Dawn Kairns and Maggie the Dog

Arizona Votes to Phase Out Dog Racing

2012-02-07T21:38:00.001-07:00

At Tucson Greyhound Park, "greyhounds are kept confined in small cages which are barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around," according to Christine A. Dorchak, Esq., President, GREY2K USA.

And greyhounds face the risk of serious injury when racing. GREY2K USA has been instrumental in getting petitions signed in an attempt to get Skechers shoes to pull their Greyhound racing commercial from the Superbowl last Sunday, and in lobbying for gryehound protection.

Dorchak says state records show nearly 1000 greyhound injuries between January 2007 and November 2009 at Arizona racetrack. Common injuries include broken legs and other fractures, dislocations, muscle tears, broken backs, heat stroke,cracked skulls and even paralysis according to. Formed in March of 2001, GREY2K USA is a national non-profit organization dedicated to passing stronger greyhound protection laws and ending the cruelty of dog racing.

Yesterday, the Arizona Committee on Natural Resources and Transportation voted unanimously in favor of phasing out dog racing in Arizona!

Thank you, GREY2USA and thank you Arizona -- this is a great victory for greyhounds and for animal rights.
.

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Owning a Pet is a Privilege and More Says American Veterinary Medical Association

2012-01-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Nancy Kay, DVM, Author of Speaking for Spot and her newsletter, I just became aware that the Executive Board of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recently approved the following guidelines for responsible pet ownership, approved this past November, 2011. I love hearing words like "privilege" and "commitment for life" associated with pet ownership/guardianship!

Does this qualify for proper exercise?

Guidelines for Responsible Pet Ownership

Owning a pet is a privilege and should result in a mutually beneficial relationship. However, the benefits of pet ownership come with obligations. Responsible pet ownership includes:

Committing to the relationship for the life of the pet(s).
Avoiding impulsive decisions about obtaining pet(s), and carefully selecting pet(s) suited to your home and lifestyle.
Recognizing that ownership of pet(s) requires an investment of time and money.
Keeping only the type and number of pets for which an appropriate and safe environment can be provided, including appropriate food, water, shelter, health care and companionship.
Ensuring pets are properly identified (i.e., tags, microchips, or tattoos) and that registration information in associated databases is kept up-to-date
Adherence to local ordinances, including licensing and leash requirements.
Controlling pet(s)' reproduction through managed breeding, containment, or spay/neuter thereby helping to address animal control and overpopulation problems.
Establishing and maintaining a veterinarian-client-patient relationship.
Providing preventive (e.g., vaccinations, parasite control) and therapeutic health care for the life of pet(s) in consultation with, and as recommended by, its veterinarian.
Socialization and appropriate training for pet(s), which facilitates their well-being and the well-being of other animals and people.
Preventing pet(s) from negatively impacting other people, animals and the environment, including proper waste disposal, noise control, and not allowing pet(s) to stray or become feral.
Providing exercise and mental stimulation appropriate to the pet(s)' age, breed, and health status.
Advance preparation to ensure the pet(s)' well-being in the case of an emergency or disaster, including assembling an evacuation kit.
Making alternative arrangements if caring for the pet is no longer possible.
Recognizing declines in the pet(s)' quality of life and making decisions in consultation with a veterinarian regarding appropriate end-of-life care (e.g., palliative care, hospice, euthanasia).

Would that all pet guardians provide mental stimulation, socialization, training, exercise, proper health care, spay and neuter and more for their beloved treasures, the animals they are entrusted with... Thanks, AVMA!

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Can You Help 11 Year Old Sweetheart of a Cat Find Her Forever Home?

2012-01-09T20:39:00.001-07:00

ZOE

"Zoe is a beautiful cream & blue dilute tortoiseshell with striking features and howl-like eyes. She`s reserved, independent and shy at first but will warm up to pets and affection - she just needs time to adjust to her new surroundings. Because she might grumble when she no longer wishes to be petted, we recommend a home without young children. Zoe wants nothing more than to find her new, loving guardian. Can that person be you?"

She is available at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley (HSBV). Learn more here: http://www.boulderhumane.org/animals/adoption/14280635 She has been with HSBV since October.

About Zoe

Domestic Longhair/Purebred

Age: 11 years 3 month

Gender: Female

Price: $10.00

Color: Blue/Cream

Weight (lbs): 12.00

Here Since: 2011-10-13 13:12:00

ID: 14280635

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Black Labrador, Maddie in Slow Motion Play (VDO)

2012-01-05T09:13:00.002-07:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

You may remember Maddie, our adopted 10 month old black lab/lab mix who you may have met at the end of my book, MAGGIE the dog who changed my life. Maddie is now 6 1/2 years old and continues to be vibrant, happy, and healthy. She lights up our lives. This is a slow motion video of her that my husband captured of her yesterday at the dog park playing. I place it here to share with you the joy and the grace of her movement. I love the slow motion that captures every slight move!

Keep Pets Safe from Holiday Food Hazards

2011-12-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

Guest Post by VetDepot

Tis’ the season for holiday treats! While our families are busy enjoying all of the wonderful foods that come with this time of year, it’s important to make sure pets don’t get their paws on potentially dangerous human foods. Below are a few ingredients that may be a part of your holiday festivities that could mean serious digestive upset or an emergency trip to the vet if ingested by your pets.

•Onions, Garlic and Chives: You might use these ingredients to flavor that big holiday dinner, but take caution to ensure your pets don’t ingest large quantities of these foods. These ingredients might make our food tastier, but can cause gastrointestinal discomfort and potential red cell damage for our pets.

•Fatty Foods: Too many fatty table scraps can lead to pancreatitis in dogs and cats, which is a potentially fatal condition. Symptoms of pancreatitis include diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy, abdominal pain and depression. Just one instance of eating too much food that is high in fat can trigger pancreatitis in pets, so watch your dinner guests to make sure treats aren’t being given under the table.

•Alcohol: When enjoying your glass of champagne or holiday cocktail, don’t let your sweet pup or kitty sneak any sips. Alcohol can cause pets to experience vomiting, diarrhea, a decrease in coordination, difficulty breathing, tremors, coma and even death. Don’t take any chances with your pet’s wellbeing by keeping alcoholic beverages far from reach. You might also consider keeping your pet in a separate room during holiday parties.

•Macadamia Nuts: While these nuts can make a tasty addition to holiday cookies, they contain an unknown toxic element that can trigger vomiting, lethargy and even temporary hind end paralysis in dogs and cats.

•Grapes and Raisins: Whether you’re serving a healthy snack to party guests or adding raisins to those holiday cookies, make sure your pets don’t’ sneak a bite of these foods. Both grapes and raisins are toxic for our canine and feline companions and can cause kidney damage, kidney failure and even death.

•Milk: When setting out milk and cookies for Santa, make sure Fido doesn’t help himself instead. Dairy products cause diarrhea and digestive upset for pets -so keep Santa’s snack out of reach from four-legged family members to avoid a holiday mess.

•Chocolate and Coffee: When you cozy up with that yummy dessert and cappuccino this holiday season, don’t leave your treat unattended. Chocolate and caffeine can cause vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, an abnormal heart rhythm, seizures or even death. Protect your furry family members by keeping foods that contain these dangers out of reach.

•Xylitol: When popping that after-dinner mint or piece of gum, be aware that many sugar free varieties contain a sweetener called xylitol, which can be deadly for dogs. Xylitol can cause a dog’s blood sugar level to drop to a dangerous low, causing weakness, confusion, seizures and sometimes even death.

•Avocados: Avocados may not be a traditional holiday food but they’re a year-round favorite for many families. Although delicious and healthy for human consumption, avocados are a danger to pets for multiple reasons. The large pit can cause gastrointestinal obstruction if swallowed and the rest of the fruit contains persin, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea in pets.

To keep the holidays safe and happy for your pet, stick to healthy canine or feline treats or pet-safe human foods (i.e. an apple slice for your dog). If you ever have any concerns about foods your pet has ingested, immediately contact a veterinarian.

THANK YOU, Israel: Cat Declawing is Made Illegal -- Brings Jail and Hefty Fine

2011-12-11T09:40:00.001-07:00

Re-Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Israel Makes Cat Declawing Illegal

from Dec. 10 Care 2 Blog by Cherise Udell

"Cat declawing is now officially — and legally — off limits in Israel.

On November 28th, the Israeli legislature voted unanimously to make cat declawing illegal. Imagine the collective meow of relief that was heard across the country! If someone is caught declawing a cat they can expect up to one year in jail and a hefty $20,000 fine. Israel joins the U.K., Brazil, most of Europe, and Australia for taking a strong stand on this cruel practice. In the United States, declawing unfortunately remains legal except in a handful of cities.

Onychectomy (the medical term for declawing) is a procedure where the claw and part of the bone of a cat’s toes are removed, usually to keep the feline from ruining furniture, catching birds or scratching children. Cat claws however are rooted deep in the bone, so partial bone removal is necessary in an onychectomy. To put this in perspective, the bone removed on each digit is akin to removing up to the third knuckle on each human finger. OUCH!

In addition to being painful, declawing leaves a cat virtually defenseless. For an indoor cat, this may not be much of an issue, but for a cat that spends time outdoors and meets an unfriendly dog, being declawed can be fatal. Cats also need their claws for stretching their tendons, climbing, balance and marking their territory. Oh, and shredding your favorite reading chair.

Many people who consider having their cats declawed think the procedure is simple and relatively painless — and that it is a quick fix for razor sharp claws on their otherwise sweet and cuddly kitty. Clearly, having a significant section of bone removed on each toe is not a simple painless operation. Please consider passing on the word to new cat owners or submitting an editorial to your local newspaper that this is not the case!

A humane alternative to declawing is the monthly trimming of claws with nail clippers. Although, that sounds like a potentially hazardous endeavor for any human to undertake, it can be safely done! I trim my cats’ claws, especially in the winter when the snowy weather keeps them house bound and they get less natural wear and tear. I just use human nail clippers and only do it when they are sleepy. I am very careful not to clip beyond the clear claw area. If you clip into the pink sensitive area (called the “quick”), your cat will definitely let you know about it! The goal is to blunt the end of each claw. For a more detailed explanation on how to cut kitty’s claws without drawing your own blood, visit the website: Cats Scratching.

So, again three cheers to Israel for having the gumption to just say no to cat declawing."

Online Puppy Broker "Purebred Breeders" Exposed as Puppy Mill

2011-12-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Below is a partial transcript and video from the MSNBC Today Show reporting on the online puppy broker, Purebred Breeders.

"...The company is called Purebred Breeders...operates nearly 800 websites...
It's a marketing deception...we found Purebred Breeders are not breeders at all, but puppy brokers...
The Humane Society sent investigators...found large scale operations with dog after do stacked in wire cages, often in dirty conditions. Classic signs, they say, of puppy mills..."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read more here on MSNBC: Did Onlilne Puppy Site Sell Sick Pets?

