MAV'S RESCUE FRIENDS

This is a great article on Yahoo about pitbulls and their history. We have long blamed human beings for the issues we have with pitbulls today. Any puppy you take from scratch will still be incredibly sweet but if people keep breeding the most aggressive dogs and the ones that are the best able to fight (ie ones with strong jaws, no sensitivity in the skin, muscular, etc.) and then treat them horribly and make them fight, pitbulls do not stand a chance in society: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/pit-bulls-surprising-past-nanny-dogs-195612543.html

She literally could not be sweeter or cuter. It is hard to imagine how the family that was supposed to adopt her did not take her because she is not a pure bred chihuahua. She is not hyper at all for a puppy and she is as sweet as can be. We are going to be very protective with regard to what home she goes to I am sure. Interestingly, she looks a lot like Maverick but with longer hair. That is where the comparison ends, though. She is far calmer and easier to take care of

Here is a great organization: http://outofthepits.org. This organizations trains pitbulls for police work so they can be used in the field. What a great idea-this makes a ton of sense as we have so many pitbulls out there that are not wanted. Also, perhaps if pitbulls are used more by police and in non-aggressive settings, then the public’s opinion on them will morph over time.

Although Maverick, Jen, and I are excited the Dallas Mavericks are in the finals, we unfortunately recently realized that Mav’s Friends has to compete with Dallas Mavericks websites that are “friends” and “fans” of the Mavericks. I suppose it is pretty stupid that we did not think of this up front as a potential issue for people finding this site, but we are hoping Maverick the minpin will prove more popular than the real team

We received a call from the head of SFTH today to foster our first dog. We are picking her up on Saturday and will post pictures soon. If you are looking for a 8 month old adorable chihuahua puppy, start checking SFTH’s website soon. You will have to race Jen to adopt her!

Well, Maverick is a bit bummed tonight because his Dallas Mavericks have lost the first finals game to the Miami Heat. No, Maverick was not named after Top Gun, and when we get a second dog he or she will not be named Goose or Ice Man. We both are from Dallas and naturally Maverick is named after our favorite NBA basketball team and Maverick is a huge fan.

We wanted to write a quick post about how amazing the internet is in matching needs with people who want to help. In our research on figuring out the best way to help pets in need, we have found that the most abused dogs and national cases get hundreds of offers of adoption and thousands of dollars of help almost overnight. What this tells us at this point is that people are passionate and want to help. We believe that as more sources get out there to help notify the masses about animals in need (and children, homeless people, etc for that matter), that people will be able to reach causes they care about in a more efficient manner.

As we have discussed elsewhere on the site, we believe most people want to make an impact on the world and the internet is great at letting people help exactly in the ways that they want to help.

Yeah! Well, we cannot say we were surprised that a sweet, young chihuahua already found a new home, but we are excited for her to start her new life. So, now we are on the look out for our next, “first” foster dog. The dog will have have infinite patience for our obnoxious to get along with little Maverick.

Although Maverick has enjoyed being an only child, we decided today to start fostering as Jen is almost out of school for the summer. We are hoping that we are going to be able to foster one dog at a time at least and figure out a way to open our home to other dogs as well as figure out ways to fostering dogs at local kill shelters through partnerships with nearby kennels. We are not far down the road on this so if you have any ideas please let us know. We would prefer to have a kennel at our house but zoning laws are a bit strict! We are wondering if we could work with some kennels with extra space and pay them to house extra pets as we work to find them homes. The model would be would spend a lot of time with them daily as would the kennel’s staff and although that is not as good of option as having them live with us, it would be better than dogs being euthanized.

So, check back soon for pics of the 8 month old chihuahua we are taking in. This is going to be an experiment for us because I am sure we will want to keep her but to be able to continue fostering we will have to go against our natural urges.

Well, so here it goes…we have been largely behind on this internet, blog, web 2.0 culture and are just now getting our act together. The plan for Mav’s Friends has been in the works for some time now though like everything else in life it seemed to take longer than hoped to get this site up and start running. Mav’s Friends may turn out to be a variety of things over time, but the one thing it will be for sure is a website and hopefully organization/foundation/charity to help animals. We are uncertain of how our effort will progress over time, but whether we save one life or hundreds, it will be well worth the effort.

Please follow us over time to see how things go. Thanks for checking in!