Guess what!?

Look who’s coming this weekend!

Stay tuned for details!

Busy Season for the Virtual Kennel Club

The Christmas Formal and Holiday Contest were huge successes. People stayed to visit and dance long into the night and the contest winners could not have been more pleased.

The new VKC Great Danes and Polar Bear Cubs, released on 17 December, 2011, are attracting a lot of attention. The Holiday Photo Booth is a popular stop as people wrap up their Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa preparations.

Now it is time to gather friends and dogs to ring in the New Year!

Details about the VKC New Year’s Party are on the VKC website. Be seeing you!

Dreidel Toy for VKC Dogs

My friends at the Perky Puppy have been busy in their Second Life workshop. The latest creation is a Dreidel Toy, a one-prim scripted toy for VKC Dogs.

This is not just any ordinary dog toy. It is a VKC Toy System 2 toy. This means that all VKC Dogs can play with this toy, plus the newer VKC Dogs — the Siberian Huskies, the Golden Retrievers, the Wolves, and any dogs yet to be released — can carry the toy neatly in their mouths when they walk or run.

Vist the Perky Puppy Main Store at Turing Isle or visit the satellite shops in or near most VKC Dog Parks in Second Life!

A Welcome Opportunity

Mason visits Hewes VKC Dog Park

Hanging out at Hewes VKC Dog Park today, I took notice when one of the visitors rezzed Mason, a Rhoda Menu Pup. Since the dogs who are able to wander freely at Dogland are all VKC Dogs, I had never before had the opportunity to observe the pride of Rhoda in action. I looked forward to the opportunity to meet one in the flesh, as it were.

As for the look, the pictures tell the tale. Mason is probably supposed to be a mastiff, though to be perfectly honest I am not sure of the breed. He has an oversized head, an extra-long neck, and puny hindquarters. His feet jut out at odd angles. His face, with hardly any discernable features, looks like he is made up for a minstrel show and covered in black greasepaint.

Mason with a friend

His owner happened to rez him among a bunch of VKC Dogs, all of whom could easily step around Mason. Poor Mason stood like a statue at first, apparently bewildered about how to move among them. Eventually he took a few tentative steps, immediately bumping into the other dogs and not finding his way around them. Despite all the scripts in this dog, he moves like a zombie. This impression is heightened by the fact that each of his legs is but a single prim which moves stiffly and with a limited range of motion. Hewes sits on a gentle hillside but the poor dog could not negotiate a 3% grade without undue struggling. Not only could he not get up this mild incline, he could not easily come down it either. The owner tried to convince him to race with the other dogs using the Logspark Dog Racer but he was unable to join in that fun.

Sensitive and in tune with her pet, the owner noticed Mason’s distress and, like any doting owner, came to his rescue. Poof! In an instant, Mason was back in the safety of her inventory. A little while later, Mason (or a dog who looked just like him) reappeared as a Dogland Sled Dog, dragging a crudely cobbled rustic sled.

Mason's owner leaped for safety

The owner confidently climbed aboard the sled and off they went gliding across the grassy expanse. Ooops! Two steps later, the dog, sled, and owner overturned as they progressed across the slope. With no regard for his predicament, the dog continued to pull the sled around the park. But, the going was slow and painful to watch. The sled, for obvious reasons, did not glide well when on its side; the owner was getting mouthfuls of grass as her face was bounced across the lawn; and the dog, who could not get his feet under himself for traction, flailed his legs impotently.

At the first possible opportunity, the owner bailed off the sled and stood helplessly beside her upturned dog. The dog lay on the grass silently wishing for release from the heavy sled that had him pinned to the ground. Soon, the owner mercifully took him back into inventory and without another word she vanished.

Meanwhile, I had been noticing how I was bogging down as I tried to walk around the park. At first I though, “Oh well, SL is being a pill again.” No sooner had the owner put her dog and sled back in inventory than the sim performance immediately improved back to the nice levels of performance I usually enjoy at Hewes.

The foregoing is my opinion based upon my observations of a single example of Vitolo Rossini’s dogs. So far, I am not finding much to recommend them. The good news is that they cost considerably less than a VKC Dog. The unfortunate news is that you get what you pay for.

