Help Haiti's Animal Earthquake Victims

I am posting this request from Jim Genzale, Owner of WHILE YOU'RE AWAY, LA to help the animals in Haiti. It is my request to you, too. Here is the link to: IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), where you can donate to help the 2 organizations, IFAW and WSPA to help Haiti's animals:

"The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is working closely with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) to help Haiti's animals in need as part of a coordinated effort called the Animal Relief Coalition of Haiti (ARCH).

This devastating crisis has affected approximately 5 million head of livestock, a large population of stray dogs, pets, and the indigenous wildlife. Many animals are in need of urgent care and major health concerns include the possible outbreak of rabies, leptospirosis, and other disease.

A mobile veterinary clinic is currently being assembled to help as many injured animals and livestock, which will be essential to Haiti's overall recovery. Vaccination and feeding programs must be set up as quickly as possible. You can help by donating toward the purchase of essential items such as bandages, medicines, food, and other necessary materials.

For more information on the relief efforts, you can click here. Please donate as generously as you possibly can.

Also, please forward or share this note with as many people as you can. The humanitarian efforts thus far have truly been inspiring, and I hope we can make a difference in the lives of these suffering animals as well."

Thank you very much for your help.

Posted By:

Dawn Kairns
Author of MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love

Website: www.dawnkairns.com

Blog: Dawn Kairns and Maggie the Dog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/themaggiebook

Become a fan on Facebook of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

2009 Indie Book Awards Finalist
DWAA 2008 Merial Human-Animal Bond Award Finalist

MAGGIE The Dog Who Changed My Life, Review in NOVA Dog Magazine

Author and writer Ingrid King wrote the following review of my book in the current issue of NOVA Dog Magazine. I want to share it with you.

IN REVIEW: Literature, Arts, and New Media
by Ingrid King

MAGGIE The Dog Who Changed My Life
By Dawn Kairns

“Once in every dog lover’s life, if you’re lucky, that special once-in-a-lifetime dog comes along. You know this relationship is golden, a gift from the spirit world. You have found a soul mate.”

So begins Maggie: The Dog Who Changed My Life. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to share such a special relationship with an animal will find ourselves going down memory lane
as we savor this book. Maggie enriched the author’s life in ways she never could have imagined when she took the little black Lab puppy home with her. Maggie’s joyful, exuberant spirit touches all who come into contact with her.

After several happy years together, Dawn Kairns discovers a small lump on Maggie’s chest. It turns out to be a mast cell tumor, a form of cancer. The tumor is removed. After getting over the
initial shock of this diagnosis, Kairns begins exploring the world of holistic pet care. The chapter titled “What’s Really Best for Our Pets” provides excellent information on how diet and environment can and do influence our pets’ health. Kairns makes changes in Maggie’s diet and lifestyle based on her research, and, for several years, Maggie thrives. Then Kairns discovers another mass on Maggie’s throat. This discovery is followed by a nightmare round of veterinary visits and misdiagnoses, until Maggie’s tumor is fi nally identified to be thyroid cancer. The author shares with great detail and emotional openness how she dealt with this devastating pronouncement and the subsequent treatment.

Maggie loses her battle with the disease, and Kairns is left to confront not only her profound grief, but also the realization that she intuitively knew long before Maggie was diagnosed that
something was wrong. She realizes that she did not trust her intuition while Maggie was still alive, which compounds her grief. Reading the author’s account of how she coped with her loss will no doubt serve as an inspiration and provide counsel and wisdom for others who are struggling with the loss of a beloved pet.

Ultimately, this book shows us how deep the connection between humans and animals runs, and how our animal friends are so much more than just pets. They are spiritual beings who are on
this planet to teach us about joy.

To learn more about MAGGIE the dog who changed my life, please visit my website at www.dawnkairns.com.

