Filed under: dogs | Tags: animal rescue, dogs, homeless animals, labrador, puppy, shady, shadytales, spiderman, superheroes, TGTB, this good that bad
September 25, 2010.
(Cue ominous, haunting music) The following story is true, though some names and immaterial facts have been changed to protect the innocent. Despite the shocking details, Shady, Melissa and TGTB opted to share this story as warning to dogs and families everywhere. Don’t let those cute puppy faces out there fool you…they are not what they seem… (end ominous music, cut to peaceful house in suburbia on a sunny fall day)
Mom: Ah what a lovely day! It’s a perfect day for a play date don’t you think, Shady?
Shady: What? What the heck is a “play date”?
Mom: It is when you play with another dog, but the parents plan it ahead of time.
Shady: What do you mean “another dog”? I am an only dog…
Mom: Well, you know that little puppy I told you about? The one my friend brings to our office?
Shady: (backing away, glancing nervously to find her precious bone to chew and hide from this potential intruder) Ummmmm, yeaaa?
Mom: (turning away, mumbling in the other direction and forgetting that dogs have really good hearing) I think that, maybe, his Dad will be dropping him off here soon and uuuh, kinda, sorta, leavinghimhereafewhourstostaywithus.
Shady: GASP! Spiderman is coming HERE?! All day without his parents?!
Repeat ominous music, fade to black. End Scene 1.
Ok, well you might think that is a little dramatic but I swear it is true. We had a 4 month old puppy in this house on Saturday. For the WHOLE NIGHT. You have all heard me say that it is getting a little lonely now, being an only dog but let’s just say I am reconsidering that. Having time alone with one’s thoughts is underrated, it is really quite lovely to have quiet and privacy and the whole bed to yourself whenever you want it.
Spiderman is a black lab puppy that was recently adopted by Mom’s co-worker and his fiancée. He came to NJ from a high kill shelter out-of-state and was the last of his litter of superhero-named puppies to be adopted. He gets to come into work at their office every day. I tried that a few times but it was not quite my thing. Apparently if you go there, you are supposed to behave like you do at home. They expect you to lay around and sleep, maybe talk a walk at lunchtime and generally be quiet and behave. You know, like a piece of furniture. When I leave the house, I prefer to pace, pant, whine and bark incessantly so we all agreed I would just stay home. Forever. If Spiderman is making the office-dog thing work, I figured he must be a total suck up.
Spiderman, at the office. Can you blame Mom for letting him come over?
Now that I have met him, I don’t think that anymore. I do think the bar at the office must be set a little lower for puppies! This guy was all over the place! There is no way I could get away with that, at home or in the office. He was all “oooh what’s this?” and “can I chew on that?” and most annoyingly “why are you laying down? I am here to play!”
“No, no Spiderman” I corrected him. “You are here because you are little and your Mom and Dad desperately need a break had somewhere to go and would not in a million years did not want to leave you all alone. As it is, my Mom has you confined to the yard and kitchen and has removed all area rugs and pretty much anything that you can reach from the room. Let’s just make the best of things shall we? I still remember how to play. Just remember I am bigger, older and this is MY house. ” After that, most of the evening was a blur. I will let my Mom finish the story…
Hey, I saw it first. Give it baccckkk...Mooommmmm!!!
(Shady’s Mom here) …and so it went, the ground rules were set. Don’t ask me what those rules were, though. I have no idea what those two figured out while barking, rolling and running. Shady kept up with him alright, and even instigated a few vigorous sessions on her own when I think little Spiderman would have preferred to nap.
Dude, seriously, what is going on with your ears?
Between the two of them, there was no rest and everyone was pretty exhausted. Finally, after about 5 hours of rolling around the house and yard, they settled together on the same dog bed. Thirty seconds later and before I could get my camera out the doorbell rang. It was time for Spiderman to go home! Shady settled in for the night after that and did not move for 12 hours. If she didn’t snore so much I’d have been checking her pulse.
