Can You Help Melissa Get Her Autism Service Dog?

Melissa is raising funds to obtain a service dog from Autism Service Dogs of America (ASDA), a nonprofit organization in Lake Oswego, Oregon. You can find out more about autism service dogs and Autism Service Dogs of America on their website at www.autismservicedogsofamerica.com.

Hey. I'm Melissa, I'm 20 and have Asperger's & high-functioning Autism, and I've recently been approved for an Autism Service Dog through an organization in Oregon. However, before I can get the dog, I need to raise at least $6,500. Which isn't that much, in the long run, but it's just me and my single mother who's trying to do this by ourselves. We're kind of out of places to turn to, honestly.

We're trying to plan a yard sale in a couple weeks, then a raffle/Spaghetti fundraiser dinner in July to try to raise some money- but even that can only bring in a couple hundred dollars at the most.

Even if you can't donate money right now, I'm also in need of DOG SUPPLIES and DOG FOOD when I get my dog. We've been able to get a couple donations, but it's mostly going towards our fundraiser raffle.
If you think you can help Melissa in any way please click over to her Firstgiving Fundraiser page.  You can also follow her on Twitter @yeralosersmile.

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K9 Kamp Week 2 - Play With Your Balls

This weeks challenge for K9 Kamp, the Play With Your Balls challenge, was an easy one for Oskar & I.  Oskar's favorite toy is Blue, and he prefers playing chase instead playing fetch. 

This week I just let him lead me around the yard a little more than usual.  We do this at least once a day.  It's a great way to get me off of my rear-end, with the added bonus of making a little schnauzer very happy.

Extra points for running & yelling at the photographer simultaneously.

Trying to get Oskar to actually give up the ball...

Oskar waiting for the kickoff.

And off we go again!

Add your entry in the linky below & check out our hosts at Kol's Notes and Peggy's Pet Place.

get the InLinkz code

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The Adventures of Gronk & Izzie - New Blogger Alert

Hello! We are Gronk and Izzie two adopted kitties in Nashville.

I'm Izzie and I was adopted when I was just young kitty. I was found pregnant and abandoned in a car. Luckily, some nice people found me and brought me to a shelter. Unfortunately, due to my trauma I did not like other kitties and had to stay in a cage! No one wanted me until my Mom and Dad came by and saved me. I quickly learned to use the toilet like a good kitty and I'm even learning some tricks with the clicker. I got over my dislike of other kitties once my parents got me a little friend. Although I do like show Gronk who is boss from time to time.

Hi I'm Gronk! I was adopted when I was just a lil' bit. I was part of a bunch of feral kittens found just after we were born. We got scooped up quick and adopted right away. I'm just about as friendly as can be. I love to snuggle and purr and then snuggle some more. I'm not quite as quick as my sister and so I'm still learning to use the potty. I do love playing, especially with the laser. I think clicker training is just the best because of the treats at the end.

We started our blog to share our adventures in toilet training, bird watching, leash walking, clicker training and other kitty foolishness with the world. We also love other kitty blogs and we are very thankful to Pet Blogs United for featuring us! We'd love to share our adventures with you!

Swing by The Adventures of Gronk & Izzie today & welcome them to Blogville!
If you would like to have your pet blog featured on Pet Blogs United, drop us a line at PBU at comcast dot net.

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Thank You

Thank you to all who have served and all who continue to do so.

Ann Adamus

We will be forever in your debt.

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Smile With Your Tail Featured Blogger

This morning we are pleased to introduce you Smile With You Tail, the antics of three Doodles and a Dane

First of all we would like to say a big thanks to PBU for featuring us! We three are still relatively new to the blog world and community, as we have only been blogging for a few months now, but even so we have already made some great friends. Our Mum, Emily decided to start a blog as a way to document our lives and all the adventures we get up to, plus she was beginning to feel her friends were getting a bit sick of hearing about dogs, dogs and more dogs! We all live on the edge of the Lake District in rainy England and our pack consists of Dante, Daisy Boo the Labradoodles and Sampson the Great Dane.

Dante is the oldest member of the pack and Mums very first dog, she has always loved dogs but the time was never right to get one until him. She chose to get a Labradoodle because at the time she had severe allergies at the time and opted for a 'hypo allergenic' dog. Dante was collected from a farm on the border of Scotland when he was 12 weeks old and that was nearly 4 years ago now. He turned out to be the most laid back, friendly dog possible. He definitely made Mum's first dog experience easier than it could have been and opened her eyes to the life of a slightly obsessed dog person. Dante is the 'omega' of the pack as he tends to calm the other two down (well tries too!) when things get out of hand and discipline them if they don't listen to Mum!

