3781. The Dog

McDonald's Corp. and 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. have teamed to celebrate the 25th birthday of McDonald's® Happy Meal®. The special promotion will feature 12 breeds of the lovable Artlist Collection: The Dog™ inspired plush toys in Happy Meals beginning April 2, 2004 through April 29, 2004, at participating McDonald's restaurants nationwide, while supplies last.

Officially licensed by 4Kids Entertainment outside of Asia, The Dog is a highly successful puppy photography franchise from Japan. The heart-tugging collection consists of more than 70 different breeds of puppies photographed with exaggerated proportions where the heads of the puppies are charmingly enlarged. The McDonald's Happy Meal toys, modeled after the award-winning photographs, feature the same exaggerated characteristics.

"McDonald's is thrilled to bring the most desirable new toys and characters to our young guests as part of our summer long, happy birthday celebration," said Kathy Pyle, director kids and family marketing. "These toys will capture the hearts and imaginations of kids and delight collectors of all ages. The 25th Happy Birthday Happy Meal celebration marks a milestone in McDonald's history, and we are excited to begin our summertime lineup with the debut of The Dog."

"We are proud to partner with McDonald's in promoting the 25th birthday of the Happy Meal," said Alfred R. Kahn, Chairman and CEO of 4Kids Entertainment. "The inclusion of The Dog in McDonald's Happy Meals is testimony to the growing popularity of this property. McDonald's is one of the top franchises in the world and we look forward to working with the company to celebrate this historic achievement and inspire puppy love for kids, collectors and puppy lovers alike."

Each Happy Meal Dog features colorful plastic collars that transform into clips, so children can walk their favorite dogs on backpacks, belts, zippers or purses. In addition, each dog comes with an exclusive McDonald's authenticated hangtag with a picture of the dog and a checklist, helpful for collecting all twelve breeds. The different Happy Meal Dogs include: a multi-colored Bull Terrier; a plush Golden Retriever; a Beagle with a widened face; a German Shepherd with an elongated snout; a furry, white West Highland Terrier; a petite brown-eyed Dachshund; a Cocker Spaniel with curly, furred ears; a dark Black Labrador; a Siberian Husky with cool-blue eyes; a spotted Dalmatian; a Miniature Schnauzer with plush gray fur; and a Pug with an extra-wrinkly face.

McDonald's Global Packaging

The Dog is the first Happy Meal to be housed in McDonald's new global package design. Featuring the 25 Years of Happiness logo in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the McDonald's Happy Meal, the new Happy Meal box also features The Dog as well as children playing sports and having fun with friends. The new packaging is an extension of McDonald's global packaging effort that first launched in December 2003.

McDonald's

The Happy Meal event will be supported by national television developed by Leo Burnett Co. and Hispanic television advertising by dRM DDB.
More than 30,000 local McDonald's restaurants serve about 47 million customers each day in more than 100 countries. Please visit our newly designed website at www.mcdonalds.com to learn more about the Company.

4Kids Entertainment

Headquartered in New York City with international offices in London, 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: KDE) is a global provider of children's entertainment and merchandise licensing. 4Kids, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, provides domestic and international merchandise licensing; television, film, music and home video production and distribution; media planning and buying; product development; and Web site development. For further information, please visit the Company's Web site at www.4KidsEntertainment.com.

3292. Welsh Corgi

The Welsh corgi is a small type of herding dog that originated in Wales. Two distinct breeds are recognized: the Pembroke Welsh corgi and the Cardigan Welsh corgi, with the Pembroke being the more common.