So, maybe our household is not ready for a new puppy of our own. I must have called Shady “Nikki” a dozen times, I guess because I am used to two black labs and Nikki was always the big girl. Now it was Shady being the big girl. It didn’t make me sad, exactly, but it put an edge on the hurt we feel knowing that Shady and I will never have our best friends Nikki or LoJack back again.
Spiderman is welcome in our house anytime. Having him around at work is a lot of fun too. As for another dog in our family right now, we are both in agreement that we are just not ready yet. The puppy experience is pretty interesting from this angle and we were thrilled to hear that my co-worker adopted instead of going the pet store route. He and his fiancee are the “real” superheroes! They actually set out for an adult dog but a smart shelter worker routed him to Spiderman when the first few did not work out for him…she arranged it so Spiderman never spent even one day alone after his last sibling (Batman, who else?) was adopted. Hey, they all need homes so that works for us. We can’t wait to watch him grow up!
You know what else works for us? Telling these stories, fundraising for animal groups and hearing all of you tell us about your pets and rescue stories . For now, this is our best approach to helping the animals that still need their forever homes. Please visit our website, www.thisgoodthatbad.com for more information on how we got started and what we might be able to do for you, your rescue, shelter or group. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment here or on or Facebook page either, we’d love to meet you.
Filed under: animal rescue, Blog Hops, dogs, events | Tags: adopt a less adoptable pet, Adopt A Less Adoptable Pet Week, animal rescue, BlogPaws, dogs, homeless animals, LoJack, Petfinder, shady, shadytales, special needs pets, TGTB, this good that bad
I have been a busy blogdog this week. Petfinder’s “Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet Week” is dwindling down and this will probably be my last post about it. So far we have met a “less adoptable” cat, discussed “adoptable” in the animal world as a term akin to “supermodel” in the people world and even explored what a Petfinder listing for yours truly might read like. Tonight we’d like to get back to the point…making a case for opening your homes and hearts to my “less adoptable” friends. You may call them whatever you like; special needs, seniors, shy, shelter shocked, it doesn’t matter. Just don’t paint them with such a narrow brush that you don’t allow their true colors to come through. Visit as many pets as you can when looking to adopt, and look for a connection instead of a breed standard or particular size or age. The dog that you don’t think you want is usually the one that needs you the most.
I have been an only dog for a while now and some same species company might be nice around here. I am not picky—a girlfriend to gab with, a nice strong boy dog to protect me, or maybe even a sweet senior who will make me look like a pup again. Maybe I’ll just browse a little on Petfinder right now. There are a lot of new friends for me here…uh-oh…hold on just a minute. Whoa Puppy!!! Who is THIS handsome hunk of a sporting breed????
My man Case, looking for love in sunny California.
Now this is the exactly kind of “case” I had in mind! His name is Case! Can I keep him Mom? This 6-year-old German short-haired pointer, despite his rugged good looks and soft eyes, would also fall into the “less adoptable” category. I may be part cougar, but at my age of 9 I think his age of 6 sounds perfect! Even so, his age, size and mild manners make him statistically “less adoptable”. Just listen to his personal ad…er, umm I mean “Petfinder listing.”
Case is a 6-year-old neutered male whose world got turned upside down when he was left at the shelter, and he needs some time to adjust to what has happened. He’s a little uncertain right now, afraid of some noises, and a bit clingy. We’re recommending that any children in the home be 13 or older. Case is a handsome fellow who likes to go for rides in the car – in fact, he’ll hang around the car looking hopeful! He’s house-trained, behaves nicely in the house, and enjoys running around outside with the two female dogs in his foster home.
I remember LoJack being described a lot like this fellow. They called it shelter shock for him because after a lifetime with a family he didn’t understand where he was anymore. LoJack was clingy too but Mom loved that about him and the shyness melted away into what Mom termed “polite gregariousness” very soon after he settled in here. Mom loved a lot about LoJack, remember how he inspired the whole “This Good That Bad” fundraising thing? LoJack loved her a lot too and people would beat a path to Case’s door if they knew what was like to be loved like that. He just needs someone to bring him out of his shell and make him feel at home, because he WILL be home. See Mom? He sounds perfect!!!!!! I know it does not say it verbatim but I can read between the lines, he is clearly looking for a worldly and mature black Labrador to love him. Trust me, I speak dog.
