WASHINGTON – APRIL 14: U.S. President Barack Obama walks his new Portuguese water dog Bo on the South Lawn of the White House April 14, 2009 in Washington, DC. The six-month-old puppy is a gift from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) who owns several Portuguese water dogs himself. This breed of dog is considered a good pet for children who have allergies, as Malia Obama does. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

In honor of the Obama’s latest addition to their family, we’re taking a look back at a few other lucky dogs:

George W. Bush President George W. Bush petting his English Springer Spaniel Spot in the Oval Office. (Photo by Eric Draper/Mai/Mai/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

US President Bill Clinton is greeted by his dog Bu WASHINGTON, : US President Bill Clinton is greeted by his dog Buddy as he arrives at the White House 12 August in Washington. Clinton returned early from a cross country fundraising trip in order to meet with his foreign policy team to discuss the 07 August bombings of two US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.  ( TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

George H. W. Bush Pres. George Bush walking on South Lawn of the White House w. First Dog Millie and five of her puppies. (Photo by Michael Sargent/White House/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Ronald W. Reagan US Pres. Ronald Reagan petting his dog Lucky outside the White House. (Photo by Bill Fitzpatrick/White House/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Gerald R. Ford Pres. Ford studying budget matters in the Oval Office while petting golden retriever Liberty. (Photo by Ricardo Thomas/White House/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

President Lyndon Baines Johnson smiles as he plays with his pet beagle ‘Him’ in the Chief Executive Office of the White House, Washington, DC, October 7, 1965. (Photo by Pictorial Parade/Getty Images)

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

One of the best parts of our partnership with Flickr is the vast amount of fantastic pet imagery at our fingertips: cats, dogs, hamsters, snakes, rabbits, horses, we have the whole lot. What’s also exciting is that these pets are from all over the world.

In honor of this international set, here’s a rundown of global dog barks:

For more fun with international animal sounds check out this Animal Noise Chart. (Who knew German frogs went “quaak quakk”?)

Enjoy this small sampling of what we have on offer at Getty Images so far. More to come soon!

85072410,  Mathew Burditt Photography/Flickr

85457605,  Luisa Pelipetz/Flickr

85456917,  Luisa Pelipetz/Flickr

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Vict?ria Pe?afiel/Flickr

I can’t help but notice that the Flickr partnership is turning up a very different type of imagery from what we normally edit.

They’re not all “slice of life” pictures either — there’s some really considered, crafted work from hugely talented photographers. What I get a kick out of is the tiny details of people’s lives – the little moments that say or reveal a lot, which are local but universal.

The shot above from a photographer in Barcelona is a great example – you have all the intimacy of family life, care and protection, animal instinct – maybe also competition! It’s shot through (excuse the  pun) with humor and warmth. This is true of a lot of Flickr imagery and is amazingly hard to recreate.

Images like this also have a general appeal, despite (or maybe because?) they’re intensely individual.  Like a lot of the Flickr stuff I love, if you read a description of the shot you’d struggle to visualize it – but it works.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Datacraft/Getty Images

Need some inspiration, or just need to laugh? Check out this 24X7 live stream web cam of 6 puppies. According to blogs I’ve found on the pups, these little guys reside in the SF Bay area and are due to go to their new homes sometime next week. One blog reported that each puppy may be traveling to their new homes with their very own web cam. One can only hope.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

On a hot day in June at a dog park in Los Angeles, 21 dogs, 13 owners, 2 photographers and the Getty Images Los Angeles creative team came together for one cause – The Compassionate Eye Foundation.

Every year Getty Images photographers donate their time to do a one day photo shoot to benefit the CEF. The imagery created on the shoots is uploaded to www.gettyimages.com and the royalties generated by the imagery are used to help women and children in third world countries.

It was such a great day, I thought I would share some of the “behind the scenes” pictures and some of our finals. Enjoy!

Art director Andrew Delaney is about to drench a St. Bernard with water to get him to do this…

Photographer Amanda Edwards and art director Karen Strauss working with a Great Dane.

Here are a few of the images created from the shoot:

Siri Stafford/Getty Images

Siri Stafford/Getty Images

Siri Stafford/Getty Images

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Did you know Americans spend $41 billion (not million, BILLION) dollars annually on their pets? It all adds up – day care, walkers, grooming and toys (catnip, bully sticks, organic all natural foods, collars, coats, boots, scarves) the list goes on and on.

In the UK, sales of premium dog and cat foods grew 9.2 percent during 2006 to £655 million and that’s just on food! People love their animals and love spending their hard earned cash on them. I am one of those people.

It’s on my mind today because my most glorious 16lb hunk of burnin’ love cat, Snowbelly, died last week. And I am sad, very, very sad. I bring it up here because the first thing I did after the vet took him away was to look for pictures.

I’ve been taking pictures of my pets for 13 years. In fact, my friends tease me mercilessly about it. But today, I’m glad I did. Part of working through my sadness has been to get out those pictures and celebrate my buddy.

Clearly, I’m not the only one who excessively photographs or shoots their most beloved companions. There are so many websites immortalizing our furry, feathered, scaled friends – it’s clear we’re more than happy to spend that money to shout it out to the world. My three favorites are http://www.youtube.com, http://www.flickr.com and http://wwwlolcats.com – but you probably know all of those. What sites do you go to?

Consumer spending, which includes this consumer, means that we need to continually refresh pet pictures at http://www.gettyimages.com. We just completed a new pet project a couple of months ago. On a bad day, I’ve also been known to search for those new puppies, kittens, dogs, bunnies, chinchillas, ducklings or cats just to have a giggle.

But today, I have a gratuitous picture to celebrate what was my longest running relationship…all hail the great Snowbelly.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!