What You Can Do About Animal Rescue

I tend to start things I cannot complete.  My dedication to animal rescue often feels like one of these things. (so does my gutter cleaning, it just started raining....) BUT all is not lost for those who feel like I do, I've had this link up on my browser for a week about what YOU can do to help the animal rescue cause.  Bichon Information Station is just a great website in general, the only drawback is you will probably feel a great need to cuddle an animal soon after viewing it but that is OK, trust me.  Anyway if you do NOTHING ELSE about animal rescue go to the first link and see what you can do easily and quickly.  I blog, tweet, and facebook about animals in need and animals in general and try to help raise awareness.  Not everyone wants to do this or can, I can't foster and am strictly prohibited from adoption by my better half (I will NEVER give up) so I do what I can this way.  I also donate to the local thrift shop that benefits the local animal shelter and purchase items from the store.  Not much but I always tell myself it's better than nothing.  Then I cuddle the dog again.

He looks like he needs cuddled doesn't he?  Sometimes I think he is saying Jeeze, would she just let me sleep??? LOL

So WHY haven't I been blogging?  Well for one I'm lazy.  The main reason is I'm like MAKING MONEY writing for the internet.  You read that right, making money, some days it feels like $2 an hour but sometimes it's $20 an hour.  The latter doesn't happen that often and it's probably more like $10 an hour but sitting on my rear in my warm house or in my husbands truck and piddling @ the computer is not brain surgery nor do I sweat or have to deal with people, sorry I got burnt out doing that with my husbands business.  I'm also writing a few articles for a new site that is looking for excellent writers, they are something like hub pages.  Right now you are saying why is she going on and on about this?  Because I wrote an article about Bichons!!  Then I wrote another article about brushing a Bichon Frise.  The reason I wrote this article is because many people won't get a bichon because they are afraid of the maintenance involved with this breed.  I've had to chase errant dogs that got off their leashes, cleaned up after dogs that refused to be house trained, replaced carpet, woodwork, and phone cords that had been chewed; all dogs require some maintenance and take time.  It's a fact of life most things that are worthwhile require some maintenance or dedication.  Bichons require grooming but give love and adoration in return. 

If you are bored, or want to know more about these subjects, or are considering writing for the internet, go check out these pages.  They are something like hub pages, logbud.com doesn't provide immediate pay.  Textbroker.com is one of those that pay immediately or at least twice a month.  If you have some idea where a comma goes in a sentence they will pay less than one cent a word.  I'm above that but they are tough on grammar and sentence structure.  In fact I'm sure they would simply CRINGE @ this blog entry.... LOL

If I Could, This is What I Would Do With My Life

The people @ Seer Farms take pets and board them for individuals or families who cannot afford regular boarding fees and who have lost their homes, can't find pet friendly housing, or just need temporary boarding for their pets because of the economy or life changes.  This is a wonderful effort and actually sounds like it might be a workable charity idea?  Since my husband calls me Ellie Maye Clampett anyway and insists we only have one little dog @ a time (we can have a big dog too but we haven't found the perfect one, anyone have a giant bichon?  LOL) I can't do this but it's a GREAT idea for someone who is looking to channel a love of animals into a worthwhile endeavor.  Seer Farms was recently featured in a USA Today article,  the article is an excellent read about a couple on the way to deliver their first child looking for pet boarding.....

Once again one of my favorite rescues.....smallpawsrescue.org has a new bichon finder.....OK, pet finder, Pets911.  Pretty cool huh?  I found Ice close to my home,

OK not ice a Bichon puppy named Ice who was turned in to the shelter from a commercial breeder because he was TOO BIG!  4.5 lb and he was born 7/12/10, now I'm not too sure what Dispatch (my bichon) was when he was that old but I'm pretty sure it was over 4.5 lb.  In other words this dog may weigh 25 lb when grown, but that is really stretching it.  Dispatch used to weigh 17 and he is like at the top of the size for show bichons....he's a mutt though.  Anyway Ice is available for Adoption from Thistle Hills Rescue, in Birch Tree, MO. 

Presidential Pets and A VERY SPECIAL Bichon Frise

When President Obama was newly elected I wrote a bit about his choice of a puppy, and whether it would be a Portuguese Water Spaniel or a Labradoodle. 
Then of course the Presidential family has chosen Bo.
This nice lady sent me this link yesterday to a blog entry about Presidential Pets.  She writes that pets give comfort and normalcy to the presidential family.  This is true of all families and people I think.  I was fretting over paperwork and filing, what to take to the basement, what needed to stay up on the first floor, why should I keep any of it on the first floor if I could not FIND anything.......and then my bichon, Dispatch, was hungry. He's had his eating problems in the past.  He is picky and the food bowl "scares" him.  I went into the kitchen to tell him it's OK to eat and finally (DUHHHHH) got him a heavier bowl and a mat that does not let stuff slide around and he ate.  By himself.  I didn't have to be there.....I used to have to watch him eat, hold the food bowl, or listen to him BEG for me to do these things.  Or give up and feed him on the floor.  Kibble, not canned food on the floor----- do you think I'm an idiot-----don't answer that.  The point of this story is I forgot all about my problems with rearranging things that really don't matter because of Dispatch.  Then I could really focus and blog instead of filing....NO, I have a plan for rearranging paperwork and am not stressing anymore.  This is what pets can do for us.  Besides sit on the lace tablecloth in the dining room and look like "huh me? What am I doing wrong?"