Oh darn, Case is in California. Mom said “no, too far.” That’s what she said but I know he really is too much like LoJack and she is not ready yet. Hhhmph. Fine, I’ll stop with the Petfinder ads and maybe take out a personal ad of my own, then. “Single black female seeks a male dog of any color. Size really doesn’t matter….”
Still, I can’t believe that none of those west coast girl dogs, oops I mean “families” out there have not snapped up this fellow. Just look at this centerfold, oh yea I mean “avatar”. Whatever. There was never a better case for “less adoptable” than my man Case. Doesn’t make him any less of a dog and it doesn’t mean he has any less love to give.
That is why we say, Adoptable, Schmadoptable! Click on Case’s photo to view his complete information, or contact his rescue angels, who so want him to find his forever home, at:
NorCal German Shorthaired Pointer Rescue, Menlo Park, CA|
408-402-2092
Email NorCal German Shorthaired Pointer Rescue
See more pets from NorCal German Shorthaired Pointer Rescue |
For more information, visit NorCal German Shorthaired Pointer Rescue’s Web site.
This is a Blog Hop! 186 entries so far… you’re next!
Filed under: Blog Hops, dogs, events | Tags: adopt a less adoptable pet, Adopt A Less Adoptable Pet Challenge, Adopt A Less Adoptable Pet Week, adoptable, animal rescue, be the change, BlogPaws, cancer schmancer, dogs, Fran Drescher, homeless animals, Less adoptable, pet adoption, Petfinder, schmadoptable, shady, shadytales, TGTB, this good that bad
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for reading and sharing our post about “less adoptable” pets earlier this week. It was part of Petfinder’s “Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet” Challenge. We don’t have any new information yet on the gorgeous orange and white DSH cat we featured, Woody, but we hope he gets a new home as a result…and soon! He has done more than his share of “time” in that adoption center cage in NJ. If you missed it, you might want to go back and take a peek, especially at the third paragraph where we explain a little more about what the terms “adoptable” and “less adoptable” mean to the world and to us. At the end of the day, those terms are nothing more than labels and “adoptable” is truly in the eye of the beholder.
After that post, we heard from a lot of families who were grateful for the opportunity to have all kinds of special dogs and cats in their lives. Many of them never even gave the “special needs” or challenges these animals had a second thought. Their eyes, and ultimately their hearts, went straight to the good in them.
All of this got me thinking….what if I wasn’t in this family? What if I wasn’t Mom’s pet? My family found me in a fancy mall pet store. Had the shopkeepers there taken the time to get to know me (like shelter workers , rescuers and fosters do) and been concerned about finding the right match for me, they would have told Mom more about what she was getting into. I think the little sign on my cage, or perhaps my Petfinder listing if I ended up lost or on the street any time during my life, might have read like this if someone else wrote it:
It's true, I'm a little shy...
Ah, yes! Mom found the secret, it's in the BONES...
Shady is a loveable petite Labrador puppy who mostly just wants to follow, love and be loved. She will trust you and any pets you have to protect her from harm and in return will be by your side her entire life, ready to snuggle and smooch on a moment’s notice. She learns quickly from other dogs in the household and will do whatever they do without question. Despite rough beginnings in a puppy mill crate, she will remain freakishly resistant to any virus or infection that plagues the other dogs or fosters on the house, thus cutting your medical costs by at least one-third. Shady can be a little nervous at times, but she thrives on routine and having a nice clean bone at the ready will go a long way to calm her when there is a disruption in the schedule. She is a bit of a homebody and thinks the whole world is this house and yard and that is just fine with her. Shady adores all adults, children and dogs she meets. She greets them gently and makes them feel welcome by cozying right up wherever they settle. She will be an ideal host to any foster or newly adopted pet that moves through here for any length of time. She will also be an ideal companion as your other dogs’ age, keeping them company in the toughest of times and looking out for them to the end. She will miss them when they are gone, but make comforting you after their loss her top priority.
