You Can Help During Hurricane Sandy: Join the Blogger Disaster Response Network

BlogPaws and World Vets formed the network to help animals affected by disasters.

Hurricane Sandy has begun to pummel the East Coast, and weather forecasters expect a mess combining high winds, heavy rains, extreme tides, and even snow lasting through Wednesday. Millions of people are expected to be without power, and emergency shelters have opened their doors to people as well as pets. In times like these, pets need us to be their voice and keep them safe from harm.

BlogPaws and World Vets, with the help of Dr. Jessica Vogelsang, have joined forces to create The Blogger Disaster Response Network to help animals in need during times of disaster.

If you have an account on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, or any other social media channel, you can participate to help animals. If you are also a blogger, then you can help spread the word to your followers and readers.

According to its website, the group was formed in 2011 after the earthquake and tsunami hit the Japanese coastline and left thousands of animals homeless and in danger. In the days after that disaster, BlogPaws created the Paws for Japan Blog Hop, a campaign to help spread the word about disaster relief. It helped World Vets bring in a great deal of money on short notice. Based on that success, the Blogger Disaster Response Network was created.

“Members of this voluntary organization will be the first to be notified of a global disaster response effort through World Vets, and given all the information they need to help spread the word about how people can help,” the site states.

Vogelsang is quoted on the site as saying, “I am continually reminded of the power of the pet blogging community. It is a truly potent force. To have the opportunity to create a network that will harness this power in the short time frame demanded in a disaster situation is a truly unique opportunity, and I couldn’t be more thrilled that BlogPaws is going to be a part of this history making network.”

Visit the BlogPaws and World Vets Blogger Disaster Response Network page.

You will be asked to share basic information like name, e-mail address, blog/Twitter/Facebook page with BlogPaws and World Vets. This data remain safe in the network, and BlogPaws will only contact people via broadcast e-mail when a disaster happens and the word must get out immediately to help animals in need.

Participation can mean a blog post, a Tweet, a Facebook status update, a Pinterest post, a YouTube video, or any other social media channel Dogster readers wish to use. Many times, World Vets sets up a “chip-in,” and sharing the chip-in is a way to share the message and help the cause.

If you are interested in more hands on assistance, please visit The Disaster Response page of Word Vets.

You can sign up here and spread the word. The more bloggers that BlogPaws and World Vets can contact when a disaster strikes, the bigger the positive impact.

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Blogger on the beach: lunch, laughter and dog talk

May 13, 2011

I had lunch with my friend Susan Hamil earlier this week. We sat out on the patio of a Mexican restaurant overlooking the ocean and ate guacamole and fish tacos. I indulged in a Margarita. We have known each other forever, and often see each other at events or talk on the phone, but we hadn’t just sat down for lunch in years. After we finished slicing and dicing the dog world, we began swapping stories about our old ladies.

Susan has a Pug named Xena, who is 14 years old. Xena was six months old and in need of a new home when Susan ran across her, and they’ve been good friends ever since. It still makes me laugh when I remember the time one of Susan’s show dog friends commented unfavorably about Xena’s conformation. “Xena’s a performance Pug,” Susan haughtily replied.
In their day, both Xena and Bella were athletic little dogs. Xena did the typical Pugtona 500, racing through the house, on and off the furniture, and Bella could jump three feet straight up onto our bed or launch herself perfectly into someone’s lap. Now their treacherous bodies have betrayed them, and they have trouble getting around. We love them dearly, but it’s hard not to laugh at some of the things they do.

Susan almost fell off her chair when I talked about finding Bella “splatted” on the floor (more, I think, at the use of the word splatted than at poor Bella’s predicament), and I laughed until I cried at her description of Xena’s commands when she wants something. On the sofa? “Gabble gabble gabble.” Off the sofa? “Gabble gabble gabble.” Neither Xena nor Bella “talked” much when they were younger. I can count one two fingers the number of times I’ve heard Bella bark. But in their old age they’ve found their voices. Xena gabbles; Bella huffs, trills and moans. The huff is my cue that she’s standing up and I’d better stop what I’m doing and take her outside. The trills and moans are distress signals. She is splatted on the floor or has gotten herself stuck in a corner. Mealtimes don’t require any vocalizations, just walking around me and nudging me until I put the food down.

We had a great time. Now, if I could just get Susan and John to come to the World Dog Show, we could do lunch in Paris…

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Could You Be the Next Pet Blogger Apprentice?

Do you have a fun, creative writing style, work well in the WordPress blog format, and love being both behind and in front of the camera? Yes? Then you may be a great candidate for the next Pet Blogger Apprentice for Lu & Coco organic dog grooming supplies.

It’s a great opportunity that will get you some hot exposure via a $500 blogging contract with Lu & Coco. You’ll even get an article published on the very popular dog website, Dogster! (Have you heard of it, Dogsters? ) And as the next Pet Blogger Apprentice, Lu & Coco will send you to BarkWorld Expo in Atlanta this fall. BarkWorld is the social media conference for the pet industry. (Dogster is a sponsor of BarkWorld, so we know it’s worth your while.)

How it works (taken directly from the Pet Blogger Apprentice contest page):

1. You’ll start by liking us on Facebook, then head over to YouTube to create & upload a 30 second or less video telling us why you are THE Next Pet Blogger, and finally complete your entry form by Friday, May 13, 2011.
2. Team Lu & Coco will review all applications, select the 2 best submissions and notify the selected contestants by May 23, 2011.
3. The 2 contestants will then compete for 3 weeks with various tasks as such as social media, traditional media assignments, marketing & promotions and finally via “man on the street” interviews.
4. All of your assignments will be uploaded to the Lu & Coco blog for voting – the great news is that you can campaign for votes from your own community!
5. After the 3 week competition, June 6, the blogger with the highest amount of votes from the community and votes from Lu & Coco will take home the prize!

You can get more details about the contest and the prizes by going to the contest overview page.

C’mon Dogsters! We know there are some great candidates in our midst! Start making your videos now so you can up load ‘em in plenty of time for the May 13 deadline. When you do, come back to this post and leave a comment with the link so your fellow Dogsters can cheer you on!

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