HERE'S A PETITION - DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR PETS AFTER YOU GIVE THEM UP TO SOMEONE ON CRAIG'S LIST?

http://forcechange.com/26396/protect-craigslist-pets-from-slaughter-by-charging-rehoming-fees/

PHOTOGRAPHER USES TIME AND TALEN TO PHOTOGRAPH/CATALOG AUCTION HORSES IN HOPES OF FINDING THEM HOMES.

http://rockandracehorses.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/a-visit-to-camelot-auction/

What a wonderful endeavor! I'm sure she will tell you how to get involved.

BEFORE YOU GO TO A PET STORE AND BUY THAT PUPPYMILL PUP OR KITTEN WHO IS UNREGISTERED OR CKC, WATCH THIS. YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

I recently visited a new local pet shop. The puppies were "CKC" registered, from local "breeders" and came with health certificates. They were being sold - mixed breeds and pure, for outrageous prices and they didn't look well.

Please visit your local animal control. Take a good look at the states who still gas their animals - a hideously cruel death. If you can, I hope this will inspire you to stop this in your community. Gassing should be outlawed and in its place, the merciful injection.

But until we spay, neuter and adopt our companions from animal controls, this wholesale practice of death will occur every single day.

Just watch this video.

It is Sunday.

Pray.

AFGHAN STRAY ANIMALS - A HAVEN FOR AFGHAN'S UNWANTED DOGS AND CATS

http://www.afghanstrayanimals.org/index.php

You might want to donate.
You might want to help a soldier bring a four-legged buddy home.
You might want to adopt one yourself.

For any or all reasons, you should know this rescue exists.

I was sent an email of a young soldier in Afghanistan yesterday, explaining his buddy/stray was full of fleas and considered a health hazard to the troops in his unit. "Bear" is a beautiful, very thin dog, probably full of parasites as well as fleas. He's been through a lot with the unit. The soldier would like to care for him but resources are few. I suspect, he would like to bring "Bear" home to the US. These strays provide comfort, relaxation, love and sometimes protection to the soldiers or the whole units. They should be rewarded with a home.

I got in touch with an angel-contact at the Humane Society of the United States' offices, and
she put me in touch with the international arm of HSUS, Kelly O'Meara, who in turn, put us in touch with Afghan Stray Animals.

Bless you all!

I hope Bear gets the help he needs, and finds hope and a home through Afghan Stray Animals.

Thank you all at HSUS. You are wonderful!

T-Bone, the Bloodhound

What a great relief! T-Bone's got a home in Texas, and earlier this afternoon I sent an email to the shelter, and got an immediate response - transportation was being arranged.

I don't know if anyone reading this has adopted him; don't know if it was someone on Dogster (by the way, have you seen Dogster.com yet?) or another site that carried his information - but if you are the one - my heartfelt thanks for helping this old man out.

Many blessings for opening your heart to T-Bone.

For downloadable posters in support of pet adoption, click here:

http://muttslikeme.adoptapet.com/get_image/index.html

Why the stigma on black animals?

If you go WAYYYY back in this blog, you will see why black dogs don't get adopted. The same with cats. Sarah, my rescue friend, sent me this:

10. You'll save $$ on their Halloween costumes.
9. You can always find them in the snow.
8. Holding a black cat is very slimming.
7. Black cats will match any decor.
6. A lint brush isn't required for a black-tie affair.
5. When you love a black cat, luck is on your side.
4. Black cats are like onyx, a beautiful gem.
3. Hey, they don't care what color you are!
2. Love knows no color.

And the number one reason to adopt a black cat...

1. They are the least likely to be adopted.

And so it is too, with ravens. Many people hate them. One I rescued, had been raised in captivity, only to be released or escape to the grounds of a hospital. Someone on the maintenance staff was on a piece of heavy equipment, trying to kill the frantic bird. It turned out that "Arthur" who didn't like humans (and no wonder), had clipped wings. He fretted so much that I kept him nextdoor in an empty chicken house with a roomy pen. He would hide when I approached, and this continued for months. Until his wing feathers grew back. He was up and over those chicken wire pen walls and landed in my corral. He stayed for a few days and went on his way.

Do NOT overlook that black dog or cat waiting in the kennel who is waiting for you to adopt him or her. Their hearts are as beautiful and needing love just as yours is. Isn't that why you're considering a companion?

They are really the last to be adopted and the first to be euthanized when their time runs out. Why not make them your first priority?

Thank you, Sarah!

Sunday is Pet Memorial Day

I found out about it from Squidoo, and the site is here. Squidoo is a neat kind of, well, website, I guess. They call it a "lens", easy to make and share with the world. Short bits of info on whatever you want.

http://www.squidoo.com/national-pet-memorial-day

So, on Sunday, I'll walk out to the garden, where there is a collection of stones as I do each day, and think about all the love that is under my feet, and the ashes that were released there.

More joy has been given to me because of those wonderful souls that came into my life than I can tell you. The grief at losing them is the price you pay for the joy of them all. Most of them were rescues. Dogs and cats. Even Muriko, my Moluccan cockatoo was a rescue, as was Mrs. Ricky, a Blue-crowned conure, who came from the trees in the yard, a lost bird in the neighborhood, to come and join Ricky, another of her kind. They lived happily for many years. It wasn't too long after she died, that he died, too. I'm sure it was a combination of age and longing for her.
He had far outlived the norm of 15 years and was well up into his twenties.

