I (heart) Dogs blogfest Week 8!

Welcome in for Week 8 of the I <3 Dogs blogfest, hosted by the awesome blog, Small Town Rescue.

In case you want to join the fun, here are the weekly themes:

Week 1 (2/20-2/26) – Favorite animal organization/rescue

Week 2 (2/27-3/4) – Favorite pet story (Tell us about your favorite pet! Doesn’t have to be a dog).

Week 3 (3/5-3/11) – Favorite animal-related book, movie, song, etc.

Week 4 (3/12-3/18) – What I know about dog rescues organizations?

Week 5 (3/19-3/25) – The gorgeous, the active, and the unique. Tell us your favorite dog breed.

Week 6 (3/26-4/1) – Favorite Dog/Pet Stores in your area.

Week 7 (4/2-4/8) – Favorite dog parks and dog-friendly attractions in your area.

Week 8 (4/9-4/15) – If I had a dream… What would you do for rescue dogs if you could?

I've given this soooo much thought. My dog Riley was not just a rescue, she was on death row. She's such an amazing dog, and it breaks my heart that so many amazing dogs are put to sleep because they can't get adopted for one reason or another. Riley was about 3 years old when I got her, and ever since I've advocated adopting an older dog.

So here's my plan, my dream, my wish.

Someday, I intend to buy a house. It doesn't need to be a large house. But it does need to have a large yard. I want to have enough land that I could rescue death row dogs and work with them to get them adopted out. So many people have aversions to shelters--they're loud and they're crowded. Or they don't understand that they can get fabulous pure-bred dogs from rescues. So my hope is that, if I can get this accomplished, people will start to come around. *Shrug* This is my dream.

Do you guys have a dream for doggies? Or kittehs? Or any other animals? Please share!

I (heart) Dogs Week 5!

Welcome in for Week 5 of the I <3 Dogs blogfest, hosted by the awesome blog, Small Town Rescue.

In case you want to join the fun, here are the weekly themes:

Week 1 (2/20-2/26) – Favorite animal organization/rescue

Week 2 (2/27-3/4) – Favorite pet story (Tell us about your favorite pet! Doesn’t have to be a dog).

Week 3 (3/5-3/11) – Favorite animal-related book, movie, song, etc.

Week 4 (3/12-3/18) – What I know about dog rescues organizations?

Week 5 (3/19-3/25) – The gorgeous, the active, and the unique. Tell us your favorite dog breed.

Week 6 (3/26-4/1) – Favorite Dog/Pet Stores in your area.

Week 7 (4/2-4/8) – Favorite dog parks and dog-friendly attractions in your area.

Week 8 (4/9-4/15) – If I had a dream… What would you do for rescue dogs if you could?

I love dogs of all kinds, all breeds, all shapes and sizes and colors. I am the proud mother of two mutts who own my heart. But since "mutt" isn't a breed (that I know of), I have to go with my old standby to answer today's question.

My first dog (and by "my" I mean, the one who chose me) was a black lab we named Jack. He mutinied against my neighbors when he saw we had a girl dog, and I loved him with everything I had. Jack was my best friend. I told him all my secrets, and he'd stare at me with nothing but love in his honey-colored eyes. 

I have a lot of stories about Jack. We had him for yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeears. There was the time when he and Mollie (above-mentioned girl dog) had a litter of puppies and he consistently ran to the top of the hill where they couldn't get to him. There's the many excursions he and Mollie took with my sis and me. There's the time I watched him and Mollie tag team a possum (it was totally bad ass, too--she ran it under a building and when it came out the other side, he grabbed it and killed it). 

However, my favorite Jack story is this:

We often joked about how Jack had claimed me. Mostly it was because he monopolized my time, which I had no issue with. He always sought me out, and while he didn't intentionally ignore anyone since he was a belly rub addict, it was obvious I was his pick.

