Hi! My name is Yoda and welcome to my blog!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Adoption Option Tweet Out Nov. 5

It's time for another Adoption Option pawty on Twitter to raise awareness for all of the anipals that need furever homes.

Friday, November 5, 2010
8-10 p.m. EDT
5-7 p.m. PDT


Four adoption jockeys, including yours truly, will tweet adoptable anipals. The goal is to spread the word by as many retweets as possible with far reaching impact across the Twitterverse.

The hash tag for this event will be #Lub2Rock and the world-famous The Shibbering Cheetos will be on hand for some musical encouragement to get the Tweet Out. There will be a menu, quizzes and barktenders. Check out my post after the first Adoption Option pawty.


I was adopted but not from a rescue. So I went from my dog mom's home to my furever home without a stop over. The anipals we will be tweeting about have not been that lucky. Won't you stop by the pawty on Friday and help spread the word about these anipals in need?

Monday, October 25, 2010

Anipal Photo Hunt #11: Trick or Treat!

Mom and dad fight sometimes. I wouldn't say it's a whole lot, but they do get mad. Fortunately in dog terms they more snarl at each other than actually fight. Sometimes the fighting is actually about me.

For instance, recently mom said the spikey he-man collar dad made me wear starting last year had to go or at least be replaced when I'm at home by something that won't scratch and dig into her when I hugged her. This one wasn't really much of a fight because they had been sparring over the issue since the collar first went on. I think dad just got tired of her whining about it. I now have a very handsome green hemp collar. We save the spikey one for whenever I might be around mad attack dogs that might try to put the bitey on my neck.

You may be wondering what this has to do with Trick or Treat. Well one of their Yoda related snarling fests was over dressing me up. In this fight I sided with dad. See last year mom bought me a Dogicula costume. It never made it on my body. Well, parts of it made it on my body but never the whole thing. Maybe mom should put it on eBay. So dad said mom was never to try to dress me up again. He did allow a t-shirt so mom got a little compromise going there.

So if you wonder why my Halloween costume is manufactured from faceinhole.com (couture for the stars or the costume-challenged), just know dad won that fight. He actually wins very few so I think it was more that mom knew better than trying to put another costume on me this year. Sometimes I worry when she longingly looks at some of my pal Bear's posts but I just remember that dad is on my side!

So, here is my Halloween picture for this year - it was really hard getting my head in the pumpkin. Took mom all of twenty minutes!


I wish everyone a Happy Halloween! Please join in the Anipal Photo Hunt Blog Hop. Just click on the button below!



Saturday, October 23, 2010

Another Great Chet Novel and the Saturday Blog Hop

My geeky mom got herself an i-pad ten days ago and her very first i-book was the new Chet book: To Fetch a Thief, by Spencer Quinn.


Mom got to meet Spencer Quinn when she was at BarkWorld Expo in Atlanta and we had already read his first two Chet books. We were real fans although she did mention the little problem of the cliffhanger ending related to Chet's lump in the second novel. Apparently we were not the only fans that were upset by that! Of course Mr. Quinn said something like why would I kill off the main character of the book? Hope he's a Stephen King fan and remembers what happened in Misery. I'd hate to have to put the bitey on the man at some future occasion.

Like the other novels, Dog On It and Thereby Hangs a Tail) this book was great. Chet tells a wonderful story. In fact, I think Chet reminds me of Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes mysteries except Chet is more entertaining (he always makes me bark out loud) AND, even more importantly, Chet often ends up solving the case or being so vital to the solution that you know Bernie could not have done it without him. Dr. Watson rarely did any of that.


This book kept mom on the edge of her seat and me twitching. Last night we went to bed with Chet muzzled and in a cage and Bernie in the hands of some bad Mexican police. I won't tell you how it turns out (we finished it today) but Mr. Quinn doesn't have to worry about any of Chet's fans putting the bitey on him after this book.

This story is all about an elephant named Peanut who disappears from the circus with his trainer. Bernie and Chet are sure it was a kidnapping but as usual have a hard time convincing law enforcement to take it seriously. There is lots of action and some great detective work.

