Did anyone take it seriously when a stray, female dog named Laika, was tucked into Sputnik 2 on the second Soviet spacecraft to reach orbit on November 3, 1957. That's orbit, as in outer space...Was the value of pets so prominent back then?

In other words, did anyone predict that as [wo]men on the moon increased in frequency and popularity, so too would the concept of taking our pets along for the ride in space

I happen to think that the only thing worse than having pitbulls fight as a sport, is having humans fighting over fighting dogs.

The stakes must have been high to get these dog owners to stoop this low. We'll be following this one closely.

Because I'm traveling this week, I'm getting an interesting perspective of news and views about pets from a global perspective. The Beijing Olympics will be soon upon us and I've noticed the foreign press is far more vocal when it comes to pointing out the differences in cultural attitudes towards dogs and cats in the host country of China. Looking forward to hearing from you on this topic. The controversies surrounding animal rights, pet status vs overpopulation. The road to the Olympics may be longer than we pet owners think!