Pet Blog By Bocci @ Bocci's Beefs: 11/1/10

Monday, November 29, 2010

Ho, Ho, Ho! Hartz Holiday Give-A-Way Round #2!

We're really excited about this toy from our friends at Hartz! It's called the "Tuff Stuff Nose Diver" and it's part of their family of tough durable toys that, according to the information provided by Hartz, is "made from ultra-durable ballistic nylon, and designed for serious tugging. The tightly braided cotton rope runs the length of the toy for added maximum durability."

Now, I'm not one for destroying toys, but Parental Unit is very familiar with that problem from 16 years with my predecessor, Carson, and she can't imagine this toy being destroyed, ...or even slightly maimed.

Parental Unit is particularly enamored of the design of the Nose Diver: Besides being really good looking, it's extremely well-made, very lightweight, and we think, perfect for many games of tug-o'-war!

You can check out the Hartz website right here to get the details on all of their toys: www.hartz.com.

By the way, here's a picture of the Nose Diver.

And here's a few more pictures of me playing with my Tuff Stuff Nose Diver that was sent to me as a gift for purposes of this review.

And now I've really got it!

As you recall, we'll be picking three lucky winners to receive the Tuff Stuff Nose Diver. As usual, we make it real easy to enter-that's all you have to do is comment on this post!
But do remember: You have to be an official Follower of this blog and live in either the U.S. or Canada to be eligible to win.

Just leave your comment between now and 5:00 pm EST on Wednesday December 1st. We'll pick three numbers between one and 25 (or however many comments we receive) and circle those numbers on a calendar. Those comments that match the circled numbers are the winners, which we will announce on Wednesday evening.

And... if you enter the contest, please check back to see if you've won. When I announce the winners, I will of course head to the winners' blogs to congratulate you and ask that you send me your snail mail address to pass on to the Hartz representative. But believe it or not, not every blog has room to comment, and not everyone who will comment on this post has a blog!

Thanks and good luck to one and all!

Hartz Toy Give-A-Way Preview

Just letting you all know that later tomorrow afternoon we'll be posting the second Hartz give-a-way!
This time we're giving away three "Tuff Stuff" Nose Divers!!!!

See how cool they are-I love mine!

Please stop back tomorrow and just comment on the post to be eligible to win, and why not tell your friends too?
Thanks so much for your support!

P.S. This toy is pretty much indestructible-it's even "tuff" enough for some of my terrier friends out there:-)

Shocking "Before And After" Photos Of Rescued Toy Poodle!

This amazing "rescued dog" story is brought to you courtesy of Modern Dog Magazine. Please be advised that the photo and the text are not for the faint of heart. It seems that a small dog (unrecognizable as any living creature, let alone a purebred toy poodle) ) was found in a ditch and rescued by "My Heart's Desire", an animal shelter in Louisiana. He was dubbed "Ripley", as in "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!", because of his extraordinary "before and after" tale. In fact the organization, "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!" has even donated funds to the animal shelter and pledged a pet store gift card for Ripley's new adoptive owners.

Check out this compelling story here: www.moderndogmagazine.com/articles/unbelievable-and-after-photos-rescued-dog/14977.

Isn't it amazing what can happen when an animal shelter or rescue group comes together with businesses and members of the community? Lives can be saved and enriched!

Iams Home 4 The Holidays Update!

Here's a quick update on how Iams Home 4 The Holidays pet adoption and meal donation campaigns are going. Since October 1st, this campaign has placed 400,823 orphaned pets in loving homes, and donated 1,501,014 meals to shelter pets in need. Can you believe it?!

Here's another Iams Home 4 The Holiday's Goal: to donate an additional 100,000 meals to shelter animals when their Facebook fans reach 100,000. Well, right now their total Facebook fans are at 87,700. So head on over to: www.facebook.com/iams and become a fan-those extra 100,000 meals are sorely needed.