Residents bark about animal shelter woes - Post-Tribune

2011-12-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

Residents bark about animal shelter woes - Post-Tribune

Nonprofit Organization Helps Keep Pets in Their Homes in Tough Economic Times

2011-11-17T10:22:00.005-07:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

The Porter County Pet Project and Kibble Kitchen

Who are the folks at The Porter County Pet Project and Kibble Kitchen? They are an all-volunteer animal surrender prevention program founded in Porter County, Indiana in January, 2011, dedicated to keeping pets in their homes and out of shelters. In the past year more pets have become homeless in Porter County (as in most places in the country) due to families facing tough economic times. The result? Increasing numbers of pets being relinquished to animal shelters. And we all know what that means when the shelters become over crowded. Michelle Duca, executive director of The Porter County Pet Project and Kibble Kitchen is out to change this outcome into a win-win for all involved.

The Kibble Kitchen "is working hard to help the families of Porter Co. keep their pets by providing free pet food and supplies to those that show financial hardship and without assistance may be forced to give up their family pet to a shelter," says Michelle Duca. "We are also working on spay/neuter funds for the clients along with vaccine clinics and counseling. Our hope is to become more than a pet food pantry."

Michelle tells me the story of a client who came to the pantry, desperately needing dog food, as she had been feeding her dog her own food due to having lost her job almost a year earlier. She had no money to feed herself, let alone her dog. This woman was also losing her home. Volunteers at the Kibble Kitchen provided the client food, a listening ear, and emotional support. The Porter County Pet Project and Kibble Kitchen helped her out for several months. During an open house some months later, the client came back, after selling her house, and gave back $500 to the pantry, and many hugs to the folks running it. The client wanted the Kibble Kitchen to know how thankful she was for what they did for her and her dog. The assistance allowed her keep her dog rather than having to give it up to a shelter.

Duca shares that many seniors "just don't have the extra any more to care for their beloved pets. We are now working on spay/neuter funds for the clients along with vaccine clinics and counseling. We truly want to be more than a pet food pantry."

I invite you to support of share the wonderful work of The Porter County Pet Project and Kibble Kitchen in any way you can, and may Michelle Duca's work to keep animals in their homes motivate us all to do the same in our local communities!

You can read more about the Kibble Kitchen in this Post Tribune Chicago Sun Times article, and in Portage Life.com. Visit the facebook page of The Porter County Pet Project and Kibble Kitchen and like it and share it with your friends. If you want to help the Kibble Kitchen out with a donation, visit The Kibble Kitchen website.

If you are doing anything like this in your community, please write and tell us about it!

The Kibble Kitchen Pet Pantry, Inc. is a non-profit organization working to help families keep their pets despite the tough economy.

What's Your Life's Purpose?

2011-10-25T08:34:00.001-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

I post this today from the InnerSelf.com - Daily Inspiration by Marc Allen both to share it with you and to remind myself to connect with my own purpose...

"What is your purpose in life? Many people have trouble with that word, purpose; it seems so serious, so heavy. You can substitute the word mission if you wish. Or vocation, which comes from the Latin word for calling. What is your calling? This is a great question to ask.

When I ask that question, I’m given a great key to a life well lived: We are here to reach our full potential, to evolve as much as possible, and to contribute to the betterment of humanity.

We are here to move upward in the pyramid of consciousness that Maslow described, until we become self-actualized, self-realized, and able to help many others move up to realize their potential, and help make this world a better place for all. Our purpose is to contribute in some vital way to the well-being of all. As so many have discovered, when we love and serve others in some way, our own sense of well-being, and our resources, and our joy of life expand vastly."

Please share with us here how you found your life purpose and how you are manifesting your calling in life.

In Honor of all the Homeless Animals

2011-10-23T09:27:00.000-06:00


By: Tully NewsInfo Please do what you can to help these precious ones ... Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

'You've Got to Find What You Love'

2011-10-19T00:00:00.000-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

In Honor of Steve Jobs

When I heard just a portion of Steve Jobs 2005Commencement address to Stanford University, I knew I would search for the entire address online as it was so inspiring. It epitomizes following your heart and intuition. The next day, I received his entire address in an email from a friend. I love it when thought manifests so quickly. Steve Jobs, you will be missed ...

Stanford Report, June 14, 2005 'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says.

(This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005).

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six
months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had
dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between
different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac.
It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a
$2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you
started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob
Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did.
The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner
again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer
animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at
next is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose
faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days
in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of
embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you
have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost
certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to
die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as
possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells
from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very
likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old
and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out
your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo
Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was
sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Thank you all very much."

"Women Who Run With the Wolves"

2011-10-18T10:24:00.000-06:00

I am re-posting the introduction to this story by Katie Arnold-Ratliff, associate editor of Oprah Magazine and author of the novel Bright Before Us,with a link to the full story that she wrote in Slate Magazine Friday, October 14, 2011. She talks about how more and more dog memoirs are written by females, and briefly reviews a few of them.

Women Who Run With The Wolves

Jill Abramson’s The Puppy Diaries, Julie Klam’s You Had Me at Woof, and why dog women get more respect than cat ladies.

By Katie Arnold-Ratliff Posted Friday, Oct. 14, 2011

Few things these days are as likely to land a book on the nonfiction best-seller lists as a dog—particularly one whose incorrigible mischief, heart-rending rescue, or fraught integration into the author’s life sparks a realization about love, kindness, or What’s Really Important. In the post-Marley and Me publishing landscape, the dog-as-harbinger-of-wisdom grows ever more ubiquitous, and though Marley was written by a man, more and more of the writers who are following his lead seem to be female. The dogs at the center of these books are, in turn, ever more exceptional, the kind of dogs who double as life coaches and inspire titles like these: Maggie: The Dog Who Changed My Life, Blind Hope: An Unwanted Dog and the Woman She Rescued, and Paws and Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs...

Read full story and Katie's additional dog memoir reviews here: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/10/jill_abramson_s_the_puppy_diaries_julie_klam_s_you_had_me_at_woo.html

What Our Pets Think of Us: Pit Bull Saves Family from Burning House

2011-10-10T00:00:00.004-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

I never cease to be amazed at the connection between our animals and ourselves. I only recently came across this USA Weekend article by Steve Dale, yet another testimonial to dogs being our best friend.

What Our Pets Think of Us

"Thor nibbled on his owner’s ear. The pit bull worked hard to awaken Kemper Hunter and his girlfriend, Sarah Laughlin. Instantly, they understood Thor’s urgency. They desperately attempted to fight the smoke to get to Shelby, their 3-month-old baby, but couldn’t. The fire department arrived to find the panicked couple screaming outside their home, assuming they had lost their baby and their dog in the still-blazing fire.

Just then, they all witnessed Thor pulling the bassinet out the door to safety. Baby and dog were OK...

Maddie, my best friend ...

Certified applied animal behaviorist Patricia McConnell has a pretty simple explanation. “It’s love,” she says.

Animal behavior experts once maintained that such self-sacrificing decisions are impossible for animals to make, and any suggestion they could was nothing more than anthropomorphizing — ascribing human emotions and thoughts to animals. To believe our pets react, and are motivated to risk their own lives based on love, was considered absurd and without any scientific basis in fact...

But are dogs truly capable of love? “We selected (over thousands of years) for a close bonding relationship with dogs,” veterinary behaviorist Karen Overall says. “And as a result, today the neurochemistry in dogs’ brains is nearly identical to ours...”

Do dogs make a conscious decision to play Lassie in real life? ... "

Read the full story here in this USA Weekend story by Steve Dale:

What Our Pets Think Us by Steve Dale, USA Weekend, June 30, 2011

EU Ban on Animal-Tested Cosmetics in Jeopardy--Act Now

2011-10-06T20:12:00.001-06:00

EU Ban on Animal-Tested Cosmetics in Jeopardy--Act Now

From PETA. Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

For nearly a decade, the European Union (EU) has been on track to ban all animal testing of cosmetics. But that ban is now in jeopardy!

In 2003, in a major victory for animals, it became illegal to conduct tests on animals for cosmetics in Europe. In 2009, a ban on the sale of many animal-tested cosmetics went into effect. The final deadline to ban the marketing of all cosmetics tested on animals is March 2013, after which the shelves of every shop and Internet supplier in Europe will be free of animal-tested cosmetics.

The sales ban also means that non-EU companies wishing to export their products have to change their animal-testing ways as well. This commercial pressure has driven the development of effective and humane non-animal test methods, which can also be used for some drugs and other chemicals, preventing even more animal suffering. Most importantly, the ban puts animals' lives and well-being before vanity.

But now the EU is considering delaying the 2013 deadline for years, perhaps indefinitely, thus wiping out the motivation for cosmetics companies to develop alternatives and condemning tens of thousands of guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, and mice to suffering and death. There is no good reason for this delay.

Please let the European Commission know that you stand with the majority of Europeans who want no delay, no compromise, and no cosmetics tests on animals.

EU Ban on Animal-Tested Cosmetics in Jeopardy--Act Now

How A Single Kitten Saved Many Cats from Euthanasia

2011-08-26T20:15:00.004-06:00

It all began when the The Humane Society of Boulder Valley's (HSBV) Foster Department sent an email notice (as they always do when animals need to go into foster) to see who of their foster volunteers might be interested in fostering a single kitten. The interest they received was immense; and it got this innovative staff thinking ...

HSBV had recently received many requests from other shelters (in Denver and Southern Colorado) to take kittens in because of the current over population in their shelters. We all know what that means -- a death sentence for the kittens (or adult cats) in the requesting shelters. Boulder Humane did not currently have room in their shelter to house these kittens, so unfortunately had to decline these requests -- at first. Until, that is, the foster department staff received such a great response from their volunteers for this one special kitten. That's when the HSBV Foster Dept. staff had a superb brainstorm to seize the opportunity to save more lives. They decided to reach out to see if their foster volunteers were interested in fostering these homeless kittens from other shelters for a couple of weeks. Yes, indeed, they would, came the replies!

It's been over a week in the making and the kitties with a new lease on life arrive tomorrow at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley! They'll go out to foster homes 1-2 kittens each so HSBV can work them back slowly into their shelter system for adoption and still maintain space for our local homeless cats. We are so fortunate to have such a progressive animal shelter, as well as a strong volunteer base for our local shelter in our community.

I didn't respond to the email for the single kitten. The little angel reminded me too much of Cinnamon and I wasn't ready for that. But I'll pick up our two foster kitties Sunday afternoon. Maddie, our lab, watched with interest (I think -- I suppose it might have been disgust!) as I once again pulled out the toys, litter box, dishes, etc. She will play an important part interacting with them -- being able to say in their bio that they've been around dogs really helps them get adopted!

It's amazing what one little kitten can do!

Heart to Heart: Nonverbal Communication with Your Animals

2011-08-04T09:03:00.000-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

I was first awakened to animal communication through my relationship with my black lab, Maggie. After her death I had my first introduction to an animal communicator, and was simply amazed at her intuitive/psychic abilities in regards to my relationship with Maggie. I write about my awakening to intuition, animal communication and animal energy in my book, MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life. (If you want to learn more visit www.dawnkairns.com). Since then, my other animals have had the benefit of seeing them through an entirely different filter ... that of looking for their nonverbal communication in a way I didn't know to before. Today I read this article about animal nonverbal communication on the Care 2 Blog and want to share it with you.

