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Puppy Bowl returns for a fifth season this Sunday.

What? You were going to watch something else on Sunday?

In case you haven't seen any of the four previous incarnations, Puppy Bowl is three hours of puppies frolicking in a playpen that looks like a little football field. A human referee keeps order in the game (and cleans up any fouls, if you know what I mean), and you get a unique view from the Bowl Cam, a camera located below a clear-bottom water dish located in each end zone.

All of the puppies, including beautiful Bella here, are from shelters. And for the feline fans, the kittens take the field for the halftime show. According to the Web site, a parrot will start things off with the national anthem.

I would include a link to the Puppy Bowl page, but it has the most annoying pop-up window that I have ever encountered on the Internet and I cannot in good conscience send you there.

I'm here for you, my peeps.

Puppy Bowl is on Animal Planet and starts at 3 p.m. with replays throughout the evening. I highly recommend it over the seemingly endless pre-event chatter on the network showing that other game.

The opening night reception for “Best in Show”, the annual art show to benefit the Roanoke Valley SPCA, will be held Feb. 6, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the atrium of the Taubman Museum of Art.

Just like the pets and animals that inspire it, the artwork in the show can take a variety of forms, including oils, pastels, chalk or pencil, photography.

More than 100 regional artists will have their work on display, and the winner of "Best in Show" will be featured as the cover of the 2010 Pet Calendar.

Can’t make it to opening night? No worries. The Market Gallery, just a one block stroll from the Taubman Museum, will feature the art from Feb. 7 through Feb. 21. 

All artwork will be for sale.  Many of the artists will designate a portion (or all) of the proceeds of the sale to the RVSPCA.

Click here and herefor more doggie treat recalls. Choosy pet parents may want to skip peanut butter flavored snacks for a while and just sub in some other type of goodies. I am not sure if any of these treats were sold in Southwestern Virginia, but my Google analytics tell me there are folks all over the country who peek in on this blog, so check it out if you are concerned.

If your pooch is a PB addict, jars of peanut butter are still OK, so you could bake your own cookies. I'll post recipes tomorrow. 

I roasted some butternut squash a while back and while the humans in my house weren't that crazy about it (it needed salt, I think), the four-leggers LOVED it.  Their other happy snack is blueberries, but those are awfully pricey right now.  So is butternut squash, actually.

And to be honest, we have yet to find anything that Stormy won't eat. Besides the aforementioned squash and berries, he really loves bananas and clementines.

And socks. He's a sock-snacking gourmet. He can rifle through a whole basket of laundry and come out with all the socks. But that's not really food. And we keep reminding him of that.

What kind of snacks makes your doggie sit up and beg? And does your dog make good calls on what's edible and what is not?

You may have noticed that there is a little space next to each comment for a photo. It drove me nuts figuring out how to get the photo attached to the comments, but thanks to Jim, one of our multimedia gurus here at the Times, I was finally added my mug shot.

Well, it's not really my mug shot. It's my Facebook profile pic. I have never been photographed by the police. Never. That I am aware of, anyway.

[Begin shameless cyber plugs: Send me a friend request on Facebook, if you like. And follow Happy Wag on Twitter. We now return to the blog entry.]

I would love to see your smiling faces. And if you comment on other blogs (I promise I am not the jealous type) then your face will follow you to any blog software that attaches mugs to e-mail addresses. Just go to gravatar.com and follow the instructions.

It's quick, easy and free. And if you are shy and don't want your face attached to your comments, you could add a pic of your favorite furry critter. Be sure to use the e-mail address associated with your avatar (your photo) when you leave comments.

Hope to see you all very soon!

I take a lot of pictures of my pets. Judging by how slow my husband's PC is lately, I would say I take way too many photos of my pets. But you have to snap a bunch to get a couple of good ones, and mine are never quite frame-worthy, really.

If you would like to have a nice portrait of your pet that is indeed worthy of a frame, and you like to help local nonprofit groups dedicated to the love of pets and people, then check out this deal from Kevin Hurley Photography.

