Link Exchange - Remain Active

Though I try not to dwell on things that may be, I did sign up for this one, so I'll try my best to make it relevant.

One of the things that I think about is the possibility that something may happen so I may not be able to be as active as I am now. I may not be the kind of person who will run in an Ironman (truth be told, I might make it a block or two before collapsing!), but I do like to

Featured Rescue - Gala the Chinese Crested

Last Featured Rescue was a big dog (Great Pyrenees) so I thought I'd post a small dog this time 'round. This little lady is a Chinese Crested Dog. You either like these dogs, or you don't. There doesn't seem to be a middle of the road on this one ...

This is Gala. She is 9 years old and looking for a new home. The ad doesn't say why she is in rescue, but considering since her foster home is

Post Exchange - Your Car Should be Cold

The environmental experts this year are suggesting that it's going to be really hot out in the summer. I remember my first car - no heat, no AC, no floor ... lots of exhaust inside ... ah ... the "good ol' days". Not now! Now I always make sure I have air conditioning!

When I take my dogs out with me, I always make sure the AC is running properly in my vehicle. I figure that if I find it warm

Walking in the Rain

Everytime I'm out with my guys walking in the rain, all I can think of is that old Gene Kelly movie. My guys look at me all weird when I burst out the chorus to "Singin' in the Rain" ... like they're asking "what the heck did you add to your breakfast, mom?" or "what do you have to be happy about, mom? Didn't you notice that we're getting wet?"

For a bunch of dogs that absolutely love swimming

Free Feeding vs. Meal Times

This has been a long time argument between dog owners. Free Feeding or Meal Times??

Some believe that you should fill the dog's food bowl and it will eat when hungry. This is called Free Feeding. My parents do this with their dog and it works pretty well - except when other dogs come over for visits. Sometimes their dog will guard the food, sometimes she will eat it all regardless of whether it

Seminar in Toronto

I went to a seminar in Toronto this weekend. The guest speaker was Brad Pattison. For those who don't know, Brad is the tv personality who hosts the show called "At the End of My Leash". It is one of the few dog shows I enjoy watching. Have you seen it?

I just wanted to share this with you since I really enjoyed the seminar. It was fun, interactive and informative. I would highly reccommend

Featured Rescue - FiFi the Great Pyrenees

The Great Pyrenees is a big breed that is generally used for tending sheep herds. There are 1,246 GP's available for adoption on Petfinder.

This is FiFi. She was born 9/15/08 and she and her sister were an owner surrender. They were born on an Amish farm to parents who guard the sheep. The farmer turned two of the pups into rescue that didn't seem to have much of the herding/guarding

Places Your Dog Can't Resist

Yesterday's post was a bit depressing so I thought I'd bring forth some good news.

The co-founder of a new website called nextstop.com contacted me via email earlier this week. They are trying to build a repository of places to go and things to do anywhere in the world. He asked me to spread the word about a challenge they are currently running.

The challenge is for dog lovers to share the

Rescue Numbers - Update 3

On February 17, 2009 I posted the last Rescue Numbers Update. I'll try to always re-iterate that I'm not posting this to depress anyone, but I believe that people should all be aware of the sheer numbers we face out there. As long as people spay and neuter their pets as well as continue to adopt animals from shelters than we're making progress.

StormsLegacy posted a comment in the last Rescue

National Volunteer Week and Earth Day

Ok, so Earth Day was yesterday. I admit - I'm a day behind. I still thought it was important to wish all of you a "Happy Earth Day" and ask if anyone was out cleaning up garbage or planting trees??

This week also happens to be National Volunteer Week. I would like to encourage everyone to get out there and dedicate an hour to volunteering at their chosen charity. Maybe you go walk dogs for an

First CL, then Kijiji, now OLX?

I received an email a while back asking me to blog about a new online classifieds domain called OLX. If you're interested, there's a news release that tells you all about it, but I'm going to put up some of the important snips below. Under that, I will put my opinion.


