Celebrate Adopt a Shelter Dog Month with an ASPCA Prize Pack

Is there a shelter pup in your life? Tell the world with this shirt and other goodies from the ASPCA.

October, as you might already know, is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, and our frinds at the ASPCA want those of you who love sharing the adoption message to turn up the volume with the help of this shirt:

In fact, they want to give one Dogster reader a prize pack full of goodies to help you spread the word on adoption well beyond October. Included: an "I Love My Shelter Dog" tote in addition to the shirt, an ASPCA wristband and magnet, a Humane Law Enforcement handcuffs keycain, and some K9 cookie treats in pea-mutt butter flavor for the best accessory in your homemade adoption campaign: your shelter pup!

HOW TO WIN

If you'd like the prize pack, use your Disqus account to comment below, telling us your shelter pup's story. Creating a Disqus profile and avatar just takes a minute and is a great way to participate in Dogster's community of people who are passionate about dogs. (Please note that if your Disqus account doesn't contain a valid email address, you can't win because we can't contact you. Lame! So please check your account). 

We will pick a random winner on Wednesday, Oct. 31, at noon PST, and contact him/her by email. The winner will have two days to respond or we'll pick another -- that's just how it goes!

The ASPCA would also like to invite you to their virtual Adopt a Shelter Dog Month event, which will take place on their UStream Channel on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. EST. The live stream will feature behavior experts chatting about the dos and don'ts of bringing a new dog home and vets who will help prepare you for Halloween with some safety tips.

View the original article here

Panhandling Pooch Not Mistreated, Says ASPCA

An image from the Stop Abusing Coffee Facebook page points out what witnesses say is a shock collar under the bandana Coffee always wears in public

As promised, an update on Coffee, the NYC dog who sits outside the city’s major-league ballparks and panhandles in costume for hours at a time with a pipe in her mouth. Some baseball fans and dog lovers believe Coffee sits so long because when she would try to lie down, her owner would surreptitiously shock her.

An ASPCA veterinarian examined Coffee, a 5-year-old pit bull mix, at her owner’s home in Queens.The vet said Coffee performed all her tricks without a shock collar, just with voice control, according to the Associated Press.The animal-welfare organization said it would continue to keep an eye on the situation, and would examine her at some point during a stint at a ballpark.

Meanwhile, fans of the Stop Abusing Coffee Facebook page are outraged.

“I would not enjoy clinching a pipe in my mouth with no hands to take it out and rest my jaw, all the while sitting in 95 degree temps with a fur coat and a T-shirt on, waiting for my “MASTER” to click his remote on my shock collar. If that how he trains dogs, I would suggest he is not the great dog trainer he calls himself. Whether this is abuse by definition of the law or not, it is inhumane, uncompassionate AND TRASHY to make this dog pander for money. GET A JOB MAN!”  writes one upset Coffee friend.

Dogsters, what do you think? Has the ASPCA done enough? Should investigators have asked what that object around her neck in photos is, or visited her during one of her work days? Of is finding a happy, wagging dog who seems healthy evidence enough that she’s not being mistreated?

View the original article here