<div><br /><br /><div>Temperatures in the mid 30’s. Cold, blustery winds. Rain mixed with snow flurries. Sounds like a great day for an outdoor adoption, right? </div><div><br /><a href=”http://bp3.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R9Nt-9O_YyI/AAAAAAAAADc/6INKQ7eXBls/s1600-h/March.jpg”><img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175601325135586082″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand” alt=”” src=”http://bp3.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R9Nt-9O_YyI/AAAAAAAAADc/6INKQ7eXBls/s200/March.jpg” border=”0″ /></a><br />First, let’s set things straight. This event was conducted by humans – my species was just along for the ride. Because no canine in their right mind, homeless or not, would choose to sit outside for any length of time in that kind of weather.<br /><br />All I can say in WAG member’s defense is that their hearts are sometimes bigger than their brains. </div><div><br /> </div><a href=”http://bp1.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R9NusdO_YzI/AAAAAAAAADk/DBBnIn1iTfE/s1600-h/March3.jpg”><img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175602106819633970″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand” alt=”” src=”http://bp1.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R9NusdO_YzI/AAAAAAAAADk/DBBnIn1iTfE/s200/March3.jpg” border=”0″ /></a>So the…

We’re into March Madness! There has been a lot going on, so let me see if I can remember all of it.<br /><br />On February 18th WAG presented the Walton Co. Fire Department with 20 sets of pet oxygen masks, enough for each fire station in the county. The masks work much better for pets than human masks by offering a better stream of oxygen. Surprisingly, it’s not uncommon for rescuers to find pets affected by fires. They’re often the first to experience smoke inhalation symptoms. Fireman related stories of an emergency at an exotic petshop owners house. They rescued tons of snakes, lizards, cats, dogs and tarantulas. I gotta tell you – I could’ve easily excused them for conveniently “forgetting” the tarantulas.<br /><br />Unfortunately,…

So a beagle won Westminster – the biggest dog show in the country. Like I care. Bloodlines are waaaaaay overrated. When are those snotty breeders going to wise up and let us All-American types into the ring? We’d run those yappy little yodelers all over the arena.<br /><br />But I digress. On the WAG front, here’s some great news. After the successful adoption event at Boss Brothers last weekend and one the following day at Pet Smart, there was enough space to rescue 12 dogs from Walton Animal Control. Yay! <br /><br />Our future Boss Brothers adoption events will be held on the second Saturday of each month, so plan on stopping by. You never know where you’ll find a new warm and cuddly friend….

Just thought you’d be interested in an update of our February events.<br /><br />”Operation Big Fix,” our spay/neuter project, has been very successful. We’ve done 9 surgeries since the flyers were distributed on February 2. WAG promised free s/n for the first 24 residents signed up from areas we canvassed. We’ve transported a few, others were able to come on their own. The Walton Tribune will be penning a short story about our efforts, so keep an eye out for that.<br /><br />Our first adoption event at Boss Bros. went off without a hitch this weekend. We brought 14 animals, 4 were adopted – which was about one for each hour we were there. Not bad for a start!<br /><br />Here are a few photos:…

<div><div><div>Overall, I like humans. (Peeps, as I call them.) My Peeps are pretty good to me. We eat regularly, have occasional snacks, run in the field and roll in stinky stuff whenever we find it. Unfortunately, they’ve yet to figure out the benefits of those aromas and insist on bathing us afterwards. But still…</div><div><br /></div><div>By some pet-owning standards, we have it pretty good. Guess it depends on your point of view.<br /><br />Take ultra-spoiled pets, for example. They sleep in luxury, have seasonal clothing, dine on fine cuisine and seem to have every advantage.<br /><br />If you want to <a href=”http://bp3.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R6_VC5Xj81I/AAAAAAAAABo/K_nXybiTWWY/s1600-h/Hepburn%2520Pink.jpg”><img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165581543353348946″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand” alt=”” src=”http://bp3.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R6_VC5Xj81I/AAAAAAAAABo/K_nXybiTWWY/s200/Hepburn%2520Pink.jpg” border=”0″ /></a>spend big money on pets, it’s very easy to find places…

<div>Next time you start a new job, don’t be surprised if your employer offers insurance for Fido and Fifi.</div><br /><div></div><div>According to Veterinary Pet Insurance, the largest pet insurance co., their corporate accounts are skyrocketing and nearly 15 percent of their business is now large employers. Com<a href=”http://bp0.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R6dWbCevIiI/AAAAAAAAABg/bJkSx_Dnw58/s1600-h/images%5B2%5D.jpg”><img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163190520325808674″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand” height=”123″ alt=”” src=”http://bp0.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R6dWbCevIiI/AAAAAAAAABg/bJkSx_Dnw58/s200/images%5B2%5D.jpg” width=”111″ border=”0″ /></a>panies like Del Monte, Home Depot, Sprint and Walt Disney are making pet insurance part of their employment package. Probably not a bad thing, since pet owners spent $9.8 billion on vet care in 2007!</div><div></div><br /><div>It’s about time the rest of the world realizes what we pets already know – a family member with fur is just as important as one without!</div><br /><div><a…