Thank you, Ingrid, for your lovely review. Ingrid King is the author of Buckley’s Story: Lessons From a Feline Master Teacher. To learn more about Ingrid or her book visit www.ingridking.com. To subscribe to NOVA Dog or request a copy of this issue go to http://www.novadogmagazine.com/subscribe.html

Posted By:

Dawn Kairns
Author of MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love

Website: www.dawnkairns.com

Blog: Dawn Kairns and Maggie the Dog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/themaggiebook

Become a fan on Facebook of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

2009 Indie Book Awards Finalist
DWAA 2008 Merial Human-Animal Bond Award Finalist

LA Times Puppy Mill Article

Puppy Love With a Vengeance: Activists, Officials Take On Pennsylvania's Abusive Kennels
from the LA Times

"Over the past four years, Anderson — who works for Main Line Animal Rescue, a shelter outside of Philadelphia — has managed to coax some of Pennsylvania's largest commercial breeding kennels to part with their unwanted canines, usually females past their reproductive prime or young males they couldn't sell..."

Read full LA Times article here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-puppy-mill-pushback,0,6632235.story

If you wish to donate to Main Line Animal Rescue to support puppy mill awareness and rescue, you can do so here:

http://www.mainlinerescue.com/donate

Posted By:

Dawn Kairns
Author of MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love

Website: www.dawnkairns.com
Blog: Dawn Kairns and Maggie the Dog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/themaggiebook

Become a fan on Facebook of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

2009 Indie Book Awards Finalist
DWAA 2008 Merial Human-Animal Bond Award Finalist

Veterinarian & "Speaking for Spot" Author Speaks Out on Puppy Mill Dogs Paying Ultimate Price

I wish to share a post from a veterinarian and author colleague about her poignant experience with puppy mill dogs in her office, and the effect on their unsuspecting guardians. As Dr. Nancy Kay states, it really brings home the importance of NOT purchasing puppies online sight unseen or from pet stores, the outlets of puppy mills. Please share this post to help continue to raise consciousness about the deplorable conditions puppy mill dogs and puppies live in.

Puppy Mills: People and Their Puppies Pay the Ultimate Price

By Nancy Kay, DVM,Author of:

Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life

Twice during the last month, I’ve experienced feelings of anger while in the midst of euthanizing one of my patients. Normally I feel mostly sadness, often combined with an element of relief knowing that suffering is gently and humanely coming to an end. Anger is an unusual visitor, but this emotion is sure to surface whenever I euthanize the innocent victim of a puppy mill (puppy mills are large scale breeding operations that produce puppies for profit with little or no attention paid to breed related inherited diseases). I feel angered when confronted with a sweet little life, cut way too short and clients left confused, bereft, and devastated by the untimely loss of their beloved puppy. Such was the case with Max and Chloe and the people who cared for them.

Max, was an insanely sweet and adorable Boston Terrier. Once an effervescent, bubbly Boston, this nine-month-old pup had become listless- fatigued by the exertion of breathing. You see, Max was born with an abnormally narrowed windpipe (imagine you or me trying to breathe through a straw). My client Ed recalled thinking that his new pup’s breathing seemed abnormally noisy when he picked him up from the airport. He was shipped to California at 10 weeks of age from a breeder in Missouri. Ed had been looking for a Boston Terrier and fell in love with Max the moment he saw his photo online. He did not feel the need to visit the kennel where Max was born because he was so reassured by the emails and telephone conversations he and the breeder had exchanged. She seemed to provide all the right answers to Ed’s questions. Max’s health was guaranteed- any problems and Max could be returned, no questions asked.

Other than the extra noise associated with Max’s breathing (not uncommon in a smoosh-faced breed such as a Boston Terrier), Ed thought he had a normal puppy on his hands. It was only as Max’s body grew in relation to his small windpipe that he developed labored breathing, eventually needing to utilize almost every ounce of energy struggling simply to breathe. Ed was devastated by the news that we had no way to fix this problem. With his own heart breaking, he held his sweet little Max tightly as I injected the euthanasia solution.

Chloe, an eleven-month-old Cocker Spaniel, was born with defective kidneys. Joe and Cindy first laid eyes on Chloe when they happened to pass through a shopping center pet store on their way to the movie theatre. They never made it to the movies that afternoon- they bought a puppy instead! They simply couldn’t resist the charms of the little blonde puppy with the big brown eyes. Joe and Cindy noticed that Chloe drank lots of water, and she could never be fully housetrained. A few months later, when she began vomiting and refusing her food, kidney failure was diagnosed. Ultrasound revealed that both of Chloe’s kidneys were small and malformed- clearly a birth defect. The once vigorous playful puppy gradually had become profoundly weak and lethargic. Unfortunately, we had no reasonable way of creating long-term improvement for Chloe. Heartbroken, Joe and Cindy gently stroked and loved their little girl as I ended her life.

