Planet Dog Blog

Otis

I waited a long time to replace my childhood dog, Maggie--seven years, in fact.  Throughout college I wanted a dog so badly it sometimes hurt, but financial and time restraints kept me from being able to adopt.  After graduating and finding a good job, my boyfriend and I decided now was time for a dog.  We considered our living arrangements--medium sized apartment, good neighborhood for walking--and decided a female, three-or-more-year-old, Schnauzer or terrier mix would be right for us. 

We knew we wanted to adopt a pup from a shelter, and set out first for the Mobile County Animal Shelter.  We sat outside while the shelter opened, and once allowed inside, we were informed we'd have to wait another hour until we could go back to the kennels.  We patiently waited until we were let inside, and once we did, it was love at first sight.

I knew when I saw Otis, all fifteen pounds of scruffy Schnauzer mix, that he was the one for me.   While the other dogs howled and barked, Otis calmly dashed back and forth in his kennel, quietly leaping up and down.  Energetic, but quiet--just what we wanted.  But I knew not to pick the first dog I saw, choosing instead to go by every single kennel in the pound, petting the pups and discussing them with my boyfriend.   We almost selected two other dogs before settling, at last, on the one who first stole my heart.  Never mind that he was only a year old, or male.  He was ours.

We've had Otis since October 6, 2008.  He's gained weight and is kept well-groomed.  We don't have a lot of money, but what we do we spend on our pup.  He is well-fed, sees the vet, attends events put on by local animal groups, has more toys than we do, and goes on at least three walks a day.  We spend all our free time with Otis, and I spend my time away from him obsessing about his well-being.  It took him a while to get over the 'shelter mentality,' but he's bonded with us and with my loved ones' pets.  To be honest, I don't know what I'd do without him.

We are all three grateful to Maddie's Fund for keeping Otis alive and adoptable until he and I could find one another.  We are also grateful to the staff at the Mobile County Animal Shelter for taking good care of Otis while he was in their care.  Without the help of these organizations, I never would have found the missing piece to my life.

Daisy

My husband John and I (Audrey) have 3 boys Jonathan 8, David 7, Ryan 5. And since they all are at school and I felt a little lonely and thought we were ready for a dog in our family! We started researching what kinds of dogs were out there and came across a wonderful rescue "Magnificeint Mutts" and on Sept 11th adopted who we now call Daisy!! She warmed our hearts and fell in love with us just as fast as we did with her.  She was 10wks old. They rescued her from down south. She is now over 20lbs and is 19wks old. Our boys take such good care of their dog.

Daisy follows me around and I just love it!! We go for long walks and the boys give her lots of play time. She is very exhausted at the end of the day and sleeps great for us. She has been potty trained and knows lots of tricks!! Sit, sit pretty (sitting w/both paws in our hand), speak, down, and if we put a treat down in front of her and say no she turns her head until we say it's okay. Daisy is a lab/sheperd mix.

Planet Dog's 5th annual Valentine's Day Canine Cocktail Party & Dog Kissing Contest featured on WCSH6's 207

Planet Dog's 5th annual Valentine's Day Canine Cocktail Party & Dog Kissing Contest was held on Thursday, February 12th to raise money for the Planet Dog Foundation.

Watch the video.

Casper

We decided to rescue a dog after our Springer Spaniel rescue, Sugar, passed away. After researching several rescue organizations at Petfinder.com, we decided to work with Labs 4 Rescue, a CT group.

Choosing one special dog was hard, but Deb, our Labs 4 Rescue counselor, helped us to find Casper, a young yellow Lab mix who lived in Louisiana. After completing all of the paperwork and our home visit, Casper came up from the South in the "big truck" in late September.

Casper is a gentle and sweet dog who has lots of love to give. We are so lucky to have him!

Planet Dog's Orbee-Tuff Strawberry featured on NBC's TODAY show

The Planet Dog Orbee-Tuff Strawberry was featured today on NBC's TODAY show.

Watch the Video.

