Have you seen the new dog throws. They are genuine sheepskin and are easy to care for and your dog will love them. Come see them www.handcrafteddogcollars.com.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Soldier wins battle to bring stray puppy Smudge back from Afghanistan
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:40 AM on 26th September 2009
A British army soldier was so smitten with a puppy he befriended in Afghanistan that he has spent a year bringing her home with him.
The young pup named Smudge was born to a stray pack of dogs that roamed around Corporal Ashley Phillips’ camp in Helmand Province.
The 22-year-old was won over by the mongrel as her tongue was always poking out of her mouth because it was too big.
Best friends: Corporal Ashley Phillips with Smudge at her new home in Britain
Corporal Phillips, a medic with the Royal Army Medical Corps, decided he wanted to have her as a pet and started a year long process to have her flown to Britain.
Smudge has spent the last six months in quarantine at kennels in Surrey and Corporal Phillips today completed her incredible journey by taking her home for the first time.
The one-year-old dog, who has a white coat with a brown patch over one eye, is being looked after by Corporal Phillips, his fiancee Emma Kirk and his mother Nicky Phillips at their home in Bournemouth, Dorset.
The soldier said: ‘She looks really fit and healthy and seems to love her new home. It’s great to have her here after a year of waiting.
‘She was quite skinny when she first arrived in the UK in February but has put on a lot of weight and has a really healthy coat.
‘Hopefully she will like living here and will become one of the family.’
Smudge was one of a litter on nine stray puppies who was set for a life on the streets.
In Afghanistan, dogs which are no good for fighting are just left to look after themselves.
Corporal Phillips said: ‘I have been out on three tours to Afghanistan and the last time I was there was when I met Smudge.
Smitten: Corporal Phillips loves Smudge because her tongue always hangs out
‘She was the smallest one of the litter and her tongue was too big for her mouth so it always hanged out and looked like she was poking her tongue out at you.
‘I gave her a name and looked after her and when I had to come home two months later last November I vowed to bring her back with me.
‘I found out there was a charity that did that sort of thing and they arranged for Smudge to fly over.
‘She arrived earlier this year and has spent six months in quarantine.
‘I visited her three times while she was there and she has gone from strength to strength.
‘She is a very mellow and loving dog, quite chilled out. She would have been no good as a fighting dog.
‘She is getting quite big and although I was told she was a collie-cross, I think she’s too big for that. Perhaps there’s a bit of Afghan hound in her.’
He said Smudge will be able to run free in the Dorset countryside behind her new home.
Corporal Phillips will this weekend carry out a 30-mile bike ride and five mile run to raise money for the charity Nowzad Dogs, which helped bring Smudge a better life.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
This is a great organization. Please check them out.
Pilots N Paws: http://www.pilotsnpaws.org/
Pilots N Paws: http://www.pilotsnpaws.org/
TAMPA, Fla. — Lady Di is a lovely purebred collie with a pleasant disposition, just like lots of other dogs dumped at shelters in areas that lack anywhere near enough would-be owners. Unlike all but a lucky few of those animals, she got a plane ride away from death row.
Along with one of her sick, emaciated pups, Lady Di recently was brought to a shelter in the central Alabama interstate town of Clanton by a man who first tried to give her away in a Walmart parking lot.
The small shelter north of Montgomery was already heaving; healthy dogs and cats are euthanized by the hundreds every week because there's just no more room.
Shelter workers knew the collies stood a better chance somewhere else.
That's when Lady Di met private pilot Jeff Bennett, a volunteer with Pilots N Paws, a group that moves pets from overwhelmed shelters to communities, often ones with higher median income, where they'll stand a better chance of adoption. The pilots donate their time, planes and fuel.
This week, Pilots N Paws is seeking to transport 5,000 animals to safety in a flurry of flights designed to raise awareness of the charity and draw attention to the importance of spaying and neutering.
Bennett, 50, is a retired Florida Keys businessman with a soft spot for homeless dogs. He's got a Cirrus SR22, a zippy little four-seat plane, and is always looking for an excuse to get above the clouds.
So he flew to Montgomery recently to bring the collies and a dozen other dogs and puppies back to Florida, where rescue groups stood ready to take them in until homes could be found.
The "mission," as Bennett calls his rescue flights, brought the number of animals he's transported for Pilots N Paws to 124 — including snakes, lizards, a chicken and a potbellied pig — since signing on with the charity about a year ago.
"It's a great feeling to know that you're saving some animals and hopefully finding some good homes for them," says Bennett, noting the millions of dogs and cats euthanized in U.S. shelters each year. "What I'm doing is pretty small, but you can only do what you can."
Pilots N Paws got its start in February 2008. A Knoxville, Tenn., pilot named Jon Wehrenberg had offered to fly his friend, Debi Boies, from her home near Greenville, S.C., down to Florida to pick up a Doberman pinscher she wanted to adopt from a rescue group. Wehrenberg asked Boies if there would be a regular need for such a thing.
"I said, 'Oh Jon, you have no idea,'" Boies recalls. Rescue groups have long moved animals from high-kill shelters around the country, she told him, but it usually involves long, exhausting car trips.
The Web site for Pilots N Paws now serves as a forum where shelters and rescue groups can hook up with pilots. Boies says more than 680 pilots have already transported thousands of animals all over the country. Many were plucked from death row at overpopulated, high-kill shelters in Southern states, where people are less likely to sterilize their animals.
"A rescue animal that's had a living hell for a life and now has a warm and loving home, they look at you differently," Boies says. "It's just hard to explain."