Maddie, our 6 year old "black lab," rescued at 10 months

Nonverbal Communication with Our Dogs and Cats

From the Care 2 blog written by Celeste Yarnall

Nonverbal communication is a gift that all living beings share, one you’ll need to reawaken to better interact with and care for your animal companions. Most dog and cat lovers already understand canine and feline body language, which is one non-verbal technique. But you can use your other, natural, nonverbal communication skills, and actually begin to see things through your dog or cat’s eyes, and become his/her voice.

You can learn animal communication by taking a class or reading some of the great books available today on the subject. But many of the basics are so simple that we can easily begin nonverbally communicating right away. Remember, long before humans had spoken language, we were able to communicate among ourselves and with the animals; it is a kind of heart to heart communication skill that we all possess.

Did you ever know a set of twins who said they each knew what the other was thinking, or you heard your mother say she had “woman’s intuition” or “just knew something was wrong.” Have you ever had an image of a friend come to mind and then received a phone call from that very person saying,“I was just thinking about you and wanted to say hello”? These are all examples of nonverbal communication.

Those of us fortunate enough to have been raised with animal companions probably “talked” to them all the time—and they “talked” back—without words. You didn’t have to be Dr. Doolittle to do it, either. You may have chalked up your own memories of such experiences to an overly active imagination. But it’s far more likely that, as a child, you were still unencumbered by belief systems that would tell you otherwise.

You can try it anytime with your own dog or cat, simply by listening to your heart, instead of to your head with its endless, meaningless chatter. Just let those thoughts pass by you, and relax and breathe deeply. You’re going to visualize your furry companion coming over to you. Close your eyes so that you focus on every detail: the feeling of your dog or cats lovely coat, those deep, trusting eyes staring up at you, and imagine him walking toward you. Often, even the first time you try it, your cat or dog will be by your side before you know it, so happy that you’ve communicated with him at long last, in his own way.

Please don’t worry about whether you’re “doing it right.” Not every person (or animal) is visually oriented. Visualization is just like imagining or remembering. It may come as actual pictures, like a movie, or as sounds, or a voice, or as feelings, or just a sense of “knowing.” Any way you receive the information is valid.

It is very important to always communicate in positive terms— “see” what you want your dog or cat to do, rather than focusing on unwanted behaviors. Dogs and cats live fully in the moment, so picture them as you want them to be. For instance, don’t ask them if they want to go to the vet or the groomer or for a ride in the car. Why? Because, they don’t know how they’ll feel until they get there to that exact moment in time. Unlike us, dogs and cats live in the moment. What lessons we can learn about being here—right now! So visualize them peacefully riding in the car, or calmly allowing the vet to examine them.

Practice visualizing positive, loving pictures rather than negative, worrying ones. Have you noticed that the things you worry about often seem to happen? Practice positivity, and positive visualization, and you’ll find it spilling over into every aspect of your life.

This is so crucial when communicating with your animal companions. If you say, for example (either out loud or nonverbally), “Don’t jump on the couch,” your dog or cat sees an image in your mind’s eye of him jumping on the couch. He won’t get the “don’t” part of it. He’ll think oh, she wants me to jump on the couch. Your yelling at him to not jump on the couch is then a mixed signal. Instead, say and visualize what you DO want him to do. In this case, you would say, in an even but stern tone, “Go to your bed!” Then gently carry or lead him to his bed to reinforce the positive behavior.

It’s impossible to hide your feelings from dogs and cats. They always know—and they may “get it” even before we know ourselves. They can even take on your stresses, fears, and frustrations. Over time, these may manifest as illness. So it’s a good idea to even refrain from arguing in front of your animal companions; it’s extremely stressful for them. It’s not fair to treat them as if they’re not in the room when we lose control of our emotions. Their sensibilities should be respected.

To give you an idea how sensitive dogs are, Rupert Sheldrake, a British biologist and the author of Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home, did an experiment in which he placed video cameras with time codes in the house, aimed to catch the action of the homebound dog. At a random time, unbeknownst to the human or dog, the human would get a phone call on a cell phone many miles away, saying to return home. At that very instant, cameras showed that the homebound dog would become excited and run to the door to wait for their human. This experiment was repeated hundreds of times, and were all confirmed by the videos. The moral of this story: don’t feel silly practicing nonverbal communication, EVER!

You can also practice this pure heart-to-heart communication skill with a new pet, or with animals at dog or cat shows or shelters, or even at your vets office. First, learn the cat or dog’s name, if possible. Try saying the name in a sweet, soft, “feminine” (high-pitched) voice. We pretty much all do that with animals and babies, right? It seems, in the animal world the female voice is the most nonthreatening. If you’re a man, or a woman with a deep voice, raise your pitch and speak softly.

Of course, always ask the guardian if it’s okay to work with and touch the animal; and then ask the animal’s permission.

To start, if you can, get down a bit lower than normal (ideally, at the animal’s eye level) and imagine the dog or cat sitting on the floor of your own home. You may get a response as a picture of what his own home looks like from his point of view. Perhaps you can distinguish the outlines of a bed or the legs of a coffee table from underneath: what the dog sees from that perspective. Your image may look like a black-and-white negative, reverse image, rather than a normal photo type memory.

If you don’t get a picture, it doesn’t mean you’re not doing it right. The dog may just be telling you he’s not allowed in that room. Trust yourself and the feelings that come up and continue to listen with your heart. Accept the images or feelings you do get, and go on. He may tell you something about what he likes or dislikes. Or he may be content exactly where he is right now. Keep going anyway, and just let him talk through his own senses.

What are you getting? Is he showing you what his floors look or feel like? Do cold, slippery floors make him nervous because he skids on them? Now visualize the cat or dog’s feeding area. What kind of food does he eat? Do you taste or feel any textures in your mouth? What about water? Is it fresh and clean? What has he smelled recently? He may change the picture you send to reflect his truth, and he may present it to all of your senses or just some of them.

As you continue, do see other animals where he lives? Send him a picture of one of your animal companions. What does he say to that? What does he like to play with? Cats may have little balls and catnip toys, and dogs may have chew toys, tennis balls, or maybe even a Frisbee. Give him these images and see what you get back. If his human companion is there, ask questions to help you assess your images. After you present an image to him, remember to leave a space for him to answer.

As you read the impressions your animal friend is sending. You may receive feelings of space and expansion if he has room to play and places to rest in—or feelings of contraction if he’s been caged or otherwise too restricted.

Perhaps you may feel he’s trying to tell you about an aggressive person. This person may not necessarily be a man; it could be a woman or child with a strong personality—dogs and cats sense human beings as personalities, not as men and women. Ask the dog or cat non verbally how he likes this person. He may wish the person would leave him alone, or he may enjoy playing with the person but can’t understand why he gets scolded for playing too roughly.

You can use your nonverbal skills to assess the animal’s well-being through a mental body scan. Just look at the animal, starting with the head and working down the back to the tip of the tail. How do you feel compared with how you felt before scanning? If you feel anything unusual as you continue your scan, you may be on to something. Ask the dog or cat, using his name, how he feels as you move along his body with your eyes.

If you don’t have permission to touch the animal, you can pet the cat or dog’s aura. This is more subtle, but just as effective. Think how you’d feel if a perfect stranger just started stroking you without your consent. Then when you use this indirect way of laying on hands by petting the space around the body (which is referred to as the etheric double), you can often feel the animal’s energy and determine whether he is receptive to your touch, which after all will leave your scent on this dog or cat. By using the etheric double area you will find that this in itself is a valuable avenue of communication and diagnosis, and through it you can offer much healing, especially when you use love as the catalyst.

As you practice, your skills will improve. When doing a mental body scan, you may feel discomfort in certain parts of your own body. While this is important information, you do not need to hold it in your body. Simply release the feeling and say to yourself,“This animal’s feelings are his own. I release them.” In your mind’s eye, wrap the dog or cat in healing white light, or say a prayer or blessing. Then “turn off” the discomfort, much as you would the TV when it transmits images you don’t like. As simply as you would change the channel; just change the subject. It is never necessary to be the recipient of any other being’s pain.

Nonverbal communication seems to come most easily with other people’s animals. It’s sometimes difficult to practice with our own furry friends because we are so emotionally involved with them. Gradually you’ll develop a proficiency that you can then apply at home. Most folks do their best communicating with their own animal companions through play. Through play we express and hear verbal, non-verbal, body language, and other communications.

Be sure to talk to your animal companions about their day. Sometimes if you have more than one then they compete to communicate with us all at once. Just give them the time and the space to get it all off their chests. Remember, they knew you were coming home long before you got there as Sheldrake proved, and have been happily waiting to talk to you!

Nonverbal communication can greatly expand your relationship with animals, but some dogs and cats are reserved, just like certain people are. They simply don’t want to converse. Don’t be discouraged. And some people never get pictures, only feelings; and that’s fine. Trust yourself, and proceed with openness, imagination and confidence. You’re on your way to being a nonverbal communications expert and experience for yourself that the intelligence and spirit in all life!

Town Has One Week to Place 59 Dog and 32 Cats Before Their Lives End

2011-07-07T21:02:00.004-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Can You Help?

I was forwarded this email by a friend in South Padre Island, Texas. It is from Ed Mesa, Padre Island's City Manager. The City inherited a really difficult situation at the Laguna Madre Humane Society, which had been no-kill for many years. It is a small shelter with a minimal amount of staff; the surrounding city of Port Isabel is not economically affluent at all; shelter adoption rates were low; so the number of animals continued to increase. The resultant overcrowding conditions compromised the animals there terribly. The City took the shelter over during the past year or so.

In essence, at this point, this town has one week to place 59 dogs and 32 cats before their lives end. If ANY of you can help by fostering, adopting, transporting, finding rescues to help, or calling rescues please contact:
Jacky Woody-Conrad in South Padre Island, TX at JackyatJaM@aol.com, I walked dogs at this shelter (the Laguna Madre Humane Society) when visiting there -- the animals there have needed help for a long time. Please help if you can and pass this information along to anyonee who might be in a position to help. Thank you ...

From: citymanager@copitx.com
Sent: 7/7/2011 2:56:38 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: probation period for the Shelter

Greetings,

First of all, I thank both support groups – the Friends of the Isabel Y. Garcia Animal Shelter and the Laguna Madre Humane Society for their generous help and guidance since the beginning when the City took over the operations of the Animal Shelter. I made it very clear that the groups were volunteer groups helping with the education of the public, fostering, adopting, rescuing, and sanctuary placement. We have appreciated the advise and recommendations that each of the groups have shared with the City. But the City is in charge of operating the animal shelter. The City chose to give both organizations specific time to work in getting these animals rescued, adopted, etc.

Currently, we are in a very complex situation just having taken over the shelter and now being on probation for what the previous management had done. It is   very hard, emotional, and frustrating for all of us involved. Shame on those who put the city and the animals in this situation! We need the support of everyone to get to the point where our shelter can operate in the most humane way for all people involved and especially the animals who are the victims. We have placed July 15 as the deadline for both organizations to work on placing the animals for rescue, adoption, foster, etc.

