bordobie" as someone suggested ("the ears of a border collie, body of a dobie and his head just screams great dane"). Perhaps more like a Great Greyeiler? I'm not sure about the rest ... but he is definitely great!

I previously posted about my dog Alan, whom I adopted almost a year ago. As he has acclimated to family life, one thing has become clear: He's a real character, with a personality as unique as his good looks.

Whenever someone meets him, the conversation inevitably turns to speculation about what breeds he is a mix of.

I have postulated that there must be a strong Rottweiler/Doberman component, since from the back end his coloration and physique are very close to those breeds. Then again, I may be reacting to the fact that somewhere along the line someone (sadly) felt compelled to crop his tail.

From the front, things are less clear. It seems like some of his unusual traits might lend a clue -- for example, he is deaf, extremely fast, has huge paws and long, awkward legs.

My dog Champ didn't actually participate in my wedding, but we did put a little plastic toy pit bull that looked just like him on our cake with the bride and groom figurine.

But we want to know: Was your dog (or other pet) in your wedding? Or are you planning a wedding and planning to include your pet? Send your story and pics to me at "blog (at) petfinder.com" -- or post them in the comments here. (Here's how to post a photo in the comments.)

The Petfinder blog is taking a little hiatus to play with our new toys and take pictures of our pets in their new sweaters.

Happy New Year to everyone and we'll see you on Jan. 5!

Want to send your favorite person a smile for the holidays? Check out our new, free holiday e-cards -- featuring pictures of Petfinder visitors' pets in their holiday best.

While we only had room for three e-cards, the truth is, we loved ALL the ugly-pet-sweater photos you sent in (you can view all the photos here).

Thanks to everyone who submitted a photo -- we're glad to see that your adopted pets are keeping toasty in their loving homes this season! Help spread the word about pet adoption and send a Petfinder e-card today!

Previous entries:

Check out these adorable ugly-pet-sweater photos!

Send us your ugly pet-sweater pic, be on a Petfinder e-card!

Last week we asked you to send us your ugly pet sweater pics. The results were even cuter than we could have expected! Here are some samples.

Lori Renner writes: "Thank goodness Kasey doesn't fit in this anymore!" (We think Kasey looks adorable!)












Angela M. Shatzer of Carolina Poodle Rescue in Spartanburg, SC, writes: "Here is one of our Chinese Crested dogs at our shelter. She's so sweet. One of our kennel workers call her 'Hot Momma.' She loves to hug her leg all day long."







Megan Goetz writes: "Mrs. Murphy is ready for the holidays! Cheers!"











Amanda Tredway writes: "This is Landon, a Yorkie mix. He is currently up for adoption through PPAWSS, Promoting Pet Adoptions and Welfare in Sulphur Springs (Texas). Thanks, I hope you enjoy!"


See even more adorable pups in ugly sweaters after the jump!

As the holidays approach, you may remember the decorative, ornate holiday sweaters that were so popular in the '80s and '90s. Some of you might even pull yours out as Thanksgiving rolls around -- hey, what better way to get into the festive mood?

However, all of us in the pet-loving community know the only thing better than a not-so-fashionable holiday sweater is an ugly pet sweater. So send us yours!

Whether it belongs to you or your pet, post it here in the comments section (here's how) or e-mail it to us at blog (at) petfinder.com by Nov. 23 to share a couple of laughs.

And here's the best part: One ugly pet sweater will be made into a holiday e-card!