Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Tasty Tuesday

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When I went grocery shopping last week I picked up a jar of unsweetened applesauce.  I thought it might be a nice change for the dogs in their nightly treats.

I decided to use white bones, just for a change of pace.

You know the ones you picked up filled with processed cheese?

I frosted one end with pumpkin in the morning before I left for work and let is sit in the freezer all day long.

Canned pumpkin is perfect for this purpose, because it is really thick and won’t run out of the bone into your freezer.

When I got home I filled the rest of the bone with applesauce and stood it up in a bowl for about 2 1/2 hours.  It was just long enough for the applesauce to freeze.

At snack time I handed them off to Sampson and Delilah.

Sampson began working happily on his.

Delilah wasn’t quite sure what to do.

Hubby and I heard her in the living room barking at it.  Apparently she thought if she barked at it, she could turn it into her Kong. 🙂

Hubby said, get a video of it.

Of course, as soon as I turned the video on, she figured out how to attack it.

Here’s what you need:

One empty bone

About a tablespoon of canned pumpkin and about 1/4 cup of applesauce (depending upon the size of the bone.)

Smear the pumpkin on one end of the bone and place in the freezer for a couple of hours.  Remove from freezer and fill the remainder of the bone with applesauce.

Place the bone pumpkin side down in a glass and place back in the freezer for a couple of hours.

When the applesauce is frozen, remove and serve.

The whole treat is probably less than 75 calories and it should last your dog (depending on how aggressively they lick it) a good 15 to 20 minutes.

Easy right?

Yes it is.  It’s also The Tasty Tuesday blog hop hosted by Kol’s Notes and Sugar the Golden Retriever.  You can get your linky code at either one of the hosts.

Hop on.

Bloggers Unite For Dog Rescue

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Today is a very special day.  Bloggers all over the globe are focusing on one thing.

Dog adoption.

Bloggers Unite For Dog Rescue

When I heard about this event, hosted by Be The Change 4 Animals, Blog Catalog, and Dog Rescue Success, I knew I had  to participate.  My own sweet Delilah came to us via rescue.

Rescuing a dog does not come without its challenges.  Many times you don’t have an accurate history of the dog.  That was the case with Delilah.  All we knew was where she came from, and her approximate age.  We quickly realized she’d had some training, but she needed more and she also needed structure, lots of structure.

When I think back today to the dog I met that day five years ago, I can hardly recognize her.  She has grown and thrived with the love and training she has received.  That first day I really second guessed my decision and wasn’t sure I really wanted to keep her, but there’s nothing that could pry her from me today.  She’s my dog, through thick or thin.

My original thought for today’s post was to focus on one of the labs available for adoption at Labs 4 Rescue.  When I reached out to Labs 4 Rescue, I was told they don’t like to focus on just one dog as they like to be fair to ALL the dogs.  At first I was miffed, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized they were right.

So I’m not going to shine the focus on just one dog. I’m going to tell you when I checked the Labs 4 Rescue page at Petfinder they had over 129 dogs in need of homes.  129 dogs with just one rescue organization!  That boggles my mind.

I realize that not everyone can adopt a dog.  But please don’t think you can’t make a difference!  There are so many ways you can help, even if you can’t adopt.

Don’t Breed or Buy While Shelter Dogs Die.

First and foremost we must let everyone know that adopting from a pet store equals supporting puppy mills, which are cruel and inhumane.

That’s not to say there aren’t responsible, ethical breeders out there, it just means they don’t sell their dogs through pet stores.

When someone tells you they want to get a dog, tell them all the wonderful stories you have heard about rescue dogs.  Think you can’t get a purebred dog through rescue?  Think again.  I wanted a lab mix, Delilah is pure chocolate lab.

Not a lab person? Don’t worry, sadly there are rescues for just about every breed of dog.

Fostering is a short-term commitment.

Rescues are also looking for people to foster.  Every dog a rescue can place in foster care means one more dog they can pull from a shelter.  Fostering usually is a short term commitment, wherein you provide food, shelter and some training while the dog waits for his/her forever family.

Donations.

If you can’t adopt or foster, maybe you could manage to squeeze a little extra out of your budget to donate to your local shelter. I know money’s tight, but even change in a jar adds up.

Money really tight?  Donate your time.  Rescues and shelters are always looking for volunteers to taxi dogs to appointments or adoption events, they also need people who can walk and train dogs, which in turn makes the dog more desirable for future adopters.

Sharing is Caring.