Just so you know, this year's Iams Home 4 The Holidays campaign runs from October 1, 2010-January 4, 2011. This year's goal is to find forever homes for 1.5 million orphaned pets and provide 5 million bowls of food to shelters in need. In this herculean effort, Iams has partnered with 3500 animal organizations in 21 participating countries around the world.

If you want to learn more about getting involved or how to find a participating shelter in your area (there's still plenty of time!), check out either: www.facebook.com/iams or www.iamshome4theholidays.com.

On this chilly November night, I, for one, am thrilled that I was adopted from our local shelter over 2 and a half years ago...Do I look thrilled?

And Bella is super glad that Parental Unit brought her home from a Walgreens' parking lot over six years ago! Does she look "super glad"?

Please find it in your heart to make at least one orphaned pet as lucky as we are this holiday season.

As always, thanks for your support!

And The Winner Of The First Hartz Giveaway Is....!

We are pleased to announce the three lucky winners of the Hartz Dura Play ball....They are:

Noah, Oskar, and Hound Dog Mom, our newest follower!

Once again, I enlisted the help of our friend to circle 3 numbers on the calendar of his choosing between 1-15. (We originally said that we'd choose a number between 1-25, but since Parental Unit knew there were only 12 comments, she reduced the outside number to 15).

Here's the calendar with winning numbers circled.

So a hearty congratulations to our winners, Noah, Oskar, and Hound Dog Mom!

Many thanks to those who participated! And if you didn't win this time, we have another Hartz give-a-way coming up real soon (probably Monday November 29th), plus two other toy give-a-ways scheduled before the holidays are over-whew!

Parental Unit and I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Still Time To Enter The Hartz Give-A -Way

A gentle reminder on this busy day...you still have time to enter to win a fabulous Hartz Dura Play ball in your choice of sizes!
All you have to do is:
1. Be a Follower of this Blog, and
2. Leave a comment on the previous post, titled: "Ho, Ho, Ho! Holiday Hartz Give-A-Way" by today at 5:00 p.m. EST We've extended the deadline a bit, to allow comments in between food prep :-).

Remember-there will be three winners!

Good Luck to you all!

Ho, Ho, Ho! Holiday Give-A-Way From Hartz!

We're starting the present-giving holidays a little early here at Bocci's Beefs. We're like Oprah-we love to give away a few of our favorite things!
Parental Unit connected with representatives from Hartz at BlogPaws West in Denver a few months ago and was really impressed with their toy selection-in fact, she received a green, Dura Play natural latex ball for me in her swag bag, which I've been playing with, inside and out, since she got back.

Here I am keeping that ball in a safe place.

So the generous folks from Hartz sent me a few toys to try out...and get this: We will give away six toys to six different winners!!!! There are so many toys to give away that we'll do them in two installments: We'll randomly choose three winners from this post (all three will receive the same toy, the Dura Play ball), and we will choose three more winners next Monday, November 29th for the "Tuff Stuff Nose Diver."
As always, we make it easy to enter-just check out the information at the end of this post.

So here we go!

Here I am checking out the three toys that I received.

From L-R: Hartz Dura Play ball (size Medium), Dura Play Football, Hartz "Tuff Stuff Nose Diver"

Just so you all know, we also received a package of Hartz "Crunch and Clean Cat Treats" for you know who. Other than the three toys and the treats, we were not compensated for writing this post.

The two toys we've chosen to give away are the Dura Play Ball (either small or medium) and the Tuff Stuff Nose Diver. Note: For this post we will give away three Dura Play Balls, and will focus only on that toy. We will give away three "Tuff Stuff Nose Divers" next Monday.
(We did not choose the football, although it is great-but it only comes in one size and so might not fit small to medium size dogs.)

Here's a close-up of the Dura Play Ball, size medium.

