Human Shaming

Okay so I have been remiss in my blog writing of late (again) but I could not resist this topic. Why you ask? Because mom is still cackling over some of those Dog Shaming posts. She read them out loud and would point at me often while she was laughing. I have to admit I enjoy them too because they give me new ideas. In fact we just saw one about a dog who ate her mom's bite guard. Mom has a new one of those and I think it looks yummy ....

Anyway, it was so hard to pick from the many shameful things mom and dad do but here goes:

My dad ....

 and, just so you know I am not making this up ....

And for my mom ...

Need I say more?

America's Most Wanted -- Serial Stuffie Killer Strikes Again

Warning: You may want to censor this post from those
that are sensitive to violence and destruction

This is an update on the case of the Serial Stuffie Killer. The serial stuffie killer has gone on a rampage. Here is some of his latest victims.

This stuffie had half of his body eaten off. Sad. There had been a whole family of these and the stuffie serial killer has pretty much wiped them out.

Poor Rudolph was decapitated.

Flappie was gutted.

Mr. Bill (from Boris Kitty's Human 2) was almost two years old before his mouth was eaten. He is in intensive care and has a 50-50 chance of surviving.

A composite drawing has been developed by terrified witnesses with the help of a police sketch artist. This picture is being circulated across the country. Please report any sitings to local law enforcement. DO NOT try to apprehend the stuffie serial killer on your own. He is armed and extremely dangerous.

More to come soon . . .

Learning to Make a Difference

Mom and I were really uncertain about what we planned to write about today for the quarterly Blog the Change for Animals. We have lots of causes we believe in but we have written about them before. But today we saw an article about a really neat Summer Camp opportunity for kids at a Rescue in Washington State called Kitsap. We just happened to see about it on Twitter when it was retweeted by our friends at @WineCountryDog.

Mom and I think this is an incredible idea and we hope more rescue organizations are doing programs like this. They could very well be doing them and we just don't know. Why do we think this is important? Because this planet's future depends on us teaching the youth about what is important. -- learning to give back, the value of service, helping the less fortunate. Most of the ills of society are based on selfishness and greed pure and simple.

And to bring us back to the topic at hand, mom and me particularly feel that educating young people about the plight of homeless pets, what it takes to care for them, how valuable they are to teach us about love and humanity, the importance of spay, neuter and trap and release programs, and why adoption is so critical is priceless. That's why we think Be The Change for Animals is so important.

A Kitsap Camp Volunteer from the Kitsap Blog

Thanks primarily to social media, we are finding that we all CAN make a significant difference. World governments have changed and even in this country people have made a real difference by standing up AGAINST big business and FOR issues that need to be discussed. This means that the call to action on our part is more significant than ever and we can no longer sit back and think we can't make a difference.

On this day that has been set aside to write and discuss issues that are critical to supporting animals in our society, let's remember we CAN make a difference now more than ever.

"I looked at all the caged animals in the shelter...the cast-offs of human society. I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread, sadness and betrayal. And I was angry. "God," I said, "this is terrible! Why don't you do something?" God was silent for a moment and then He spoke softly. I have done something," He replied. "I created you." 

                               ~The Animals' Savior Copyright Jim Willis 1999

Subaru is Going to The Dogs

We just saw a new Subaru commercial and just had to blog about it!

You might remember that mom was privileged to ride in style to BarkWorld Expo in Atlanta last summer in a Subaru Forester. Subaru was one of BarkWorld's major sponsors. It was a great trip and she got to ride with Paige the Border Collie and her mom Lauren.

We loved the older series of commercials featuring dog stars, Stolen Parking Space being our previous favorite. But since mom is in the outdoor recreation business, we really love the new commercials. In fact we are heading out to visit one of her state parks next weekend! We were both barking out loud this morning when we saw "Camping" for the first time.

And, since mom has some challenges backing up (she claims mirrors confuse her), Jackknife is appealing as well. In fact mom claims she had a nightmare experience similar to that commercial with a U-Haul trailer many years ago.

