For at 7ft 4in standing on his hind legs, he is thought to be Britain’s tallest dog – and he hasn’t finished growing yet.

At 18 months old, he measures 41 inches from his paws to his withers (the ridge between the shoulder blades) and only needs to grow a few more inches to lay claim to the title of the world’s tallest dog. 

Freddy, a Great Dane who lives with owner Claire Stoneman in Southend-On-Sea, is Britain’s biggest dog

Standing at 41in from foot to shoulder-blade, Freddy is just three inches short of the world record

The current world record holder is Zeus, another Great Dane who lives in Michigan in the US

The Guinness World Record is currently held by Zeus, a four-year-old Great Dane from Michigan, US, who is 44 inches tall – the size of a donkey. As for Freddy, he now weighs 11st 2lb and costs £75 a week to feed on standard dog food.

Unfortunately, as a puppy he also had a taste for sofas – and demolished 14 before realizing quite how comfortable they are.

IN order to fuel his huge bulk, Freddy eats his way through £75 worth of regular dog food per week

On his hind legs Freddy measures 7ft 4in, towering over Miss Stoneman, who measures just 5ft 4in

Miss Stoneman, 38, from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, said: ‘I’d come home and find a sea of foam across the floor. But he’s my baby and I can’t imagine life without him.’

She even gets up in the small hours for his daily 40-minute walk – so they won’t meet other dogs who might be intimidated by him.

‘If he wants to run after a dog I wouldn’t be able to stop him,’ said Miss Stoneman, who is 5ft 4in tall.

Despite his boisterous nature, Miss Stoneman says she cannot imagine life without Fredd

Miss Stoneman even gets up in the small hours for Freddy’s daily 40-minute walk so they won’t meet other dogs who might be intimidated by him

 (Via: Daily Mail)

A slobbering waddling bulldog doesn’t exactly conjure up images of audio excellence—unless you define ‘audio excellence’ as that wheezing, panting thing most of them do. But this little guy is different. The AeroBull from Jarre Technologies brings you all the blue collar charm of a bulldog with the audio quality of a top-notch Bluetooth speaker.

Designed for use with any iPhone or other iOS device with a lightning connector, this K9 offers high definition sound, a line in for CD players and such, and it supports MP3, AAC, WMA, protected AAC, and WAV files. The material is chrome plated ABS with a painted finish. Sit this by your front door and you’ll have simultaneous home protection and home audio—and no slobber. [Purchase]

(Via: HiConsumption)

(Yes, it’s YOU that keeps me bloggin’ away!)

Here’s the list …

1.  The Intelligence of Dogs – The List (this also happens to be the most debated of all posts!)

2.  Top 10 Cutest Dogs Ever

3. World’s Largest Dog Breeds

4.  Dog Chin Acne. Yep, they get it too.

5.  Facts And Myths about the Doberman Pinscher

6.  DIY Dog Print Dog Biscuits

Casey lookin’ too cool

We are taking a little break but we will be back in a couple of weeks with more great posts!

Photo by Slim Aarons

1. Modular Library For Cats

2.Dog House Sofa

3. Table With Lawn

4.Rocking Chair

 5.Interior Dog House

6.Sofa Tunnel

7. Conveyor System For Cats

8. Beds On The Wall

9. Cat Steps

10. Aquarium Tunnel

11. Table Hammock

12. Bedside Dog House

13. Transit System For Cats

14. Planter House

15. Planter House #2

16. Furniture ‘All in one’ For Cats

17.Aerial Playground For Cats

18. Cosy Cat Bed

19.Kitchen Island For Dogs

20.Hammock For Cats

“Genius means that someone can be gifted with one type of cognition while being average or below average in another.”

For much of modern history, dogs have inspired a wealth of art and literature, profound philosophical meditations, scientific curiosity, deeply personal letters, photographic admiration, and even some cutting-edge data visualization. But what is it that makes dogs so special in and of themselves, and so dear to us?