On March 6 and 7, you can book a photo sitting for your pooch or kitty for $49. I guess you could also book your fish, parakeet or turtle, but I would think you could probably photograph your own turtle no matter how slow your shutter speed. I mean, not a lot of action there.

For your $49 photo session, you will recieve one 5x7 and two 3x5 prints, and Hurley will donate $25 of the fee to one of three local organizations of your choosing: the Roanoke Valley SPCA, St. Francis Service Dogs or the Roanoke Dog Park.

Sittings are by appointment only and you have to be prepared to pay in advance, and there is no refund for a missed appointment. Call 345-3055 to book a sitting and for more details.

And thanks to Christa of Black Dog Salvage for letting me know.

Spring is coming and with it comes the season of love for kitties. Soon all the cats that still have all the kitten-making parts intact will be in heat and looking to hook up, which means thousands of little kitties will be looking for homes.

Not a good thing at all.

You can fix this problem by calling for an appointment to get your kitty spayed or neutered at the SCPA of Martinsville-Henry County on Feb. 24 for the bargain price of $25. That fee includes a rabies vaccine, so it's a great deal.

The "$25 on the 24th" services are provided through a partnership with Forsyth Spay/Neuter Clinic, Planned Pethood, Angels of Assisi, South Central Spay/Neuter and Merial as part of the ASPCA's Spay Day USA campaign.

The program will be able to alter 150 cats by appointment.

The SPCAM-HC is located at 132 Joseph Martin Highway in Martinsville. Call 276-638-PAWS for an appointment.

Here's a picture of Shade, the matriarch kitty of blog reader Kim's family. Shade got a new bed over the weekend and she likes it very much. Kim says Shade, who is more than 12 years old, smacks around her pet siblings if they even look at her new bed.

This led to a little discussion among co-workers about where kitties like to snooze. My daughter's cat, India, naps only on my daughter's bed. My cat, Thai, sleeps in a variety of places, but his favorite place to rest is in what we call The Cat Cave. Remember that stroller I told you about last year, and I mentioned it again last week?

Well, since I am too lazy busy to take him out on walks, he has turned the carrier of the stroller into his own bedroom. We have it perched on an ottoman near a window, and he can survey most of the first floor of the house from this vantage point.

The dogs even seem to respect the sanctity of The Cat Cave and never bother him there.

But this is not Thai's first bed. When we lived in Nashville he used to sleep on a big pillow that sat on a four-drawer dresser at the foot of my bed. When we moved to Roanoke the dresser migrated into my daughter's room, along with the pillow. He never slept on it again. Ever.

I suspect one day we will turn the ottoman the wrong way, or something will just not feel right about it to him, and he will walk away from The Cat Cave and never sleep there again. Why?

Because he's a cat.

And kitty sleeps where and when he wants. Sometimes it's where you want them to, like a nice cat bed.  And sometimes it's on your fiance's coat, like Dumo here, a cat who belongs to reporter Mason Adams. At least the coat matches most of the cat.

Where does your kitty like to take his or her cat naps? Have you ever successfully persuaded kitty to choose another spot to sleep? Share and enlighten, please.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is advising pet parents to quit handing out peanut butter flavored snacks to their pooches.

“The ASPCA recommends that pet parents discontinue the use of all affected products immediately until further information has been received,” Dr. Steven Hansen, the ASPCA’s senior vice president of animal health services is quoted on a news release on the organization's Web site. “Pet parents should wash their hands after handling any potentially contaminated food and immediately consult with a veterinarian if any signs or symptoms are noticed in their pets.”

Salmonella contamination in commercial peanut butter paste made in a plant in Georgia has led to a massive product recall, including Grreat Choice and Carolina Prime dog treats and rawhides sold by PetSmart retailers nationwide and Happy Tails and Shoppers Valu treats sold by regional grocery chains including Alberston's and Jewell's (but not stores in Southwestern Virginia, so all you Kroger and Food Lion shoppers are OK.)

