Pets

Well, here's the weirdest "bucking" thing you'll see all day ... a teacher cracking a joke about killing a puppy in order to motivate his students to win a vocabulary competition.

Woof!

A California high school teacher named Ryan Price at Buckingham Charter Magnet was trying to get his class fired up for the "Vocab Bowl" -- in which it was leading over some rival schools -- by bringing in a brand new mascot ... an adorable puppy named Buck.

Pretty awesome method of encouragement! Except ... Mr. Price then goes on a rant about doing your "bucking vocab" and issues a threat to the kids -- if they lose the Vocab Bowl, he'll "kill the dog."

Note to future broadcasters ... an on-air tribute to a dead pet is the WORST time to get fired up over a crazy dunk!!!

Want proof? Check out this clip from a high school basketball team in Minnesota on Nov. 30 (captured by Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools) when one announcer reveals that his dog recently died after being run over by a car.

While making the emotional announcement during a "Gone But Not Forgotten" moment, his co-announcer gets FIRED UP about an aggressive slam dunk happening in real time on the court ... and the exchange is SUPER AWKWARD.

Here's the transcript ...

Announcer 1: "Our sweet Lucy, at the age of 12 she was run over in our driveway ..."

Announcer 2: "LIKE THAT?!!! Was she run over like that?!!"

Yeesh.

Thankfully, there was a time out in the game that gave everyone a chance to calm down and reset ... and later on, Announcer 2 offered his condolences to his broadcasting partner.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have dug deep into their pockets to help in what seems like an impossible battle to fight the devastating wildfires in Nicole's country, and they have a very personal stake in all of this.

The donation will help the Rural Fire Service. As you know, 13-million acres have gone up in flames with grim prospects for the future. There are 146 fires in New South Wales alone, and the summer heat has been unforgiving.

An estimated half-a-billion wild animals have died in the fires, 1,500 homes have gone up in smoke and 24 people have died.

The world's first cloned pet, a feline named Copy Cat, is celebrating a major milestone ... she's been on this Earth for a whopping 18 years!!!

Copy Cat, or CC for short, was cloned back in 2001 at Texas A&M University and she recently celebrated her 18th birthday on Dec. 22 at her adopted home in the Lone Star State.

It's a pretty momentous occasion ... when Copy Cat was created, researchers believed animal clones would die at young ages ... but CC is still pawing around.

CC's caretaker, Duane Kramer, helped spawn her in a lab and his wife, Shirley, adopted the cute critter shortly after her birth. Now, Copy Cat lives in a special shed in the Kramer's backyard in College Station.

Copy Cat's got a feline family of her own too ... she gave birth to a litter of 4 kittens back in 2006, and 3 survived -- their names are Tess, Tim and Zip.

Hooray for science!!!

Who's a good public urinator?!? You are, yes you are!!!

Ruff day for the lads at Sheffield United ... who were getting ready for their big Premier League showdown with Liverpool on Thursday when a dog ran onto the field at Stanley Park and peed all over a practice cone!

At first, the players seemed a bit confused as to why the dog was there -- but when the 4-legged fan lifted his leg and opened fire, you can hear the whole team crack up laughing.

Funny moment ... but now, they've gotta focus quick -- Liverpool is #1 in the Premier League. They're 18-0-1 on the season so far and look unstoppable.

Meanwhile, Sheffield United is in 8th place ... they're 7-5-8 this season, but they've won 3 out of their last 5.

The troubling story about Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches allegedly abandoning his Cane Corso has a happy ending ... because the sweet pooch has found a new forever home.

TMZ's learned the dog, whose name is Jitterbug, has been adopted by a woman named Andrea Johnson and her husband, Keith. Andrea tells us they already have a Cane Corso, and when they heard there was another at a Tampa rescue they drove to meet the pup and interview to adopt her.

Andrea says she explained to the rescue that Jitterbug would be in loving and caring hands because she and Keith are familiar with the breed ... and they have a large home with a big backyard and a pool.

Plus, Jitterbug will have a new canine pal in their other Cane Corso, whose name is Addi.

The rescue group approved and the Johnsons picked Jitterbug up on New Year's Eve after she was spayed. We're told she's doing great ... and enjoyed her first meal of 2020 -- steak and sweet potatoes.

More positive news -- Andrea tells us she reached out to Rakeem's wife about Jitterbug to learn more about her temperament and what she likes, and she was very helpful.