Despite the mind-numbing title, The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter than You Think by Brian Hare, evolutionary anthropologist and founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, and Vanessa Woods offers a fascinating tour of radical research on canine cognition, from how the self-domestication of dogs gave them a new kind of social intelligence to what the minds of dogs reveal about our own. In fact, one of the most compelling parts of the book has less to do with dogs and more with genius itself.

In examining the definition of genius, Hare echoes British novelist Amelia E. Barr, who wisely noted in 1901 that “genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly.” Hare points out that standardized tests provide a very narrow — and thus poor — definition of genius:

As you probably remember, tests such as IQ tests, GREs, and SATs focus on basic skills like reading, writing, and analytical abilities. The tests are favored because on average, they predict scholastic success. But they do not measure the full capabilities of each person. They do not explain Ted Turner, Ralph Lauren, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, who all dropped out of college and became billionaires.

Instead, Hare offers a conception of genius that borrows from Howard Gardner’s seminal 1983 theory of multiple intelligences:

A cognitive approach is about celebrating different kinds of intelligence. Genius means that someone can be gifted with one type of cognition while being average or below average in another.

For a perfect example, Hare points to reconstructionist Temple Grandin:

Temple Grandin, at Colorado State University, is autistic yet is also the author of several books, including Animals Make Us Human, and has done more for animal welfare than almost anyone. Although Grandin struggles to read people’s emotions and social cues, her extraordinary understanding of animals has allowed her to reduce the stress of millions of farm animals.

The cognitive revolution changed the way we think about intelligence. It began in the decade that all social revolutions seemed to have happened, the sixties. Rapid advances in computer technology allowed scientists to think differently about the brain and how it solves problems. Instead of the brain being either more or less full of intelligence, like a glass of wine, the brain is more like a computer, where different parts work together. USB ports,keyboards, and modems bring in new information from the environment; a processor helps digest and alter the information into a usable format, while a hard drive stores important information for later use. Neuroscientists realized that, like a computer, many parts of the brain are specialized for solving different types of problems.

An example of this comes from the study of memory, which we already know is fascinating in its fallibility:

One of the best-studied cognitive abilities is memory. In fact, we usually think of geniuses as people who have an extraordinary memory for facts and figures, since such people often score off the charts on IQ tests. But just as there are different types of intelligence, there are different types of memory. There is memory for events, faces, navigation, things that occurred recently or long ago — the list goes on. If you have a good memory in one of these areas, it does not necessarily mean your other types of memory are equally good.

Ultimately, the notion of multiple intelligences is what informs the research on dog cognition:

There are many definitions of intelligence competing for attention in popular culture. But the definition that has guided my research and that applies throughout the book is a very simple one. The genius of dogs — of all animals, for that matter, including humans — has two criteria:

1. A mental skill that is strong compared with others, either within your own species or in closely related species.
2. The ability to spontaneously make inferences.

(This second criterion comes strikingly close to famous definitions of creativity.)

The Genius of Dogs goes on to explore the specific types of intelligence at which dogs excel, including their empathic acumen of taking another’s visual perspective and learning from another’s actions, their ability to interpret and act upon human communicative gestures, and the unique ways in which they go about asking for help. Pair it with John Homans’s indispensable What’s a Dog For?: The Surprising History, Science, Philosophy, and Politics of Man’s Best Friend.

(Via: Brain Pickings)

Stacie founded Gingiber in 2009 when she couldn’t find the perfect art to hang in her baby girl’s nursery. Soon, Stacie began creating art prints, handmade pillows, & tea towels that drew inspiration from heirloom quilt patterns, beloved animals, & carefully curated color palettes. Gingiber’s diverse line of products have been featured in Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine, Artful Blogging Magazine, Design Sponge, & Better Homes and Gardens Online. Gingiber is proud to present the 52 Weeks of Dogs project. Each Friday Gingiber has released a brand new dog illustration. $1.00 of every Etsy sale from the 52 Weeks of Dogs Project will be donated to the Humane Society, check out some of the creations below…

Great Dane Illustration

Greyhound Illustration

English Bull Terrier Illustration

Schnauzer Illustration

Boston Terrier Illustration

English Bulldog Illustration

Jack Russell Terrier Illustration

Tea Towels

Handmade Dog Pillows