- Kristen

I’m not sure if he meant well or was ACTUALLY attempting to break my heart (I’d like to believe it was the former), but Jesse sent me this pic from his cell while I was away:

Ty is just my schmoopy-poopy-luvvie-buns, so I wasn’t surprised that he was depressed to find me gone for days. But honestly, I was kind of shocked that Murphy missed me. And as long as Pickles has a big dog to play with, she couldn’t care less about me if she tried. Well, that’s not true, but having a big dog around sure does help with her separation anxiety.

I’m just glad to be home, and I’m know they’re glad to have me here. This morning, I woke up covered in dogs. I was sleeping on my stomach and Ty was on the bed, where neither he nor Murphy are allowed anymore, with his head on my butt. Pickles was against my face as usual, and Murphy was across Jesse’s pillow with his chin across the top of my head.

They have followed me around all day, like they can’t stand to have me out of their sight. I’ve never felt so loved.

-Kristen

- Kristen

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Tags: pet blog, dog blog, pug blog, mastiff blog, discount pet supplies, pet supply coupon, pet discounts, drs foster & smith

Despite the absolutely squalid conditions — think of how much poop just ONE dog produces, and then multiply by 800 — the majority of the dogs were in excellent shape. Neighbors reported seeing an Iams delivery truck visiting the home at least once a month, so apparently they were relatively well fed. Some dogs were missing paws, supposedly from either being attacked by other animals or getting stuck in nearby fencing, but only three dogs were found dead on the premises. One report that I can’t locate online stated that one of the dead dogs was a puppy and the other two were adults, but I cannot find a link to confirm.

Authorities stated that this was more than double the number of any other seizure in the state of Arizona. The couple, whom some reports have named as a Mr. and Mrs. Jones and others have reported have not yet been identified, will likely not be charge with anything other than neglect. They are cooperating with authorities.

Area animal shelters that were already full are attempting to accommodate the nearly 800 dogs along with 80+ parrots, which also seemed to be in largely healthy condition. Another report that I cannot confirm at this time stated that the couple is hoping to recover 12 or 18 of the parrots and none of the dogs.

The dogs will be offered for adoption as soon as they can be checked over by shelter staff for illness and injury. The Humane Society is currently accepting monetary donations and donations of crates, food, and other supplies to care for the animals.

Do you have more info? Leave a comment with a link.

Sources:

• Hundreds of Dogs Found in Arizona Home During ‘Record Breaker’ Bust
• 800 dogs seized from home
• Almost ‘800′ Small Dogs Seized From Elderly Couple’s Home In Arizona
• 100s of Chihuahuas Seized From AZ Home
• About 800 dogs seized from filthy mobile home

Tags: pet blog, animal blog, dog blog, 800 dogs seized in arizona, elderly people hoarding animals, more than 800 dogs, 80 parrots, animal neglect, humane society, meow/bark/blog, kristen king

Every time we try to get Pickles to shake, she just bites us. Sigh.

I met a dog at the airport who could sneeze on cue. It was adorable… This is not the same dog. Does she growl at him at the end???

Tags: pug tricks, dog tricks, pug dog tricks, videos of pugs doing tricks, training your pug, teaching your pug new tricks, tricks to teach your pug, smart pugs, genius pugs, pickles the pug, meow/bark/blog, kristen king

I think I may never leave Pickles outside alone again after reading this article. The short version is that a 15-foot python stalked and then devoured a Chihuahua in Australia earlier this week, while the family’s 5- and 7-year-old watched in terror. I’ll spare you the photo, but for those who are interested, you can view it here. But seriously, it’s gross and pretty horrifying, so use your judgment.

You may be thinking, "Well, what could they have done?" And if we’re talking about the children, the answer is, "Nothing."

But the article explicitly states that the snake was hunting the dog for days and that they saw the snake in the dog’s bed. And yet, rather than protecting the dog, maybe keeping it inside or walking it somewhere else, the owners let it out with two small children knowing full well that a hungry15-foot-long snake was in the neighborhood and jonesing for a Chihuahua fix. Oh, good idea, people. Just brilliant. You realize that you killed your dog, right?

In a video filmed at the zoo where the snake was taken after being removed from the family’s home, you can see exactly how big it was, and you can also see that it is still digesting its last meal.

Tags: pet news, animal news, pet headlines, animal headlines, python eats dog, python eats chihuahua, austrailian snake attack, python attacks dog in australia, meow/bark/blog, kristen king

The secret to training Pickles is threefold:

1. Incessant repetition.
2. Lots of patience
3. An endless supply of treats.

No, really. But probably the best thing we have done with training her is to build on thing she does naturally. Every time she laid down, for instance, we threw a party. "Good girl, Pickles! Down! Good girl! Good down! Yay, Pickles! Down! Good girl!" Same with speaking (it helped when we barked, too, to get her started), sitting, and high-fiving. Rolling over was a little trickier because it necessitated basically yanking her legs out from under her and flipping her manually for a while, but she picked it up fast.

What should we teach her next? Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Tags: pug tricks, video of a pug doing tricks, pug video, dog tricks, video of dog tricks, pickles the pug, training your dog, teaching your dog how to do tricks, meow/bark/blog, kristen king, YouTube

Company: Creative Professionals for Animal Welfare (creativePAW)

Job Title: Volunteer Writers, PR People, and other Creative Professionals

Description: This is a volunteer opportunity at Creative Professionals for Animal Welfare (creativePAW). creativePAW’s mission is to help animal welfare organizations find creative professionals (such as writers, editors, proofreaders, graphic designers, web designers, videographers, PR people, and illustrators) who are willing to do volunteer work to help with the orgs’ marketing, education, fundraising, and PR efforts.

Please check out the site and join the database…it’s free (of course) and simple, and you can choose to take on only the volunteer work you have time for. You don’t have to worry about spam if you join the database, as animal welfare orgs have to join and be approved before they can search the database.

I’m thrilled that I announced the site in mid-February and we have more than 90 volunteers already! However, the animal welfare orgs are flowing in so we need even more volunteers.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, a homeless companion animal is euthanized every eight seconds in the U.S. creativePAW’s mission is to help animal welfare organizations publicize their causes and educate the public about homeless pet issues. So please, sign up and get involved! Also, please do pass this message along to other creative types you know.

http://www.creativepaw.org

Tags: freelance writing, volunteer writing jobs, volunteer editing jobs, volunteer creative jobs, volunteer PR jobs, freelance volunteer work, building your freelance portfolio, creativePAW, Creative Professionals for Animal Welfare, inkthinker, kristen king