If you haven't already purchased your box of Christmas cards, you might want to check out the new box of Christmas cards offered by PAWS/LA.

PAWS/LA is a non-profit organization located in Southern California that helps disabled persons care for their pets. Currently PAWS/LA assists almost 1,700 Los Angeles residents and their 2,500 plus pets. The agency provides food, veterinary care, in-home care, grooming needs and other essentials.

Well known lounge artist, John Angle, also known as "Shag", designed a Christmas card for PAWS/LA. "Shag has been a long time supporter of the agency, so this teaming just makes perfect sense," states Pamela Magette, Executive Director of PAWS/LA. "And what could be better than sending your friends their own piece of art for the holidays?"

A box of 10 cards sells for $20.00. Proceeds from the card sales will help PAWS/LA continue its mission. To purchase a box of cards, visit their website: http://www.pawsla.org/whatsnew.cfm

Rive Nestor, a well known San Francisco based artist will be hosting an art show depicting America's love affair with pets. The show will also include paintings of pets of well known personalities.

The "Pets and Their People" Art Show is located at 2223 Restaurant in San Francisco and is showing through December 31, 2004. Hours are 6:00pm and 10:00pm, Monday - Sunday.

The Pets and Their People Art Show is sponsored by ThePetStar.com which brings together 3 of the most loved past times: Pets, Art and the Internet in an online interactive quarterly contest with the goal of finding the world’s cutest pet! You can visit the site at to find out more about the contest and to view more of Rive Nestor’s pet portraits and gifts based on her portraits. The next contest will begin December, 3, 2004.

Urban Out Sitters, the only luxury doggie daycare and upscale pet hotel is hosting "PAWS 4 IT, SANTA!" on Saturday, December 11th and Sunday, December 12th from Noon till 4pm with owners Tommy Spinosa and Joseph Giannini. They welcome you and your pet(s) this holiday season to be photographed with Santa at Urban Out Sitters, located at 161 N. Halsted, (corner of Halsted and Couch Place; one block north of Randolph Street), in Chicago, Illinois.

Urban Out Sitters will create a spectacular North Pole wonderland, and extend the same experience for pets too. "My design for the holiday installation is to be unique for pets and complimentary with our stores surroundings," remarks Tommy Spinosa.

Bob Kessler, who is better known as the voice of News and Weather on WGN-AM Radio, will be taking photographs. Each digital snapshot is a single, 4x6, inkjet, photo paper printout, at the cost of only $5.00. Photos are printed on-site. Additional prints, as well as customized greeting cards will be available from Kessler's website at www.bobkesslerphoto.com or by email request to info@bobkesslerphoto.com

At the door, visitors will be asked for a $2.00 contribution for the "Jolly Paw Foundation." Proceeds will purchase treats to donate for shelter dogs and cats on Christmas Day.

For more information about "PAWS 4 IT, SANTA!" contact Urban Out Sitters by calling (312)651-7387 or visit their website at www.urbanoutsitters.com

The Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League (MAGDRL) has a Great Dane who desperately needs donations to afford veterinary care. Below is her story, courtesy of MAGDRL:

Sandy, a 1 year old Great Dane desperately needs your help and donations. Her rear legs are bent and deformed and she is already unable to hold her hind quarters upright. A very expensive surgery is needed for both of her rear knees. The North Carolina Chapter of the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League (MAGDRL) recently took Sandy into our care. Our Vet, Dr. Moss, advised us that without this surgery Sandy's ligaments will soon begin to tear and she will be unable to walk. The surgery (TPLO) involves cutting out the joints, re-positioning them to correct the angle and rotation, and then installing the hardware to hold it in place while it heals.

The estimate for this surgery is a total of $4400 for both knees. Dr. Moss recommends repairing one knee at a time with an estimated 8 weeks of confinement to allow healing on each knee. The joints are not positioned properly straight up and down, or side to side. He said the condition of Sandy's legs is most likely due to very poor nutrition rather than a genetic defect. Dr. Moss also found an old break in one of her legs that has never healed properly, and in his opinion if this surgery is not performed soon, it will not be long before she won't be able to walk at all.

