Thought this was a good article with some ideas for small businesses to raise money for pets and other causes. Examples include a yoga studio offering fee yoga if you bring pet supplies and the ideas could be replicated to anything from haircuts to lawnmowing.
http://animalsheltertips.com/blog/fundraising/ten-fundraisers-for-small-businesses-to-help-homeless-pets/
If you have never watched videos on Ted before, you are really missing out. Ted is a treasure trove of interesting videos from the informative to the inspirational, but always thought provoking to say the least. I have yet to see a Ted video I didn’t enjoy, and I just read someone’s idea of watching one every morning to get you in the right frame of mind. This seems like a great idea as the talks are brief and focused, and they get you thinking rather than just pouring through emails and looking at snippets of information. Great way to get your brain going if you need the help like I do.
We came across Alice’s Bucket List on CNN and pulled up her site and started reading about her, and she is extraordinary to say the least. She is a fearless young girl who has been told she is going to die of cancer and so she put a list online of all the things she wants to do before she dies. Her touching story shows the power of the internet to connect people from around the world. She is getting to meet people from everywhere online, getting to fulfill some of her wildest dreams, etc. all because of her blog. It is a sad story, but you can take some solace knowing that Alice is going to be living more of a life in her final days than we do in our entire lives. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/06/09/uk.cancer.teen.bucket.list/
Here is a quick blurb/article on Pilots n Paws: http://pilotsnpaws.org/2011/06/a-soldiers-new-best-friend/ It is an incredible organization that we have only recently learned of but does amazing work. It is surprisingly helpful to bring dogs from one geography to another where demand warrants it. For example, chihuahuas from California to New York, etc. These pilots volunteer their planes and money for free. Here is one that helped bring service dogs to army veterans. If you google around you will find tons of articles about how many lives these pilots have saved. They are amazing to say the least.
The Dallas Mavericks have finally won the NBA championship and beaten the Miami Heat. This is no small news as Maverick was named after the Dallas Mavericks. We have been telling him he is a champion for years, so it is nice he now finally has the trophy to back him up!
By the way, Dirk Nowitzki could not have played better and handled the fame better. He was incredibly humble and modest, a real breath of fresh air. Maverick’s name was almost Dirk but it didn’t sound as catchy and Jen vetoed it but he would have been well represented tonight. The most interesting thing that came out is that Dirk doesn’t use an agent; he negotiates his contracts himself. I have never met him, but he seems like a real gem and we are glad to have him on our team.
Jen took Cosita to the vet the other day to get her first shots and have her checked out. She told me two or three people at the vet called home to their significant others to see if they could bring Cosita home, including our veterinarian. We would be delighted if he took her because he is a great guy, though we would obviously miss her. The one thing that was a bit disturbing was that we have noticed that she has a bit of an odd shaped front leg that doesn’t bother her but we were worried she was hurt as a puppy and didn’t get treatment. The vet looked at it and said she could have broken her bone and not received treatment or she could have been born that way. We hope she didn’t have to go through the pain of a broken leg, but are at least happy that it is not affecting her now.
We just sent this write-up over to SFTH for her posting, so please forward it along if you know someone interested in adding a great dog to their life:
After having spent a week with Cosita, we can say that she is perhaps the cutest and sweetest dog we have ever met. She is stopped by everyone who sees her and should be in movies. If you have seen the movie Shrek, her eyes looks like the Puss n Boots character. She is just a complete delight to be around, never barks and loves to cuddle. She is happiest sitting next to us and following us around everywhere. The only negative at all is that she just gets so attached so quickly that she can get pretty possessive of you quickly. We recently took her to the vet for shots, heart worm medicine, etc and the veterinarian called his wife during our visit to see if he could bring her home! Do not miss your chance to add an amazing dog to your home. We saw her parents and one was a chihuahua and one was a mut. It is a shame because you will never see this cute of a dog bred again. Anyway, it would not be possible to write enough great things about Cosita Bonita as she is such a special special dog.
Well, after a few short days, Jen is caving on this fostering thing. Predictably, she wants to keep Cosita. Now that she has been posted on SFTH she is growing increasingly possessive. While I also love Cosita, if we keep her we will not be able to continue fostering; and, she will be able to find a great family because she is so great. Of course, if for some reason, nobody great came along I would be delighted to add her to our family but I suspect that will not be an issue. Jen usually wins all of our family debates so we shall see if this will be different. At least we have two great options: adopt Cosita or find her a great family. Either way, I will put it in the win column.
A Connecticut service dog has been laid off because of budget problems. Publicly funded groups definitely need to cut back so this is understandable as long as the dog has a great life ahead of him. We were pleased to see in the article that his officer in charge will be taking him home to be part of his family. Would be better if he could still work, but it sounds like he will have a nice life ahead of him. Thanks for your service Paro!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2000019/Now-police-dog-getting-pink-slip-thanks-budget-cuts.html
We are pretty sad about it. She is such a great dog. We would love to keep her, but it does not seem like we will ever be able to foster again if we keep every dog. The nice thing is that if we do not find a family that will take AMAZING care of her we will just have to keep her.
