Saturday Smiles - The Ultimate Dog Tease

Every weekend should begin with a big smile so Saturday mornings will now feature a cute, funny, silly or otherwise absolutely adorable doggie video.

Our first Saturday Smile is a video that just recently went viral about a dog getting teased with talk of all his favorite foods. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw&feature=player_embedded

Wanted: A Forever Family

I want to start off this week’s installment of Wanted: A Forever Family with great news about one of our featured dogs from last week. Geisha, the Pet Pardons dog from the Orange County Animal Services in Orlando, FL was adopted! Congratulations to Geisha and her new family!

Geisha being lazy in her new forever home.

Hopefully we can get many more success stories starting with the four little ones that are featured today.

The first doggie today, is Charlie. Charlie is a 10 year old, black and tan dapple smooth haired dachshund who was found wandering the streets of a Florida city. With a sweet personality, but with horrible teeth that needed attention, FLDR (Florida Dachshund Rescue) was notified about this poor guy. Once in the care of FLDR, Charlie had a much needed dental and only lost a few teeth, so is feeling a whole lot better and has wonderful breath now too! It’s hard to believe this guy was turned out to the streets to fend for himself. Charlie is an absolutely wonderful dog! He likes people and gets attached to a primary caregiver quickly. He wants to know where his foster mom is at all times, following her around the house. He gets along very well with all the other dogs in the household, although would do very well as an only dog as he does not really play with them. Charlie loves to go for walks on a leash around the neighborhood and also travels well in the car, curling up and going to sleep or lying quietly on his bed. He sleeps in the big bed at night snuggled up beside his foster mom or makes a nest at the foot of the bed—-he sleeps quietly all night.
Charlie is 100% housetrained if taken outside on a regular basis. Because he has had no accidents in the house, he is not crated during the day when his foster parents are out and they don’t feel he would like being crated at all. Charlie’s ideal home would be with someone who is home most of the time as he likes his humans and will bark when left alone. He would be an ideal traveler and great companion to someone looking for a wonderful, people oriented dog. He is waiting patiently for his new forever home…..could it be you???

If you are interested in adding Charlie to your family, please follow this link.
http://fldr.org/2011/03/24/charlie/

Corvin is a beautiful and sweet boy! He is a young adult looking for his forever home. Corvin is an Am Staff/Pit mix but he is a medium size boy - about 40 lbs. He has passed the Pitbull Ambassador testing with flying colors and is a very friendly guy. If you are looking for a great dog, don’t miss Corvin! He is waiting to hear from you.

To learn more about Corvin, click here.

http://www.floridabigdogrescue.com/cgi-bin/search_fbdr.cgi?page_num=4&gender=&age=&shcas=

How can you resist this face? Meet sweet TAWNEY....this pretty little beagle/dachshund mix was born 10/10/10 and finds herself in need of a new home.  Tawney is such a cutie with her short legs and long torso!  She is very cuddly in your arms and full of 'zip' when on the ground....typical puppy.  She loves her toys and other dogs but people are the way to her heart.  Tawney is almost deaf and will need a doggie friend to be her ears for her and a fenced yard to keep her safe.  Tawney is spayed, current on all shots, on heartworm preventive and microchipped.

If you would like to be Tawney’s new family, click here for all the information.

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/19401638

Levi is a 7-month-old Sheltie/Whippet mix. He is one sweet, gentle boy. He is timid and needs socialization and affection. Levi spent the last 4 months of his life, before we got him, in a backyard with little to no socialization. He is learning to trust new people and did amazingly well at his first adoption event. We believe this shows that the more he is taken out and about the better he will be. If you would like to meet Levi, please fill out an adoption application.

 If you can’t get enough of Levi’s amazing smile, please follow this link to fill out an adoption application and see more pictures.

http://www.smileydogrescue.org/blueweb/dogs_for_adoption/dogs_for_adoption_details.asp?id=4379

For those of you anxiously awaiting my dog transporter information I will have a post next week dedicated solely to this topic as there is A LOT to share. Have a great Friday everyone!

Speak Up! of the Week: Romanian Stray Dog Situation

Imagine being forced to give up your home and move into a small apartment that does not allow pets. While this may sound like a story from our current economic situation, this is what actually occurred in Romania during a Communist regime lead by Nicolai Ceausescu in the 1980s. During this time, farmers were forced off their land and made to move into Communist bloc apartment complexes which of course did not allow animals. With no other choice, tens of thousands of people had to leave their pets behind and thereby, as many believe, causing the huge stray population that currently roam about the cities in Romania.

