It's cuddle time in Alaska!

Continuing with my state-by-state Adopt-A-Pet blogposts, I've found four furry buddies in ALASKA who would love to find someone to cuddle with, especially since the cold weather is right around the corner!!


Meet RUSTY, a beautiful male husky just aching to find his forever home! Just look at that toothy grin - doesn't it make your heart melt?


RAOUL, an adult male b&w tuxedo cat, is described as "a lean mean loving machine" who gets along well with other cats. He is so regal. He'd love to be king of your castle!


Sweet little Chili is a purebred Chihuahua, and she would love to have someone to snuggle up with during the long, cold winter, and forevermore! She looks so scared in this photo. She needs to find her forever home so she can have happy photos from now on!

Adana is a darling little Siamese lady who is described as "a love sponge" once you start petting her and she feels safe. She has vestibular syndrome, resulting in some eye flickering, but it is a mild case. She is hoping to find her purrrrfect home sometime soon!

If you have room in your hearts and homes for any of these fur babies, they would LOVE to meet you!

If you aren't in Alaska, just click on Adopt-A-Pet and enter your own zip code or location to find a shelter animal in your area that is desperately hoping to find its forever home.

Donna

In need of Forever Homes... Alabama

About a week ago I received an e-mail from Jeff Howard who authors this Adopt-A-Pet blog . He asked if I would help spread the word about their organization. Anything I can do to help a shelter or pound animal find a home, I will do. I've grabbed one of their buttons for my sidebar (there are many styles to choose from). If you're an animal lover, you might want to grab a button for your own blog to help direct people to their website and/or blog.

You can easily use the Adopt-A-Pet site to find the perfect pet to fit yours and your family's lifestyle. Just enter your geographic location and then choose the type of animal (cat, dog, etc.), even a specific breed (yes, there are MANY purebreed animals waiting in shelters for their forever homes). You can also choose by age, gender, or size. You'll find photos and a short description of the animals patiently waiting for a home of their own, and information on who to contact to start adopting one of the best friends you'll ever have in your life!

I plan to feature a few animals on a regular basis on my blog, alphabetically, state by state. So without further ado, here are two dogs and two cats from Alabama who would love to find that special person to live out their lives with! Just click on their names (under their photos) for more information on their size, age, personality, etc.!

ALABAMA


JIMBO


BUDDY


POSSUM

CLOUD

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and an extra big thank you to those who grab a button for their side bar!!!!
Donna

Shelter Animals...The gift to yourself that keeps on giving

Since this is "National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week," I thought I'd take a minute to tell you about a very special shelter dog, a Great Dane named Casper.

(click any photos to enlarge)

Casper was a harlequin (although by Great Dane standards, her markings weren't really up to par). Rather than a large, patchy black and white coat, Casper's fur was completely white with only the tiniest black dot on her upper back.


I'd always dreamed of owning a Great Dane (I think it was a continuation of my unfulfilled girlhood dream to own a horse!). Whenever I saw photos of beautiful fawn Great Danes with their tan coats and black masks, my heart would melt. So when hubby and I got our first home back in the late 70's, I found a Great Dane rescue group who pointed me in the direction of a particular pound/shelter that housed the Danes they had up for adoption.


When we arrived at the shelter, several Great Danes came bounding to the front of their pens to greet us, jumping excitedly, licking our hands... I was ecstatic - these were the gorgeous dogs of my dreams, and we now had the chance to actually take one home with us!


But suddenly, behind all these majestic creatures, I caught a glimpse of something way in the back of the pen, huddled against the farthest corner. This poor pitiful creature was thin and dirty, her eyes void of any expression as she watched all the other Great Danes jumping and barking so excitedly. She definitely was not the dog of my dreams, yet I knew in that instant that I had found the dog I'd been searching for...


She was several years old. She'd been beaten, abused, and chained in a backyard without food or water. Along with her many sores, every rib and bone jutted out of her frame. But even sadder than the physical toll on her body was the fact that her spirit had been broken. This once noble, and truly Great Dane, was nothing more than the shell of a dog. She cowered from people; she didn't look you in the eye; she didn't kiss; she didn't bark; she didn't wag her tail...