About Hartz's line of Dura Play Toys: Each toy features their trademarked "Power Play Core" "that enhances durability and provides an unmatched chew experience." They're covered with foam filled latex that Parental Unit and I really love! Each toy is soft and bounces like crazy, which is one of my favorite things to do (who doesn't love to try and catch a bouncing toy?!) And they are suitable for water play because they float! And one last thing: According to Hartz, dogs are not color blind-they have "dichromatic vision which allows them to see only certain colors of the color spectrum", and Hartz says that the vibrant colors of the Dura Play toys are visible to dogs-who knew?
For more information on all of Hartz's toys check out this link: www.hartz.com

So here I am playing with my "blue" Dura Play, funky shaped ball-Oh yeah, I almost forgot: they squeak!!!!! What with their wild bouncing and squeaking, it almost feels like I'm nabbing a squirrel!

This picture is a bit blurry because I'm running to capture it.

Got it!

Ha! Ready for another throw!

Now all you have to do to be eligible to win is to comment on this post sometime before Wednesday, November 24th at 1:00pm. I'll randomly pick three numbers between one and 25 and the comments that match those numbers will win. I'll announce the lucky winners later that day-right when you're all preparing Thanksgiving dinner! Ha!

Note: For at least this drawing, only those living in the U.S. are eligible to win.

Good luck one and all!

A Round-Up Of Holiday Tips For You And Your Pooch

We thought we'd share these excellent tips from several of our favorite dog magazines and rescue organizations to keep your best friend safe, happy, and healthy over this long holiday weekend.

We'll start with this article that focuses on traveling with your dog from our good friends at FIDO Friendly magazine:
dogtime.com/thanksgiving-roads-fido-friendly-bryant-sims.html

And here's some tips from Dog Fancy to make sure your dog has a Happy Thanksgiving:
www.dogchannel.com/dog-news/keep-dogs-safe-on-thanksgiving.aspx?sc_cid=4638717

And finally, here are even more tips to keep your pooch safe over the Thanksgiving holidays, particularly concerning all that rich food, from Found Animals.Org:
www.foundanimals.org/index.php/20101108329/Features/holiday-feasts-are-for-people-not-pets.html

Hope you enjoy this information and find it useful in the coming weeks-I know we did!

P.S. Please check back late tomorrow afternoon-we'll be hosting a very generous toy give-a-way from our friends at Hartz! Lots of fun and great toys guaranteed!

CNN's Piece on Animal Cognition & Interview With Cesar Millan

Since Parental Unit is really "into" embedding videos these days, we thought we'd share with you the piece that aired a few nights ago on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360. First this segment showed Randi Kaye's interview and demonstration with an animal cognition researcher at Duke University.
See that here.

Then John Roberts, who was substituting for Anderson Cooper (Parental Unit insists on adding here that there is NO SUBSTITUTE for Anderson Cooper) interviews our friend The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan. It's a really interesting to hear Millan answer Roberts' line of questions, that unfortunately, were really not directed to the work that Millan does. But Millan graciously reframed each of the questions so that he could answer them in the context of his work.

The other thing that's unfortunate about this clip is that it cut off the last, offbase comment that Robert's made as they were cutting away from the interview: that he really should have "Millan train his dog." Parental Unit cannot resist intruding with her two cents: she thinks Roberts needed to do his homework before he interviewed The Dog Whisperer...:-)

See that interview here too-and tell us what you think!

Tragedy At Arizona Dog Shelter

Even though this story is terribly tragic, it's worth bucking up and reading the full article. It made the front page of today's New York Times, and I'm sure it's already made the rounds on the Internet.

You might recall that earlier this year, Parental Unit shared a Times story that featured the hero military dogs from Afghanistan that were able to return to the U.S. with the soldiers they had bonded with in war. Please revisit that post here: boccibeefs.blogspot.com/2010/09/four-legged-heroes-from-afghanistan.html

Well, there's a tragic end to one of those hero dog's story. Her name is Target, and she was happily living with one of the soldiers who had witnessed her bravery (Target unnerved a suicide bomber and saved the lives of 50 soldiers). That soldier, Sgt. Terry Young, is an army medic and helped treat several of the dogs and soldiers who were wounded in that aborted attack. Target received a hero's welcome when she finally was transported to the U.S., and even appeared on the Oprah show.

