Puppies Behind Bars are Trained to Help in Many Ways

I care about all kinds of people, including people in prison. Hubby and I are involved in a prison ministry, but not the one I'm about to tell you about.  Some time ago I watched a program about an organization called "Puppies Behind Bars", and at the time there was also an article in a local paper, so I decided to visit the website.

It is amazing how much it means to people in prison to be able to be part of doing something good.  Through this program they are training puppies so many things, like training inmates to raise service dogs for wounded war veterans, people with various needs and disabilities, to detect explosives, and more. So they are trained to help in the home, in homeland security or law enforcement.  If you would like to learn more, visit the Puppies Behind Bars.

If you know more about this, are part of this organization, or are being helped by a dog that has been through the program, I'd love to hear from you, please share in a comment, and thank you for what you are doing.

Updated 2/27/17

Saving Favorite Animal and Pet Sites Online

I've discovered a new place to save all of my favorite pet and animal sites. The site is called Clipix and as the name would indicate, it is a "visual" way of saving places that you want to revisit in an organized way.

I joined clipix about a week ago, and have set up files on my favorite topics. To get started, you open an account which just takes a few minutes, then go to your "clipboard". On the clipboard you will find boxes with titles of some popular categories. You can change the titles to anything you like. You can also add more boxes to the clipboard as you discover sites that interest you on different subjects. And if things get really busy on your clipboard, you can set up "multiboards" and put similar clipboards within them to further organize things.

Since I am new, I've set up some basic boards on some of my favorite things, including animals, books I'd like to read, health and nutrition, recipes, gift ideas...and I'm sure I'll be adding many more.

When you go to your main page, you can click on the title of any one of your clipboards, which will open up a page so that you can see all files in that folder. As I said, I've just started, but here is a picture of the folder I started on animals and pets:



Here is how to save your information to a clipboard. When you join, you "drag" a little "clip" button up into your toolbar if you are using Firefox, or you save it to your toolbar as instructed if you are using Internet Explorer. Then when you are on a page that you like and want to save, you simply click on the clip button in the toolbar, a window will open, you choose a picture that will remind you of the site, label it if you like, and save it into a file that you choose from a drop-down menu. So simple!

I am "happynutritionist" on clipix, when you join, look for me, or tell us in a comment who you are so we can all find you...tell us how you are using Clipix.

 

Promoted Post

Dog Walkers in New York City

When considering dog ownership in New York City, one of the things you have to ask yourself is "how do I walk my dog in the City"? I am a "rural" dog, so don't really know what city life is like. My owner just opens the door and I'm off to run, sniff about, and "take care of business" on my own, but it's a more complicated thing when you live in a City. Most live in apartments, and some do not want to be running out with their dog whenever the dog wants to go out. Plus we do need our exercise. Perhaps you are unable to walk your dog due to illness, or not wanting to miss part of a game that you are watching on television.

11/7/13 update: Please note that this blog was written as if Aspen, our Yorkie wrote it in first person until August 2013 when we had to say a tearful goodbye to our beloved dog.  We miss her still, but will continue to maintain this blog in her memory.

If you are in New York and dog walking is a challenge for you for any reason, it's nice to know that there's a service like Swifto Dog Walking to come to your rescue. In fact, they promise to be at your door within an hour of your call. This is true no matter where you live in New York City and no matter what time you need a dog walker.

We were happy to see that Swifto is a member of, and insured, by Pet Sitters Associates. It's nice to know that their dog walking service comes with a money back guarantee and all dog walkers are pre-screened. It's good to know that there is such a nice dog walking service for the NYC dweller for those times when you need one.


This post contains both personal and sponsored information written by me on behalf of Swifto. 
All opinions are 100% mine.

Yorkie Chases New Jersey Bears

Okay, now that I have your attention, yes, I did chase a bear this summer, and I'm alive to tell you about it.  The only problem is that we can't really PROVE it because my owners were in such a panic there was no way they were going to grab a camera to take pictures.

Here's how it happened.  One morning, bright and early, we went outside for my usual time of wandering around the yard, chasing a squirrel or cat, and taking care of other business dogs take care of first thing in the morning.  My owner's son heard a sound just around at the side of the house...and so did I.  He ran to go look...and so did I.  Up in the tree near where we usually have the bird feeder hanging (bears LOVE bird seed) there was a medium sized bear, and I ran for it, barking, which scared it down from the tree and then it ran up to the road and across...I ran right behind, very close, with my owner screaming and running after me yelling -  "ASPEN, STOP! STOP!".  I did stop at the end of the yard, and was feeling pretty proud of my accomplishment!  But since, I keep hearing the owners tell my story and say "all that bear had to do was turn around and take one swipe and Aspen would have been a goner".  And now, they are overly cautious when they take me out, which I don't like, but they say it will keep me alive.

