Last Friday, we posted a photo on Facebook and asked you to leave your best caption in the comment section. Then readers could “like” each caption comment to vote for their favorites. Their votes, combined with those of our own panel, determined the caption to appear under the picture right here on the Official Houston Zoo Blog this week. We hope you’ll come back for the fun EVERY FRIDAY.

YOUR VOTES HELP DETERMINE THE WINNERS!

Here is the picture that was posted on Facebook last Friday, with the winning caption by Mark Biggs!!! (trumpet or bark it up people… your choice)

CAN WE WATCH DUMBO NEXT?

*Tricia Nicole Mulkey McClelland:

Dog: “WOWEZZZ Where can I find me a Babe like that? Dumbo..”

Dumbo: “I don’t know Lucky but if you find a bowl like that let me know”"

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

There were so many to choose from!

*Christine Forisha: “This is a trunk…not spaghetti…don’t get any ideas!”

*Sheila Livingston: “Max and Methai didn’t know what they did to warrant the All Disney All Day punishment but vowed never to do it again.”

*Dub Rika: “So which one of us is the tramp?”

* Leonor Soto Leal: ” Some guys get all the luck. He gets the girl and spaghetti. I get dog chow and an elephant.” 

*Sofia González: “Dog: Tramp gets a Lady and I’m stuck here with Dumbo! Not gonna happen!”

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

There were many great captions. Thanks for joining in the fun!

And please come on back for next Friday!

DID YOU KNOW:  Our elephants have their very own blog called Trunk Tales!  It’s chock-full of adorable pictures and videos of the babies and great stories of our growing elephant herd.

And they aren’t the only thing growing. Their habitat is being expanded into where the giraffes and cheetahs used to call home.  We’ve added 1.5 acres which will include an 80,000 gallon pool, a demonstration and interpretation area with bleachers on two sides, and a separate area with an unobstructed view of the yard. The habitat is slated to open in Late June and, added to their existing home will make for a total of 3 acres for our elephant family to roam. Be sure to swing by and pay them a visit!

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Check out our Facebook page to see the rest of the entries. We hope this brought a smile to your face. And stay tuned for next Friday’s photo! Tell your friends, share this on Facebook, Twitter or your own blogs, and start your office pools to see who can come up with the best lines. (To show the picture and link on your social media, just click the little icons under the title SHARE THIS on the lower left of this post).To find us on Facebook, type in Houston Zoo Inc. in the search field or go to http://www.facebook.com/houstonzoo and become a fan.

The best part about moving down to the barn was the puppies now have an outdoor yard to play in. As usual they were a little shy at first but quickly came around:

And of course, after a long day of playing outside, what could be better than snuggling up with your favorite dog friend?

phew! what a day

10. Lassie

Trouble at the Old Mill?

You’ve gotta love Lassie. Have any other dogs ever won an Emmy Award?

9. Black-tailed Prairie Dogs

Kids get an up-close look.

Ok, so they’re actually rodents and not canines, but it says dog in their name, so it counts. You can find these little guys (2-4 pounds) in our Children Zoo area.

Prairie dogs live in huge colonial burrows called towns. Each member has its own den and drives any intruders away. Towns can extend for hundreds of miles and often contain thousands of individuals. Be sure to check them out this summer, because they hibernate during the winter.

8. Santa’s Little Helper

The Simpsons Pet

Most underrated Simpsons character besides Maggie. He can fly a plane, save Homer from being trapped in a cornfield maze, and had over 25 puppies. Enough said.

7. Underdog

Have No Fear Underdog Is Here

Underdog speaks only in rhymes. Now he’s on my dog blog.

6. African Wild Dogs

Takin' a Swim

First of all, our African wild dogs have awesome names: Aries, Blaze, and Mikita. In the wild, they live mainly in Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland.

Pack sizes in the wild can be anywhere from 5-30 individuals. These guys are fast, running at 35 mph for over three straight miles.

You might’ve noticed their unique coats – and like a fingerprint, no two dogs have the same coat pattern.

5. Brian Griffin

Million-Dollar Smile

Bipedal, high IQ, sarcastic, eloquent, voice of reason. Also – afraid of vacuums.

4. Snoopy

Pioneer of the Thought Bubble

No one can forget the impact that Charlie Brown’s pet beagle had on us as children. Plus, someone had to cheer up Charlie Brown after Peppermint Patty bullied him around.

3. Anatolian Shepherds

Living in Harmony

Taji and Tusker make up one of the most amazing stories at the Houston Zoo. Not only are they a beautiful breed that’s been around for over 6,000 years – they live with our cheetahs, Kiburi and Kito.

Dogs and cats living together. Hard to imagine? Not for us.

Taji and Tusker act as the cheetahs’ guardians and even share the same exhibit. The Cheetah Conservation Fund livestock guardian dog project in Namibia breeds and provides these dogs to native ranchers to protect their livestock from predators. Follow their updates at our new cheetah dog blog.

2. Scooby Doo

The many faces of Scooby Doo

He could eat 20 pizzas at once. Or a hamburger with 10 patties. All while solving mysteries and saving kids from haunted amusement parks. Scooby rode around in the Mystery Machine, which automatically makes him the coolest fictional dog of all time in my book.

1. Max the Elephant Dog

That's right. I live with elephants.

A recent addition to the Houston Zoo family and a big hit around here is Max the Elephant Dog. Recently rescued from the side of the road, Max now lives it up at the McNair Asian Elephant Barn.

His full name is Maximus. He was named after the scientific name for elephants (Elephas maximus). Max serves a very important role in training and enrichment of our elephants.