Dave Nassar, owner of the world’s biggest dog – Giant George – has released a book detailing his life with his record holding pet. ‘Giant George: Life with the World’s Biggest Dog’ was released on April 10th, 2012 to rave reviews. Back in 2009 Incredible Features photographer Jeffery Werner spent time with the Nassar family to capture just how they fit such a huge furry friend into their home, lives and hearts. George has close to 100,000 fans on Facebook and millions of hits on Youtube. Giant George took the Guinness Record title three years ago and has since become a national celebrity – even appearing on Oprah. The blue Great Dane stands tall at an amazing 42.625 inches, and weighs in at a staggering 245 pounds!

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Is it the real-life donkey from the Shrek movies? Or a zebra from the fields of Africa? Neither. It’s a zonkey!

This rare hybrid cross between a zebra and a donkey – known as a zonkey, or sometimes a donkra or zebroid – lives as a well-loved pet in Glendale, California.

The zonkey, named Mona Lisa, was rescued by her owner Mara Baygulova, an internationally renowned opera singer and cellist, from a lonely and abused life on a ranch run by a horse trainer who had no idea she was so special.

Even though Mona Lisa's shape is that of a donkey – with the shape of the ears, the largeness of the belly and the lack of withers matching that breed – Mona Lisa has black and white-colored ears and zebra stripes on her legs. Plus she is taller than a regular donkey. She also sports a striped, spiky zebra mane and tail. 

People often notice Mona Lisa is special and stop to take pictures, which the 'diva' as Mara calls her, loves. 'I see she gets quite miffed if they don't notice she is different!' says Mara, 'She has a lot of self-confidence.' 

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Caroline Kinsey, 42, was born with both female and male genitalia. Her baffled parents, clueless as to what to do, followed the advice of the doctors present at her birth–and decided to just raise her as a boy, never mentioning to her she was a hermaphrodite.

Growing up, Caroline says she always knew she was different, but she never knew why. She recalls, "From the time I was young, I'd always known I was different. I could never quite put my finger on why.“

It wasn’t until she was 19 years old that her mother finally told her she had both female and male sex organs. Although it's easy to imagine that Caroline would resent her parents for keeping such an important secret, she knows they did what they did simply because they didn’t know any better. “They were advised to keep my secret from me and the rest of the world for as long as possible,“ said Caroline.

Caroline eventually got married to a woman, but the marriage didn’t last long. She then sunk into depression, where she remained until she made the decision to live and dress as a woman. "To start off, it was really strange, as I had only ever known how to dress as a man," she describes. "But very quickly I realised it was the right thing for me.“ Caroline says she is much happier in her own skin today.

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Like many people, Lindsey Bessanson is afraid of bugs.  If she finds one in her home, her husband has to catch and kill it. But unlike most people, Lindsey then turns dead insects into beautiful and unusual art:

“I started with making insect jewelry around 2003,” Lindsey explains.  “I'd buy dead insects online and cast them in sterling silver. My first dung beetle made me want to start working with the actual insects as art instead of casting them. It was a brilliant purple color. Sometimes the casting just isn't as beautiful as the original bug. They can be very jewel-like in themselves.”

She buys the insects online, usually on ebay or special websites for entomologists. And when she finds a very special one at home, her husband has to put in in the freezer to give it a quick, humane death.

Lindsey is currently working on a series of steampunk-inspired insect pieces for which she adds tiny gears and mechanics to the inside of the bugs. She's also building a series of circus and freak show-like scenes. There are bugs as Siamese twins, a fortuneteller, a strong man and a tightrope walker. There's even a real flea circus, with a shiny beetle acting as ringmaster.

Who buys these unique pieces of art? A great variety of people, from soccer moms looking for a very special gift to insect lovers. Lindsey even gets requests for custom pieces. One time somebody wanted her to preserve a dead white-toed tarantula that used to be his pet.

Lindsey's art works sell for between $120 and $300, but she also sells prints of her most popular pieces. 

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A Barbie doll, a new bicycle, maybe even a video game… those are gifts most 7-year-old girls get for their birthdays. But not Poppy Burge–a young girl whose mother gave her the gift of plastic surgery!

Sarah, Poppy's mother, is a plastic surgery addict herself. She believes she is doing her daughter a big favor. “I’m investing in my child’s future," she says. "I’m giving Poppy the freedom to do what she wants.“

If you think this gift is over the top, wait until you hear what mommy has planned for her little darling’s birthday party! On the day of the party, Poppy, wearing designer clothes and diamonds, will arrive at the Burge’s garden with a horse and carriage. 100 guests will greet her as she walks inside on a pink carpet. After lunch and dancing, there will be a fashion show with Poppy judging her friends as they pose as models.

This is not the first time Poppy has received plastic surgery vouchers as gifts. For her last birthday, Poppy got a voucher for breast implants, and for Christmas she received one for liposuction. Of course, she can’t redeem these until she turns 18.

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The beach has always been the place to sit back, relax, and soak up the sun. Chances are, though, that you've never visited the ocean and seen a goat toeing the tip of a surfboard as she catches waves back to shore!

