EAST LANSING, Mich. In an alternate university, Christian Watford might be basking in the glow of team victory and personal achievement.

In this one, he sat hunched in a chair on the edge of an empty Breslin Center court, contemplating the end of an unbeaten season that spoiled his membership into Indianas thousand-point club.

Yeah, Wednesday nights 80-65 loss at No. 16 Michigan State hurt.

It means a lot to me and our program, Watford said about being the 43rd Hoosier to break 1,000 points, but I cant enjoy it at a moment like this.

The No. 13 Hoosiers were on the cusp of enjoyment in a city where they hadnt won since 1991. They had a nine-point lead with 11 minutes left and enough momentum to mute a rowdy Breslin Center crowd.

And then, quicker than you can say Michigan State guard Keith Appling, the lead vanished.

Appling scored 18 second-half points to spark a 20-0 Spartan run to end IUs 12-game, season-opening winning streak and extend their own winning streak to 12.

We didnt get enough defensive stops, Watford said. That led to some easy buckets for them and once they got rolling it was hard to stop them.

It was hard, coach Tom Crean said, because IU didnt do what it had spent the season doing — drawing fouls, making free throws, being efficient with the ball and forcing turnovers. The Hoosiers were a season-worst 5-for-9 from the line, had 13 turnovers against 10 assists, and only forced nine Spartan turnovers.

Our recipe for winning didnt come out, Crean said. It was a very physical game. At times we were physical with it. Other times we werent. Not getting to the foul line was a big problem.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo saw a big problem with all the runs both teams allowed. IU had a 25-2 run at one point.

Im not sure either one of us was pleased about those runs, Izzo said. You cant have that. That was not good. They were down and out, and came back. We were down and out, and came back.

Cody Zellers Big Ten baptism of fire was a flameout. The 6-11 freshman scored a season-low four points (11 below his team-leading average) on a season-worst 2-for-5 shooting. He had four fouls in 23 minutes.

Cody saw what this league is like in going against some of the physical 5 men, Crean said. Hell make adjustments. He made some in second half. It wasnt a great game for him, but he is a quick learner. I have no doubt hell get better.

Junior guard Jordan Hulls also struggled. He had just four points on 2-for-10 shooting and committed four turnovers against five assists.

I had open looks, he said, but I wasnt able to knock them down.

The four turnovers were really frustrating. That was stupid on my part. I have to work at that. Im the point guard. I have to be able to control the ball and not turn it over. I have to do a better job.

IU has lost 17 straight games at Michigan State. Still, Izzo saw the improvement from Creans first three seasons in Bloomington.

Indiana has come a long way, Izzo said. It doesnt surprise me. IUs ceiling is still high.

Hoosier guard Verdell Jones played after last weeks hip injury and totaled 11 points and three assists. So did forward Derek Elston, who wore a clear plastic mask to protect his surgically repaired nose. Hell likely wear it for a month.

For 14 minutes, IU was Spartan fodder. It couldnt defend or score. It got nothing from Zeller and Hulls. Michigan State capitalized for a 14-point lead.

Roth hit consecutive three-pointers off the bench to ignite a Hoosier comeback. They roared to a 54-45 lead before Appling got hot — he finished with 25 points and seven assists — and the Spartans (12-2) rallied.

IU doesnt have much recovery time. It hosts No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday.

We have to bounce back and get ready for Saturday, guard Victor Oladipo said. Thats another big game.

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Highly Recommended:
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Cellar Selection:
Indicates a well-made table wine that requires additional bottle aging in a temperature-controlled cellar to reach peak enjoyment.

Note:
Code numbers and prices refer to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board system unless otherwise indicated.

I am sure of a few things and one of them is that Rio de Janeiro is one of our most stunningly beautiful cities.

