Be My Dog

Chicago Canine Club - Get Lucky Adoption Event

via www.pwrnewmedia.com

"Get Lucky" Chicago Canine Club adoption event on Saturday, March 13th from 11 am - 3 pm.

This organization does a beautiful job of taking pictures of the rescue dogs available for adoption. Visit their website and check it out!

Shakespeare's holiday foster sister is still looking for her forever home

Over the holidays, we decided a present we would give ourselves was to foster a dog over the holidays. This is a nation-wide program I found on Petfinder and it gives foster parents a break if they need to go home for the holidays. We filled out an application, went through a home visit, and drove into the city to pick up our holiday foster dog, Petra. A very cute, purebred blue Pomeranian, Petra needs a lot of TLC. She came from an auction for puppy mill mamas and was discarded after 4 years of being treated like cattle. She had raised her latest litter fairly recently and while she is shy of human interaction, she definitely had lots of love to give once she warmed up to us and Shakespeare. 

Ideally, I think it would be best to for Petra to be part of a household with adults (no kids), a gentle fur-sister or fur-brother and lots of love and gentle attention. She will truly be a great dog for someone looking to love this very sweet little girl. 

 If you are interested in adopting Petra, she is being fostered through Cause4Paws

 www.Cause4PawsRescue.org

Here's Petra's Petfinder profile.

Today is Shakespeare's birthday

Shakespeare is a rescue dog that was picked up wandering the streets of Chicago so we don't know his exact birthday but we do know we love him like crazy and he is the loveliest of love bugs so we decided Valentine's Day is Shakespeare's official birthday. 

His age is an estimate too (~5-6 years old) and to me, he will always look like a puppy even through we adopted him as an adult. We've had Shakespeare for 2 years and he fit into our family of 4 cats so well that it feels like he's been with us all along. 

So...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Happy Birthday Shakespeare!

If you are thinking of bringing a little love in your life too, adoption is always such a great place to start - Shakespeare is proof of that (see proof below). Go to http://www.petfinder.com to find rescue pets in your area. 

BTW, doesn't Shakespeare look dashing in his red fuzzy? Such a handsome boy! 

Thinking about giving a dog to your kids for Christmas?

One of the most exciting gifts for a child is a pet. As we know, dogs are a lot of responsibility and choosing the right breed, the right dog for your family is crucial to the new family member becoming a successful family member.

Is your family ready for the responsibility?
When I was young, I wanted a pet rabbit for years before my parents bought one for me. Before I was allowed to have a rabbit, my parents bought me a book on caring for rabbits and I had to read it before we went to pick out my bunny. This was easy for me because I love to read and I was interested in the topic. It was great because I learned so much about rabbits and so much about what was involved in caring for my rabbit. 

While surprises are fun, preparing your kids for the new pet is the better choice. There are lots of great books you can buy for your kids to read. This will help gauge their interest in caring for the pet. 

The Complete Dog Book for Kids 

How can you "test drive" and help a shelter at the same time?
Volunteering with a local shelter is a great way to introduce the kids to dogs, help the local shelter dogs, become familiar with the breeds, and introduce responsibilities. Shelters usually have a training class for the volunteers to attend and monitor the interaction with the animals. 

Where should I find our dog? 
Before you start searching the Web for the perfect dog, keep this in mind - your favorite breed of dog may not actually be the right fit for your family. It's best to keep an open mind. I have always loved beagles. I even think their howl is adorable. I would check out beagles on the web everywhere and finally decided I would get a beagle through a local beagle rescue. We completed the application and started the process. When it was time for the in-home visit, a beautiful young lady beagle I had my eye on showed up at our door. I was in heaven. My cat, Princess was not. It was shocking because her love of dogs is why we considered getting a dog to begin with. Princess got in the beagle's face and started screaming at the top of her lungs. After she made her feelings known, she turned around and walked away.

The adoption process worked - I learned that getting a beagle was a very bad idea for us (we have four cats). We began visiting our shelter until we met Shakespeare. My husband, Brad was convinced a lab puppy named Lilly was the perfect dog but a volunteer at the shelter helped us weight the pros and cons. Neither of us are close enough to home to walk a puppy during lunch. 

In addition to helping a dog in need, shelters and rescue organizations are great for another reason - the care about making sure the animal is a good fit for you and your family. They see plenty of dogs that are given up because they were the wrong breed or age for the home. They don't have anything to gain or profit from. This is something to keep in mind if you are considering going to a breeder. There are some really great breeders out there but not all breeders are going to take the time to determine if the buyer is the best fit for their puppy. 