Something exciting!

W00t! The Virtual Kennel Club just made an announcement about something exciting! Nobody is saying exactly what it is yet, but the poster must contain a clue, don’t you think? Maybe there will be another VKC Hunt. The last one was sure fun!

Oooooooh! This is exciting! I can hardly wait any longer.

Pay It Forward

I love all the VKC Dogs! As they say, the dogs are natural, intelligent, alive. Among my favorites is the Widget, a mongrel among the pure-breds of the Virtual Kennel Club. This little fellow is just full of spunk and character. Modeled on a RL rescue dog, this one pays it forward for the uncounted kind and generous deeds that have been shown to lost, abandoned, and rescued dogs.

How is this possible, you ask? How can it be that a virtual animal can support dog-related charities in real life? The answer is that the Virtual Kennel Club makes it possible. Every time someone adopts a VKC Widget in Second Life a percentage of the adoption fees are set aside, then converted to US$ and sent to a deserving charity somewhere in the world.

Help for Hunters

If you are participating in the VKC Easter Egg Hunt, now there are resources to help you find the eggs. There are four eggs of all manner of sizes, colors, and disguise hidden in each of the nine VKC Dog Parks. Inside the eggs are cool goodies, including jewelry, avatar hair or skin, clothing, trinkets, and accessories for VKC Dogs! Included in some eggs are puzzle pieces that must be assembled so you can enter in the grand prize drawing.

You can find some hints at Virtual Dog Talk and you can find some photographs to help with the hints among the VKC Easter Egg Hunt photographs.

I hope you won’t find these hints too useful because I really want to win my choice of the Grand Prize of a LogSpark Dog Bath (the fatpack no less) or the LogSpark Dog Racer System. With prizes like these, choosing one is difficult and I am still thinking about which I will enjoy more.

Update 2 May 2011: The winners of the Grand Prize have been announced at the VKC website.

Teamwork!

As some of my readers know and a few have guessed, I have several close friends who are deeply involved in the Virtual Kennel Club. I love the VKC Dogs because they provide such excellent companionship, live on nothing but love, and develop such interesting personalities over time.

Behind these wonderful dogs is the genius of Enrico Genosse, of course, and a team of dedicated, knowledgeable, and ever helpful folks. The thing that is special about Mr. Genosse and this team is how well they work together. A case in point is the Easter Egg Hunt. Two days ago, I ran into one of my friends who was almost too busy to talk to me. What was the reason? One of the team had proposed, at the last minute, that the VKC host this hunt. Rather than bemoaning how little time there was to prepare and set up the hunt, the team members rallied. Soon, duties were delegated and accepted, scripts were written, prizes were rounded up, eggs were created, and advertisements went out throughout Second Life and the ‘net.

Today, I popped in world to take part in the hunt and found some terrific prizes and I plan to return to hunt some more. Most hunts offer prizes inside objects hidden around a business or even across the grid. This hunt add an extra incentive. Inside some of the eggs are pieces of a puzzle. Collect all 11 pieces and submit your solution to be entered into the drawing for the Grand Prize. Cool, isn’t it?

For those who may think that all this activity meant that customer service suffered, I will mention that my friends, busy as they were and working under an impossible deadline, dropped everything whenever a call came in for help or whenever someone showed up in a VKC Dog Park needing assistance or just having questions. I keep searching, but I cannot find any other enterprise in SL that provides such consistently friendly, prompt, and courteous service.

More Support for Project FUR Japan

So many good people have come out in support of Project FUR Japan, the effort in Second Life to raise funds for Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support. It is heartwarming to see a community of people coalesce around such a worthwhile project. Kudos go to Blazin Aubret and Tristan Careless for getting the ball rolling. Thanks to all the organizers for the uncounted hours of personal effort and sacrifice they’ve put into the project.

With so many wonderful things being offered at Plumhill, the headquarters for the project, it is worth your while to drop by several times, each time with a different type of thing in mind to find. Remember that 100% of all sales from any vendor at the PFJ headquarters is donated to support homeless, lost, and injured animals in Japan.

