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Are You a Shelter or Rescue? Apply for Grants from the Pedigree Foundation

Feb 21st, 2011 by

Let’s begin with full disclosure. MARS Petcare US invited a cadre of pet bloggers, including me, to their headquarters in Nashville a couple of weeks ago to learn more about the Pedigree brand and The Pedigree Foundation. I am under no obligation to blog about anything related our visit.

Still, I want to let you know about The Pedigree Foundation’s grant program because there is still time for shelters and rescues to apply for funds for the 2011 funding cycle.

The Pedigree Foundation offers two categories of one-time grants:

  1. Innovation Grants fund innovative programs/projects that increase adoptions. These grants are typically for $10,000 to $25,000. The deadline for submitting a proposal for an Innovation Grant is July 30, 2011.
  2. The other grants are for Operations. These grants assist in funding basic operation costs such as facility/structure, medical, transportation, spay/neuter, etc to help make dogs more adoptable. The amounts of these grants vary in size, but are smaller than Innovation Grants. The deadline for these grants is September 30, 2011.

For more information and Guidelines for applying for these grants click HERE.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Pedigree Foundation, you can visit their website by clicking on the black and gold badge above. You’ll find a lot of information about adoption, the foundation’s annual report, past grant recipients, and this sweet PSA with Betty White.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

eBay Classifieds: Stop Selling Live Animals!

Feb 18th, 2011 by

Let’s join together with Change.org and tell eBay to stop selling live animals in their classified ads.

For the backstory about eBay’s evasive responses to the outcry, read this Overview by Stephanie Feldstein from Change.org.

BTW, Felissa Hadas of Two Little Cavaliers got this ball rolling! Read about it: “eBay Petition Has Gone Viral!” Thank you Felissa!

Here’s what you can do:

* Sign the petition in the right side-bar of this blog: Ebay Classifieds: Stop Selling Live Animals
* Send an email to eBay telling them to STOP!. Click here for a letter Change.org has already written.
* If you received a copy of the email below from Change.org, please forward it to your friends.
* If you didn’t receive the email, please send this post to your friends. Just click on the envelope icon at the bottom of this post.
* Write a blog post!
* Put the petition widget on your blog. Click on “Get Widget” at the bottom of the petition badge in the sidebar.

Change.org email:

Dear Deborah,

“Puppy mills” are large-scale commercial operations where dozens of dogs are kept in small cages for their entire lives, forced to give birth to litter after litter until they’re no longer fertile, at which point they’re usually killed. Puppy mills are unsafe, inhumane, and produce thousands of puppies with serious health problems every year.

Now, puppy mills have found a national vendor: eBay.

A few years ago, eBay had plans to sell animals via online auction. Responsible breeders would never sell dogs via online auction, so this would have resulted in the site becoming a haven for puppy mills. eBay users and anti-cruelty activists spearheaded — and won — the fight to prevent eBay from selling live animals.

But now all that’s changed.

Despite eBay’s claims that it “do[es] not condone unethical treatment of animals,” eBay now allows puppy mills to sell dogs in its classified section.

This practice enables flagrant cruelty to dogs, and it has to stop. Tell eBay to shut down its sales of cruelly treated puppies and all live animals.

Puppy mill dogs spend their entire lives in small wire cages, without companionship, and often without vet care, exercise or shelter from the elements. As far as puppy mill owners are concerned, the dogs have one purpose: to supply the pet trade.

The USDA recently admitted that they’ve failed to effectively monitor commercial breeders and puppy mills. When it comes to sites like eBay Classifieds, it’s even worse: Breeders who sell directly to customers online aren’t subject to any USDA regulations.

The best chance we have to shut down puppy mills is to hold vendors accountable.

Click here to tell eBay to shut down all live animal sales immediately:

http://www.change.org/petitions/ebay-classifieds-stop-selling-live-animals?alert_id=JhDDcGIQNR_zHKPkkRBXq&me=aa

Thanks for taking action,

Judith and the Change.org Team

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Posted in Petitions, Puppy mills | 2 Comments »

My Bed Is Your Bed

Feb 17th, 2011 by

Ira is a dog magnet. He’s not dog-crazy like I am, but dogs are mad about him.

Sadie swoons and spins her tail at helicopter speed at the mere sound of his voice. Romeo, Sadie’s BFF, seeks Ira out and settles down leaning hard against Ira’s leg.

Then there’s another of Sadie’s friends, Moses, the Miniature Poodle. When Moses visits us Ira has learned to gather all he’ll need for the next two hours before settling down in his favorite chair–The New York Review of Books, the remote for the stereo, a flute of good tequila. As soon as Ira’s butt hits the chair, Moses leaps into Ira’s lap taking possession of this prime doggie real estate.

But, alas, even Ira’s poodle magnetism isn’t enough to keep Sadie in bed with us. Just as we’re settling in for the night, Sadie jumps between us raising our hopes. All wiggles and kisses, she spins a nest for herself, and curls into a ball. Ira and I share a hopeful glance. Maybe this night will be different from all other nights. Maybe she’ll stay. But no, Sadie prefers her personal space. She insists on snuggling in her very own amply-cushioned couch in the adjoining room. Maybe you recall, I wrote about my unrequited cuddle lust in “My Dog Is Just Not that Into Me.”

So it was with both a little envy and a lot of joy that I read “Warm Nights, Cold Noses” in today’s New York Times. It’s a fun read and puts to bed any notions that people are kicking their animals out of the sack in response to research out of UC Davis that warned of the dangers of zoonoses (pronounced zoh-AN-ee-sees). Personally, I prefer pronouncing it zoo-noses. Anyway, here’s one of my favorite excerpts from the Times story:

Sometimes, however, sweet dreams are not an option, as Tracy Rudd, an illustrator in Manhattan, has discovered. One man she dated years ago picked up her growling, nipping Chihuahua and tossed her out of the bedroom, later to find his clothes soaked in urine. When Ms. Rudd, 47, met her current husband, she said she knew he was the one because when he put his arm around her in bed during the night, causing her dog to growl and nip at him, he didn’t seem to mind.

“He just said he respected her for defending her space,” Ms. Rudd said.

As a result, the dog respected him and a lasting marriage was born.

You can read the entire article here. And, be sure to read to the end. Really, you won’t want to miss Kathy Ruttenberg’s story. Hint: her favorite bed partner is not a dog, or a cat, or a rabbit. It’s another kind of zoo-nose altogether.

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Posted in Article review, Sleeping with dogs | 16 Comments »

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