Darby loves belly rubs.  Whenever she wants a rub, she’ll simply flip over and wait for an unsuspecting victim.  She is rarely disappointed.  Except perhaps this time.  Who wants to rub a dirty belly?

The Obamas have chosen a 6-month-old black & white Portuguese water dog named Bo to be the first pet.  The dog was a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts who owns several of the breed.

Obama’s daughters, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha, chose the name Bo because first lady Michelle Obama’s father was nicknamed Diddley, hence “Bo” Diddley.

The president seemed to enjoy the intense interest surrounding the first dog.  When asked for an update on the dog selection process Friday, Obama joked, “Oh, man, now, that’s top secret.”  Obama had promised his daughters a puppy during the presidential campaign.  “This is Washington.  That was a campaign promise,” Obama told Jay Leno last month during his Tonight Show appearance.  “No, I’m teasing.  The dog will be there shortly,” he added.

They chose the Portuguese Water Dog because they are considered good pets for children who have allergies, as Malia does.

Story at FoxNews

The origin of the name “hot dog” has been widely debated.  Here is what the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council has to say about it:

“References to dachshund sausages and ultimately hot dogs can be traced to German immigrants in the 1800s. German immigrants brought not only the sausage with them in the late 1800s, but also dachshund dogs. The name hot dog probably began as a joke about the Germans’ small, long, thin dogs. Ever the butt of humor and rumor, the moniker that stuck was likely a joke regarding the provenance of the tasty sausage served on a bun cut lengthwise.”

The term “hot dog” first appeared “in college magazines in the 1890s. Students at Yale University began to refer to the wagons selling hot sausages in buns outside their dorms as dog wagons. It didn’t take long for the use of the word dog to become hot dog.”  The first confirmed printed reference to hot dogs appeared in an article published in the October 19, 1895, issue of the Yale Record which referred to folks “contentedly munching on hot dogs.”

If this little dog could talk, I bet he would say, “Hot dogs are not real dogs!”

It used to be that we wouldn’t see ticks on our dogs until May.  Now they are starting to appear in early March.  Global warming!

Here is a gross fat tick we pulled off our dog Darby:

A traffic camera overlooking a busy freeway in Santiago, Chile captured a dog performing an amazing heroic act by pulling an injured friend out of busy traffic.  The video shows an injured dog lying in the middle of a freeway after being hit by a car.  A rescue dog runs into the busy traffic and successfully dodges multiple cars to reach the injured dog.  The rescue dog then drags the severely injured dog across lanes of traffic as cars continue to swerve around it.  No motorists stopped to help either dog, but a highway crew arrives at the end of the video.

The announcer of the original video said the following in Spanish:

“These images seen from the surveillance cameras show a very common situation with our overpopulated highways.  It is normal for us to see dogs run over.  In the video, we can see this dog fighting for his life because he was run over by the vehicle.  What is very touching is to see the very heroic actions of this other dog who is trying to pull him to the side of the highway.  We are going to keep seeing things like this until we find a solution to the dogs living on the streets.”

Watch this amazing but disturbing video (with English narrative):