Labrador Retrievers top the list in almost every city in the Country, and Seattle is no exception.  According to the American Kennel Club, here is the line up:

SEATTLE’S TOP DOGS

Registration data pulled from Seattle zip codes as specified by U.S. Postal Service. AKC ‘s most recent published data is from 2009 registrations.

Technorati Tags: most popular dog breeds, top dogs by city

 How many of us continue to search for our purpose in life well into our 40s, 50s, and 60s? Whether Mimi Ausland has found her ultimate calling remains to be seen, but at the age of just 14 she has had a remarkable effect on the lives of shelter animals all over the country by following her heart.

Mimi has loved animals all her life, and while volunteering at her local humane society in Bend Oregon, she became aware that shelters rely on donations to feed the animals they house. When she discovered the on-line game FreeRice.com that donates 10 grains of rice to help end world hunger for every correct trivia answer, she became inspired to do something similar for animals.

It wasn’t long before Mimi translated that concept into FreeKibble.com and FreeKibbleKat.com, in which 10 pieces of kibble are donated to feed shelter dogs and cats every time somebody plays her trivia game.  Since the concept went live in 2008, the websites have attracted an estimated 100,000 players and generated over 386 tons of kibble, providing more than 5.6 million meals to shelter dogs and cats.

So how does an answer to a trivia question on a free website generate food for shelter pets? Well, Mimi started by marketing her idea to local businesses for sponsorship. It wasn’t long before Mimi’s brainchild caught the attention of the national media. She appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show, and Ellen happens to be a co-owner of Halo Pet Foods.  One thing led to another, and Halo is now the exclusive food sponsor for FreeKibble.com and FreeKibbleKat.com.

You can imagine the hard work that went into developing this great idea, but even the best idea needs follow through.  Mimi’s organization makes monthly donations to fourteen shelters around the nation and has made one-time donations to more than 100 shelters and rescue groups. Requests arrive by the hundreds weekly and must be screened to select the lucky recipients.

Mimi also creates new trivia questions for the sites daily to keep players coming back, and she has added fun other features to encourage participation.  She has created the FreeKibble.com Foundation to raise money for grants that will fund other kids becoming involved with their local shelters.

Why has this touched such a cord in people? Maybe because it is a fun and free way for people to help shelter animals even if the people don’t have spare time or money to give otherwise. So here’s your chance to help with just the click of a link, www.FreeKibble.com or www.FreeKibbleKat.com.  Take a minute now, and make a difference to a homeless animal.

Technorati Tags:   fund raising for pets, help feed shelter dogs and cats, donate free to feed homeless pets, trivia feeds hungry dogs and cats 

ShaktiPaw and new BFF Gus

As my regular readers know, senior pets are my achilles heel. I can’t resist them, whether as pet sitting clients or as members of my own family. The orphans seem to find me long before I have a chance to go looking for them.  They are such a joy to live with, mellow, well-behaved, and oh so appreciative to find a loving home when life had to be feeling pretty bleak. 

On that note, meet Gus, the newest addition to my senior family. His human died suddenly, and after living with her for his whole nine years, he was bereft, whimpering day and night for weeks.  A month after joining us, he’s  a happy member of our family, and he has brought new spark to 15 year old Shakti Paw.

I’m sharing my own joyful experience with senior pets in hopes of convincing at least a few people to consider a senior next time they’re in the market for a pet. I guarantee, even if you have only a few years with your new friend, it will be worth it — for both of you. To hedge my bets, I’m including a heart-warming You Tube video featuring senior dogs and hope it will persuade you if you’re still on the fence.

If you’ve adopted a senior pet, please share your story and tell us about the pros and cons of living with a senior.

Technorati Tags: adopting senior pets, living with older dogs and cats

Who will take me in?

There’s a new kid in town and she has filled a very important gap in the world of animal rescue. Her name is Céline Higgins. She is in vet school at the University of Georgia, and she noticed, like many of us in rescue, that there were no easy resources for helping disabled pets get adopted. Unlike the rest of us, she decided to do something about it. Voilá, a new website, http://www.DisabledAnimal.com.  I love people who see a need and act on it!

So we now have a place to list blind, deaf, three-legged, medically or behaviorally challenged, and senior pets. You can quibble with the word disabled if you want to be PC about it (e.g., my deaf Poodle doesn’t know he is less able than his hearing kitty pal, Rico), but the word gets the point across succinctly for a URL.  Importantly, it’s a URL that is easy to remember. 

