Recently in Daily News Staff Pets Category

Pictures of me with the Euro man (yeah that's what I call him) while I was dogsitting him.

I haven't done a Daily News Staff profile...mainly because I haven't received much information from fellow coworkers. So if you work with me, feel free to send me info you your beloved pet.

This is one of my favorite dogs ever. I occasionally take care of this wonderful and gentle giant. When you first meet Euro he can be intimidating but in reality he's just a big, lovable baby. Euro, a four-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback is owned by my coworker Theresa and her husband Bart who live in Woodland Hills. Euro is a show dog who has won several prizes. I think he even got his championship. Not only is he fun and lovable, he's very smart and has the keenest sense of smell I've ever witnessed in a dog. I keep telling Theresa that they should train him to be either a search and rescue dog or cadaver dog because that nose never stops smelling things...even things that are blocks away. For instance...while I was walking him one time, he went ballistic after smelling my husband from two blocks away. I was on my way to the house when Chris drove up. Euro took one whiff and nearly pulled my arm out of the socket from excitement. He remembered Chris' smell from the first time he had seen Chris, which was many many months before.

His favorite thing to do is go for walks. I know this because he would never cease to wake me up with his wet nose at the crack of dawn. Whenever I stay at their house I never ever need an alarm clock. Who needs one when you've got a natural one in the form of a Ridgeback..hah! He also loves to eat hot dogs from a his Kong, nap on his plush bed and eat Frosty Paws (in moderation of course). Oh yeah...and he just plain loves to romp around the back yard.

Here's a funny video of him chewing on a bone! Enjoy!

My coworker Mariel Garza sent me some more photos of her handsome beastie named Beastie!! remember him from a few posts ago? And don't forget to let him know that he needs to update his blog!!

Lazy dog!!

Yeah what?

Photos taken by Mariel Garza

It's been awhile since I profiled a fellow worker's pet. What better way to get to know staffers than through their pets. MEET BEASTIE!!!

Columnist and Editorial writer Mariel Garza, who also shares her opinions at fellow blog Friendly Fire is a big animal lover who is owned by Beastie (love that name), a 1-year-old Newfoundland/border collie mix. I had the privilege of meeting this beautiful monster. I say monster in a loving way of course. The adjective definitely describes him because he is a BIG DOG!! I'm waiting for more pics and info about him but I do recall Mariel telling me that she rescued this beauty from somewhere.

This photo cracks me up. It causes me to sing the Twilight Zone theme song. I've got a few photos of my cats like that. In fact here's one of Hershey (DEVIL KITTY!!).

According to Beastie's blog (which btw...NEEDS TO BE UPDATED! Beastie come on! let us know how you're doing!) he....

Actually I'll quote it in his own words (which are actually typed by the two-footed can opener who lives in his den as Beastie describes his owner...LOL!). Here you go:

I am Beastie, a 1-year-old Newfoundland/border collie mix from Los Angeles. This means I'm drooly and hyper, large but lithe, and smart but sweet enough to get away with it.

I love bonies and doing tricks for hotdog pieces and barking at people and wrestling with Bella, my little yellow girlfriend.

Go check out his blog and request that he update it more often.

photos taken by Mariel Garza

photo taken by Tom Gapen

Daily News Assistant News Editor Tom Gapen and his wife Linda are total cat people according to a conversation we had the other day. " We love all animals but dogs are higher maintenance so we have kitties," said Tom. Hmmmm...where have I heard that before? Chris and I only have cats at the moment because of that very reason. But that's not to say that we'll never ever get a dog.

Anyway...back to Tom! According to the bio on his photo-heavy Visual Kaos blog, the moon is his planet and (aside from kitties) he loves rain, good, strong coffee and the sound of a Gibson ES-335. And I know from the pure coincidence of randomly bumping into him at a Pearl Jam concert, that he is indeed a fan of really good music (you can see by the awesome photo of Shirley Manson) at the top. Read his blog! It's an entertaining read to say the least.

But of course this is all about Tom's cats. Check out lots of photos his kitties here at Tom's website tresgatos.net.

There you'll see Joey the big black cat. He's a healthy 24 pounds...WOWEE!! :). Then there's Iggy the little calico and Spooky the big maine coon who, as you can tell, loves to stick his nose in cameras (not sure how much he weighs though).

Tom inherited Joey and Iggy from his wife. They were both strays. Joey jumped onto the roof of her car at the beach while she found Iggy was running around in her yard. Tom adopted Spooky from the East Valley Animal Shelter.

To see more of Tom's photography visit his flickr page here. Right now he's got some phenomenal pictures of California poppies. And if you click further you'll come across a beautiful house finch and a close-up of a coyote!!

This is the first post in a series of profiles on Daily News staffers and their pets. One of the best ways to get to know about a person is through their pets...wouldn't you say?

So contact me if you want your critter (I say that in a loving way) to be spotlighted.