This Friday’s fab 4 is 10, ah make that 9. Stay with me. I’ll tell you more in a moment.
Do you remember hearing about (or attending) the first BlogPaws Conference last April? It was positively pawsome! Like so many others, I couldn’t stop barking about it! You can find my posts here, here, here, here, and here.
What about Be the Change for Pets? Sound familiar? Perhaps you’ve noticed #btc or #bethechange on
Twitter, or maybe you ‘like’ Be the Change for Pets on Facebook. Well, conference attendees were so inspired by the BlogPaws workshops, speakers and each other, that ‘Be the Change for Pets’ was spontaneously birthed! The BlogPaws spirit was so big-hearted and contagious, in the best sense of the word, that good things for animals inevitably had to be born from it.
And, next week we get to further strengthen the spirit and whip up more action for Be the Change at the BlogPaws West Conference in Denver!
So, how did ‘4’ become ’10’? Mars Pedigree Adoption Drive generously sponsored 5 of us to attend the first BlogPaws in Columbus. Without their sponsorship I wouldn’t have been able to attend. I am eternally grateful for that life-changing experience. Thank you Pedigree!!
This time the Mars Pedigree Adoption Drive is sponsoring 10 pet bloggers to attend BlogPaws West next week in Denver—the 5 of us they sponsored last time plus 5 more! I’m going to tell you a little something about the other bloggers in a moment.
But, first, a word about our sponsor. The Mars Pedigree Adoption Drive is a terrific example of how we can join together to be the change for animals. Every time someone becomes a fan, or ‘likes’, the Pedigree Adoption page on Facebook, Pedigree donates another bowl of food to a shelter dog. As of this moment 1,110,075 bowls of food have been donated. That’s nearly a quarter of a million more bowls since the first BlogPaws Conference last April! Pedigree’s goal? 4,000,000 bowls of food because that’s how many dogs are homeless every year in the United States. ‘Become a fan, help a dog’ by clicking on the yellow and blue badge.
Next up, the pet bloggers! The five new sponsorees are:
1. Maria Goodavage writes Dogster’s for the love of dog blog and is is the founder of The Dog Lover’s Companion travel guidebook series, and author of The Dog Lover’s Companion to California and The Dog Lover’s Companion to the San Francisco Bay Area. Scroll to the bottom of this page for a video of Jake, her dog, at the beach. It will surely make you smile.
2. Brett Chisholm is a photographer with Houston Dog Blog which is the premier portal for all things dog (and pet) in Houston. There’s no doubt that Houston Dog Blog is about being the change for animals. Check out this post: MEADOWLAKE PET RESORT BECOMES A FRIEND FOR FRIENDS OF BARC: Two dogs rescued from BARC’s “Death Row” relax in their temporary home at Meadowlake!
3. Joan DeMartin writes in the voice of Bocci at Bocci’s Beefs: One dog’s musings on life with humans and other animals.Bocci says: “I’m just a mutt from the pound with big dreams…dreams of starring in a major motion picture, (O.K., I’d be happy with a dog food commercial), dreams of my book (that I’ve yet to write) being chosen for Oprah’s book club…” Bocci is to-die-for cute! Check out his mug here.
4. Debbie Jacobs writes Fearfulsdog’s Blog. If you’ve been reading my #FollowFriday Fab 4 series, you know I love Debbie’s blog. I featured her in this post. One of the things I admire most about Debbie’s writing is how she invites us to see the world from our dog’s point of view. “Play hard, play fair, nobody hurt,” her inaugural post for the Never Shock a Puppy campaign, is a perfect example.
5. Diane Silver writes To Dog with Love: A celebration of the fluffier side of life. She attended the first BlogPaws conference with her fetching pup, Cosmo, a smooching maniac. I didn’t get any kisses at the last conference, but I intend to remedy that next week! “Cosmo, sweetie. Did you hear me?” Diane is all over being the change for animals. Along with other Tweeps, Diane has been pawtying for anipals as she writes in “Cowabunga Dude! Let’s PAWPATY!”
