"Onaka ga sukimashita!"

by winecountrydog

We dogs never thought it would catch on.

In 2002, Japanese toy company Takara sold their first Bowlingual Voice™ device fur computer-based dog-to-human language translation.


We doggiggled. Cute idea, but what human would buy it?

Fast forward to last week, when twitter pal @hollygomadly sent us the link to the Youtube below, which shows Japanese dogs sendin' Bowlingual messages to their humans.



"Onaka ga sukimashita!"

Nothin' new 'bout that. Ha howl!

That demo of Bowlingual Voice is one of the funniest things we dogs have ever seen. I'm sure that Meowlingual is just as funny.

The Bowlingual device is called a "translator," but it's really an emotion analyzer. It categorizes dog barks into one of six standardized emotional categories and then provides a phrase to represent that emotion.

Bowlingual and Meowlingual are "for entertainment purposes only." Of course our dog and cat communications cannot be translated easily into words, if at all. Howlever, barks and meows can be intuitively translated by discerning humans.

Now, what's needed in the dog world is a device fur humans to wear that analyzes their thoughts and emotions, and then translates them into something that makes some doggone sense consistently.

Suki desu ka?

Paw-note to dog-ma: Jack, Meezer, and I wish you a happy B.D.

Paws for Love at Foppiano Vineyards

by winecountrydog

I hurried through the vineyard to the Paws for Love event at Foppiano winery on June 6th. The event, called "Painting Paws and Petite Sirah," was a fundraiser benefit for animals in Sonoma County, the North Bay, and beyond.


Below you see the Paws for Love "Vineyard Barrel Dash", a unique canine agility course that was created from wine barrels especially for this fun fundraiser.


We sat-stayed and watched clever dogs go 'round the agility course. I didn't doo the course 'cuz of my back pawblem. And Jack Corgi didn't doo it 'cuz he's shy. But we compawletely enjoyed watching and meeting all the dogs on the sidelines.


What a beautiful setting fur a get-together! This is one of California's oldest family-owned wineries, founded in 1896. Foppiano is well known fur its old vine Russian River Valley Estate Petite Sirah.

In the background you see some of Foppiano winery's beautiful old vineyards. In the distance, you see fluffy clouds hangin' over hills to the northeast, beyond Healdsburg.

Doo you notice, below, that wine barrel hoops were hung fur dogs to jump through? Such a pawfect activity fur a wine country event.


Below we see handsome Java Schnoodle, winner of the agility event, with his human, Heather, and her mom, Audrey. Sitting and talking to Java and family is none other than pioneer California winemaker Louis J. Foppiano!


Truly, Lou Foppiano is a living resource of wine industry history. Howlever, my favorite story is about Lou Foppiano the great dog lover: It's said that he always had Chihuahuas around him while he was working, and that the dogs would crawl up his arm and sit on his shoulders. Howl I love that!

Java Schnoodle really appawreciated meetin' Lou Foppiano!


I overheard humans at the event say they enjoyed tastin' the Foppiano wines. (Appawently the Cabernet was especially well received and tasted more than once by the same folks.)

After the agility event, Paws' founder, Ms. Ellyn Boone, did painting with dogs on the winery's front lawn. Well, not directly on the lawn — that'd be silly. The dogs made their paintings on paper, so that their humans could frame their works of art.

Howl can I adequately convey to you what a great time was had by all? I'm not just woofin' this to be nice. I've never been on a more enjoyable, dog-mellow outing. And fur such a great cause!

The Paws for Love Foundation provides resources and funding to shelters, rescue groups, and individuals who impawrove the health, welfare, and adoptability of unwanted and abused animals.

High paw fur Ms. Boone!

Paw-note: Congrats, Java! I hope I see you at the next Paws agility event.

Whine Country Dog Aerobics... sit up fur this!

by winecountrydog & pawlitico

After a hard day on twitter, what better prawgram of exercise than this? C'mon, canine furriends, you can doo it!



It's not that either of us need to lose weight. Rather that we never get enuff exercise fur our herdin' nature.

Our thanks to the beautiful Border Collie, who shows us some great moves in the viddy.

We herd, we work ... or we get bored and sad

by pawlitico

Look at our furriend Emma Corgi herding! She knows how to communicate to give each individual sheep safe directions. It's in her body language and her special Corgi communication ability.


Herding and droving is what we Welsh Corgis do well and have always done well. Like other working dogs who herd, and like cutting horses, we see the world in terms of keeping individual animals and flocks organized and safe.

Emma is a happy Corgi. She gets to do what she loves.


We Corgis are not lap dogs. We are not toy dogs. Not a play thing or a puppet or a toy.

