Thank you for the kind words yesterday. I'm taking today to reflect and regroup, but fortunately I have a wonderful guest post from Dr. Sarah from Friends of Humane Society de Tijuana to share with you today. It is a beautiful reminder to honor all creatures great and small. See you tomorrow. As we traveled down into Tijuana two Sundays ago, I knew I had another long day in front of me. We were coming to see Sr. Juanito, a very humble man near the age of 90 years old who rescues street ... Read more »
Archives for September 2010
Be The Change
LAPW: Spotlight on the oldsters
I have a soft spot for senior pets, if you couldn't tell. I love their deliberate steps (assuming it's not a reflection of undertreated arthritis!), their thoughtful glances, their calmness. Being a senior pet is to have mastered the art of good pet-dom: I am your faithful companion and I no longer feel the need to eat your shoes. I'm featuring my favorite rescue today, Retrievers and Friends of Southern California. As the folks from whom I adopted both Emmett and Koa, they have a special ... Read more »
Seriously Adoptable: Thursday Roundup
Watching everyone's posts from the Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet Week challenge has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had to date. The sheer number and diversity of the stories coming from all corners of the pet loving world have been an unexpected delight. The overarching sentiment running through every post? Hope. Hope that a post about a specific pet might touch the right person, or a discussion on a specific condition might cause a person to think twice the next time they are ... Read more »
I had a dog
His name was Nuke. It was short for "Nuclear", on behalf of the UC Davis Department of Radiology who used him on a weekly basis to teach the vet students how to take radiographs. When word got out my sophomore year of school that I was looking for a dog, my friend Dan pulled me aside and told me about this awesome dog he heard about from the head radiology technician, Barb. "Nuke is so great," she said before taking me to meet him. "He's a 10 year old coonhound, and we all just adore ... Read more »
Adopt a Seriously Adoptable Pet: Black Dog Syndrome
When Brody needed a friend, I went to the rescue site where I was so fortunate to find Emmett, hoping to get so lucky yet again. I wanted an older, female Golden retriever to balance out Brody's nutso-ness. The retriever rescue was low on Goldens at that particular time, but they had several older labradors in need of homes. All of them were black. One in particular, a white-muzzled girl with a Rubenesque frame and two quizzical brown eyes just a stitch too close together, seemed to leap out ... Read more »
Adopt a Seriously Adoptable Pet Week starts now!
Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet Week kicks off today! I'm really excited to see how everyone will help get the word out about these marvelous pets waiting to find a home. I am working on some posts for this week about my own two ahem "less adoptables", senior black lab Koa and "bad luck" black cat Apollo, but in the meantime I wanted to remind everyone of how easy it is to participate if you find yourself stymied for posting options: The Facebook Challenge Page has a downloadable template blog ... Read more »
Be the Change Challenge: Adopt a Seriously Adoptable Pet Week
Marketing: The art of making someone want what you have. An old table I couldn't give away on Freecycle becomes a one-of-a-kind rare antique on Craigslist. Suddenly the eyesore I was going to have to pay to get rid of becomes a hot ticket item with 10 inquiries. Of course no one is going to want something if you make it clear from the outset that it's un-wantable. Well, I guess if you can't afford real furniture, maybe you'd like my handoffs... Which leads me to next week's Be the ... Read more »
I am the change: BlogPaws West Part 2
I just posted two really kind of depressing posts, didn't I? Well, how about we lighten it up a little with a continuing recap of the BlogPaws event. The mood brightened considerably after the morning keynote. After that experience, I slunk into the next session with notebook at the ready. First was "Building your Brand and Platform Through Blogging" with Michele Miller of WonderBranding and pet lifestyle expert Charlotte Reed. They were great. I took notes about funneling and branding to ... Read more »
Rules of Engagement: Sit in the back
I'm back from my second BlogPaws conference, exhausted but happy at the prospect of yet another fantastic success. I think everyone had a wonderful time (Kate's attempt to sneak a bottle of wine into the Saturday event and subsequently getting busted by a beverage services manager who takes his job EXTREMELY seriously notwithstanding.) To do the conference justice in one post would be impossible. To do it in three or four would still be paltry. However, if for no reason other than I promised ... Read more »