L.A. Times pets predict a loss for the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens in the NFL’s Week 4

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There are many pets whose owners work at the L.A. Times. Last week, two of the dogs of Unleashed lead blogger Lindsay Barnett decided to pick one NFL game to predict. Inspired by a prognosticating New Jersey camel named Princess, Barnett’s dogs Django and Gimlet saw an upset in Dallas and guessed that the Cowboys would lose.

Sadly, the dogs were wrong, and Dallas stomped all over Jacksonville. It was a close game through halftime, but in the end, the pooches couldn’t have been more wrong.

So this week, we asked Django and Oscar, the dog of newly promoted online Managing Editor Sean Gallagher, to pick winners from three different games:

• Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots

• Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins

• Dallas Cowboys vs. Denver Broncos

Strangely, both dogs chose the same teams to win this week. Both dogs think Tom Brady’s Patriots will hand the Baltimore Ravens their first loss. Neither pet thinks that Terrell Owens’ Bills have a chance against the banged-up Miami Dolphins despite the fish losing their starting quarterback. And both dogs think Dallas will lose to the Broncos up in the thin air of Mile High.

The picks were chosen by putting treats into their owners’ hands, pre-selecting which hand meant which team, and then writing down which hand the dog licked first.

So where are Gimlet’s picks this week? Django was the ‘only one picking this week as Gimlet has decided he doesn’t like this game and hid behind a table,’ Barnett wrote in an e-mail. Enjoy the safety below the table, Gimlet, as the rest of us are ready for some football!

[Update: Django and Oscar just may be onto something, because all of their picks proved accurate this week. Join us next week to see if the streak holds!]

-- Tony Pierce