As of today, we have 112 dogs and 80 cats. We need to decrease to 53 dogs and 42 cats more or less. So 59 dogs and 38 cats have to be rescued, adopted, foster, or euthanized. We are working on a list of those that are aggressive, sick, and it is going to be difficult in choosing which others are to go. We are going to have the veterinarians guide us to get this list together and it is up to the Friends of the Isabel Y. Garcia Animal Shelter and Laguna Madre Humane Society to work in finding homes or rescues if possible in this limited time schedule. We don’t want to wait for the last week of the probation to do a mass euthanization. It would not be fair for the veterinarians, staff or the animals.

We need all your support and help especially during this transition.

Thanks,

Ed

Edward P. Meza, City Manager
City of Port Isabel
305 E. Maxan St.
Port Isabel, Texas 78578
o. (956) 943-2682
f. (956) 943-2029 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (956) 943-2029      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

citymanager@copitx.com
www.portisabel-texas.com

Foster Kittens Go To Forever Home; Boulder Humane Waives Adult Cat Adoption Fees

2011-06-15T14:03:00.000-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

GARFEE
AGE: 13 years
SEX: Female (Spayed)

It's time for a little plug for our local humane society, who does an absolutely fantastic job with homeless animals ... and this precious face is just one of them. For the month of June, Garfee, along with many other adult cats, is available from The Humane Society of Boulder Valley -- for free.

This is how The Humane Society of Boulder Valley is honoring Adopt a Shelter Cat Month, by giving cats away in June. Great for them! Isn't this a super way to decrease the number of homeless cats, as well as euthanasia? The Humane Society of Boulder Valley (HSBV) is waiving the adoption fee for all adult cats (age 6+ months) for the entire month of June.

HSBV won the ASPCA’s $100K Challenge, a national contest designed to inspire animal shelters across the country to save more lives. During the three-month challenge, HSBV saved a total of 2,640 cats and dogs according to the Boulder Weekly, an increase of 968 over the same period in 2009. Periodically waiving adoption fees for both cats and dogs was one innovative way HSBV found to help homeless get into their forever homes.

The Humane Society of Boulder Valley provides shelter and care to more than 8,000 animals each year. 89 percent of these animals are successfully adopted or reunited with their guardians. HSBV's behavior modification program, which helps shelter dogs and cats overcome behavior problems, and their foster program, which makes it possible to help more animals by providing individualized care to those with special needs enhances their success rate.

HSBV's successful adoption programs allows them the ability to open their doors to thousands of animals in other shelters throughout our region. These animals would otherwise be facing euthanasia due to overcrowding or lack of resources. HSBV partners with 55 regional animal welfare agencies, and are part of the national Rescue Waggin’® program sponsored by PetSmart Charities.

Martina discovers the bathtub

We have fostered for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley in the past -- dogs and pups primarily, after Maggie died. We fostered one kitten, and one only, years ago. Why did we stop? Because our Cinnamon literally had a "hissy" fit that didn't quit.

Last week we had the absolute pleasure of fostering 2 precious sibling kittens from HSBV, Monster and Bear, who we re-named Martina and Yoda. I must admit Martina reminded me of Cinnamon at that age, both her very present "I'm a little pistol" facial expression, and her spunky personality.

Tom NOT getting involved :>)

Tom was letting me do this one -- my responsibility, right? OK, true, I did most of it, but take a look at this. You think he didn't love it? And then there was Maddie. She SO wanted to play with them, play bows and all. She could hardly stand watching them play together without jumping in. Yoda seemed pretty fearless with Maddie, and sniffed noses pretty early on. Martina always came to Maddie from behind, and did a little back hunch and hiss when Maddie approached her head on. Until the last couple of days, that is. But Martina's initial caution with Maddie sure didn't stop her from turning Maddie's wagging tail into a toy!

I'll keep watch over them. Can we keep them?

They brought much joy and laughter to Tom, Maddie and me during their 5-day stay in our home. I returned them to the shelter on late Friday for their spay and neuter on Saturday. That, of course, was bittersweet. I couldn't imagine the two kittens going to separate homes. They were truly each others' favorite toy, and I said so on the foster write up I did for them to go with their paperwork.

Yoda on their bed in bathroom

Their photos went up on the internet late Saturday. They went onto the adoption floor on Sunday. I watched the website like a hawk, hoping for a fast adoption.On Monday I was gone most of the day. When I came home, Martina and Yoda's photos were gone! I called the foster department at the shelter, but it was after hours. I emailed. Had they been adopted? Together?? I waited a long 24 hrs. before I saw the email I'd waited and hoped for:

"Hi Dawn, The two kittens you had did in fact get adopted yesterday, and they went to the same home. I hope that is good news."

Good news? Are you kidding? I was elated!!

If you live in the Boulder area and are interested in fostering animals in your home, visit Boulder Humane Foster Volunteer. To check out the wonderful cats and dogs available for adoption, visit HSBV's website. I wish you wonderful lives in your new forever home, Martina and Yoda! And much, much LOVE!

Pit Bulls: National Dog and Nanny for Most of America's Early History

2011-06-04T08:01:00.002-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Pitbulls are one of the most misunderstood and mistreated breed of dogs. Sadly, many cities ban them, resulting in countless and senseless pitbull euthanasias. But 100 years ago pitbulls were used as nannies for American children, as the following photos from YW Grossmman's wonderful blog post show. How did we come to turn on this breed? Here is an excerpt from Grossman's post and a few of the photos.

Please visit this amazing post and photo blog on pitbulls by YW Grossman

FOR OVER ONE HUNDRED YEARS AMERICANS KNEW PIT BULLS FOR WHAT THEY DID BEST. BABYSITTING.

by YWGROSSMAN

"Astoundingly, for most of our history America’s nickname for Pit Bulls was “The Nanny Dog”. For generations if you had children and wanted to keep them safe you wanted a pit bull, the dog that was the most reliable of any breed with children or adults..."

Please visit http://www.ywgrossman.com/photoblog/?p=780 to read the full post and see the rest of Yanah Grossman's amazing photo blog of pitbull's with children 100 years ago.

For Suzie, The Lucky, Loved & Rescued Street Dog from Taiwan

2011-06-01T10:25:00.003-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

For Norm and Helen ... In Loving Memory of Suzie

I met Norm and Suzie the "street dog" about 10 years ago, at the Brewing Market, next door to McGuckin's Hardware, every Boulder dog's favorite store. I wrote about these fun dog places that I frequented with Maggie in my book. Norm's love for Suzie jumped out, their bond palpable. I recognized Norm and Suzie's bond ... it was that same deep soul mate connection I had with Maggie.

Through the years I have always been struck by this pair, and Norm's tremendous commitment to Suzie. You see, they met when he was doing business in Taiwan so many years ago, and he did what it took to bring her home with him to Boulder, CO. I have not yet met Helen, Norm's wife, but I know she, along with Norm, is missing this wonderful soul, Suzie, with all of her heart, too. This is the slideshow tribute Norm and Helen put together for their precious Suzie. Suzie passed on May 13, 2011.

Norm and Helen, I am so very sorry for your tremendous loss. The life you gave Suzie was beautiful. Every street dog should be so fortunate to be loved and cared for as you did this furry angel, Suzie. I hope the gift of life and love you gave Suzie remains forever in your awareness and offers comfort to your hearts.

Ode to Animal Rescuers

2011-05-26T16:33:00.005-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

It has truly been a time of unprecedented disasters: earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, to name the most recent. Many lives have been lost, humans as well as animals. With each disaster, animal rescuers are called upon to search for, assist, and transport displaced animals to safety. Having traveled to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina to help care for displaced animals, I have a sense of the effort it takes and the sadness it can involve. I also remember the sense of immense satisfaction and fulfillment available to those helping the animals.

This tribute is for you, all of you animal rescuers who give so much of yourselves to help our furry angels. It is for those of you who travel long distances to rescue in emergency situations; for you who travel to kill shelters to save those whose time is up to transport them to waiting rescue groups; for all of you kind souls who foster animals in your homes, for without you there would be no rescue groups; for all of you who adopt dogs, cats and other animals; for the thousands of you on twitter and Facebook sharing information and links to help save the animals across the country and throughout the world; for all of you volunteers at animal shelters and rescue groups; and for any of you who I have failed to mention to make the lives of homeless animals better, this tribute is to you:

By the love of those who I've been privileged to rescue

I have been rescued.

I know what true unconditional love really is

for I've seen it shining in the eyes of so many

Grateful for so little.

I am an animal rescuer.

My work is never done.

My home is never quiet.

My wallet is always empty.

But my heart is always full.

--Author Unknown

"Pawty" Time: Reading Therapy Dogs Celebrated by Columbine Elementary

2011-05-20T10:34:00.000-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Columbine Elementary Canine Reading Program had their end of year "pawty" for the dogs and handlers yesterday. The kids made chocolate chip cookies for we humans and dog cookies to thank the working dogs, too. And whoops! The first thing Maddie did when she walked in the room was grab a HUGE chocolate chip cookie from the platter! I had my hand in her mouth digging it out in no time! Luckily, I retrieved most of it.

I know I don't act like a therapy dog ... but I make them smile and play!

She was all over the place with excitement -- not at all the behavior you might expect from a therapy dog -- a reading program therapy dog no less! The kids took turns taking her leash and walking her in circles around the room, and Maddie complied so readily. It was such a joy watching the children's joy with the dogs, and vice versa. I realized that much more was happening here than helping kids to read. This program is also a form of humane education. The young children watch the handlers with our dogs and without words realize the dogs are so valuable and precious to us. They take in our bonds and form their own with the dogs. They play, love, learn compassion and the joy of dog. And they will grow up and hopefully always hold these memories in their hearts, of love and compassion for animals. May they transfer it to people, too.

We hugged good-bye until next year. Some we won't see as they move away or go on to Middle School...

Intuition, Our Personal Built In Guidance System

2011-05-18T07:00:00.001-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Do you ever find yourself doubting the power of your inner voice, your intuition? Those of you who read MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life know I paid a big price for not following my intuition. One of the profound ways I was changed through my relationship with Maggie was learning to trust my intuition. Our intuition, our gut sense, is a gift from the Divine. If you are not already trusting and listening to yours, I strongly encourage you to listen pay attention and begin to foster your gift ...

The following excerpt is from the InnerSelf.com article, Intuition: The Most Trusted Guide
by Isaac E. Nwokogba.

"Developing our intuition is not as difficult as it may seem. We all have it and it's always working even without any effort on our part. It is a force within us that is constantly yearning to express itself especially when so much is at stake for us. Our challenge is to recognize its powers and follow its directions more often than most people currently do. All that is required is for us to pay more attention to what it has to tell us.

Allowing your intuition to express itself may be as simple as asking who's at the other end of the line before picking up the phone; where should I go for dinner? Which road should I take? Should I make this call now or wait, or will I get this job? These are simple questions we sometimes ask ourselves without allowing the answers to come from within us. The tendency here is to immediately interrupt the response with objective analysis or try to guess the answers: maybe it's my mother calling; I don't like this or that about that restaurant; or that road is always too busy.

