Contestant #11

Corey
My foster greyhound Corey - or Quirky Corkey - is barely 3 years old. In the past 2 months she underwent 2 foot surgeries. All these trips to the vet, changing bandages, soaks and ointments and such really taxed her (and all of us) out. During her recovery I would let her hang out with me in my craft room/studio. She would happily nap while I was working, and I could keep an eye on her without having to keep her in a crate. She provided me with many incredibly funny photo opportunities. These are just few of them:

"How in the world can she be comfortable?!?" - wonders Pani

"Pillows are overrated" thinks Corey

"On a second thought, thanks Mom"

Contestant #10

Nala

This is my Nala. She was rescued by the Warwick Valley Shelter with her brothers and sisters who were in a house that collapsed. She has a rare auto-immune disease and we give her steroid medication every day to keep it under control. She is the sweetest cat, so her nickname became "sweezil", because sometimes she can be a "little weasel", but a sweet little weasel.

Contestant #9

Molly

Molly decided that I needed help filing my income taxes online the day I sat down to do them. Well, as you know, it is one of the most time consuming and boring jobs on the planet! Molly stuck with me for a while, but finally gave up and opted for a nap in my file drawer. I don’t blame her! So, I’m entering Molly’s photo in this month’s contest since it’s tax time!

Contestant #8

Mame & Moe
These are my 2 rescue siblings: Mame & Moe. As you can see, they’re your typical siblings… always fighting and never sharing! Usually Mame gets the best of Moe because she’s bigger than he is but here Moe wouldn’t give Mame the time to stop and breathe as we played in the yard.

Contestant #7

Mr. Pickles and Violet Vs KitCat

This is our most taxing moment. A few days ago we found a dog in a dumpster and adopted her. Her and mr pickles have become really good friends. We also have a cat named KitCat who cannot catch anything. Everytime he comes up to a bird or any kind of animal to catch it he always meows while he stalks and it ends up running away even before he gets near it. we have 2 birds that come every year to have babies in my grandmas light post. Kitcat just now noticed them looked up at the post and decided to make a meal out of them. Well Mr. Pickles and Violet wasn't having that. They both ganged up on kitcat trying to get him to leave the birds alone. It was a very taxing task as kitcat is a very VERY stubburn cat and it was almost 85 degrees outside. He swotted at them every time they came at him but after I turned the video off
He ran away and didn't try again. LOL that’s 1 point for dogs and 0 for cats.

Contestant #6

Giupetto and Gianna and DaVinci

We got doggie steps so Giupetto and Gianna would stop waking us during the night. We were about to give up, but after 3 taxing days they got it!
Despite Gianna's protests, even DaVinci masters the steps.

At 9 wks old - putting his toys away was so taxing, Giupetto fell asleep in the box.

Contestant #5

Sasha

Hi all. Sasha here. I would say this was my most taxing moment recently. Mommy took us out to potty, and she had already gone down the steps with Charlie when I smelled something very yummy coming from the trash bin on the deck. Of course, you knows, I had to investigate anything with that good of a smell. I went sniffing over and found the best box licking ever. Grandpa had left a doughnut box out there just for me to lick the leftover frosting or so I thought. I went to town licking and licking every inch of the box. I was in my own little doggy world of yummy sugary sweetness. I didn't hear Mommy calling me. I didn't hear Mommy come up the steps. I didn't hear the camera chime. I didn't hear anything inside that yummy doughnut box. Then, you can imaging the shock I got when I came out and mommy was there. I quickly tried to cover up the box and hide the evidence, but it was too late. Mommy got the whole incriminating box licking on video.

Contestant #4

Cracker

My little Cracker! My son Justin found Cracker running around his grandma's yard. She was such a mess! As you can see she isn't a mess any more! She is a spoiled princess now!

Contestant #3

Rico

Rico is my much-loved Great Dane and model for the urban animal scientist. He loves to lay on the couch and play with our other dog Otis his best friend. He Rico and Otis live in Atlanta, GA.

Contestant #2

Mariette

Attached is a photo of my dog, Mariette with her ahem *big ears* "TAXi-ing" to the runway for takeoff!! :-P

Contestant #1

Teddy & Snowball play with their new toy from Gail Clements on Vimeo.

Snowball and Teddy play ball - again! from Gail Clements on Vimeo.

Teddy & Snowball

This is a video of two of my cats, Teddy (the grey cat) teaching Snowball (the black one) to play with a new toy about a year ago. Snowball (she has a white round spot on her chest and stomach) was a feral.

She showed up in our garden and we fed her for 3-4 months before catching her in a trap to get her neutered.

Shortly after she was neutered, on a nasty rainy day, I put her bowl of food inside the door of our sunroom so that she had to come inside to get it.

After a few days I started to shut the door behind her which at first freaked her out. After a while she got used to it until another rainy day, I just kept her inside and the rest is history - she has been in ever since and is now the happy cat.

It is funny, Teddy has never played with it since and our other two cats don't play with it, but it has become Snowball's favorite toy.