The corgi's origin is difficult to trace. There is mention in an 11th century manuscript of a Welsh cattle dog, though there is no evidence about whether this is the corgi or an ancestor.
Welsh folklore says the corgi is the preferred mount of fairy warriors. There is also a folk legend that says corgis were a gift from the woodland fairies, and that the breed's markings were left on its coat by fairy harnesses and saddles. Corgis often have a marking, a white stripe, that runs from the nose, through the eyes, and up into the forehead, this marking is referred to as their blaze.
The first recorded date for corgis appearing in the show ring in Wales is 1925. The first show corgis were straight off the farm and gained only moderate attention. Subsequent breeding efforts to improve upon the dog's natural good looks were rewarded with increased popularity. For years the two breeds, the Cardigan Welsh corgi and the Pembroke Welsh corgi, were shown as two varieties of a single breed. Since the two Corgi breeds developed in the Welsh hill country, in areas only a few miles apart, there is evidence of crossbreeding between the two that accounts for the similarities.
The Cardigan is one of the oldest breeds of dog in Britain and has been employed for centuries by Welsh farmers to herd cattle, herding the owner's livestock to grazing areas and driving the neighbor's cattle out of gardens and open pastures. In early settlements these dogs were prized family members, helping hunt game and guarding children. The Pembroke is believed to have been introduced to Wales by Flemish weavers about 1100, though 920 is also a suggested date. Another possibility for this corgi's origin is breeding between Cardigans and the Swedish Vallhund, a spitz-type dog closely resembling the Pembroke and brought to Wales by Norse invaders.

3274. Shetland Sheepdog

The Shetland Sheepdog looks like a miniature copy in of the rough coated Collie. When viewed from the side, the head looks like a blunt wedge, with the muzzle tapering slightly from the ears to the nose. There is a slight stop. The teeth meet in a scissors or level bite. The nose is black. The almond shaped eyes are dark, however blue eyes can appear in the blue merle coat. The small ears are 3/4 erect with the tips folding forward. The neck is arched and muscular. The long tail is feathered, carried straight down, or at a slight upward curve. The tail should reach to the hock. Dewclaws are sometimes removed. The double coat is long and abundant all over the body but is shorter on the head and legs an the coat forms a mane around the neck and chest. The outer coat is straight and harsh to the touch, and the undercoat is soft and tight. Coat colors come in blue merle, sable and black with various amounts of white and/or tan.

Temperament

The Shetland Sheepdog is loyal, willing and eager to please, making a wonderful companion dog. Docile and alert with a pleasant temperament. Loving, loyal and affectionate with its family, this breed needs people. Socialize them well starting at puppyhood. They are good guard and watchdogs. Sensitive to the tone of your voice, they will not listen if they sense you do not mean what you say, but will not listen if you are too harsh. They need their owners to be calm, but firm. They must be raised in a home where the humans are confident, consistent, pack leaders. Very intelligent, lively and trainable, the Shetland Sheepdog is one of the smartest breeds. With intelligence comes the need to occupy their minds. They like to be kept busy. The Sheltie is above all an intelligent herder, capable both of commanding large cattle and holding small sheep in check. The herding instinct is still very strong in many of them. They love to chase things. Teach this dog not to chase cars. A Sheltie should not be allowed to run free near a road as it may decide to chase a car or something else it sees across the road, running a high risk of getting hit by a car. Because of its beauty and kindness, the Sheltie has become a popular companion dog. Do not allow this dog to believe he needs to run your home, or many behavior problems will start to develop. They can become suspicious with strangers, especially with children. They may not allow themselves to be touched by strangers and will display noisy persistent barking, as they tell the humans to leave them alone. This can lead to guarding, snapping and even biting. They may hide behind something, barking persistently when company arrives. The dog needs to be told this is not an acceptable behavior. These negative traits are not Sheltie traits, but rather, Small Dog Syndrome, human induced behaviors, where the dog believes he is pack leader to humans. Varying degrees of negative behaviors result when a dog feels they are the leader of a human pack and must keep THEIR humans in line. These negative traits will subside as soon as the humans around the dog start to display the proper leadership, along with daily pack walks to relieve mental and physical energy.

3072. The Cat Club Artist International McDonald Happy Meal

One way of life:
Everybody needs someone to share the joy of his or her life.
If it happens to be cats, they will make your life fulfilled.
If you are happy, then cats are happy. If cats are happy, then you are happy.
This is the whole concept of "THE CAT CLUB".

“The CAT ” Background

* One of the Japan’s top kitten franchises.
* Art bank includes: 30 different breeds of cats and over 50,000 kitten images photographed at unique angles where heads and bodies are adorably enhanced.
* Strong graphics complimented by a clean, white background sets it apart from all other kitten photography with its contemporary-driven look.