Andrea says the wife filled her in on all the commands the dog knows, what food she prefers, her love of walks and car rides and that she's a great house dog and very chill.

We're told Rakeem's wife claims they had to give Jitterbug away because they are expecting a child, but it's still unclear how the dog ended up abandoned on the side of a busy road.

As we reported ... the Tampa Bay Bucs are looking into the situation.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have launched an investigation into allegations defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches abandoned his Cane Corso on the side of a busy road, where it sat for 36 hours.

An animal rescue group found the dog on December 8, whose name is Jitterbug -- sitting on a Florida road tired, hungry and alone. The dog was also missing some teeth.

Turns out Nunez-Roches is also a dog breeder. In case you're unfamiliar, Cane Corso's are a form of pit bull.

The animal rescue group took Jitterbug to a shelter and an official there says they contacted Nunez-Roches to say they had his dog. The official said, "He had responded back that he would pick her up on Sunday, which I thought was odd because they played Detroit on Sunday and they had a 4:25 game, so how would he get back in time to pick her up at 7? Was football more important?" He never picked up his dog.

The dog remains in the shelter and she's been pre-adopted.

One of Kourtney Kardashian's Christmas presents barked this year ... so get ready for some serious cuteness overload.

Kourtney introduced her new puppy to the world Thursday ... and she's truly a beaut!!! Hard to tell if she's a golden retriever or a lab ... but cute is cute. There's only one problem ... Kourt doesn't know what to name her. Seriously, she captioned her pics of the pup with her kids, "But what should we name her?"

Here are some suggestions ... Dollar? Billion?! TRILLION?! Fine ... Goldilocks works too.

Seamus the pit bull mix has a lot to be thankful for this Christmas ... he got adopted after spending 5 years in a shelter.

The 9-year-old pooch was scooped up at the Fresno Bully Rescue after spending half his life in a cage at the facility.

It's a no-kill rescue shelter that houses 40 dogs. The folks at the shelter have placed a number of other animals in foster homes.

As for Seamus, it's a Godsend. He's had trouble handling the weather of late ... the winter is too cold and the summers are too hot for him. Now he has a home and lots of comfort.

A little about Seamus ... he loves doughnut holes, taking long walks and pilfering toys out of the shelter bin on he way back to his cage.

Doug Flutie says his gorgeous daughter, Alexa, was "in the mix" to become a Maxim cover model ... but a gnarly accident with a dog forced her to back out of the contest.

TMZ Sports spoke with the ex-football star about the former NFL cheerleader throwing her hat in the ring for Maxim's cover girl contest earlier this year ... and he says he was "very proud" of her success.

"Very good," Flutie says. "Very proud of her. She really made a good run at that."

Flutie says Alexa made it a few rounds before a bad dog bite kept her from continuing through the competition ... but she's doing much better now.

"She kind of just ignored the whole thing and left it and went on to take care of herself."

"She’s doing great, she’s fine but would've been interesting to see if she kept promoting herself online and kept after it a little bit how she could of done."

We also asked how he feels about people eyeing his daughter ... and he says he's used to it by now!

"I gave up on that a long time ago," Flutie jokes. "She’s spent 5 years in the NFL as a NFL cheerleader, she went to school for dance, she been in production, she’s been in this and that."

Santa Claus isn't the only one coming down the chimney this Christmas as one household learned in dramatic fashion ... ya gotta watch out for those night owls too.

This is pretty nuts ... a family in upstate New York wanted to light a fire in their fireplace this past weekend for a holiday party but heard fluttering noises from inside their chimney. They figured it was a bird or an animal, so held off on lighting up for the moment.

By Sunday, we're told the noises had stopped ... so the fam figured whatever was in there had gotten out and scrammed. Naturally, they went ahead and started that fire they wanted to get going the night before.

To their surprise ... things ended with an unexpected visitor dropping in (literally) and almost getting burnt to a crisp. Luckily, no animals were harmed in the making of this story.

A fully-grown screech-owl fell down the chimney and was frantically trying to escape the flames. The people inside obviously noticed and immediately cut off the fire ... and eventually got a hold of the little guy, who might've been a little toasty, but wasn't injured.

We're told the family called animal control, which came through and took possession of the owl and took it to a shelter, where it was given fluids due to dehydration. It'll be released in a few days, and yes ... it should be A-OK for Christmas.

Thank God for reinforced glass ... because it saved one little boy from becoming a hungry tiger's lunch.