Daisy Boo joined the family sort of by accident, Mum was working down near Southampton at the time and stumbled across an advert for Labradoodle pups and made the tragic mistake of going to 'look' at the litter. She originally intend to get another boy, but was smitten by Little Miss Daisy Boo, so a few days later they were both travelling the 8 hours back home. She is very rumbustious and playful at home and when shes out on walks but can be very shy and timid around people and things she is not used to, she is turning 2 in April

Sampson is the newest addition to our furry family and his first birthday is at the end of April. He is definitely the more mischievous one of the bunch! He was came to us from Derbyshire when he was 7 weeks old and has been by Mums side ever since. Sampson is the clown and joker of the pack and definitely teaches Mum how to be very patient!

Mum tends to talk about all the stupid and silly things we get up to, the walks and hikes we go on and all the new experiences we have. She originally thought family members would be the only ones to see it but is so happy to have met loads of like minded doggy people and glad she isn't the only one out there!

And here are 3 of their favorite posts:

Post Bath Time Zoomies

More Festive Joy

A Day Up The Fells

This group has got some fun stuff going on, so stop by Smile With Your Tail and pay them a visit!

If you're interested in having your pet blog featured on Pet Blogs United, drop us a line at PBU at comcast dot net

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Hartz Wounded Warrior Project Iniative

Hartz is doing some great stuff this Memorial Day weekend & usually I would write a post in my own words.  I don't have the time to do that this weekend (sorry), but I wanted to share the information with you:

As the leading manufacturer of animal wellness products, Hartz is proud to announce its continued partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project. The WWP, which began in 2002, has now evolved into a full rehabilitative effort for United States veterans. With Memorial Day 2012 just around the corner, we wanted to let you know about our combined efforts to honor the men and women who have served our country.

The WWP is renowned for its canine therapy and support dog programs, and we are firm believers in the deep and meaningful impact these programs have on both veterans and their canine best friends. In order to raise awareness and support from pet parents all over the nation, we’ve started two major initiatives:

• On May 21st, we’ll be encouraging our fans on Facebook to change their Facebook profile and cover pictures to a Wounded Warrior Project image to honor our brave servicemen and women for Memorial Day 2012. To change your profile and/or cover picture, please visit the Hartz Facebook page. We have recently released special WWP Military Dog toys created in collaboration with the WWP. For each Military Dog toy sold, Hartz will donate $1 to the WWP. The toys can be found nationally at Amazon.com and Walmart through the end of May).
• In the first two years of our partnership with the WWP, we have already been able to contribute $265,000, and we look forward to giving much more. It is truly an honor to support an organization dedicated to recognizing the invaluable contributions of our service people and service pets.

Show your support and help us spread the word about the Wounded Warrior Project by changing your profile picture and sharing the news.

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Royal Pet Club Mediterranean Sea Breeze Shampoo & Conditioner Review & Giveaway

We get asked to try out lots of great shampoos & conditioners and the Mediterranean Sea Breeze line from Royal Pet Club is one of our favorites.  It's organic and comes from the Prince Lorenzo Borghese Italian Pet Spa located in Tuscany, Italy.  At the end of this post you'll have a chance to win a full size set yourself!

Part of the reason we like it so much is that the scent is a little more masculine and a little less tutti-frutti than most.  Scented with golden seaweed, honey & a hint of lavender is left Oskar smelling clean and fresh, but not like someone had just dumped a fruit smoothie on top of him.

Oskar quickly learns that there is no hiding when it's bath time.

Look at the bottom of the tub, what we thought was a relatively clean dog had the water running brown for quite some time!

The shampoo lathered nicely and rinsed away cleanly. 

Gotta make sure the woozle is clean.

The one thing that I didn't like as well is that the conditioner is one that you rub on, wait and the rinse off, instead of being just a leave in conditioner like I'm used to.  It's not a big problem, it's just that the quicker the bath, the less we have to fight Oskar to stay in the tub.

After he got out it was time for a quick shakey-shake outside to let him dry in the sunshine.

Royal Pet Club's Mediterranean Sea Breeze left him super soft, fluffy & smelling like he had just come from an expensive grooming spa.

