Double your pleasure, double your fun...

This weekend, the BAD RAP crew was out in full force at the Marin county Bay Area Pet Fair.

This fair has a ton of people and dogs, cats and other critters of all shapes and sizes. This year the organizers also put on a dog show for the homeless animals among us, called "The Other Dog Show," which had fabulous categories like "Best Lap Dog" and "Most Muttalicious," as well as "Best Non-Dog."

My dog Gunther is a natural at these events, and it turns out that his doppleganger Millie - currently up for adoption in our program, and the dog in the above photo - is following in his footsteps.

Millie's appearance would, incidentally, indicate that I won't have to be one of those people cloning dogs; it would seem that whoever made Gunther is awfully busy.

As luck would have it, the wonderful folks at C&M photography were at the booth next to ours and captured a variety of shots of the dynamic duo.

Is it real or is it Memorex?













Because Millie and Gunther are such similar dogs, they always attract a lot of attention when they're out in public - to the point that I'm generally slightly embarrassed because I probably look like I'm breeding these diluted lightbulb-headed dodos. The most common questions are the "Are they related?" inquiries. The answer, of course is: They darn well must be. Gunther and Millie showed up at the same shelter 5 years apart. Are they littermates? Is one a parent to the other? Are they from the same parent but different litters?

We don't know, but we do know that they look and act so freakishly similar that I can mistake my own dog for Millie at a glance.

In any case, Gunther took a backseat to Millie's charms at this particular show, as Millie racked up two ribbons in "The Other Dog Show" - she won Third Place in "Best Underdog," and racked up a First Place ribbon in "Best Lap Dog," which she won by sitting quite nicely (and upside-down) on the lap of a 10-year-old judge. On her way to collect her First Place ribbon, she was actually attacked by a Dalmation on a too-long leash, but just jumped away and kept on trucking (good girl).

Fame has its price...

Because Millie is The Poster Child for homeless pit bulls with an all-too-common story - used as a breeding machine, lived in a yard as a cheap alarm system, dumped to die at the shelter after a preventable scrap with another female guarding the yard - we were all very proud that she was such a hit at this event.

For her part, Millie seems to know that the worst is over, and despite her uber-mellow nature keeps showing us that's she's enjoying her new life.

We can't wait for her to find her forever home so that she can really and truly know that she's home for good!