If none of these options work for you don’t give up, there are still ways to can help.

Most of us pet bloggers have a social media accounts, and many of us share dogs available for adoption, please share our posts on your social media networks and encourage your friends and followers to do the same.

Please help us bring awareness to the joys of adopting a rescued dog and please do share on your social media outlets.

Together we CAN make a difference.

Yes, this is a blog hop.  You can get your linky code here.

Belated Thanks

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Well here I am once again a wee bit late in thanking a few blogs that chose to honor me with an award.

I love getting awards because I know that people are actually reading and liking what I’m writing about.  It makes me feel like I’m on the right track. 🙂

Today I’m acknowledging two awards, the first was presented to us by Misty Shores Chesapeakes and is called Blog On Fire Award.

The rules that go with this award are easy, link back to the person who awarded you, share five things about yourself, and pass it on.

1) I’m often times my own worse enemy, meaning I always doubt and second guess myself.

2) I’m never satisfied with something I’ve written.  I can always go back and think of something I should have added or a different way to phrase something.

3) Number two is why I decided to start using Follow-up Friday on my blog. 🙂

4) I’m a big Lord Of The Rings fan, I could watch those movies back to back to back.

5) In fact when I’m having a blah day, I’ll throw one of the LOTR movies on, or if it happens to be on tv, no matter if I’ve just seen it or not, I will turn the channel and watch it again.

Misty passed the award on to five blogs, so I will do the same.

Donna and the Dogs – Donna’s ON FIRE! LOL this woman has it all going on.  She recently won the AKC fiction writing contest for 2012 and if that wasn’t enough, she actually has sent her recently completed novel out to a couple of agents.  Watch out for this one, some day we’ll say, I knew her when. 🙂

For The Love of My Dogs – I started following this blog a few months back, Deanna is one of those amazing people who inspire me with their dedication to animals.  She currently has three dogs of her own and she still fosters!  She is on fire for animal rescue.

Hound Girl – I love Kari’s blog, she says it the way she sees it and in my opinion it doesn’t get better than that!  Kari is on fire, she has sponsors and give-aways and is a mover and a shaker.

Mazzie Takes Manhattan – This is one of the news blogs I follow.  Miss Mazzie is a lab mix (I think) and lives the glamorous life in Manhattan.  Join her on her many adventures, that little city girl gets around. 🙂

Thecvillean – I love this blog, Al is sarcastic, funny and just downright entertaining.  If you haven’t checked this blog out yet, I certainly encourage you to try it!

Thanks again to Misty Shores for the Blog on Fire Award.

As if that wasn’t enough, we were also presented with the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award, not just by one blog but by two!

Thank you to Collies of the Meadow and Donna and the Dogs

On July 17th, Chuck and the Collies from Collies of the Meadow presented us with this award and yesterday Donna from Donna and the Dogs gave us the second one.

This award requires I tell you SEVEN things about myself.  You’d think this would be easy since I put so much of myself out here, but that’s what makes it so hard.  I basically tell you everything about myself already.  But I’ll give it my best shot.

1) I had set Friday night aside to work on my book but didn’t do it.

2) I’m actually thinking of going back to the beginning of the book and see if I can add some more description to it.

3) After reading Donna’s AKC fiction story, I can see that much of my writing lacks description. :0

4) I walk the dogs as much for myself as I do for them, even though sometimes I complain about it.

5) I have a license to carry a concealed weapon in the state of CT.

6) I drive a Hyundai Tucson, I hate it.

7) I’m a big military supporter and think we should have better benefits for our veterans.

According to Donna’s post I need to pass this on to seven blogs.  I’ll give this my best shot. 🙂

Kol’s Notes – I get so many nutritional tips from this blog, besides look at that cute puggle face and tell me you can resist it.

My Brown Newfies – Really her escapades with Leroy are about as legendary as mine with Delilah and besides she was cool enough to give me her cell phone number. 🙂  Brave or crazy, I’m not sure which. 🙂

Long Life Cats and Dogs – I just started following this blog, she works in animal rescue though, so what’s not to love.

Rescued Insanity – Have you ever seen a tornado on a leash?  LOL yes that is Kristine’s motto regarding her rescued dog Shiva.  When I read about Kristine and how far she has come with Shiva, it gives me hope for Delilah and me. 🙂

Something Wagging This Way Comes – I love reading about Pamela and all the lessons she is learning from her Golden Retriever, Honey.

Thank you again, Collies of the Meadow and Donna and the Dogs.  I really appreciate the recognition.

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