They have some cool posters featuring the stars of these new commercials. Mom is going to hang this one up in her office:

Check out the Subaru Dog Tested website. There is a nice plug for Dogbook, a dog park locator, a statement to their commitment to the ASPCA, and an app for your human to plan their walks with you. I "borrowed" mom's new iBone and downloaded it while she was not looking.

Speaking of Paige, she has a video in Pet Hub's contest. Please check it out, vote and comment! Hey Subaru - maybe you should add Paige to your commercials!

Disclosure: Other than the use of the Subaru vehicle for mom's trip to BarkWorld last summer (which we blogged about at the time and had no other obligation), we have received no compensation from Subaru for sharing these commercials and info on their website. We don't even own a Subaru.

Blog the Change for Animal Adoption

Today (January 15) is Blog the Change for Animals Day. One day each quarter, animal bloggers around the world blog about the causes that are important to them and we start an important conversation on these issues.

I have a number of causes that are important to me but today I want to write about the importance of pet adoptions. There are so many pets in shelters and rescues around the world, so many animals that were abused or just unloved or just don't know what it is to have a family like we do. 

 
While I did not come from a shelter or rescue, I was part of an "unplanned" litter of puppies and might have ended up there. All my kitty sibs (there are four) come from rescues or shelters. Our latest addition, Alexis, we adopted from a rescue organization at PETCO this past June. All of my family members have different personalities and are wonderful in their own way, but Alexis is something really special. She came into our lives and made all of the animals happier. She is so loving and playful she has made the other cats like me and they all are more affectionate and playful even though they are getting older.

So, I want to urge everyone who reads this to think about opening their home to one of the many, many pets waiting in shelters for their furever homes. I guarantee you that your life will be enriched and never the same. Please though remember that an adoption truly is a commitment. Pets demand time and attention and are also a financial responsibility. If you are not ready for that commitment, don't make it. Because as sad as all of the animals in shelters make me, it is even sadder when a pet has a home and then loses it. I know that sometimes there are terrible things that happen and people have to give up their pets, but this should not be because the family took their commitment lightly.

Great Prize

Today my prize from #jeopawty arrived and mom was so excited. I like mom to be happy but a stuffy or a bone might have made ME happier.

This clutch purse was made by @grrlysquirrel75 and mom says it is perfect. She likes to have a small purse to carry around and slip in her ginormous bag that has the kitchen sink in it (I think).

She's got a blog you should check out.
https://twitter.com/grrlysquirrel75/status/155720770696380416

New Years Resolution

I have a few special New Year Resolutions.

#1 More time outdoors

#2 More treats

#3 More bones like this one

#4 More time with mom and dad

#5 More toys

Unfortunately, my New Years resolutions are dependent on mom and dad so they better read this and make some resolutions of their own!

Visit to the V-E-T

Yesterday I had my annual torture visit to the vet. As with most car outings, I am excited to get to go with mom and dad until we get in the car and I start feeling closed in. Mom claims she won't be hearing well for a week thanks to the high pitched whining I allegedly did during the five minute car ride. She exaggerates a lot though.

I didn't even know what was in store for me. I think I even forgot what place it was when we first went in. Well, for about five seconds.

Dad is smart so he walked me straight to the scale and I was exactly 67 pounds, maybe 2 pounds more from last year. But I do squirm on the scale so it is hard to get a completely exact reading.

My vet is Seaford Veterinary Medical Center in Yorktown and we saw Dr. Megan Alexander. If not for the torture treatment, she was a nice lady. All of the vets at this practice are women.

I will not stay still for any exam and they have a bunch of tricks to get me to do what they need - blood work, stool sample, shots and the worst the ear exam. First they know that I somehow behave worse when mom and dad are there so they take me in the back. Mom and dad heard my whining and crying the whole time. Then they were shocked that I was quiet. Turns out the Vet lady was smart and took me outside. As soon as I was outside, I let her listen to my heart and do the other bad stuff because I was distracted by the stuff outside. Watch for their tricks!