I highly recommend this book and while you could read it without having read the other two books without getting confused, I recommend you read those too!

Be sure and read my earlier post I Like Chet and check out Chet's blog. He's also on Facebook and Twitter.


Friday, October 22, 2010

Anipal Photo Hunt #10: How Annoying!

I am really behind posting this week. For all my friends who were worried that my mom was missing, she did finally come back. Yep, she came back and was dog tired. Hmmm. I wonder where that saying came from. Usually I am not tired because I get to sleep anytime I want. Oh well, humans and their sayings. Where was I. Oh yeah, she was also really busy at the office.

Anyway, better late than never. I only get annoyed at one thing - when my humans do not share their food with me. Mom had a great opportunity to get a shot of that look today while she was eating her lunch - some nice rotisserie chicken. It looked so juicy and nommy but I got nada. She gave me the excuse that she is on a diet so she was too hungry to give up even a morsel to me. But geesh - the whole leftover chicken is right over there ....


Looking at this picture I realize my problem is that I don't look particularly intimidating when I am doing my annoyed look. Maybe I need to show some teeth? Well, no chicken for me with this look. Where's that mirror? I am going to practice!

I wish more of my friends would join in these weekly photo hunt blogs. They are so much fun! Just click on the logo below for all of the details.






Saturday, October 16, 2010

Missing Mom and the Saturday Blog Hop

Does missing mom mean she is missing (like lost) or I just don't have her with me and I'm sad? In my opinion it's the same thing. She got that suitcase thing out Wednesday morning and took it with her when she went to work. I haven't seen her since. I think dad has talked to her on the phone a couple of times but as far as I am concerned, she is missing and I miss her. Rumor has it she is busy working at something called a Women's Wellness Weekend.

I will be particularly missing her today and tomorrow because since she is MIA I will not be able to go to the monthly "pawpawty and have fun with all my friends. So I'm pouting and when she gets home I will ignore her for at least two seconds.


Well, I guess it's time for the Saturday blog hop:


Friday, October 15, 2010

Blog the Change - Feed Shelter Animals

Mom and I feel real strongly about anipal causes and we have been trying to find a way to help support these causes. Unfortunately mom works a gazillion hours a week so support that involves spending lots of time is hard for us. This doesn't mean we care any less though.

We were lucky to find a cause some time ago that even mom has time to help with - Freekibble.com.



Mom is also so busy that sometime she has trouble remembering to do things so FreeKibble.com is great because they send her an email everyday reminding her to click and help fee shelter animals. Better yet, FreeKibble.com is fun because there is a trivia question to answer to feed both dogs and cats (Bow Wow and Meow trivia). We have learned a lot with some of the questions. Fortunately you feed the shelter anipals even if you get the question wrong!



Mom and I especially admire that this great organization was founded by Mimi Ausland a not so ordinary eleven year old girl from Oregon.


Here is a great video from NBC Nightly News

The easiest thing for us all to do to help is simply tell your friends to answer the Free Kibble trivia questions each day. All of us can be part of this great effort with this simple act.

Blog the Change

Monday, October 11, 2010

Anipal Photo Hunt #9: Compromising Positions

If you read my blog regularly you already know that my dad loves to catch me in the pooping position. This has to be THE MOST COMPROMISING position. So here for my embarrassment are three of his "best." Sigh.




While I love supporting the Photo Hunt - I'm not changing my Twitter or Facebook profile pics to any of THESE pictures!



Saturday, October 9, 2010

Dogs Rule Day and the Saturday Blog Hop

Oh boy, oh boy. Mom and dad treat me great every day but TODAY they have to treat me extra special. Don't know about Dogs Rule Day? Check out the website and Facebook page. Be sure and read the 101 ways to celebrate - we are working down the list as I type this!

I am getting in the belly rubbing position right now and there better be someone there to rub it!



If you read the ways to celebrate the day don't miss all the references to adopting dogs and  helping out shelters. This is all part of Pedigree's Adoption Drive. To all my dog pals, have a great day! Fur everyone else -  you have a good day living in a world where dogs rule (well, for one day anyway).

