My Own Bobble Head!

Meet tink. My new tiny Jack Russell dog. Isn't she cute? She loves to ride in the back window of my car. This, of course, creates quite the reaction at intersections. Heads all looking our way, fingers pointing to others so they won't miss her, smiles on people's faces, waves from folks. She is the best adornment for a car that I have ever had!

July 4th Aftermath

This year my neighborhood was noisier than in the past on the 4th of July this year. When I went out for a walk at 11 PM with my new dog, my street was filled with a fog like haze. I quickly realized it was due to the amount of fireworks being set off in the proximity of my door. 

The next morning, I confirmed just how many people had participated in lighting off fireworks. I found several piles like the ones shown here. I have never seen such displays of fun left to cool off until the morning before. One of the participants noted that the big dark canister in the upper right corner of the top photo went off for about 15 minutes. 

Fortunately, my new Jack Russell is not afraid of the noise. My Australian Sheppard hated the noise and walking her on New Years Eve and July 4th were always a problem. I hope it is quite wherever she is.

The last of my menagerie is gone

Yet again, I had the good fortune to end the suffering of someone I loved. My beloved, Mr. Knuckles passed away earlier today. After spending 14 1/2 years with me, his kidneys gave out, which is all to common with kitties. It became apparent that I needed to humanely end the pain when he could no longer walk without falling. I was hoping that his disease would move quickly in the end so that he wouldn't have to undergo the pain of an iv. Unfortunately it became clear that without my help his pain may continue for an unknown amount of time. I couldn't allow that to happen to the animal that had been with me the longest and helped me survive the loss of three dogs. 

If there is an animal heaven he is with his old pals, Kaelee, Cooper and Bear. I miss them all horribly. Pets do wonderful things for us, but alas, their lives are too short. I will miss by buddy. So long good friend. Thanks for sharing your life with me. I am a better human because of it. 

Pilots-N-Paws

In early 2008 pilot Jon Wehrenberg flew a Doberman Pincher dog from Florida to South Carolina for his friend Debi Bois. Thus Pilots-N-Paws was founded. They have become a nationwide team of small-aircraft pilots and animal rescuers who move animals from over crowded facilities to shelters and rescue groups committed to finding them homes. 

Since that time nearly 300 pilots have joined the group that uses a web-based message broad to let them know about animals in need. So far this fantastic group has saved over 300 animals. Yet another example of folks working together to make a difference. 

Go Pilots-N-Paws!

We can learn something from these four

Unlikely pairs are a passion of mine. If the animal kingdom can be accepting of others why can't the human race? 

These pairs are fast friends who hang out with each other every moment of the day and evening. Perhaps we could all learn from these fabulous four!

Lemon the Duck

If this story doesn't warm your heart, you better check yourself into a hospital.

Meet Lemon the duck, her canaine friend Casey, and mom Laura Backman.

Lemon was born in Laura's elementary classroom and it was immediately apparent that the duck had a neurological disorder that prevented her from standing upright. Being a kind and caring person that values animal life, Laura decided to take her home and care for her.

Casey, a foster mom to other unfortunate animals, befriended the duck and is often found sleeping next to her when she is not pushing herself around in her PVC pipe custom chair.

How delightful is this? If we could all learn to be kind to other beings of all physical abilites, this would be a much kinder world to live in. 

Lemon, Laura and Casey are an inspiration!

Cooper's pals

These are some of Cooper's dog friends. They were featured in the Ann Arbor News recently in an article about the renewal of the county park millage. 

We walk at County Farm Park with them off and on. We don't see them as often in the cold weather. As you can see they have their coats on and it's only November. Imagine how cold these adorable Italian Greyhounds get in February. 

Vote yes for the millage on Tuesday!

Pets and kids

Meet Boomer Hodel and his rat Tofu.

Boomer lives in Hawaii and has taught his pet rats, Tofu and Fin to surf. 

He made the one foot long surf boards himself so that his pals could surf solo. They take to beach twice a week for about 20 minutes of surfing and then its a little warm up on the sunny beach before heading home. 

He feeds them a high protein, low carbohydrate diet to enhance their performance. Seems to be working well so far.

Makes you wish you could be a pet rat in Hawaii!

Taking the whole family on vacation

Wondering where to take your vacation? Worried that Fido will miss you so much (or vice versa) that maybe you want to take him/her with you? Yea? 

Well, then here is an article for you! They have surveyed folks with pets to find the ones that welcome pets, not just tolerate them. After all they are part of the family! At the bottom of the article are the top ten vote getters.

Or check this site out for other pet friendly establishments. I'm glad that businesses are making the connection that good service includes taking care of the entire family!

Animal cruelty

Oh, the silly things we do to our pets. Do you suppose they feel as humiliated as they look?

A sad story to be sure

How do you explain to your two year old son that the family dog is never, ever going to come home? That is what this family was faced with when Gennese County (Michigan) Animal Control officials "accidentally" euthanized their family pet. 

The dog was in quarantine for observation when he escaped his home and bit a woman. He was days way from release when a hand written card was misread and he was lead away to his death.

So, how does this shelter make amends for this indescribable event? The Animal Control Interim Director offers to let the family adopt a new animal and will only charge them the cost to spay or neuter the animal. I'm surprised that they didn't charge the family a fee for the killing of their family member.

I hope this Interim Director is not given the job. I understand accidents happen, and yes the dog was an offender, but regardless, they should be bending over backwards to do whatever they can to make this awful situation better. And most certainly not insulting them by causing more pain. Shame on them in every aspect of this regrettable situation.

5 seconds of fun!

5 seconds of fun! I love this! 

I have an affinity for small animals. Probably comes from my first pets (not family pets) which were two female mice. The idea was they wouldn't fight, plus we wouldn't have lots more baby mice. Problem was they were already pregnant. All of a sudden we had something like 12 mice! Which wasn't crazy enough, but they would get loose and head for the big bag of food in my bedroom. I'd come home from school and find them feasting on mice mix. And in my dreams this is what they would look like when I opened the bag. 

My mom made me give them to the local pet store because we couldn't keep them all, besides who could afford to fix all of them? So, I took Cocoa, Mocha, and the gang to their eminent deaths to become snake food. It broke my heart when I realized what was going to happen to them. Every day I'd walk to the pet store on my way home from school and look into their cage. Every so often one would go missing, I'd look in the snake cages for the tell tale bump. Sometimes it was there, sometimes it wasn't. I'd like to think some of them got adopted....

It was one of the hardest lessons I had ever learned. It broke my small heart.

But not to leave you on a sad note. Watch this and you'll cheer up!