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Thanks for all the great entries in the book giveaway. We will announce a winner later this week so no more entries please, unless you just want to share a kitty story with us. In that case, bring 'em on.

We haven't had a giveaway for a while here at the Wag. Today we will try to remedy that.

I have in my possession a lovely photo book titled "Cat Capers: Catitude for Cat Lovers" by Gandee Vasan. I would like this book to be in your possession.

The book is loaded with gorgeous photos of all kinds of kitties, and it's chock full of bits of cat-like wisdom, humor, jokes and quotes. Anyone who loves kitties should get a smile from this book.

All I ask is that you post a comment about your kitty. Tell us something funny about your feline or how your cat can make you howl with laughter. The most amusing comment, as judged by the best panel of experts I can assemble from a newsroom full of cat servants, wins the book.

I'll keep this open for comments until Monday. Good luck.

[This contest is now closed. You may still post a comment, but it won't be considered for the book giveaway. Thanks.]

Hey readers! Break time is over and the Wag is back. And not one minute too soon to let you know how you can add a click of support to the Roanoke Dog Park.

Follow this link to vote for Henry, a rather adorable pup, in the Bissell Most Valuable Pet Photo Contest. If Henry wins, he would earn $10,000 to help build the city's first public access dog park.

Voting is as simple as adding your name and e-mail address (with the promise of no mailing lists or spam) and one click of the mouse.

Look at that face. How could you say no to that face, huh? Today is the last day you can vote for Henry. All he wants to do is play in the park with his friends.

All pet parents know their furry four-leggers like to leave a little bit of themselves all over the house, as a reminder of how much they love us. My pets deposit their love on every surface, from the carpets to the "fur"niture.

Now Bissell would like to feature some cute little shedders on their packaging. And the winning pets can help a local animal charity on their way to advetising stardom.

Click here to enter a photo of your pet in the Bissell MVP (Most Valuable Pet) Photo Contest.  The entry form is very simple, and you click to upload a photo (.jpg format, under 1 mb, one pet only and no people) and the photo pops up quickly for you to crop. One click and you are done.

Then visitors to the Web site vote on their favorite pet of the week.

The family of the pet with the most votes each week gets a bundle of cleaning products from Bissell and the book "100 Simple Secrets Why Dogs Make Us Happy" by David Niven. The weekly winners also moves on to the semi-finals, where a grand prize winner and four runners-up will be chosen by the staff at Bissell.

The grand prize winner will be featured on Bissell packaging, get more cleaning products, and have $10,000 donated to the family's favorite pet cause. The four runners-up will also be featured on Bissell packaging, get some goodies, and have cash donations made to their favorite animal-related charities.

If you decide to enter, please let us know and we will try to drum up support among the blog readers. This could be a great way for us to support local rescue groups, like Star City Greyhounds, and other animal-related causes like the Roanoke Dog Park or St. Francis Service Dogs.

When The Happy Wag column runs on Monday in The Roanoke Times, there will be a call to readers to submit pictures of their pets all decked out for the holidays. We did this last year here on the blog and it was a lot of fun, so hopefully we will get some nice snapshots of pooches and kitties enjoying the season.

All will be posted here on the blog and a few will find their way into the print edition of The Roanoke Times.

Over at Petfinder.com, they are looking for a very specific type of holiday photo. They are asking folks to send in pictures of their pets in holiday sweaters, similar to the ones that were, er, popular in the 80's and 90's. You know. The ones that made you look like you were a walking Christmas tree?

I was just talking about ugly sweaters yesterday here in the office. Last winter I talked my hubby into parting with all his "Cosby Show"-era sweaters. Ah, good times for those of you who remember those multi-colored fashion staples of the Huxtable family.

But the 80s are over, baby, time to move on.

I bought Dexter a blue sweater during his first winter with us. It was pretty ugly, as I recall, with a mock turtle neck and a Fair Isle-type pattern around the chest. I'd show you a picture, but he chewed it off the same day I brought it home.

But I digress.

Petfinder would like to see your pets wearing a holiday themed sweater. The best one, or worst one depending on how you look at it, will be featured on an e-card offered at the Web site.

So if you have a picture of your pooch in a sweater, like this poor little dude here, click here to submit it to Petfinder.

And by all means, share it with us too by e-mailing it to pets@roanoke.com.

(Photo from Petfinder.com)

Helping local shelters and rescue groups is as easy as a mouse click.

GreaterGood.org and Petfinder.com are sponsoring The Animal Rescue Site $100,000 Shelter+ Challange. The goal is to provide up to $100,000 in support and assistance to selected American and Canadian animal rescue and welfare organizations, including Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue, Angels of Assisi, RVSPCA, Regional Animal Control and other locally-based groups.