Developing your intuition is as simple as allowing the answers to these simple questions to come from within, without interruption, guesswork, or objective analysis. Unlike probing the subconscious where you seek general guidance and the response to which is not expected to be immediate, you ask these questions with the expectation of an immediate, direct response from within. Well-developed intuition can be our most trusted guide. It is always right and responds in our best interests."

Visit InnerSelf.com, Daily Inspiration for more inspirational articles or to receive the wonderful Daily Inspiration messages.

How to Control Fleas Without Chemicals

2011-05-16T06:00:00.009-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

This is the time of year many pet guardians have to think about protecting their dogs and cats from fleas and ticks. Because they are recommended by veterinarians and common place to use, many folks don't realize that many flea and tick products are toxic to both their pets and to humans. This excellent article by author Ingrid King (see her full bio below) addresses the use of safer natural alternatives for you and your pets.

How to Control Fleas Without Chemicals

Many of the flea and tick treatments available today contain toxic chemicals that can be hazardous to pets and to people. Even when these products are used according to the manufacturer's directions, these chemicals are not safe for pets or humans. The Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination with the Food and Drug Administrations Center for Veterinary Medicine, is pursuing a series of actions to increase the safety of spot-on products for pets. These actions are designed to help consumers use these pesticides safely. However, many pet owners prefer to not use these products at all and are looking for safer, more natural alternatives instead.

There are safer, natural ways to control fleas. They may require a bit more effort on your part, but isn't that effort worth it if it's safer for you and your pet?

Combing

Use a good flea comb with tightly spaced teeth. Comb your pet daily during flea season and drop any fleas you find into a bowl of soapy water to kill them.

Bathing

Bathe your pet with a gentle shampoo such as oatmeal. You don't need to use harsh flea shampoos - most of them have chemicals in them, which is what you're trying to avoid by not using the pesticide spot-ons in the first place. Fleas tend to accummulate in bedding, so wash your pet's bedding as well.

Vacuuming

Vacuum thoroughly, including on and under furniture and in crevices and near baseboards. Discard the vacuum bag immediately after vacuuming to prevent fleas and eggs from reinfesting your home. Severe infestations may require professional steam cleaning.

Diet

Feeding a high quality, varied diet can help prevent fleas. A stronger diet leads to a stronger immune system, and it is believed that this can contribute to your pet being more resistant to fleas. Pet owners who feed raw or homemade diets have reported that their pets no longer have flea problems.

Maintain Outdoor Areas

Keep your grass mowed and keep shrubbery trimmed short in areas where your pet spends time. This will increase sunlight and dryness, which will help reduce the flea problem. Sprinkle diatomaceous earth in your yard to cut down on the flea population. Diatomaceous earth also makes a great natural pantry bug killer, it works for all insects. It's reported to be safe around pets, but don't sprinkle it directly on your pet!

Natural Flea Control Products

There are numerous natural flea control products on the market, but not all of them are safe for pets. In particular, avoid using products containing essential oils such as Pennyroyal, Tea Tree or Citrus oils. None of these are safe to use around pets, especially around cats. The Lavender Cat is an excellent website devoted to scientific research about cats and essential oil safety. The site is currently being revised, but it has some good basic information about why essential oils are not safe to use around cats. Some manufacturers of essential oils claim that their oils are pure and safe to use around cats, but quite frankly, I wouldn't take any chances on statements of that nature unless they're backed up by research by an independent toxicologist.

The National Resource Defense Concil's Green Paws website has a comprehensive directory of flea and tick products, including natural products, and lists ingredients and toxicity warnings.

If you're using natural products to control fleas for your pets, please share with us what has worked for you in a comment.

Re-printed with permission of the author

Ingrid King is the award winning author of Buckley’s Story – Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher. She is a former veterinary hospital manager turned writer. Her online magazine News for You and Your Pet goes out to subscribers around the world. Her blog, The Conscious Cat, has been called “educational cat nip for the cat lover” and is a comprehensive resource for conscious living, health and happiness for cats and their humans. For more information about Ingrid and Buckley’s Story, please visit www.ingridking.com.

Photo: Public Domain Pictures

An Act of Dog Is Born: Can the U.S. Become No-Kill?

2011-05-11T13:08:00.000-06:00

Re-posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Can the U.S. Become a No-Kill Nation?

This post by Megan Drake was on the Care 2 Blog earlier this month. I think the commitment of Marina Dervan and Mark Barone to make the U.S. a no-kill nation bears sharing:

Every once in a while, you come across a very creative person -- or two -- with the commitment and determination to make a difference for a cause dear to their heart. Marina Dervan and Mark Barone are two such people. Their cause: make the United States the first no-kill nation on earth.

Dog lovers for decades, they are still mourning their 20-year-old dog, Santina, who died last year. Mark and Marina were beside themselves with grief. When they finally decided it was time to adopt a new canine into their lives, they started a search online and contacted shelters and rescue groups.

Through this research, they discovered some facts about homeless pets in the U.S.and were stunned to learn that most shelters have a 60% kill rate -- or higher. They decided they had to do something about it.

"We simply asked ourselves...what can we do? We have got to get the truth out there, and stop the outrageous killing," Marina told me in an email. "How can we combine our talents to change the status quo, wake people up, so collectively we don't remain silent about things that matter?"

The next day, Mark -- a prolific artist -- told Marina he decided he will paint portraits of the total number of dogs killed every day in U.S. shelters. The idea started to take shape when Marina began researching websites and shelters to determine the number of dogs killed every year.

She discovered there is no mandatory reporting of kill numbers from shelters in the country. She learned about Asilomar Accords -- an attempt to standardize data collection from shelters -- through Maddie's Fund and realized they would have to estimate the conclusions. And so 5,500 U.S. shelter dogs killed per day is the number they calculated. Marina and Mark actually believe the number to be higher but settled on what they estimate as a conservative figure.

An Act of Dog Is Born
With no-kill as their goal, Marina and Mark came up with an idea to help raise funds for the many animal rescuers who are working at the local, hands-on level to save animals. They understand the actual saving of pet's lives is taking place there and not with the national organizations like HSUS or PETA.

They are attempting to raise $20 million to be spread among the frontline workers. Yes,, $20 million is a lot of money, but they have a unique way to raise it.

Mark will create 5,500 paintings of actual dogs who were killed in shelters and display them to the public. That is, after all, the low-ball number Mark and Marina calculated; that's how many dogs are killed every day in U.S. shelters.

They will display the paintings on ten foot high panels that will take up the length of two football fields. It will be a stunning statement.

An Act of Dog Evolves
An Act of Dog continues to evolve. At first, the couple thought they would display the portraits at various cities throughout the country and eventually sell the paintings. As they realized the enormous visual impact a display of 5,500 portraits will have on the average person, they understood it would not be enough. A grander idea was conceived.

They now plan on giving the display -- the size of two football fields -- a permanent home in a theme park-like setting where people can visit with their family, both human and canine, and browse shops and attractions at the same time. Think Disneyland for dogs! They are currently searching for a permanent site and are open to hearing from any area of the country.

An Act of Dog is progressing, but is still in its infancy. Phase One started when Mark and Marina put out a bid to 32 cities to host the creation of the portraits. Ultimately Louisville, Kentucky was chosen and recently Marina and Mark moved there from their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Mellwood Art Center in Louisville has generously donated the space for Mark to create the portraits.

The portraits are just the beginning. In Phase Two, Marina will be working on making a documentary on the no-kill movement in an effort to educate the public about the issues we face in continuing to fund high-kill shelters. "We aspire to become the greatness that our beloved pets already believe us to be, by ensuring with our voices and actions that America becomes a No-kill Nation" is the message on the homepage of An Act of Dog.

Work on the documentary is scheduled to begin in the next couple of months. Marina has already interviewed some shelter workers who are willing to reveal what goes on in the infamous killing rooms and how the animals are disposed of. The purpose, of course, is public education with the goal of no-kill.

Some Disturbing Statistics
Marina told me there are between 8-12 million pets per year who find their way into the shelter system. With the exception of those in privately funded, no-kill shelters, the vast majority of pets will eventually be killed because they were not adopted in time. The typical ordinance, though every municipality differs, mandates that a stray pet must be claimed by an owner within 72 or be euthanized. Some shelters will keep the pet longer if space permits, but not all.

People who are interested in participating in this novel initiative can visit the website to donate toward expenses.

The Work Moves Forward
"No-kill people already get it," Mark told me in an interview. "Our goal is to show the general public what is happening in high-kill shelters, so things can change." When asked how emotionally draining the creation of these portraits may be on Mark, he responded, "the mission fuels me."

"I must pay homage to their spirits and to do that I study their photos." He went on to say how difficult it is to connect with a spirit of a dog that is now dead, knowing there is no valid reason the pet lost his life. "We are determined to see it through," both Marina and Mark agreed. "We do not want the dogs to have died in vain."

Would You Like to Help?
Both Mark and Marina are so committed to the no-kill concept they have dedicated the next two years of their lives to making it a reality. They will be working on this project full time until it is complete, with no personal compensation. Want to join them in their efforts?

2 Women Save 8,952 Animals

2011-05-08T08:09:00.001-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Colorado Animal Rescue Express, or C.A.R.E. seems appropriate to post about on Mother's Day, since these 2 amazing women, Linda Fox and Lisa Mendelsberg are responsible for saving the lives of 8,401 dogs and 551 cats since C.A.R.E's inception on 6/27/2007 (as of February, 2011). Isn't that what mothers do -- love, nurture, protect, care, save ... ?

I was fortunate to pick up a dog several months ago from the C.A.R.E. transport when it arrived in Denver, to take to her new home. How incredibly inspiring it was to see all these dogs in the vans, who likely would have been euthanized, having a second chance on life. They were all going to have a home in Colorado soon. Equally inspiring was seeing all the volunteers from the myriad of rescue groups picking up the dogs to take them to their foster homes. I will never forget Linda Fox's face -- the joy, peace, and satisfaction living there. I knew I'd where that expression, too, if I knew I was responsible for saving all these lives.

Through transport using rented vans, C.A.R.E. volunteers have driven over 472,000 miles to save these 8,952 animals. As of this writing the numbers will be even higher since these figures are several months old.

"The mission of C.A.R.E. is to arrange and provide safe transportation for domestic animals who are going to approved rescues and adoptive homes. Twice a week, C.A.R.E. arranges and provides the safe transportation of dogs and cats from high-kill shelters in Colorado and neighboring states that are going to rescue groups or adoptive homes. C.A.R.E. works with over 110 rescue organizations who commit to taking the homeless animals into foster care for proper assessment and placement."

Each transport consists of renting multiple vans to move approximately 20 animals. C.A.R.E. currently transports animals from high kill shelters in rural Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Nebraska.

"Donations and grants are needed to cover the rental van charges, gasoline, and the purchase and maintenance of transport supplies. It costs C.A.R.E. an average of $29 to transport an animal to safety."

Linda Fox and Lisa Mendelsberg were awarded Denver Channel 7's Everyday Hero Award on 3/17/2011. Please visit the C.A.R.E. website to learn more or/and to donate to their wonderful cause at:

http://www.caretransport.org/

Happy Birthday, Maddie Girl

2011-05-05T07:00:00.001-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

You, my girl, are truly a joy ...