If your parent has died or gone into a nursing home, you now have a place to list his or her elderly pet. If you are being deployed, you have a place to list your beloved FIV cat. If you’ve lost your job and home, you now have a place to list your feather-plucking bird. You get the drift.  Dogs, cats, birds, small furry animals, horses, reptiles all have their own sections, with sub-categories for deaf, blind, 3-legged, etc. 

Not only that, but the website has other categories of assistance: transportation, wheel chairs/aids available or needed, supplies needed, monetary assistance, and foster care.  And the site has an international section for people from other countries to post. 

This project is relatively new, but has already caught the attention of Dog World Magazine, with an article coming in early 2011, and Fetch Magazine in Wisconsin. Dogster.com has written an article due out soon and LA Times animal blog has picked up on it.  Please help spread the word to others by sending a link from this blog to your friends, neighbors and rescue organizations, or sharing it on Facebook or Twitter. 

Technorati Tags: adopting disabled pets, finding homes for deaf, blind, 3-legged, diabetic pets, dogs in wheelchairs

One of my favorite blogs is Dogster, for the Love of Dog Blog. They carried this photo and video today of a police officer rescuing a dog whose leg was caught in a fence. The ending is very cute and unexpected. Take a look, and don’t miss www.dogblog.dogster.com for other amusing videos and content.

  Here’s a link to the video of this rescue:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid34830125001?bctid=88147925001

Technorati Tags: dog accidents, dog tricks, dog rescue

Shakti as a young man

The house has been quiet for the past month since Scooty left for the Rainbow Bridge. The competitive eating Ernie and Scooty used to enjoy– the Dinner Olympics — came to an abrupt end. In fact, Ernie has outright boycotted the premium kibble he used to race to eat, unless it is laced with a spoonful of cat food. Rico, The Boss Cat, lies around with his chin on his paws sleeping away his sadness.  I wasn’t planning to get another dog yet, but fate doesn’t always work on our schedule.

Two weeks ago I learned a woman named Theresa Marie Gandhi, former wife of the great-nephew of Mahatma Gandhi, was near death. The word that she would be leaving behind a 16 year old, slightly pudgy and arthritic, deaf miniature Poodle trickeled down to me through a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. I have hip replacement surgery coming up in a couple of months, and this is not an ideal time for me to add a new dog who is going through his own grief at losing his life-long companion.

Never one to let reason stand in the way of compassion, I drove to Whidbey Island today and met Shakti Paw. His human had died, and the tear stains around his eyes spoke of his loss. He is a little old man with a shaggy haircut, lumps and bumps, no hearing, bad breath, and as  sweet a temperament as Scooty’s. To add to the mystique, his human mom was a woman who would probably have been a good friend if I had known her. She was an activist for environmental responsibility, she was a spiritual leader, and a writer. She rubbed elbows with world leaders, she met with Mother Theresa, she walked across the United States for peace. She was a woman of both global and local presence, and from all I can tell, she left the world a better place than she found it.  And she left behind a sweet little zen dog called Shakti Paw Love Monkey who has now joined my family. We are blessed.

Technorati Tags: adopting a senior pet, healing from pet loss, pet grief

I sniffed out this amusing article from an OldCatsRule tweet. Who do you think is the winner?

OldCatsRule I demand a recount! http://www.wcbs880.com/Dogs-or-Cats–A-New-Poll-Answers-the-Question-/6060081

Let’s hear your comments…..are the poll results correct?

Technorati Tags: dogs vs. cats, pet popularity poll

One of my favorite cat websites is www.LittleBigCat.com, owned by veterinarian Dr. Jean Hofve. This month’s newsletter has an interesting article on the effect of toxins in our homes on our pets.

The Environmental Working Group (www.EWG.org) has studied chemical exposures in pets and found them even higher than the levels found in humans. They include carcinogens, neurotoxins, and chemicals toxic to the endocrine and reproductive systems. They come from the products and furnishings we use in our homes. You might want to learn more about this to see where you can minimize exposure to you and your pets.