From now until Dec.14, supporters can log on to The Animal Rescue Site each day and vote for a resuce group. At the end of the contest, the rescue group with the highest number of votes will take the grand prize of $25,000 and the runner-up will be awarded $10,000.

The highest vote-getter in each state, D.C. and Puerto Rico will earn $1,000, as will one group each week that tallies the most votes nationwide.

There is no cost to vote, so this is a pretty painless way to help a good cause.

As of today, Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue is ranked third in the commonwealth, so they have a decent shot of winning one of the $1,000 state prizes.

Supporters can enter one vote per day per computer, so if you want to help local groups, you could adopt a shotgun approach and vote for each of your favorite groups in turn, or you could vote each day for just one group to maximize its chances of winning.

Click here for all the rules and click here to cast your daily vote.

(Note: If you use the search engine to find your favortie local group, you will find seven that are eligible in Roanoke, but you must enter Hardy as the city to find the Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue.)

Congratulations to faithful blog reader Deborah, who won the two humorous books about dogs, and to Michelle, who claimed the book about raising a happy cat.

Well, as happy as you can reasonably expect a cat to be, anyway. Disdain is their default setting, after all. That's what I admire and love about kitties; their cynicism is all wrapped up in purrs and delivered with just enough leg rubbings to make you keep trying to please them.

Thanks to everyone for playing along this week. Stay tuned for more contests and giveaways, if you can try to make it out to the dog park fundraiser tomorrow, and have a great weekend!

As I have often lamented, most of the pet lit in the world revolves around pooches. Kitties are way underrepresented, and I realize I am as guilty as the next writer in concentrating on the higher profile canines and ignoring the more subtle felines.

So here's a literary ball of string for all the cat lovers out there.

To the first blog reader that can tell me the name of my cat, I will send "Happy Cat Happy You: Quick Tips for Building a Bond with Your Feline Friend" by Arden Moore.

Hint: The names of four of the five pets that live in my house are in the "About this blog" box on the left side of the screen. India is my daughter's cat. That's all the road map you get from me.

Last day for the big book give here at the Wag, but I am sure there will be more books soon. Today I thought we could use a little humor, since most of the news these days is very grim.

"The Dangerous Book for Dogs" by Rex and Sparky is a parody written for dogs by dogs. This is the stuff your dog doesn't want you to know. It's a must-read to really understand the motivations of your pooch.

For example, here is the authors take on dog parks, a hot topic around the 'Noke lately:

"For many of us, dog parks are the only place we get to really stretch our legs and sniff some primo butt. The thrice-daily leashed walk is good for basic physical maintenance, but it's tough to break into a sprint when your chubby owner is weighing you down. The odd thing about dog parks is that while it allows for unfettered fun and was seemingly invented for canines, it was actually created as an excuse for humans to have the dumbest conversations imaginable."

So they figured that one out, huh?

The other book is "Before Your Dog Can Eat Your Homework, First You Have to Do It - Life Lessons from a Wise Old Dog to a Young Boy," by actor and author John O'Hurley. If you were a fan of the show "Seinfeld," you will remember O'Hurley as Elaine's boss, J. Peterman.

The title is a bit cumbersome, but the story is sweet as an old dog dispenses lessons about the importance of living an authentic life to the author's young son. And we all know that dogs really can teach us what's really important, if we gain nothing else from our lives shared with them.

Both of these books about dogs will be mailed to you today if you can tell me the name of the puppy we adopted last spring from the Roanoke Valley SPCA.

(He's a cutie that I write about in the "Bringing up Puppy" category on this blog. The categories are listed on the left side of this blog. Enough hints.)

Congratulations Dawn. You were the first one with your cyber-hand in the air yelling, "Me, me, pick me!" so you win the three books.

Consolation prizes for James and Sherry!

James, since you are new to the doggy buisness, I will send you "A Dog Who's Always Welcome: Assistance and Therapy Dog Trainer Teach You How to Socialize and Train Your Companion Dog" by Lorie Long and "Happy Dog, Happy You: Quick Tips for Building a Bond with Your Furry Friend" by Arden Moore. Both Long and Moore are excellent dog trainers and these books should be helpful in raising your new puppy.

Sherry: I will send you "Vet Confidential: An Insiders Guide to Protecting Your Pet's Health" by Louise Murray, DVM, and "From Baghdad to America: Life Lessons from a Dog Named Lava," by Jay Kopleman.

All other blog readers: Check back tomorrow for the final installment of our big book give.