Have you SEEN THIS DOG?

A family pet from Marysville, WA is missing their dog that was stolen. The complete abduction was caught on video tape. If you know of anyone in that part of the country please forward this post.

The dog was dragged over an electrified fence with the collar still attached and you can hear him howling in pain.  Please do what you can do to post this everywhere you can. This woman needs to be caught and suffer the long arm of justice!

View entire story here.

Group brings pets home from overseas

I guess one could say why bring pets into the USA from overseas when we have so so many pets in shelters already who need rescuing. There is an argument on both sides and this story about a Delaware organization that brings dogs to the US to reunite with the soldiers they worked with makes sense of many levels. The bond the soldiers form with the dogs is special. Many of the stray dogs coming to the States have saved lives on numerous occasions according to the article. The pets make the transition from war to home much easier for the soldiers.  Good story to read and perhaps encourage someone in your town to start an Overseas Puppy Rescue.

Social networking among complete strangers saves dog

One of the most extraordinary changes in animal rescue has occurred since the advent of social networking. These days, entire rescues are sometimes performed via Facebook and email. One such rescue occurred in Ohio over the past nine months. It was carried out by a group of complete strangers from all over Ohio.
An Akron U student lived in an apartment next door to a man who kept a cocker spaniel chained to a dog house in his yard. The student was concerned because although the dog was being fed, she had poor shelter from the weather, and seemed to be in pretty bad shape. Mostly blind and mostly deaf, the little Cocker didn’t even have a name!  This article by 

Ariel Wulff

, Cleveland Pets Examiner shows us the power of people, united by rescuing pets, to give this dog another life.  Truly heartwarming.

Guest Blogger - Linda Messina, Reba's mom.

I was at the dentist today mid afternoon. I knew it was going to rain but we have big awnings surrounding our porch so I left Reba on the porch with the gates up (moveable gates). A huge storm came in and I observed it as I sat in the Dentist chair. Huge winds, driving rain, black skies, not expected at that level. After the DDS finished with my teeth and my Dad's teeth and $660 later I drove the ½ mile back to the beach house to see if any rain came in the windows I left open. Long story short, the open windows were the least of my problems. As I drove past the front of the house I saw that the winds had knocked one of the gates down along with a huge gardenia tree on my porch. Bad news b/c Reba will take off and be in Paris, TX in 30 minutes if she has the chance. She's not a street savvy dog and I was concerned. Parked the car, pushed my 93 year old Dad into the house and I started running around and calling her. The driving rains had returned. I walked down the 3 stairs from the porch to the ground and out to the sidewalk calling her name. Then I saw, in my peripheral vision, movement and I looked to the right and there she was walking toward me between the 2 houses from the direction of the alley. She looked like a drowned rat, literally. She hurried toward me, as fast as a 16 year old dog can hurry. Where was she? Where did she go when she bounded off the porch when the gate and tree fell giving her freedom and probably scaring her little self? Did she find shelter and where? Was she scared? What was she thinking? If only we could read our pet’s minds….. sigh.

I'm so happy that she was easy to find and that she's home safe, sound and sleeping like a dog tonight.

I suspect that she was a tad angry because, after a loving welcome back, a warm towel to dry her off and a couple of treats, Reba went into one of the bathrooms and dumped a trash can over strewing trash all over. I LOVE this dog

Drawing WINNERS for June, July, August - Quick Open and see if it's YOU!

And the Winners are: 


June -  laddi1003@earthlink.net
July -   hucklebeary37@hotmail.com
August - Heartprints Pets
Congratulations! Click on the collars and you will link to the UpCountry Inc catalogue. Choose any quick release collar that you would like to have and make sure you choose the correct size for your dog or cat. Send your choice to Reba at rebamjr@yahoo.com by Friday 9/16/11.  Make sure you include your name, address, collar model number and name and size.


For those of you who did not win this time, please be sure you verify that you submitted your email address via the verification email that Feed Burner sent to you. 


Wishing you a barkin' good week!


Reba Messina
Pedigree/Medigree GenChan®


*Monthly drawings are awarded quarterly. Winners must respond to notification of their win within 5 days of notification, or by the date in the notification, in order for their prize choice to be included in the next company order. Drawing prizes sent to addresses within the 48 contiguous states only. Winners cannot win more than three times in one 12 month period. All questions regarding drawing rules should be addressed to customerservice@doggypaddleproducts.com .

Photos of 9/11 Dogs

Truly Wordless

For other photos of 9-11 canine heros click here.

Dogs Surfin' in the USA!

Even though I live at the Ocean half of the year I'm not a surfer dog.  I was born and rescued in Dallas, TX and lived there for 12 years before I found my house on the Jersey Shore.  Too late for me at this stage of dogdom to start surfing but I LOVE DOGS WHO SURF.

And even though it appears Summer is over, eighty brave pooches are taking their doggy paddle one step further when they hit the waves this weekend at the 6th annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon.

Helen Woodward Animal Center will host the largest surfing dog contest in the country, presented by Eukanuba, on September 11, 2011 at Dog Beach in Del Mar, California.

The fun will include costume and stunt competitions as well as vendor booths. But most importantly, as this story details, the dogs will hit the waves to raise awareness and money for orphaned pets while promoting responsible pet ownership.

Located in San Diego, Helen Woodward Animal Center is a unique, private, non-profit organization dedicated to saving the lives of animals and enriching the lives of people. For more than 30 years the no-kill animal center has provided humane care and animal adoption for orphaned animals, as well as animal-centered educational and therapeutic programs for people.

The competition will kick off with a special 9/11 tribute honoring all of the dogs involved in the search and rescue efforts in New York and Washington, D.C. following the events of September 11, 2001. 

For more information about the Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon, click here. And to all of my  BlogPaws friends who enjoyed meeting very special people, especially Mike Arms,  from the Helen Woodward Animal Center at BlogPaws 2011 here's to you.  We love you guys!!!

Cutest Puppy and Dog Video - circa 2007. Smiles Guaranteed

Animal Domestication, Foxes and Me - See for yourself!

Fox or Me?

More than one person has told my Mom that I look like a Fox from the back!  Well, here's a fascinating story from National Geographic. It turns out that some researchers tried to compress 15,000 years of breeding from foxes to dogs in just a few years, and they succeeded. In only nine generations they were able to breed a fox that was friendly to humans.

That's interesting enough, but it gets better. Here's a quote from the story:

Selecting which foxes to breed based solely on how well they got along with humans seemed to alter their physical appearance along with their dispositions. After only nine generations, the researchers recorded fox kits born with floppier ears. Piebald patterns appeared on their coats. By this time the foxes were already whining and wagging their tails in response to a human presence, behaviors never seen in wild foxes.

We just think that's amazing. The only thing they were breeding for was friendliness to humans, and they got floppy ears and coats that were more of a mixture instead of being all uniform.

Fox

Me

So may be there is something to what those researchers came up with.  There's a little fox in all of us MUTTS!  Nothin' wrong with being Foxy right? BOL!  Why don't you send pictures of your foxy tails to  me. I'll post them on my blog and we can vote on the tail that looks most like a fox and the winner will win a new foxy collar from Up Country! The Foxy Tail drawing will run from Sept 3 thru Sept 10th.  Send your Foxy Tails to customerservice@MyGenChan.com.  Photo needs to be taken from the posterior position and be clear. Be sure to include your name and email address so we can contact you!