You NEVER stop smiling. You make people on the trail laugh when you circle them and drop a stick at their feet, hoping they'll throw it for you. You bring happiness to us, to the kids at the juvenile center, the kids in the reading program at Columbine Elementary, and to everyone you meet.

Your tail never stops wagging and that earned you my nickname for you of "Thumpy." You brighten my life, Maddie Girl. I treasure our morning cuddles in bed, your greeting when I walk in the door, the way you lick my tears when I cry.

I love you with all my heart.

You, Tom and I know our little secret of how your 5-5-05 birthday connects back to Maggie :)

Thank you for coming into our lives, Baby Angel. Happy 6th Birthday, Maddie, and may there be so very many more!

It Was "Just" a Pitbull ...

2011-05-02T07:00:00.001-06:00

Can We As a Therapy Dog Team Change That Perception?

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Last week when Maddie, my therapy dog and I made our weekly visit to the juvenile center, I had intended to talk to the kids about animal cruelty. However, when we arrived and there was only 1 teen there, I thought about saving this talk for a larger group. But for some reason I decided to go ahead and talk about what constitutes animal cruelty, what an individual can do about it, and the link between animal and human abuse.

I asked a question I'd never asked before. "Have you ever witnessed animal cruelty? At home? On TV? By a friend?"

Dustin, a caseworker, with Maddie

"Yes," came the surprising answer back. Surprising because of his rapid forthrightness with his response. "I've seen a relative hit his pit bull. But it was just a pit bull. I've hit a pit bull, too. But I would never hit a dog like that one," he said, motioning to Maddie.

Maddie and me: We talk first and then the kids play with her

First, I had to keep my mouth from dropping in order to respond and not blow all rapport with this young man.

"What do you mean, just a pit bull? Hitting an animal to punish him/her is not OK," I said.

"But it's a pitbull," he said. "They're different." He made some reference to himself doing something wrong, and said if punishment wasn't OK then he shouldn't be in the juvenile center. Then I talked about the importance of drawing boundaries and having consequences for both humans and dogs -- as opposed to striking any being. I could see he was still dubious, and likely brainwashed by his relative or others with a mind set that pit bulls are fighting dogs or mean and need to be "put in their place."

Ms. Maddie paying attention to "Mom"

"You're not buying this, are you?" I asked him.

"I'm listening," he said.

Maddie and Nick, another caseworker (he really loves her!)

"Did you know animal cruelty is against the law in Colorado?"

"I don't pay much attention to the laws," he quipped.

"Hmm. Do you suppose that's why you're in here?" I was amazed at his response!

He smiled and shrugged. As he began playing with Maddie, I talked about the stereotype so many people have re: pit bulls; how it was humans who bred fighting genes into the breed and try to make them mean; and how at the turn of the century they were the family dog.

Barb, juvenile center supervisor, with Maddie

I do find it interesting that while some part of this young man believed that pit bulls somehow deserved to be hit to control them, where other breeds do not, he did clearly recognize it as cruelty given his immediate response to my first question. Did Maddie and I make a difference in this teen's thinking about animal cruelty and pit bulls? I'll probably never know. I can only hope we planted a seed.

Don't Leave Me! (Steps to Deal With Separation Anxiety in Dogs)

2011-04-30T07:00:00.012-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Have you ever had a dog with separation anxiety? It can be one of the most challenging behavioral problems to deal with in your dog. After Maggie died, we were far from ready for another dog, so we got involved with the Humane Society of Boulder Valley and Front Range Labrador Rescue (today we have Safe Harbor Lab Rescue and Rocky Mountain Lab Rescue) and we fostered dogs. We fostered a handsome white lab named Bob. But oh my, we did not know what we were in for! I'd never even heard of separation anxiety in dogs before. But Bob took my husband and I on such a journey that I wrote about our adventures with Bob and some handy tips for dealing with separation anxiety in your dog in an article published in Real Travel Adventures online magazine. Here's the link if you'd like to read it:

Don't Leave Me! (in Real Travel Adventures online magazine)

Good luck!

Can Dogs Sense Cancer?

2011-04-29T07:00:00.002-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

We've heard about it before, that some dogs can sense cancer. Here is another case reported by Diane Sawyer on ABC news, and a brief look at how cancer detecting dogs are detecting cancer through the scent of our breath, urine, and more... Click the link below to see the video:

http://news.yahoo.com/video/health-15749655/can-dogs-sense-cancer-25023195

Link Between Violence to Animals and Violence to Humans Studied at DU

2011-04-28T07:00:00.001-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Based on DU Study Ahead By a Cold, Wet Nose by John Davidson, The Denver Post, April 10, 2010:

According to John Davidson in his article DU study ahead by a cold, wet nose published in the Denver Post, a groundbreaking program at the University of Denver is "exploring the many ways people and pets are connected. The emerging results could reshape practices in social work, law enforcement and public policy, according to leaders of DU’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection.”

The executive director of the institute, Frank Ascione, has been looking into “the link between violent behavior to humans and violence to animals. Ascione was part of a study that "documented cases of violent husbands harming family pets to torment abused wives.” He testified awhile back in Colorado in behalf of a bill to include pets in domestic restraining orders.

As part of the people/pet study, students in DUs Graduate School of Social Work also "documented the positive impact of using therapy animals to teach responsibility and anger control to at risk children.” Although these connections may be obvious, the science behind them is novel and important according to the dean of the Graduate School of Social Work, James Herbert Williams.

The support of the American Humane Association and the Animal Assistance Foundation is credited by Williams for the Institute success, but all of these Denver organizations have brought so much to the table.

“Institute staffers are working on two new efforts: enlisting experts from around the world of fellows and then posting their studies at Humananimalconnection.com, and conducting a painstaking study of public and social institutions in Colorado to come up with a better understanding of how animal abuse cases are handled.” It is called the Colorado Link Project, and they are trying to individually target social welfare, law enforcement and the judicial system.

Researchers will look at animal cruelty cases to determine 'how they are investigated, what control the investigator has, what does and doesn’t get investigated, how they are prosecuted and what penalties are handed down,' in order to improve practices in each step.

Graduate students can work with kids in a program, Pawsitive Connection, that teaches them how to train dogs while learning compassion and responsibility for animals.

Finding Safety for Abused Animals Living in Domestic Violence Homes

2011-04-26T07:00:00.030-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Many women will not leave an abusive partner for fear of what the perpetrator will do to the animals in the house if she is not there. Does your state include pets in restraining orders if they are victims of animal cruelty or are threatened in a domestic violence situation? This is the second in a series of 3 posts taken from original articles on the link between animal and human abuse. Many women know there are safe houses for them to turn to if they are victims of domestic abuse. Women, children, and all victims of abuse also need to know there are resources, safe havens to turn to for protection for their pets. I encourage you to know the laws in your state regarding animal cruelty and protection orders.

This original article by Gabriela Sandoval appeared in the American Dog Magazine, Fall, 2009

Domestic Violence

Human Victims, Animal Victims

What happens when victims of domestic violence have animals who are physically abused as well? How will one find a safe way out and also protect their beloved animal companions? What legal recourse is available and how can you help? While I am not an expert on domestic violence nor am I a therapist, I have come across this issue time and time again as an attorney representing both children in abusive homes and as a legal advocate for animals.

According to the ASPCA, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence conducted a study in which 84 percent of women and 63 percent of children who arrived at domestic violence shelters reported incidents of pet abuse. Abusers harm or threaten to harm animals for different reasons, including: to demonstrate power and control; instill terror and fear; gain cooperation; prevent a victim from leaving; coerce a victim to return by threatening to harm or kill the family pet; or to teach the victim "a lesson."

Victims of abuse are entrenched in a vicious cycle. Lives may be at risk. If you suspect domestic violence is happening to someone you know and have concerns about their animals as well, inquire about the animals. Friends may be more willing to talk about the abuse to their animals as opposed to abuse they themselves are experiencing. What are the signs? Abusers need to be in control. They may belittle, humiliate, criticize, yell, be overly possessive, limit access to money, friends, and family. Victims demonstrate fear of their partner, may become isolated, less available, have feelings of self-loathing, helplessness, and desperation.

Legal remedies that may be available vary from state to state as does the legal definition of "Domestic Violence." Some states include harm to or threats to harm a companion animal in their criminal definition when used as a means of intimidating or injuring a spouse or significant other. For example, Domestic Violence in Colorado now includes "a crime against an animal when used as a method of coercion, control, punishment, intimidation, or revenge." Also, in Colorado, a Protection Order (sometimes referred to as "restraining order") may now include an order "that prohibits the restrained person from contacting, harassing, injuring, intimidating, molesting, threatening or touching any protected animal, or from entering or remaining on premises, or from coming within a specified distance from the protected animal." Ten states in the U.S. allow animal companions to be included in orders of protection: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, New York, Tennessee, and Vermont. Find out more information about your state by visiting http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/.

Perpetrators of violent crime including Domestic Violence or Animal Cruelty may be incarcerated or ordered to complete a mental health evaluation and complete anger management or other recommended treatment. Anger management isn't always appropriate because domestic violence isn't really about angerâ€”it's more about control.

Animal Assisted Therapy (also referred to as "AAT") can be very effective treatment or complementary treatment for both perpetrators and victims. AAT is unique therapy because of the fact that a therapy animal is present and actually plays a therapeutic role during sessions. AAT addresses bullying, helps build empathy and compassion, improves conflict resolution and relationship skills, and heightens motivation and engagement in therapy.

Often, victims feel they cannot escape their situation. Feelings of shame, humiliation, hopelessness, denial, blame and fear take hold. There may be financial issues that prevent victims from fleeing. Victims also refuse to flee because they don't want to abandon a family pet who has been or may become a victim of the abuse. Not every city or town has the resources to assist animal victims but the number is growing. There are many websites and local and national organizations that publish resources for people and animals in crisis.

To find a shelter for you and your animal, visit American Humane and Ahimsa House online.

If there is a safe haven for you but you can't bring your animal, be aware that some animal shelters will temporarily house animal victims. For instance, Colorado's Denver Dumb Friends League has a temporary Pet Assistance Program for people who need to protect their animals from violence in the home. A Pet Support Program in Maryland "will offer victims immediate alternative housing for their companion pet(s), providing victims the peace of mind needed to seek their own safety... and will organize a foster care network to shelter large pets, such as horses and livestock, which are just as susceptible to abuse." They can be reached by calling 410.222.8900. Find animal shelters in your area that can assist during a crisis by visiting

The Humane Society of the United States online.

With these resources at your fingertips you can really make a difference for victims of abuse - human and animal. If, in good faith, you suspect that an animal is being harmed consider calling your local humane society and requesting a "welfare check" for the animal. Not only will they go into the home to ensure the animal's safety, but if other abuse is suspected they may be required to contact local authorities. Providing direct access to local resources may empower a victim to take advantage of the support available - especially when a beloved animal's life is at risk.

Read original story in American Dog Magazine at: http://www.read.theamericandogmag.com/dog-law/dog-law-domestic-violence

Important Address Change to My Subscribers

2011-04-25T11:31:00.000-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

If you are subscribed to my blog through Feed Burner, please update your subscription at http://www.maggiethedogwhochangedmylife.blogspot.com/. I played with the address in my Feed Burner account and may have interfered with current subscriptions. So sorry!