Check out the Orbee-Tuff-Strawberry

MacKenzie & Dash

When my family and I were looking to adopt another dog, I was saddened that the local shelters didn't always have photos available on their websites of their available dogs.  I went to my local animal services shelter and found out why - besides the small staff, the shelter only had three volunteers and over 100 animals!  There was simply not enough manpower to take care of the animals AND reliably post their photos online, although they tried their very, very best.

I decided to combine my passion for photography and dogs and request to be the shelter's dog photographer.  (Unfortunately, I'm very allergic to cats, but another volunteer is taking their photos.)  I spend about five hours every Saturday at the shelter and take the dogs' photos and then post the photos on the shelter's website, Petfinder.com and my MySpace profile to increase the dogs' visibility in the community.  This small effort is getting dogs adopted faster!

I also enjoy creating and maintaining spreadsheets so I connected the director of my state's Humane Society of the United States at a local grassroots meeting and told her I was interested in helping on the state legislative level, but didn't know how.  I now volunteer to organize lists of voters/animal lovers she sends me, and I create spreadsheets used to contact these voters when the HSUS is trying to drum up support to pass state bills on important animal issues such as animal cruelty.  And I do can do this from my home in my spare time.

The need for help is out there.  My advice for those of you who may want to volunteer - shelters will accept any kind of help they can get.  If you can commit on a regular basis, great!  If you can only help out every once in a while, that's fine, too.  There is so much that can be done, so pick something you would enjoy.  My shelter loves when people volunteer to take dogs for walks and play with the dogs and cats - that's pure fun for the volunteers and the animals!  Here are some other ideas on how you can volunteer and help your local shelter:

1. Volunteer your time at a shelter - bathe and groom animals, stuff envelopes for mailing, help organize a fundraiser, help at a mobile adoption event.  Contact your shelter and ask in what ways you can help.

2. Get a "wish list" of badly needed items from your local shelter.
Hold an "items in need" drive at your workplace, church, school or anywhere and donate the items to the shelter.  I've done this at my workplace, and the response was amazing.  People donated dog food, used blankets and towels, used collars, toys and other items.  The shelter used everything immediately.

3. Adopt your next pet from a shelter and spread the word to your friends about adopting a pet as opposed to buying one.  And did you know that approximately 25% of pets in shelters are purebred?

4. Be a responsible pet owner.  Have your pet spayed or neuter to help control pet overpopulation.  Keep current identification on your pet at all times and get your pet microchipped if possible.  Keep your pet properly confined.  Take your pet to the vet for regular checkups.  And give your pet plenty of attention and love...for its whole life.

These are just a few ideas on how you can make a difference in the lives of animals.  Pet overpopulation is a community responsibility - homeless animals and overcrowded shelters need our help.  Each effort, no matter how small, is needed and appreciated.  I can tell you first hand: making a difference in the lives of animals is truly a rewarding experience...on so many levels.

Charwa

I came across Charwa from a friend that knew these people that had taken Charwa in. They had her for awhile and when she found out she was going to have another child she didn't want Charwa around the baby even though she had been great with her other child.

So, they had locked her in the basement with only a bowl of water a day and cat food to eat. Never, let her outside to play or go potty.  When they brought her out to me they told me that there was two options for her one was for me to adopt her and take her home with me that day. Or the second was take her to the shelter and hope they would find a home for her but most likely because she was a routweiller and bull they would put her down -- for the main reason of her breed not her temperment.

She came to me and started giving so much love and affection and was such a sweetheart that I couldn't take the chance of letting her go back to a shelter and abused any longer.  She already was starving and we could see every rib and count them.  Also, I gave her a bowl of water and she had it gone in a few seconds and than gave her some more she again drank it so fast she made herself sick for the main reason she wasn't use to having water and food to drink.

It was hard for the first few days around the house but our other dog Snooky just loved her to pieces after about an hour.  They have been competely inseparatable ever since.  He looks out for her to know end and she does the same for him.

The vet at her last check up couldn't believe how well she is and what a great attitude she has.  Every morning she gets up and makes her rounds to give hugs and kisses before she will go outside. She has turned out to be one of the best pets anyone could ever ask for.

She has inspired me to help others by training others on how to look after their dogs.  Her and Cesar Milan are the two greatest in inspiring you to succeed in life.

