Doghouse

Kings Coach Darryl Sutter has opened the door to the chateau de bow-wow. Left wing Dustin Penner, who said this week he was “waiting like a dog in a car, waiting to be let out” while scratched from the lineup, will return on Saturday when the Kings face the Ducks at Anaheim. Penner, who sat out four consecutive games, had no points and a minus-2 defensive rating in the first two games of the season. He practiced on Friday alongside Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, and Kyle Clifford moved back on a line with Colin Fraser and Jordan Nolan.

Kings Coach Darryl Sutter has opened the door to the chateau de bow-wow. Left wing Dustin Penner, who said this week he was “waiting like a dog in a car, waiting to be let out” while scratched from the lineup, will return on Saturday when the Kings face the Ducks at Anaheim. Penner, who sat out four consecutive games, had no points and a minus-2 defensive rating in the first two games of the season. He practiced on Friday alongside Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, and Kyle Clifford moved back on a line with Colin Fraser and Jordan Nolan.

The ready-made edginess of hit men, hookers and gangsters is a foundation that a story can either build on or coast on. Writer-director Brian Peterson's "The Misadventures of Rick the Strangler" at the Electric Lodge takes the lazy route with formulaic characters aimed at those who like their comedy crude and incoherent. Mob executioner Rick's misadventures ensue from his predilection for feeding his victims' severed digits to his dog. This unique take on finger food lands Rick (Jonathan Brooks)

The ready-made edginess of hit men, hookers and gangsters is a foundation that a story can either build on or coast on. Writer-director Brian Peterson's "The Misadventures of Rick the Strangler" at the Electric Lodge takes the lazy route with formulaic characters aimed at those who like their comedy crude and incoherent. Mob executioner Rick's misadventures ensue from his predilection for feeding his victims' severed digits to his dog. This unique take on finger food lands Rick (Jonathan Brooks)

At last! A doghouse that can have another life as a playhouse or mini-storage container. Our plan includes instructions for both the saloon and barn styles pictured. The builder should decide beforehand what the primary use will be. For instance, the hinged top or "attic" of the barn may be used to store gardening tools, potting soil, etc., with the "main floor" a playhouse or doghouse. In either case, the hinged top makes cleaning the inside an easier and quicker job.

The way Jerry Baros tells it, all he wanted to do was help the homeless of New Mexico. But for his efforts, he was ridiculed, denounced by city officials and condemned by the people he was trying to help. Baros had a doghouse business, and he figured that with a few modifications, his doghouses could provide temporary shelter for homeless people. So he added 3 feet to the length of his standard doghouse design and installed windows and a door. On a raw winter day last year, Baros loaded his modified doghouse onto his pickup truck and transported it to a downtown Albuquerque lot where the homeless gathered.

Before somebody puts up a howl about wanting to check in at Snoopy's doghouse, the answer is no. Charles Schulz simply won't permit it. Sure, someone is likely to growl about this being a rather shabby way to treat a fan of Schulz's lovable lop-eared beagle. But those are the rules and, gosh, as Lucy likely would say, "Rats!" Well, never mind. It so happens that there are a number of simply splendid people shelters to be found in Santa Rosa, and nearly all of them are near Snoopy's neighborhood.

Singer Liza Minnelli, already in the doghouse with Swedish authorities for taking her dog into the country last week without proper authority, ran into more problems over the weekend. On Sunday, she was grounded by a severe ear infection and had to pull out of a concert with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in Helsinki, Finland. Doctors told her she could not fly for 10 days. Sinatra and Davis went ahead with the show.

The San Francisco 49ers traded talented-but-troubled Tim McKyer to the Miami Dolphins today for an 11th-round pick in this year's draft and a second-round choice next year. McKyer, a starting cornerback for three seasons and a standout in January's Super Bowl victory over Denver, was in and out of coach George Seifert's doghouse last season. He was suspended for two games for insubordination.