But just as people respond to kindness and a gentle word, so do animals. And so the healing began. Physically, her sores disappeared...


... and she put on weight. (She loved nothing more than to finish off my coffee if it was left sitting on the table!)...


But the biggest thrill was when she barked and wagged her tail for the first time, which was a few months after we adopted her. And once she did that, there was no looking back!!! She had reclaimed her spirit, personality, and playfulness...every ounce of her greatness!


The dog who once cowered and shied away from human contact was now the biggest kissing machine ever! (My mom was the lucky recipient in this photo)... She was a one-in-a-million dog and we were so lucky to have found her! She brightened our lives for seven wonderful years, until she succumbed to cancer in 1986.

So, in honor of National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, if any of you are in the market for a companion who will love you unconditionally, you needn't look any further than your local shelter!! I also have several national shelter links on my sidebar where you can find any type of animal you are looking for. Please feel free to add them to your own blogs if you'd like.

I know I'm very partial to rescues, but I truly believe a shelter or pound animal will gift you with unconditional love their whole life through. I know our Casper certainly did. And all these many years later, she is still gifting us with such wonderful memories of our days together.

Donna

P.S. The statue in the first two photos is a brass statue of a Great Dane that I painted white with one black spot in memory of our Casper...

Our little pound puppy (a.k.a. troll dog)!!

This is our little Ms. Giz (Gizmo, Gizzy Girl)... One look at her ears and you can probably guess why she was named Gizmo!
(click any photo to enlarge)

That was her name when we adopted her, at age 8, from a rescue group in Maine and this is what she looked like... a pair of ears with a dog attached!!


(Gizzy on an inflatable plastic chair)

This photo has an almost "alien" ("Take me to your leader") look about it! She was such a funny little dog! She loved me unconditionally (yes, I was her favorite) and she tolerated everyone else in the family (she actually did love them; her tail would wag furiously as she growled at them and acted feisty! Like I said, she was such a little troll!!!)


(She and my boy, Blackie sitting at the slider)

Gizzy, true to her (mixed) terrier heritage, ruled the roost from the get go. It didn't matter to her that our three cats had been living here for years before she came along, or that her big brother (lab/shepherd Mr. O'Malley) outweighed her by 60 lbs.... She let everyone know she was the boss from day one!


(a favorite place to sun herself - on the back of the couch)
This story has a hero, and his name is Vaughn. He, along with another rescuer named Sharon, drove from Maine to the New York City pound several times a year. Their mission: to rescue as many small dogs from the pound as possible, take them back to Maine, and find homes for them. The NYC pound takes in about 1,000 animals every week, yet only about 100 of those are fortunate enough to find homes; therefore, about 900 of the 1,000 are put to sleep ... every week. The number are staggering, aren't they?



While finalizing paperwork to adopt the dogs, Vaughn happened to wander into a back room where he spotted Gizmo in a cage. When Gizmo saw him, she immediately got up on her hind legs, clasped her two front paws together and kept thrusting them back and forth while barking furiously... Vaughn later told me that it looked to him like she was praying for her life. He went back to the front desk and told them he wanted to adopt the little blonde dog in the back room, too.

But the pound told him she was too old to be adopted (at 8 years). She was an "owner turn-in" and was scheduled to be put to sleep that afternoon, as the shelter was overcrowded; therefore there was no room for her, and again, because of her age she was deemed 'unadoptable'. Vaughn told them he really wanted to add her to the group of dogs he was taking back to Maine, but once again they told him, "No." Vaughn told them that she was 'praying' for her life in that cage in the back room and that he had no intention of leaving without her...

(Gizzy, sleeping in my office... )
... so the pound finally backed down and agreed to draw up the additional paperwork to release Gizmo to him...

I don't know where Gizzy spent her first 8 years, but I know wherever she lived, she must have been loved very much. It was impossible not to love her. My guess (since she was an owner turn-in) is that she may have had an elderly owner who passed away or went into a nursing home. Perhaps it fell upon relatives to decide her fate and they turned her over to the pound... (If only dogs could talk)...