Late last week, Target somehow escaped from her yard, but Sgt.Young managed to track her down at the local shelter. He paid the retrieval fee online, but mistakenly thought the shelter was closed for the weekend. When he arrived at the shelter on Monday, he received the horrifying news: just that morning a shelter worker had mistakenly euthanized his beloved Target.
Read the full article here: www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/us/19dog.html?_r=1&ref=us

Now, we all know that this was a terrible mistake, but the real issue we must focus on is the millions of dogs and cats that are needlessly euthanized each year. Do allow us to get on our soapbox for a moment: we must band together to support spay and neuter campaigns, stop "shopping" for our pets at pet stores and with breeders that we can't verify as reputable online (this will help dry up the puppy mill market), support as many shelter and rescue adoption campaigns that we possibly can, and finally, lend our singular support to no-kill rescues and shelters.

Apparently, Target has her own Facebook page, originally set up to chronicle her new life in the U.S., but Parental Unit is having trouble locating the link-we'll pass it on to you all as soon as we locate it. Her Facebook page is now being used to help rally support for the "no-kill" movement. If any of you know the link to Target's Facebook page, please pass it on to us!

As always, thanks for your support!

Oops!!!!! And It's All Parental Unit's Fault!

Well, Parental Unit must admit to not asking The Bark in advance whether they shipped outside of the U.S. The first winner chosen, Priscilla of "The Life of Eva the Sheltie", just happens to live in Malaysia, and while The Bark does distribute its magazine to some markets outside the U.S., Malasyia is not one of them. So...Parental Unit is forced into the cataclysmic decision of choosing a new winner.

She wrestled with how to do so, and decided that at least one fair way was to simply choose the first comment on the post (she realizes that there were a variety of other strategies to choose from, but she had used this one before).

So the new winner is Pip from pipinthegame.blogspot.com/! A hearty congratulations to our winner, Pip!

Just so you know, Parental Unit has already written an e-mail of apology to Priscilla, and will try to send her the book anyway, provided the cost of shipping isn't astronomical.

She also wrote an e-mail to Pip to confirm that he lives in the U.S. -Whew!

We apologize profusely for any inconvenience, and we're already getting such issues straightened out in advance for our next give-a-way.

I'm pooped and have already headed to bed for the evening.

And The Winner Is....!

We're pleased to announce the winner of Photobooth Dogs and a one year subscription to The Bark magazine is... The Life of Eva the Sheltie at www.sheltiebeauties.blogspot.com!
Let's all congratulate our winner!

Here's how The Life of Eva was chosen: I asked my friend to circle a number on the calendar between one and twenty-five (as I said I would do in the original post), and he circled # 7. And by golly, Eva's comment is in the # 7 spot!

We hope you enjoy your book and 6 issues (it's published bi-monthly) of that fabulous magazine, The Bark!
A big thank-you to all who participated, and please stay tuned for more fun give-a-ways coming soon-'tis the season!

The Photobooth Dogs Give-A-Way Ends Soon!

Just a gentle reminder that the fabulous give-a-way package of Cameron Woo's book, Photobooth Dogs, and a one year subscription to The Bark ends at 7:00pm EST tonight.
So just scroll down to the previous post, make a comment, and "presto", you're entered to win!

Good luck to everyone and thanks so much for your support!

We're anxiously waiting to find out who the lucky winner is!

Celebrating "Photobooth Dogs"

We are honored to be a part of the promotion of this gorgeous book, Photobooth Dogs, by Cameron Woo, co-founder, publisher and creative director of The Bark magazine. See details at the end of the post on how you can win an amazing package: This book and a year's subscription to The Bark!