Other studies have confirmed that second hand smoke is also a risk to pets. Having been a smoker at one time in my life, I know how extremely hard it is to quit, so I’m not one to judge people who haven’t beat it. But perhaps knowing just how dangerous it is to our pets might give that extra boost to kick the habit once and for all.  Here is an exerpt from the Little Big Cat newsletter:

Recent studies have confirmed that cats who live with a smoker have a much higher risk of oral squamous cell carcinoma, an invasive cancer occurring on the mucous membranes of the mouth. Having more than one smoker in the home, or living with a smoker for more than five years, increased the risk even more, according to a study conducted at Tufts University. Because cats groom themselves so thoroughly, toxins and carcinogens from smoke that settle on their fur are taken into their mouths while grooming. Over time, this can cause cancer to develop.

Exposure to smoke also increases a cat’s risk of malignant lymphoma. Since the lymph nodes filter the blood, inhaled or ingested toxins can build up and cause cancer. Cats living with secondhand smoke are three times more likely to develop lymphoma than other cats. In addition to cancer, cats exposed to smoke can also develop other respiratory problems such as asthma and bronchitis.

To read the full newsletter, go to http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=nlarchive&show=volume7no10

Technorati Tags: chemical risks to pets, dogs and cats are exposed to toxins in the home, effect of second hand smoke on pets

Introducing The Dog Talk Project

AutumnGold Consulting and Dog Training Center announces the public launch of a new dog-related website called The Dog Talk Project ( http://www.dogtalkproject.com). The Dog Talk Project, developed and owned by AutumnGold Consulting, is a web-based system of pet owner surveys designed to study the relationships between people and their dogs. The site was launched for public access on January 1st, 2010. We are starting with a set of beta-tester data that we expect will rapidly expand as new users provide us with information about their dogs and their dog-related activities, practices, and beliefs. Data will be regularly collected and analyzed to provide answers to general and specific research questions regarding owner-dog relationships, pet-owner attitudes, and owners’ understanding of dog health, behavior, nutrition, and care.

If the Dog Talk Project sounds like an activity that you might enjoy and if you are interested in telling us more about you and your dog(s), just visit the Dog Talk Project website, register (its free!) and begin taking surveys! We have plenty of fun and interesting results posted from our beta-tester group, and will add to these pages rapidly over the next several weeks and months.

Please feel welcome to send this information to other lists and to forward to friend and clients who may enjoy participating. The more data we collect, the more we can learn and understand about our unique relationships with our canine best friends!

Questions? Feel welcome to contact me at admin@dogtalkproject.com or lcase@autumngoldconsulting.com .

Linda Case
The Dog Talk Project – A Program of AutumnGold Consulting
www.dogtalkproject.com
www.autumngoldconsulting.com

Technorati Tags: dog data,  relationship between people and their dogs

Pre-holiday tension getting to you? How about something to lighten the mood, like the list of most popular and quirkiest pet names for 2009?  Www.Petfinder.com, the rescue website that boasts more than 13 million adoptions since 1995, has released it’s annual lists. See if your dog’s or cat’s name is on one of them.

Hi, our names are Lucy and Buddy

Most popular cat names

Lucy (384)
Smokey (350)
Midnight (346)
Bella (345)
Molly (340)
Daisy (332)
Oreo (325)
Shadow (321)
Charlie (320)
Angel (314)

Most popular dog names

Buddy (808)
Max (619)
Daisy (565)
Lucy (538)
Charlie (527)
Bella (516)
Molly (493)
Jack (473)
Sadie (467)
Lady (413)

Wackiest pet names for 2009

Shyanne Thailand Moo Goo Guy Pan
Mr. Tomfoolery Scardeycat Eliot
Rusty Buckets
KeelHaul
Too Fancy for You
Angry Donut
Maple Syrup
Hoseclamp
Prince Xavier Binxley
Hoku-ho’okele-wa’a

According to Petfinder.com, there is also a trend to give pets middle names. One of my pet sitting clients has a cute little fluff-muffin named Mocha Sue, so she’s already hip to the trend.  In my pet sitting clientele, Pretty Princess is a cat who definitely comes by her name honestly. Then there is another client’s perennial kitten named Bugaboo. Oh gosh, I can’t leave out Cato Fong, Jinku and Truck — yes, all cats. And bouncy little Poodle, Bungie, and his cat sister Devotchka. Part of the fun of pet sitting is discovering the names people come up with for their pets.

I’ve been asked before to find out through animal communication what a stray animal’s former name was. I’m not sure I would have interpreted Prince Xavier Binxley right.

Technorati Tags: pet names, most common cat and dog names,  most unusual pet names