Dogster and Dentastix contest

I was super excited to see a photo contest on the Dogster (entries are through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), in conjunction with Dentastix. I'm okay with Dentastix; they might not be the bestest ingredients, but Elka likes them, they seem to work, we can all have junk once in awhile.

So then I toddled over to read the contest rules and found this gem:

License to Use Entries: By submitting an Entry, each entrant agrees and hereby grants to Sponsor and its successors, licensees and assigns an unlimited, perpetual, irrevocable, assignable, royalty-free, fully paid-up license to reproduce, distribute, perform, create derivative works of, edit, alter, display, exhibit, combine with other materials, exploit and otherwise use the Entry, and all elements embodied therein, in any manner and in any and all media now known or hereafter devised throughout the universe for any purpose whatsoever, without compensation or notification to, or permission from, entrant or any third party and hereby waives any moral rights in the Entry.

My picture is my picture. My dog is my dog. Why should I release rights in perpetuity for something I've created of something I love a great deal to somebody to do what they want with it?  I understand that, in general, rights like these are so they can make those creepy "dog with human teeth" advertisements. But seriously, even if you don't win, even if you just enter, you are giving these rights to Dentastix (and Pedigree, by extension, it would seem) and its successors royalty free and across the universe however they want for ever and ever amen. And they're not responsible for third-party usage of submitted entries. And you're not allowed to watermark them, because identifying information, yadda yadda. 

In my Why I Watermark my Pictures post, "protection against misrepresentation" was one of the reasons I gave. I would be just sick if a contest entry of mine, given in good faith, became a stock image for Dentastix/Pedigree/whoever to trot out any time they wanted a vicious or dangerous dog picture, or even to just advertise a product I dislike and wouldn't support. Maybe I'm paranoid, maybe I'm thinking too much about it, whatever. 

Family Tree

While I don't know anybody who has known the dogs in Elka's pedigree, I still find her pedigree very interesting. Granted, I met her sire (deceased as of December, apparently. Rest in peace, Gabriel; you seemed like an awesome guy) and dam, but I don't know them. I knew that Elka's dam loved babies, and her sire would "Smile" on command. Precious little information, when you get fixated on things in the way that I do.

However, I'm lucky in that there are some very good online resources for Dobermans, including Dobermann-Review.com and Dobequest.org. There, provided the information was uploaded, I can find birth dates, titles, health testing, and dates of death. Elka is spayed, and I never intended on breeding her, but it's interesting to see what's "in her woodpile".

Help Feed Shelter Dogs!

Though I don't feed Elka Pedigree dog food, I do have to say, they have a couple of nice programs.

For one, you can share a video on their site, and they'll donate a bowl of food to a shelter dog.

They also have "Write a Post, Help a Dog". Really, I just can't pass that up! Even though I didn't go to BlogPaws 2012 (my understanding is they're the big group that started/participates in this initiative), I can still help from home.  With each post, Pedigree will donate a 17 pound of food, until June 30; the post just needs to be directly linked in the linky below.

Thanks, Pedigree! Even if shelter dogs don't have homes right this second, at least they'll be fed.