A Holiday Wish

Tis the season of Christmas and it's our heartfelt wish,
That every dog has a food-laden dish.
And someone to cuddle them and rub their ears,
And give them a home for the rest of their years.
Someone who will praise them and have time to play,
And give them a warm bed on which to lay.
That all dogs have safe yards and a favorite toy,
So neighborhoods will ring with barks of joy.
That no dog will feel lonely or sad with mistrust,
And the rescue shelters will house nothing but dust.
So if you have room, and some love to spare,
Please rescue a dog and give them your care.

Cute Christmas Dog

This was sent to us by eMail this morning, and it's just about one of the cutest holiday dog photos we've ever seen!

The Dog Days of Christmas!

Hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday season so far! We've been busy as usual, putting up the tree and lights and all that goes with it.
Shopping for doggie gifts has been a real challenge this year though, particularly for our Boxer, Jay. He's almost 11 years old now, and has lived a terrifically pampered life, so finding anything new for him for Christmas is almost impossible. He's too old to want to have any interest at all in toys now, so those are out. He already has the best orthopedic dog bed indoors, and a comfortbale lounger for when he wants to sunbathe outside. He has a huge array of warm dog coats, and a plenty of padded collars and harnesses. We have just about every pet travel item that you could use, and his bowls are new. All of our pups get an amply supply of bones and treats in their stockings, but finding that one "special" item just for Jay is the trick.
So it raises a fairly humorous question... "What do you buy for the dog who has everything?"

Dogs Killed in Puerto Rico

We were all outraged last year when we heard the news about China killing thousands of dogs, but now it appears we have an equally appalling story coming from Puerto Rico, a United States territory.
The Associated Press reported that thousands of unwanted animals have been buried alive, thrown off of bridges, and otherwise cruelly killed. Adoptable strays were to supposed to be sent to shelters so that they could find homes, and the others were to be humanely euthanized. However, it appears that the leading private animal control program has opted to massacre them all instead.
The full story can be found here: Puerto Rico Pet Massacres

Several organizations are struggling to help the homeless animals in Puerto Rico receive the loving care that all dogs deserve. One is Save A Sato (http://www.saveasato.org/), and they are not only working to save these animals, but they are also working to motivate people to tell the government officials what they think in order to make permanent changes in how the animals are treated. Click on the link "How to Help" (left menu of their site) and you will find many ways to get involved with their efforts.
Even if you have no money or supplies to donate, if you have a minute of time and feel like speaking your mind, this website gives the addresses of several government officials you can write to, or they have a program where you can simply submit your mailing address to send a post card to the Governor.
Their website has a banner that also says they desperately need supplies to keep their efforts going. They need everything from bath towels and veterinary supplies to Frequent Flyer miles. The list is quite extensive, so it's easy to find some way to help.
If you are currently involved with a U.S. animal shelter or rescue organization, Save A Sato needs stateside shelters to help them find homes for these pets. They emphasize their ability to provide high-demand small breed dogs that are often not available in local shelters here, as well as large breeds. The list of organizations currently helping them find homes for these dogs includes New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and Texas, but they need more.

Another organization who is working to stop the animal suffering is Island Dog Inc. (http://www.islanddog.org/sponseradogcat.html).
One of the unique things we noticed on their site was their "Escort A Pet" program. If you are vacationing in San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, or St. Croix, and have a direct flight into your city, you can help them by escorting a pet. It will not cost you a cent! They transport the pet to the airport and check them in on your plane. Once you land, a person from a stateside shelter will meet you at the airport to take the pet. It's that simple, and what better way to end a memorable vacation than to have the knowledge that you saved a life?

And on that note, I'm off to write a few letters and start gathering supplies!

Millionaire Dog

I read an article a couple of days ago regarding the death of a hotel owner who apparently left her little Maltese dog 12 million dollars in her will! While I can fully understand wanting to set aside some money to be sure your dog is cared for after you are gone, this is ridiculous.
Imagine how much good could have been done if she'd willed even half of that amount to the ASPCA or some other animal welfare organization. Her dog would have still had more than enough set aside for it's care, and countless other animals could have been saved.
What in the world was she thinking?