The end result...an great smelling dog with soft shiny fur.  This is our favorite shampoo/conditioner combination we've tried so far.

The company also donates a portion of it's proceeds to help spay & neuter animals in low income areas of the United States.

Royal Pet Club has it all, great organic products with a heart.  When our free samples are gone I know we'll be trying out more by Royal Pet Club.

Want to try the Mediterranean Sea Breeze shampoo & conditioner for yoursef?  Enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance.  Due to shipping costs this contest is open to US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Postal Puppy Earlybird Giveaway!

Has your dog gone Postal? Will no treat satisfy her?

We've just been let into a little secret from the people over at Postal Puppy. They are about to start shipping shiny new dog stuff to doorsteps every month. We've convinced them to share the contents of their first boxes with us: Natural dog treats, along with some organic dog treats (made with locally sourced ingredients), an organic flea and tick control, a professional pet shampoo AND something magic. It's so magic that it's guaranteed to stop unwanted barking, console whimpering puppies, reduce hyperactivity, minimize fear of thunderstorms, calm your dog in the car, and more!

So, you can head over to PostalPuppy.com to guarantee yourself a box full of goodness or you can enter this contest to win a box. (Or, both!)


Please note, the first Postal Puppy boxes don't go out until July. But, yours will be shipped mid-June, wahooo!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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K9 Kamp Week 1 Walk it Off

Oskar & I are proud to be participating in Koly & Kelly's K9 Kamp and have successfully completed week 1, Walk it Off....kind of....

We did the challenge which was to go for a walk with our dogs for 60 minutes this week and try to keep a brisk pace to challenge ourselves.  We broke it down into 2, 30 minute walks and made sure to take the route with the big uphill, instead of the easier flat route.

Last night I had my husband come along on the second walk and take lots of nice pictures of Oskar & I doing our walking uphill.  I reviewed the pictures in the camera while we walked to make sure I had the photo's I wanted.  I noticed it said demo on the camera screen but didn't pay any attention to that.

Well what demo means is that there's no freakin' memory card in the camera!  In my defense it's a digital SLR camera that I inhereted from my son and am not that familiar with yet.  It doesn't have any internal memory, doh!

But back to our pictureless the challenge.  I decided to take Oskar on his 6 foot leash instead of his really long retractable leash so that I could keep him moving instead of meandering and stopping to sniff every pee-mail out there.  He wasn't happy with my decision, but he eventually fell into a nice quick pace with me.

Honestly the hill took it out of me, I'm really out of shape!  I could feel it in my calves, my thighs & my knees.  I'll have to keep an eye on my knees, I've inherited bad ones from my mom's side of the family and as I get older I'm starting to feel it.

The good news is the more I move around during K9 Kamp, the better it will be for my knees and everything else!

We'd love for you to jump in and join us for week 2 of K9 Kamp, Fetch It Yourself, so hop up off your computer chair and let's go!

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Meet Destructive Puppy ~ New Blogger Alert

Readers, this week we are please to introduce you to Roxy, from Destructive Puppy.  Here's what her person has to say:

"As soon as I saw Roxy, I fell for her puppy eyes, it's been 6 months and I still fall for those big, brown eyes. Roxy is always looking to play and loves making friends to play with. Because she is an only-dog, I have to be those dog-friends... fun. I am still trying to train Roxy and still trying to get her to understand that she isn't boss.

Roxy loves big, meaty bones to chew on. She loves to play tug-of-war with me, even though she knows that I will always win, though I sometimes let her win so that she can feel as if she has achieved something. Roxy is very creative and is always trying to teach herself new games. Roxy is half cavalier and half poodle, and it always shows. One day she'll be very intelligent and acts very smart, that is what I call a 'poodle day'. But on other days she will be stupid and dumb by doing things like walking into the doors, that is what I call a 'cavalier day'.

Roxy is very adorable and loves to be the center of attention, that's why I love her, she is not afraid to show the world what she is made of. When she wants something done, she doesn't hesitate, she just goes out and does it. If your looking for a funny story, or a heart-warming story, visit Destructive Puppy at destructivepuppy.blogspot.com.au

I decided to blog because I love to share Roxy's life and moments with the whole world to read and enjoy. I would also love to become part of the blogging dog community so that I can read others' stories aswell. But most of all, it is a way for me and Roxy to make new friends and become part of the doggie-lifestyle."