100% free (forever) even in jobs and real estate
Ability to include videos and pictures in listings
A city, neighborhood and zip

Asshat Rant - Craigslist Rehomes

It's been so long since I did one of these posts ... I almost started to feel like the world was filling with more responsible owners. Guess I just haven't had time to look through Craigslist recently. Yep, the asshats are still out there.



The first ad I'd like to take a look at is a 9 month old Red Nose Pit - Free to Good Home. People, please remember when you are writing these ads that if

Aggressive Dog - Part 2 Warnings

There are many people out there who correct a dog when it growls but then don't bother to address the cause (or 'stimuli') of the growling. This was a comment on one of my earlier posts and it's so true. It's frustrating because these people are not addressing the dog's needs, only their own. The problem, as she aptly pointed out, is that when people teach the dog not to growl, many others then

Featured Rescue - Sweeney the Schnauzer

I think this is the nicest adoption posting I've read for a while. In light of what could be made out to be a disastrous situation, it actually seems more matter-of-fact.

The person who wrote it isn't pushing the "emotions" button and is actually looking on the bright side. I have found that many animal rescue people spin things negatively and it gets a bit depressing. I know why they do it -

News Reel - Higher fines for leash laws

Hey check this one out; it's from the Baltimoresun.com:

Dog owners protest higher leash law fines

I stumbled on this article and nearly fell off my chair. Turns out that city officials in Baltimore are receiving flack for raising the fines given to those who walk their dogs without leashes. It sort of goes hand in hand with the blog entry I made on March 21 regarding Seattle Off-Leash Dogs.

Training Rant - Volume Control

How many people have heard a dog's handler yelling at the dog with increasing volume? I don't know how many times I've been out with my dogs and see a handler trying to get their dog to "Sit" without success. When the dog doesn't listen the first time, they start making their voice louder and louder.

One of the many things that bothers me about dog handlers is their misunderstanding of volume. I

I've been tagged

Ok, so I'm quite a bit behind in reading blogs lately. I manage to read everyone's new posts, but don't always have time to go through the old ... the old ones are often just as entertaining as the new! So, I decided to go through two blogs per week ... I don't know if I'll actually get through them all, but I figured a target would be best!


I found a post from Barb who writes a blog called

Featured Rescue Followups - March

Well, here's the Featured Rescue Followups for March and all those that weren't adopted from previous months. I'm not posting the pictures this month because it is so difficult to make them line up properly and I don't have time to do it. Sorry. If you want to see the pics of these guys, feel free to go to their original entry.

There are many that weren't adopted this month. Shelters and rescues

Ancient Breeds

You may have noticed that on my featured rescue post for Rusty the Shar Pei, it said that the Shar Pei is "an ancient breed that is usually aloof and standoffish with strangers, but devoted to his family". I also mentioned it in the post about Cody the Akita: "Recent DNA analysis found that the Akita was among the most ancient dog breeds". I don't know if anyone caught that or not.


I did some

Post Exchange - Havaheart Deer Off

Here I go again with a post exchange ... I'm trying to be pretty picky about these things and only posting the ones I think are worth while doing. This time I'm featuring "Deer Off" which is a product made by the company Havaheart. Let me tell you a story first ...

Two years ago my sister called me up and told me she planted a garden. This was her very first garden ever and she was trying really

News Reel - Chase down suspect

This is really quite a sad story. Highly decorated US navy SEAL, Marcus Luttrell, was given a dog when he returned from Afghanistan to "help him heal". When he found his dog shot dead outside his home, he helped police capture the suspects after a high-speed chase through three counties!

Texas war hero helps chase down suspects for police after his dog is shot

Here's a quote that I particularly

Asshat Rant - Recent Experience with Breed Rescue

Please note that not all breed rescues do what I am about to tell you (at least ... I sure as hell hope they don't). I know of two breed rescues in Ontario that I would confidently send a dog to, so they at least are exempt from the "asshat" label.

