If you’re a sucker for cute dogs (i.e., if you have a pulse), you absolutely need to click your way over to Pack.

First, if you have a dog, it lets you make a gorgeous landing page for said dog. Example: My dog’s page. It’s got the full-bleed images and cute typography of a Flavors.me or About.me, but instead of being about boring people stuff, it’s just cute dog stuff.

“This is stupid,” you’re saying to me. “Why does my dog need a… Look, my dog does not need a website. No dog needs a website.”

That was basically my reaction, too. Then I clicked on the arrow at the right side of the page, which led me to a freakin’ Internet goldmine: MORE DOGS.

Yes, the left/right navigation buttons from a dog’s page basically act as an infinite slider taking you to more cute dogs than you can handle.

Like a dog’s page? Click the “love” button at the bottom. In the market for a dog of your own? You can see each dog’s age, weight, and breed, all the better to help you make your decision.

Or is it Friday and are you sitting at your desk just waiting for the angel of death to take you away from the Dilbertian nightmare that your life has become? Screw it: It’s time to click through page after page of adorable dogs.

The whole service is the idea of Bay Area-based entrepreneur Megan Casey (her dog is Luna, and she previously founded Squidoo with Seth Godin).

And the design — arguably the best non-dog element of the whole thing — comes from John Henry Müller of What Cheer, an Omaha, NE-based design shop. Omaha is actually a hella cool spot, and What Cheer is a small firm we’ve been noticing over the past few years. When it comes to digital and real-world design, they do spectacular work that manages to be adorable and polished at the same time. Turns out, the entire What Cheer team, including dev John Hobbs and ops guy Alex P. Gates, has joined Pack, so expect more amazing design work from this startup.

But enough of our business jibber-jabber! We’ll keep an eye on Pack, as we’re sure they’re not just stopping with web pages for dogs. What’s next, we wonder — playdate organizing tools? Product recommendations? We’ll find out soon.

Go click on the dogs, and have a great weekend.

Forget light-up balls and electronic doggie doors. Here’s some dog-related technology that’s actually cool. These toys range from totally useful to cute and slightly absurd, but we promise your dog (or your dog-loving friends and family) will love them.

Best of all, most of these gadgets won’t break the bank and will add something significant to the recipient dog’s health, well being, and peace of mind.

DogTV

OK, OK. Buying a subscription TV channel for your dog sounds a bit … much. But DogTV is the kind of programming your dog wants to watch; it’ll keep her engaged and curious while you’re at the store or at work. And an engaged dog is a dog that isn’t eating your furniture or “crying” loudly enough that the neighbors write you nasty email.

DogTV is available from some cable providers and as a Roku channel.

About: “DOGTV’s 24/7 programming helps stimulate, entertain, relax, and habituate dogs with shows that expose them to various movements, sounds, objects, experiences and behavior patterns, all from a dog’s point of view.”

Perfect for: The dog who loves puppy videos on YouTube.

Price: $10 a month

Doggie DNA Kit

For the curious or scientifically minded pet owner, check out these Wisdom Panel DNA kits. With a simple cheek swab, you can find out what breeds went into making your lovable mutt the gorgeous creature she is — or you can certify your high-dollar designer dog as the bona fide offspring of two purebreed parents.

About: “Where does Buddy get his curly tail from? Why does he love digging holes in the backyard? Could I be doing more to make him happier and healthier? Your dog may not be able to tell you the answers — but his DNA can. … When you understand your dog’s natural tendencies, you can tailor a training, exercise and nutrition program to his needs.”

Perfect for: Mixed-breed dogs and their owners, especially for newer pets.

Price: $75 for mixed-breed reports

A Laser Tower

Dogs don’t have thumbs, so remote-control toys are right out, but this laser tower from Sharper Image is the next-best thing. It shoots the (harmless, we’re told) laser in 16 pattern, with a 360-degree scope for maximum play benefits.

About: “Safe, automatic rotating laser provides hours of active fun for dogs and cats. It projects a safe laser dot across the floor in unpredictable patterns that oscillate, stop, and change directions. It’s been proven to tempt even the laziest ‘couch pet-tato’ to hunt, play, chase, and pounce.”

Perfect for: The dog who’s already obsessed with laser pointers — or the dog who has to spend a fair amount of time alone at home.

Price: $30

Dog Pedometer & Cloud Health System from Fujitsu

So, you know Fitbit and Nike’s Fuelband, right? Well, Wandant is basically like that but for dogs. Fujitsu’s latest gadget is a tag and collar that track your dog’s every move, including footsteps, shivering, and even temperature changes. All this info uploads to a cloud-based health diary; all you do is hold the tag near a computer or smartphone. In the service, you can also input details on diet, exercise, and “dog business,” aka bowel movements. The link above will get you to Amazon’s Japanese site, where you can buy the device now; Fujitsu hasn’t yet said when Wandant will wag its way to other markets.