One day, my sister and I took Jack and Mollie for a walk out the road and back. It was a nice, warm summer day. The dogs were getting a little heated, so we took a break. I sat on a log at the fork in the road, and Jack took his usual spot beside me. In the midst of a conversation with Sis, she burst out laughing and I couldn't figure out what was so funny. Then I looked at my left side. Jack had PEED on me. 

I don't mean that he'd meant to pee on something else and hit me a little. He straight up PEED ON ME. 

I couldn't be mad. After all, we joked about how he'd claimed me. I guess he just wanted to make it official.

He's the reason I love Labradors. If ever there was an advocate for a breed, it was him, and I'm grateful that Jasper got some of great-great-great-great-great grampa Jack's sweet attributes, including an absolute love of belly rubs. 

Don't forget to check out the other entries. Stop by the Small Town Rescue blog for a chance to win some great prizes!

I (heart) Dogs Blogfest - Week 1!

Welcome to Week 1 of the I <3 Dogs blogfest (AKA an awesome excuse to post pictures and info about totally adorable dogs *and the hot guys who love them, as demonstrated by the yummy Matthew Gray Gubler of Criminal Minds*). The blogfest is hosted by the awesome Small Town Rescue, and its' not too late to join in.

Unfortunately, my giveaway didn't quite pan out as I'd hoped, but that's okay. I'm still going to donate $25 to a shelter and pick a winner, and I'll try to have giveaways throughout the blogfest to encourage participation. I will do anything for puppies, as I have two of my own, and about 10 between my parents, my sister, and myself, most of them adopted (or born under my parents' bed, in Jasper, Max, and Skye's case).

In case you want to join the fun, here are the weekly themes:

Week 1 (2/20-2/26) – Favorite animal organization/rescue

Week 2 (2/27-3/4) – Favorite pet story (Tell us about your favorite pet! Doesn’t have to be a dog).

Week 3 (3/5-3/11) – Favorite animal-related book, movie, song, etc.

Week 4 (3/12-3/18) – What I know about dog rescues organizations?

Week 5 (3/19-3/25) – The gorgeous, the active, and the unique. Tell us your favorite dog breed.

Week 6 (3/26-4/1) – Favorite Dog/Pet Stores in your area.

Week 7 (4/2-4/8) – Favorite dog parks and dog-friendly attractions in your area.

Week 8 (4/9-4/15) – If I had a dream… What would you do for rescue dogs if you could?

For this week's theme, I have two choices, one local to my area and one not. 

First, I want to recognize SAAP, the Stray Animal Adoption Program. Located in Newport, Kentucky, SAAP works tirelessly to adopt out the animals under their care. They don't have a shelter, so all of the animals up for adoption are fostered in homes. The group is solely volunteer-run, and they've adopted out hundreds of animals since the program's founding in 1998.

I have a lot of respect for SAAP and the people who run it. Unfortunately, I haven't participated in a volunteer capacity yet, but I've met a lot of the people who run the adoptions at PetSmart, and they're some of the nicest, sweetest people who adore the animals they're trying to adopt out. Whenever I go out there on adoption weekends, I'm always astounded by how much care and attention they give to the animals. They're also incredibly knowledgeable about them and are more than willing to answer any questions and handle any concerns. I really, really love this group.

My second group is the Best Friends Animal Society located in Kanab, Utah. I've adored this organization since I first watched the show Dogtown on NatGeo. They take in all kinds of animals--dogs, cats, horses, lizards, parrots, wild animals (which they rehabilitate and re-release). What I love most about BFAS isn't that it's a no-kill refuge. It's that they hire people who take time to work with animals I've seen put to sleep on other animal shows (Animal Cops, especially). They'll work with aggressive animals, get to the root of the problem, and either help the animal become adoptable, or they keep it for the rest of its life. I've never seen a dog put down due to aggression--only terminal illness. If only every organization could do that...

Well, those are my picks. As our Wk 1 continues don’t forget to comment here or on any of our blog participants' posts to enter our drawing for the book PRINCIPLE DESTINY by David A. Cleinman or a chance to win a $15 Starbucks gift card! Thank you for your support and your time!