Rio takes your breath away when you discover it for the first time or return for the fifth time. Imagine a vista of mountains, one topped by an iconic sculpture of Christ, the Atlantic Ocean framing curvy blond beaches, and high-rise apartment buildings perched on broad avenues that surround the sparkling sea. Mix in the shapely bodies of sun bathers and swimmers who live, work and relax in this magnificent ambiance and you have South Americas most charming city and designated home of the 2012 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Well I went back to Rio recently and the city did not disappoint. In fact, there was more of everything I had experienced in past trips including trendy restaurants, sexy boutiques, and because I went when the weather was cooler, I enjoyed almost private beach revelry without the crowds yet with warm sunny skies. Pick-up a cool drink right on the Ipanema beach promenade, select just the right spot on the sand, rent a beach chair from the ever present purveyors of anything you might need, and just relax and periodically stick your feet in the cool waters and take nice long breaths!

Now Rio is more than sun and sand. It is a city of 7 million Cariocas including a significant Afro-Brazilian population who are an important part of the ebb and flow of this commercial hub. Tens of thousands of residents including a majority of Blacks live in what are called favelas (what we would call informal housing, they call shantytowns). These settlements stretch for miles and miles around the city and literally cascade up the hillsides to the sky. The city government continues work to build affordable housing as developers scoop up chunks of favela communities to build market rate apartments. But land is scarce. Lately the local police are arresting drug dealers and other criminal elements in the favelas to continue t clean-up process in preparation for 2012 World Cup.

But people from all over Brazil continue to seek a place in the sunlight of Rio and residents of favelas start businesses and raise families in the shadow of prime real estate and priceless views, usually separated only by a highway. And they use the free beach access like everyone in Rio does.

What do you do in a weekend in Rio? I chose the relax and kick back itinerary. I booked a room at a lovely bed and breakfast in Ipanema, a couple of blocks from the beach. I spent part of my day being driven by my host Rodrigo around the city with stops at the iconic places, ie Corcovado Mountain, the statue of Christ the Redeemer. My particularly enjoyed a little trek through the Tujuca National Forest where I saw amazing collections of hand-planted flora and fauna in this rain forest, displayed very elegantly in this unlikely setting – in the middle of this bustling city. I paused at lovely waterfalls, bubbling brooks and discovered species of trees and flowers I had never seen before. The most remarkable attribute was the silence of this little nature walk. I couldnt believe I was still technically in the City of Rio and wandering through the worlds largest urban forest.

Since Ipanema was my base, some expansive dining selections were in order. During my two days there, Rodrigo helped me sample a couple of popular Brazilian buffets, and of course I couldnt escape grazing at one of the trendy Churrascarias that offered a selection of meats, seafoods and scrumptious salads and side dishes (all you can eat…yum). After dining, we strolled by the shops and boutiques of Ipanema and made our way down to the beach.

Rio is rich with more than shopping, eating and people-watching. There is a thriving arts, cultural and nightlife experience in all sectors of the city. I had a chance to visit one of Rios most engaging museums, the Museum of Modern Art, for a taste of whats new and newly new in visual arts. I topped the evening off with a stroll around Lapa, a funky neighborhood near the downtown area, where musicians spring out of nowhere at night to serenade passersby with those Samba and Bossa Nova beats that seduced me back to Rio again. I promised myself, that next time I will visit one of Rios ubiquitous Samba Clubs where the music pulse and camaraderie provides the perfect accent for the cultural experience of the city.

The hours passed much too quickly and before I knew it, it was time to continue my Brazilian journey on to Sao Paulo. Rio is the poster child of the great Brazilian landscape tapestry and certainly worth much more time than I had this visit. But return I will.

Pat Johnson

The new Xbox 360 Dashboard update is here, and if youve had the chance to read my previous article that talks about the new notable features, you already know that it is extremely Kinect focused. And why not, the Kinect is essentially Microsofts way of increasing the shelf life of the Xbox 360.

If you think back to the previous dashboard, users were able to access a Kinect-specific menu by a simple wave of the hand or a voice command. This brought them to a simple menu that only offered a few, Kinect-specific things, but if you ever actually wanted to get the most out of browsing through everything Xbox Live has to offer, it had to be done with a controller. The new dashboard gets rid of a Kinect-specific menu in favor of a unified menu system that is both easily navigated by a controller, or through the power of Kinect. But was this truly necessary?