Dana MacGregor, a Pismo Beach resident, first met his pet goat seven months ago at Grieb Goat Farm in Arroyo Grande. He thought Goatee, as he named her, would make a good lawnmower for his overgrown yard–but the adventurous animal grew on him, and he decided to keep her. In fact, he brings her everywhere now, including to the beach, where the two hang ten (or twenty) regularly.

Goatee, who is two years old, has taken to the waves with enthusiasm, balancing on surfboards like a pro, and even trying her luck with paddle boarding! Since Dana discovered Goatee's love of water sports, he has resolved to bring the gutsy goat on adventures all over the place. He even took her to Vegas for some gambling and a stroll down the strip–"I had no idea that getting a goat would bring so much laughter and joy to people," exclaims Dana. 

The two now have a YouTube channel set up, GoateeAndMe, on which they plan to release a new video each month documenting their fun together.

Goatee is the newest addition to Incredible Features' list of favorite unusual pets, including alligators, a waterskiing horse, a surfing dog, and even skunks!

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Beginning in February of 2010, prisons across the state of Missouri have begun implementing a program called ‘Puppies for Parole,’ which allows inmates of correctional centers train dogs from local animal shelters, saving them from probable euthanization and preparing them for adoption. Since pioneering the program ten years ago in all-female prisons, George Lombardi, Director of the Missouri Department of Corrections, has developed Puppies for Parole in 15 of the 20 all-male, maximum-security prisons he oversees. “It’s really a win-win situation,” he explains. “The dogs teach offenders responsibility and compassion, and improve the culture and atmosphere of the facility. They lessen the tensions and as a result improve the safety and security of the prison.”

Local shelters are more than enthusiastic to not only bring dogs that would otherwise be euthanized to the prisons, but also to provide volunteer trainers to teach inmates how to handle them. As the program has developed, more and more of the dogs trained by inmates have been adopted by staff from the prisons; some dogs have been adopted by the offenders’ families, and have sometimes even left with the inmate that trained them.

Lombardi says he has begun connecting the program with mental health facilities and veterans’ homes and the organizers are now working the provide dogs as therapy animals. So far, they have had a lot of positive feedback, and as a result, the training will expand to ready certain dogs to work with those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and children with Autism.

 

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Surfing dog, Abbie Girl, an Australian Kelpie set the first Guinness World Record for the longest surf-ride by a dog. The Kelpie was competing in the Huntington Beach 3rd annual Surf City Surf Dog competition on Sunday, September 25, 2011 when she caught a wave and rode it for 65 yards as a Guinness World Record representative monitored. The distance was confirmed by a GPS system, which was duct-taped to the top of Abbie Girl’s wetsuit.

Dog surfing has become an increasingly popular way for dog owners to have fun with their pets. This recreational phenomenon started in Southern California and grew so quickly in popularity that doggie surfing competitions were started.

Abbie Girl was not only entering the Surf City Dog Surf tournament to compete, she was there to attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for longest wave surfed by a dog. The minimum distance set for this category was 30 yards. Strapped with a GPS device put on her by owner Michael Uy, Abbie wagged her tail and bounded into the water. Michael put Abbie on her board and together the waded out into the water and waited for the perfect wave. When they saw her wave, Michael released Abbie’s board and she surfed her way back to shore.

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Maty is the first three-legged dog to compete at the largest frisbee dog competition in the world, the Skyhoundz World Canine Disc Championship. Her amazing natural skill for catching frisbee caused them to rewrite their rulebook – where it had said ‘all four paws in the air’ as a requirement for the ultimate achievement of catching the disc as it flies, it now states ‘all paws in the air’ in recognition of three-pawed competitors.

Abandoned in a motel room with her litter mates, Maty was rescued by the Central Oregon Humane Society and nursed through a bad staph infection that resulted in a leg amputation. She has since been adopted by Lynne Ouchida, their Community Outreach Manager, and is an ambassador for the shelter – helping to promote responsible pet care and raising awareness of the abilities of animals such as herself. She also helps with the process of socializing the feral kittens the Humane Society receives in, who find comfort in Maty while learning to live with people.

The Skyhoundz national event was only Maty’s third competition as a disc dog, and despite competing against professional frisbee catchers who have trained twice a day for many years she placed 7th. Other dogs might be faster, but Maty has amazing accuracy.

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At 35 inches (that’s 2 feet and nine inches) in height Mantle Great Dane Nova is the tallest female dog in the world. When her owner Ann Suplee took Nova home at 8 weeks old she was no bigger than Nova’s now four year-old head. But she grew and grew so much that today at 160 lbs, she towers over other Great Danes

Yet Ann admits that despite her size, Nova is still a lap dog and even sleeps in her queen-size bed with her, alongside her ‘brother’ Rocky, a boxer. ‘We don’t know whether it was the good food we fed Nova when she was a puppy, or some throwback genes, but I think it’s all the love and affection we’ve given her through the years that made her so big,’ says Ann.

Has the world’s tallest male dog, Giant George, found his perfect match?

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