So, how many you have ever been to a photobooth and allowed this really cool machine to capture you in a moment in time, say with your best friend, latest beau, or even your four-legged buddy? Raise your paws and hands!

Mr. Woo, who was kind enough to talk with Parental Unit last week, has long been fascinated with this sub-genre of photography, and in fact, personally collected the 100-plus photographs that appear in the book, from antique dealers, flea markets and online vendors. The magazine also invited its readers and collectors to contribute their photobooth pictures, which turned up a real gem: a 3-frame strip of the photobooth inventor, Anatol Josepho, with his terrier (c.1928), from the International Centre of Photography.

Woo noted that before the appearance of the "Photomaton machine" in 1925, "portraiture in general was something that was thought of for the upper classes", but for the first time in history, mechanical photobooths offered the masses an inexpensive and high-quality method for portraiture. And the result was anything but a stuffy, formal photograph of royalty-think of those photos with your best friend where you're convulsed with laughter!

The collection of photos in Photobooth Dogs are "the recordings of a friendship between a person and a dog...the people look like they're from another time, but the dogs are timeless," Woo says.

Here are just two of the mesmerizing photos that appear in the book.

Bringing the photobooth into the 21st century, there's now an I Phone App that simulates a photobooth, believe it or not. So now you can take a picture with your camera phone of you and your pooch, and it puts you in a photobooth scene-how retro-hip is that?

By the way, for those of you not familiar with The Bark, it's been providing literate, contemplative observations of the modern dog culture and lifestyle since 1997. Their slogan, Dog Is My Co-Pilot, is memorably embraced in each issue, and its articles are written by some of today's best fiction and creative nonfiction writers. In short, it's one fabulous magazine!
Here's the latest cover.

So how do you win this fabulous gift package: A beautiful, hard-bound copy of Photobooth Dogs and a year's subscription to The Bark? Just leave a comment on this post. (You must be an official "Follower" to win!). Parental Unit will pick a number between one and 25 and circle it on her calendar-the lucky person or dog who's comment matches that number is the winner! You have until Wednesday, November 17th at 5:00pm to leave a comment-the winner will be announced that evening.

So good luck to you all, and as always, thanks for your support!

Note: In the spirit of full disclosure, Parental Unit did receive a copy of the book and a year's subscription to The Bark as a thank-you for writing this post-lucky gal!

Let me leave you with one more incredible photo from the book, Photobooth Dogs, available for purchase in Barnes and Noble, Borders, Petsmart, and Anthropologie online. For a limited time, you also can purchase this special combo of the book and a one year subscription to The Bark for just $19.95 right here: www.thebark.com/book.

Coming Later Today...

Please check back later this afternoon for a very special interview and give-a-way! We promise that you'll love it!

Product Review: Ewww Pawsitively Clean™ by Bissell®

Parental Unit and I were thrilled to have the opportunity to try a product by Bissell called: Ewww Pawsitively Clean™ . We were asked by our friends at Dogtime Media to review this one specific product, we were provided with one bottle of Ewww Pawsitively Clean™ by Bissell®, and asked to write an honest review for our readers. We were not compensated in any way, and the opinions herein are only those of Parental Unit and me.

By way of introduction, this is just one product of many in Bissell's arsenal of weapons against pet accidents (Yes, let me confirm, speaking for all of my dog and cat friends out there to all of you Pet Parents: These are accidents! We do not do this on purpose!).

If you'd like to peruse the full list of Bissell's products, check out this link right here:
http://www.pawsitivelycleanpet.com/index.php/product/icky-messes/ewww/
You'll get a kick out of their choice of product names, like Yecch, Dang, Ick, Yikes and others, that really describe the type of accidents you pet parents deal with everyday.

Here's a picture of Ewww Pawsitively Clean™ by Bissell®

Now, you have to understand that there aren't a lot of urine or other accidents of that type in our house, but Bella, the cat and I do spit up now and again. Unfortunately, we usually wait until we get to the upstairs carpeting to do so. Below is a picture of two of Bella's spit-up stains. (Aren't you thrilled that we took a photo of this?)