Mom and dad thought I had an ear infection because I have been scratching it and yelped whenever they accidentally touched it. They work hard to keep my ears clean and dry. Mom has ear stuff to dry them out after I go swimming but I don't like it. In fact just the mention of "ear stuff" sends me hiding. Mom was happy they were not actually infected but they were inflamed so the Vet sent us home with twice a day torture medicine for 5 days. The Vet had a hard time with the first dose because the floor was too slippery to get a good grip on me but I was good this morning when dad held me down on the bed. You can see in the picture below how greasy my beautiful ears look thanks to this nasty medicine.

The Vet said I was a fun dog and high energy. DUH. She also said I had the most beautiful teeth she had ever seen on a three and a half year old dog. Just keep those Merrick Red Bags coming mom! Her only concern is that the way my back legs are she said I will be more susceptible to hip problems so she suggested mom and dad start me on a glucosomine or fish oil supplement.

The Vet's office did confirm that this had to be the worst flea year they remember. And even though it's December we still have them because we haven't had a real freeze yet.

Well, so much for the annual torture Vet visit. I was a bit subdued for the car trip home and dad gave me a really nice bone from the Big Red Bag.

Eating Responsibly

We wanted share another great infographic from my friends at Pet365. This one is really important for our health. I know we all love our noms but hopefully our humans are careful to make sure we don't eat so much that we aren't healthy!

Pet obesity graphic produced by Matt Beswick for Pet365 - a UK stockist of dog coats, collars and accessories. Click here to view the full post.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to do a post to tell all my friends that I hope they have a Happy Turkey Day but it has also been so long since mom let me do a blog post, I decided I better talk about more than Thanksgiving!

The turkeys asked me to give them a break and promote ham for Thanksgiving. I'll take BACON any day over turkey!

Mom and I are thankful for all our friends on Twitter, Facebook and my blog, my dad and four kitty sibs. We are grateful that we have a roof over head, mom has a job, and all our basic needs are met (food and treats for me). So many people don't have all those things.

We are also very grateful for her Kindle! Reading with mom is so much fun since we got her Kindle for Christmas last year. If you guys have Kindles, we have to tell you about a really great site called Pixel of Ink. Sign up for their email and get a daily email with free and low cost Kindle downloads. We love mysteries and thrillers and today there were three of them!

We owe you lots of reviews but we really wanted to tell you about one book in particular. It's called Plucking Wolf Fur: A story of one arm, one dog and an American family by James Michael Shea. Mom met the author at BarkWorld and downloaded the book the same day. We get many books for free from Pixel of Ink so we don't buy many but it is well worth the $2.99!

I know that our humans find us animals very special parts of their lives. This book tells a wonderful story about how a wolf hybrid dog changes James' life. It is autobiographical and a great story. Sequoia sounds like she was a wonderful creature and I would have liked to have met her. She works her way into James' like and that of his family and changes all of them like us animals have a habit of doing. Mom enjoyed talking to James at BarkWorld and she hopes you will download his book to your Kindle or other device.

The story made mom think of her dog Skipper. She had Skipper many years ago - she rescued him 30 years ago after a friend found him running loose in Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey. Mom says that Skipper got her through some really tough times in her life when she was lonely and needed his love. So in many ways Skipper was mom's Sequoia.

Well, stay tuned for more book reviews. I have the review of Chet's latest book coming up (I know, we read that almost two months ago now).

So for now, Happy Thanksgiving. Take a long nap after enjoying your dinner!

Put Your Paw Down!

You may all recall what happened the last and only time mom tried to dress me up for Howl-oween, but it appears there are even humans who realize the injustice. For all of you pets that still suffer the humiliation, I want to share this video from yesterday's CBS Sunday Morning.




Happy Howl-oween to all - costumed or not!

Bissell really cleans up at BarkWorld

I won't say that we are bad housekeepers but when you have a dog and four cats living in two rooms, the fur really flies. Literally and figuratively. Frankly I think that nasty tracked litter is worse than the fur.

Right before mom left for BarkWorld our over-used vacuum bit the dust. I can't say I was too upset, since I am no fan of that machine as you may recall from this post.

