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

Okey's Promise - the Next Project

If you remember mom went to the Shorty Awards in 2010 because her @VAStateParks twitter account was a finalist. She shared a room with Vicki Boatright, perhaps better known by her artist name BZTAT, and they got to know each other. Since then she saw her at BarkWorld Expo 2010 and Blog Paws just a couple of weeks ago. While she was at Blog Paws she found out about the next Okey's Promise project.

BZTAT discusses Okey's Promise at Blog Paws

Maybe you do not know about the first Okey's Promise project. BZTAT used Kickstarter to raise money for a mural that would be painted on a building in Canton, Ohio where she lives. The way Kickstarter works is that people promise (they call it a pledge) to donate a certain amount of money to a project and IF they raise the goal amount, the people pay their money. BZTAT calls the donors Promise Keepers which both Mom and I like a lot. You can donate as little as $1 or as much as you want. Mom was one of the Promise Keepers for the mural which was officially unveiled last month.

The name of the mural is "Safe Animals and Safe Kids."

Safe Animals and Safe Kids

Original Artwork by BZTAT

Okey is one of BZTAT's cats, one she rescued from a parking lot who had been badly mistreated. Okey has a good life now but she still exhibits behaviors related to her earlier life. Okey was BZTAT's inspiration to raise awareness about the connection between animal abuse and child abuse. Where there is animal abuse there is often children and spousal abuse. Sometimes the animal will be threatened as a way to psychologically abuse the human victims.

 Okey, photo by BZTAT

Okey's promise: Make the world a better place for children AND animals.

BZTAT has launched another Kickstarter project. Mom and I have already become new promise keepers. We think BZTAT describes the project and her goals the best in this short video:

I think this new artwork sounds like it will be amazing. Please help BZTAT take it from a concept to art that calls attention to this issue by offering hope by telling a story of survival and resilience.

What can you do?

Go to Kickstarter and become a Promise Keeper in any amount.

Tell your friends and family. Tweet it, post it on Facebook and Google+, blog about it. Okey's Promise can be found on Facebook by clicking here.

There are only eleven days left to make a difference by helping BZTAT reach the $6,000 goal.

Wordless Wednesday (Barely)

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!

National Dog Week Contest

I can't believe that mom almost made me miss the National Dog Week Dog Tongue Photo Contest. She was so busy she just got around to checking our blog roll and saw the cute tongue pictures on Sugar's blog. Mom and dad almost missed National Dog Week all together!

I have forgiven mom for her lapse since we are in time for the contest from Twinkie one of the new blogs we have found thanks to Saturday's Pet Blog Hop.

Anyway, we are supposed to share one tongue picture. Mom and dad scoured our photos and we think this is the best one.

I almost didn't recognize dad in this picture since his hair was very short here and it sure isn't now. I nearly didn't recognize me either because I was a puppy. This picture was two years ago! We like this one because it is the only picture we have that shows the black spot on my tongue. Mom decided to check into why a GSD/Black Lab would have the black spot on my tongue but apparently it is not that unusual (HUMPH) and either half of my ancestry is known to have it.

So, we all learned something new and I entered the contest! Now when I send you a Yoda Smooch, you will have advanced warning of what is coming at you.

S M O O C H

Anipal Photo Hunt #6: Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet Week Challenge

Be The Change For Pets is asking everyone to post a 'less-adoptable' pet on their blog during the week of Sept 19-25. So the weekly anipal photo hunt is dedicated to this project.

I am featuring a sweet girl dog named Nico who is currently at the Peninsula SPCA. Nico is seven years old and black and has been at the shelter since August 2nd. Older animals and black pets are particularly difficult to adopt. Nico is a retriever/labrador mix and already spayed.

The Peninsula SPCA is where mom and dad adopted Majel who recently crossed to the Bridge and her sisfur Isis.

Adoption Information:

Animal ID 11149063

Peninsula SPCA

523 J Clyde Morris Blvd.
Newport News, VA 23601
757.595.1399

Click here for Adoption Policies

Follow Peninsula SPCA on Facebook and Twitter

Donate to Peninsula SPCA

This is a great video about the work of the Peninsula SPCA. They also have a great counseling program to help pet owners work through situations that would normally lead to pet abandonment.

This blog post is part of 2 separate hops. First the Anipal Photo Hunt



and then the Be The Change for Anipals Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet Challenge hop:

Pedigree Write A Post, Help A Dog

Tomorrow (September 19) is the deadline for the Pedigree Write A Post Help A Dog Campaign. The brilliant social media people (or maybe it was the Head Dog there) came up with this great idea to promote their brand and their very wonderful work helping create awareness for adopting from a shelter. Even Mashable picked up on the campaign.

While Pedigree hopes people will adopt shelter dogs, this campaign helps provide food for the dogs still there. For every blog that is posted about the campaign and for every new Facebook Fan (or "Like" as Facebook changed it), Pedigree will donate a 20 pound bag of dog food to a shelter.