(Hey! Mom, you left out the part “Shady will eventually evolve into a celebrity blogger!” That’s OK, I guess, I think that evolution is still in progress. Hee hee) You see? Now all of a sudden I am ready to be someone’s best friend and totally “adoptable!” Hey! Mom, you left out the part “Shady will eventually evolve into a celebrity blogger”. As one Fran Drescher might say “Adoptable, Schmadoptable!” Well, I guess the point is, you have to be honest when describing what a dog or cat needs when they are looking for a new family. All animals might not be ”adoptable” to everyone but we are all adoptable to someone. We are probably just what that someone needs, we just need the chance to find them. People need to know what they are getting into for sure and the pet needs to be protected from a mismatch. How can you possibly describe what they will get in return? That is much harder to convey in any tiny listing or sign. Just tell them to keep reading around here, or any of the 100 plus blogs on the Blog Hop and they’ll learn soon enough. So, what if your dog or cat wasn’t your own? If you were fostering them, what would you tell prospective adopters about them?
Shady’s Mom, Melissa, is the director of marketing for a firm in NJ by day, and a blogger an entrepreneur by night. She still has good days and bad days since losing two of her dogs last year. She knows they would be proud of her efforts to help animal rescue through her “This good. That bad.” products. Please come back and visit us soon and if you are in animal rescue, contact us to learn more about how we can help you fundraise.
This is a Blog Hop! 186 entries so far… you’re next!
Filed under: animal rescue, Blog Hops, cats, events | Tags: adopt a less adoptable pet, Adopt A Less Adoptable Pet Challenge, Adopt A Less Adoptable Pet Week, adoptable, animal rescue, be the change, BlogPaws, cats, companion animals, Less adoptable, Petfinder, shady, shaytales, supermodels, TGTB, this good that bad
Something funny is going on around here. It started with my bones. In case I never mentioned it before, I love my bones. These are not just any dog bones, they are a special kind and brand that I have been gnawing on since I was a pup. Even when there were 3 dogs in this house I had them all to myself. That’s because I NEED them and everyone knows it. Mom calls them “security bones” because whenever I am nervous or upset I must have one with me. That means we always have to have them ”on paw”. Lately however, I notice they smell a little funny. They smell a little like…cat. Now they are cow bones to be sure so why would they smell this way?
When confronted Mom finally ‘fessed up. When she goes to the pet store to pick them up, she visits the cat adoption room. There is one cat in particular that she visits and she even plays with him and holds him once in a while! And she is allergic!!! Even though she washes her hands after the smell still gets onto my precious bones. At first this made me a little angry. Sometimes I get jealous of the stuff she does for OTHER animals like with her fancy This Good That Bad fundraising and all, but I calmed down once she showed me the photo below and told me a little more about this homeless cat who is right here in our local shelter in NJ: Woody.
Woody. He looks like a supermodel to us! He is in NJ and looking for a home. Click photo for all his info.
Woody is what some would call a “less adoptable” cat. That’s because “adoptable” is one of those words that has a very layered meaning. In the animal rescue community, we know they are all adoptable…and yet they also know that many will go unadopted. They feel the right family is out there for each dog or cat but recognize there are a lot of obstacles in making those matches. To Mom and people like her, “adoptable” means “cleared the stray waiting period and ready to go to a new home”. To a lot of folks looking to adopt it can be something more specific like “has zero human-perceived faults, is the ideal weight, height and color to fit in any people-home no matter how little time I can spend with him, anywhere in the world.” Huh? Mom explained it to me like this…”less adoptables” are really just the regular pets like any other, just like regular people are. Most of us know that on a certain level. It just has a tendency to get lost when one is flipping through available pets on the pages of Petfinder, I guess.