Our sweet Sandy had a nightmarish life in the home of her original owners. She tried her best to fit in with the three large dogs that also lived in the backyard, but was repeatedly attacked by them. These attacks left Sandy with multiple bite wounds all over her body. Sandy was banished to a 4'x 4' kennel with a concrete pad. There was no place in the kennel for Sandy to lie down except in her own refuse, and when her owner decided to clean the kennel he "power washed" the kennel and poor Sandy at the same time.

In July of 2004 a very nice lady saw Sandy and remarked that she looked like she was in desperate need of vet care. Sandy was very skinny, covered in both old and new bite wounds, her hind legs were horribly deformed, and much of her hair was gone. The first miracle in Sandy's life happened ... the owners gave Sandy to the lady, who immediately took her to the vet and began the process of helping Sandy regain her health and trust in people.

Sandy's kind rescuer did all she was able to do financially considering she is disabled with very little income, and by October found herself no longer able to afford the ongoing medical care Sandy needed. Being of unaware of any other alternatives she took Sandy to the local shelter hoping they would know of someone that may be able to help. The shelter then called our local Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League (MAGDRL) representative. MAGDRL gladly took Sandy into our rescue program with a commitment to help her through her medical crisis.

Due to the urgent need for the surgeries and the lengthy recovery period, Sandy is going to be with us at MAGDRL for a long time. We'll love and cherish her while we're helping her to heal, but we desperately need your help to provide Sandy with a second miracle ... the miracle of health and a sound body.

You can help Sandy by donating online through MAGDRL's website: http://www.magdrl.org/rescuesinneed.htm

Please help MSGDRL start working on the second miracle for sweet Sandy today!

A new dating website for dog owners launched recently. Puppy Love Match is the "pet" project of Andrea Fassler, a professional dog walker and trainer. The idea for this website was a natural for Ms. Fassler, who knows what a magnet dogs are for conversation among strangers. "I live it in New York City every day – people of all ages stop to admire the dogs I walk. They ask questions and share information as if we were old friends. It is amazing how shyness suddenly drops away."

Puppy Love Match also publishes a wealth of information on dog health, grooming, training and more. It even has its own resident veterinarian, Andrew Jones, DVM, a homeopathic Vet from BC Canada and author of "Veterinary Secrets Revealed" who will answer member questions on a weekly basis.

As part of its launch, Puppy Love Match is offering free memberships between now and December 15th, after which, a portion of the membership sales will be donated to the ASPCA, Guiding Eyes, and a rotating animal shelter suggested by members.

Some people are able to easily communicate telepathically with animals, while most of us are not even able to understand what an animal might be trying to tell us. Today we published an article entitled, "Telepathic Communication With Animals", by Nedda Wittels, a professional animal communicator, that explains what telepathic animal communication is about.

If you're interested in learning more about animal telepathy, this is a great article to get you started.

Ealier this month we published a story about Vinny the Rock Climbing Pug, a pug who likes to climb mountains and scale boulders. Vinny and his human friend Allen Kimble have established "Vinny the Pug Enterprises" (VTPE) a leader in new and innovative fundraising strategies for Pet Rescue & Adoptions.

VTPE has selected "Synergy Promotions" of Tempe, AZ and "Branders" to produce an exclusive line of "Vinny the Pug" themed consumer goods. The most popular items will bear Vinny's images and be sold through an international network of 100 distributors. Twenty percent of the new distributorships are reserved for companies outside the U.S. Each VTPE distributor is guaranteed a protected territory for a period of 24 months before other distributors are allowed to sell without restrictions.

If your business is interested in distributing "Vinny The Pug" products email him at Sellvinnythepug@yahoo.com or vinnythepug@yahoo.com. Please type "Distributor Inquiry" in the subject field. Enrollment is now open but only through April 1st or until Vinny's quota of one hundred is filled.

Visit Vinny's website at: http://vinnythepug.photosite.com

Is your dog's electrical system out of balance? Some drops of flower essence might be cure. That's the basis of a new website called, "Flower Essences for Animals".

Nancy Boyd, a Certified Flower Essence Therapist, works with the website to create customized flower essence blends for both people and animals. "When something is out of balance in the electrical system, this is the point at which illness or psychological problems originate," says Nancy. "The good news is that there is a fast, easy way to reconnect the circuits." Flower essences are one of the only known ways to reconnect the human or animal electrical circuits.

