Social networking site for dogs begins

According to AP, the San Francisco-based Dogster is a "flourishing social networking website for canines" which are not so much pets as "animal companions".

The site calls for the suspension of disbelief that their pets have developed opposable thumbs and are capable of barking over the internet.

The fact that many of the members of Dogster would either rip each other's throat out, or settle for sniffing each other's arses does not seem to have occurred to the people in this network.

AP cites the Annie's profile. Annie is an 11-month-old bitch from Tennessee who likes carrots and belongs to a news group called "Beagles R Us".

Annie has a friends page which includes Tank, a Shar Pei in South Africa, a New York City golden retriever named Copper, and Beanie, a poodle living in Malaysia, who we guess barks in English.

Just when you thought it could not get worse - Annie has a bog where she "shares her thoughts and adventures" with friends. These thoughts are surprisingly coherent when you consider that Annie probably only thinks of food, water, sleep and eating her own vomit.

There are more than 290,000 owners who have put their dog's profile online. There is also a profile, complete with a photoshopped picture of a mongrel with wings who was run over by a driver who drove through the dog's yard to hit her. It would appear that this particular owner has had an awful lot of pets who have met sad ends and all have little wings now.

There is a Catster sister site, but it only has about 100,000 members. Perhaps it is because cats are always out and never reply to their emails. µ