123. Beagle

2003 McDonald's The Dog Artist International by Create Promotion (Asia) Ltd.

The Beagle is a breed of small to medium-sized dog. A member of the Hound Group, it is similar in appearance to the Foxhound but smaller, with shorter legs and longer, softer ears. Beagles are scent hounds, developed primarily for tracking hare, rabbit, and other game. They have a keen sense of smell and tracking instinct that sees them employed as detection dogs for prohibited agricultural imports and foodstuffs in quarantine around the world. Beagles are intelligent, and are popular as pets because of their size, even temper, and lack of inherited health problems. These characteristics also make them the dog of choice for animal testing.
Although beagle-type dogs have existed for over 2,000 years, the modern breed was developed in Great Britain around the 1830s from several breeds, including the Talbot Hound, the North Country Beagle, the Southern Hound, and possibly the Harrier.
Beagles have been depicted in popular culture since Elizabethan times in literature and paintings, and more recently in film, television and comic books. Snoopy of the comic strip Peanuts has been promoted as "the world's most famous beagle".


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122. Chihuahua

2003 McDonald's The Dog Artist International by Create Promotion (Asia) Ltd.

The Chihuahua  is the smallest breed of dog and is named after the state of Chihuahua in Mexico.
Breed standards for this dog do not generally specify a height, only a weight and a description of their overall proportions. As a result, height varies more than within many other breeds. Generally, the height ranges between six and ten inches. However, some dogs grow as tall as 12 to 15 inches (30 to 38 cm). Both British and American breed standards state that a Chihuahua must not weigh more than six pounds for conformation. However, the British standard also states that a weight of two to four pounds is preferred and that if two dogs are equally good in type, the more diminutive one is preferred. The Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) standard calls for dogs ideally between 1.5 and 3.0 kg (3.3 to 6.6 lbs.), although smaller ones are acceptable in the show ring. Pet-quality Chihuahuas (that is, those bred or purchased as companions rather than show dogs) often range above these weights, even above ten pounds if they have large bone structures or are allowed to become overweight. This does not mean that they are not purebred Chihuahuas; they do not meet the requirements to enter a conformation show. Oversized Chihuahuas are seen in some of the best, and worst, bloodlines. Typically the breed standard for both the long and short coat chihuahua will be identical except for the description of the coat.
Chihuahua breeders often use terms like Teacup, Pocket Size, Tiny Toy, Miniature or Standard to describe puppies. These terms are not recognized by the breed standards and are considered marketing gimmicks to inflate the value of puppies. Chihuahua's are commonly referred to as either Apple heads or Deer heads, the former having short noses and rounded heads similar to that of an apple; the latter having longer noses and more elongated heads.

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121. Labrador Retriever

2003 McDonald's The Dog Artist International by Create Promotion (Asia) Ltd.

The Labrador Retriever (also Labrador, or Lab for short) is one of several kinds of retriever, a type of gun dog. A breed characteristic is webbed paws for swimming, useful for the breed's original purpose of retrieving fishing nets. This and their subsequent use as hunting companions, gave them the name retriever. The dogs of this breed are very loving, kind, loyal and compassionate to their master. The Labrador is the most popular breed of dog by registered ownership in Canada, the United Kingdom. and the United States (since 1991), and it is also one of the most popular breed of assistance dog in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States and many other countries, as well as being widely used by police and other official bodies for their detection and working abilities. Typically, Labradors are athletic and love to swim, play catch and retrieve games, are good with young children, and for protection.

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119. Mini Schnauzer

2003 McDonald's The Dog Artist International by Create Promotion (Asia) Ltd.

The Miniature Schnauzer is a breed of small dog of the Schnauzer type that originated in Germany in the mid-to-late 19th century. Miniature Schnauzers developed from crosses between the Standard Schnauzer and one or more smaller breeds such as the Poodle and Affenpinscher.
The breed remains one of the most popular world wide, primarily for its temperament and relatively small size. Globally, the Miniature Schnauzer comes in four colors: black, salt-and-pepper, black-and-silver, and white. As of 2008 it is the 11th most popular breed in the U.S, though the American Kennel Club recognizes only three colors and considers solid white a disqualification. Colors such as chocolate, liver, and parti (multi-color or spotted) are available on the pet trade and can be registered as pure-breds by some organizations, but are not currently recognized by any legitimate clubs for conformation shows.

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