There have been a LOT of bears on our property this year.  Here's one picture of a bear about the same size as the one that I chased, going in the same direction, so you get an idea of what happened...this one is moving slowly, though, it's hot, and her cubs were following along behind here, they are in other pictures at Daily Photos by Claudia (she tries to do them daily, but is a little behind:-)



Please read copyright information at Daily Photos by Claudia, this isn't the best picture because we enlarged it, but it's okay to use as long as it's not changed and credit is given to my owner.

Valentine Gifts for Yorkies and People

My owner and I had a lot of fun putting together a page on Squidoo with nice gift ideas for people who love yorkies, and yorkies too!

We didn't realize that there were so many cute things for both yorkies and the owners of Yorkies, and invite you to stop by and visit our page, Yorkie Valentine Gifts | Gifts for People | Gifts for Yorkies.

My Yorkie Pictures and Yorkie Art

I have been putting together a place for you to look at my pictures, and also look at some nice Yorkshire Terrier art.  We had fun putting together "Yorkie Pictures and Artwork" and hope you'll stop by for a visit.

There are pictures of me all through my life, and we had fun matching artwork with the pictures.  You'll find other Yorkie things there, too, so we hope you'll stop by for a visit and let us know what you think.

How You Can Help Lost and Needy Animals

We're sure sorry we didn't get this post to you last week when the Home Again Web Site was supporting the American Humane Association’s Be Kind to Animals Week® by donating $1 for every pet that was registered to the program, but that sure doesn't mean that bringpetshome.com isn't a site worth visiting.

The site was created as a a fundraising Web site specifically created to help shelter animals.

There are things that you can do to "be kind to animals", including your pet not only on a week set aside to focus on the subject, but every day of every week:

• Make sure your pets are properly identified with something that will last, that will not get lost, and is easy to read.


• With hot months coming to parts of the US where seasons change, PLEASE DO NOT leave your pet out in the car with windows closed.  This is a thought that gives my owner and I nightmares!


• If you leave your dog out for long periods of time in warm weather, make sure they have a shady spot to rest...and not just an enclosed doghouse, they can get warm inside if they are in direct sun, but if it's not terribly hot, are better than nothing.  If it's very hot, keep you pet inside where it's cool...treat them like you'd treat yourself.


• Also, if outside provide water to drink during the day.


• PLEASE make sure that your pets are protected from fleas and ticks.

You can find many things to help you protect and care for your pet at bringpetshome.com and when you purchase, you are benefiting animals in need, animals that are living in shelters waiting for someone to bring them home and give them love.  It doesn't cost you anything extra with your purchase to provide food and medical care to needy animals.

Did you know that  HomeAgain.com has helped recover more than 500,000 lost pets? They provide a pet-recovery service that goes beyond microchipping, which, by the way, is an excellent way to protect your pet from getting lost.  For a reasonable yearly fee, you have access to pet-recovery specialists and emergency medical assistance 24/7...the program also includes up to $3,000 (- $50 deductible) in medical insurance for lost pets, and more.

Please do visit my sponsors site for so many more wonderful details!

Attended My First Twitter #pawpawty

Today when my owner was on her twitter account, we noticed that #pawpawty was in the list of trending topics (visit the twitter link to learn more about twitter if you're clueless) and so she decided to let me twitter.  We do that a lot lately.  She changes her picture to mine, and I tell her what to type for me.  Today I'll be taking over for the day since it's a monthly "PawPawty" day.

This is a special day that takes place once a month, here is the information that someone shared on www.examiner.com explaining the event:

So far, these fund raising virtual parties have raised more than $5,000 for organizations such as The Humane Society, Kitten Rescue of Los Angeles and Orphans of the Storm in Illinois. The next pawpawty is scheduled for May 2-3 to benefit the Margaret Green Animal Rescue.

For each pawparty, a theme is chosen and "party-goers" are encouraged to change their Twitter default pictures to something theme-related (see the slideshow below for some cute examples). Prizes are given away for various contests such as trivia and scavenger hunts – all the while people are encouraged to donate even just $1 to the featured charity.

Who can attend the #pawpawty?

The pawpawties are open to anyone with an interest in raising money and getting the word out to friends about the fund raising efforts. Many of the party-goers are animals, or people who tweet as their pets. There are thousands of Twitter Critters online, ranging from dogs and cats to hamsters, gerbils and even a moose!

It is not necessary to be an "animal" to attend these virtual fundraisers, however. Everyone is welcome – the more attendees, the more opportunity to raise as much money as possible for animal charities.