As Gizmo aged, she developed a severe eye infection that required her right eye to be removed. But as you can see from her smiling face, she didn't let it get her down...

She eventually went totally blind in her remaining eye, but again, she lived each and every day joyfully, with a wagging tail and a crooked toothed smile... Nothing got her down.

She had also developed diabetes (a contributing factor in her eye infection). Part of her treatment was me giving her insulin shots twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. Again, never a whimper. As long as she had her family (especially me), a bowl of food and fresh water, she was as happy as could be. She was a little girl, but she had a BIG appetite!!!

We lost her a year ago on March 22nd, at 16 years of age, so I've been thinking about her (and missing her) a lot this weekend... She truly was a one in a million dog...

I'm so thankful and grateful for the 8 years we shared. By watching her, we all learned more about living life with joy, dignity, and without complaint.

And I'm so thankful and grateful to Vaughn for refusing to leave the pound without this little girl... Vaughn and Sharon are no longer doing rescues or I'd definitely send people their way... But wherever you live, you can be sure that there are local rescue groups, pounds, and shelters filled with animals, all in desperate need of good homes.

I have several pet adoption sites listed on my sidebar where you can adopt everything from puppies to purebreeds to good old mutts!! And don't forget one of the major benefits to adopting an older dog - they're already housebroken in most cases!!!

Wishing you and all your fur babies a wonderful week!

I love you, my little Giz...

Donna

I remember....

... a dog named O'Malley...

Has it really been a year since we lost our handsome boy?


After we lost Malley, I used my computer to put together a little "Memories of O'Malley" book, and actually ended up giving copies to the girls and my dad & sister for Christmas last year.
(click on any photos to enlarge)

It's filled with photos and memories of a very special dog... (I'll share a few of the pages of the book here as I tell you how we came to adopt our Mr. O'Malley)


Back in March of 2000, we finally felt ready to adopt another dog after having lost our beloved little Sooshi (photo in sidebar) a couple of months earlier. I originally said, "Never again," because the pain of losing Sooshi had been so great.


But as so often happens in these cases, the heart-wrenching grief eventually makes way for the sweet and happy memories... And although there will never be another Sooshi, our hearts healed enough to entertain the thoughts of adopting another dog...


Back in 2000 we had 3 cats and our girls were younger, so we needed to find a dog who loved kids and who loved (or at least accepted) kitties!


We did an on-line search and found two dogs who sounded like they'd be ideal. One was a 7 year old lab/shepherd mix (Mr. O'Malley), and one was an 8 year old terrier mix (Ms. Gizmo)...


Decisions, decisions.... Do we get the big dog or the little one? Family meeting time... No consensus... Then the girls said, "Let's get both!"... And so it was...


We first visited Mr. O'Malley's shelter that Friday afternoon in March of 2000. The staff told us Malley was a great dog and that he'd been there for six months (poor baby - October through March - the absolute coldest months here in New England)... I asked why they thought he hadn't been adopted yet and they said it was because of his age. They have a huge turnaround and lots of younger dogs, so at age 7, Malley just kept getting passed by...


We stopped in front of his cage and he came bounding up to the chain link gate, soooo excited that someone was visiting his pen... He couldn't stop kissing the girls' hands through the gate. It was clearly love at first sight for two girls and one dog... Any possible doubts I'd had about how he would be with the girls (or any other kids who came to the house) were immediately dispelled....


We had found our boy, and he had found his forever home...


I'm not certain of the circumstances that led to Mr. O'Malley ending up in a shelter, but I am so grateful that we found him. He was a one-in-a-million dog who filled our little cottage with joy with his ever present dog-smile and sweet disposition...


But a year ago, when Malley was 14 years old, we had to make the toughest decision a pet owner ever has to make... The dog who once lived to eat had now lost his appetite for food, and was having a hard time even keeping food down... A battery of tests told us that nothing could be done, so we made his final appointment for the following day... Someday we will meet again, of that I'm certain... Until then, we miss you every day, our sweet boy... and we love you always...

