Keeping your green dog happy, healthy and safe during the 4th of July weekend!

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Amazing: Oklahoma Tornado Survivor's Dog Is Rescued During a TV Interview

Barbara Garcia thought she had lost her dog, but he was right at her feet, buried in rubble.

"I never lost consciousness, and I hollered for my little dog, and he didn't answer, he didn't come, so I know he's in here somewhere," says Barbara Garcia of Moore, OK, gesturing to the rubble around her.

It's a scene of utter devastation, and Garcia is describing how she survived the tornado to a reporter from CBS News. Her voice trails off, her eyes darting around, looking at what's left of her house, her neighborhood. She pushes the thoughts of her dog aside for the moment and gets back to the interview, telling of the horror that flattened everything around her.

And then a quiet, shocked voice from someone from CBS off-camera, interrupting the newscast.

"The dog. The dog."

The camera turns, lowers, and there, right at Garcia's feet: two eyes peeking out of the rubble. Her little dog, buried, right next to her. At the sound of his owner's voice calling his name, the dog starts moving, wiggling, trying to get free. 

Garcia herself pulls the rubble off of her dog, who crawls out of the wreckage under his own power. He seems stunned, shell-shocked, but he's able to move on his own. It's an amazing scene, and Garcia, overcome, delivers a heartbreaking coda. 

"I thought God just answered one prayer, to let me be okay. He answered both of them. Because this was my second prayer."

Watch the video here.

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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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Let’s Talk: What Do You Think of This Anti-HSUS Ad That Ran During the Oscars?

The anti-HSUS group found an effective way to get attention during the Oscars

The Academy Awards always comes with some interesting commercials, but if you were watching the Oscars on Sunday in the D.C. area, you may have seen a rather startling one. The ad attacked the Humane Society of the United States, saying it spends less than one penny out of every donated dollar on animal shelters. It tells viewers instead to support their own local shelter instead.

The ad opens with a blaring siren and an emphatic voice announcing “Consumer Protection Alert!,” which alone is a bit startling. It’s only 30 seconds, so you can watch it for yourself here.

Wow, well that sure might make some donors question why they’re spending $19 per month to save shelter animals, as the heartbreaking HSUS commercials like this one request viewers to do:

Who would attack the HSUS on these grounds, and why? According to Mother Jones:

The group behind the ad is the Center for Consumer Freedom, a creation of the Washington PR guru Rick Berman, who runs an array of corporate-funded front groups targeting public-interest outfits, unions, and other organizations that pose a threat to the bottom line of Berman’s clients…

According to the Center for Consumer Freedom’s 2010 tax filing, the group set aside about $1 million to set up its anti-Humane Society website, Humane Watch. Berman has created a separate group with the oddly similar-sounding name, the Humane Society for Shelter Pets. Its website snarks at the Humane Society for failing to provide more money for animal shelters.

Berman’s group openly acknowledges that it is supported by restaurants and other food companies … So why would a group funded by the food industry group go after the Humane Society? Both the Humane Society and the Center for Consumer Freedom seem to agree this is not about lost puppies. Rather, it’s about the Humane Society’s success in altering laws and regulations dealing with animal cruelty, which can sometimes increase the cost of doing business.

The HSUS fought back fast. According to Humane Watch:

We knew our ad during Sunday’s Academy Awards would ruffle some feathers, but HSUS replied yesterday with an especially vicious attack. Though our ad ran in only the D.C. area, HSUS put out a national alert that it was launching a new fundraising campaign — to stop our so-called “campaign for cruelty.”

So let’s get this straight: Our ad asked people who want to help shelter pets to donate to their local pet shelter. And, somehow, that’s a “campaign for cruelty”? If that doesn’t sum up how paranoid and demagogic HSUS is, we don’t know what does.

“…nowhere in HSUS’s fevered response does it mention supporting local shelters! Wethinks HSUS doth protest too much—and in fact, it’s a bit funny that HSUS unwittingly revealed its true motive: factory fundraising. Unfortunately, we’re outgunned here. Our annual budget is less than what HSUS puts into its pension plan. We haven’t mastered the art of deception and inflammatory Orwellian rhetoric like its CEO Wayne Pacelle, and we don’t have untold millions to pump into misleading marketing.

So we need your help. Here’s what you can do:

1. Donate supplies or money to your local pet shelter.

2. Write to the editor of your local newspaper or magazine, asking readers to give locally, and telling them how HSUS gives only 1 percent of its money to local shelters. (If you want more talking points, read this.)

3. If you run a blog, write about how inhumane HSUS is to shelter advocates.

4. Spread the word to your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

We’re not intimidated by HSUS’s smear tactics and attempts to stifle the truth. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Together, we can expose HSUS and help groups that truly walk the walk.