The website sells a full line of flower essence blends designed to help animals with specific problems. Here is a sample of some of the blends:

• Abandonment and Abuse - For animals who have been rescued from abuse and abandonment but who still bear emotional scars from their experiences, for related behavioral issues including terror of being handled, loner behavior and other socialization issues, depression, odd phobias, cringing and hiding.
• Caretaker - Empathy and unconditional love in care-taking relationships, increased intuitive communication, joy and enthusiasm in selfless service, for animal and human caretakers.
• Outburst - For aggression, outbursts of violent behavior often unexpected or out of character, any unproductive release of pent up emotions through destructive physical activity.

You can also set up an appointment with Nancy to get help specific to your pet.

We published another article in our doggie article library, click here to read "How to Avoid Chihuahua Mixes".

Bill Knell, who writes frequently on the topic of chihuahuas made an interesting point in this article that some breeders will mix a chihuahua with a miniature pinscher because it tends to produce more puppies, and thus, more sales at cheaper prices.

This reminded me of a dog I saw at the Orange County Animal Shelter one time, she was a chihuahua mix, and she appeared to be mixed with miniature pinscher because she had some pinscher characteristics. She was pretty though, with big beautiful eyes, and quite frightened to be stuck in a shelter with big shepherds, pit bulls, and labradors.

There are so many Christmas and Thanksgiving safety tips for pets offered by various organizations, that sometimes I don't bother publishing them all. But some tips offered Veterinary Pet Insurance included some that I hadn't seen before, such as snow globes containing antifreeze, or artificial snow causing allergic reaction.

So, I decided to publish them. Visit "Holiday Safety Tips for Pets" to read all the tips offered by Veterinary Pet Insurance.

Do you allow your pets to poop in the backyard? If so, chances are that you have lots of poop back there. Most Americans don't bother picking up the dog and cat poop laying around, unless they happen to use their backyard frequently for leisure purposes.

While festering poop will eventually degrade and provide nutrients for plants, it can also pose a hazard. Hookworms and Roundworms pass their eggs through animal feces. When a fly lands on a pile of poop, it will pick up tiny particles of poop, including an egg, and pass it to your food, if happens to land on it.

Pet poop also harbors lots of bacteria, and that could pose a problem if you have kids. Even if your kids don't play in the backyard, the truth is that they will eventually get into the backyard, because that's just the nature of kids.

If picking up after your pets becomes too much work, then consider hiring a professional pooper scooper. These are folks who making a living picking up pet poop on your property. They charge fees based on how many pets you have and how often you want them to come out. Fees can vary from $20.00 a month to $75.00 a month.

The Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists (aPaws) is a national trade organization of professional pooper scoopers. You can go to their website to find a list of pooper scoopers in your state.

Lavender Meadows, a company that produces products containing Lavender, claims that their pet collar sachets, which are also filled with lavendar, have been successful in relieving stress on cats and dogs. In addition, they repel fleas and evoke a refreshing aroma.



The sachets slip over the collar and attach with Velcro flaps on the back.

Lavendar Meadows has agreed to donate $1.00 to the Petaluma Animal Shelter for every sale of a pet collar sachet.

DoggieNews.com is a weblog publishing news about dogs, the pet industry, new products, and other quirky canine stuff.

Our target audience consists of folks who own dogs, and who seek information to help them make purchasing decisions, health and entertainment choices, and to keep abreast of legislative and regulatory changes that might affect their dog ownership.

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Please share your dog and pet related news concerning your company or organization. To do so, please write up a news article, and submit it to us at the email address below. We will consider it for publication on this website.

More than 90,000 people read our pages in October 2007.

About Steve

I'm just the owner of two dogs, Mia and Max. I'm not a pet expert, not a veterinarian, not even a breeder. I write from the standpoint of being a dog owner, supporting the rights of dog owners, and celebrating the dogs we love.

My specific skills lie in business analysis, having managed Research & Development departments for various software companies in the field of healthcare finance. I've been able to use my analytical skills towards understanding the field of Internet marketing and publishing. In 1997 I started publishing websites for profit as a side business. In 2003 I went full time. In 2005 I incorporated my business into Clear Digital Media, Inc.