"I think God will have prepared everything for our perfect happiness. If it takes my dog being there (in Heaven), I believe he'll be there." ~Rev. Billy Graham

Let me just end by saying that there are so many benefits to adopting a shelter or pound dog (or cat)... I swear, they know and appreciate the homes they are given, and will reward you day in and day out for the remainder of their lives for rescuing them... I have a link on my sidebar to a few adoption sites in case any of you are currently looking for the next furry "love of your life"!!

...Recommended Reading...

I know many of you have seen the following book on my sidebar. My daughter, Amanda, bought this book a couple of months after Malley was put to sleep. She passed it along to me to read, and I have to tell you, between Anna Quindlen's insightful, beautiful writing and my daughter's handwritten notes and underlining of certain passages that she especially related to, it was quite an emotional read...

The first time I attempted to read it, I was at the hairdressers... Very bad decision... With tears streaming down my face, I decided that I might be better off reading it at home... After all, I didn't want my poor hairdresser to think a poor cut or color was the cause of the floodworks... A customer who is sitting in a chair crying is probably not the best type of advertising!

Anna Quindlen has absolutely captured the essence of what every dog owner must eventually face...

... but it is far from being a sad book.... And while the book will, at times, bring tears to even the most stoic of readers, it is really a celebration of Beau's life... I even found myself laughing aloud while reading of some of Beau's antics... And while Ms. Quindlen writes specifically about her Beau, he most certainly represents "every man's dog" as you will find yourself relating to the very words she uses and feelings she describes when talking about the special bond between a dog and its human... The title in itself - Good Dog. Stay. - speaks volumes. Absolutely a must read book...

...Recommended Viewing...

And last, but most definitely not least...

Just as Anna Quindlen's book is a must read, if you have never seen it before, you must watch Jimmy Stewart reading a poem that he wrote about his dog (also named Beau). Jimmy Stewart has always been one of my favorite actors, and to listen and watch him reading this poem... well, there just aren't words... Johnny Carson couldn't even contain his emotions by the end of the poem, so you might want to run and get a tissue before watching...

(Click photo above to view video)

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." (Unknown)

Many thanks to all of you who actually took the time to read through this rambling tribute to a dog named O'Malley...
Comment Update: Thank you to everyone who has left such kind comments and who have shared the stories of your own furry family members... I have so enjoyed reading them... And Joanne, I will do a post on how to make a computerized "memory" book like this one. It's a very easy process!
Donna

The Bewitching Mrs. B

Mrs. B (1976 - Sept. 1993)

I've received so many kind comments regarding my new fall banner (thank you!!)... Since I was participating in Cielo's "Enchanted Window" blog party this week, I thought it would be fun to use a window scene for my blog banner; and since Halloween is almost upon us, I decided to use one of my favorite photos of my beautiful Mrs. B, taken back in 1992 when she was about 16. (Can you tell we used to decorate big time for Halloween when the girls were younger?)

I got Mrs. B from a pet shelter in 1976. The information card on her cage stated that she would be put down the following day. I asked someone who worked there for more information on her and was told that she was supposed to have been put to sleep the previous week, but that one of the shelter staff asked that they give her one more week because she was so sweet. Apparently they were having a hard time finding her a home because:

1) they had tons of kittens available for adoption, and at about 6 months old, she was well past the "cute kitten" stage... - and -

2) black cats aren't adopted as quickly as other kitties because they are still (superstitiously) thought of as "bad luck" cats...

Well, Mrs. B came home with me that day and she was my faithful companion long before my hubby came on the scene and my girls came along... She was my affectionate, lap-sitting, double-pawed purring machine for 17 wonderful years... She was, and will always be, My Girl...

Update: If you are looking for a cat (including black cats), click on A Place to Bark and Meow - Bernie Berlin has some beautiful kitties up for adoption right now, including about a dozen black cats... And she echoes what I mentioned above, that they are harder to place... Take it from someone (me) who has owned black kitties - they are wonderful!!! As a matter of fact, in Britain and Japan, having a black cat cross your path, is considered good luck!!

Donna