And here’s what HSUS’s CEO and president Wayne Pacelle says about the campaign in his blog:

Your HSUS is under attack because of our work to prevent cruelty to all animals, and we need your help. That’s why today I am launching the “HSUS Fund to Stop Rick Berman’s Campaign for Cruelty,” and I hope you will join me. Whenever he does his worst, we need to do our best in response. So will you join me today and donate $25, $50, or even $100 to help animals in the name of Rick Berman? We’ll put the money to good use. We’ll take the fight straight to his shadowy paymasters and show them that attacking the cause of animal protection will backfire big-time as a business strategy. I’m making the first donation of $500.

We’ll dedicate half the donations for our work against puppy mills, and the other half will boost our efforts to combat factory farming abuses. Your contributions will fund the undercover investigations, litigation, corporate campaigns, and the other work that Berman and his paymasters so desperately hope to stop.

CBS’ 60 Minutes investigated him years ago and dubbed him Dr. Evil. He’s like a bad penny ? he turns up opportunistically as a corporate hireling to take on any number of common-sense ideas, whether it’s attempts to rein in drunken driving, to place limits on smoking, or to combat animal cruelty …

It’s high time to send these animal abusers a message and to make the name “Rick Berman” do something to help animals, something real. By donating to The HSUS for this new fund, you can help us expose those who make money from mistreatment of animals.

Donate here to our HSUS Fund to Stop Rick Berman’s Campaign for Cruelty, and we’ll keep you posted on how your donations in Rick’s name are helping animals. As I said, I’m kicking things off with a $500 donation, and other members of our executive team at HSUS are chipping in another $2,500. I know with your help we will reach our goal of $250,000 — that’s $125,000 to help pets, and another $125,000 to take on factory farming abuses, all thanks to Rick Berman.

Did the HSUS make lemonade out of lemons, or is the group going to sour some donors by its reaction to the ad?

Well it does sound like HSUS acted pretty fast to find a way to make lemonade out of lemons, but I wonder if this tactic of raising money in this way will sour some people who think they’re taking advantage of the situation just a little too much?

Okay, readers — I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit confused. I need to do a lot more research to know just what’s going on here. I’ve heard for some time about the HSUS donations to shelters being abysmal despite its sometimes very frequent TV pleas for money for shelter animals, but I didn’t check it out for myself.

So I ask you: Is the HSUS being attacked unfairly, or do you smell a scam? Or does it even matter if 99 percent of its donations doesn’t go to shelters? Does Humane Watch have a valid point, or is it just trying to keep life for farm animals from getting too cozy and thereby increasing restaurant prices? I’ll bet some of you can shed some light on this situation. Let’s talk! (I’ll mostly listen.)

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How do you keep an old dog stress-free during a big move?

Is there any way to keep an old dog stress-free during a big move?

I’m heading off on a cross-country road trip on Saturday, to spend a few months in Michigan. My Borzoi, Kyrie, is 12 years old — a ripe old age for a giant breed dog.

I’ve long noticed that even dogs who handle upheaval, change and stress easily when  young become less able to deal with those thing when they’re older. My Deerhound, Rosie, who was 13 years old at the time, was never the same after our last move, and it’s always haunted me.

So I swore this move was going to be as close to stress-free as possible. I worked hard to keep Kyrie’s routine the same, to keep her away from areas of the house that were in chaos, to spend extra time with her just petting her or taking her for little walks.

And I’ve set up the trip itself not with my comfort in mind, nor Rawley’s, but Kyrie’s. We’re even stopping in Colorado to see Dr. Robin Downing to make sure Kyrie’s pain protocol for her arthritis is state of the art.

But I just walked into my bedroom to check in with her, and my heart broke at what I saw: Her curled up on my bed, half-buried in my pillows and blankets.

Apparently intensely willing her to be un-stressed is not working. Any other ideas, people?

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Inspirational Dog Cleans Neighborhood During Walks

Izzie recycles. Does your dog?

Riddle: What’s black and brown and green all over? Answer: Izzie the Rottweiler, of Livonia, Mich. Izzie has a mission during her walks: To keep the town free of litter. Recyclable plastic bottles are her specialty.

One of her owners once put a little dog treat inside a plastic bottle, and since then she has had a thing for plastic bottles. That was three years ago.

“We try to take different paths because she picks up so many bottles that this way she can kind of keep an eye on everything,” owner Jan Larion told CNN.

These days, Izzie wears a pink backpack for all the bottles she collects. (Larion told CNN she gives Izzie $1 for every bottle she collects — it will probably go to a local SPCA. But then she said Izzie has $40. If Izzie has been cleaning up the town for three years and has only $40 in her account, I think someone is playing with the books. Izzie, time to hire an accountant!)

How great to be able to go for a walk and have your dog do something for the planet at the same time. Would any of you like your dog to be an envirodog like Izzie? Seems like a fun and rewarding pastime.

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Solve Horse Behavior Problems that Occur During Shoeing and Trimming

Learn how to train your horse to stand in a well behaved manner so that it can receive the best possible shoeing and/or trimming job. This book is the only one of its kind solely dedicated to solving behavioral problems encountered during shoeing.

Check it out!