It’s easy to get a few snapshots of a pet when they’re doing their own thing, but what about when you’d like to do something a little more professional, maybe something you can hang up on the wall or put on the mantel?

Megan Lee of Paws and Claws Photography shares some excellent tips and advice in the above video series. (Also be sure to check out her gallery when you a chance!)

She advises having your pet’s favorite toys out and available during the shoot, especially squeak toys for dogs. She also suggests getting your pet either professionally groomed or groom them yourself, exercise them a bit before the shoot since it’ll calm them down, and don’t feed them right before shooting since they’ll respond better to any treats that may be offered.

The rest of the video series includes choosing a location for a pet shoot, choosing the right background, lighting, handling your pet, and positioning your pet.

Remember the Simon’s Cat animations that illustrate what life is like living with a cat?

Simon has created another animation, this time featuring his “sister’s dog.” The line-drawn pup sits patiently (and at times not so patiently!) under the family dinner table waiting for scraps to fall or be directed his way. With each bite he gets bigger and bigger until he’s unable to make an escape when the time comes.

Our dog Honey is like this — in fact, we call her out little Hoover sometimes because she ZIPS across the room if she so much as suspects food has hit the floor. She’s also been known to beg, which is something that drives me nuts and we try to discourage as much as possible. Since we don’t know her history prior to being with us, and her existing weight issues at the time as well, we can only assume she was treated like a little puppy princess in her younger years!

Chip, on the other hand, has always know that begging isn’t acceptable and we were able to train him early on to not eat something that’s dropped unless we give him the okay. What about your dogs? Are they beggars or choosers?

Did you know today is National Peanut Butter Cookie day? There are a ton of recipes for peanut butter cookies available - from those calling for the most basic ingredients to some that practically include everything in the pantry.

The above video claims to make the easiest gluten-free peanut butter cookies. It doesn’t use flour, obviously, but the cookies still turn out looking delicious. It includes only 1 tsp baking soda, an egg, 1 cup of peanut butter and 1 cup of sugar. That’s it!

This cute pooch has found a new hiding spot in his owner’s couch:

Jazz the dog’s stealthy spot seems to be a popular one - urlesque has a whole list of other pets, including cats and ferrets!

What odd places have your pets found to hide in?

This little kitten loves his broccoli so much that he has a fit if anything so much as threatens to take it away from him!

Captain Pugwash (love it!) growls and whines whenever he’s disturbed with the broccoli, and at one point he frantically tries to defend his treat when someone gets too close. This is a dangerous video to watch if you are currently at your cat capacity and can’t run out and adopt a kitten or two!

Do your cats have any interest in strange treats? Turbo will turn his nose up at pretty much any meat, but bring out a bag of tortilla chips and he will not leave you alone until he gets one.

You remember Clara, the 91-year-old great-grandmother who shares her recipes for Depression-era meals?

Here’s another sweet video of Depression Cooking with Clara, preparing Pasta with Peas. While she fixes the food she recounts memories of what it was like to live through the Great Depression and how her family survived.

The inexpensive meal consists of potatoes, onion, canned peas and pasta, with a little tomato sauce added at the end. I actually think this sounds really good, though I’d use frozen peas instead of canned!

I really love watching these videos of Clara. They not only remind me of my own grandparents who also lived through the Depression and would talk about it once in a while, but also her style of cooking (cutting in the air over the pot) reminds me so much of one of my grandpas and my mom that I can’t help but smile.

My favorite Internet kitty, Sparta, has an update! His owner Cory says Sparta is going through an identity crisis:

I’ve never been able to get one of our cats to consistently bring us back a toy so we can throw it again, similar to a dog playing fetch. You throw a small cat toy their way and that’s the last you’ll see of it until you fish out from under the couch or fridge.

We have, however, had our cats dress themselves up in plastic grocery sacks (which we do try to keep away from them, but much like in the video, they’ll find it anyway).

This video of Molly the cat is hilarious: Molly’s owner prints something out, and with every little sound the printer makes Molly reacts.

Every so often Molly takes out a bit of her anxiety on a nearby bundle of wires.

What goofy things do your cats do when they get nervous?

It’s National Hamburger Week! My family and I love hamburgers — they’re tasty, easy and everyone can fix them up how they want.

The above video features Chef Hubert Keller, owner of San Francisco and Las Vegas-based Fleur de Lys and a regular on TV cooking show (Secrets of a Chef, Top Chef, Top Chef Masters).

He starts out with some tips, such as not using frozen patties or packaged buns, don’t pre-season your burger, don’t buy ground beef that has no fat (that’s where the flavor is!), and don’t push down on the burger with a spatula while it’s cooking.

He suggests buying a coarsely ground beef, or even doing it yourself with a piece of chuck or skirt steak. He also has a lot of ideas for “mix ins,” such as sauteed mushrooms or mustard seeds, and stuffing the burger with cheese.

Also make sure you use an oil that can take a high heat, like canola. Getting your pan to the right temperature is important as well, as cooking too low will allow your juices to run out, but too high will burn the outside but keep the middle raw. When the oil smokes slightly your pan is ready.

What are you favorite burger toppings?

Well, not really - the sound effects for this cute video were obviously added after the fact, but it doesn’t make it any less funny!

I don’t know what it is with cats and boxes. If there’s an empty one anywhere in the house, and the cats can manage to squeeze themselves into it, they will!

We pulled out a few boxes that were left over from our move last fall and even though they’ve still got a few things in them the cats can’t resist it. They rub up against them, try to nibble at the tape and even though there is no room, they check every time they walk by to see if the contents are cleared out yet.