Real Estate and the Dogs

Along with many people in Florida now, we are busy house hunting. To be blunt, we are being taxed out of our own home, so it's necessary to find another that's more affordable tax-wise. What has me amused is that our arguments for/against each new home we look at has very little to do with our needs, and everything to do with what our dogs need! We were looking at the first round of home's listing sheets last night when I realized this. The one with the gorgeous retro kitchen was vetoed because it didn't have enough yard for the dogs to play in. The one with the prettiest view was tossed because there wasn't enough open floor space in the kitchen to put all of the dog bowls, and it had stairs that might be difficult for our littlest dogs. We decided against the one with the best location because it didn't have an extra bedroom for the dogs (and our pups are used to having their own play room).
So I guess at this point it would be more accurate to say that we are house hunting... for our dogs!
Maybe we are totally crazy, but for us there is very little difference between planning for children and planning for the dogs. How about you? If you were looking for a home, how much weight would your dogs' needs carry when you made your decision?

Dog or Squirrel... Which is Nuttier?

Ok, ever since we got her, Francis has had a real issue with chasing squirrels, which we have been trying to teach her NOT to do. We have taught her a "LEAVE IT" command, which is generally successful in making her leave all sorts of things alone and go find something else to do.
However, our brilliant dog has obviously found a loophole in the command. This weekend she decided to show mommy that in dog logic "Leave It" does not mean that you can't get as close as possible to an object and STARE at it.
Notice the squirrel to the left side of the photo? Both dog and critter were frozen in that same position for over 10 minutes... just staring. I was doing some yard work and had noticed that she was staring at something (and had been for a long time), but my eyes didn't pick out the squirrel in the scene until hubby came out on the porch with his camera.
I can't decide if this new situation is better than having a dog that chases squirrels or not? (lol).

Free Dog House Plan for Summer

Everyone knows that dogs who spend a lot of time outdoors need to have some kind of shelter, and we found a website that gives terrific free instructions for building a dog shelter that would be perfect for the summer months. It has a unique A-frame design that is open and airy enough for warm weather, yet it would provide good protection from the sun and rain.
If you're handy with a hammer and saw and are interested in making your dog an attractive summer shelter, check it out: Harry & Sal's Dog House

Respect Pet Friendly Hotels

Like many dog owners, we never take any vacation trips to destinations where our dogs are not welcome, and during a recent trip, we had the honor of staying at a VERY pet-friendly hotel (even their beach was pet friendly!). The owner complimented us on our dogs' good behavior, which then led to a discussion about how challenging it can be for hotels/motels to let pets stay.
He told us about two area hotels that had recently stopped allowing pets, and this got me thinking that maybe some owners weren't aware of what it takes to keep our pet-friendly hotels "friendly".
After passing what we had learned along to a friend, he wrote an informative article for our website which you can find here: Tips for Staying in a Hotel with Your Dog.

Free Dog Printables

With the introduction of our new website, we opened up a dog-related "printables" section. We are still working on more ideas for it, but currently you can find dog recipe cards, a pet sitter's information sheet, and a handy printable card that you can use to keep a record of your dog's measurements (for when you are shopping for dog clothes).
If there is something in particular that you are looking for or if you have something that you would like to share on the printables page, just let us know.

Meet Marty!

This is Marty, the newest addition to the Puppycoat Junction family. She's a rescue pup (of course!) and has a great little personality.

For some reason, she likes to walk around on her hind legs a lot, and it's hilarious. She also like to stand on the window sills, so it looks like we have some sort of strange cat in the window!

A Nursing Home for Dogs

Recently, Japan has announced that they are opening the first dog nursing home complete with round-the-clock veterinary care and puppies to play with the elderly dogs. Owners will pay around $800 a month to keep their pets there.

While we can only assume that dog nursing homes will become a trend that will eventually reach the U.S., I have to wonder how many of us will actually use them?

On one hand, I can see how owners whose pets have advanced illnesses may want or actually need the nursing home option for their dogs.
But on the other hand I personally can't imagine ever trusting the care of my own elderly dogs to strangers, and it seems that monthly fee would be beyond the reach of the average dog owner anyway.

What about you? Would you put your elderly dog in a nursing home?

World's Biggest Dog

I got this email yesterday with this photo of a massive dog and all I could think of was WOW! It's a beautiful animal, and the accompanying text said that his name was "Hercules" and that he was in the Guinness Book as being the world's largest dog.
Ok, so I fell for it, "hook, line and sinker" as they say (lol). According to this article though, the photograph is a hoax, but they do go on to tell about the pets who have the honor of being the *real* world's tallest and heaviest dogs.

So I'm gullible. But you do have to admit that the person who created this was *very* good with their photo editing software!