And remember those precious ones on death rows in every shelter in the country. One of those innocent animals could fill your life with love and devotion and years of happiness and companionship. You don't need a puppy or a kitten. Adult dogs and cats who have been through the trauma of being placed in a shelter, their lives changed so suddenly, understand the gift they have been given - that second chance. They will pay you back for your kindness every day of their life.

Pictured above is Buffy. I found her on the internet years ago while trying to place two Anatolian Shephers, mother and daughter, in California from here. She was in a high kill shelter in Los Angeles. Two guardian angel rescuers there arranged for her adoption. Barbara had her spayed, and she recuperated with her. Then Buffy was shipped to me via Delta Dash to Panama City.
She's the sweetest girl. Here she is with a haircut.

A poem for the rescuers...

There are seven dogs in residence and three cats.
Blade's owner beat him severely when he was a puppy and I got him through another
rescuer when he was not quite a year old. He is now past middle age and he weighs 145 pounds.
Buffy, a Wheaten Terrier mix was found by trying to place two Anatolian Shepherds from here, though they were in a high kill Los Angeles shelter. I got them adopted, but on the same page was this winsome face with sad eyes. Through contacts on the internet, she was sprung from the shelter, spayed, made her recovery with a new friend in CA and flown here. Delta Dash was the carrier. She made the trip fine.
Australian Shepherd, Holly, was another internet find. Her owners didn't understand Aussies, especially from herding lines, needed room. The fluffy puppy (a Christmas gift) was fitted with a prong collar, which they didn't know how to use, and it accompanied her in the bag of belongings when we picked her up in Georgia. Kept in various crates all day long until she came here, Holly is a stunning blue merle with blue eyes. (I'm a sucker for dogs with blue eyes.)
Bernie was a street urchin, probably part Shih-tzu. A fuzzy wanderer he, (do you believe there is an acre here and he has to be walked on a retractable leash?) and I eventually had to catch him in a live trap on a bitter March night baited with Limburger cheese.
Roxy was a giveaway Boston, and the eldest of the crew at 11. She is in her Mardi Gras costume that was taken off and put away forever. She hated it.
Maggie was a giveaway Boston, a brindle sable, and she is a sweetheart. This is her third home from which she'll never leave.
Sophie, a Boston, was purchased, and she is nearly six months old. There was no alternative - couldn't find a rescue.
Vern is a red tabby who was left behind when the renters across the street vacated. I took him home and he is content to lie on my desk on a folded towel under the lamp, all nice and cozy. Sweet Pea is an ancient Siamese, an older adult when rescued under the same circumstances as Vern. She potters around, deaf, lame, and maybe slightly vision-impaired. But she's not ready to leave any time soon. Dottie was dumped here twice at the gate. I found her a home, and the people dumped her back here. Sophie thinks Dottie's a Boston, too. All are wonderful with the dogs and Sophie and Pea often keep each other warm, cuddled in a basket.
To all the rescuers of dogs, cats, exotic birds, farm animals, we save and rehome on our journey through life - and I've been all of the above - this poem is for you with my heartfelt thanks for easing their pain and suffering and healing the unseen scars.

Here in this house...

I will never know the loneliness I hear in the barks of the other dogs
'out there'.
I can sleep soundly, assured that when I wake my world will not have
changed.
I will never know hunger, or the fear of not knowing if I'll eat.
I will not shiver in the cold, or grow weary from the heat.
I will feel the sun's heat, and the rain's coolness,
and be allowed to smell all that can reach my nose.
My fur will shine, and never be dirty or matted.

Here in this house...
There will be an effort to communicate with me on my level.
I will be talked to and, even if I don't understand,
I can enjoy the warmth of the words.
I will be given a name so that I may know who I am among many.
My name will be used in joy, and I will love the sound of it!

Here in this house...
I will never be a substitute for anything I am not.
I will never be used to improve peoples' images of themselves.
I will be loved because I am who I am, not someone’s idea of who I should
be.
I will never suffer for someone’s anger, impatience, or stupidity.
I will be taught all the things I need to know to be loved by all.
If I do not learn my lessons well, they will look to my teacher for blame.

Here in this house...
I can trust arms that hold, hands that touch...
knowing that, no matter what they do, they do it for the good of me.
If I am ill, I will be doctored.
If scared, I will be calmed.
If sad, I will be cheered.
No matter what I look like, I will be considered beautiful and known to be
of value.
I will never be cast out because I am too old, too ill, too unruly, or not
cute enough.
My life is a responsibility, and not an afterthought.
I will learn that humans can almost, sometimes, be as kind and as fair as
dogs.

Here in this house...
I will belong.
I will be home.

(author unknown)
Please visit your local shelter, browse through the lists at www.petfinder.com, or look up specific breed rescues in your state. I promise you...these animals know somehow that you have rescued them, and they will repay you every day for the rest of your life, with love, good humor, and companionship.