If you decide to join in, be sure to follow us and say hi, I share my owner's account and we trade off regularly - http://twitter.com/happynutrition.  And if you click on this #pawpawty link, you'll be taken just to the search results for pawpawty, and see only the "tweets" related to the event. See you there, I hope!

Look at Poor Punxsutawney Phil, Ground Hog Day

Look at poor Punxsutawney Phil, I don't think I'd be very happy having such and...ummm...undignified picture of me published. You can see cuter ones at his website by clicking his name above.  I think this picture came from the Associated Press and I hope they don't mind a little Yorkie using the picture on her blog.

Even though P. Phil is the most popular Ground Hog today, there are other ground hogs out there who either did, or did not see their shadows, so my owner and I decided that Ground Hog Day must be a regional thing.  When Spring will come depends upon the ground hog that lives closest to you.  What do you think?

Here's what we've been able to pick up from ground hogs around the USA, at least on the Eastern part of the country:

• If you live near Punxsutawney, PA, Phil saw his shadow, so you are probably going to have 6 more weeks of winter


• The brave Ground Hog who makes his home in the Big Apple, New York City, supposedly didn't see his shadow, so just maybe in our area, Spring will come sooner.


• The Marion, Ohio ground hog DID see his shadow, so 6 more weeks of winter there.


• Down in Atlanta, Georgia, no shadow was seen, so in that region there will be an early spring....as if Spring isn't already early enough for you folks down there in the southern states:-)

All I know is I'm getting tired of barking at snow...yes, I bark whenever I look out the window and see that it's snowing,  so Spring can't come soon enough for me (or anyone who has to listen to me.)

I Feel a Lot Better Now

I'm back to my old tricks again after not feeling good for a day or so.  Yesterday I started feeling pretty good, and today, I'm feeling too good...that means I'm begging for treats, begging to have my owners throw my toy bunny, begging for them to kick my ball, a whole lot of begging.

At this update, we're adding the post that came just before what is written above, because it was lost when we transferred the blog to a new site:

-------------

Sorry that we haven't posted in a few days, I've been a little bit sick, and my owner has been busy taking care of me.

I don't want to gross you out with details, lets just say that I had a tummy ache, and had to go outside a lot, when we could make it on time.  My owner gets all worried when I get like that, because I am small, and if I lose my food and water, it's more serious than if I was a big dog.  But today, after I got all "cleaned out", my owner gave me just a very little bit of chicken cut in tiny pieces, and I love chicken so was able to eat it. Then I took a long nap, then when dinner time came, my owner was so happy to see me come to the kitchen to play ball.

Whenever she is in the kitchen, I bring my tennis ball to her, and she kicks it into the other room, then I get it and bring it back, and...well, you get the idea.

I had a little more chicken, and my usual organic healthy salmon snack tonight, and so far, so good!  We'll see how I am tomorrow.  We will go to the vet if I don't keep improving.

Hope to have something more fun to write soon!

Scottish Terrier Barney, the White House Dog

After doing a post about something Barney did that wasn't very nice, I decided I should follow up with something nice, because after all, Barney is a cute dog, and a lot of fun.  My owner is of Scottish heritage, I always wonder why she has me, a Yorkshire Terrier instead of a Scottish Terrier, but am happy she does.

Anyway, back to Barney, early on in President Bush's presidency, before people and press decided to go negative, Barney's Christmas videos were popular.  I think they are still very good.  I hope to post a few of them here for you, as we remember that this is going to be Barney's last Christmas in the White House.

First, a link to the OFFICIAL Barney page at whitehouse.gov.

And here's a few videos for you from years gone by:

Well there you are, hope you enjoy...and don't be fooled by "Barney Cam" videos that aren't the official "Barney Cams", or any websites other than whitehouse.ORG, please!

We Updated My Squidoo Pages

We have been updating Squidoo lenses over the past few days, including mine, and would really like you to visit!

Please visit Yorkshire Terrier and Aspen, the Best Yorkie Ever Squidoos, they aren't long, and easy to visit.

Then you might want to visit my owner's main "Lensmaster page" to see ALL the Squidoos she does, her most popular is "Is New Jersey Weird", the Yorkshire Terrier one is 2nd in line, but you might want to visit some others too...like "Strumming the Autoharp", and her blogs about Bird Feeding, Box Turtles, and even Gravestones. Have fun!

Help for Abused Animals a Click Away

I hope all my animal and people friends are doing well today!

My owner received an important email from a friend, and her friend checked it out, all appears to be legit, so read on, and see how simple it is to help our animal friends:

"Hi, all you animal lovers. This is pretty simple... Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. It takes less than a minute (How about 20 seconds) to go to their site and click on the purple box 'fund food for animals' for free. This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! Pass this info along to people you know.
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/"

PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS !!!