Puppy mills stay in business by preying on people who are willing to buy a puppy without doing their research. These puppy purchasers simply don’t know better or allow their emotions to override their sensibilities. They are vulnerable to the precious face in the online photo or the adorable puppy in the pet store window (pet stores are notorious for purchasing from puppy mills). Puppy mill breeders often “seal the deal” by guaranteeing their puppies’ health, knowing full well how emotionally traumatic and near impossible it is for most people to “return a pup” once deep attachment occurs (deep attachment typically requires less than five minutes!).

My new year’s wish is that my veterinary colleagues and I will see far fewer victims of puppy mills in 2010. You can help my spreading word to people you know who are interested in purchasing a purebred or “designer hybrid” pup. Educate them about the dangers of purchasing a puppy online, sight (and site) unseen. Encourage them to avoid the impulsive pet store purchase. By buying online or from a pet shop, they may be risking losing their beloved new family member at much too young an age, or inadvertently committing the next 10-15 years of their lives to taking care of an inherently unhealthy product of a puppy mill. One less purchase from puppy mills, even indirectly is one step closer to their eradication...

Website: http://www.speakingforspot.com

Blog: http://www.speakingforspot.com/blog

Posted By:

Dawn Kairns
Author of MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love

Website: www.dawnkairns.com

Blog: Dawn Kairns and Maggie the Dog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/themaggiebook

Become a fan on Facebook of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

2009 Indie Book Awards Finalist
DWAA 2008 Merial Human-Animal Bond Award Finalist

Maddie and the Little Pit Bull

Yesterday I played ball with Maddie on the beach. She is so very athletic and agile! It's a thing of beauty to watch her leap into the air with glee to grab the ball, so comfortable and confident with her body. A young man walked by with a young pit bull on a leash. We began talking. The pup was 6 months old, precious, and dying to play with Maddie, barely able to contain herself on a leash at the site of Maddie running. He let her loose and off she went to chase Maddie. Her name was Samin, and she could really care less about the ball. Samin was in for the chase.

The man, Steven, was delighted that his dog followed Maddie into the water. He'd tried to get her to go in on his own prior to today, but Samin wasn't that into getting into the ocean. Well, nothing like an older dog to show her the ropes! Samin followed Maddie out into the ocean like she'd been doing it all of her life. So Steven was delighted. As I was, since it's nearly impossible not to smile from ear to ear watching this dog joy exploding before our eyes!

Then I saw it. The woman walking by with a look of horror on her face... I could almost hear her screaming inside, "Oh my God, that's a pit bull!!!!! Running loose!!!" She took a little step behind her significant other as she looked at us in dismay before hurrying away.

"How could you let a pit bull run loose???!!!" her face seemed to say.

I felt for the woman, for her fear. But I must admit I felt even more for the breed. For how misunderstood they are. How mistreated they are in the wrong hands. For the breed bans. The countless euthanasias. It's true, some may have aggressive genes bred into them, thanks to humans. But can't we judge each dog as an individual rather than stereotype and ban a breed from cities?

I wondered if this woman couldn't read the dog's happy and totally non-aggressive nonverbal language? Did her fear stop her from seeing that this dog was a sweetheart, both playful and loving?

Soon Samin was dragging, unable to keep up with Maddie, who was still going strong. Samin looked at Steven, panting and tail drooping a little.

"I'm whipped, Dad," his face seemed to say. "Maybe we better go now." Steven hooked the leash on to this very obedient girl, and off they went.

Thanks, Steven and Samin. You made my day more joyful for stopping to play. And thanks, Steven, for adopting Samin. One more pitbull rescued from a shelter...one more with a chance to LIVE!

Maybe I'll have to post in the future about the 2 pit bulls my husband and I fostered after Maggie (the dog in MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love) died. They sure shattered any stereotypes I may have had about pit bulls being vicious!