Stray dogs in Romania. Credit to Romania Animal Rescue, Inc.

Estimated in 2000 by the city of Bucharest, there are said to be over 200,000 stray cats and dogs roaming urban areas with that number continuing to exponentially grow. For these street dogs, life is terrible if not downright scary. In misguided attempts to control population dog catchers have tried to cull the numbers, often through horrific means such as clubbing, poisoning, electrocuting and slashing their throats. In some cities such as Harsova, citizens are encouraged to kill dogs, cut off their ears and bring the ears to the city for a reward. This only adds to the trials already facing streets dogs such as abuse, illness, starvation, cars and freezing temperatures (during the winter). To get an idea of the stray situation, watch this video: Romanian Stray Dogs.

However, with so many dogs roaming free, people feel they are a nuisance and a safety risk leading to growing violence towards them. To counteract this trend, in 2007 the Romanian Parliament ratified several new animal welfare laws including a new and improved version of Romania's Animal Protection Act which bans euthanasia of animals unless there is illness. At this time, the Parliament also passed legislation to protect dogs from the violence of the dog catchers and get animal populations under control, by instituting a Catch/Neuter/Return program. While at first glance this appears to be incredible progress, the problem lies in the fact that none of these laws have been implemented. To make matters worse there are amendments now up for approval that will hand over the fate of stray animals to local officials which animal activists are saying will result in mass slaughters.

Statistics continue to show that the current method of culling the dogs is not working. When a group of dogs have been removed from an area, another group just comes in and they continue to increase their population. Groups such as Romania Animal Rescue, Inc., however, are working hard to control the animal population through education and free spray/neuter programs. They sponsor numerous Spay-a-thons throughout the country and are approaching 10,000 funded spay/neuter procedures. They need your help though and today there are two ways to Speak Up! and make a difference.

The first is to sign a petition to the Romanian Parliament asking them to implement and enforce the animal welfare laws they passed in 2007. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/do-not-kill-strays/?z00m=19973115

The second way is to help Romania Animal Rescue, Inc. win funding for much needed spay/neuter programs and veterinary training. Simply "Like" Dr, Marty Becker, the resident veterinarian on Good Morning America, at his Facebook page and post the name and city of the shelter (Romania Animal Rescue, Livermore, CA). They will then be entered to win prizes ranging from $1000-$20,000.

Have a great day and thank you for Speaking Up!

A Mother's Day Plot Twist I Never Saw Coming

Sunday started with a bang, well more a paw to the face. The minute any tiny ray of light shines into the house, my two furry, little alarm clocks wake up and Bella, being the oldest and the only one who loves to use the stairs to climb onto the bed, gets the regular duty of ensuring I know it is time to start the day. Basically this consists of pawing my head until I open my eyes. Needless to say, receiving a husky/shepherd paw to the head makes you get up pretty quick. Being Mother's Day though, I wanted to savor the comfiness of the bed and snuggle with my "kids." As they pranced around, rolled on their backs for belly rubs, gave enthusiastic kisses and genuinely couldn't sit still with the anticipation of the start of the day, it hit me that no matter what happened yesterday or what hardships their past's hold, every single morning starts in pure happiness and excitement of all the adventures the day will bring.  And as much as this day was about celebrating what I've brought to their lives as their guardian, I was struck by all that they have taught me and brought into my life and in particular this lesson of starting each day anew. We have so many wonderful things to do every day like learning to cook a new recipe, coming up with a great, new idea at work, volunteering at a local shelter or, in the case of my guys, digging a super, awesome 2 foot deep hole in the back yard. We can't let the bad stuff suck us down into the mud, it just makes less time for those things that really matter. That doesn't mean we forget what we have seen and done or the lessons we have learned. We just choose to utilize them to make things better for us and all those around us. So, even though yesterday day was Mother's Day, I would like to thank them for the honor of getting to be their Human Mom and getting to benefit from the wisdom they have to share with me.

So who exactly are these dogs that inspired such deep thoughts? Meet Max and Bella.

Max is an almost 3 year old sato (slang for street dog) shepherd mix born in Puerto Rico.

Bella is a 3 1/2 year old husky/shepherd mix found on the streets of Miami.

Do you have a lesson that your animals have taught you?