Let’s say there is maybe a 41-year-old size 10 (on a good day) woman like Mom listed on a web page and looking for a new home. Now Mom has good heart and can cook up a storm but also has some issues; she has to take medicine every day, she is very cranky in the morning, she tends to interrupt people, has frizzy hair with that is going gray…what’s that Mom? Did you say something? Oh yea, sorry. OK, enough of that. Anyway, up against so many other people in the world, those basic human traits alone make Mom “less adoptable”. There is nothing she can do if someone else only sees “adoptable” as a 25-year-old, single woman (also with a good heart) who happens to be a size 4 and who exercises every day, eats only the healthiest food, has perfect hair since birth and remarkable teeth and…. well, you get the idea. Think, “borderline genius-supermodel.” Do these people exist? Yes, they do. Do they deserve a good home and a happy life? Yup, sure do. But so does my Mom! Whether or not you get a forever home and find people to love you should depend on your heart, not your appearance and fears or conditions you may have. When it comes to choosing the people in our lives, there is not much clarification needed. People teach it to their kids from early childhood, you know, “don’t judge a book by its cover” and all that. Why it is different for cats and dogs-and what exactly is the deal with Woody that makes him “less adoptable”?
Woody's back paw. Defect, or part of his charm? That's in the eye of the beholder I suppose, so how do we change that?
He looks fine to me. To hear Mom tell it, he is fine. Better than fine. He is a big ol’ love of a cat; sweet, alert and friendly. Woody is like this despite being dumped in a pet carrier outside the store by his family and stuck in a tiny cage at the adoption center for many months. He still has faith in people and sees them for what is in their heart and mind rather than what they wear or what size or color they are. He has put his faith in people to help him out of this mess and a lot of people are trying to do just that. So why isn’t anyone doing the same for him? Why is no one seeing him as he really is and taking him home? The reason is something Mom did not even notice till the third or fourth time she saw him but anyone who reads his Petfinder listing will know right away…he has a problem with back feet. It does not keep him from getting around at all, he just happens to have been born a little deformed. He has a cat version of “clubfeet” sort of, maybe less severe than that. They show photos of it on his Petfinder page and it appears all it means is that it will be hard to trim his back nails. Oh really? Well he is a CAT after all so I am thinking that goes without saying whether you have a deformity or not, am I right? He has a few other strikes against him too…the basic feline offenses such as being an adult and not a kitten, not enjoying the company of dogs (shocking, I know) and being one of millions who need a home. I think we can agree that none of these factors are his fault. His listing outlines all these precious details about him and it also says he is ”adoptable”. I believe this is a correct statement but based on his long tenure with the shelter he seems to be straddled with the unspoken title of “less adoptable.”
I am a pet store pup. I may have had a controversial start in life but I had a cushy set up for finding a forever home after that. Just knowing that cats and dogs like Woody have to go through this kind of unfair profiling is really upsetting. I am gnawing one of my security bones even as I tap these words. Animals like Woody are not the exceptions; they are more like the rule, sort of…in the same way that brainiac supermodels are the exceptions in the human race and regular people are the rule. Petfinder and BlogPaws are trying to change the rules and win the game. That’s why came together to “Be the Change” for dogs and cats scarrying the “less adoptable” mantle and came up with the idea for “Petfinder’s Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week” That’s kind of like someone taking on the challenge of going through all the magazines and TV shows and putting the supermodel types on the last pages and in the supporting roles far behind the ordinary people. It won’t be easy, so they need our help. From September 19-25 you will find all sorts of blog posts and press about less adoptable pets. Please participate any way you can…share links, feature a pet on your own blog, or better yet adopt or foster one of these “less adoptable” charmers.
One of the biggest differences between people and animals is that they cannot do stuff like this for themselves, The only weapon they have to change a bad situation is to win us over one at a time, like Woody won over Mom. I am here to tell you, that is taking too long. We can’t wait much longer for things to change and this funny business to end. We need you to Be The Change for us.
Note from Shady’s Mom: Don’t let Shady hear this, but our own LoJack was also considered less adoptable. By definition she herself is somewhat is “less adoptable” these days. I can only imagine what a Petfinder listing for either of them would sound like. We’ll have more on that, and a hypothetical Petfinder listing for my very much already adopted pets, on another post later this week and before the end of the Petfinder Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week Challenge .
This is a Blog Hop! 186 entries so far… you’re next!
