To Whomever Gets My Dog

I got this in an email first thing this morning and I wanted to share it with you. Remember - every dog at the shelter had a home before getting there. They had a family. It's hard for them too - not just you. Sorry it's a super long one - but it's worth the read.


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They told me the big black Lab's name was Reggie

DogsDeserveFreedom - Allergies Part 1

I believe Dogs Deserve Freedom, but what does that mean?


I've covered this topic a fair amount and generally my posts revolve around training. But what happens when a dog's health affects her freedom? I thought I would share our experiences with allergies and how they negatively affected our dog. For those of you with allergy-ridden dogs, this will probably sound pretty familiar.


(Disclaimer

News Reel - Dog tries in vain to save its owner

Thought I'd share this one. It was emailed to me.


Dog tries in vain to save its owner

The Golden Retriever was found trying to tug its owner out of the water. When passersby found the retriever and tried to lead him to shore, he didn't want to leave his owner.

He is currently being cared for by the Oakville Humane Society as requested by the family ...

You know, stories like this always

Featured Rescue - Lady the Greyhound

Thought I'd post a sighthound today. There are currently 2233 Greyhounds listed on Petfinder.com. Greyhounds typically have a short racing career, usually retiring by the age of five years, and since their life expectancy is between 12 to 15 years, there are almost always adult dogs looking for adoption into loving homes.

This is Lady. She was a racing dog in Ohio but has since retired. Here's

Training Tools - Harness

How often have we seen dogs wearing this sort of apparatus? A harness. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I went to the dog park this week and saw FOUR dogs wearing one of these! FOUR! And guess what?? They were all small dogs ... one puggle, one pug, one JRT/beagle mix and one beagle.

Most people I know get the harness because their dog pulls which causes it to cough. The people don't want

Guess the Breed #3

Ok folks ... cue the irritating and corny music! Time for another round of Guess the Breed!




This is a purebred dog. The picture I pulled from a breeder's website ... I'll let you know where if you guess correctly!


I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with this breed ... I hope it's a mind-boggler!




Do you know it? Guess the Breed ...


Please remember the Golden Rules to these posts

Asshat Rant - Cyclist

So I'm at the dog park the other day walking with my dogs. I had met up with a friend who had brought her three and we were walking with around four stranger dogs. That brought our total of off-leash-crazy-dogs to nine. A healthy number, not too high nor is it insignificant.


So we're walking along socializing (both us and the dogs) when the dogs suddenly go all weird. Some of them start pacing

Do your homework first!

Sorry for not posting yesterday, but I got a bit busy sorting things out with our new foster and spent most of my energy trying not to throttle the owners. (Pictures to come)


Our latest foster is a 10 month old Border Collie (we took the summer off and are now addressing the ever present waiting list ... unfortunately, this guy got bumped to the top). This particular guy came into a vet clinic

Featured Rescue - Joey the Australian Shepherd

There are 3431 Australian Shepherds available on Petfinder.com today. The Aussie (as it is commonly called) is a high-energy herding breed that often finds itself in rescue.




This is Joey, a 2 year old owner surrender in Attica, MI. He is crate and house trained. The rescue is asking that he be adopted to a home without cats as Joey doesn't get along very well with them, however he does enjoy

News Reel - Followup Marcus Luttrell

Do you remember back in April I posted a News Reel about Marcus Luttrell? For those of you who don't remember or didn't read the post, please take some time to read it now. The link I had posted to the news article doesn't work anymore as MacLean's has removed it, but here's a link to a similar article that tells you what happened in more detail.

I thought I would see if I could find out what

OT - Entrecard

I wanted to post a short note about Entrecard. Entrecard is a free blogging network that helps you build traffic, get more readers, and network with other bloggers.


I'm sure many of you noticed that I installed an Entrecard widgit this week. I had been considering this for a while now, but just never seemed to have enough time to do the research required to get this set up.


I will try to

Guess the Breed #2

Welcome to Guess the Breed number two! I thought for this one, I would pick a dog that we all know and love ... Hooch. If you don't know him, go rent the movie!


I love this movie and am always surprised when I run into people who haven't seen it. I tell them they have to watch it - it's mandatory for every dog owner.


For every person who adopts a dog that I foster, I tell them to watch the

News Reel - Neglected Dog Found

Here's a sad story about a dog who has not received the medical attention required. I was going to post the picture, but thought some may not be interested in seeing this poor guy. There are pictures on the article so click on the link if you wish to see him.




Neglected dog in 'horrific condition'




This dog should have received medical attention long ago; regardless of the cause of his

Featured Rescue Followups for July

I think I'm going to have a small celebration ... Check out KOBE news for this month! Hooray!


Kobe Swims the "Rottweiler" mix
Status: ADOPTED
Featured on December 5, 2008
Follow link here to see blog entry


Rafe and Redman the Rhodesian Ridgebacks
Status: NOT Adopted
Featured on January 12, 2009
Follow link here to see blog entry


Bella the Catahoula Leopard Dog
Status: NOT Adopted
Featured

News Reel - Vick Signed

Sorry all, I'm a few days behind on reading the news I suppose. Here's an update to the Mike Vick story. He's signed on with the Eagles. A sad day for dog loving NFL fans.


Heads up, Giants! Philadelphia Eagles sign Michael Vick


I love this quote from the article: "Michael Vick does not deserve to be reinstated in professional football, but I'm glad he has been. Because I'm encouraged when

CL Rant - Pitbulls in Ontario

Oh how I love reading rants about the pit bull controversy in Ontario. I wish people would understand the breed before posting something they know nothing about (like this post). I really enjoyed reading this post on CraigsList and I hope you enjoy it too. I have copied and pasted it below for your enjoyment (just in case it gets flagged or removed).
I have posted this for your reading enjoyment.