We don't want to be kept in little crates in apartments and brought out just for show and cuddles.

As Emma paw-elegantly stated, "Working/herding/water dog breeds are great, just as long as they can live the lifestyle they were bred for (by humans). Otherwise, they are frustrated, develop behavioral problems, and end up in shelters being destroyed."

There's been so much controversy lately over dog breeding. I feel that I must bark about maintaining the strength and vitality and health of traditional breeds, especially working and herding breeds.

My Corgi feelings are hurt that humans mix up overbreeding with breeding, as if it's bad or elitist to be a working dog.

We want us dogs to be healthy and happy. What we don't want is to reduce the dog population at the expense of breed integrity.

Pawleeze reduce dog overpopulation: Reduce breeding as a source of human income!

And pawleeze help humans understand us better. If they did, very few of us would end up abandoned in shelters!

Paw-note: You can rescue a wonderful Pembroke or Cardigan Welsh Corgi through CorgiAid and Golden Gate PWCF and other organizations.

The price of wildfires

by pawlitico

We're overjoyed to see furriends like Gerdy Burro get to go home. Gerdy had been evacuated to the Santa Barbara Earl Warren Showgrounds along with other animal furriends who had to move out of the path of the Jesusita wildfire.


Gerdy was joined at the fairgrounds by 120 horses, 20 rabbits, 22 chickens, 3 roosters, 27 goats, 10 opossums, 5 parakeets, 4 pigs, 2 mules, 1 cat, 1 cockatiel, 1 llama, and 1,200 human firefighters too. That's according to the CDFA Public Affairs office.

As with all fairgrounds in California, during an emergency, Earl Warren is used as a staging area for fire and law enforcement officials, and for the OES & Caltrans Operational Area Satellite Information System (OASIS) portable communications hub.

We live well north of Santa Barbara — out of fire's reach this time. Last summer, we were on the edge of devastating fires in Mendocino and Napa counties. For days we lived in a surreal world of smoke and particulate-filled air. It made both Tilin Corgi (aka winecountrydog) and dog-ma sick to their stomachs.

Something that makes me sick is what I infer from the photo of a burned tree silhouetted against the barren background of the burn area in Santa Ynez Mountains.


How many wild birds have no home to go to after the Jesusita fire? . . . How many perished in the flames and smoke? . . . How many wild animals, burned and injured, are slowly dying out there somewhere?

The price of wildfires isn't measurable in dollars.


My buddy Tilin @winecountrydog decided on May 7th that he had to help somehow. He started sending twitter updates to help direct humans transporting companion and farm animals as they were being evacuated. He also tweeted to connect Santa Barbara tweeps with each other. He used a hashtag strategy that enabled his tweets to be seen by the maximum number of peeps in the target area.

Tilin got help tweeting from dog-ma, who took over for him on and off. You'll have to ask them how it felt to watch the evacuation unfold on twitter. A helpless feeling, I 'spoze, especially when they were exchanging tweets with a Santa Barbara fellow who didn't have long to pack and leave.

Dog-ma helped Tilin a lot by finding reports and making phone calls to clarify what alerts needed to be tweeted. They also followed twitter updates by the few tireless agencies, media, and individuals who were tweeting fire and evac news.

If their tweets helped even one human to get furriends to the fairgrounds shelter, or to find the addresses and phone numbers of small-animal and wildlife shelters, it was worth their effort. If they helped someone avoid a closed road or evac area, or to find the food bank, a human shelter, or the Red Cross, it was worth it.

Pawbably those tweets did help the animal shelters get more supplies and equipment sent their way. The shelters urgently needed kennel crates, exercise pens, cleaning supplies, and food for dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, opossums, raccoons, and other furriends.

Fortunately, Santa Barbara humans are wildfire-evac-savvy. I think they responded about as well as humans can do when a natural disaster strikes.

All around Santa Barbara, from Santa Maria to Carpinteria and beyond, humans at animal shelters, pet and wildlife rescue orgs, humane societies (including the SMVHS), and pet resorts/daycare facilities pitched in to help transport, shelter, feed, and foster. A huge amount of supplies and equipment were herded into place to provide prawper care.

If only one could believe that devastating wildfires like this won't happen again.

But I know that's not true.

My comfort is in knowing that Tilin "twitter paws" and dog-ma will help with disaster response, and they'll teach me how to help too.


Pawleeze visit Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network online to see how you can help with the rescue and rehabilitation of orphaned or injured wild birds and small mammals.

Many animal furriends will be very grateful that you care.

Paw-note: Nosetaps to Parsons, Saxon, and Nicholson.