Tiggy and Cleo

Tiggy and Cleo are the bestest friends. One is a small cat and one is a giant dog (I think she's just the right size if you ask me, but hey everyone has their own opinion). Tiggy and Cleo are such good friends but not all cats and dogs get along as well as they do. It isn't always the dog though, it can be the cat that just doesn't like dogs too of course. Cleo, as well as my other newfies I had before, always loved cats and well our own cats loved them too. Just sometimes you take the dog for a walk, they see a cat upon which they wag their big fluffy tails. The cat on the other hand often shows a fluffy tail for a completely different reason.

Just a short post today, but wishing you all a very Happy New(f) year!

~ Gunilla Wachtel - Kanweienea Kreations
www.kanweieneakreations.com

Nominate Favorite Vet and Film/Show/Song............by Debra of Sleepy Cat Designs

Most of us like to share feedback about great experiences we have had with people and businesses or express our feelings on a favorite movie, TV show or song, especially regarding animals and pets.

To help with this, I found these two opportunities to make our feelings and preferences known in a recent issues of a newsletter published online by www.GoPetPlan.com which I receive every month via email. Thought I'd share these in case others would like to nominate their favorites before the deadlines:

1 - PetPlan is seeking America's favorite vet. Anyone can nominate their favorite vet, from pet parents and veterinary office staff to friends and family. So, if you love the way your vet takes care of your four-legged family members, nominate them for a 2012 Petplan "Vet of the Year" Award. You could win a $500 PetSmart gift card, and your vet could win an all-expenses-paid trip to the Petplan UK Vet Awards!

Hurry - your chance to nominate your vet and win ends January 1, 2012! To nominate your outstanding vet, go to www.GoPetplan.com/VetAwards or call 1.866.467.3875 by Jan. 1, 2012.

2 - Do you have a favorite film, TV show, song or article that touches upon animal protection issues? Then show your thanks by nominating it for a Genesis Award! The Humane Society of the United States is now accepting nominations for the 26th annual Genesis Awards, which honors outstanding works in news and media who have increased the public's understanding of animal protection issues.

The submission deadline is December 30, 2011. Visit The HSUS website to submit your nomination:  http://www.humanesociety.org/forms/genesis_award_submission.html


Written by: Debra of Sleepy Cat Designs where you will find custom handmade cat safety collars in lots of cute fabric designs and many other useful and affordable accessories for people who love cats, too. Debra is a member of the Crafting for Animals Guild on ArtFire and encourages everyone to do what they can day by day to support and help animals in need, while giving loving homes to homeless animals whenever possible.

Dinner with the Neighbors Lifts Spirits

When you can laugh again, you know the healing has begun. We had lost one of our dogs, Xena, rather unexpectedly this August. We were stunned and very sad, because of the unexpected way it happened.

Several weeks later, we were out to dinner with our neighbors when they told us this story. In the wee hours of the morning, the guy couldn’t sleep and was sitting on his porch having a cigarette when he saw my husband set a sheet covered bundle on the back porch. He stood there surveying the back yard, then got a shovel from the shed and started digging!

The neighbor sat on his porch, in shock! Very quietly, he snuck back into his house, locked the doors and turned off all the lights. He shook his wife awake to tell her, “He went postal and killed his wife! He’s burying her out in the yard!”

All of us had a great laugh at this! What had actually happened was that Xena had died during an extreme heat wave. My husband had decided that 3 am was probably as cool as it was going to get outside, so he decided to go ahead and bury her as he couldn’t go back to sleep. That is what the neighbor saw.

I teased the guy about being "my hero" for all he did to "save" me that night! It was the first time we had laughed since losing Xena, and for us, it was the moment the healing started!

This story was submitted by Lisa Penosky of OBXPuparazzi on Artfire and OBXPuparazzi on Etsy.
Lisa is a retired nurse, and loves to sew. She enjoys creating dog bandanas and dog themed goodies for their people. She does craft shows and other dog related events.

Great Gifts by Active Crafting for Animals Guild Members

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Indie Design

What Toys Do Your Dogs Like? by Pam Todd

This is Eddie, our Boston Terrier, about 40 pounds, of which the vet says she would be happy if he lost two or three!  He loves his toys, and as Christmas is coming, we will be thinking about what presents to get for him to add to his basket and get at his will.

With that in mind, I Googled “favorite dog toys” and clicked on this one:  www.dogster.com/dog-toys/  It is interesting, but I don’t agree with everything said on that site, especially the topic at the end of this post.

But, as for the toys, they review many kinds, including chew toys, fetch toys, food dispensing toys, and tug toys.  Most of the descriptions mention that they come in different “chewability” characteristics, from the light chewer to very powerful chewers.  For the majority, the site suggests not allowing your dog to have the toys without supervision.  This is mostly related to their ability to chew the toy into pieces.

We have to class Eddie as a powerful chewer.  If a toy is stuffed, the cover is ripped, the stuffing let lie, and the new rag becomes a pacifier to carry around or go to sleep holding in his mouth.  Once he gets it to the rag stage, he doesn’t tear it anymore.  If a toy is rubber, it has to be really hard rubber if it is not to end up in small rubber pieces lying next to where he is chewing it!  We finally found a tug-of-war toy made of really hard rubber that he hasn’t chewed up, although he still does some chewing on it.  Every evening about the same time, Eddie brings that toy made of interlocking rings to my husband, sits by his chair, and waits patiently until Bob takes his end of the toy.  Then the tug-of-war begins!  So much fun to watch.  Eddie’s jaws are very strong, and he usually wins when I try to play that game with him!

Because he is such a powerful chewer, we try to provide the rawhide and “bones” that are either meant to be eaten, or ones that he can’t destroy at all.  He doesn’t get real bones, though, for safety reasons.

Many of the toys described on the site mentioned were food-dispensing toys.  A suggestion was made that food bowls should not be used, and that a dog’s means for getting food should be through a food-dispensing toy and only given as a reward for meeting training expectations. I was just sitting there, reading that, and shaking my head in disbelief.  How would those people like it if they were only given food if they performed an expected behavior?  And what if they had to somehow get it out of a container instead of eating it from a plate?  I have to confess that the idea made me more than angry.  I know all about Pavlov and his method used to train animals.  I don’t disagree about giving treats when dogs are learning to do something expected by their people.  But, that is a reward.  It isn’t the dog’s main feeding.  We feed Eddie about the same time every day, and shortly afterwards, take him right out side for a walk so he can answer Nature’s Call.  And when he is back inside, he does get a dog biscuit as a reward for taking care of business.  Others may disagree with me, but I didn’t like that suggestion at all about only getting food after performing an expected behavior.

It was interesting reading about the different toys.  In my thinking, the important thing is to know what your dog likes, and make sure it is safe for him or her to have.  And treat your dog as you would like to be treated with regular feedings, play and exercise, and tons of love. 

 

This post written by Pam Todd, a member of the Crafting for Animals Guild on Art Fire.  Pam’s shop, www.bagsandmorebypam.artfire.com features hand-crocheted items for people, pets, and homes.  Pam is an avid animal lover, supports the Elephant Sanctuary (www.elephants.com) in Hohenwald, Tennessee, and participated in the Close to Home Animal Rescue support project in October through the CFA Guild.

 

LiveJournal Tags: dogs,toys,Christmas,dog safety,dog training,dog feeding,pets,animnals,cfa guild,crafting4animals guild,animal lovers