About: “The Wandant tag uses a three-axis accelerometer and automated inference technology to count steps based on detected foreleg movements, the speed of foreleg movements, and leg length, resulting in the pet care industry’s first automatic pedometer fully adapted for dogs. This results in highly accurate pace counts, measured automatically.”

Perfect for: The health nut and his or her companion animal.

Price: ~$120 plus $5/month for the cloud service

Tagg, the Pet Tracker

What’s sadder than a lost dog? Let’s not even dwell on it; the holidays are not the time to ponder such depressing hypotheticals. Instead, let’s all buy one another Taggs for our roaming-prone pets. This device takes some of the pain and stress out of one of the scariest parts of pet ownership: despite your best efforts, the dog has wandered too far out of sight during off-leash playtime or has somehow escaped through an unseen hole in the fence. Tagg clips onto a collar and provides GPS tracking for your pet. It also monitors your dog’s exercise levels.

About: “Tagg, the Pet Tracker, is a purpose-built pet tracking device that uses advanced GPS and wireless technology to track your pet’s location and activity from your computer or mobile device, 24 hours a day. If your pet strays from your Tagg zone, the Tagg system alerts you by email or text message, so you can find him on a map and bring him home.”

Perfect for: Anxious pet parents or wandering dogs

Price: $100 and $8/month

Puppy Tweets

Puppy Tweets is a weird novelty, but it’ll be the all-time perfect gift for that person who lives in the overlap of the Venn diagram of “social media whore” and “totally devoted dog owner.” Basically, it’s a clip-on device for your dog’s collar that tracks their activity — sounds, movement, eating, playtime — and posts to Twitter on their behalf.

The sad part: It looks like the maker is slowly going bye-bye. Grab the last few units on Amazon and eBay and set up your account while you still can!

About: “If your dog is barking, you might get a Tweet like ‘Bark … and the whole neighborhood barks with you!’ When she’s sleeping, look out for ‘Had a wonderful dream about you. You were bringing me snacks!’ And at lunch your puppy might say ‘You at lunch? Remember the two most beautiful words in the English language: DOGGIE BAG!’”

Perfect for: See above: “Social media whore” + “devoted dog owner”

Price: Check eBay and Amazon for listings.

Images courtesy of Jolie O’Dell, DogTV.com, Petsmart.com, Sharper Image, Fujitsu, PetLoveShack, and Puppy Tweets

Last week, we brought you a story about a New Zealand animal charity that is teaching dogs to drive cars. Well, that program was a success, and one of the dogs drove a car better than your drunk uncle.

The “driving dogs” program was created by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Auckland. The intention of the program is to show that dogs are smart creatures and can be trained to do many things with proper guidance. The SPCA wants people to adopt its awesome driving dogs and many of its other pets in need of homes.

Porter the dog was the first animal in the program to successfully “drive” a Mini. Watch the great clip of Porter driving below:

As much as it sounds like a joke, a New Zealand animal charity is actually teaching dogs how to drive cars.

While it’s a bit silly on its face, a clear purpose is behind this program from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Auckland — it wants to show that rescued dogs are smart and that you can train them for many things. The charity wants to find homes for its dogs, so it’s pulling out all the stops.

On its Driving Dogs Facebook page, the SPCA writes:

Every year, the SPCA need to find homes for thousands of dogs just like Porter, Ginny, and Monty — dogs who have been abused, abandoned, or just forgotten. They may be a mixed up motley bunch, but they’re all smart and they’re all lovable. So please don’t forget about them. Adopt them.

If you’d like to find out more about the program, you can watch a short video report about the charity from the BBC here.

And check out the trailer for a full program that will air on Campbell Live on Dec. 10 in New Zealand:

Screenshot of dog driving via BBC

The online marketplace for pet food, pet toys, and everything but the pets themselves pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars of venture capital in 1988, IPO’d in 2000, bought a Super Bowl ad in January of that year, and shuttered the company in November.

Perhaps the company was just 12 years early.

I’ve been seeing a lot of pitches for dog and cat product startups lately, including DoggyLoot, a daily deal site for chews, toys, and treats for dogs. The company says that 4 percent of pet products are sold online today, with a 12 percent annual growth rate.

With $2 million in venture funding from Sandbox Venture Fund, hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and several million in revenue in just its first year (which is probably more than Pets.com in all its ill-fated history) the company may just be proving that now is finally the time for pet sales online.

It helps that DoggyLoot is not focused on food, which is heavy and costly to ship. According to data the company assembled, more than three-quarters of dog owners have made online purchases, mostly of toys, medicines, and accessories or toys. Those are higher value and higher margin products which ship easily and efficiently.

The company put together an infographic showing the state of the industry, at least so far as dogs are concerned:

photo credit: Sebastián-Dario via photo pin cc