What I like about the Pedigree campaign is they emphasize RESPONSIBLE adoption - meaning families need to know what it means to adopt a dog and understand the commitment so the dog will find a real furever home!

So if you haven't already written your post or "liked" Pedigree on Facebook, what are you waiting for? Be sure to add it here!

Yoda's Book Recommendations and the Saturday Hop

I mentioned in my last post about all of the books mom read on vacation. Mom loves to read but is usually so busy she doesn't have time. Since she has a long drive to work, she listens to books instead of reading them. I like when she reads because she shares them with me.

There were two books I liked the most that we read on vacation and they were both by one of my favorite authors Dean Koontz. My friend Teeny likes Dean too because he did a review of The Darkest Evening of the Year. Dean Koontz has dog characters in a lot of his books. Often they are major characters like in the book Teeny reviewed. Some of my other favorites are Watchers, Breathless, Brother Odd (this had a GHOST dog), Fear Nothing, Seize the Night and Ticktock.

Mom and I read Relentless by Dean Koontz. Dad read it too. Relentless was a fast paced book about a writer terrorized by a book critic. Trust me, the critic does not stop at writing to express his dissatisfaction of the lead character's writing. The man and his wife have a six year old who is a genius with a specialty in physics. They have a dog named Lassie. If you think the original Lassie was smart and saved Timmy, wait until you see what this Lassie can do! You will really love the story about how the family rescued Lassie (or was it the other way around)?

Dean Koontz's books are often suspenseful and there is also usually some kind of evil in the book. But what is so wonderful about his work is that his characters that are often put through some really bad stuff never lose hope and live life with humor and love.

The other book I am recommending is also by Dean Koontz. It is called A Big Little Life and is non-fiction. This book is about Dean and Gerda Koontz and their amazing Golden Retriever Trixie. Trixie was trained as an assistance dog by Canine Companions for Independence. After her training she was an assistance dog for six months until a congenital problem with her elbow joint was found and she had to have surgery. After elbow surgery, Trixie had to retire as an assistance dog and she was adopted by Dean and Gerda Koontz. Trixie was the first dog they had ever had in their family and Dean writes with such love as he tells the story about their beloved Trixie. The book also gives you a glimpse of what Dean is like and why he writes with just humor and hope.

Dean wrote a lot of the books with dogs before he adopted Trixie. It is obvious he has some special connection to dogs. But nothing will prepare you for this story. You have to know from the outset that Trixie is OTRB so be prepared for tears but this book is really amazing and well worth the tears. Dean makes it very clear that Trixie changed their lives and made him a better writer. Dean and Gerda have another Golden now named Anna who is related to Trixie. Trixie died at the age of 12 and had lived with Dean and Gerda for nine years. This quote from Trixie's bio on her web page will give you an idea:

Trixie was an angel on earth, shorn of her wings and given fur as a disguise, with mysterious eyes, with the heart of a lion and the temperament of a lamb. She changed us as people, made us better by her example, brought piercing beauty and so much humor into our lives, and left a terrible void when she went to God.

Trixie has authored some books herself. In fact on September 16 her latest children's book, Trixie and Jinx, was released.You can find out all about Trixie by clicking here.

Be sure and check out his Facebook page as well as Trixie's!

And now, for the Saturday blog hop, after my absence of two weeks!

Anipal Photo Hunt #5: BLOG PAWS

We didn't go to Blog Paws because mom just got back from BarkWorld and we had vacation planned, but Cokie said I could share pictures of me blogging so that's what I'm doing to participate in the Anipal Photo Hunt this week.

Okay, so maybe I am micro-blogging in this picture since I was using Twitter.


If you haven't joined in the fun of the Photo Hunt, it's lots of fun and a way to find new friends with blogs. You can read the blogs or click on the Instructions tab to find out how to join in by clicking the Anipal Photo Hunt button below. All my friends always have such great pictures to share that I hope they will play the weekly hunt too.

Wordless Wednesday - Me and Dad

I Think It's Spring!

Today it went up to 59 degrees (15 degrees Celsius for my International readers). Hard to believe it just snowed Tuesday night (before the nor'easter washed it away). That meant, you guessed it, time for swimming! Dad thought it was too cold to go swimming but how could anyone resist this?

Hurry dad! Let's play!

Dad took me out in the backyard and there I was swimming with the geese!

I just went swimming right away - I didn't even wait for dad to throw a stick!

Then he threw sticks in the pond and I fetched them over and over again!

Maybe I have some retriever in me?

Since dad took the pictures, there were 40 different shots of me pooping. He seems to be fixated on that. Fortunately it's mom that helps me with my bloggie so we picked one that gave me some privacy.

Privacy Please!

Too soon the fun was over.

A good shake after a great swim - priceless

Dad never dries me off (much to mom's dismay), so I brought back lots of water to share with mom.

Speak! Daddy, Speak!

This is Yoda's daddy. He gave me permission (bunch of licks to the face!) to post a blog here, so here I am.