Anyway, Parental Unit thought she'd better read the directions before she started spraying, and needless to say, they were helpful. First, you must give the container a good shake, then choose whether you want to use a "spray" or a "stream" by turning the nozzle accordingly (we think this is a really good feature-no need to spray far and wide when you have a small, concentrated stain). So for these two small stains, Parental Unit used the "stream" setting.

Then she covered it up with a clean rag and waited 10 minutes. When she returned, the stains were gone, and she wiped the area with a wet cloth to blot up any excess remover.

After the area was dry, she vacuumed, and this is what it looks like now.

Clearly, something worked pretty fast! According to Bissell, it was the "fast acting cleaning and deodorizing agents that started working immediately."
And Parental Unit also gave it what she called the "sniff test", where she bent down to the cleaned carpeting and inhaled deeply. Although she looked ridiculous and wouldn't let me take a picture of her doing this, she was relieved to discover that any odor was gone, including the scent of the product.

One note: Parental Unit is very sensitive to odors of any kind, and she always chooses products that are unscented. So for her, this product might have been a little too heavily perfumed, but she did notice that any scent dissipated both from the air and the carpeting almost immediately.

According to Bissell, Ewww Pawsitively Clean™, "permanently removes organic stains from urine, feces and other accidents and is safe for use on carpets, upholstery, pet beds, litter boxes, or any water safe surface."

To find out where to purchase the full array of Bissell cleaning products, check out this link: http://www.pawsitivelycleanpet.com/where-to-buy/

HOPE Telethon Today!

On this beautiful blog hop Saturday, I'm encouraging you to visit our good friend's blog, Two Little Caveliers where you can read all about today's HOPE Telethon (10:00am-2:00pm Pacific time) to benefit the Helen Woodward Animal Center in San Diego, California. Mike Arms, the director of that Center is credited with saving more animals lives than anyone on the planet! He was one of the keynote speakers at the recent BlogPaws West conference, and in a recent post, I included a video of Mr. Arms discussing the Iams Home 4 The Holidays Adoption Program.
So hop on over to Two Little Caveliers and read all about (and maybe even participate in) this telethon!

Lots more fun stuff (like product reviews and give-a-ways) coming very soon!

Honor Our Human and Canine Veterans

Our friend at rachelsdoggielife.blogspot.com has written a beautiful post to honor our veterans. She also discusses a program headed up by the ASPCA to reunite veterans with the dogs they worked or bonded with while in war zones. And Rachel has promised a very special "give-a-way" too, but you have to visit today! Check out this post and her fabulous blog right here: rachelsdoggielife.blogspot.com

78 Year Old Dog Rescuer Gets Really Mad!

You gotta love this story. If you're a devotee of the CBS News Sunday Morning program like Parental Unit and I are, you might have already seen this segment. But if not, you're bound to enjoy this video taken from the CBS News website.

Here's what you'll see in this approximately 8 minute segment that was broadcast this past Sunday: a 78 year old woman (with a heart condition, no less) got the run-a-round from her local cable company when she was having problems with her phone service. And, well, she simply took matters into her own hands...along with a hammer! What's the connection to dogs, you ask? She and her husband just happen to rescue ederly dogs:-)

I'm guessing that each of us has put up with poor "customer service" at one time or another, but this lovely woman (our new hero!) decided she wasn't going to take it anymore.

What would you do? Let us know!

P.S. Look forward to lots of product reviews and give-a-ways coming up soon and lasting through the holiday season! I know that Parental Unit promised that for the month of October, but we're just getting things arranged, so please excuse the delay.

We're "Stars of the Week" for Found Animals Foundation!

