If you are one of the millions of eligible ladies dreaming of landing a date with country hunk Jake Owen, you need to set an appointment with his matchmaker and canine companion, Vern. The Grammy-nominated artist consults his dog about all potential dates. Jake says, "Vern's a pretty good judge of character when it comes to girls," adding that he can tell which ladies Vern prefers. "You've got to like my dog if you're going to be with me."

Dogs can detect cancerous tumors, alert epileptics to impending seizures, and perform many other amazing feats, so it's no surprise that they can also tell a "keeper" from a lemon. So, single folks, take a tip from Jake: If your dog, cat, or hamster doesn't like your date, take the hint and ditch the dud.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

On my list of life's simple pleasures, right below "Cuddling with my cat during our Project Runway marathon": a cold beer, a pair of perfectly worn blue jeans, and a basketful of fried tofu. I'm not alone here: The Grammy Award–winning Zac Brown Band agrees with me—well, at least about the cold beer and blue jeans.

converse / CC

But I'm optimistic that the band will also be singing the praises of soy after it ponders PETA's proposal. We've asked the band members, who sing about their love of freedom in "Chicken Fried," to consider what life is like for chickens and other animals who are kept in constant confinement on filthy, crowded factory farms before they're cruelly slaughtered. We've also offered to partner with Zac and the band on a vegan "eat and greet" for fans on their upcoming West Coast tour. And to make our offer even more tempting, we've sent the band members a basket of delicious, protein-rich faux meats.

So now we wait to hear back from Zac and the rest of the band. In the meantime, I've started veganizing lyrics to some of my favorite country classics. Darling Dolly's "Jolene" becomes "Gardein," for example. Ante up by listing your favorite veganized honky-tonk tune in the comments section below.

Written by Karin Bennett

One of our most popular anti-fur slogans here at PETA is “Fur is worn by beautiful animals and ugly people”. And we’ve got some great ads to back it up. But the pictures that have been circulating of Aretha Franklin at the Grammy awards last week don’t even really need the tagline to drive that point home. She looks like a walrus in a cat costume. Except, like, nowhere near as cute as that sounds.

Here’s the note that PETA VP Dan Mathews sent to Aretha, who got all in a tizzy yesterday about the fact that Beyonce called Tina Turner “the Queen” and not her.