I never had a normal pet when I was a kid. I had a couple of turtles, a few goldfish along the way, and even a couple of anole lizards billed as "chameleons" at the Woolworth store in downtown Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. But not the first sign of a cat or dog. The closest I came to any mammalian pets back then were two rabbits my cousin captured in his garden one day. They lasted about a week on our back porch and it all turned out so darned sad in the end. When I married Nancy, Yoda's Mommy, I came into things and gained two cats as pets. The two cats have increased to four, and I am quite attached to them, thank you. But as luck would have it, the evening Yoda came home was a major page turner for me.

This is Yoda as a puppy when we had him in a big pen while he learned to be potty trained
How could you not love a face like that?

I remember hearing Rush Limbaugh giving one of his rants against PETA, and he said something about animals not wanting rights, but we as humans have a duty to treat animals kindly and humanely. It should be obvious from such a statement that Rush never had a dog in his life. That really does explain a LOT! I am in no way "anthropomorphosizing" when I make the following statement:

Dogs really do feel and show a full range of emotions. We've all seen angry dogs, and frightened dogs. But take the time to notice the look of utter happiness and joy on a dogs face when a favored toy is offered for play. Check out the way a dog positively SMILES when mommy and/or daddy walk into the room. I even witnessed Yoda being totally concerned about my welfare, in spite of the fact that I was very angry and he was very afraid, yet he STILL tried to physically calm me down with LOVE, and the look on his face was proof positive that he was feeling the very things I am describing.

Rush, get a dog!

Yoda showing his affection

Poor Pelican

Warning: Explicit violence if you are one of my stuffed plush anipals

As many of you might know, my mom works for Virginia State Parks. She usually is in on the details when they have deep merchandise sales, like usually when they are discontinuing something. For instance, for their 70th anniversary in 2006 they had a 70" copperhead plush snake. There were stuffed snakes everywhere! I think they finally got rid of them all this fall.

I loved those snakes - one LONG toy with lots of stuffing. They were on sale a long time at $5 and mom would pick them up for me. Since I have a bad history with plush toys, $5 was a good deal. The snakes would last me a little while because as I made a hole, mom would pull out stuffing and it would be ok for a while Dad gave her a hard time but all she had to do was show dad his blanket and ask what dad would rather I chew on. The snake won every time.

Then one sad day all the snakes were finally gone. : (

The woman in mom's office, Pat, who orders stuff showed her the sale items the week before Christmas. She had shown mom the pelican before but when he was full price mom knew it would be a mistake.

You can't see but the pelican has a stick in his back side so the human can hold the puppet. The stick was plastic instead of wood but still nommy.

This was the day I got the Pelican - not a factory second. Mommy couldn't even get the picture taken before one eye was gone. Second eye followed right after the picture.

Two weeks later the eyes are gone, the beak is hanging and mom has taken out most of the beak and head stuffing so it doesn't make the house MESSY. The stick is gone too. Mom was holding it and we were playing and I grabbed the pelican and mom still had the chewed up stick. Stick went in trash. Mom is spoil sport.

This is today. Last night I ripped his tummy out so mom had to take all the stuffing from his insides. He is still fun because he is still poofy cause of his fake fur wings.

I am hoping the pelicans are still on sale.

Meet My Family

I think people call what we have a blended family! I have sisters and brothers who are cats and dogs. He He He.

Mom and dad live upstairs. They live with my mom's mom. She is a very nice lady but I am not allowed to jump on her. She seems nice but mom and dad worry about her. She lives downstairs along with two other dogs. One dog is my older brother Goliath. (His picture us at the right with my dad) He has bad arthritis and doesn't climb the stairs very good. He doesn't like me to jump on him either because I hurt him even if I am just playing.

The other dog is Roscoe (see left) and he does like to play. We have a good time in the back yard. He doesn't go swimming with me though. I am not real sure how we are related. People might say he is my uncle because he is my mom's mom's dog. People have complicated relationships!

Upstairs with us it's all cats with me. There are four. Majel is the oldest one. She is pretty but I get yelled at when I try to play with her. Mom says she is delicate because she is seventeen years old.

Ceasar and Cleo are brother and sister for real. Mom and dat adopted them six years ago after Majel's sister Isis crossed the rainbow bridge. They were only going to adopt one kitten but the two kitties were all alone in the Pet Smart kitty adoption area and they could not leave one alone there could they? Their mommy kitty was run over by a car. So sad.

Then came Sabrina. She is kind of a wild cat. She was feral when someone who worked with dad found her. Dad tried to call mom to check it was ok to adopt her but mom was in a meeting so he made his own decision. So then there were four kitties. They lived in Chesterfield then. Soon after that mom's dad died so they all moved to Yorktown.

Here are the kittehs (top row Cleo left, Majel on right; next row is Ceasar on left and Sabrina on right):













I only came along last year. Mom's boss lives next door to my dog mom and helped deliver my doggie sibs. There were nine of us. He mentioned the cute puppies and mom and dad could not resist. I am very happy. Mom and dad love me and all of the kitties. We have a great yard with a pond. I get lots of treats and we go on neat trips to great state parks.

Here is Majel and me in daddy's chair.