Photo: Maddie (front, profile) & buddie, Drake summer 2009 Wyoming camping trip

Posted By:

Dawn Kairns
Author of MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love

Website: www.dawnkairns.com

Blog: Dawn Kairns and Maggie the Dog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/themaggiebook

Become a fan on Facebook of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

2009 Indie Book Awards Finalist
DWAA 2008 Merial Human-Animal Bond Award Finalist

A Pet's Ten Commandments

My initial post of a pet's 10 Commandments came via email and touched me deeply, but did not credit anyone. I have since been informed that this is copyrighted material, so here is the correct version with credit to the author below. Can we pet lovers not all relate?

The 10 Commandments From a Pet's Point of View

* My life is likely to last 10-15 years, any separation from you will be painful for me. Remember that before you buy me.

* Give me time to understand what you want from me, don't be impatient, short-tempered, or irritable.

* Place your trust in me and I will always trust you back. Respect is earned not given as an inalieable right.

* Don't be angry with me for long and don't lock me up as punishment, I am not capable of understanding why? I only know I have been rejected, you have your work entertainment and friends I only have you.

* Talk to me sometimes, even if I don't understand your words I understand your voice and your tone, "you only have to look at my tail".

* Be aware that however you treat me I'll never forget it, and if it's cruel it may affect me forever.

* Please don't hit me I can't hit back, but I can bite and scratch and I really don't ever want to do that.

* Before you scold me for being uncooperative, obstinate, or lazy, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I'm not getting the right foods or I've been out in the sun too long, or my heart is getting old and weak, I may be just dog tired.

* Take care of me when I get old. You too will grow old and may also need love, care, comfort, and attention.

* Go with me on difficult journeys, never say, "I can't bear to watch" or "Let it happen in my absence". Everything is easier for me if you are there. Remember, irrespective of what you do I will always love you.

© Stan Rawlinson 1993
Dog Behaviourist and Obedience Trainer
www.doglistener.co.uk/humour/commandments.shtml
www.doglistener.co.uk
0208 979 2019

"I changed this slightly from my initial 1993 poem
this is the final draft version 1998"

Photo: Maggie and me (around age 8).

Posted By:

Dawn Kairns
Author of MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love

Website: www.dawnkairns.com

Blog: Dawn Kairns and Maggie the Dog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/themaggiebook

Become a fan on Facebook of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

2009 Indie Book Awards Finalist
DWAA 2008 Merial Human-Animal Bond Award Finalist

Wit's End ... a True Story

Normally I blog about animals, dogs in particular. But I have recently begun working as a Therapy Dog team with Maddie, our adopted black lab, in a juvenile center. For those of you who have read my book, MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love, you know that I, too, dealt with a troubled teen stepson who had an alcohol addiction. Author Sue Scheff offers advice for helping your troubled teen in her book, Wit's End, described below. It seems appropriate to share given my current therapy dog work with Maddie and high risk teens. Hopefully it can help those of you struggling with your own potential high risk teen before they end up in a juvenile center. Of course, sometimes we seem to be at our "wit's end" and nothing we do seems to help. Let a mom who has been there share her resources & her story with you:

Author: Sue Scheff

Available from
HCIBooks.com

Plain Talk and Straight Answers for Parents of Troubled Teens

Wit's End is the shockingly gripping story of how Sue Scheff, a parent of a formerly troubled teen, turned her mistakes—and her relationship with her daughter—around. This highly practical and prescriptive book calls upon Scheff's personal experiences with finding help for her daughter. It includes the same advice that Scheff offers parents through her internationally recognized organization Parents' Universal Resource Experts (P.U.R.E.)—an advocacy group that draws parents together and helps them find ways to protect their children from destructive influences by educating them about the issues their family faces and creating a safe environment to revive familial bonds.

Using the same criteria P.U.R.E. uses to research residential treatment centers and other teen-help programs around the world, Wit's End provides positive, prescriptive help for families who want to put their children on the road to a safe, healthy, happy, and independent adulthood.

Wit's End is a much-needed guide—written by a parent who has been there—that helps parents navigate the choices and methods available to them and their child. It serves as an action plan that empowers parents—and their children—toward healing.

Posted By:

Dawn Kairns
Author of MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love

Website: www.dawnkairns.com

Blog: Dawn Kairns and Maggie the Dog Twitter: www.twitter.com/themaggiebook

Become a fan on Facebook of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

2009 Indie Book Awards Finalist
DWAA 2008 Merial Human-Animal Bond Award Finalist