PHOTO FOR THE DAY

The oh-so-lady-like Dru. Sometimes she really gets her sleep on and ends up in the oddest positions.

A HERO'S TAIL

This past weekend I spent quite a bit of time at Jamie's place, The Persistent Pup, aka Doggie Disneyland. Saturday morning we were there for greyhound playdate (photos of that later). Then a return trip Saturday night for the Halloween Fun-Raiser for her latest, and most excellent, project - A Hero's Tail. (the link will take you to their facebook page). Jamie (and partner, Heather) have started a (soon-to-be) non-profit that adopts pets from local Tucson rescues and trains them to be skilled companions for veterans with PTSD or TBI. They need donations to pay the fees associated with getting the animals (mostly dogs) ready to be  companions. Jamie, just finished training a puppy to alert the owner when he (the owner) was about to have a seizure so he can take his medication, preventing the seizure. They were recently featured on Tucson's morning show, The Morning Blend.

Least to say, we had a wonderful time. I was surrounded by dogs in costumes - a photographer's heaven. Here are a few of the photos from Saturday evening's festivities. Dogs in costumes! WOOT WOOT!

PUPPIES NO LONGER, SIGH

Remember the puppies? They're not so much puppies anymore. They've been continuing their training at Jaimie's. Beth has begun apprenticing with Jamie as a dog behavior trainer. Ava (top photo) is a shy girl but loves to jump and harass Roo. Roo (bottom photo) is very outgoing and into everything. Beth has been working quite a bit with them, as seen in Exhibits A and B, below.

PHOTO FOR THE DAY

No one told Dillon the vampire fangs for his Halloween costume go on the upper teeth.

PHOTO FOR THE DAY

My beautiful girl, Dru. Always watching me. Probably waiting for me to move in the direction of the snackies.

A LITTLE MORE HELP NEEDED FOR KISSA-BULL

Last year we posted about the tragedy surrounding the Houston Pittie Pack from the Kissa-Bull blog. The family suffered the unimaginable heartbreak of not only loosing their house in a fire, but 5 of their 7 dogs. Sandra has done incredible work in helping remove the absurd stigma associated with the Pitt Bull breed. The interwebs did good things and helped out the family in their time of need.

The family needs a bit more help. They almost lost the house again this month. To (very poorly) sum up: The insurance only covered a certain amount and the re-build on the house has taken 10 months. The family has been trying to make two rent payments (one for their rental and one for the mortgage on the unfinished house). With complications during pregnancy, Sandra was put on bed rest. Payments fell behind and the bank said they were going to foreclose.

Between a new chip-in account, moving into a garage and selling everything they own, the family managed (this weekend) to make the payment so the foreclosure would not progress. That’s the good news. Thank you pet blogging community!

However, if you read that last paragraph closely, you will notice they had to sell everything they own. The chip-in account is still active until the end of the month. How about heading over and donating just a little? (Or a lot would be OK, I’m sure.) Let’s give them a cushion until the house is complete and maybe a bit extra for them to get new dog beds when they move in. In the past year, I’ve not learned how to put the chip-in widget in my blog, so if you will follow this link, you will find the chip-in page and more information. Thanks all for helping out.

DEADLY SINS

It is a good thing today is Sunday, for I have some repenting to do. I can’t tell you how prideful I am that I managed to capture, in a photograph, even a portion of the delicate string of drool that extended 18 inches from slack-jawed mouth hanging off the side of the couch to the soon to be shinny clean floor. That's my boy, providing for one of the more challenging photo shoots yet. So proud of him as well. Sniff.