Filed under: animal rescue, events | Tags: Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week Challenge, adoptable, animal rescue, be the change, BlogPaws, dogs, Less adoptable, Petfinder, Petfinder challenge, shady, shadytales, TGTB, this good that bad
It’s almost here! Check back early tomorrow, September 19, 2010 for the first of several posts we have planned to promote adoption of animals that society has deemed “less adoptable”. Here’s a hint…even I may not be so adoptable as I think and even you, dear reader could be a victim of this kind of prejudice. If you have your own blog and would like to participate in this event, click on the photo below for details. We cannot wait to read your comments after you see what we have in store for you in this very important topic.
Shady’s Mom, Melissa, is the director of marketing for a firm in NJ by day, and a blogger an entrepreneur by night. She still has good days and bad days since losing two of her dogs last year. She knows they would be proud of her efforts to help animal rescue through her “This good. That bad.” products. If she cannot adopt them all she wants to at least increase their chances any way she can. Please come back and visit us soon and if you are in animal rescue, contact us to learn more about how we can help you fundraise.
Filed under: Blog Hops, dogs | Tags: animal rescue, Blog Hop, dogs, Pedigree, Pedigree Adoption Drive, Pedigree Blog Hop, pet food drive, Write a Post Help a Dog
We are taking part in Pedigree’s Blog Hop this week! What is that? Well I am not completely sure, so join us as we learn, won’t you? I do know that if you read on you will find out how Pedigree helps homeless animals and get a chance to make a difference yourself–just fan their Facebook page and they will donate food to a shelter. You will also get to meet new people and discover a lot of cool new blogs you should be reading. If you have a blog of your own, you can join anytime between 9/16 and 9/19/2010. So read on and get the facts right along with us.
If you were referred here from a blog hop link already, you might want to check out this post instead to see the kinds of things you can expect to see on this blog regularly. This was one of my most visited posts, ever. If you like what you read, please use the link on the left to subscribe. Now back to the “hop”.
The Facts:
Each year, more than 4 million dogs end up in shelters and breed rescue organizations. Pedigree created The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive to help shine a spotlight on the plight of these homeless dogs.
This year the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive is raising awareness for homeless dogs by donating a bowl of food to shelter dogs for everyone who becomes a “Fan” or “Likes” The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive on Facebook. So far more than 1 million bowls have been donated the goal is for Pedigree to be able to give a bowl of food to each and everyone of the 4 million dogs in shelters and rescues by the end of the year.
How the Pedigree BlogPaws Bloggers are stepping it up to Be the Change:
Thanks for blog hopping with us! Note to our fellow bloggers: WordPress does not support the java needed to update this list auto-magically” so we will do so manually once a day.
Shady’s Mom, Melissa, is the director of marketing for a firm in NJ by day, and a blogger an entrepreneur by night. She still has good days and bad days since losing two of her dogs last year. She knows they would be proud of her efforts to help animal rescue through her “This good. That bad.” products. If she cannot adopt them all she wants to at least increase their chances any way she can. Please come back and visit us soon and if you are in animal rescue, contact us to learn more about how we can help you fundraise.
Filed under: dogs | Tags: animal rescue, contest, golden retriever, homeless animals, shadytales, TGTB, TGTB Writing Challenge, this good that bad
Guess what you did? Yes, YOU. Not just me and Mom, not just This Good That Bad (TGTB) but everyone we know from Facebook and Twitter and our website and the blog all together…we have raised $500 for animal rescues and causes this summer! Oh sure, we had fun along the way, too. We gave away car magnets and T-shirts to the caption contest winners and we got to know each other a little better as well. Still there was time for some serious business; the kind of business TGTB set out to do from its inception—help homeless animals directly.
The way it works is, you guys buy stuff at our TGTB site and Mom donates the money we make. If a sale is not part of a fundraiser for a specific group then we wait till we have a bunch of individual sales and come up with a way to give you a chance to win sp,e of the proceeds for their favorite cause. Sometimes we just pick somebody to give it to on our own but our contests accounted for most of the donations this summer. That means you guys did all the work—from shopping to participating– and you chose the beneficiaries. So sit back, grab a big cup of that coffee you people seem to love so much (all I ever get is water, you know) and use the links to take a stroll down memory lane and relive the highlights of TGTB’s summer 2010 as you read the recap of where it all went.
