Pet Monologues

I recently joined a Denver, Colorado-based online organization known as Blacktie-Colorado. Blacktie is an exceptional and essential venue for non-profits to expand fundraising opportunities, as well as promote and manage their premiere special events.

In my marketing/sales role for Blacktie. I decided to enlist my three-year-old black and white Boxer, Roxy Hart, to go with me to call on potential clients for membership in the organization. I bought her a beautiful formal satin black tie to wear for our marketing campaign and headed downtown to a building housing mostly environmental non-profits. I had heard everyone brings their dog to the office.

Roxy behaved beautifully, having no prep for her ambassador role. While she wouldn’t go into the elevator, she did manage to navigate through narrow doors and five flights of steps up to various offices. Keep in mind, Roxy hates hallways and narrow spaces.

Anyway, we introduced ourselves and left materials on Blacktie for follow up. The only way I’d improve on our presentation is to work a little more with Roxy to sit attentively during our presentation (good luck, I know) and to color coordinate her leash and collar with the formal wear. We’ll see how many memberships we sign up.

Blacktie is rapidly expanding to major cities across the nation. If not yet in yours, contact blacktie-colorado.com and help them make that happen.

Source: Christine Meyer

The HSUS releases list of best and worst state dogfighting laws.

Idaho, Wyoming, Georgia, Nevada and Hawaii ranked worst. New Jersey, Alabama, Colorado, Mississippi and Arizona ranked the best. Read the rest of this entry »

The folks at Very Short List (VSL) give us a plethora of something to think about on a daily basis. We can opt out, but we never will. We read the stuff and now we have an animal story to share.

This is a video recreated by super ad agency Fallon for Cadbury Dairy Milk in the UK. As VSL asks, “What’s a Phil Collins–obsessed, highly expressive gorilla could possibly have to do with a confectionery and beverage company escapes us.”

Let’s see the short flick.

The video transcript:
We open on purple recording studio wall.
A title appears: A Glass and a Half Full Production.
We start listening to the first sounds of ‘In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins. Read the rest of this entry »

Citizens unite against dog fighting.

CHICAGO—According to a press release announcing the formation of Safe, Humane Chicago (a coalition of the city, police, animal rights and community advocates), the educational and monitoring program responds to the high correlation (70%) between animal abuse/dog-fighting and those arrested for violent felonies against people. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a relatively new pet-food product out: an organic yogurt treat for dogs. Let’s unofficially include cats too. After all, we did our research before posting this product. Is it good for people? Probably, in small doses. Talk about bait and switch!

It’s inspired by people food and organic ingredients. The packaging is hip. Somewhere on this blog someone said our pets eat better than we do. In some cases that is absolutely true!

More information on yogurt for your dog and cat:

Good Bacteria: Yogurt and Kefir

One common homeopathic dog nutritional supplement is yogurt. It contains “good” bacteria, which can aid in digestion and help keep your dog’s digestive system clean and functioning optimally. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s better than a soap opera.

Since late March, my neighbors and I have been privy to the continuing saga of the trials and tribulations of a family consisting of papa and mama osprey and their very hungry, very noisy young. There are three of those.

Don’t think it’s easy to keep that growing trio of fledglings fed. It’s not as if the parents get to drive to a fast-food restaurant to pick up burgers and some chicken for supper. On the contrary, a lot of hard work goes into providing enough fish for three growing youngsters, plus the mother who gets to baby-sit while the babies are still defenseless.

It’s been estimated that one juvenile consumes close to 200 pounds during a typical season; multiply that times three and it is apparent the life of an osprey adult is not easy.

Last year an osprey pair nested on a snag farther down the river and although we were able to see some of the action, we were only able to observe them through binoculars. My neighbors, Paul and Phyllis, decided a closer nest would be a good addition to our neighborhood and last year they had an artificial nesting box put on a convenient snag closer to their house on the banks of the South Umpqua River. Read the rest of this entry »

All Austin, TX, dogs could be declared dangerous!

While this is just for Austin, there is a lot of discussion going on today about this issue. Here is a great breakdown from a legal mind: Read the rest of this entry »

Today is National Pet Memorial Day, a day for us to remember all of the beautiful pet friends we have loved and lost.

Unfortunately, when someone loses a pet, they may hear things such as “it was just a dog” …. “go get a new one” … “it’s not like it was a family member that died.”
The thing is, for many of us when we lose a pet, it is indeed a family member that dies…a very loved family member. These wonderful, loved beings are certainly never “just a pet.” This is true whether we are talking about a cat, dog, bird, rabbit, reptile, or some other type of animal.

The grief that comes with that loss can be just as strong as if it were a human family member - sometimes even stronger. With the loss a pet, a very real, very important bond has been severed and like other live changing events, it can be extremely painful. Those who dismiss the grief, simply do not understand the strong bond between people and their pets. It’s a shame too, really…because it means they will never know the depth of love that we experience every day with our pets.

Regardless of what others may say, it is definitely okay to grieve when we lose a beloved pet! And it’s also okay to seek out people who understand the pain and will allow each other to grieve for the pet. There are websites, and other resources for people to turn to when they need help getting through the loss. Many of them have chat rooms or bulletin boards, memorial pages, inspirational reading, and suggestions for books or real life resources in cities throughout the country. These resources allow people to grieve for their pets in their own way.

So, today when we think of the pets we have lost, we can honor each of them by remembering how rich our lives have been because of the bond, the love, and affection that we had with them. And even though there is pain when we lose our beautiful pet friends, we are extremely fortunate to be pet people!

Source: petsitusa.com

Dog-walking can adversely affect wildlife.

Dog-walking leads to over 40 per cent reduction in bird abundance and more than 35 per cent reduction in bird diversity in woodlands, according to a study. Read the rest of this entry »

Mama moose bashes through woman’s door.

(AP) POCATELLO, Idaho Anita Ovard moved to her small home in this town in the western foothills of the Rocky Mountains because she wanted to see more wildlife. Read the rest of this entry »