You should receive a post from me tomorrow, and if not there's a problem with the feed address. I did place a 30 day re-direction request with Feed Burner, so it may be fine for a month, but if my feed disappears after 30 days and you haven't yet updated at Dawn Kairns and Maggie the Dog, please do so if you want to continue automatically receiving my feed. I am so sorry for any inconvenience to you. Please update your subscription if you don't receive my post tomorrow, Tuesday, April 26. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience!

Abused Pets Are Often Domestic Violence Pawns

2011-04-24T07:00:00.001-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Did you know that the link between animal abuse and human abuse/violence has been made? That when someone abuses an animal they are that much more likely to abuse a human? That perpetrators often abuse pets to manipulate and control their victims in domestic violence situations? When I read this article in O Magazine a few years ago, I began to recognize how imperative humane education was for children, particularly for high risk children/teens. I will devote two more posts to this topic since domestic violence and animal cruelty are the painful lives faced by so many women and their animals. I want to be sure that as many battered women as possible are aware of resources available to them and their abused pets.

The Case of the Battered Pet

Originally published in O, The Oprah Magazine, June 2008, by Barry Yeoman

Who would suspect that a family’s animals could be pawns in domestic violence? Or that their sad condition might tip off investigators to women in trouble? The terrifying truth about cats and dogs.

MARCELLA HARB-HAUSER, DVM, WAS DOING HER morning rounds at a San Rafael, California, veterinary hospital when she first met Malibu. The gray tabby was hunched in his cage, his face swollen and right eye bulging. His lungs were bruised. His ribs were broken. He had a fractured tailbone. When Harb-Hauser examined the cat's mouth, she says, "it looked like an eggplant inside."

An experienced emergency vet, Harb-Hauser tried to make sense of the medical evidence. The cat had obviously suffered a trauma, but there was no sign of a car accident or fall from a window. "This didn't just happen," she told her colleagues. "Something is fishy." The cat's owner, she learned, had brought him in at 5 a.m. and for the past three hours had been sitting quietly in an exam room. Maybe, she thought, the young woman could provide some answers.

Malibu's owner had milky skin and dark eyeliner, with tattoos on both arms. She was barely 30, her face youthful, but her gaunt frame and blank expression suggested a hard life. Speaking in a high, thin monotone, she told Harb-Hauser that she had separated from her boyfriend a year earlier, moving three times to escape him, only to have him track her down and break into each successive apartment. This morning she'd come home from a trip and found him waiting. Fresh scratches and bite marks covered his arms. The apartment was wrecked, and Malibu was hiding under a glass table, barely breathing.

"I really don't know how to tell you this, because it breaks my heart," Harb-Hauser said. "But someone tried to strangle your cat." For the first time, emotion registered on the woman's face. She looked up and locked eyes with the vet. "Yeah," she said. "My boyfriend likes to do that to me, too."

The 2006 conversation reinforced for Harb-Hauser what researchers are only now starting to understand: With devastating frequency, animals are the collateral victims of domestic violence. Dogs and cats, lizards and rabbits, horses and other farm animals-abusers torture and kill them, or threaten to do so, in order to maintain control of their spouses. And it works. Because most battered-women's shelters don't accept animals, victims are often forced to weigh their pets' safety against their own. According to various studies, between 18 and 88 percent of shelter residents delayed leaving their tormentors for fear that their animals would be injured, or worse. That doesn't count the many women who never escape.

"Pets have become pawns in the battle of power and control that marks domestic violence," says Phil Arkow, head of human-animal bond programs at the American Humane Association. While any victim of battering may be trapped in a landscape of terror, for women with cats or dogs at risk of abuse, "they not only lose the sense of safety and comfort their animals provide but all too frequently feel unable to leave."

THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN STORIES, SUSPICIONS. Harb-Hauser's first hint that an injured pet could be an SOS for an owner in danger came just after her graduation from vet school in 1992. At the New York animal hospital where she interned, a middle-aged woman with a downcast face brought in a Yorkshire terrier whose eyes had been glued shut with a powerful adhesive. "I have to have this dog back tonight," the woman told one of the doctors. "We're not supposed to leave the house. If my boyfriend catches us gone, this is going to be trouble." The next time the client returned, the Yorkie's eyes were sealed again; so were her ears and sexual organs. Despite the owner's pleas, the hospital confiscated the dog. "I always wondered what happened to that woman," Harb-Hauser says.

It wasn't until 1998 that the research started catching up. The first published study was small but groundbreaking. Frank Ascione, PhD, a psychologist at Utah State University, surveyed 38 women at a domestic violence shelter. Of those who reported having owned pets, 71 percent said that their partners had threatened, tortured—even killed—one or more of their animals during the relationship. Abusers had shot dogs, drowned a cat, and set a kitten on fire. "Many of the descriptions sounded like calculated behavior to terrorize the woman in her home," Ascione says.

Since then, a decade's worth of studies have confirmed, and expanded on, Ascione's initial findings. In Atlanta, for example, researchers surveyed 107 battered women who sought help at a family violence center after being indicted for various crimes. Of those who reported pet abuse, 44 percent said that their partners told them they would hurt the animals unless the women joined in the illegal acts. One 33-year-old said her husband punched and choked her during their five-year marriage and forbade her to see her family without him. Two weeks after he lost his job, he robbed a bank and swore he'd kick her dog to death unless she drove the getaway car. "I was sure he would kill my little Terry Terrier if I didn't do what he said," she explained. "I felt trapped."

Experts say it's no coincidence that a man who bullies his spouse also abuses pets—it's part of a methodical campaign to isolate the woman. He will hide the car keys. He'll rip out the phone. He'll ban her from holding a job or visiting neighbors and family. That leaves her with just one companion, the family dog or cat. "The animal is often the sole source of unconditional love and support for the victim, and that is not lost on the abuser," says Melinda Merck, DVM, senior director of veterinary forensics for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). The batterer knows there's no weapon more effective than severing, or promising to sever, that last remaining bond. "The ultimate goal of the abuser is to strip the victim of everything of value," Merck says.

Often batterers will injure animals as part of a threat to do the same to the people in their lives. "I have heard accounts," says ASPCA senior vice president for anticruelty initiatives Randall Lockwood, PhD, "from victim advocates in all 50 states of a husband or boyfriend who assembles the family and makes them watch as he bludgeons or beats the family dog, cat, horse, cow, bunny, hamster, gerbil—with the message of, 'You could be next.'"

AFTER MALIBU'S OWNER BLURTED OUT that her ex-boyfriend had been abusing her, Marcella Harb-Hauser knew she couldn't just treat and release the strangled gray tabby. So she contacted the Marin Humane Society, up the road in Novato, California. Cindy Machado, the society's animal services director, took firm charge. "Hold this cat as evidence," she recalls telling the vet. "Do not let it go out the door." Then Machado invited the victim, who is called Jane Doe in court documents to protect her safety, into her office for a chat.

Doe showed up exhausted and withdrawn. "In the first five minutes of the discussion, I realized, Oh, my goodness, she's going to have a really hard time telling me what happened," Machado recalls. She asked the young woman, who was craving a cigarette, to sit with her at a picnic table outside. "You can smoke all you want," she said. "I don't care what you do. Just talk to me."

Once Doe started speaking, she didn't stop for hours. She explained that her ex-boyfriend, Danh Phi Huynh, had choked her repeatedly, as he would later do to Malibu. At least six times the woman blacked out from his assaults. Huynh also warned that he would kill Doe and her family, and a month earlier had kidnapped one of her other cats, Monster. No one has seen Monster since.

"I could tell she was a survivor," Machado says. "I felt we had a kindred-spirit connection. Something just said, Don't let this woman down. You've gotta do whatever you have to do to help her." Machado arranged for the Humane Society to pay Malibu's vet bills, which totaled $5,400. She found a pet-friendly hotel where Doe and her cats could live, and instructed the staff to call Machado at any sign of trouble. And she visited Malibu, who was still hospitalized. "I saw a spark in this cat that touched my heart," she says. "It was not just a cat that was sick. It was a cat telling me to help his guardian." Though Doe was wary of the police—declining in the past to follow through on a restraining order against Huynh—Machado convinced her to press charges this time against her ex. At one point she gave Doe an enlarged photo of Malibu, bandaged and on intravenous fluids. If Doe didn't do something, Machado told her, she could wind up the same way.

A warrant was issued for Huynh's arrest. He continued to menace Doe. "I guess Monster's not important to you, is he?" the ex-boyfriend said in one voice-mail message. The following day he warned, "When you least expect it, and you don't even have the slightest clue, everything you know will be destroyed or dead." Though Huynh pleaded guilty to three felonies, his attorney argued that there were no witnesses to the strangling. The lawyer also argued that Huynh would be more likely to seek treatment for his addiction to drugs if he were not behind bars. Nonetheless, in July 2006 a judge sentenced Huynh to five years and eight months at San Quentin State Prison.

As harrowing as Doe's ordeal was, she was lucky to find an escape route. Without shelters that take pets, many women who do flee wind up living with their animals in their cars. "How are you supposed to work or go back to school when you're stuck like that?" says psychologist Lori Kogan, PhD, an assistant professor at Colorado State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. "Then they go back to the perpetrators because they don't have good options."

Only in the past decade have many domestic violence professionals recognized the barrier that these no-pet policies create. In Arlington, Virginia, the Doorways for Women and Families Safehouse is developing a plan to house its clients' pets in kennels on-site. Just four other programs nationwide currently offer this service. "My greatest hope is that when a survivor of violence is ready to leave, there will be no barriers," says Doorways domestic violence program director Marielle Filholm.

More often, shelters are teaming up with animal welfare agencies to create foster programs for the pets of women fleeing abuse. Sometimes the animals live with volunteers until they can be reunited with their owners. Other times they stay at veterinary hospitals or animal shelters. The Humane Society of the United States lists about 170 safe-haven programs—a start, but not enough to cover the whole country.

Without a refuge for her pets, Yvonne Creswell would never have been able to leave her abusive marriage. Troubled almost from the start, the relationship bottomed out in late 2004, after the navy wife, then 30, was admitted to a San Diego hospital with complications from her first pregnancy. Because her husband had grown increasingly violent—even warning he'd kill her beagle, she says—she asked him by telephone to stay away. He refused. "I'm coming, and I'm coming armed," she recalls him saying. "How would it be if I have to hurt people to get to you?" Police arrested him after he showed up at the hospital carrying two kitchen knives and a screwdriver. He eventually pleaded guilty to a concealed-weapon charge and served time in jail.

Until then, Creswell hadn't left because there was nowhere to take the dog and cat that had provided solace during her three-year marriage. At the hospital, though, someone handed her a brochure that mentioned the Animal Safehouse Program at the Rancho Coastal Humane Society in Encinitas, California. Knowing there was a foster home for the animals enabled Creswell and her newborn to make a getaway.

"It may seem bizarre, even crazy, that we stay in these situations because of our pets," says Creswell, who has a new partner and a second child. "But we rely on these animals to give us comfort. It's almost like therapy: You have something you can hold, that you can love, that loves you back. Because those two animals had taken such great care of me, I owed it to them to look after them and not have them subjected to cruelty.