No other dog biscuits or flavored rawhides have been recalled, and jars of people-grade peanut butter have not been affected by the contamination and thus have not been recalled, so you can feel confident in frosting your dog's Kong with Skippy and Jif.

The ASPCA's warning to lay off the peanut butter snacks was issued before the dog treat recalls were announced.

While healthy adult pooches are not highly susceptible to salmonella, it can cause a problem for young puppies, older dogs and dogs with existing health concerns or that are pregnant.

Salmonella can be transmitted from pets to people and vice versa, so scrub those hands often (that's good advice anyway during the cold and flu season.)

Dogs who do become ill from salmonella may vomit, have diarrhea, run a fever, seem lethargic, and drool or pant excessively—an indication of nausea. The common sense statement of the day is: If your pet has these symptoms, no matter what you have or haven't fed them, call your vet.

This blog barks. This blog purrs. And now, this blog Tweets.

You can get the latest updates on national, regional and Roanoke-area pet news by following Happy Wag on Twitter. The Wag will be honored to follow you too.

Being on Twitter will allow me to post links to other sites quickly, so I can bring you even more stories and videos about critters and the people who love them.

Have no idea what I am talking about? Click here to join Twitter, one of those social-networking, continuously updated news feeds Web sites. I thought it was a little clunky at first, but once you start following friends and favorite bloggers, it's pretty fun.

I, like most responsible adults with a day job, was pretty much sound asleep in my bed at 3:30 this morning. Stormy, our now 10-month-old puppy, was not sound asleep.

Of course, he is not responsible, an adult, or employed, so why not party?

We let all three of our dogs sleep in our bedroom, and Stormy is usually the one who wakes us up with his happy little song, occasionally as early as 5 a.m. But today he started auditioning for "American Idol" at half past three, and frankly, we just were't feeling it, dog.

We tried to ignore him and hoped he would fuss himself back to sleep. No luck. Shortly after 4 a.m., I'd had enough of his concert, thought maybe his tummy was bothering him, and woke up the other two dogs to let them all out. The other two dogs looked annoyed. Hey, this wasn't my idea, I tell them. Blame the little dude.

Sure enough, the little dude's tummy was bothering him. And by bothering him I mean he was hungry. I know this because while the greyhounds went out to potty, he planted his butt on the kitchen rug by his bowl and waited for me to fill it. This dog woke me up at this ridiculous hour for his flippin' breakfast.

In the interest of getting at least a tiny bit more sleep, I fixed his breakfast. Dog food looks pretty gross most of the time; at 4 a.m. it's positively disgusting.

While Stormy is dining I keep myself occupied by watching a little tennis on the kitchen T.V. and unloading the dishwasher. I am, at this point, wide awake.  After he scarfed down his breakfast and made a visit to the backyard potty, I corral up all the dogs, send them back up stairs and finish tidying the kitchen. Then I head back to try to catch a little more sleep.

I wandered back into my bedroom to find Dexter and Stormy in my previously occupied warm side of the bed. Snuggled up next to my husband. Stormy looks at me and rolls over. "Rub my belly" he says.

Oh. No. He. Didn't.

At this point I am calling him names that are not fit to print in a family newspaper.

Maybe the cat was right and I need to haul these pooches to the pound. But at half past 4 in the morning, I start wondering if the cat put him up to it ("OK, if you whine loud enough during the night she will get up to feed you," I imagine the cat whispering to the pup.  "I do it all the time and it works like a charm. She won't mind really.") I swear most conspiracy theories are born in the wee hours of the morning by sleep-deprived minds. Certainly all the ones involving talking cats, right?

Remind me again why I love these critters? Seriously. Remind me.

(Full disclosure: I really have no right to this bitter rant. Most mornings my sweet hubby is the one on early-morning dog care duty. This story is very familiar to him, except for the 3:30 part. That's a new one. Love you, honey, appreciate all you do. Really.)