Let's all stop by Destructive Puppy and give Roxy a great big welcome to the pet blogging community!

As always, if you're interested in having your pet blog featured on Pet Blogs United, drop us a line at PBU at comcast dot net.

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Check Out These Super Memorial Day Savings on Science Diet!

A little birdie dropped some great info about Science Diet in our inbox.

Science Diet is issuing an exclusive Memorial Day coupon for $5 off all Science Diet food.

AND

PetSmart is running a special for $5 off the original price of Science Diet cat food & $2 off the original price of Science Diet dog food. 

The folks at Science Diet tell me that these two offers can be combined for savings that look like this:

CAT: Sale price $7.99 - coupon price $5.00 = purchase price is $2.99.
DOG: Sale price $9.99 - coupon price $5.00 = purchase price is $4.99.
Ideal Balance Grain Free CAT: Sale price $7.99 - coupon price $5.00 = purchase price is $2.99.
Ideal Balance Grain Free DOG: Sale price $9.99 - coupon price $5.00 = purchase price is $4.99.

Now the key is printing off this coupon from Science Diet to take to PetSmart with you. 

http://www.hillspet.com/unique-nutrition/memorial-day-coupon-save-5.html

You don't need a PetSmart coupon, the savings on their end are a sale price. 

Go enjoy some Memorial Day savings!

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Pets in the City! Introducing a fierce new TV series about Urban Animals

URBAN ANIMALS host and producer Tony Sawicki poses with feathered friend at the Sean Casey Animal Rescue Center in Brooklyn, NY.

. . . A woman in Jersey City with seven pet rats that have their own playpen . . . A rescue center in Brooklyn for turtles, snakes, parrots, and countless other exotic creatures . . . an expo in Manhattan that introduces the public to over 200 breeds of canines and felines (including house tabbies bred to resemble tigers and leopards) . . . these are a sampling of the stories you will see on New York’s newest TV series, URBAN ANIMALS.

Premiering this fall on NYC Life Television, broadcasting to approximately18 million homes in the NY/Metro area, Urban Animals is “a human interest series about non-humans . . . and the people who love them.” The show, a funky, hip, and altogether unique concept in television programming, is a magazine format program created by award wining producer/director Tony Sawicki. Prior to developing Urban Animals, Sawicki produced “Under the Pink Carpet,” an edgy, alternative entertainment news series. Pink Carpet was carried on NYC-Life Television as well as PBS stations nationwide and on cable television in Canada during its ten-plus year production run.

The producer will bring his entertaining, informative writing and fast paced production style to Urban Animals, which he calls “television for animal lovers.” The show’s appeal will undoubtedly be universal, drawing a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural audience of young and old, male and female, straight and gay . . . anyone who loves animals! Look for Urban Animals on TV in NY this fall - - in the meantime check out the show’s website at: www.UrbanAnimalsOnline.com.

EXOTIC ANIMAL RESCUE IN BROOKLYN:


PET RATS IN JERSEY CITY:


MEET THE BREEDS IN MANHATTAN


Check out Urban Animals FaceBook page.

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The Canada Pooch Torrential Tracker Rain Jacket Review

We were lucky enough to have a Canada Pooch Torrential Tracker Rain Jacket sent to us for review.

On a scale of 1 to 5 I'd give it a 10!

We chose the yellow one to match my mom person's raincoat and first I had to give it the Oskar play test.  I don't want to wear it if I can't move around in it comfortably.

Come on I'm ready to play!

Allright Blue, let's test this jacket out.

It fits me great and I can move & groove in it.

Is that a raindrop on my tongue?

Here's the real scoop on this jacket, it fits great & I look pawsome in it.

It has a nice big pocket on the back & the hood snaps to the back for when you don't need it.  Below you can see the hood unsnapped and the leash/harness slit that has a protector flap that goes over the hole.  They thought of everything.

The piping is reflective and it has 2 nice, secure, adjustable velcro strips to keep it in place.

Of course the inner lining and outer shell are waterproof.

This American pooch thinks that Canada Pooch has a real winner with the Torrential Tracker Rain Jacket.

In case this one isn't the perfect one for you they have other rainwear and for when it gets cold again they've got some great winter coats and vests.

You can visit Canada Pooch on their website, their FaceBook page, and on Twitter. 

If you need a new rain coat, take my advice and check out Canada Pooch!

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