I was born in Honolulu, HI, but have lived all over Southern California since I was five. I went to Santa Ana Valley High School, and majored in music at Santa Ana College. I'm married, no kids. When I'm not staring into a computer, I'm usually riding motorcycles with my buddies.

My Dogs

Mia Purebred - a beagle we adopted from Beagles & Buddies animal rescue in El Monte, CA. Not sure how old she is. Probably the smartest dog I've ever known. Very independent minded, strong willed, and very sociable. A true chow-hound from the beagle tradition. If she were human, she'd be Bette Midler.

Max the Impaler - a mutt of unknown origins. Seems to have a chihuahua head, a rat terrier coloration, barks like a high-pitched beagle, and runs like a greyhound. Very shy. Adopted him from Buena Vista Pet Clinic, Hemet, CA, via Animal Pals Together, another rescue. Born March 2002. If he were human, he'd be Forrest Gump.

Contact Info

Click here for contact info.

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If you plan to do some travelling by road or air this holiday season, and will be taking your pet with you, we've published some tips for you to consider.

Read the article at, "Holiday Travel Tips with a Furry Friend"

James D. Kelly is the owner of Travelin' Pets, a web site specializing in providing information and quality products for traveling pets and their owners. Thanks to James for sharing these valuable tips with us.

The Helen Woodward Animal Center has kicked off their 6th Annual "Home 4 the Holidays" Animal Adoption Drive. The adoption drive works with more than 1,700 animal shelters all across the country to heighten awareness of homeless pets.

Actress and animal lover Diane Keaton, and the Iams Company, are getting involved for this year's drive, which runs from November 8 to January 2.

"When I first got involved in Home 4 the Holidays in 2001, we had a simple and sincere focus - to save the lives of dogs and cats," says campaign spokeswoman Keaton. "It's remarkable and rewarding to realize this is now the most successful pet adoption drive in history, but our focus remains the same and there is plenty of work remaining."

During this year's Home 4 the Holidays adoption drive, The Iams Company will give a total of $100,000 in grants to 20 participating adoption centers. Each new adopting family will receive an Iams starter kit containing food samples, coupons and important tips on pet care, behavior, training and nutrition, along with the Have a Heart Pledge and sweepstakes offer for a lifetime supply of Iams Dog or Cat food. Also, Veterinary Pet Insurance Company/DVM Insurance Agency (VPI) will offer a five percent discount on insurance policies for any pet adopted at a participating shelter.

Helen Woodward Animal Center started the Home 4 the Holidays adoption drive back in 1999 with 14 animal shelters in San Diego County.

For more information, visit Home 4 the Holidays website.

The Dockers(R) brand of clothing is conducting a nationwide search for the "wrinkliest dog in America" as part of its efforts to market their new "Never-Iron Cotton Khaki" pants.

Dockers(R) has selected the Shar-Pei to serve as the spokes-dog for their new line of clothing. "Dogs, after all, are man's best friend and the Shar-Pei is the perfect icon to promote our newest innovative khaki this holiday shopping season," said Bill Stewart, vice president, Dockers(R) brand marketing. "These unique wrinkle dogs lend the ideal juxtaposition as the authority on wrinkles 'speaking' to the importance of keeping them in their proper place -- on the dogs, not khakis," said Stewart.

The product launch kicked off with a live Shar-Pei casting-call in New York City on Nov. 21, as well as a nationwide call for mail-in submissions. The general public will play the role as final judge by voting for the winning mascot online at http://www.Dockers.com/NeverIron from Dec. 1-14. For every vote cast, Dockers(R) will donate $1 to the Shar-Pei Rescue League and the New York-based American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), for a maximum total donation of $10,000. The winning Shar-Pei mascot will be officially announced and featured on the website Dec. 15.

For all inquiries, contact Steve Johnson at..

Clear Digital Media, Inc.
P.O. Box 3622
Quail Valley, CA 92587

(949) 233-5559

steve@cleardigitalmedia.com

Richard Mudrinich, who goes by the name "Rescue Rick the Grass Cut Man" is making news again seeking to adopt a three legged dog. The dog, whom Rick plans to name "Tripod the Dog", plans to use the animal as his companion as he raises awareness of lawnmower accidents. Rick is the founder of the Society of Lawn Mower Amputees, an organization that educates the public on lawnmower safety.