Not really.

Besides the fact that voice command get you from point A to point B much quicker than a controller ever would, using the Kinect to move around the menus amounts mostly to nothing more than a spectacle–something to show off to your friends and family so they can be amused that youre magically moving around menus Minority Report style in front of your TV.

Trying to navigate using the Kinect isnt bad, however. Its functional, provided youre in good lighting, and lets face it, moving things with our hands and pretending were using The Force is always a great time. However, most of my time spent on Xbox Live is browsing new additions, downloading various demos or DLC content, or seeing whos currently playing what and hopping right into their game. If I was trying to do any of these actions using gesture-based moves, sure I might look cool doing it (or possibly look like a fool doing it), but it would also take me twice as long. I could easily just press the d-pad a couple times and be done with it.

I have to admit–the voice command feature is probably the best addition in this new Dashboard Update. Getting from the Bing Search all the way to the Apps can be done in one single command, which would normally take six taps of the Right Bumper. Using Bing itself is just as easy, and brings up all relevant info in just a few seconds after youve said it. But again, it ends up being counterintuitive when trying to browse through your Netflix Queue, simply because you cant search for a specific name of a show or a movie; instead, you must rely on continuously saying Next or Previous to scroll through your current selection. This is something that is just unnecessary when a simple controller input has you browsing through thousands of movies much quicker.

Im not trying to knock the technology behind the Kinect. If anything, I am just as impressed with the technology as I was when it was first unveiled (though I still wish Milo was a real game) I just think that putting emphasis on something that doesnt come standard with the console isnt exactly the right move. Yet again, those without it can still appreciate everything the new dashboard has to offer, albeit now with a few more menus to get through.

Good for Drew Brees, good for the Sean Payton, good for the Saints … and good for Dan Marino.

From the day Brees walked into the Saints lives almost six years ago, hes been a godsend. He steadied the ship post-Katrina, he made sure every player in the organization felt valued, and he became the most civic-minded athlete in a ravaged city that needed so much help. As a quarterback, he was the perfect captain for Paytons ship. Hes as accurate as any quarterback ever to play football. He understands Paytons scheme so well, as Payton once told me, that I dont think anyone could run it as well, and I mean even the other great ones playing today. He understands how he has to get everyone involved every week, because then when you need a guy at the end of a big game, every player in the route will be ready.

The best thing I can say about Brees as a player is Im stunned when he misses an open receiver. On the first series of the game against the Giants a month ago, he had Lance Moore down the middle near the end zone. Moore had beaten two sandwiching Giant defenders and had a yard on each, and Brees let it fly … and missed him by a foot or two. The throw went off the leaping Moores left hand. I remember thinking, after a throw that traveled 28 yards in the air and was maybe 18 inches off: Thats something you never see — Brees missing an open receiver. I just dont see him do it, so I notice when hes off by even a smidge.

There are moments in the history of a franchise that can define it for the next 20 years. Bill Walsh drafting Joe Montana in the third round in 1979. Ron Wolf trading for Brett Favre in 1992. Bill Belichick drafting Tom Brady in the sixth round in 2000. Same with the Saints choosing to pay Brees $60 million over six years in 2006, even though he was just weeks into rehab after major shoulder surgery and didnt know for sure that hed be the same player he was before wrecking the shoulder in San Diego on the last play of his Charger career. He wasnt the same, as it turns out. Hes been better. Lots better. The marriage of Paytons scheme and Brees talent will make the Saints Super Bowl contenders every year theyre both still in their prime.

As for Marino: I worked with him for five years doing the HBOs Inside the NFL show, and I believe he feels deep down the way real people feel when something they did that was wonderful is eclipsed. Hes not happy about it. (Thats my gut feeling, folks. I havent asked him about it.) Marino is proud of what he accomplished in the game, and when youre proud of something, why would you root for someone to do it better than you did? But having said that, I can also tell you Marino had the utmost respect for players who played the game the right way, and put the team first, and were great team players. So I can tell you when he congratulates Brees, which he did on Twitter last night, he means it. Brees is the kind of player Marino loves.