At BarkWorld, mom was really impressed with the Bissell Perfect Sweep Turbo. The staff at the Bissell booth kept making beautiful art out of kitty litter and mom really hated to ruin the artwork by sweeping it up but wow that sweeper worked well! She was excited to hear that the sweeper is only $39.99. A great bargain too. Bissell said she could share a coupon with all my readers. Just go to their website and use the code perfectsweepCAT before 12/31/11. They are having a free shipping promo now too!

Photo by Tamar Arslanian

So she came home and ordered one AND a new vacuum that specializes in pet hair removal -  Rewind Premier Pet Vacuum.

They came this week and while I am not wild about the vacuum (mom and dad love it) I give two paws up for the Turbo Sweep since it makes way less noise than the vacuum monster and I don't even bark. It's great for getting that tracked litter up and easy to use multiple times a day. We keep it charged and ready for any mess!

Dad is the primary house cleaner for us. Dad said he was impressed at how well made they are - sturdy and ready for abuse. He says the sweeper gets up odds and ends like bone pieces, shredded paper (our cats do that), and all that tracked litter and are great for quick pickups and routine clean up. Dad just swept up one of those nasty kitty hairballs too. EEEW.

For deep down cleaning you still need a vacuum and the Rewind is easy to push and has great pet cleaning attachments like the pet turbo eraser tool. The front has a flip down pet hair lifter. When you pull the vacuum back it collects pet hair and debris and then when you push forward it releases the collected debris so the vacuum can suck it up. Click here for a great video on the vacuum. The helix system provides a powerful suction to get even ground in dirt. Dad particularly likes the retractable cord that is longer than usual for extra convenience.

Mom and dad need to save their pennies for one of the Pro Heat carpet cleaners. The spots on the carpet are NOT from me, thank you very much, they are from mom and dad spilling stuff like coffee and food. Mom spilled have a cup of coffee on the bed just today.

Both the vacuum and the turbo sweep are so easy to use and empty. And I swear our living area is much less dusty since we got them too.

Note: Bissell did give mom a coupon good for $5 of the Perfect Sweep Turbo but she actually got an even better discount including free shipping on the website (because she ordered the vacuum too). We received no free product or compensation of any kind in exchange for our review.

Subaru paved the way to BarkWorld for Mom

It is hard to believe that mom has been back from BarkWorld a week now. And I have been enjoying her home for a change and have been remiss in writing my blog.

I'm also trying not to be jealous that mom got to ride with Paige the Border Collie, the You Tube star, all the way to Atlanta and back. I can't make up my mind if I'm jealous because she got to meet Paige or because she spent time with Paige and not me.

The whole trip was possible thanks to one of BarkWorld's biggest sponsors - Subaru. They provided the BarkNRide vehicle - a beautiful Subaru Forester. Both Paige's mom and my mom have cars with really high mileage on them (they drive a long way to go to work every day) so being able to drive a brand new car to Atlanta made them both happy.

Mom is still talking (read rubbing it in my face) about how great Paige was in the car. This photo probably says it all and explains why I did not go. I am never relaxed as much as this in the car. You can see how comfortable the Forester was for Paige. Mom says it was a great ride for humans too.

Mom says she had a great time talking to Lauren, Paige's mom, and the ten hour trip each way really flew by. On the way back they stopped for gas, a potty break and some snacks and mom literally tripped an fell flat on her face. A week later, the bruise on her chin is still quite impressive. Lauren helped mom up. Mom always jokes that one of her talents is that she falls well! She has a more impressive bruise we can't show in a family environment. The funny thing is that the chin didn't hit the ground. Apparently she was wearing her sunglasses around the neck and the chin hit the glasses which also made the bruise on the place we can't show. She scraped her arm which is still ouchy.

Another cool thing about the trip was that BarkWorld fans could follow our trip using an installed PocketFinder GPS unit. When they stopped for lunch at Wendy's, Paige's dad called and asked, "are you guys stopped at a fast food restaurant?" Wow. The Subaru GPS helped keep them from getting lost especially when they got to downtown Atlanta!

