Pet Friendly Pharmacies

We caught this on msn Money today and being as it's Monday and we're having computer problems, we decided to grab this article and use it as today's post.

Prescription pet meds were once mostly available only through veterinarians, with a markup of up to 100%, Bob Fountain of Fountain Agricounsel told the Houston Chronicle. The entry of retailers such as Kroger into the pet meds business, as well as a growing online market, is a significant change in the industry. Kroger, Target and others even offer many pet meds at $4 for a 30 day supply! Find out more here.

Here's another article that gives you ways to save on pet meds!

Dog Gone Genetics...

Did you know these two are closely related?

As many of you know, I am a former MUTT. When my female human had my DNA done a few years ago, they said I was so far in the mix that not one breed stood out. They saw traces of Akita, Chow Chow, Poodle and ShihTzu. In person most humans think I'm a Terrier of some sort. In fact several actually asked if I'm a Giant Westie! BOL! The DNA people didn't see any Terrier! Huh? WTD (What the dog)? So that's why I'm a former mutt. Mom and I created the first all encompassing breed for mutts. I am a part of a breed!  I'm a GenChan®! That's short for the genetically challenged dog and I certainly am !

So I saw this article on NPR and it pretty much amazed me. It says that us dogs, like the two in the photo, are not far apart genetically at all. Us dogs were all created from a very few dogs from waaaaay back when.  Well whoever they were let's toast to our ancestors big or small with good or bad breath! BOL!

While you're here reading, make sure you are entered into my monthly contest to win an UpCountry Collar or Lead of your choice! Just go to the top of my blog and enter your email address.

What do LOST Dogs, QR Codes and Happy Pawrents have in common? LOTS!

While watching my favorite TV channel, Animal Planet, awhile back I was double doggy surprised to learn that, of the 6 to 8 Million animals that enter a shelter, only 12% of us Mutts and Purebreds make it out (and only 1% of cats… glad I am not one of those fluffy critters). The story got even worse, 50% of my friends who don’t bust out of the joint are euthanized. Now, that’s a big human word that means, “Go to sleep forever.” Now I love a good nap, but I honestly can’t afford to sleep forever, I don't want to miss a chance to hear the fridge open up and run into the kitchen to give puppy eyes to my Mommy. 

So I was so happy to hear the human inside the TV box talking about a cool new way to help keep us Mutts out of the joint.

First off, lets address something most humans just don’t understand; some of us canines really enjoy playing a good game of doggy-hide-in-seek. The truth is, we aren’t trying to upset our furless amigos, but it is just too much fun watching them freak-out and panic when our leashes are empty…  Let’s face it; most two leggers don’t know how to walk themselves.

But back to fixing this troubling pet problem; the human inside the TV box talked about a new company that is using QR codes to reunite pets and humans. According to the tech-mutt who lives next door, “A QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera, and smartphones.” Great, high-tech-doggy tracking without a painful micro chip injection!

Instantly, I began sniffing my way through the web to find this new company, PetHub.com. I learned that not only are these QR codes effective, but they are kind of a cool fashion statement.

Once I get my new QR tag in the mail, I am going to coax my favorite legger into playing a game of hid-in-seek. I can’t wait to scamper off and hide-out for awhile, then find a interesting smelling stranger with a smartphone who I will nudge to scan my collar… you see, by scanning the code my favorite mutt lover will get an email on her cellphone with my GPS location… then she will pick me up and think she won the game (but she’ll never know how I let her win).

My Mommy says that this QR Collar thing is the perfect bridge for the most stressful time humans experience when their doggy gets away. Where are we between the time we escape and when someone picks us up and we can get our micro-chip scanned? The QR collar will get us home faster and calm the pawrents down.

What do you think?

Thinking Out of the Box - Building Cozy Beds for Dog Shelters

I took a rather loooong timeout from my Blog. First it was the holidays, then it was the after holidays, then it was just a dog's life getting in the way. You know 'stuff'! But I'm back with observations on this and that and happy to be here. BOL!

Thinking Out of the Box - Building Cozy Beds for Dog Shelters 

Us Mutts, and dogs in general, are amazing (IMHO), but sometimes we overlook the amazing efforts made by our human friends. My two legged Mommy use to be a Girl Scout and loves to recount her scouting memories and badges. While reading the newspaper the other day, I noticed my Mommy crying and my first canine instinct was to console her and lick the tears away, but I quickly found out that they were tears of happiness (you can tell by how salty they taste).

She read the story to me from the newspaper about how a 16 year old girl, Pamela Myles, from Southern California built and donated 25 dog beds as part of her Girl Scout award project. Well that hit me too; especially when Pamela told the reporter, "I feel like I could give some of my time instead of shopping or sleeping. Then I know (the dogs) will feel better at night ... they will be warm and cozy."

Every night (and a couple of times a day) I drag my paws into my own cozy bed and take a well deserved snooze, but there are many Mutts and Purebreds with no home, except their Animal Shelter, and their bed is a cold concrete floor. Well, because of people like Pamela, a few of my cousins will sleep a little bit better, a little bit warmer and feel a lot more loved in their comfy beds.

So my Mommy and I started sniffing around the internet, how do you make a dog bed? She found something called “YouTube” (makes no sense to me, WhoTube, PawTube, MuttTube) that had a great video by the Columbus Dog Connection on how to build an Elevated Dog Bed. So for this New Year’s, we are going to encourage folks to make and donate a few doggy beds (but, first we need to build one for me… Mutt-research you know). What a neat project that a 16 year old put together. I wonder what else we can do that makes us think out of the box to help shelters more comfortable? 


Wags and puppy kisses, Reba