Chaucer, our writing contest winner's companion.
$100 Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue
for Nicole and Chaucer (May 2010)
Winner of the TGTB Writing Challenge
$100 Forever Home Beagle Rescue
for Rebecca (June 2010)
Winner of the TGTB Pet Food Giveaway
$ 75 AZ R.E.S.C.U.E.
for Alana (August 2010)
Winner of “The Love of Dog is Universal” Contest
$ 25 Humane Society of Knox County
for Morganne, photographer (August 2010)
“The Love of a Dog is Universal “ Contest
(This is also the shelter that helped Chihuahua Ricardo out of a “Little Black Mess” and into a new forever home)
Now of course, doing what we do means we meet a lot of people each day-online and in person – who are doing good things for animals. We wish we could help every one of them and maybe someday when our slogans and T-shirts become “household names” we will. For now, we chose a few other worthy causes to support without any kind of contest. Knowing what we know about the people who shop at TGTB we are pretty sure you would approve, but please use the links to read more about them if you’d like:
To sponsor a senior pet, Cocoa, and his medical care
2 donations, $25/per (May and August 2010)
$ 25 Country Haven Kennel
To support Buddy, an animal abuse victim released to the kennel’s care by NJ courts
and Hannah, a special needs foster in the kennel’s care. (July 2010)
$ 25 Operation Fuzzy Mice
Outreach program in CA, provides essential pet supplies to low-income families (July 2010)
$ 25 Shelby’s Auction
TEAM Shelby, Anipal auction to raise money for an abused pit bull’s medical care
(August 2010)
$ 75 Miscellaneous cash and product donations to our favorite groups such as the Burlington County Animal Alliance (the rescue that saved our LoJack) and Mariah’s Promise, a no-kill sanctuary in Colorado that our friend Mayzie told us about. (June-May 2010)
Ricardo
It has been a privilege to meet and work with you. From the bottom of my spoiled little pet store puppy heart, I want to thank you for making these donations possible. The numbers from TGTB alone will probably never be high enough to save them all, but it is nice to know that if we keep at it and keep working together we can continue to make a difference for homeless dogs and cats. Please continue to visit us and fundraise with us. We have enjoyed this pause for reflection but we both know there is still so much more that these animals need. No one person or pet can do it alone.
This Good That Bad is looking ahead to a fall/winter promotion that is yet to be determined, but as always the real winner will be an animal cause or group. Please visit us often and if you have any suggestions for products or promotions or if you are interested in fundraising for your own group with our products, do not hesitate to contact us.
Filed under: animal rescue, dogs, events | Tags: cats, contest, dogs, homeless animals, Nikki, pet grief, pet loss, shadytales, TGTB, this good that bad
Once again, Mom and I are proud to totally take the credit for a post that pretty much wrote itself. Actually, our Facebook friends wrote it for me this time. You see, we had another photo caption contest last week. We do those now and then using silly or cute photos and we give out small prizes like car magnets and other items from the TGTB site. They are always good for a laugh and they sort of wake everyone out there up and remind them that we are here.
A few weeks ago, in response to yet another sort of interactive game/post called “Sam’s Story” we received an email with some really nice photos in it from our Facebook friend Morganne. They did not have their own captions but she had titled the series of them “The Love of a Dog is Universal” because they were shots she had taken during her travels and they showed dogs from all over the world. Two of them in particular really spoke to Mom and me and we had a feeling they would to others as well. In honor of my late sister’s Nikki’s birthday we decided to offer a donation to animal rescue as a prize and asked our readers , fans and friends to come up with captions for these very moving portraits.
The first photo was taken in Guyana, were stray dogs roam freely and often right alongside stray horses and other livestock. While I suspect this is a stray catching a nap, you can imagine what it might have conveyed to dog lovers like my Mom:
Photo Credit: Morganne Price
The winning entry was from Alina, who donated her prize to AZ R.E.S.C.U.E. in Arizona and her caption read:
“Here we lay in nice cool shade,
just like we did in better days.