Finally, this bit about getting the record when your team is up by 22 with three minutes left against a rival you might tick off by doing it: A coach is always going to do what is best for his team. And Sean Payton didnt want this record hanging over his head for another week. As Brees told me last week, the record was the 800-pound gorilla in the locker room, and he was excited about getting it — but also excited about getting it over with so the team could get on with regular football. Payton had a way, through his playcalling, to get the record over with so the Saints could prepare for their final game and the playoffs without the distraction of the Marino record. I have no problem with it, because I think it was done with the team, and a player the organization loves, in mind.

Now onto your email:

AN MVP TAKE FROM CHEESELAND. Regarding the MVP race, if you adjust for the number of attempts Brees has versus Rodgers, Aarons numbers through 583 attempts (Brees through game 14) would look like this: 5392 yards, 52 touchdowns, seven interceptions. By the end of the season, Brees will have played, by attempts, the equivalent of three-plus games over Rodgers, which speaks to the remarkable efficiency of the Green Bay offense, specifically Rodgers, when looking at scoring offense. Additionally, Brees will have played 11 dome games versus Rodgers three. Furthermore, the only game Brees played that could be considered poor weather is in Tennessee. Last note, Marino set the record in 564 attempts.
— Josh, of Milwaukee

All interesting points. The number of throws is reflected most accurately in yards per attempt, a great and far underutilized stat. Rodgers is almost lapping the field this year, with 9.25 yards per attempt. Brees is 8.18. That shows, obviously, Rodgers has done more than anyone with efficiency and downfield productivity. As far as domes go, you play where you play. Just as I wouldnt penalize a dome punter if he was far superior to an outdoor one, I wont penalize Brees for playing indoors.

BREES, IN A LANDSLIDE. You blew it in 2009 when you voted Peyton Manning over Drew Brees for MVP, despite the fact Brees killed him in every statistic that mattered. And youre blowing it again this year, making the case for Aaron Rodgers over Drew in a year when he breaks the biggest single-season record for quarterbacks. I dont get it. Why dont you give Brees the credit he deserves?
— Martin, of Biloxi, Miss.

I feel for Brees, because hes been the best quarterback by almost any measure since his career with the Saints began in 2006. And he could well win it this year. I still may vote for him, though if I had to vote today it would Rodgers. The problem hes faced is when hes been great, another player or two has been great too. This year, I understand if you think Brees should win, and it certainly wouldnt be wrong if he did. But as I detailed in MMQB, the year Rodgers is having is also spectacular, with the fact that hes been slightly more efficient and has lost only once. If Brees wins, Id understand.

YOURE RIGHT. I BLEW IT. No mention of Marshawn Lynch ending two long streaks of a historically good run defense? He stopped the 49ers from going a full season without allowing a rushing a touchdown as he scored in his eleventh straight game (not accomplished since 2004). I thought maybe Lynch would be listed as one of your Offensive Players of the Week, but no mention whatsoever in your column? I feel his performance certainly deserved one.
— Cassidy Kelly, of San Francisco

A few things I fell short on in Mondays column, including Lynchs performance against a historically good run defense and more on the Lions making the playoffs for the first time since the Coolidge Administration. (Or so it seems.) Sorry. My mistake. I applaud Lynch for giving Pete Carroll what the Seahawks have needed desperately — a runner who is equally effective bulling inside, getting around the corner, and breaking tackles in the open field.

BECAUSE THEY DONT LIKE MIKE BROWN. Love the column, keep up the great work! Why do you think the Bengals cant fill their stadium in the midst of a playoff run? You spent time in Cincy – do the fans just not care that much for Bengals football? I vaguely remember in the late 80s it was a very difficult place to play, the jungle and all. The stadium is in a great spot on the river…are the fans just gone given how bad the nineties were to them? Seems odd compared to a city like Detroit who went through a similar dry spell and are now packing their stadium.
— Josh, of Chicago

My gut feeling is they have Mike Brown fatigue. The fans dont trust Brown is doing everything he can to build a winner (Carson Palmer didnt either), and many are staying away in protest until Brown sells the team. Which, by the way, will happen on the 12th of Never.

