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If there is one thing that has become abundantly clear to me after more than two hours perusing AwkwardFamilyPetPhotos.com, it’s that a good 90% of the time it’s the “family” part of the equation that makes the photo awkward. The pets? Well, they’re just victims.

After creating AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com Mike Bender and Doug Chernack quickly realized the pet photos were fan favorites. So the guys created an entire site (and now, a book) dedicated to pets and the people who love them a little too much.

Just in time for the holiday season, the book is filled with never-before-seen photos, essays, and graphics. If you’ve ever read the captions below the photos on the site, you know those essays are bound to be hilarious. Purchase for a friend, relative, or just set this bad boy on your coffee table for hours of entertainment for you or anyone else who happens to stop by and get a gander at this gem.

To whet your appetite, I spent the last hour culling through hundreds of photos on the site and have whittled it down to the 30 images you’re about to see. I’m willing to wager there is more than one serial killer in the group below, but oh my lands, this was, perhaps, the funnest thing I’ve ever compiled for Babble, I kid you not. Do you know how hard it was to choose a mere 30? I laughed out loud at every single photo you’re about to see, and you will too, I promise. Continue reading »

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A lover of animals great and small.

I have a twelve-year-old son who is animal crazy. His dream is to one day own his own pet shop, but for now he makes do with trying to adopt every animal that comes within a two-foot radius of his person. Which is a lovely part of his personality, but only adds to the borderline-hysteria of our already over-stuffed life that includes three wild boys, an ultra-adventurous husband, an ancient hound that I run upstairs at least once a day to make sure is still breathing, and as much travel as we can afford.

I adore my son’s big heart, though, and at his relentless behest, I have overseen makeshift cages housing wooly caterpillars, injured birds, captured garden snakes, and Connor, the common English toad (who was captured trying to find a home in our garage after moving to England). More formally, he has been the chief caretaker of the aforementioned dog, a parakeet, several beta fish, an ant farm, and most recently, a leopard gecko named Gary. We won’t include the drawer full of crickets (don’t ask) that will soon become Gary’s dinner, okay?

I am an animal lover too, so I am happy to indulge this obsession of his … but only so far. I have put my foot down and said “Absolutely not” to puppies and cats. Until every boy in this house can get all of his pee into the toilet EVERY time, I will not take on any other creatures that might urinate in my house. Continue reading »

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Do dolphins purr?

While on a recent family vacation to the Caribbean,  we were invited to do the “swimming with dolphins” thing. It was…interesting. We went as an extended family, then split up by kid age and chaperoning adult. Big kids went for the full swim, while the little ones were offered more of a “stand on a rickety metal platform and wait to pet dolphins” experience. I went with the junior set. It was not that fun. The water was freezing. Our dolphin, Neptuno, seemed sad as he shook fins and “danced” on command. The kids were cold and scared of the water and the weirdness. I was depressed by the oppression. The bigger kids got to ride on the dolphin and had a better time.  But I was left feeling bad about the whole situation. These creatures, so obviously intelligent in ways that we can’t even understand, do not deserve to be our puppets. They deserve to be our friends.

After we came back from the trip, my kids became obsessed with dolphins, watching episodes of Flipper and fantasizing about having a dolphin of their own. But as we live in New York City, they were aware that this was not a viable pet option. Instead, they’ve been lobbying for a cat. Which is why I can’t wait to show them this video of unlikely head-fellows: a tabby cat and his dolphin friends. Continue reading »

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Home for the Holidays?

When I was a child, I loved the books All Things Wise and Wonderful and All Things Bright and Beautiful. Written by Jame Herriot, an English country vet, these books captivated me. The cow giving birth on a cold winter’s nigh; the horse with a sore foot; good dog Cedric, how I loved these stories!

While I knew better than to ask for a horse (even though I really, really wanted to), I lobbied endlessly, and fruitlessly, for a dog. My mom always said no, because, she told me, she’d be the one who’d do all the work.  She might also have added that she and my father would have had to pay all the bills, and, as it turns out, the cost of a dog is not nothing.

With my own daughter now lobbying heavily for a pet, I was a little taken aback by just the cost of a cat or dog. Writing in The New York Times, Paul Sullivan points out that most people underestimate the cost of an animal.  He writes

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals estimates the cost for a large dog at $875 a year for food, medical expenses, toys and a few related expenses, and $560 for first-year setup costs. The estimate for a cat is $670 a year, with first-year expenses of $365, for a total of $1,035. Continue reading »

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Is your dog sad about going back to school?

Has your dog been acting particularly mopey lately?  Has she suddenly regressed to her puppy days and started relieving herself on the living room rug?  Has your formally well-behaved best friend recently started driving you crazy with incessant barking, howling and digging?

What about your cat?  Is he wandering around the house meowing a lot for no apparent reason?  Clawing the furniture?  Eating your houseplants?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, perhaps your pet is suffering from separation anxiety.  Now that the kids are back in school, your four-legged family members may be feeling a little sad and stressed, missing all the attention received during those glorious summer months. Continue reading »

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When is the last time your told your husband what a good boy he is and gave him a little treat?  Or scratched your wife behind the ears just because you know how much she likes it?  What?  You never do that?  Maybe that’s what is wrong with your marriage.

Clinical psychologist Suzanne B. Phillips suggests that if we all treated our spouses with as much unconditional love and kindness as we do our pets, we’d all be much happier.  She says that in her work with couples, she’s noticed that despite the differences and issues that have brought them to her, her clients generally seem to have a common appreciation for their pets.  And a much gentler way of interacting with them. Continue reading »

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Dog bites are the fifth most common injury that sends kids to the ER, and dog bites — including those that don’t necessitate a trip to the hospital — affect a whopping 4.7 million people a year.

To create awareness, the CDC has declared May 17-23 National Dog Bite Prevention Week. The good news is that dog bite injuries among children seem to be decreasing, but the CDC reminds parents that children age 5 to 9 are at the highest risk of dog-related injury, and that having two ore more dogs in your home increases that risk 5-fold.

Here are some tips to help parents prevent dog bite injuries in children from dog trainer Robert Cabral of Black Belt Dog Training:

Continue reading »

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