On Bennett's recent two-hour flight from Montgomery to Tampa, he carried Lady Di and her pup, plus nine squirmy Lab-mix puppies, a red mix-breed called BBQ, a terrier-mix named Roscoe and a female mutt so pregnant she looked as if she might explode any minute. Fourteen dogs in six crates stacked into a cargo area no bigger than the back of a Honda Civic.
The droning of the plane's engine seemed to subdue the dogs, but the puppies made sure the air in the cockpit was pungent. Blasts from a can of air freshener provided temporary relief.
"They're a little anxious to start, but once you fire up the engine and start taxiing, a lot of times they settle down," he says. "Most of them go to sleep during the flight, and when you start descending it's almost like they know what's going on and they start waking up and making a little bit of noise."
In Tampa, volunteers with four different rescue groups were waiting.
The nine pups went to Mid-Florida Retriever Rescue. Last weekend, they met potential new owners at an adoption event at an Orlando pet store. BBQ and Roscoe went to The Humane Society of Sarasota County, where BBQ was adopted Thursday by a family whose dog had died recently.
The pregnant female, who was named Summer, was taken by a Saving Animals From Euthanasia chapter north of Tampa.
Lady Di and her pup got a ride to a foster home north of Orlando, where the younger dog is being treated for malnutrition and kennel cough. Lady Di, though, is energetic, housebroken and is being taught some basic commands. Gisele Veilleux, who is caring for the collies, says people have already applied to adopt her.
"She was sweet but didn't have much personality," Veilleux says of the dog, which she guesses is about a year old and was bred for profit in her first heat. "I don't think she's had that much human contact. She had no joy in her eyes. She's getting that joy now."
Just Say No to Dog Racing
Nine States in the U.S. Still Exploit Greyhounds
Friday, July 24, 2009
In the 1890s, greyhound races were a popular pastime in Los Angeles. More than 2,000 spectators would watch as the dogs chased a terrified, live jackrabbit around a 40-acre fenced-in field. In addition to the dogs that were consistently injured during the race, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times at that time, if the rabbit wasn’t dead by the end of the race, someone killed it by stomping on its skull. Thankfully, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals stepped in and by 1899 the races were declared illegal under state law.
Today greyhound racing still occurs in the U.S., albeit without the live jackrabbit. The greyhound rescue group GREY2K USA claims there are currently nine states that operate greyhound tracks: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Rhode Island, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The state of Florida is the worst offender with 13 tracks for greyhound racing. This coming weekend is International Greyhound Memorial Weekend, and should be used as a time to educate others about the cruelty of the greyhound racing industry.
Similar to horse racing and the Iditarod, greyhound racing is an industry that exists solely for the entertainment of humans, at the expense of animals. Tens of thousands of greyhounds are bred annually in an attempt to create the fastest dogs. They are then “culled” if they are determined unable to become fast runners. According to the Humane Society of the United States, in 2003 alone, an estimated 5,000 greyhounds were euthanized simply because they couldn’t run fast enough.
While the fastest greyhounds escape being put to sleep, they are destined to a life of continuous suffering. At the track, they are confined to small cages, stacked in warehouse style kennels, with barely enough room to stand up and turn around. During races, they can suffer from traumatic injuries including broken legs, cardiac arrest, spinal cord paralysis, and/or broken necks. In 2008, there were over 450 reported injuries at the Phoenix track, according to GREY2K USA. The injuries ranged from minor sprains to career-ending wounds, such as a broken leg. Twenty-five dogs died or were put to death because of their injuries.
During their racing career, greyhounds typically have little human contact. One member of the Connecticut Greyhound Adoption Group stated: “There is no other dog out there that has been through what a retired greyhound has been through. They don’t know what being a pet is all about. They don’t know how to use stairs; they’ve never seen windows; they’re not used to being petted; they’re used to having a job. It’s like having a puppy that’s full-grown.” Personally, I have witnessed greyhounds that have had a hard time learning to “sit”; they were trained so hard to race, that they never learned to relax.
Aside from cruelty to greyhounds, many members of the greyhound racing industry engage in cruelty to smaller animals. Some believe that training dogs with live animals, such as rabbits and guinea pigs, allow them to run faster during competition. GREY2K USA reports: “In 2002, a greyhound breeder and owner had his state license suspended after he was caught using domestic rabbits to train his dogs. At least 180 rabbits were found at his kennel in rural Arizona.”
Thankfully, as awareness to the plight of greyhounds increases, groups have come to the rescue to help adopt retired greyhounds into loving homes. There’s the National Greyhound Adoption Program, Greyhound Rescue and Adoption, USA Defenders of Greyhounds, and many more.
However, adoption is only one piece of the puzzle. Like any other breed of dog, greyhounds should be protected. Dog racing needs to be outlawed nationwide to prevent the suffering these poor animals endure.
Here’s what you can do to help:
• Don’t attend greyhound races or bet on dog racing; encourage others to do the same.
• If you live in one of the nine states that operate greyhound tracks, write to your state officials to let them know you oppose greyhound racing.
• Consider adopting a retired greyhound.
• Celebrate International Greyhound Memorial Weekend by helping educate others about greyhound racing. Together we can all make a difference in the lives of animals.Lisa writes articles for the Santa Barbara Indenpendent.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Hello
I have started this blog so all the wonderful people that I have met through HCDC. We all have such wonderful stories and pictures of why we love our dogs. I decided it would be fun to share with others. Please feel free to post and please tell your friends - dog lovers and possibly if they exist non-dog lovers about the blog. If you have an event that you would like to tell us about or a competition post it here.
Enjoy!
Bob
Enjoy!
Bob
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
