So before I left for Nicaragua, I wanted to make sure I got my shelter drive-by done and set in honor of our Shelter Appreciation Week Blog Hop. If you missed the post talking about why we are doing it, click here- please consider featuring your own local shelter this week so Blog Paws can make a $2000 donation! Get your posts done this week and then join the Blog Hop! The whole point of the shelter drive by is to keep it simple. Simple is doable and unobtrusive and repeatable. I brought a ... Read more »
Iams
Be the Change with a Shelter Drive By! Small effort, big reward
As many of you have heard, it's National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, though to be fair the news cycle has been dominated by other events. Such is life. As regular readers may remember, I usually end this week with the Blogathon, a 24 hour marathon of posts with prizes and fun, and potentially zombies. But life happens and things evolve, and as it so happens I will be on a plane on Saturday, on my way back to Granada, Nicaragua. I am doing a one week course in Technical Animal Rescue ... Read more »
Disaster Response, Sandy, and Good People
It's been a rough week, right? I think everyone can pretty much agree with that. There has been an awful lot of awful going on. That being said, it's also been an earth-shattering shake-by-the-shoulders to everyone mired in the mud leading up to Tuesday's election that maybe it isn't the only thing in the world that matters. Oh yeah, there's an election tomorrow! I almost forgot. Amazing how quickly things become less important when people's lives are getting washed away on a large ... Read more »
The dog, the barge, and the scars I’m going to have a hard time explaining
Well, we did it. Brody and I survived our first surfing competition. Let me start by saying I never would have dared even show my face there had I not known the local surf dog community previously. They're an accomplished bunch, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and setting world records and getting on Times Square billboards and the like. They are also really good surfers. Next to them, Brody and I with our handful of goes on the board and our lackluster ability, were total rubes. But ... Read more »
Surf and Spokes and Supers
Surf OK, so first things first- yes, we surfed in our first competition and no, we didn't win (the well deserved honors went to the always amazing Surf Dog Ricochet, as it should.) I will be posting about it when I get back later this week and I have the rest of the pictures. I always had a ton of respect for the So Cal Surf Dog group, but after seeing them in action in competition I love them all even more. As busy as everyone was with their own dogs, many of whom were in multiple heats, I saw ... Read more »
Surf Dog Take 2: NO ONE KILL THE POWER AGAIN OK?
A refresher, if you haven't memorized all the details of my life, and I hope you haven't: Last year, Brody was scheduled to surf in the Helen Woodward Surf Dog Surf-a-thon. We had lessons. We had a board. And, of course, we had Evan the Surf Instructor: Who is probably blissfully unaware of his cult status in the pet blogging world. But I digress. At the very same moment we were out practicing our wave technique, someone, somwhere, hit a button they weren't supposed to and some Very ... Read more »
Giveaway: Iams Cat Pack Number 2!
It's time for another Iams Cat Pack Giveaway! Don't forget: cats are your friends. Take care of them and they will take care of you. To refresh your memory, this is what the Iams Cat Care Pack will contain: a bag of Iams cat food cat toys a brain protection device (ie a hat) Info about the Iams Home for the Holidays project, because the only thing better than one cat is two! a comfy cat bed Want to help more? For every badge that gets posted to Facebook this week, Iams ... Read more »
Giveaway: Iams Cat Pack
As we all know, cats are our friends. When the bad stuff goes down, you want a cat on your side. One, they'll warn you when a flesh eater approaches (of course they will. Because if you die, who's going to feed them?) And two, if worse comes to worse, they'll take them out themselves. Cats hate zombies. Haven't you seen Pet Sematary? Bottom line: Keep your cat happy and fed, especially when zombies are about. Because you do NOT want a zombie cat. To help you in this, Iams has donated not ... Read more »
How The Walking Dead made me a better blogger
Have you seen The Walking Dead on AMC yet? It's a horrible show about life after the zombie apocalypse. The undead have taken over, though no one really knows why. In one day, the world has been plunged into chaos, social norms no longer exist, and everyone has reverted to a state of primal survival mode. Every episode, someone is either shot, transformed into a zombie, or messily devoured in a graphic manner. It's the kind of show you have to watch from between your outstretched fingers lest ... Read more »
Like Mike
Remember those "Like Mike" commercials with Michael Jordan? They were cute enough, I suppose, but the idolatry of sports figures never really went over well in my head. Every time I saw that commercial or one like it, I would scratch my head, think about all the people I knew who had done so many more extraordinary things, and wonder how come he gets to be the hero of so many hearts. Now that I have kids, it's even worse. I want them to admire innovators, humanitarians, advocates; scholars ... Read more »
Bits and Pieces
I think I'm ready to leave the continent tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure I'm not. My method of packing usually involves making a meticulous list, ignoring it, and then dumping things into my bag until it's too heavy to lift or I've emptied the closet, whichever comes first. What usually ends up happening is I pack the DEET but forget the toothbrush, and guess which one I end up needing more. That sort of thing. I realized I have no binoculars. I hear they come in handy on safari. My husband ... Read more »
Giveaway Tuesday: Iams Sensitive Naturals and Simple and Natural
Congratulations to our winner, Elena! I hope your pet loves the food! I spend a lot of time reading pet food labels. I usually have to shoo off at least three well meaning but unhelpful store employees every time I'm at the store. Sometimes I'm reading to make sure it's a good choice for Brody and Koa, and sometimes I just pick up a bag of cheapie food to remind myself of the crummy stuff that's out there. I know I'm not alone in this- it seems like every time I go into the store, from a ... Read more »
A look inside a research facility AND a giveaway
One of the main reasons Iams invited a group of pet bloggers to Dayton for Behind the Paw was to show off the Pet Health and Nutrition Center in Lewisburg, Ohio. Before I get into what we saw at the facility, I wanted to give you a little background into the wild and wooly topic of animal research. Background It is obviously a controversial topic. An institution who is going to use animals for research purposes needs to have a clear justification as to the benefit of the research as well as ... Read more »
Behind the Paw: the promised post
So, I asked and you guys answered: yes, you want to hear what Iams has to say about the "Iams Cruelty" PETA video fiasco from 2003. OK. You got it. I had to recruit Brody to sit with me for moral support, though. It became quickly apparent after trying to present it in a coherent manner that the intricacies and nuances of something as complex as animal research protocols are not something that can be presented in one post. So I am going to break it down in a few pieces to make it a little ... Read more »
Behind the Paw: Part Uno
As you all know, last week I spent a couple of days in Dayton, Ohio attending the second Behind the Paw Summit at the invitation of Iams/Eukanuba. When I wasn't leaving computers on buses or throwing gutterballs in a sad attempt to unconvincingly demonstrate my bowling prowess, I actually did learn a lot about the pet food manufacturing process. I'm always a little leery of doing trips like this, because I have two competing agendas when writing about them: mine and theirs. My agenda, of ... Read more »
Home For the Holidays: let’s make some magic!
I despise the week between Christmas and New Years. Why? Because without fail, I see piles upon piles of new holiday pets. Pets from pet stores, whose owners overpaid for them and can then not afford to treat them for the parasites, distemper, or congenital disease they all too often wind up with. It happens every year. In 1999, Mike Arms at The Helen Woodward Animal Center decided to change that. With 14 local shelters, they launched the "Home for the Holidays" campaign to encourage ... Read more »