Do you want a puppy?
Puppies and kittens are lovely and their lucky to be so cute. If they weren't so cute, it would be much harder to swallow some of their baby animal behavior. While I think Brad and I would have fallen in love with a puppy, we needed a little training on being parents and Shakespeare was the perfect dog to teach us a thing or two. He was about 4 years old when we adopted him and he was past his crazy puppy behavior. Shakespeare is also really great with cats. He's the perfect breed for us - non-shedding (did I mention we have 4 cats?!), sweet, affectionate, and patient. He also has lots of great energy and is wicked smart. We adopted him when he was jumping up and down - he picked us. 

I'm definitely not anti-puppy - I think our next adoption will be a puppy but adult dogs are also pretty great.

Are you ready?
Are you prepared to take over some of those dog duties and walk the dog with your kids? While it is important for your kids to learn responsibilities for the pet, they'll need help and they might not be old enough to walk the dog by themselves. I've seen lots of young kids that have had their dogs get away from them when they are walking the dog. A few of the dogs have run out into the street. Sometimes the dog is just too big and strong for the young boy or girl to walk them or they struggle to walk the dog without hurting the dog e.g. not giving the dog enough leash to walk comfortably.

There's one last complication in getting a dog for Christmas - the deep feelings and love your family will have for the animal. This is the really good complication that comes with making an animal part of your family. My husband and I used to laugh about how we would never schedule our lives around walking a dog. Now we know what it means - it's great. I love rushing home to see Shakespeare and see his tail wag with excitement when we get home. It's definitely one of the best "complications" in my life.

Man Rescues One Dog, Gets Ten

via dogblog.dogster.com

These puppies are just adorable! While I imagine they would be a lot of work, these babies would also be such fun!

This is a story about a man that rescued one dog only to find out later that night that she had nine puppies inside her and was about to give birth. He ended up rescuing all ten of the dogs (1 mommy, 9 puppies).

Click to Give @ The Animal Rescue Site

Click to Give @ The Animal Rescue Site

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Adopted! Featured Pets Find Forever Homes

Time to celebrate!! A couple of featured rescues find their new families. There are plenty of great pets available at the Oak Park Animal Care League.

Dustin the Cockapoo was adopted this weekend . . .

So was the stylish kitty, Han Solo!

Han Solo has a new costume today!

I love this kitty's sense of style. After wearing a pirate costume and a clown wig, today he decided to go as a jester! I'm really rooting for this stylish, good-natured kitty to find a forever-home.

If you are interested in adopting this well-rounded kitty, he is staying with Oak Park Animal Care League.

Beautiful Shelter Pets Sporting Festive Halloween Accents

I love these boys so much that if I wasn't at maximum capacity in our house, I would have snatched them up in a heartbeat. These beauties are available at my local shelter, Oak Park Animal Care League. This is the shelter I adopted Shakespeare and Romeo from. There's also a lovely little girl named Darla. Definitely a keeper!

	This is Dustin, a 2-year-old Cockapoo. They just gave him a shelter grooming to address his knots. He can grow beautiful long, dark locks. I love the batty bandana he's wearing.
	This little cutie's name is Han Solo. I don't know what it is about little boys that makes me melt and with a pirate hat? What could be cuter?!?! Sure, he looks like he's playing it cool but there's a sweet little momma's boy inside - I can just tell. Turns out, Han Solo has a little Houdini in him - he is an escape artist with a special talent of gliding by open doors.
	Darla caught my eye a week ago - she's a beagle-mix and I am always partial to the cutie face and brown eyes of a little beagle. She's young and full of life - looking for a permanent home with a family/pack to love. Beagles are known for their loyalty. Apparently, she is known for her Mona Lisa smile - look at that face! That must be her Halloween costume - Mona Lisa. She's so talented she didn't need clothing or a wig to pull it off!

DogTipper.com: Agreeing on a Shelter Adoption

via www.dogtipper.com

DogTipper's tip of the day is from their interview with Cesar Millan. It's great advice - make sure the entire family "pack" is supportive of the decision to adopt a dog.

When we adopted Shakespeare, I made sure Brad was on-board with adopting him. Brad originally wanted a lab puppy and as lovely as they are, I preferred a smaller, adult dog. We spend too much time away from home to adopt a puppy. I had to go away on a business trip right after we adopted him. I was glad this would give Brad and Shakespeare some special time to bond without me there. It worked perfectly - Brad didn't realize he could love a dog as much as he loves Shakespeare and we care for him as a team.