Good-Bye

Well, I suppose this will be my last post for class. The doggy derby was fun; there were lots of dogs and cats that needed homes which makes me sad. :( You can check out petfinder.com to look for local adoptions; there were lots of puppies and kittens if you're not wanting an adult!
I hope everyone will remember to spay/neuter their pets and to never buy from pet stores and try not to buy from breeders. If you buy from a breeder make sure you see where the dogs live and that you're not buying from a puppy mill! Just spread the word-together we can make a difference! (cue THE MORE YOU KNOW music) :)

Doggy Derby

Just a reminder that this coming Saturday, May 3rd, is the Doggy Derby, hosted by The Humane Society. For more information, go to http://www.okhumanedoggyderby.com/ .
It will be lots of fun and there should be a good turn out! It's great if you're a dog lover and want to just hang out with other dog people. It's also a great way to support the local rescues or to check out the dogs if you're thinking of adopting!
I would also like to remind you all to read the labels of your consumer products before you buy them. I know it's not always possible but try to buy items not tested on animals. Products tested on animals is somewhat of a cruel process, so whenever possible please support cruelty-free companies!

No New News

So I don't have any new dog news this week, so what shall we talk about??
I'm in the car market at the moment and am test driving a nissan murano today. Trading in my nissan xterra-not really doing anything for gas but comfort, I guess. I have to travel for my job but I do get reimbursed.
A hybrid would be great but we know the owner of the nissan dealership, so, you know.
In IDOL news, David Cook is slowly overtaking my favorite Jason Castro. David C. is just winning me over, especially with is Mariah Carey rendition of Always Be My Baby. Come on-if you can make that sound good.....
I don't know if anyone is familiar with the Bethany area but there is an AWESOME pizza shop called Papa Angelos! Everyone should try it! They're from NY and they have the best and cheapest pizza ever! They have some other things too-like spaghetti and such. It's catty corner from the post office, on the opposite side of 39th from SNU. Today's special is buffalo chicken and it's soooo good! Tastes like a hot wing pizza!
OK-I'm done.

Whoops-I'm behind

Just noticed my last post was on March 27 so I guess I'm a week behind. Well, let's see, what's been going on? I need to order Lanie a collar today-almost forgot about that. We are going to an animal welfare event next month and she's coming along; all we have is this little collar that she had when we got her and it slips off too easily. Her foster parents are going to be at the event so they will get to see her; they haven't seen her in about 6 months. I wonder if she will remember them? There's a great website; www.k9closet.com, that has really cute collars. They fit wider so they don't choke the dog and are really designed for dogs with smaller necks.
Next Saturday, April 19th, the city of Mustang is hosting the first annual WOOFSTOCK. It's an animal welfare event and there will be vendors, rescue information, food, contests, a walk, etc. I'm not sure how big it will be since it's the first one, but the more the merrier! I will probably drop by. It's at the Wild Horse Park I think, from 9:30-1:00.
Sadie, Mercy and Lanie have really been enjoying the nice weather...except the rain. Now that its getting warmer outside they spend almost all day just lounging around. Every now and then I catch Lanie trying to dig a hole under the fence into the neighbors yard, so I need to go buy some more bricks to cover the spots so she won't dig. She's still a puppy and I can remember when Sadie was just like her-but she's calmed down.

Lanie

This is Lanie....a.k.a. Lanie Pants, Lubu, Looney...We adopted Lanie in November and she turned one last month. One weekend we took the dogs to an animal welfare event, it was really just a fun event to raise money for animal welfare. We took the dogs over to all their other italian greyhound friends and a couple came over and brought their foster dog, Lanie. From far away she looked like a weimaraner puppy. She was a little scared but after a bit she started sniffing everyone. My husband started talking about us adoptinig her and I thought he was nuts-we already had two. We exchanged phone numbers but I didn't really think much of it. Then we started talking about it more and one day I looked at Mercy and wondered what would have happened to her if we had never taken her? I also knew what a saving grace Mercy was to me. I just knew we had to take Lanie. So we filled out the application and had a home visit, and in about 2 weeks we drove up to Tulsa to get her! We took Sadie and Mercy so we could see how they interacted at first. Sadie didn't like Lanie at first and barked at her. It was actually very sad when we put her in the car to take her home. The poor girl had moved around so much in her short life. Someone bought her from a pet store and then decided they didn't want her, so gave her up to rescue in Tennesse. She then went to a temporary foster home in Tennesse who brought her through the "iggy underground" to her foster home in Oklahoma. Then we take her and I felt like I was taking her away from her home. She slept the whole way home though, and as soon as we got back she was playing tug of war with Mercy and Sadie. She was used to a doggy door so she had a lot of accicdents at first. We just bought our house and we put a doggy door in, so she is excellent now. We are just now really bonding with her and she is very sweet. She's like Michael Jordan, she jumps really, really high, she's very bouncy. She loves food and is the sweetest with our cat, although sometimes she chases her. She was the last little piece to our family!

Mercy

This picture cracks me up! She looks like Splinter from Nina Turtles! This is my Mercy. Of all the dogs we have a special bond. When we were taking Sadie to the vet. for her regular puppy check-ups, the vet tech. mentioned there was an Italian Greyhound living there that needed a home. We saw her and she wanted nothing to do with us really, she was just happy to be out of her cage. We left our name as possible adoption parents, but never heard back. We came back in about a month later and she was still there. They just let her take us home! This is never really a good idea, to just give your dog away without checking them out, but my aunt is a vet at the clinic so they kind-of knew us. We took Mercy home with us that day. She was already named that because she was born in a Mercedes. I think of it more like she's my Mercy-my saving grace. It took her awhile to adapt, but she was really happy to have a sister and parents and a home. At the time we lived in a condo. and she didn't even know how to go up and down the stairs! She was almost one at the time. She had a lot of potty training problems in the beginning too, but after a lot of time and patience she learned. She and Sadie bonded instantly and would play and sleep together. It actually took me a good 4-5 months to completely bond with Mercy, but now we are the closest. She is extremely loyal and a very, very good dog. She is also very fast-when we first got her she escaped out the front door and ran down the street. My husband dove onto her to stop her and catch her. Now, I would never imagine her running away from us. We think Mercy was probably the product of a puppy mill and/or in-breeding. There are certain characteristics that are common in these types of dogs, such as her eyes. She has very watery eyes and they are shaped differently from the other two dogs. She doesn't really have ducts (?) under them to catch her tears. This is just one characteristic of puppy mill dogs. Mercy is the smallest and sometimes she gets picked on but she's tough-although her bark is worse than her bite!

Sadie

This was our first little one-Sadie. She is the only one we have had since she was a puppy. She was probably about 8 weeks old in this picture. Sadie is very smart, was potty trained very quickly and is very loyal. She was, and is, still a little wild at times. Any time I sing or dance or jump around she goes crazy and attacks me! She's a natural fetcher and loves to sleep under the covers. Sadie will be 2 years old this month.