Introducing......

my new Ridgeback puppy....

RiverRun's Dragon of the Night Sky over Spring Valley!

He's been in my house now for a week and I love him to pieces!  Even Tori is coming around (and I have video to prove it!  See below! :-))

Transport help needed - Aug 11 - Lake Charles, LA to Mobile, AL

Rudy is a RR mix that was pulled off the streets of Houston ~10 days ago by myself and another RRUS volunteer.  Since then he has been staying with me in Houston, TX but I cannot keep him until he finds his forever home.  An RRUS member who lives in Orlando, FL has opened her home to him.  Now we need help getting him there.  We have all of the legs filled EXCEPT the one from Lake Charles, LA to Mobile, AL.  If there is anyone who can help or if you know someone who could possibly help, we would truly appreciate it!

Benefit Auction for a friend

One of my good friend's (and fellow Ridgeback person), Liz Druitt, broke both of her wrists ~10 days ago.  She also had to have surgery on both of her wrists.  One wrist will be casted for 4-6 weeks and the other for 12!  While this is bad news for just about anyone...it's especially bad for her as she works with her hands.  She is both a professional gardener and a jewelry designer.  So...since she will be unable to work for awhile, her friends have put together an auction.  There are LOTS of neat items (books, note cards, jewelery (LOTS of jewelry), unique magnets, paintings and more) so please check it out!  The auction started today and will run through midnight on Saturday so bid high and bid often!

Best Friends

Tori (Rhodesian Ridgeback) and Tom (Domestic Shorthair) don't care that they look different from each other.  All they know is that they like each other.  And for those of you who continue to insist that dogs and cats can't be friends?  Look at this photo and tell me again!

This photo was not staged in any way, shape or form.  I got up from the couch and when I came back, this is what I found.  They CHOSE to sleep in this position (and before anyone tries to tell me that Tori is sleeping with one eye open so she can keep an eye on the cat, she's not.  She's watching me because she knows I am taking her picture, one. more. time. and she's tired of it. :-))

Listening to your dog

So apparently Wellness Dog Food and my dogs don't like each other.  Or rather my dogs liked Wellness just fine, it just didn't like them!  For those of you who don't  know, I normally feed Flint River Ranch.  My dogs love it and they do great on it.  I also love the fact that I can have it automatically shipped directly to me (with FREE shipping!) from Feed My Pet.  I have it shipped to me every 6 weeks.  This usually lasts the dogs fine but, on occasion, it doesn't and I supplement with a different food that I can buy at the local pet or grocery store.

So, I ran out of Flint River Ranch early last month and I chose to feed Wellness this time until my next order arrives.  I have always heard good things about Wellness Dog Food and figured, why not give it a try?  Well, now the fun begins.  Everything went fine for a little while and then I started seeing some changes in the dogs behavior.  Shortly after switching Sadie started to eat (prepare for grossness) poop and then a few days ago I caught Tori eating dirt!  Yikes!  Both dogs were also pooping more. Something was definitely not right.  Hmmmm....the only major change was the dog food.  And my FRR doesn't arrive until next week.  Now what do I do?  Well, I'll tell you what I did.  I took myself down to the local PetCo and bought some Purina ONE Sensitive Stomach.  Both dogs are MUCH better this morning after only two meals with the Purina ONE.

I did not initially connect Sadie eating poop with the food switch, however, after two meals of Purina ONE she is no longer hunting the back yard for (ick) poop.  And I also haven't seen Tori eating dirt.  I'm not saying that Wellness isn't a good food because it is.  What I *am* saying is that it wasn't right for my dogs.  Just because the food is high quality DOESN'T mean it's right for every dog. Listen to you dog.  I can't wait until my FRR comes in next week...

Japan

As the world community watched the disaster unfold in Japan many of us were wondering What can we do?  We are only one or two or three people.  What can we do to help the people and animals of Japan?  Well, here's one thing you can do.  You can donate $1 to World Vets.  If every one of us donated $1 single dollar imagine how many animals could be saved?  Imagine how grateful they would be.  Imagine how grateful you would be if you had lost everything but your dog or cat was saved because someone donated a dollar to an organization that could help them.  For some of these people, their pet is all they have now.  So give up your Starbucks coffee for one day, or you McDonald's lunch.  Eat at home one extra night this week.  Or just donate a dollar.  That's all you have to do and, for many of us, that's all we can do.  But it's something.  And it matters to every single animal that's saved by World Vets.  And it matters to the people of Japan.  If for some reason the ChipIn link isn't working, go to World Vets directly and click on the Donate button.  The people of Japan will thank you!



And before anyone thinks that I'm just preaching here, that I'm not putting my money where my mouth is, yes I donated.  In fact, I chose to do a recurring donation to World Vets.  But I'm not asking you to do that.  I'm only asking for a one time donation of $1.  That's it.  :-)