WAYNE DOESNT LIKE MY LOGIC. Peter, there are some reasonable points to be made against having an 18-game schedule in the NFL, but you didnt mention any of them. The arguments you mentioned are specious. First, you say we are all enjoying this season. Later you list many of the key injuries. If injuries to players reduce our enjoyment of the games (implied), why are we enjoying this season? Because its 16 games and not 18? Your analysis of injuries fails to consider that many of the injuries occur either in the beginning, or in the middle (as well as in the last) third of the season. All of the injuries to players this season would still have occurred if the season were 18 games. Would there be injuries in the last two games? Undoubtedly. More than in any other game? Remains to be seen. One good reason not to increase the season to 18 games is the (remote) chance the league will reduce the meaning of individual games and, by extension, fan interest. On the other hand, how intense do you think fan interest would be in the final two games of an 18-gaime season this year in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Dallas, Denver, New England, Philadelphia, Oakland, New Orleans and New York?
— Wayne, of Bull Valley, Ill.

We would enjoy the season regardless of how long it is. So should we make the season 24 games, because the NFL would get monster ratings and make far more money? Youd probably say no, as would most thinking people. Point is, were talking about week after week, losing the marquee players and the contributing players and the marginal players in a great game. Is a Texans fan still going to watch a Houston playoff game even if the teams top three or four players are hurt? Of course. But the reason the league shouldnt go beyond 16 is pretty simple, to me. Too many players get hurt over 16 games, and theres no good or compelling reason, other than greed, to go to 18.

GOTTA DRAW THE LINE SOMEWHERE, JAKE. In your MMQB you listed the top deep threats in the NFL this season, only you set an arbitrary qualifier of the WR needing to have 60 catches to be included. Perhaps it was coincidental or perhaps it was intended but if you had just lowered that qualifier down to 59 catches, then tops on your list of deep threats would be Jordy Nelson, who has 59 catches for 1,101 yards and 12 touchdowns. That comes to 18.7 ypc, which is almost a full yard more per catch then Steve Smith. Its your column and you can set the qualifiers where you want but I think its misleading and unfair to not include Jordy Nelson and the season hes put up this year in a discussion of the best deep threats for the year.
— Jake, of Madison, Wis.

If I had said, Heres a list of deep threats in the NFL, minimum 59 catches and 15.0 yards per catch, what would any thinking person say? Not sure, but I think itd be something like, Whyd you gerrymander this list just to get Jordy Nelson in it?

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A Pittsburgh nonprofit applied this week for the first building permits related to a $3 million project that would plug a large hole in the citys riverfront trail system.

Downtown-based Riverlife Pittsburgh now needs to plug a large hole in funding for the project.

To date, Riverlife has raised about $2 million to build the Mon Wharf Switchback, said spokesman Stephan Bontrager. The project will connect the Smithfield Street Bridge to the Mon Wharf Landing and Eliza Furnace Trail below for pedestrians and bicyclists.

I cant speculate how the (funding) gap will be made up, Bontrager said. Were hoping the community will come forward to support this project, as it has so far.

About two-thirds of the money raised has come from foundations and individuals; the rest is from public agencies. This month, the Allegheny Regional Asset District announced plans to put $100,000 in public money toward the project over the next two years.

Currently, bicyclists and pedestrians must use a steep set of stairs off the bridge or a steep vehicle ramp to the Mon Wharf Landing. The switchback will provide a gently sloped, U-shaped path from the bridge to the trails below, and a new set of stairs will be constructed.

Also in the works, as a separate project, is a plan to create a better connection from the western end of the Mon Wharf riverfront park and trail to Point State Park. The only path now is four feet wide and separated from highway traffic by a concrete barrier and from the Monongahela River by a chain-link fence.

Bontrager said the Point State Park Connector project is expected to cost another $3 million.

Once completed, pedestrians and bicyclists on the Great Allegheny Passage will be able to get to the Point without having to get off their bikes in Pittsburgh or navigate what can be treacherous city streets.