And now it's off to the hop!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Anipal Photo Hunt #8: I'm With the Band!

I have the picture already for this Photo Hunt! Here I am playing the guitar. Dad and I jam together all the time and my mom sings. Guess we need to get the cats involved somehow.


Hey fellow bloggers - join in the Anipal Photo Hunt!



Sunday, October 3, 2010

Me and the Dog Whisperer

Mom loves to watch CBS Sunday Morning every Sunday. I will tell you a secret though - she rarely watches it live. If her watching it depended on her getting up in time to see it, she'd be out of luck. That DVR thingee helps her be a lazy mom on Sunday morning.

I am not much for television. I usually don't pay any attention. That is until this morning. They had a piece about Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer and I was just fascinated.


There are lots of shows and movies with dogs that I usually ignore but this one just caught my attention. The funny thing was I did it twice. Mom and dad noticed my behavior when they were watching and then played it back so they could video me doing it.

My real plan was to distract mom and dad so they would not hear what he had to say because Cesar would be pretty disappointed in the way they let me behave. I hate mom and dad to feel bad about their failings.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

A New Kind of Jockey and the Saturday Blog Hop


Most of my pals know how much I enjoy being a Disc Jockey at anipal pawties. I love planning my theme, picking out the music and tweeting the tunes to the pawty guests.

Last night I was a different kind of Jockey for the #Lub2Rock Adoption Option Pawty - an Adoption Jockey or AJ instead of DJ. It was really very similar to being a DJ only instead of picking songs I was finding adoptable anipals to tweet out to the pawty goers.

Tiki

There was a theme just like in my DJing as I had to decide which of so many (way too many) pets that need furever homes. Instead of an hour I had a half hour and instead of a 3 minute average length song the goal was a tweet per minute. Instead of using Blip to find and tweet songs, I used Petfinder.

Mel

For my theme I went with two of my local adoption organizations. The first was the Peninsula SPCA. They have been around for 47 years and in 2007 opened their own clinic so that every adopted animal has been spayed or neutered and has received wellness vaccinations and an examine along with lots of basic care stuff. They even microchip all the pets that are adopted! Our family has a special bond with them because mom (and later dad) have adopted some wonderful dogs and cats from there over many years.

Lucy

I also wanted to tweet a few dogs  from a rescue operation based in my home town, Southeastern Virginia Golden Retriever Rescue, Education, and Training (SEVA GRREAT). This rescue recently celebrated it's 20th year of rescuing Golden Retrievers and finding them furever homes. 

Ray-Ray

Unfortunately, because Petfinder is less equipped to help out AJs compared to Blip which is designed for DJs, I probably didn't prepare as much as I should have. I selected all of the pets but should have pre-written the Tweets. I was also posting the adoptable pets on Facebook and while Blip does that automatically, I had to do the separate post for each adoptable pet. 

Bambi

But boy was it great - in two hours we got the word out about so many animals needing furever homes and, more importantly, we did a great job increasing awareness of the number of great pets in shelters and fosters needing homes and the need to think about adopting. The time just zoomed by. When I wasn't AJing I was busy retweeting the adoptable pets from the other AJs. I didn't even have time for a nom or a drink.

Dr. Pepper

The Adoption Option pawty was a project of the new Mattie Dog Foundation. @Mattiedog, @Brutusthedane, @Mariodacat and I were the AJs. The world famous Da Shibbering Cheetos played the music, @JustAnotherTrnd and @Hookalopes were Barktenders (with the requisite nommy menu) and there were quizzes and prizes.

Max

I learned something during my research of the available adoptable dogs in my area. They are overwhelmingly Pit Bulls. So sad. What did these people think they wanted when they adopted them and then turned them back in? I don't like to mention it but I don't live real far from where Michael Vick and his friends did their evil. 

Havoc

I was so happy to help with this project. When I blogged about Nico for the Anipal Photo Hunt #6, I was so thrilled when I heard Nico was adopted the next week. It feels really good to be the change!

And now it's time for the Saturday Blog hop!