There’s been a loud silence on this blog. Why? Because I was indisposed.<br /><br />Incapacitated.<br /><br />Incarcerated.<br /><br />Imprisoned.<br /><br />Or, as humans say, at the kennel.<br /><br />Our peeps left town and deliberately left us behind. Packed up the Pedigree and carted us off in the family van. And there we sat for <strong><em>DAYS </em></strong>in a fenced enclosure with a concrete floor. Can you believe it? And these people dare to call themselves animal lovers!<br /><br />We’ll forgive them, of course. We always do – it’s our nature. But in the meantime, we’ll keep rolling our downcast eyes and sucking down those snacks they keep offering up. Ahhh, an owner’s guilty conscience. A dog’s delight.<br /><br />Anyway, on to WAG news. February is an…

Just thought you’d like to meet Elvis, another happy story. He is now called Otis and has a great family with two kids to love. Otis was being photographed for the Sunday Tribune pet photo when his soon-to-be owners spotted him and fell in love. <img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5155957975109034034″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://bp3.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R42kdf83YDI/AAAAAAAAABY/3XtPIHql1Do/s200/Elvis.jpg” border=”0″ /> <div></div><div>He’s a young guy and, we hear, a little rambunctious, but Otis is already a treasured family member. In fact, Otis’s “boy” Garrett is one of WAG’s first school Ambassadors. How’s that for dedication?</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Way to go Garrett!</div><br /><div></div>

WAG’s first meeting of 2008 was an enthusiastic one! Some new members came out and the committees are rolling along. The Adoption committee will start off-site adoptions in February at Boss Brothers in Loganville – exact dates will be announced later.<br /><br />The Spay/Neuter committee also has big plans for February, offering spay/neuter services to a number of animals. As we grow and more people and vets become involved, we hope to offer county-wide program. But this is a great start and we’re excited about it. (Well, THEY are. Not me.)<br /><br />The Education committee is working up a program to teach animal care to 3rd graders. Also, Sunday, January 20, the Tribune will be running a newspaper article about our school Ambassador program that…

Got fleas? Get a vacuum.<br /><br />It seems that researchers at Ohio State University have determined that sucking fleas up a vacuum tube causes their demise, what matter what stage of growth they are in. This is good news for some, not much benefit for others.<br /><br />Don’t think it will be much help to the weenie dogs that live at my house. They make themselves scarce at the mere sight of vacuums, plus they would probably clog the machine.<br /><br />But thank goodness someone finally saw fit to pay researchers large sums of money to sit around vacuuming fleas. I can’t think of a more exciting way to spend a workday.

This blogging thing is tough. Lots of folks do it every day, but that’s just too much for me to keep up with. My schedule is too busy.<br /><br />Take yesterday, for example. I got up, had my morning Mike Bone, went outside and patrolled the property fenceline. We’ve got 22 acres, so that took awhile. Everything seemed pretty secure, so I decided to lay down in the sun and take a nap.<br /><br />The garbage truck came and I had to take care of that, ‘cuz if I don’t bark, they won’t leave. When that was finished it was almost lunchtime. Fortunately, I had a few minutes to aggravate Peaches, the grouchy old dachshund that lives at our house. She’s gotta be about 100…

Happy New Year!<br /><br />Hope yours is going well so far. As for me, today I polished off some leftover sirloin and took a long nap in the sun. Seems 2008 is looking pretty good.<br /><br />Thought you’d like to see a few furry faces that found new homes during the holidays thanks to WAG newspaper ads.<br /><br /><a href=”http://bp1.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R3sStf83X9I/AAAAAAAAAAo/VvGMFVfN0s4/s1600-h/Mitzi2.jpg”><img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150731171708493778″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 103px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 85px” height=”213″ alt=”” src=”http://bp1.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R3sStf83X9I/AAAAAAAAAAo/VvGMFVfN0s4/s320/Mitzi2.jpg” width=”199″ border=”0″ /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This was Mitzi. She was about 4 months old and spent most of her time belly-up. Can you imagine that fur after about 3 months belly-up in the Georgia red clay? Yikes!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href=”http://bp1.blogger.com/_GGzq-xpWRuI/R3sYPf83YBI/AAAAAAAAABI/SYWuvH4qihk/s1600-h/Rocky.jpg”><img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150737253382184978″ style=”FLOAT:…

It’s 40 degrees and finally feels like holiday weather. I have short hair and don’t particuarly like cold weather, but you’ve gotta admit Christmas feels better when frost is in the air.<br /><br />The New Year is fast approaching and there are some exciting plans afoot. WAG will be starting their education programs soon, teaching more kids about ways to help animals. There are some very enthusiastic children in our county and it’s great to see their interest in animal issues.<br /><br />Big news on the homefront with the planning of our new government animal shelter. The Walton County Commissioners have recognized the need for a new shelter and the SPLOST tax approved by voters in 2006 will provide much-needed money for the facility. But…

Before I tell you about anything else, let’s talk about me. After all, isn’t that what blogs are for?<br /><br />I’m a 5-year old authentic American Original canine Some people might call me a plain brown dog, but only if they’re idiots. I hate to brag, but am actually pretty smart. I’ve trained people to give me treats when I do stuff like shake hands, crawl, roll over and jump. It’s funny to watch them – they seem to get so excited when I do tricks like that.<br /><br />My dad left my mom before I was born. I moved out when I was pretty young. Frankly, a lot of that time period is a blur. I just remember one day when I was about…