Please allow me the pleasure of reintroducing the Pedigree returnees!
6. Felissa Elfenbeing writes Two Little Cavaliers named in honor of her two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels Davinia and Indiana. They are so sweet. Check out the pictures from Indiana’s fifth birthday. Felissa writes and eclectic blog with lots of giveaways, on-line community building, action alerts to stop animal abuse and killing, and lots fun stuff like this from Fido Friendly Magazine.
7. Neil Brogan is the online energizer bunny of good works on behalf of dogs, especially Greyhound rescue and adoption. In addition to his blog Life with Dogs, his Facebook page by the same name has over 20,000 fans! Here’s what one avid reader The Road Dogs says: “Life With Dogs is funny AND informative and I like that you don’t mind getting a little political at times and your blog hop has introduced me to so many cool people and animals. The total entertainment package – kind of a ‘Daily Show’ for animal lovers!”
8. Ashley Niel is the founder of I Love Rescue Animals: Celebrating rescued animals and animal welfare worldwide. She and her partner, Nikki, are being the change for animals. For example, they are active on Twitter as @LastChancePets “that features animals whose lives are quickly coming to an end. If we don’t save these animals, then who will? Please follow us and retweet us as much as possible.” They also include a helpful page on their blog of shelter and rescue links organized by state and country. Do you know rescue that should be on their list? Ashley and Nikki want you to let them know.
9. Sharon Castellanos writes two blogs, Cleo’s Day about her very sweet senior adopted dog, Cleo, and Dog Days. Ever since the first BlogPaws Sharon and I have stayed in touch, and she was featured in the first of the #FollowFriday Fab 4 series. Sharon is dedicated to Being the Change for Animals and in that spirit is posting an interview series called Influence Positively, which was featured on Be the Change for Animals blog. If you love pictures, and who doesn’t, check out these great shots of Cleo.
And, once again, thank you Pedigree! If not for your generous sponsorship I would be driving back and forth between Boulder and Denver during rush hours every day of the conference. How wonderful to settle in at the hotel and hang out after the workshops with the awe inspiring BlogPaws crowd.
BTW–Being sponsored by the Pedigree Adoption Drive for Dogs means that when I blog from or about BlogPaws West you’ll see the yellow and blue Pedigree “Adoption Rules. Join the Drive” badge. When I tweet (@boulderdog1) you’ll see #dogsrule(sp). That’s Pedigree’s hashtag and “(sp)” means they’re sponsoring me at BlogPaws West. That’s it. I’m not selling anything 🙂
I can’t wait to see everyone at BlogPaws!
Can’t wait to meet you at BlogPaws West!! I know Cosmo will be happy to accommodate with plenty of smoochies!! So excited to be part of the Pedigree team, too. Great post and thanks for the nice shout out!! #Dogsrule!!!
HI Diane and Cosmo…looking forward to seeing both of you! And, smooches from Cosmo, of course. 🙂
Great blog post and I’m looking forward to meeting all of these great people in *one week*!! 🙂
Congrats on the continued sponsorship. Alas, I will be driving to/fro during BlogPaws West, so if I look blearier than usual, that’s why.
I also loved Debbie’s Never Shock a Puppy post this week. Terrific!
See you all next week!!!!
This was a great post Deborah – great of you to introduce the newbies. I can’t wait to catch up next week! 🙂
Hi Deborah! Thanks so much for introducing all of us! Terrific post. You are really on top of things! Looking forward to meeting everyone in person!
Hey everyone! Thanks for your comments and see you VERY soon!
Kind of you to make the introductions! Have a great long weekend, look forward to meeting everyone! 🙂
So kind of you to do this post and introduce us all! Can hardly wait to see everyone (some again!) in person. And a huge thank-you to Pedigree for their generous sponsorship of Bocci’s Beefs-we are thrilled to be representing you!
Bocci and his Parental Unit, Joan
[…] PEDIGREE will donate many tons of food! We can do this! And, if you don’t know already, the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive sponsored me and nine other bloggers to attend BlogPaws West and to spread the word about “Write a post, help a dog.” How […]