Sheriff's deputies chasing a group of gang members shot and killed a pit bull guarding a stash of rock cocaine and weapons in a doghouse, officials said Tuesday. The incident began shortly after 10 p.m. Monday when a man flagged down a sheriff's patrol car and said he had been robbed of $20, Deputy Roger Hom said. The victim said the muggers had fled to a house at in the 11100 block of New Hampshire Avenue in Los Angeles, where deputies entered the rear yard and encountered a man and four teen-agers.

What does Michael Vick want for Christmas? A dog, apparently. Don't panic: He's not allowed to get one until 2012, when he finishes the probation that followed his nearly two-year prison sentence for running a dog-fighting ring. But there's much anticipatory anxiety in the air nonetheless. It all started this month, when the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback told a group of children at the Boys and Girls Club of Newark, N.J., that he longed for a canine companion "more than anything in the world.

Shannon Brown winced in pain in the second quarter and after the game, his sprained right thumb giving him so much pain. Sasha Vujacic was happy and sad. He was happy because he was out of the "doghouse" in a big way, starting in place of the injured Kobe Bryant (swelling in his right knee). Vujacic was sad because he was unable to perform the way he preferred and because the Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets, 98-96, Thursday night Pepsi Center. Even though they didn't shoot the basketball well, Brown and Vujacic played a role in helping the Lakers come from 15 points down in the third quarter.

Readers' questions for our Lakers' beat reporter Broderick Turner … Question: Consistency is one thing — lack of desire-passion-commitment we're probably talking about something else? What if Kobe [Bryant] were to sit out a game or two? See how the team (the bench in particular) responds. They seemed to play with more effort, more focus when Kobe was out hurt. They all knew Superman wasn't going to be flying in to rescue them. It was up to "them." Kaleo Answer: Kobe Bryant sit out a game?

Re "Obamas' puppy is out of the bag early," April 12 The Obamas have taken "limousine liberal" to a new level. They promised their daughters a puppy if they moved to the White House and, while they discussed rescuing a mutt, they in fact received a purebred Portuguese water dog from the Kennedy family, pledging instead to make a financial donation to the D.C. Humane Society. The dog is absolutely adorable and has received worldwide media coverage, which will probably drive up demand for the breed exponentially.

"The president's pledge to help heal the environment will surely extend to the family pet," says Stephanie Rubin, a Ventura designer of green-roof doghouses. This month, she drove her latest design to Kansas. From there, she says, musician Neil Young will drive it to the White House to promote his LincVolt car. Native Maryland plants cover the roof of the doghouse. "Vegetated roofs clean the air, insulate buildings and offer rest stops for birds and butterflies," Rubin says.

The BBC will not televise Britain's biggest dog show for the first time in more than 40 years after a controversy about canine inbreeding. The broadcaster said Friday it had suspended coverage of the 2009 Crufts show "pending further investigations into the health and well-being of pedigree dogs in the U.K." The Kennel Club, the show's organizer, and the BBC have been at odds since September, when the broadcaster aired a documentary claiming that decades of inbreeding had led to serious health problems in some pedigree dogs.

Some thoughts from a lifelong Raider fan: 1. This isn't Raiders football--not even close. 2. Al's doghouse is too big. 3. Fast receivers plus no quarterback equals incompletions. 4. Change the sellout/blackout rules--let us watch a competitive game, even if it isn't going on in the Coliseum. 5. In '93, set a more modest team goal. How about "just keep it interesting, guys" instead of "just win, baby"? MIKE LIEWALD Los Alamitos

Darla, Chelsea and Coco Puff share a quaint Victorian-style home in the Riverside County community of Winchester. Their dwelling has a cedar shake roof, vaulted ceilings and hardwood floors, heating and air conditioning, moldings and casement windows, drapery with valances and fanciful wallpapers. This time of year, Christmas music from the RCA Victor radio carries outside to the grassy front yard surrounded by a white picket fence. A sign on the porch reads: "Three spoiled dogs live here."