Archive
Blog the Change – Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Calling All Dog Bloggers!
Today, July 15, 2012, bloggers and blog readers are blogging about a big event that will occur on Monday, July 23rd. The event? Bloggers Unite for Dog Rescue. We are asking all dog bloggers to participate in a special online global event designed to bring attention to dog rescues. BTC4animals.com is proud to partner with Blog Catalog, Dog Rescue Success and YOU to harness a global online community to help save the lives of dogs in need.
Every day dog bloggers bring attention to a variety of animal issues – puppy mills, dog health issues, pet safety, missing dogs, Breed Specific Legislation and pet adoption. On July 23rd, we are asking all dog bloggers to bring attention to the importance of dog rescues and dog adoption.
As consumers we make decisions that impact the lives of animals every day, but perhaps the one that has the most impact is the one we make when we first choose to get a pet. Buy or adopt? That is always the question.
Four million cats and dogs—about one every eight seconds—is put down in U.S. shelters each year. Only 20-30% of the homes in the United States have a dog that was adopted from a shelter or a rescue. (The rest are coming from someplace else – responsible breeders, backyard breeders, puppy mills, and pet stores; but the majority of them come from a family friend or neighbor who chose to breed their dog or who’s dog became pregnant when they got out of the yard.)
As dog bloggers, we can bring attention to this issue, educate people on the the importance of pet adoption and encourage them to adopt from a local rescue. There are so many wonderful rescues out there who do such good work, and most them do it with very little funds. Thankfully, many of them have a small core of dedicated volunteers who are willing to foster, train, promote, vet and care for these dogs. Without these rescues so many more dogs would die.
Let’s give these unsung heroes the recognition they deserve! Join us on July 23rd as we Unite for Dog Rescue.
Tell others! Post this to Facebook and Twitter:
SPREAD THE WORD – BLOGGERS UNITE FOR DOG RESCUE – Promote dog adoption on July 23rd! http://bit.ly/pO7dZp #BtC4A
This is Matt – He was hours away from death when a local rescue stepped up and offered to take him in (Wags & Whiskers). Thanks to his foster mom, Anne, for offering to foster Matt and for making him feel at home. You can follow Matt on his Facebook page – Adventures of Matt.
Get involved!
- Blog about a Dog Rescue related topic on July 23rd, 2012
- Add one of the badges below to your blog and help spread the word
- Interested in adopting a companion? Visit Petfinder or The Shelter Project.
- Donate to a local dog rescue organization
- Foster a dog
- Volunteer at a local shelter or rescue organization
- Share this post across all forms of social media and encourage others to participate!
- Post one of these badges to help promote this event. Copy and paste–help yourself!
Learn more:
A direct link to Matt’s page – Adventures of Matt
Dog #201 – Why Petland Should Stop Selling Puppies #BtC4A
Dog #201
She had been brought to our shelter by a local service organization, who had rescued her, pregnant and scared, from a puppy mill. They cared for her during her pregnancy and after the birth of her puppies, but she was so damaged emotionally that they had considered euthanizing her thinking that she would never be able to be anything but a scared unsocialized dog, afraid of everything and everyone. Her foster mom wanted to give her a chance and asked our shelter manager if he would take her. He agreed.
When I first met her on that day at the shelter, she was sitting at the back of her kennel – terrified and alone. She cowered in my presence and avoided direct eye contact. When I raised my hand to unlock the kennel door, she went straight to the ground and curled into a little ball with feet curled under her body, frozen in fear. It was easy to get the leash on her, but getting her to walk to the door to go outside was a slow process and required slow movements.
I walked her around the shelter property so she could go to the bathroom, but it was more of a crawl than a walk. She moved slowly, her body slunk low to the ground, and she would freeze at any sudden movement or loud noise. I avoided talking to her, hoping it would calm her. It didn’t. After a short walk, I sat down on the parking lot curb and waited to see what she would do. Her whole body language conveyed fear and distrust – averted eyes, lowered head and body, frozen body posture. She kept her back towards me the whole time. She did not trust me, and I didn’t blame her at all.
I let her be while I remained seated. I hoped that giving her some time to adjust to my presence would help. It didn’t. She allowed me to pet her, but I think that was only because she was too scared to move. My heart broke for her. It was at that moment that I knew that this dog and I were somehow going to be connected. I just didn’t know then how much.
It would be much later before I would learn that she had a tattoo in her ear. The number 201. Dog number 201 in a puppy mill of how many? How many breeding dogs in dog number 201′s puppy mill were left behind? How many were not rescued?
Dog #201 is also known as Daisy. My dog Daisy. She was breeding dog in a puppy mill for four years. I can’t say how many litters she had, but my vet surmised that it had been many since her skin hangs down as if it had been stretched often by pregnancy. I can’t even begin to guess where all her puppies went, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they could have ended up at a Petland store since Petland USA gets 95% of their puppies from puppy mills.
That’s why I am joining Be the Change for Animals today to blog about puppy mills and Petland. All week Be the Change for Animals has been asking people to sign our petition (started by my friend Mary Haight over at Dancing Dog Blog) to ask Petland USA to stop selling puppy mill puppies. We need 50,000 signatures and we only have 750 signatures. Hardly enough to convince Petland USA to stop selling puppy mill puppies like Petland Canada decided to do earlier this year is it?