"To know that they were safe meant that I could go forward," Creswell says. "To know that they were being given love gave me the opportunity to reclaim my life."

WHEN POLICE AND PROSECUTORS GRASP THE LINKS between domestic violence and animal abuse, it makes it easier to protect survivors of all species by getting offenders into jail or treatment. An abused spouse might be unwilling to press charges against her partner, "but a dead cat is not going to recant," says the ASPCA's Randall Lockwood. Sometimes, then, the most surefire way to prosecute a batterer is on charges of animal cruelty, which, if severe enough, is a felony in many states. "The abuser has so little regard for the animal that he doesn't even realize how serious a crime it is," Lockwood says. "You may even get a confession right there: 'Yeah, I killed the damned cat.'"

As far as the pet victims go, the law has traditionally turned a blind eye. "Many jurisdictions say animals are property," explains Diane Balkin, senior deputy district attorney in Denver. The climate, however, is changing. Until two years ago, no state gave judges the explicit right by statute to protect animals in domestic violence cases. The courts could order a batterer to stay away from his wife and children, but not necessarily from his dog, even if he had threatened the creature. Then, on a snowy day in January 2006, 50-year-old Susan Walsh drove about 75 miles to tell her story to Maine state lawmakers—and helped kick off a reform movement that is spreading across the nation.

Walsh's ex-husband had never beat her in the traditional sense. "The physical abuse was directed at things that I valued, things that were an extension of me," she says. First he targeted inanimate objects, she says—smashing a treasured gargoyle and throwing away her personal papers. Then, she says, he progressed to the turkeys and sheep living on their 32-acre farm.

Walsh, a vegetarian, enjoyed watching the turkeys' antics during what she calls their "awkward teenage years." But when her husband found the young birds nibbling on some berry bushes, "he went on a tear and killed every one of them," she says. "Broke their necks and left them in a pile. Later that day, he told me to go down and pick blueberries—and to pick them in the rows where the bodies were," so she would find the carcasses. (Her ex-husband didn't respond to requests for an interview.)

Then, one Easter, Walsh and her two children visited her parents in Pennsylvania. Her husband stayed behind with her blind, arthritic border collie, Katydid. The day after Walsh left, she received a call: He had run over Katydid in their driveway, as he'd promised to do with other pets, she says. He claimed it was an accident. She was certain it wasn't. "It was his way of saying that anything I have, anything important to me, he can take away," she says.

Walsh's voice trembled as she recounted the ordeal before a legislative committee in Augusta, which was debating whether to protect animals in domestic violence cases. Leaving her husband, she said, would have imperiled not just her pets but all the animals living on the farm. "I might possibly have gotten my dogs out, maybe even the cats," she testified. "But I knew any animal I left behind would be dead within 24 hours."

"When she got up and testified, you could hear a pin drop," says Anne Jordan, Maine's commissioner of public safety. At the hearing, Jordan was sitting in front of some opponents of the legislation. "When Susan Walsh testified about what her ex did, I heard the [lobbyists] behind me say, 'We can't testify against this bill.'" Two months later, Maine became the first state in the nation authorizing judges to include animals in protective orders. Since then, nine states have followed suit, with more on the way.

Walsh says she won't be content until the law safeguards all women and their animals. "Every state needs to have this protection on the books—and the stronger the better," she says. "Our message to abusers must be firm and unwavering: Threatening or harming animals to hold a partner hostage in a relationship will not be tolerated."

Go to original O Magazine article here: http://www.barryyeoman.com/pdfs/animalabuse.pdf

Maddie Expands Her Therapy Dog Duties and Spreads Her Joy

2011-04-21T07:00:00.002-06:00

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

Many of you know our dog, Maddie, is a therapy dog at the County Juvenile Center where we visit the kids each week. A few weeks ago, Maddie and I tried something new. We made a therapy dog visit to my grandson's preschool. What fun this was! My husband,Tom, joined us on this one. They were having "career week," where parents came and talked to the kids about different jobs (have kids advanced since I was that age?) -- so I talked about what a volunteer is and types of animal-related volunteer jobs. And Maddie let them know all the different important jobs that dogs do for humans, like her current job as a therapy dog, service dogs, search and rescue dogs, etc.

We walked around the circle so all the children could meet and pet Maddie, except for those with allergies, who sat back from the circle so we wouldn't stop there. A great time was had by all of us! As we were leaving, one little girl said, "we had fun, did you?" Precious!

Maddie is expanding her therapeutic circle in other ways, too. In addition to her every day interaction with people she touches, who comment as they did with Maggie about how happy she is, we visited a children's reading program at Columbine Elementary School in Boulder last week. I'd never considered a reading program before as I thought Maddie was way too high energy for such a "sedentary" job.

Well, she was a bit off the wall in my book, but the kids loved her and so did the teachers. I credit Lisa, the special education teacher and program initiator, and her relaxed, fun, flexible attitude with seeing Maddie as very workable.

"Can we read with you?", asked two of the children hopefully as soon as we walked into the room. Of course, they wanted to read with the new dog in class!

There were 3 dog/handler teams that day for the children to read to. The kids came over in pairs and each one read a page to Maddie and me. After 10 minutes, each pair switched and moved on to another therapy dog/guardian team.

"Can she come lay in the middle of us," asked one child when Maddie was lying on one side of me. I love that young children will just ask for what they want!

"I'm afraid of dogs," Eileen calmly smiled at me as Maddie placed her head on her lap while she read. I never would have read it in her body language. I moved Maddie to a more comfortable distance for her. "I like them here, just not too close to me," she said. Once again, refreshing honesty! I learned that before the reading program began Eileen was terrified of dogs. What a long way she has come!

"Can we have a card?" asked the children each time a pair finished reading with us. Lisa saw my puzzled look and showed me the cards with the other dog's photos, birthdays, and "Paws to Listen" written on the card. A canine business card! She explained to the kids that this was my first day and I didn't have a card yet.

"We'd love to have you both. She did great!" smiled Lisa. "We really need dogs for the program.

"I love her energy!" said one of the other teachers. "I hope you come back."

"J.J. was off the wall when he first started," his handler/guardian told me. "Maddie did fine!"

Needless to say, we felt so welcome and it was a joyous atmosphere. Oh yes, we'll be back! Today, in fact. We are going to finish out this school year as a reading program therapy dog team, which is part of Longmont Humane Society's Paws to Listen Program.

(All photos are from our visit to my grandson's preschool, and not from Columbine Elementary's Paws to Listen Reading Program).

Update on Japan Animal Relief from American Humane

2011-04-20T14:12:00.000-06:00

Reprint posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

By Debrah Schnackenberg, Senior Vice President, Emergency Service, American Humane

It’s been three weeks since the earthquake hit northern Japan. What’s happened in the meantime to help animals?

The tragedy in Japan touched the hearts of people around the world and prompted an outpouring of support. American Humane Association immediately began reaching out to our partners on the ground following the disasters and has already provided $10,000 in cash, along with 2 shipments of critically needed animal sheltering supplies to support local animal relief efforts in Japan. This assistance to the Japan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (JSPCA) and the Japan Animal Welfare Society (JAWS) will help provide shelter to the thousands of animals that were displaced by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency affecting the country. American Humane Association’s renowned Red Star Animal Emergency Services™ team is also standing by to assist as soon as we get the go-ahead from the Japanese. As you may have heard, due to the safety risks and the complexity of the disaster response effort, the Japanese government has not yet requested international organizations for large-scale animal rescue operations, and no legitimate animal welfare group deploys without a formal invitation from the responsible government/agency. This policy is for the safety of both the victims and the responders. Relief and rescue on the ground in Japan is an extraordinarily complex effort. In addition to the challenges and risks presented by the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, the radiation dangers from the stricken nuclear power plant have made the situation even more challenging. In the meantime, we and other relief groups with which we are allied, such as the National Animal Rescue and Sheltering Coalition, are pooling our collective expertise and resources to assist well-qualified local groups on the ground in Japan and to support recovery efforts that will help animals well into the future.

What are the top animal rescue priorities right now?

There are three unique and fundamental challenges that are being addressed simultaneously. The first is to rescue any animals that were left in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. Given the destruction, this is a daunting task. Farm animals that had to be left behind are particularly hard-hit, and search-and-rescue efforts for companion animals are also under way. It’s hard to put in words the challenges that exist, not the least of which is the wholesale destruction of infrastructure, which makes it difficult to get people or equipment into the disaster zone. The second challenge that’s being addressed is sheltering animals that did get out when their families evacuated. Despite the leaps and bounds that have been made by our Red Star team and others over the years to ensure that animals are considered in disaster management plans here in the United States, many human shelters in Japan can’t accommodate animals evacuated with their owners. Finally, there are large evacuation areas around the damaged nuclear plants. When people were told to leave, they took what animals they could, but had to leave many behind. Those animals are in need of food and shelter, but the risk from the radiological emergency makes entering that zone unsafe for rescuers.

Some people say that focusing on animal rescue is a waste of resources when so many people are suffering. What do you say to that?

That’s a question we get asked any time Red Star responds to an emergency, whether the crisis in Japan, the devastation in Haiti, or the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. First, we believe that rescuing animals is simply the right thing to do. And that is the focus of Red Star — to rescue and shelter animals, just as there are organizations whose focus is to rescue and shelter people. Our work with animals does not take resources away from efforts to help people. In fact, animal rescue and human rescue are related in many respects. For instance some people won’t evacuate their homes if they can’t take their animals with them. This endangers not only the individuals themselves, but also the search-and-rescue teams that are there to help them. Every second matters in these situations, and delay can literally mean the difference between success and tragedy. Beyond that, recovering from these disasters – physically, emotionally, economically, socially – is a long and arduous process. Families and communities want to rebuild their lives; to be whole again. For many of us – especially children – that means staying with our pets and animal companions, or being reunited with them as quickly as possible.

Are there lessons we should learn from this tragedy?

Of course the first thing we need to focus on is what needs to be done right now. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people and animals who are suffering, and those who are risking their lives to save others. In terms of what we can learn, the most important thing, I think, is that we should always be prepared – at both the personal and community levels. Regardless of where you live, the fact is disaster can strike any time. American Humane Association has a number of tips for individuals and families on that front. We also encourage people to get involved with their city or county disaster response teams to make sure animals and pets are included in community disaster planning when it comes to preparing for the evacuation and care of pets in the event of a disaster.

What can I do to help?

The most important thing for animals in Japan right now is that their needs be met in a coordinated, professional manner. One hundred percent of the contributions made to American Humane Association for animal relief in Japan will go to animal relief in Japan. We have the experience and the contacts to ensure that the money is distributed in the most effective and efficient manner possible. No matter who you consider donating to, we urge you to thoroughly research that organization to make sure your contribution is going to be used in the way you intend. Aside from that, having been on the ground myself in very difficult situations, I can tell you that it actually does mean something to people – and, I believe, animals – to know that the world is watching … and help is on the way.

Read original article at http://www.americanhumane.org/about-us/who-we-are/debrah-schnackenberg.html