Last but not least if you live in California or one of the neighboring states and have a  place in your heart for a  very special little bundle of Joy, meet Petey.  He is available @ Bichon FurKids Rescue, along with other Bichons of course.  You see in this photo Petey  is laying down, there is a reason for this.  He was born with a partially unformed back leg and when he was 6 or 7 the other hind leg became tired.  His family turned him into a shelter but he was afraid, and of course he wondered why his little world had turned upside down.   BUT Petey being a special Bichon got a cart after he was was taken in to foster by Bichon FurKids Rescue.  He can use it on grass even!  There is a video on his page, be sure to see it, you should see Petey go. If you've ever seen a Bichon in action you can imagine how glad Petey was to be able to run again!  Petey is one fantastic little dog who is available for adoption. 

Charitable Trust, Help Save Unwanted Bichons

As you can see a Bichon Frise takes rather easily to being spoiled.  They are also climbers or @ least mine is.  I discovered a new charity on facebook that helps these little angels (those are NOT horns growing out of his head, it's a crooked halo!) Help Save Unwanted Bichons takes in, vets, trains, and rehomes these little clowns. 
You can also do a search on facebook to find other resources to help these little fluffballs and other dogs.
I also came across some excellent online resources about dealing with the loss of a pet.  This one from Home Vet is wonderful.  Another is available at Helpguide.org.

Dog Does The Butt Bounce and Goosestep

Repeat after me, TC is a BADDDDDD blogger, a horrible blogger. But you see TC sort of has a job writing, of all things. Believe it or not they even pay her. She is getting a disease from this though, talking in the 3rd person disease is the correct name she believes....
Her dog is only slightly less crazy as you well know. He is doing his usual thing here...enjoy.
TC writes much better when being paid but she has been writing instructions about using a command line and a terminal window......

Through A Dogs Eyes On PBS

As usual I am behind but I did remember this great documentary Through  A Dogs Eyes, you can go to the link below and search for rebroadcasts.  For example my local PBS station has a rebroadcast at noon today. 
I hope the lady who sent me the email doesn't mind me quoting her verbatim but I had like no sleep and need to get a little, there is a bit about service dogs and Milk Bones involvement below.

Check for rebroadcasts in your area.

CANINE ASSISTANTS

 

Canine Assistants service dogs assist children and adults with physical disabilities or other special needs in a variety of ways. Some of the tasks our dogs perform include turning lights on and off, opening and closing doors, pulling wheelchairs, retrieving dropped objects, summoning help, and providing secure companionship. While all of these functions are vitally important in helping a person obtain greater freedom, perhaps the most impressive gift our dogs provide is social, rather than physical, in nature. The dogs eliminate feelings of fear, isolation, and loneliness felt by their companions. One Canine Assistants recipient made the value of this gift quite clear when asked by a reporter what she liked most about her service dog. Immediately, she responded, "My dog makes my wheelchair disappear."
Most Canine Assistants service dogs are born, raised, and trained at our facility in Milton, Georgia, while some are occasionally adopted from local organizations or breeders. The majority of our service dogs are retrievers, including both goldens and labradors.

Milk-Bone allows these recipients to receive their service dog for free, providing the necessary funding for some of these dogs to be fed, trained, groomed, etc. at no cost to the recipient. Milk-Bone has sponsored hundreds of dogs through its partnership with Canine Assistants.

Hank The Wonder Dog

This is Hank.

Yes Hank is in the house and quite comfortable. He is my nephew dog however, not our dog.

Someone forgot to tell Hank he isn't a house puppy  however. Hank actually belongs to my cousin, we hadn't met Hank till Friday afternoon and we have been inseparable since (mostly Hanks idea). We suspect Dispatch told Hank that he was the most important dog in the world and therefore we were the king and queen of the world and somehow Hank believed Dispatch. Or he could sense we lost two dogs in the last year? I have no idea but if we put him outside he whines. He DID sleep outside the last two nights and I didn't really spoil him with food till today. I think it's because we let Hank in the house and Dis lied to Hank....or maybe Fema told him she preferred being an only dog, she's my cousins schnauzer and lives down the hill and Hank lives down there to. 

I was a bit worried about Hank because they said he chased cats.  Nobody told Meanie my cat though, or the kittens.   He did chase them with Fema but I yelled and he was very contrite.  Fema HATES for me to yell and couldn't actually believe I would yell @ her!! LOL  Hank can also sit and shake and lay down but sometimes he figures if he has to sit he might as well lay down.  He did growl @ Dispatch once but Dispatch was trying to be dominant over Hank shall we say.  Dispatch still rules the roost though and only has to look sideways and lift his lip to make Hank cringe, don't ask me?

You can't get the true beauty of Hanks face in the pictures but he has some mighty long chin whiskers, he looks like a cross between a hound and a giant Airedale.   If anyone reads this who remembers Abraham and Martin and Lindsey, Hank reminds me of a cross between all three.   Abraham (Abraham Lincoln) and Martin (Martin Luther King, do not judge, we named dogs after relatives for example Aunt Bob) were Airedale/shepherd mixes and Lindsey was a Mastiff.    Martin is on the left in this photo and Abraham on the right.  No comment on the coat or the car, this was like 1983.  Other dogs are Sally, Log, and Oetman (named after the preacher).

Oh and I lost my GMail and my blogs this morning, I panicked but after I went  through a little rigmarole with my cell phone all was fine.
Also I've started writing for hire for other peoples blogs.........part of the reason I haven't been on here, it's sort of like having a job!