We are thrilled to announce that we were chosen to be one of Found Animals stars of the week!
This amazing organization, based in California, is a privately funded, non-profit organization "dedicated to minimizing shelter euthanasia" through the implementation of a several pronged strategic approach:
__ Sterilization programs
__ Adoption Events
__Dedicated resources for programs like micro chipping, and
__ Outreach and education
They have been tremendously successful since their founding in 2008!

So without further introduction, here's the link to our featured page: www.foundanimals.org/index.php/stars-of-the-week.html
And if you have extra time, we're also featured with additional pictures and video on their Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/foundanimals

We hope you enjoy seeing our pictures and video as much as we did making it! Don't tell Parental Unit I'm advertising this, but she had never shot or uploaded video before, so she was a real pain in the neck to Found Animals incredibly gracious technical staff. Hopefully, they've forgiven her :-)

For more details about Found Animals Foundation, Inc. and to read the super impressive bios of its founders, check out their website here: www.foundanimals.org.

And the great news is that you too can apply to be "stars of the week"! As long as you have a rescued pet, you're eligible to apply-we can hardly wait to see some of our friends there!

Second Annual Worldwide Moment

We'd like to ask everyone to visit our good friend's blog, Two Special Wires , to read all about a wonderful idea called the "Worldwide Moment"- a specific moment in time we all come together to commemorate, think about, pray for, send out good vibes to...all of our beloved pets here and gone. The day and time is: Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 11:00pm GMT. Two Special Wires has all the information you'll need to know to participate, including a calculator to figure out what time this takes place in your time zone.

Please join in to spread the good word!

"They Fetch, They Roll Over, They Aid Tumor Research"

I'd say this information certainly gives new meaning to the words, "man's best friend". Here's an article from the Science Section of The New York Times that talks about an operation that was previously performed only on humans, but is now available to save the lives of dogs stricken with Cushings disease-thanks to the collaboration between a neurosurgeon and veterinarians in Los Angeles. According to the article, "so far, nine dogs and one cat that otherwise would have died have been treated suuccessfully." And it gets even better: because Cushings disease is fairly rare in humans, it's a difficult disease to study, but it occurs much more frequently in dogs. During the operation to remove tumors from the dog's pituitary gland, tissue samples are removed and studied, enabling researchers to "develop drugs to one day treat Cushings Disease in both humans and dogs."

Read the full article here and give your dog a treat for yet again helping their human companions!

www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/science/26obdog.html?ref=dogs

My contribution to the world of science is to make sure that my neck of the woods is free of those bushy-tailed vermin! Here I am with Bella, keeping watch over our backyard.

Good News In Missouri!

We just wanted to let you know that the Missouri ballot initiative to crack down on puppy mills passed by 51% of the vote! We'll continue to follow that issue for you in the coming months. Check out this link to the facebook page of "Ohio Voters Against Puppy Mills and Dog Auctions" to get more information on this important win, and to see what this organization and others like it around the country are doing to stop these puppy factories: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55644242409

On the lighter side, we thought we'd share this picture with you. It was taken by my Aunt Nanette (the woman who brought you those fabulous photos of Paris pooches earlier this year). This might be the last "dog in Halloween custume" we show you this year, so enjoy!

"All The Good Dogs I've Loved..."

We wanted to call you attention to this beautiful essay we just read in the online version of The New York Times. It's written by Dana Jennings, and adapted from his new book, "What a Difference a Dog Makes: Big Lessons on Life, Love and Healing From a Small Pooch."

We won't give away too much, or it will disrupt the beauty of his writing, but he did say this: "If there is a heaven, some sort of afterlife, I'd like to think of it as a place where we get reunited with all the good dogs that we've ever known."

Enjoy reading the full essay right here:
well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/all-the-good-dogs-youve-loved-before/?ref=health

And while we're at it, this same New York Times blog had a post just the other day about dressing up your dogs for Halloween-ha! What do you think about that subject? Yes or No?

You can read that post right here too: well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/do-dogs-like-to-dress-up-for-halloween/