Daisy and I are asking for your help. We are asking you to join this cause and ask Petland USA to stop selling puppy mill puppies. It took me less than a minute to add my name to the petition. Will you join us? Change doesn’t happen unless people speak up. We need you.
Sign and Share the Petition at Change.org
Write to Petland USA on Facebook and Twitter
Paste the following across your social media outlets:
Tell @Petland USA to Stop Selling Pets! Sign the Petition: http://chn.ge/qT2HNs #BTC4A #Change
10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT PUPPY MILLS
1. 99% of puppies sold in pet stores come from puppy mills.
2. Nearly 100% of all puppies in pet stores have parasites when they are purchased.
3. 48% of puppies being sold in pet stores were ill or incubating an illness at the time of purchase, according to a recent California study.
4. 500,000 puppies are born in puppy mills and sold in pet stores every year in the United States.
5. There are 35,000 pet stores in America
6. Puppy millers can make more than $300,000 growing puppies every year.
7. Puppy mills have been around since the early 1960s.
8. Almost every Puppy sold in a pet store has a mother who will spend her entire life in a tiny cage, never being petted, never being walked, never being treated like a dog.
9. Female dogs are usually bred 2x a year. At that rate, they usually burn out by age 5, at which time they are put to death.
10. About 1 million breeder dogs are confined in puppy mills throughout the country.This data can also be found at Madonna of the Mills.
Blog The Change – Why Bother Indeed!
I’ll be honest. I had forgotten about Blog The Change For Animals. I had forgotten that today, January 15th, was the day to blog about something that mattered to me. So, when I saw that others had already posted their blogs sharing their Blog The Change topic, I felt guilty. I have so many other things I need to get done today. “I guess I’ll just miss another one of these Blog The Change For Animals deadlines”, I thought. (sigh)
But, then I saw Karen’s blog post “Blog The Change For Animals – Why Bother?” out on Twitter and decided to read it. Wow. Powerful stuff. Yup. There are times when I feel the same way. Why bother? What good does it do to blog when people will still continue to treat pets like commodities? Or, to buy pets on the spur of the moment and later discard them with such ease, like they just bought a purse, instead of a living breathing thing? It can be so frustrating.
The truth is that sometimes it’s easier not to care or to even try, but I know personally of several people who did change after reading one of my blog posts (e.g., A Letter from a Shelter Manager). So change can happen. It just takes perseverance, time… and patience. Lots of it.
I recently had a fellow volunteer from our animal shelter (the one that closed down on December 31st, 2010) ask all of us volunteers this question “If you were to write a mission statement about yourself (in regards to animal rescue) – what would it be?” Hmmm…. What a great question. Since our shelter closed, I have been floundering around trying to decide what to do next. I’ve been exploring rescue groups, looking at volunteering at other shelters, etc. but nothing has quite appealed to me… except one. Here is my response, “Fighting puppy mills and rehabbing puppy mill dogs.”
So today, I am going to do something I’ve never done before I’m going to move beyond blogging the change and go out and do something I have been wanting to do for some time. Protest at a Petland Store. If you would like to join me, please do so. Here is the information. From what I hear, they are peaceful and focus on informing folks vs. confronting them.
After that, I am going to start focusing on my “blood pup” campaign. I’ll write about it, promote it, and do whatever I can to educate folks on puppy mills and the dogs they buy from pet stores, this includes online pet stores.
Change doesn’t happen unless all of us get involved – and I’m not just talking about animals either. Everyone has a cause or issue that they are passionate about. How often do they take action on that issue? What do they actually DO besides talk about it to their friends and family about it? Maybe today should be a BE THE CHANGE kind of day. A day when each one of us does one thing to help our cause. What do you think? Are you in?
My Blog The Change for Animals happened after all. Thanks Karen! You motivated me!
Update:
I did it! I made it to my first Petland Protest! I am so glad I did too. I met some terrific people, including a woman who has a puppy mill dog of her own. As luck would have it, the mall security, where the Petland is located in St Paul, won’t let the group protest on the property. They delegated us to the huge snowbanks in front of the mall. I think the joke was on them though because we actually were more visible to incoming and outgoing traffic since we were elevated and so close to the road. Thanks Mall Security! We had over 50 people honk, wave or give the thumbs up sign and we educated one woman who stopped to ask questions. We might have frozen are arse’s off, but I feel good doing it. Next month, Shakopee!
Here’s a few pics from our protest.
Here’s a few pics from our protest today.
Dogs, Cats, etc.: Be the Change!
Yesterday, two fabulous blogs (who have been previously featured on this blog!), Go Pet Friendly and This One Wild Life, announced the launch of a new website to unite people who are passionate about animal causes. Go Pet Friendly and This One Wild Life have collaborated to create a simple and easy way to Be the Change for Animals (@BtC4Animals on Twitter).
What is very cool about Be the Change for Animals is that it allows all of us who care about animals and animals causes to band together with other “like-minded folks” in one “strong, collective voice behind a weekly cause.” And, it takes less than 15 minutes per week!
There are four ways you can participate:
1. Champion a cause – submit a cause to be featured on the website,
2. Support a cause – Participate in the Call to Action: contribute, promote, etc.
3. Blog about a cause – Once a quarter, you make a commitment to blog about a cause that you are passionate about and encourage your audience to get involved! Blog the Change days are: January 15th, April 15th, July 15th and October 15th.
4. Comment on a cause: Share with others. Visit other causes featured on BtC4Animals and offer support where you can.