This is the missing link, said Scott Bricker, executive director of the Lawrenceville-based advocacy group Bike Pittsburgh. These are important projects.

A Riverlife study released this fall predicted that the switchback, connector and planned Allegheny Riverfront Trail in the Strip District and Lawrenceville would result in more than 16,000 people switching from the roads to the trails for the bulk of their transportation needs. That would mean less traffic congestion and pollution and reduced transportation costs for those who use the trails, the study said.

Thank you for allofyourfantasticsubmissionsof your pets decked out for the chilly weather!

They were all really great, but there were too many to show them all, so I am strictly sticking to winter-wear in this post.

You also sent ussome great shots of pets dressed up for the holiday, so I will be doing a separate postsoonshowing your pets in their Hanukkah or Christmas best! Its not too late to send in your pics.

Click here to submit.

Now toyour pets:

MOULTRIE
The administrators of a winter heating program for 14 counties are continuing to take applications, although whether money materializes to continue it is up to Congress.

Earlier this year, Southwest Georgia Community Action Council received $127,258, enough to serve 363 clients, said Denise Bell, the agencys community services director.

Those clients, who applied in November, received checks for $310 or $350, depending on income, for winter heating. The first round was open only to the elderly, home-bound and disabled. If the agency receives additional money, those in that group who did not receive assistance will receive first consideration.

During the second application period, which opened Dec. 1, about 800 county residents signed up.

Right now we have been given half of what we expect to get, Bell said. We will be waiting to see what the feds send down.

Proposals in Congress for funding winter heating assistance range from $2.75 billion to $5.1 billion.

If we get the second half of the funds we will be able to do about another 363, Bell said. Were hoping to keep on taking applications on the second half, but we dont know when that money will come.

Funding in Colquitt County in 2010 totaled $543,704, which allowed Community Action Council to assist 1,587 households, she said. This year it is expecting about $4 million to cover the 14 Southwest Georgia counties.

The reason we remain hopeful is that this time last year we thought we were going to get $2 million and we ended up getting $4 million, Bell said. So we really dont know how to plan.

Residents with household income of $28,116 for a two-person family, or $41,340 for a family of four, qualify for the assistance. Payments are sent to participants utility companies.

The majority of people who get this, after the elderly, are working families, Bell said. Most of the applicants will qualify, because they have probably qualified in the past and nothing has changed.

Forty billboards in Los Angeles this month encourage people to fight puppy mills by boycotting pet stores and websites that sell puppies. More than 50,000 people have signed a pledge on the ASPCAs website vowing to uphold the boycott, and the ASPCA has an online database of targeted stores at nopetstorepuppies.com encouraging consumers to shop elsewhere. Consumers can also report a store to the ASPCA, and the organization will verify the source of its puppies, Menkin said.

We are not just saying Dont buy a puppy, but Dont buy anything in a pet store that sells puppies, said Cori Menkin, senior director of the ASPCAs anti-puppy mills campaign. If pet stores are not able to turn a profit, they will stop selling puppies.

The Humane Society of the United States, Best Friends Animal Society and many other groups are promoting similar initiatives.

As malls and chains drop the commercial sale of puppies, one change for consumers is an increase in convenient locations for shelter adoptions.

In October, Jacks Pets announced they would no longer sell puppies at their 27 stores in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. They are working with shelters to offer in-store adoptions instead. Major chains like PetSmart Inc. and Petco Animal Supplies Inc. stopped selling dogs and cats several years ago, partnering with local shelters and rescues on weekend adoption events. Best Friends has helped several traditional pet stores convert to shelter sales.

Macerich Co., a regional shopping mall company, recently announced a ban on traditional pet stores at its 70 malls. Instead, at the companys mall in Lakewood, Calif., shoppers will find a store called Adopt amp; Shop, which gets its animals from the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority shelter. On Nov. 25, the store celebrated its 500th adoption, said Aimee Gilbreath, executive director of Found Animals, the organization that runs and subsidizes Adopt amp; Shop.

Some pet store owners say theyre being unfairly maligned.