Check out the insane video ... the boy and his father were visiting The Dublin Zoo and stopped for a quick photo-op with the big cat. You can see the tiger slowly start to creep -- then stop when the boy turns around -- and lunge into a full sprint when the boy looks away again.

The tiger is stopped by the glass before it can get to the boy, desperately pawing for a piece, before finally giving up and searching for its next meal.

WHO'S A GOOD BOY?!?! YOU ARE!! YES, YOU ARE!!!

Check out this AMAZING video of a crazy athletic police dog JUMPING THROUGH A BROKEN GLASS WINDOW to apprehend a perp ... and man, wow.

Here's the deal ... cops in Fontana, CA were involved in a vehicular pursuit of a 31-year-old man suspected of stalking and attempting to injure his estranged wife.

Multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in the chase -- which eventually ended in Corona, CA ... where cops used a pit maneuver to stop the car.

A standoff ensues ... and this is where things got crazy!!!

Cops fired rubber bullets at the driver's side window -- and once they shattered the glass, SUPERDOG sprung into action ... flying through the glass and into the car to incapacitate the suspect.

The perp allegedly punched the dog, but the K9 wasn't fazed -- and cops were ultimately able to move in and take him into custody.

The suspect was hospitalized for minor injuries from a dog bite ... but hey, DON'T PUNCH DOGS!

We're trying to get info on the 4-legged hero ... stay tuned.

Trent Williams has been slapped with a demand letter to get rid of his 9 pit bull mastiffs after his neighbor's dog was mauled and killed last week ... TMZ Sports has learned.

The NFL star's Missouri City, TX neighbor is threatening a lawsuit after her 3-year-old black lab was dragged through her backyard fence and ripped to shreds on Wednesday.

Authorities are currently investigating the dog's death -- as well as the circumstances surrounding the incident -- and Linda Flowers' attorney says they're hell-bent on getting justice.

"Right now we're hoping the authorities handle it," John Kovach tells us. "If the authorities don't handle it, that's when I come in and my firm will handle it."

"In the lawsuit, I'll seek an injunction that restrains him from having those dogs at his house."

Williams claims it was Flowers' dog that initiated the attack, but Kovach says the evidence doesn't back up his claim.

Williams also addressed the incident with local reporters last week ... saying it was "dogs doing what dogs do."

TMZ Sports has obtained the 911 call Flowers made after the incident ... and it's very emotional.

A pit bull owned by NFL star Trent Williams killed a neighbor's 3-year-old black lab -- and while the neighbor is PISSED -- Williams says it's no big deal.

Linda Flowers says her beloved dog, Sandy, was attacked and dragged through a fence by one of 9 pitbulls at Williams' Missouri City, TX home, ripping its body to shreds in the process.

Flowers tells TMZ Sports ... Sandy was docile and friendly and is clearly the victim in the situation. She believes Williams is running a dangerous pit bull mastiff kennel out of his backyard in a residential community with families and children.

Williams, however, told FOX 5 in D.C. he doesn't understand why the mauling is such a big deal ... saying it's "dogs doing what dogs do."

Williams claims his dogs did nothing wrong -- and it was Sandy who broke into his yard and attacked his dogs first.

We've learned Missouri City PD responded to the scene -- but kicked the case over to animal control, which is currently investigating.

No arrests have been made and no charges filed at this time.

31-year old Williams is a star for the Redskins -- the #4 overall pick in 2010 is a 7-time Pro Bowler and signed a 5-year, $66 million contract in 2015.

The "wife" in the derided Peloton ad is taking the mockery in stride, and unlike the "husband" in the spot ... she says everyone's been cool to her about it, and she considers all the hubbub to be a positive thing.

The actress, Monica Ruiz, was out walking her dog Sunday when she was asked about all the backlash to the commercial ... and she pretty much laughed it off like it's no big deal.

Monica says everyone's been really nice to her since the ad started getting roasted online -- along with being labeled sexist -- and contrary to popular belief ... she feels really lucky to have been part of it.

She also says she saw the jabs "Saturday Night Live" took at the ad over the weekend ... and she thought it was all hilarious.

It's interesting, because the actor who plays the Peloton hubby, Sean Hunter, seems to be having the opposite experience of Monica's. He said he doesn't find the situation -- or the 'SNL' jokes --- to be all that humorous, because he's getting flooded with hate mail while the world laughs.

Of course, Sean wasn't recruited to be in an ad for Ryan Reynold's Aviation Gin to help make light of the controversy like Monica was ... so he kinda got the shaft there.