News Reel - Carlisle approves dog park lease

Good news for residents of Carlisle, PA. Looks like they're getting an Off Leash Dog Park. I hope they remember to install some water there ...


Carlisle approves dog park lease


"Carlisle area dog park advocates now have the land they need to develop an off-leash facility in Shaffer Park."


From the sounds of it, they are going to make a separate area for small dogs. I have a bit of trouble

Featured Rescue - Neeko the American Eskimo Dog

Check out Neeko, the 9 year old American Eskimo Dog. He's got one heck of an underbite, but the rescue hasn't focused on that ... they've focused instead on his good side.



"EXCELLENT LITTLE BOY! Well, Neeko is a doll. He is tiny, fun, cuddly, outgoing, will obey, leash trained, wonderful in the car, ok with my cat, and fine with my other eskies. What more could you want? A better picture! We

News Reel - Measure Your Dog's Smarts

This link was emailed to me yesterday so I printed off the article and went home to test my dogs. You know I totally wouldn't miss this opportunity!! If nothing else, it's something fun and different to do with the dogs and I'm always looking for something neat to do with them.


Measure Your Dog's Smarts


While my Border Collie/Aussie did quite well, the results weren't as promising for my

GTB Followup - Cardigan Welsh Corgi

As I stated in my last post, I would put up some info about the Cardigan Welsh Corgi. (Not to be confused with the Pembroke Welsh Corgi "The Pembroke Corgi is a separate breed from the Cardigan Corgi, possessing a shorter body and straighter, lighter boned legs")


The links will take you to the AKC Breed Standards page for both breeds. The first picture is a Cardigan with the colourings we see

Guess the Breed #1

I thought I'd set up a new type of post for fun. I'm going to call it "guess the breed". This is one of the things I find fun when I'm out at different shelters, perusing through the internet and reading emails so I thought I'd share.


I will periodically come across a picture of a dog that I will post and you are all welcome to throw out your opinion regarding what breed you think it is! Some

CL - The Truth About Daisy

Ok, so after a week of off topic and halfassed posts (sorry all for the lack of enthusiasm on my part) I am ready to get back at it. I found this on Best Of Craigslist and wanted to share.


Why did I choose to post it? Because it is a GREAT reminder that ads are not always what they seem. Note that the OP says she has listed the dog multiple times on CL trying to rehome her with various sob

OT - Adgitize

I wanted to put up a quick post about Adgitize. For the last few months I have been advertising with Adgitize and it has helped to spread the word about my blog. The really neat thing about Adgitize is that you can earn the money you spend on advertising back (and then some). While the top earner for this past month brought in $41.50, my earnings were significantly lower than that. However, I was

Featured Rescue - Max the Alaskan Malamute

Usually I don't post Featured Rescues when the rescue hasn't bothered to put more than a few sentences up about a dog, but I couldn't resist this one.

Max is an older guy - 10 years young. He's house trained, walks well on leash and is "lovable". (I hate it when rescues put up that a dog/cat is 'lovable' because it really tells you bupkis about the animal!)

http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/

Monthly Followup July

July followup

Happy August everyone! Whew! July was crazy busy for me ... I don't know about everyone else? I am looking forward to August. So far it is turning into a good month where I can catch up on some things that have been waiting.
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Top CommentersI try to give a little link love to the top commenters here on

Video - Holy Sheep

How many of you have "How much is that doggie in the window" song going through your head now? I've had it in there all night since posting the calculator. So, here's a little something to get your mind off it ...


I got this in my email and thought I'd share. I know it's been around for a while, but since I hadn't seen it, I figure that means there are others out there who probably haven't seen

OT - Free Blog Review

I signed up for a Free Blog Review at The Ultimate Blogging Toolkit. On Sunday, Dave wrote the review.


The point of this was to find out where I can make changes in my blog so I can make it better.


I will try to make some of the changes listed on the review for my blog so if you see things moving around, that is why.


If you write a blog and are interested in ways to make it better I

Dog Cost Calculator

This is an interesting thing ... a Dog Cost Calculator. Give it a go!


//Establish the customisation variables
title = "Dog Cost Calculator";
title_size = "26";
width = "450";
image_url = "http://merlin.eukhost.com/~choose/moneyImages/ddf.jpg";
currency = "$";
font = "Trebuchet MS,Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif";
title_colour = "#ffffff";
text_colour = "#ffffff";
background_colour = "#335577";

News Reel - Ontario Dog Owner Fined

Ok - check this crap out ...


Ont. dog owner fined $14,000 for online breeder bashing


Tell me how much that sucks! So this person buys a puppy from a breeder, then has to euthanize it because of the extreme case of hip dysplasia so they got a 'replacement puppy' from the breeder. The replacement puppy was diagnosed with epilepsy! The owner then posted on a website forum to watch out for this

OT - Harriet's Blog

Just thought I'd post a quick link for everyone who saw the recent comment storm. My blog was featured on another blog called I am Harriet.





This is a blog that I check out often. For the entire month of August, she is featuring all sorts of blogs. Check them out! You may find a few you want to read.

Weekend Update

I'm a bit depressed this weekend. We put our 20 year old cat to sleep yesterday. I'll be back to normal blogging a bit later this week ...

Followers - One Hundred

You know, back when I first started this blog it was simply a way for me to vent about all the things that infuriate me about dog owners but it has changed somewhere along the way. I still rant about owners and their stupidity (which I see more often than I would like)

As of this week the blog has over 100 followers. Wow!

So amazing that so many people actually read what I write. It would be