Oh My Dog!

obsessed with dogs

Link Love: BSL

Another adorable postcard!

Thanks to everyone who has blogged about BSL and linked to the campaign. We wouldn’t be as far as we are without your efforts and support! There are a few blogs I wanted to call out for today’s link love because they’ve been instrumental in keeping the campaign rolling. I definitely encourage you to check out these awesome blogs:

Mayzie’s Dog Blog

Gunny

Bad Mutha Fudruckers

Take Paws (via GoPetFriendly.com)

Daily Dog Scoop

My Tail Hurts From Wagging So Much

… and many, many more! Definitely check out the growing Anti-BSL Link Library, and please send me links to your posts about BSL so I can include them in the effort.

In the meantime, have a fabulous weekend and a very happy Fourth of July!

Emmett update and link love

This is what Emmett normally looks like:

Happy! Vibrant! Will perform for treats!

And this is what he looked like last night:

Sad.

The good news is that the two bumps were NOT cancerous! Wahooooo!!!! It’s such a humongous relief, and so we continue our countdown to Emmett’s one-year-cancer-free celebration!

Anyway, he’s still a bit groggy and definitely sore today. I’m not even going to show you the picture of his back and how much of his beautiful, brindle fur was shaved. (Does anyone know: Does it grow back in the same pattern?) The challenge today, though, is keeping Lucas from trying to “help” by licking Emmett’s sutures…

So for today’s Link Love, I wanted to pass along some of the more useful canine cancer resources I’ve found over the course of Emmett’s battle. I know from looking at my Google Analytics, a lot of you have arrived on this blog looking for cancer info, so in addition to the resources below, you can always email me!

Fight Dog Cancer – an online forum for people to share stories about their dogs’ battles with cancer.

National Canine Cancer Foundation – their Canine Cancer Library has a ton of useful, straightforward articles.

About.com: Veterinary Medicine, Dog Cancer

Tripawds.com – when we thought Emmett might lose his leg, this site was incredibly helpful.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Today would normally be the day Emmett and I volunteer at the children’s program at the mental health hospital, but instead, we’re going to snuggle up, watch a movie, and just be so, so grateful!

Hug your puppies!

P.S. Don’t forget to create your End BSL postcard!! I laid out the challenge to get 100 between this past Tuesday and next Tuesday… and we’re not even halfway there yet! Full campaign update will come on Tuesday!

Friday Link Love

I hope you all had a wonderful week! It’s been busy around here! We’re dog sitting Cady, aka Lucas’ best friend in the whole entire world. Last time we dog sat, she looked like this:

Now, the little darling looks like this:

My, how fast they grow! She’s bigger than Emmett (much to his dismay) and nearly the size of Lucas. Luckily, her energy makes up for any poundage he has on her!

And now a few links to share before you head off to enjoy your weekend…

First, a little self-promotion: I got to write about dog-friendly landscaping and nontoxic pet toys, which was really fun for me. A new website launched, devoted entirely to books about pets, and I’m super excited that I get to be a contributing reviewer. And I received over 20 postcards for the Campaign to End BSL! A great week, all around!

And now for a little cat love!

This is my friend's cat, Penny, who she rescued from near-death!

June is Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month. Here’s a great project from Petfinder.com:

To give adoptable cats everywhere their chance in the spotlight, Petfinder.com is holding a fun photo contest dubbed “The Whiskers” (a playful homage to the Academy Awards) where you can vote on the best kitty-photos in a variety of CAT-egories from “Best Newcomer” to “Best Comedic Performance.” You can vote here: www.petfinder.com/thewhiskers. If you’re addicted to funny cat videos and LOLCat photos, you’re going to love voting on these super sweet kitties – maybe you’ll even find one you want to adopt!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Emmett and I have the read-to-the-dogs program at our public library on Saturday, but otherwise we’ll just be hanging around the house, relaxing!

What about you? Doing anything fun with your pets?

Link love

Happy Friday, everyone! Hard to believe it’s the end of the month, though with warm air moving in, I’m really looking forward to this first weekend of May. Lots of gardening, dog walks, puppy play dates, and Emmett and I doing some therapy work at a mental health facility and the public library! What are you up to this weekend?

In case you’re looking for a little light reading, I thought I’d put together a quick little list of what I’ve been reading this week. And if you have any other articles or links to share, please feel free to post them in the comments!

ASPCA’s Guide to Pet-Safe Gardening: So helpful if you’re planning on getting any gardening done this weekend.

Uncorking Finger Lakes Wine Country: This article inspired me to research whether any of our local vineyards are pet friendly!

“Ready?” Using meta-communication to help your dog: Really interesting post about communicating with your dog. Interestingly, I realized I was doing this… without even realizing it! Since I work from home, I spend a lot of my day chatting with Emmett and Lucas, and I think by narrating our activities, it helps them to “get” it.

Even Google’s goats need the help of a dog: Love it, love it, love it! It makes me want a goat more than I already do!

And, lastly, a little shameless self-promotion here! I’m covering the pets + sustainability beat for EcoSalon.com. Here’s a roundup of this week’s articles. Let me know what you think or if there’s anything else you’d like to see covered!

What to Do with Doo

3 Alternatives to Topical Pesticides

And one for the cat-lovers! Pet Food Manufacturers Seek Sustainably-Sourced Fish
Whew! And that’s my reading list for the week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Enter to win! Teddy’s Pride Oral Care

While I recover from an amazing weekend at BlogPaws (full recaps to come this week, I promise), I’m thrilled to announce that we have a giveaway this week! Teddy’s Pride sent me a sample of the oral care probiotics to review. And they have very kindly offered to give away a 60-day supply of Teddy’s Pride to one reader!

From their website:

Teddy’s Pride™ Oral Care is the very first probiotics for oral care for all cats and dogs that freshens breath naturally while gently and naturally whitening teeth.

To be honest, I’m not too concerned if Emmett’s and Lucas’ teeth are gleaming white as long as they’re healthy. That being said, both the boys tend to have a little “dog breath,” so I was excited to try the probiotics. After the first week adding the powder to their food, we noticed an improvement in their breath. While it’s a 60-day supply, I’ve been dividing the servings between Emmett and Lucas, so perhaps with the full 60 days there would be a more substantial difference, but it seems like their breath is improving with each serving.

Now, onto the giveaway!

One lucky commenter will receive a full 60-day supply of Teddy’s Pride Oral Care for their very own. How to enter: Leave a comment on this post (one per person and comments on this post only count toward the drawing) by noon EST on Friday, April 16. After noon, I will use a random number generator to select the winner.

But there’s a catch!

While at BlogPaws this weekend, I attended an amazing panel called “be the change.” It was completely inspiring and got me brainstorming about the little ways I can do more to advocate. So here’s where the catch comes in!

For your comment to be eligible, you must include a little link love for your favorite shelter or rescue! Feel free to just post the link or tell us why they’re you’re favorite. You can help your favorite organizations earn a little SEO love while being entered to win an awesome prize!

So comment away! And if you need a little philanthropic inspiration, check out this incredible video presented at the “be the change” panel!