Rest In Peace Maggie

We had to put our dog Maggie to sleep on Monday night. I've been a mess ever since - can't believe how much I loved that dog. In her honor, here's a re-post of the canine commandments. I'm so thankful I read this before her death because it really struck a chord for me and I spent the last weeks of her life saying a proper goodbye. We always honored the commandments, but we really honored 8, 9 and 10 in the last few weeks.

Hong Dong cha ching

Pictured below is Big Splash, or "Hong Dong" (Chinese name). The tibetan mastiff sold for 1.5 million United States of America dolla dolla billz (or 10 million Chinese yuan) at auction in Qingdao, China. TCD loves dogs, but $1.5 mill is is not a cheap chow, even for a pup that fetches 150 c-notes for a hump sess. In technical terms, that means it can fetch a $15,000 stud fee.

Not Too Much To Ask From Man's Best Friend

We are dog lovers here at The Coughing Dog (it's right there in the name after all). This list is very sensible and a great reminder that if you're a dog owner, you've signed up for a lot of responsibility, but it's definitely worth it.

From the Cool Dogs tumblr feed.

Canine Halloween misery

The New Yorker has a genius slide show of dogs looking absolutely miserable in their Halloween costumes. Check it out here.

Unfortunately for them, they missed out on the number one most uncomfortable dog in a Halloween costume. That would be my family's dog, Emme, seen below in the shark costume she wore this year.

Great post from the Freakonomics blog, wish my office would read this

From today's NYTimes Freakonomics blog post:

New research shows that, in addition to being man’s best friend, dogs improve productivity in the office. Christopher Honts and coauthors gave 12 groups of four people a task to complete; some groups had a dog hanging around while they worked, while others didn’t: “After the task, all the volunteers had to answer a questionnaire on how they felt about working with the other—human—members of the team. Mr. Honts found that those who had had a dog to slobber and pounce on them ranked their team-mates more highly on measures of trust, team cohesion and intimacy than those who had not.” Honts also asked 13 groups of people to play a version of the prisoner’s dilemma game and found that “[h]aving a dog around made volunteers 30% less likely to snitch than those who played without one.” Perhaps Congress should invest in some canine companions?

Moscow's Brilliant Stray Dogs

Dogs + Evolution = 100% chance of an SSJ post.

I've seen dispatches on the Moscow stray dogs that covered their use of the subway system to commute to areas with more food.

Now, we find that the 150 years of evolution have lead to distinct types of strays, and a change in pack structure to follow the smartest dog, rather than the dominant dog.

Moscow's Stray Dogs Evolving Greater Intelligence

Merry Merry

An underrated part of any gift giving occasion is the witty card that can sometimes accompany a present. In the spirit of Christmas, I give to you, the loyal TCD readership, a smattering of Santa's witticisms delivered to me this morning.

Card 1: When what to my wondering eyes should apprear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer! That's when I handed over my keys and took a cab home.

Card 2: Merry Christmas from the Dog. As my gift to you, I promise that I will never again pee on the floor. Is the sofa okay?

The dog in question, who has been peeing on the floor for an amazing 16 Christmases, is pictured below in the bow I made her. Took me all of about two hours last night, which isn't bad considering I carved it from a single piece of cloth.

Otis loves sorting trash

ok...so he eats it, rolls in it and spreads it all over my house but that doesn't sound nearly as good. He sorted some trash yesterday after I left for work probably ingested a significant amount of styrofoam and then proceeded to poop and vomit on my bedroom floor at 2 a.m. We both decided we could live with the piles sitting there for a little while in the name of getting some sleep but at 3 and then again at 5, it was go time. So now here I am at 6:15 a.m. EST having just picked up poop and vomit and scrubbed the floor on my hands and knees. Oddly enough, I decided to take today off so in some ways this is actually convenient.

The moral? I always caution people who want to get a dog about some of things they aren't made aware of regarding dog ownership. Dogs chew on things, poop on floors, vomit frequently, eat EVERYTHING, make as much noise as it takes to get you to move when they want you to, and never try to go through the garbage when you're home so you can stop them. Dogs are great, don't get me wrong but if you don't envision yourself scrubbing away at a smelly spot on your rug in the middle of the night, then do yourself a favor and get a turtle or a goldfish or a toad.