October is adopt a shelter dog month

Yes, I'm quite "late to the party" with this blog post, but if you've been following the just keep sniffing blog, you know that I believe homeless dog (and cat) adoption month is every month! Fortunately I'm not too late to remind you that the first full week of November each year is National Animal Shelter and Rescue Appreciation Week. Please visit The HSUS website to learn 10 ways that you can help your local shelter or rescue group.

If you're thinking about adding a new pet to your family, please first consider a visit to your local rescue shelter. Also please spay or neuter your pets to prevent pet overpopulation.

More four-legged inspiration

Meet Khloe, my new source for inspiration and Chief Olfactory Officer in my effort to spread the word about homeless pet adoption and the prevention of pet overpopulation. My C.O.O. is sitting next to me now while ... oh, never mind. She just got up and left ...

more important C.O.O. things to do elsewhere, I guess. Well, later we'll take our usual mid afternoon break and go for a walk in our field--she LUVS snacking on the grasshoppers that jump every which way as we walk through the grasses. "Hoppers" are one of the least disgusting "snacks" she finds outside. How is this inspirational, you ask? Well, my new design at katz_d_zynes, "Butterfly Fields," reminds me of our daily walks through the field. Autumn is truly my favorite season--too bad it is followed a little too closely by winter, but ... Anyway, if you also love autumn, maybe you, too, will enjoy "Butterfly Fields." I hope you'll take a peek ...

Kitten season at your local shelter

Although the inspiration for just keep sniffing was the adoption of our first rescue dog Lola, cats also have been a big part of my life. Until two years ago, I (we) only ever had cats as pets. One of our cats was a stray, another was adopted from our local shelter, and these were two very sweet and lovable pets. Our stray cat was spayed within a week of our decision to adopt her, and as is the case at most shelters, our shelter cat had already been spayed. Spring and summer usually means kitten season at your local shelter, and during kitten season shelters find themselves at maximum capacity plus. Spaying and neutering of pets is one very important step to solving the problem of pet overpopulation. The number of homeless pets at shelters in the U.S. is staggering, and the number of those that are euthanized, even more so ~ otherwise healthy, happy, loving mixed breed and sometimes purebred animals are euthanized simply because there's no room at the shelter where they were surrendered.

Please read this article from the Humane Society of the United States about the benefits to spaying/neutering your pet ~ the benefits far outweigh the costs, financial and otherwise.

If you're thinking about adding a new pet to your family, please first consider a visit to your local rescue shelter. Also please spay or neuter your pets to prevent pet overpopulation.

New helpful links added

Recently added to the just keep sniffing links page:

Important Dog Stuff!
~ Quality ID tags by Boomerang Tags
~ Don't chase your escaped dog!

A new friend

Anybody who knows us surely must have known this was coming ~ walk the dogs at the local shelter and you get to know them pretty well, one sweet JRT in particular. I am so glad to report that the turnover for dogs at the shelter where we volunteer is relatively quick ~ the number of dogs there remains about the same, however, but most of the dogs that were there a month ago have found new families, including another beagle that was adopted before we made the move to adopt him ourselves. But I think the two of us had each also secretly fallen for the little terrier, the shelter's longest-term resident. Except for her inclination to roll in fresh goose poo, a desire we do not share, I think we'll all get along just fine for many years to come. Family complete once again. :)

edit 9/4/14 ~ While we are no longer volunteering at the shelter, my advocacy for homeless animal adoption continues ...

Happy dogs make me happy

A couple weeks ago, we met a sweet older beagle at the local shelter. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite the perfect match for us ~ but something good did come out of that visit. We decided that if we couldn't adopt maybe we could volunteer at the shelter, something I've wanted to do for many years but emotions always got in the way. So I wrapped my brain around the fact that just feeling sorry for these critters wasn't really constructive, and now we're helping about 8 dogs, walking them individually around the grounds and giving them some much deserved lovin'. Hopefully this little bit of extra attention will help each dog get adopted by a very loving forever family, something they all deserve.

Let the search begin

A very cold, very snowy winter provided plenty of time to complete some major projects around the house, allowing us to finally reign in the chaos from our move last year. It is time to find a "new" floppy-eared friend to make our little family complete. My search criteria on petfinder.com yielded over 800 homeless dogs, and one of the dogs on page 41 of my search (out of 57 pages) really grabbed our attention (our hearts, really). Hopes are high --

4/3/14 - Good news! Another shelter dog has found a home, though with another loving family. Will continue searching.