If a dog can forgive after her terrible life why can't we.

Dyna & Boomer

My boyfriend and I had been talking about getting a dog for a while.  We searched local shelters online, knowing generally what we were looking for.  We wanted to adopt a dog that was large and maybe might not be the easiest dog to place.  Having had dogs all our lives, we felt prepared to work with a dog that needed extra attention.  On the website for Harvest Hills Animal Shelter in Fryeburg we saw a Neapolitan Mastiff named Natasha.  We had never heard of the breed so we did some research and decided to drive down and meet her.  When the shelter let her out to the play area in the yard to meet us, the impressive, 110 pound dog B-lined it for us.  I was a little afraid, but when she was within an arms reach she did a flop so she was belly up and wiggled on the ground while we rubbed her belly.  It was love at first sight.  While we were filling out the paperwork they told us she should be an only dog as she didn't behave well with other dogs.  This was sad news, but not enough to discourage us from adopting her.  We changed her name to Dyna.

After a year with Dyna and having moved into a new house we felt confident in her obedience and sweet nature.  We LOVE dogs and really wanted another one.  We looked a lot and were feeling a little discouraged.  Finally, we found a male lab mix puppy through Almost Home Rescue; they bring dogs from kill shelters in Arkansas to Maine to be adopted.  We picked him up from the foster home and, again, fell in love immediately.  We decided to call him Boomer.

The next step was to integrate Boomer into Dyna's dominant style.  It took a week of short intervals together and practice, but now Boomer and Dyna are quite the duo- I'm not sure if they're best friends or in love.  Our dogs have enriched our lives so much and we really can't imagine our lives without them.

Vinnie

My wife and I had been talking for almost a year about getting another Boston Terrier to keep Munjoy company. Every once in a while, I would go on Petfinder.com to search through all the Bostons, and email them to my wife. She would always tell me that they were cute, but we didn't see any dogs which would fit with us. That is until I found Vinny. I was searching through all the Boston Terriers in New England, when I saw his smiling face and name, "Vinny in ME." He was a handsome guy, six years old, rescued from a puppy mill in Missouri, and he sounded perfect and he was in Maine already! I must have sent my wife at least four different dogs, but when she called  me later on she only mentioned Vinny. She fell in love with him immediately.

So I emailed the rescue who had listed him, the Friends of Homeless Animals out of Providence, RI, with our application, and waited. I was so excited that I didn't check my voicemail before I went to bed, and I sent out another email in the morning. When I did check my phone, there was a message from the previous night from Vinny's foster mom, so I called her as soon as I could, and we talked  about Vinny, and Munjoy (our 1.5 year old Boston Terrier) and her Boston Terriers.

The next day I put down our deposit, and we arranged a meeting for Munjoy and Vinny. Munjoy was so excited when she met Vinny, jumping and spinning! We knew we had found an awesome dog, and a perfect companion for us, as well as Munjoy.

Vinny and Munjoy have been great together. He is well behaved, and awesome to have around.

Dagny

We came across Dagny's story on petfinder. She is a little over 2 years old and a rescue from a Missouri puppymill. Once the  dogs are no good to the breeders (for what ever reason), they sell them at auction to make one last buck off of them. Well thank goodness someone was able to get Dagny out of that horrible place. The rescue organization that did so is Friends of Homeless Animals based in Providence RI.  She was then brought to CT to be fostered by a WONDERFUL woman named Carol who had 4 other bostons, some her own, and some fosters.  After speaking with Carol on the phone about this wonderful girl, I knew we had to have her in our lives and a few weeks later I was making the drive to CT to pick her up.
 
She has a few issues that we are still working out due to her past, but she is our wonder pup! :) We always chose to focus on the future with Dagny, and never feel sorry for her, she doesn't want that!  She loves our first boston Dex so much, and he's been instrumental in her learning how to be a 'house dog'. She's taken so well to all of us, after only having her for a little over 6 weeks, there is NO way I could imagine my life without this sweet girl. She doesn't take ONE second, hug, treat, kiss, kind word, friendly face for granted... We should all be so lucky to have someone like Dagny in our lives!