We have a video report about how auto designers are shifting into neuteral, so to speak, fighting for the pet owner market by adding Fido-friendly features. I have a list of the options my own dogs are demanding:

- deluxe hamburger dispenser

- giant window control buttons 

- peanut butter dispenser

- big fans aimed at their face

- toast and jelly dispenser

- indoor tennis ball flinger

Come to think of it, that doesn’t sound like such a bad car, does it?

Video report:

More stuff from Oddly Enough

Blog Guy, a couple of days ago you posted an item on a surfboarding cat in Peru. It’s not that I doubt you or anything, but if this is true, wouldn’t you have video of it?

As a matter of fact, yes. Here is footage not only of the cat, but a surfing dog, too.

I’ll be darned! Then I have a follow-up wish. Can you put a monkey on a dog and get them to chase sheep?

Sure, here you go. Enjoy it. 

This is fun! Now can you show me a terrier that plays bluegrass banjo?

I could, but you’ve had your two wishes. Give somebody else a chance.

More stuff from the Oddly Enough Blog

If you decide to go on a date with somebody you met on the Internet, it’s probably easier to hide the fact that you’re already married than it is to keep pets a secret. There’s hair on everything you wear, you have those sticky lint rollers in your car, and when you dig in your pockets for money you pull out plastic bags for cleaning up after your dog.

So, you may as well be honest about it up front, which is where a new Dutch dating site comes in handy. Inspired by similar sites in the U.S. and Britain, it is specifically aimed at finding a partner who is compatible with your dog, cat, snake or spider.

People can describe themselves and their animals, and when they think they have found someone who also likes their pets, they can contact each other through the Web site. Or they can run the other way, which would probably be the case with my dogs and cats. Here’s the story:

The kind of big shaggy dog you just might want to warn somebody about in advance…

This dog lives the life other dogs only dream about, helping with quality control for a dogs-only bakery operated by her owner. Here’s the part I really like. Her owner used to be a florist. So, one day the dog comes to work expecting more boring flowers, and finds this stuff instead.  No wonder pets are endlessly optimistic and extravagantly hopeful.

Ronja stands in front of the display in her owner’s dogs-only bakery in the western German city of Wiesbaden January 8, 2007. The owner of the bakery, “Dog’s Goodies”, Janine Saraniti-Lagerin, is a former florist.    REUTERS/Alex Grimm

This one is going to strike some readers as odd, but others – including me — will see it as an idea whose time has come.  It turns out a substantial number of U.S. companies let employees bring their pets to work, and if you’ve ever seen a big office with a few nice dogs walking around, it’s a very soothing sight. 

Tomorrow is “Take Your Dog to Work Day.” Several thousand companies are participating - is yours?                                                               

Two dogs playing because nobody took them to work.  These guys are at the pool at the Coolbaby dog theme park in Beijing, May 20, 2006.  REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV