A Harrowing Day!

We almost lost one of our doggies today. We have a 19-month old GSD/Husky mix, and an 8-month old GSD/Husky/Golden Retriever mix. Both girls are spayed, obviously, and their energy levels know NO bounds. They are constantly playing and wrestling, and play-fighting, complete with barking and Husky-howling. We generally keep an eye on them, and break them up if it gets too intense (ie, when one of them yips or screeches in pain).

Today, I was down in the basement hanging up laundry on the clothesline, my kids were in the basement playroom and my husband was upstairs in the family room watching TV. All of the windows were open since the weather is sunny and breezy and 70*.

I heard my husband yelling, "HEY! HEY! HEY!" in a panicked voice, and then I heard the sliding glass door to the backyard slam open, and my husband kept yelling. We all ran up out of the basement, and my husband screamed for me to come help him. Apparently, the girls were doing their usual Wild Husky Freakout wrestling match, and LittleGirl got her bottom jaw stuck in BigGirl's collar. She couldn't get unstuck, so she was choking BigGirl, and both girls panicked. Natural instinct kicked in, and they were fighting like wild wolves.

My husband and I got BigGirl's collar off, and got the girls into the house. I was crying. We cleaned the blood off their faces, inspected the wounds, and we all sat on the kitchen floor for about half an hour to calm down and regroup. It was another two hours before the girls stopped being scared of each other. I had to take them up to my bed and we all cuddled - BigGirl at the foot of the bed, LittleGirl on the pillows, and me in between.

The only good thing that came out of this was all the hugs. BigGirl does NOT like HuskyHugs, but LittleGirl is a cuddle-bug. While we were up resting on my bed, BigGirl got right up in my arms, and let me hug her the WHOLE time. After we got up, she barked play-barks at LittleGirl, and they slowly began to get re-acquainted. It was like the first day they met - they were very tentative, and LittleGirl kept bowing to BigGirl. I cried again.

Both dogs are well now, and are back to being best friends and playing like normal, but Mommy is STILL freaked out. I'm just SO thankful that my husband is between jobs right now (he's on terminal leave from the military, awaiting retirement in December), and was home to hear the fracas and save both girls' lives.

I will be out of town for work this weekend, but I am working on both girls' adoption stories, and hope to post them here soon. :)

My Entry for the Pedigree Dog Food's "Write a Post, Help a Dog" promotion!

I'm back, and what better way to return to the blogging scene, than with a post to help pets? :) I have been very involved in rescuing pets over the last year or so. I am a volunteer at two local Humane Societies, I work with three local dog rescues, and I run transports for these rescues to help get dogs to their furever homes. All this has led to me abandoning blogging for the time being. However, when I heard that Pedigree is donating a TWENTY POUND BAG of their new Healthy Longevity dog food to an animal shelter for every blogger who blogs about the Pedigree foundation's adoption programs, I knew I had to come back from my hiatus and blog about it!

All of my pets have been rescues, and I've had a lot of pets over my 33 years. Currently, I have two rescued German Shepherd/Husky mixes lounging at my feet chewing on Pedigree treats while I tell you about their friends that are still in need of homes. Estimates are that FOUR to EIGHT MILLION pets wind up in shelters every year, and over HALF of that number NEVER make it out to a loving furever home. Pedigree has set up a Foundation to try to solve this problem.

You may have seen Pedigree's commercials about shelter pets, with the tagline “Don't pity a shelter dog, adopt one.” Pedigree is heavily involved in spreading the word about animals in shelters who need forever homes. They are more than talk, though. They donate food and other resources to shelters and rescues, and they assist people with finding and adopting the perfect shelter pet!

The Pedigree Foundation has created a website with resources for adopting a shelter dog. Included in the website's information are links to area shelters, articles on responsible dog ownership, and information about how to get a free month of dog food for newly adopted shelter dogs. You can click here to see the site.

If you are on Facebook, you can also help Pedigree help pets. Just click "Like" on Pedigree's Fan Page, and they will donate one bowl of food to a shelter. So far, over 1 MILLION Facebook users have done this - that's over 1 MILLION bowls of good, nutritious Pedigree food going to homeless, hungry fur babies.

Many people turn a blind eye to the plight of shelter animals. The stories and statistics are very painful, and with the current economy, many people don't have time or funds to help animals in shelters. But with a few clicks and a little effort, EVERYONE can help shelter animals from the comfort of their home. So click on over to Pedigree's website or their Facebook page, and do a little bit to help a homeless dog! And make sure to say a huge "thank you!" to Pedigree for all that they do to help rescue homeless dogs!

And don't forget to check out ALL of the entries in this promotion at "I Love Rescue Animals!"

Don't Breed or Buy, While Shelter Pets Die!