By the way, please check out Paige on her You Tube Channel. She is amazing! Follow her on Facebook and Twitter too. And, when you see the PetMeds.Com commercial below, the star of the commercial is Paige (she's at the end so be patient).

BarkWorld Day 1

In case you haven't heard, mom abandoned me to go to BarkWorld this week. After my recent experience last month in a hotel, we all decided (me included) that I was happier at home. But I made her tell me all about it last night so I could share with my readers.

Not sure what mom thinks, but I believe the most exciting thing was all the cool stuff she got to take home for me! She got some Nylabone treats for me. You know how much of a chewer I am, so I am too aggressive for their regular bones but mom found out they have treats you can eat too and she has some for me! She got me a new tag with a QR code on it  from Pet QR Tag so if I ever get lost whoever finds me will be able to find out where I belong. There are other tags with web updates but there is no additional fee to keep the info updated on the web with their tag!

She also got me a new leash from Leash Locket that retracts into a gizmo (locket) that I carry on my collar. We are going to try that out and let you know how it works. She also got a coupon for a Perfect Sweep Turbo sweeper from Bissell  to clean up all that tracked cat litter (I never make a mess). I will be doing a blog on that too and will share a $5 off coupon code. By the way, mom tried it and that sweeper works great. Of course in our house, dad does the cleaning but we think even he can handle it.

The conference is at the Loews Atlanta and mom says the conference facilities are great. Here is a picture she took from the balcony yesterday.

She is meeting some really cool humans and dogs and some have some neat pet businesses and she is learning a lot about social media topics.

Mom did her presentation on Facebook advertising. You can see the slides from her presentation by clicking here.

She said her favorite thing from the first day was getting to hear Victoria Stilwell talk. Mom says she was great and all my pals should check out her website and social media sites. We love her show It's Me or the Dog and her positive training methods. (Sorry for the Blackberry picture, her good pictures are trapped in the camera until she gets home).

Mom will share some more stuff later so stay tuned.

Dog development grahic

Mom and I are really excited to share another great infographic from the folks at Pet 365 Blog. Matt Beswick sent this to us and we wanted to share.

Dog Development graphic created by Matt Beswick for Pet365 - a UK stockist of Dublin Dog collars and brands like Hamish McBeth. Click here to view the full post.

Be sure to check out their website for other cool stuff!

Back from Vacation

Mom, dad and I went on vacation for nine whole days to one of my favorite places. It is a special cabin at one of our parks that the public doesn't rent because there is no real road and mom says the cabin is too rustic for the public. So staff can rent it. It is right on the river. It is called the Brown Cabin (it's not named after someone named brown, it's just painted brown) and it's at Shenandoah River State Park. I know my pal @ShawneeShep and her mom know about the cabin because they found it when they were hiking in the park.

It is a really good vacation for mom because there is no cell service and no internet. Also no TV (they actually have a TV that we can rent Red Box videos and play them but only three channels). So mom read 9 books while we were there (actually they were on her Kindle). One was that new Chet book (I will blog about that another day).

We did get a lot of rain thanks to that Hurricane Lee coming up from the gulf. The Chief Ranger came and warned us about possible flash flood warnings but the Shenandoah River just got a little bit wider. The porch room that mom likes to spend her time in (she can see the river and the windows open really wide (we will not talk about the screens on the window that were perfect when we got there but somehow not so perfect when we left - can I help it that I have to jump up and bark when people go by hiking or biking?) has a tin roof so the rain was very relaxing. When you want to spend your vacation reading and relaxing the rain is not a bad thing.

It did not rain steady so there was lots of time for me to go swimming in the Shenandoah River. Since there is a current in the river (and none in my pond), it is different swimming. The river tended to steal some of my sticks too and there also seemed to be a stick shortage at the park compared to our yard.

Oh the big news was that we also took Alexis and she got herself a mouse! Mom said - another reason we don't rent that to the public (no pix). She had lots of fun stalking all kinds of bugs too.

If you like a good place for a vacation, I highly recommend Shenandoah River State Park. The park has "for the public" cabins that are only a year old and two great campgrounds.