Rick is asking folks all across America to help him locate a three legged dog that lost its leg in a lawnmower accident.

"We will work together to create awareness regarding the frequency and severity of lawn mower accidents and to promote preventive measures to rescue individuals from lawn mower accidents," says Rick. "With the addition of Tripod, I want to illustrate that lawn mower accidents impact animals as well. The doggy amputee offers a great vehicle to introduce children and adults alike to the amputee community. Furthermore, through a pet adoption, I get to save the life of a pooch that might otherwise be terminated. Tripod will be a great dog sending a very important message about amputees and safety."

If you know of a three legged dog, that lost a leg in a lawnmower accident, contact Rick below:

Richard T. Mudrinich
Rescue Rick the Grass Cut Man
2122 South Hermitage Road
Hermitage, Pennsylvania 16148
United States of America
(724) 347-4078
http://www.freewebs.com/rescuerick/

The Home Shopping Network recently conducted a nationwide survey of its shoppers on their holiday buying plans. More than 1,000 random customers in October 2004 were surveyed to indicate their attitudes towards shopping for the upcoming holidays.

Among the many questions asked were those related to buying gifts for pets.

65% of respondents said they are likely to purchase gifts for their pets this year. When asked how much they are likely to spend, 36.5% would spend $10 or less; 18.6% would spend between $10 to $25; with 7.7% spending more than $25.

With Thanksgiving coming up, and plans to roast a turkey along with all the trimmings for family and friends, your dog will probably go nuts smelling all the scents of food and spices.

Pet care expert, magazine columnist, radio and television pet care personality, Charlotte Reed offers Thanksgiving pet care tips that will ensure a happy holiday for you and your pet.

DoggieNews has published these tips here, visit "Thanksgiving Safety Tips for Your Dog".

By the way, are you looking for a Thanksgiving Turkey recipe, check out, "How to Roast a Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey".

Bonasa Press, a publisher of innovative books about wingshooting, sporting dogs, fine guns, fly-fishing and other topics in the outdoor and natural history genres, announces publication of an upcoming book, "A Gentleman's Shooting Dog: The Evolution of the Legendary Ryman Setter", by John D. Taylor.

A Gentleman's Shooting Dog: The Evolution of the Legendary Ryman Setter explores two topics in parallel: One is a quest to find dogs that manifest a vision of quintessential excellence-exceptional natural athletes, beautiful in form; with fine noses, wonderful temperaments, a high level of emotional intelligence-dogs capable of fulfilling a gunner's desire for the true shooting companion, the synthesis of nose, legs, heart and brain.

The publisher's press release quotes:

A Gentleman's Shooting Dog: The Evolution of the Legendary Ryman Setter explores two topics in parallel: One is a quest to find dogs that manifest a vision of quintessential excellence-exceptional natural athletes, beautiful in form; with fine noses, wonderful temperaments, a high level of emotional intelligence-dogs capable of fulfilling a gunner's desire for the true shooting companion, the synthesis of nose, legs, heart and brain.

This quest led the author, two decades ago, to one of oldest and finest lines of English setters in North America-the legendary Ryman English setter, the expression of English setter excellence across a century of gunning. The book looks at how four primary individuals-George Ryman, Ellen Ryman-Calkins, Carl Calkins, and today, Ken Alexander through DeCoverly Kennels-have stewarded this exceptional line of English setters through a century of evolution. It shares their compelling love of and belief in these dogs, of bringing the Ryman line through hard times and good, creating a dog that is an icon in today's English setter world-especially when put into perspective against the current state of gun dogs in North America. In continuing the Ryman line across a century, DeCoverly is unique.

We at DoggieNews.com decided to adopt a blog format, which will automate some of the manual processes that we've been having to do. This will also provide our readers with some interaction, as they will be able to post comments on each blog item.

We will still have our library of articles, but this library will be used for educational articles, as opposed to news oriented items.

So, all news items will be published through the blog, while educational pieces will be published as before, through the article library.

This means changes to our RSS feed. Blogger, the software that we are using to manage the blog, uses Atom feeds instead of RSS feeds. For the short term, will be maintain both the existing RSS feed and the new Atom feed. We urge all persons subscribed to the RSS feed to please switch over to the Atom feed.