Though you’re gone I’m still right here,
because being close eases my fear. “
It was very difficult to choose a winner! There were two photos for entrants to choose from and all of the entries were thoughtful and well written…here are some of our other favorites for this image:
“Now I lay me down to sleep…” Abbey
“The love of a dog is God’s greatest gift; in death as in life.” BJ
Now the other photo, depicting a homeless man and his dogs in Bath, England:
Photo credit: Morganne Price
And some more of the entries:
“We won’t leave you if you don’t leave us…no matter WHAT!! “ Angie
“I will suffer through with you as we are “one”. I am always with you, in good times and bad. God sent me to be your friend, and together we are not alone. “ Shari
You can see all of the entries on the Facebook album. It has been a privilege to meet and see the world through so many of our new friends’ eyes. We are honored to be trusted with your photos and stories. Thank you for letting us into your lives and for sharing so openly with us. If we keep this up it will surely do some good for the all the four-legged creatures like me that brought you together.
Note from Shady’s Mom: We hope you’ll come back and visit our blog often, and comment freely (we love reading what you have to say). You can also keep up with us at our website www.thisgoodthatbad.com where we help homeless animals by giving them the shirt off our backs. Look for us on Facebook and Twitter too.
Like this:
Filed under: dogs | Tags: abused animals, Amazon Cares, animal rescue, homeless animals, pet adoption, pit bull, ScoopPup Pocket, shady, shadytales, Shelby, team Shelby, TGTB, this good that bad, Tiny Growl
It is another beautiful Sunday in suburbia. Mom and Dad have carefully manicured the back lawn and the deck so they can get outside this weekend and enjoy the lovely weather. Try as they might to convince me otherwise, I never join them for more than 5 minutes at a time…have I mentioned that I am an “inside” dog? Plus, I have them trained so well to jump out of their comfy deck chairs to open and close the sliding door for me on the slightest tap of my paw, I would hate to undo all that hard work or confuse them. You know how important it is to be consistent when training.
I will admit Mom and I figured everyone would be outside this holiday weekend and maybe away from their computers too so we were going to quietly “skip” this week’s post. Turns out there is just too much going on here and we could not wait to share it so… here we are! I have made an exception in my “vampire-like- indoor- and- under- the-basement- desk” ways and joined Mom on the deck to make it easier for her to still consider this a day “off” while she writes this for me. She better type fast though, because I don’t know how long I can last out here.
First and foremost we would like to thank Amazon Cares for acknowledging my little ol’ bloggie on their great big blog. “Dog Eared Tales” made their list of 15 Pawesome Blogs. Not only do I really appreciate the kind things they had to say about me, Mom appreciates being introduced to 14 other blogs we should be following. We both also really appreciate their mission; to protect the countless stray animals that roam the streets and villages of Peru. You have to be pretty brave to visit a foreign country and then decide to stay behind to try to make a difference for the animals you meet there. That is just what their founder Molly Mednikow did and she is making a real difference for them every day. Thank you, Molly and everyone at Amazon Cares for, well caring!
Too bad I am scared of the car, huh?
ScoopPup Pocket
Mom and I did our part to make a small difference this week too. Not just with the auction donation, but we hosted our own contest to benefit homeless animals. It was kind of spur of the moment and it’s over now but as always we learned a lot about our friends and followers out there in social media land. We will save those insights to share on the next post because today we want to leave you to focus on other people like those we mention above. They were kind enough to give us our props, so that’s enough about us.” This post is for the bloggers, non profits, rescuers, shelter volunteers, those in animal transport , pet adoption cross posters, Tweeters who promote adoption and the hundreds, thousands maybe even millions of people out there who each find a way to do their part for a cause they believe in. It is the sum total of us all that will make the most difference for animals.
Shelby: Alone no more.
Shady believes that no matter what our methods, causes or beliefs , we are not alone. She isn’t alone in that thought either and if you ever doubt it maybe these quotes will remind you:
“Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.” Orson Welles
“We read to know we are not alone” C.S. Lewis.
“We are not alone in this universe so vast” Steel Prophet
“We’re really not so different after all , We’re not alone” Karla DeVito