A Sad Announcement

To all our readers, please know that we are trying hard to get back into "the swing of things" and keep up the blog and such, but you have no idea how very hard it is at this time.

For those of you who didn't know, our beloved Mini Pinscher, Lance, died last week from kidney failure. We had spent the weekend vacationing on the beach and noticed that he just wanted to cuddle the whole time instead of exploring like he usually does. So we packed up early and took him home to our vet. We were shocked to hear that his kidneys were shutting down then. There had been so many health scares with our two elderly dogs, Jay and Mia, that we never even considered losing Lance. His condition deterioriated rapidly, and two days later he was gone. He was such a good little dog, and we miss him terribly. I'm going to go have (another) cry now, but I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who have eMailed us with your love and condolences. It means a lot to us.

Free Dog T-Shirt from Pedigree

Pedigree dog foods are well-known for donating a portion of every sale to help homeless dogs,
and now they're offering a nifty "Dogs Rule" T-shirt to pet owners!

http://www.pedigree.com/dogadoption/freetshirt.asp

It's a mail-in offer, and it does require some UPC codes for proof-of-purchase, but shipping and the shirt itself are free. The UPC requirements apply to their dog treats as well, for those who do not use their foods.

Your Trash Can Help Save a Dog's Life

Save your old empty ink jet and laser printer cartriages and they can be recycled to earn cash that can save an animal's life. Noah's Wish is an animal welfare organization that goes to great lengths to keep animals alive during major disasters, but they do need our help to ensure their ongoing efforts.

While cash donations are always appreciated, this recycling program is one of the ways that everyone can help, no matter what the family budget looks like.
Donaters don't even have to pay for postage, as a free UPS shipping label for the cartriages and phones will be provided.
To learn more about the program, visit the Ink Cartriage Program page.

While you're on the site you may want to look around and read about some of the amazing things that Noah's Wish has done to aid animals involved in some of our country's worst disasters, including Hurricane Katrina and the more recent Merced California flood.

How did you name your dog?

I ran across a 'Net post the other day about someone who had bet $20 on the Kentucky Derby one year and, after winning the bet (on a long shot), they used the money to buy a dog... Thus they named it "Derby".
Then, a couple of days later I met a woman in PetsMart who had an Peekapoo puppy, which she called "Pikachu." She said her kids were crazy about the cartoon and she liked the way the names rhymed.
In our business we run across a huge variety of dog names, but these two really tweaked my curiosity about how other owners name their pups.

For us, Jay, Lance, and Princess Francis were all named by their previous owners and/or rescue center (though we do refer to Princess as "Hurricane Francis" from time to time!), and we didn't want to confuse them by changing their names. Mia didn't respond to any name when we got her from her abused situation, and we literally spent 2 days calling out female dog and human names to her until we found one that made her wag... she chose her own name.

So how did your dog get his or her name?

A Kid & Dog-Related Rant

Ok, none of us here are generally prone to rants, but this was just too much. Yesterday we had a strange young man come to our backyard fence and begin smacking it with a stick, teasing and barking at our youngest Boxer, Francis. When she went towards the fence, he starting poking the stick through it, trying to hit her. The weirdest part (besides the fact that he was bold enough to come into the yard like that), was that we were sitting right there on the patio! I told him to knock it off and go home, and his reply was basically something you can't repeat on family-oriented websites. He did leave though (after telling us he'll mess with our dogs any time he pleases), so I just chalked it up to poor parenting and kid stupidity.
Then he came back today.
I put Francis in the house as soon as he started his routine, so he then chose to ride his bike back and forth on the road yelling cuss words and "where's your dog, lady?"
I don't know what the kid's malfunction is, but this is a really quiet neighborhood where anything unusual attracts a lot of attention, so the next door neighbor called the sheriff out. He took the kid (who turned out to be 14 years old!) home in handcuffs, and told us that if he came back they would arrest him for tresspassing, harrassment, and a few other things if we would press charges. You bet your britches I will!
I'm truly boggled at why a kid of that age would think such a thing was amusing, and even further boggled by what sort of parents raised a kid to act so rotten!
And folks say that *Dogs* should be on leashes? Hmmm..

A Quick Thank You...

Kyle, thanks a bunch for all your help in restoring the blog! {{{hugs}}}

Dog Blog Mess

Ok, if you come to the blog and it looks crazy (weird colors, fonts, etc.) then it's not your computer or anything. We just changed blog software versions and we're having some problems getting the old template to work correctly. We're also trying a few new things. Do any of our readers happen to be a blog template guru?