Uggie (L) and his understudy Dash at the Golden Globes

With the Oscars this Sunday, we thought it only fitting to talk about the importance of man’s best friend in the movies.

From Petey in the Our Gang/Little Rascals films to Uggie in this year’s The Artist, our furry friends have often stolen the show.

DFW.com has a list of their top fifty movie dogs.  Who would be your number one?

Looking for a cool project to do for your kitty?

Check out pinterest.com.  They have examples of all sorts of projects from cat condos to scratching pads to sky-high cat castles.

]]> http://animalartsdesignstudio.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/cat-condo/feed/ 0 animalartsdesignstudio Cat Condo http://animalartsdesignstudio.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/tv-has-gone-to-the-dogs-in-san-diego/ http://animalartsdesignstudio.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/tv-has-gone-to-the-dogs-in-san-diego/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:13:52 +0000 Animal Arts http://animalartsdesignstudio.wordpress.com/?p=1055 Continue reading →]]> From ABC news:

Dogs in San Diego have a new way to pass the time while their owners are away,  watching the tube.

While the CEO of DOGTV extolled the benefits to both pet owners and dogs, Dr. Katherine Houpt, professor of animal behavior at Cornell University, stated that the best treatment for dogs who suffer from separation anxiety or loneliness is “to play soft music and create a dark environment so the dog feels secure when you are not at home.”

Whether or not DOGTV will be a success is still up for debate.  But, when your pets start begging for the remote, watch out!

Read the full story at abcnews.com.

Cats are easily stressed in new environments, particularly ones like the vet’s office.  Housing cats in caging that provides them with defensible space, a 3-foot separation between their food and their litter and placing caging in a quieter area of your hospital can help to reduce the illnesses that cats can develop when stressed.

Heather’s full article can be found at Impromed E-Newsletter.

To read more about the new animal sheltering guidelines visit the Association of Shelter Veterinarians at animalsheltering.org

This is the house, the doghouse, that Frank Lloyd Wright designed on commission from 12-year-old Jim Berger in 1952.

Wright had designed the Berger family home for Jim’s father and Jim wanted a house for his dog Eddie that would “go with” the main house.

Lo and behold Wright replied and designed this four-square-foot home for Eddie meant to be built with mahogany and cedar scrap lumber.

Jim didn’t get to build the home.  He enlisted in the military, but his father and brother completed Eddie’s home.

Read the full story and see the floor plan at Architects + Artisans.

But simply exchanging the air in the room where cages sit does not provide fresh, uncontaminated air to the cages themselves.

The key is exchanging air through cat cages instead of around them.

Vicki Pollard of Animal Arts, has written an article for Shorline’s blog about the importance of proper cat cage ventilation and how it can be achieved.

Read Vicki’s full article at Shorline Community.

Bower birds, who are native to Australia, are pretty incredible creatures.  The males of the species don’t attract mates with pretty plumage or melodic tunes, but with their skills in architecture and interior design.

First they build themselves a little bungalow, sometimes complete with support ‘beams’, and then they go on to decorate the space in the manner they believe will best attract them a mate.

They clear patches of ground, cover others with leaves or shiny beetle wings, or berries or flowers.  Bower birds who live close to urban areas will even use items that they can steal from their human neighbors, like clothes pins.  The exact placement of these items is important as you can see in the short video clip below featuring David Attenborough exploring the home of a bower bird.

]]> http://animalartsdesignstudio.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/the-architects-and-interior-designers-of-the-bird-world/feed/ 0 animalartsdesignstudio bower birds http://animalartsdesignstudio.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/design-for-radioactive-elements/ http://animalartsdesignstudio.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/design-for-radioactive-elements/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:05:36 +0000 Animal Arts http://animalartsdesignstudio.wordpress.com/?p=1034 Continue reading →]]> Radioactive elements have their own specific design requirements.  You wouldn’t know it from looking at the outside of a veterinary hospital, but the inside could contain lead-lined rooms.

In an article for Tristar Vet, our own Vicki Pollard writes about the architectural requirements for Radioactive Iodine (I-131) therapy, a treatment for thyroid diseases.

Read Vicki’s article at Tristar Vet.

According to Pantone it’s Tangerine Tango!

From Pantone’s website:

“Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

Read the details at pantone.com.

Read the feature story in dwell magazine’s e-newsletter.

Famed portrait photographer Richard Phibbs has taken photos of celebrities, politicians and models.  But, in his latest gig, he’s photographing the poorest of the poor, the animals of the Humane Society of New York.

Phibbs’ portraits are more than just standard pics for a shelter’s website, but true views into the personalities of these animals.

According to Humane Society of New York’s Director Sanda DeFeo the response to these remarkable images has been extremely positive with adoption applications rising by 75 percent the second time Phibbs photographed the shelter’s residents.

Phibbs is excited to continue working with this shelter and others around the country.

Read the full article about Phibb’s amazing portraits at msn.com.