The Perky Puppy created a special dog house, designed for VKC Dogs but suitable for any SL dog or dog avatar. This dog house takes its form from an outbuilding to the northeast of the Wada house in Shiragawa, Japan. This outbuilding is a kura (倉 or 蔵), a traditional Japanese storehouse that was used to store valuables. What more fitting building could there be to house your precious pet?

Sandry’s little yellow canary, Tweety, is doing her bit to support the the Help Japan Fundraiser at Chirihama, the Pacific Crisis Fundraiser, and Project FUR Japan at Plumhill in Second Life. Tweety’s friend Robin also has joined the effort. They appear alongside some of Sandry’s other fine products. These little birds are incredibly sweet and clever. They are equally at home riding around on your shoulder, sitting perched in a tree or on another object, and hopping around on the ground. Wherever you put the bird he’ll sing at the top of his voice at every opportunity. I just love these little guys! If you visit Sandry’s site, be sure to check out the story behind Tweety’s creation.

I’ve told you about Vavoom! before and I still think that these are among the best accessories and toys for VKC dogs that exist anywhere. Chiva has released two Special Edition Vavoom! accessories on sale at the VKC stand on the Project FUR sim: a Project Fur Fuzzbee toy and a Project Fur Donut bed. The proceeds of both of these, of course, are donated to Project FUR Japan in their entirety. Be sure to visit the Vavoom! website to see a video of the Fuzzbee in action. It makes me smile just to think about it. It makes me and my dogs laugh to play with it.

Not many know that Solcar Amat is the animation genius who worked with Enrico Genosse to create the petting animations for the VKC Dogs. He has his own line of products that animate our avatars to do a variety of actions, plus he is a collaborator with Sandry’s and Vavoom!.

In support of Project FUR Japan, Amat developed a really special animated product. Ikebana (生け花?, “living flowers”) is the art of arranging flowers. Each flower is selected carefully to emphasize its shape, line, and form and placed lovingly in a vase. There is a spiritual aspect to this art form. It is a time to appreciate the beauty of nature and see what is often overlooked during our normally busy days. Kneel beside the small table, select and carefully place the flowers, then bow to honor one’s ancestors. Change the color of the flowers with a touch.

Lailantie Core was so affected by the earthquake disaster in Japan that at first she was speechless. Recovering quickly, she began talking about Project FUR Japan to everyone who would listen. Not satisfied with just talking, she joined the ranks of SL’s best creators who have put their money where their mouths are, offering several products from La’ Core at Plumhill. She makes charming necklaces with an dog theme that are just perfect for dog lovers everywhere! She also offers some comfy furniture and a sweat lodge for spiritual quests.

For those of you who are fashion-minded, let me wrap up this brief exploration of the wonderful world of Project FUR Japan headquarters with a mention of LogSpark International. The ladies of LogSpark have been creating fashions in Second Life for years. There are plenty of stores where you can kit your avatar out to look like a “hoochie-mama.” LogSpark’s stores are not amongst them. LogSpark’s dresses and skirts are intended to be sexy and alluring, of that there is no doubt! But they’re not overly revealing, leaving something for the imagination…something to make the brain tick away in quiet admiration, wondering about the woman beneath.

As you can see, there are oh so many reasons to visit Plumhill. The best reason, of course, is the purpose of the project: to raise funds to help lost, homeless and injured pets and their families in Japan. It’s a win-win-win opportunity.

How Much in a Week?

The announcement just went out today. All of the adoption fees collected in the coming one week for VKC Dogs adopted in any VKC Dog Park in Second Life will be donated to the Project FUR Japan! All the donations to the project will be passed along in their entirety to Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (JEARS), a coalition of animal rescue organizations in Japan.

Adopting the VKC Polar Bear or VKC Penguin at Plumhill, the headquarters of Project FUR Japan will continue to fund contributions to the cause at 100% even after this week concludes. This commitment is ongoing until the project concludes.

This level of commitment simply brings tears to my eyes. I am going to round up my friends and head out to adopt some VKC dogs. What a wonderful way I can pitch in to support the rescue efforts in Japan. The VKC dogs make such fantastic presents… if I can bear to part with them.