Forget the Iditarod. Earlier this week, residents of Anchorage, Alaska, were all about the Snausages Man Sled Race, a crazy event in which people pulled pups!

Four teams of humans dragged sleds — with dogs as the mushers — and raced across a frozen pond to win money for their pet charity of choice.

In a photo provided by Del Monte Foods, Malmute musher Buddy rides the sled as it is pulled by dog sled racing veterans Danny Seavey, left, and Dallas Seavey, center, and teammate Mari Troshynski during practice Tuesday, March 2, 2010 in Anchorage, Alaska, before the first-ever Snausages Man Sled Race. The race benefited local pet-related charities. Buddy's team won the race. (AP Photo/Al Grillo/Del Monte Foods)

Here is some puppy love for you. We all know there’s no shortage of Valentine’s kisses when you  have a special pet in your life. Today The Daily Puppy features Echo, the Husky Mix puppy, who has a smile as sweet as sunshine.

How about a pooch smooch?

View more pictures of Echo here.

Pucker Up!

The most common first word was ”dadda” or ”dada,’ cited by 15% of those questioned, compared to ”mamma” or ”mama” mentioned by 10% of parents.

Apart from variations on ”mum” and ”dad,’ the most common first word was ”cat,” listed by 2% of parents.

To read the entire article, click here.

For six years in a row, Max ruled the top spot. But in an upset that is sure to have dog owners talking, Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), the nation’s oldest and largest provider of pet health insurance, has declared Bella the most popular dog name of 2009. VPI crunched the numbers on its more than 475,000 insured pets to determine this year’s most common names, and Bella beat out Max by more than 400 dogs. Fans of Max, however, can rest assured that for cats, that name is still top dog – er, top cat.

The top 3 dog names:  Bella, Max, Bailey.
The top 3 cat names:  Max, Chloe, Bella.

To see the complete list of top 10 dog and cat names, click here.

Police Chief Jeff Straub said Urban never mentioned the feline encounter until he became concerned that the cat might have been injured when they parted ways.

Straub said the video shows “incredible patience on the part of the officer.”

Do you think this police officer handled the situation well?  Do you think he could/should have done things differently?

Two friends and I decided to go dog sledding in the Fair Hill area of Maryland, which features almost 6,000 acres of woods with wonderful trails.  After our three sled teams had traveled several miles, I decided to turn back.  My friends’ teams not only had more dogs, but theirs were conditioned for more miles than my Siberians.  They continued on while I headed back for our trucks. 

My team had three dogs:  my two Maryland-bred Sibes and Slick Willie was running lead.  I had adopted Willie from Iditarod musher Wayne Curtis, who is a member of Team Stormwatch.  While Willie had never been trained as a lead dog, he has champion bloodlines and had run 1,500 with Team Stormwatch in Alaska.  This certainly qualified him for leading my small team.

While backtracking to the trucks, we came to the first “Y” in the trail.  Willie wanted to turn left, but I shouted “NO-GEE” which means “turn right” to a trained sled dog.  Willie followed my command and turned right.  I soon realized that we were headed in the wrong direction and was forced to turn around to the other trail.  Not long after, we came to a second “Y” and Willie wanted to turn right.  This time I shouted, “NO-HAW” which means “turn left.”  Again, Willie obeyed my command and took the left trail.  And, you guessed it… it was the wrong way!  I turned my team around for a second time and took them down the correct trail.  Finally, we came to a third “Y.”  Before I could give any direction, Willie STOPPED.  He turned around to look at me, like “well, dummy… which wrong turn do you want me to make this time?”

I laughed, threw my hands in the air and just said, “go ahead!”  He hit the harness and easily lead my team right back to the trucks, which were just over the next small hill!  I immediately made the long-distance call to Alaska so I could tell Wayne Curtis the story and we both laughed about me un-training his sled dog.

Does anyone else have a funny animal related story to share?

Act like a convicted criminal. When the humans come home, put your ears back, tail between your legs, chin down and act as if you have done something really bad. Then, watch as the humans frantically search the house for the damage they think you have caused. (Note: This only works when you have done absolutely nothing wrong.

Let the humans teach you a brand new trick. Learn it perfectly. When the humans try to demonstrate it to someone else, stare blankly about.

Make your humans be patient. When you go outside to go potty, sniff around the entire yard as your humans wait. Act as if the spot you choose to go potty will ultimately decide the fate of the earth.

Wake up twenty minutes before the alarm clock is set to go off and make the humans take you out for your morning potty. As soon as you get back inside, fall asleep. Humans can rarely fall back asleep after going outside, this will drive them nuts!

When out for a walk, alternate between choking and coughing every time a strange human walks by.

Make your own rules. Don’t always bring back the stick when playing fetch with the humans. Make them go and chase it once in a while.

Hide from your humans. When your humans come home, don’t greet the at the door. Instead, hide from them, and make them think something terrible has happened to you. Don’t reappear until one of your humans is panic-stricken and close to tears.

When your human calls you to come back in, always take your time. Walk as slowly as possible back to the door.