Jens Larsen, who owns Perfect Pets in Littleton, Colo., is on the ASPCA list and says its not right. He has been in business for 18 years, sold 1,600 puppies last year and has an A-plus rating with the Better Business Bureau. He gets 80 percent of his dogs from commercial breeders in Nebraska, 10 percent from breeders in Kansas and Oklahoma and 10 percent from two Colorado breeders, he said.

Some animal activists are radical and fanatical and want to put me out of business, he said. I obey the law. So do my breeders and the kennels I deal with, Larsen said.

Larsen says that when you are selling 100 puppies a month, there will occasionally be a case of kennel cough or a parasite, and every once in a while, something more serious. But he believes if his dogs were continually getting sick, word would spread and hed be out of business.

About 2 million puppies are sold online and in US pet stores every year, said Menkin.

The ASPCA and other animal welfare groups have popularized a negative image of commercial dog breeders in recent years, claiming that poor breeding practices and substandard conditions leave some animals with chronic physical ailments, genetic defects or fear of humans.

Whether its the impact of bad publicity or the recession cutting into purebred dog sales, the number of commercial dog breeders licensed by the US Department of Agriculture is declining, from 3,486 in 2009, to 2,904 in 2010 and 2,205 in 2011, according to USDA spokesman Dave Sacks said.

Licenses in Missouri, with three times more breeders than any other state, dropped from 1,221 in 2009 to 745 this year, Sacks said. Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Ohio and Indiana have between 100 and 300 licensed breeders. Sixteen states have none. Sacks says the USDA protects animals by making unannounced inspections of breeding facilities and by regulating food, care and housing for the animals.

Serina Brant believes her golden retriever, Ali, was a puppy mill dog. When Brant bought the 4-month-old pup 10 years ago from Perfect Pets for $400, Alis papers had numbers instead of names listed for parents. Her first trip to the vet cost $800 to treat giardia, fleas and eye infections, said Brant, of Littleton, Colo.

Two years later, the dog started limping. X-rays showed hip dysplasia. Surgery, at $12,000 for both hips, was an option but came without guarantees, so Brant chose to medicate the dog instead. Then Ali got arthritis.

For the last six years, Ali has to stop every 50 feet to rest. Because of the medication, we dont think shes in pain, said Brant. But over the years, the medicine has totaled $8,600.

I am not going to put a dog down just because shes defective. We have the money to provide for her so we will, she said.

But next time she gets a dog, Brant says, shell adopt one from a shelter.

Video games, pets and mobile phones are what Swedish kids want for Christmas this year, according to the Swedish postal service (Posten), which handles the hundreds of thousands of letters adressed to Santa every year.

• Panic chaos and other signs that Christmas is coming to Sweden (12 Dec 11)
• Creating a Christmas home, Swedish style (8 Dec 11)
• Swedens best Christmas markets (24 Nov 11)

?For many children, a Christmas wish list is the first letter they ever write and I can see that many have made a great effort to send a nice letter to Santa?, says Anette Eriksson, spokeswoman for Posten in a statement.

Every year, more than 100,000 letters pass through the post office on its way to Santa Claus, and the post office places special mail boxes for children around the country where they can post their letters to Santa.

All letters are read by post office staff and every child enclosing his or her address in the letter will receive a gift from Santa.

Post office little helpers annually pick a random mix of 1000 letters to find out what the most popular items on the wish lists are for that year.

When the Swedish post office released its annual rating of things most asked for in letters to Santa Claus for 2011 on Thursday, TV-and-computer games still topped the list, closely followed by a pet.

Another favourite amongst children this year is a mobile phone, which is a newcomer on the list.

The list also indicated that children are indeed very aware of different trademarks at an early age. This year?s most popular brands are Lego, Nintendo, Barbie and Star Wars.

When it comes to phones, a third of the children who asked for a mobile specified an iPhone as their favourite.

Many children also asked St. Nick to bring them a pet of their very own. However, few were specific about what type of pet they were after.

Those who do have a preference generally want a dog. A hamster somewhat surprisingly beat a cat, closely followed by a rabbit or a guinea pig.