One life matters #AdoptaShelterPet

10•24•14

“It’s just a dog.”

“There are so many starving kids. You should take care of humans before animals.”

“Why bother neutering them? Or feeding them? Feral cats should fend for themselves.”

“Shelter dogs have problems. That’s why they’re in the shelter in the first place.”

If you’re even on the periphery of animal welfare, I’m sure you’ve heard sentiments like that. Heck, you’ve probably heard worse than that. None of it, of course, is true.

The truth is: One life matters.

The life of a shelter dog or of a stray cat is no less valuable than any other, and until we have a bit culture shift to acknowledge that, shelter pets will continue to languish – and die – in shelters and pounds across the country.

Emmett spent two years in shelters. First, in a high-kill county pound, then – lucky him – because someone fell in love with him, he got placed in a no-kill shelter where we found him. Lucas found himself in a similarly lucky situation. Found rooting through the trash in a North Carolina backyard, he was taken to a shelter that had a transfer program. He found himself not in the gas chamber but on a transport to a DC shelter where we found him a couple months later.

There are so many dogs like Emmett and Lucas and stray cats like Newt and backyard-bred dogs like Cooper whose lives are no less valuable than any other, but because of a culture that says “they’re just animals,” so many of those pets will never find a family. They’ll live out what little time they have in a shelter, not knowing the love, warmth, and companionship that comes from a home. As a society, we need to realize that loving life – ALL life – makes us better humans. Any opportunity to utilize our compassion and empathy for someone in need makes us better people, even if that someone is a pet. But there seems to be a gap in our culture that devalues animals. And we’re much poorer for it.

October is “Adopt a Shelter Pet” month.

If you’re here reading, you’re probably one who values animal life, but this month is an opportunity for those of us who pour love and compassion into valuing animals to educate our friends and family. Dispel those myths about shelter dogs and cats, seniors who need homes, FIV+ cats, and all those puppies and kittens born – through no fault of their own – to people unwilling or unable to care for them.

Adopt a shelter pet.

Because one life matters.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by BlogPaws. I am being compensated to support Adopt a Shelter Pet Month with an educational post, but OhMyDog! only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. BlogPaws is not responsible for the content of this article.

Let’s get some dogs into homes!

10•10•14

BarkBox Hosts Rescue Month All October

So, here’s the summary before I get into the details: BarkBox is hosting several initiatives to get homeless pets adopted. One of them is through folks like me who are set up with an affiliate link. For the month, they’ve raised the discount I’m allowed to offer to 15% off a subscription AND have added a $5 donation for every box purchased in October to cover adoption fees for shelter partners.

And their partners are FAB! There’s a list of more than 15, but they have so many that tie into Pit Bull Awareness Month! Here are a handful that strike a chord with me:

Ambassador Pit Bull Rescue
Big Dogs Huge Paws
Bully Paws Pit Bull Patriots
NEW YORK BULLY CREW
Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary

OH! And if you want the October box – I hear it’s going to be quite spooky – today’s the last day to place that order, otherwise you’ll start up in November.

So, here’s another initiative: BarkBox is offering free three-month subscriptions to adoptable dogs shared by their partners all month. Hey! I’m a partner! 🙂 I’m going to be going to my shelter to photo some of the darling adoptable dogs to share and tag on Instagram to hopefully get them into homes. How exciting is that?!?!

If you’ve been debating a subscription, this is a great time to do it because you’ll be helping dogs find their forever homes while spoiling your pups! The box pictured above, btw, was the September box we received. The only thing we didn’t love was the pennant squeaky toy since it’s not a durable option, so that went into our shelter donation bag. Everything else was spot-on, and that football is still intact, if you can believe it! (You can also request “allergy-friendly” and “power chewer” subscriptions after you place the order… just forward your order confirmation to support(at)barkbox(dot)com requesting that special version.)

One last time, my affiliate link to get you 15% off a subscription!

I seriously can’t wait to get into the shelter and snap pics of darling dogs who are looking for their homes. I’ll be sure to share them as I go! In the meantime, have a lovely weekend! So much to come next week… Stay tuned! 🙂

Have a sec for a tweet or post to help homeless pups?

04•03•14

Okay, so I totally dropped the ball. I’ve gotten so caught up in this BSL stuff, Emmett’s upcoming surgery (Monday), and other stuff that I completely forgot to share all the BarkBox fundraising efforts.

Drat.

There’s a new initiative every week, and this week’s is almost over, but I think we can pull together and make something happen! Here’s the scoop:

This week’s theme is #rescuederp!

Post a picture of a dog in need of a home/foster on Instagram or Facebook in full on derp-mode!

With the picture, add the hashtag #rescuederp and my account (on Instagram it’s @maggiemarton, and on Facebook it’s @ohmydogblog). To make it easy, you can copy and paste:

On Facebook copy and paste this: #rescuederp @ohmydogblog
On Instagram copy and paste this: #rescuederp @maggiemarton

Here’s an example on Facebook.

For every pic posted, I earn a point toward a donation to my chosen rescue, Friends of Homeless Animals, the shelter that delivered Emmett to us and changed our lives forever!

Not sure what a #derp is? Here are some examples! 🙂

Thanks so much for your efforts!! Oh, and if you want to purchase a BarkBox subscription, here’s my affiliate link, which gets you 10% off!

Ok, I promise to be on top of things more next week. Isn’t this seriously the easiest way to get donations for animals in need?! And spreading pics of pups who need homes… what could be better?

More on Monday!