Here's a bit of background:I was made aware of a dog recently that bit someone. The bite was severe - the guy had to go to hospital and get stitches

Dogs Deserve Freedom - say what?

I've had quite a few people email and ask me what I mean by the statement Dogs Deserve Freedom. I keep emailing them back and explaining to them what I mean, but I thought maybe I'd post a blog entry about it. When I first started this blog, I wrote an introduction entry that explained some of my beliefs. If you haven't read it, I encourage you to do so now.

Every day, my opinions are refined

Laughter Heals - Mutts

It's been so serious around this blog lately! So, given everything that's happened this week and considering the time of year, I thought I would share one of my favourite comic strips with you. I'm sure some of you have probably read it - it's called Mutts.

Here's one of the recent strip clips that seemed rather fitting for this week.

(I do hope the good folks at Mutts don't come and get

Training Tools - Leash

It's been a long time since I've posted a Training Tools entry. The last one was about the Prong Collar on December 6. Since it has been so long, I thought I'd remind everyone that Training Tools are just that - a means or "tool" to help you help you teach your dog how to obtain the ultimate goal ... Freedom. You need to train your dog so that you can trust exactly what it will do in any

Featured Rescue - Rusty the Shar Pei

According to the AKC, the Shar Pei "is an ancient breed that is usually aloof and standoffish with strangers, but devoted to his family". I have found that this breed is often mis-understood more often than not.
This is Rusty. He's a young male Shar Pei located in LaSalle, MI and he's looking for a new home. There are currently 1,594 Shar Peis listed for adoption on Petfinder.http://

Protect Your Dog - Poison

As we all know, the only person in this world who will help you is you, and likewise ... the only one who will help your dog is you. You are your dog's first line of defense against the world.

Have you guys all seen that commercial with the baby in a bubble because mama doesn't want her to get dirty? Unless you want your dog to live in a similar bubble, you need to provide the proper defenses to

Post Exchange - We Don't Rent Puppies

Today's post exchange is brought to you by ... Calsidyrose. Thanks Calsidyrose for exchanging posts with me!

I'm going to tell you about a blog called We Don't Rent Puppies. This is written by Calsidyrose who is a volunteer adoption coordinator for dog rescue in South Texas and Southeast Louisiana. We Don't Rent Puppies is about her experiences with rescue and other related things. I like to

Asshat Rant - Shooting the Neighbours Dog

I often hear about people shooting the neighbour's dog and I blogged about a civil case revolving around it earlier this week. Blogging about this case made me think about how often this happens in my neighbourhood.

I would like to state for the record that this happens here all the time. In my neighbourhood we see approximately one per year. I would assume it happens often in other places too.

Monthly Followup March

March followup
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Beware of the Dog
On March 2, I posted a blog entry called "Beware of the Dog". It was about a children's game that I found while wandering through the toys section in a department store that I was rather upset about. I told you all I'd let you know what happens when I approach the store (after I

News Reel - Ontario dogs poisoned

Well, I live in Ontario, so it's no surprise that I'm more aware of what is happening in the news here than in other provinces or states. Sorry. If there is a news story you know about that I should post, please feel free to let me know.

Recently there have been dog poisonings and dog owners are told to be on the lookout. I can't even begin to tell you all what I think of the people who leave

Featured Rescue - Sebastian the Shetland Sheepdog

The Shetland Sheepdog or "Sheltie" looks very much like a collie that drank some sort of shrinking juice. Being a working dog, owners or potential owners should expect them to be energetic guys. I haven't met many, but have heard they do well in events such as agility and herding. Check out the AKC breed standards page for more details about this dynamic breed.

This is Sebastian. He is 11 years

Mail Bag - Alabama man accused of dog killings

Well, I got the following in my email this week so I thought I'd pass it on. I'll usually blog about a topic if you send it to me, so feel free to do so. The more details you send as well as a blurb about why you would like me to post it, the better. (Otherwise I sit and look at the email and think ... Uh ... what 'dis, George?)

Below is a case regarding a neighbour shooting someones pet dog.