Tag: Pets

Rescue Us

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“I’d like people to start to look at animals as individuals,” she said. “If everyone did a bit more, if they fell in love a little bit more, so much could happen. It doesn’t have to be going vegan. You can advocate for them. You can show tenderness. You can play music for them. I really hope people can connect with animals the way most of us did as children.”

That’s the thing about animals we grow close to, Ms. Stewart added: “We talk about taking in ‘rescue animals.’ But the truth is, just as often, animals rescue us.”

~ Judith Newman, Tracey Stewart’s Animal Planet

Tracey Stewart is the editor-in-chief of the website Moomah, which provides parents and kids with fun, easy, and effective ways to contribute to varying kinds of nonprofits. A passionate animal advocate and expert (she’s a former veterinary technician), she lives on a farm in New Jersey with her husband, Jon Stewart; two kids; four dogs; two pigs; one hamster; three rabbits; two guinea pigs; one parrot; and two fish—all rescues except for the kids.

Don’t miss Judith Newman’s background story on Tracey Stewart: Tracey Stewart’s Animal Planet

Tracey Stewart’s book will be released on Amazon on October 20, 2015: Do Unto Animals

My dog most certainly is god spelled backward.

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My dog most certainly is god spelled backward.
He is sublimely present.
No fatigue.
He loves.
He licks.
He chases and wags.
Eats, shits, leaps like a dolphin for his Frisbee.
Sleeps and guards.
Snorts in his sleep and awake,
begs for orts of cheese, smackerels of beef crumb.
A belly rub, an ear massage.

~ Melissa Pritchard, Decomposing Articles of Faith. A Solemn Pleasure: To Imagine, Witness, And Write (The Art of the Essay)

Notes:

Rescue (85 sec)

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When South African filmmaker Dave Meinert took into his life a Great Dane puppy, whom he named Pegasus, he was told that the tiny canine might not live very long due to her difficult beginnings in a squalid backyard puppy mill. With this in mind, Meinert set about documenting Pegasus every day for six months as she walked or tried to walk on a treadmill. He then compiled the footage together and created an incredibly touching time-lapse film entitled “The Pegasus Project.” Meinert discussed the project in an interview with Fast Company.

“Rescuing her was a way for me to be sure she’d be looked after,” Meinert says. “For me, she had already been born—nothing was going to change that. By rescuing her, at least I could be certain that she wouldn’t be discarded.” Rather than dwell on the negatives about her life, he says, “I decided to make a record of the healthy days as a way to celebrate them.”

And also note that today (August 26th) is National Dog Day.

Source: Laughing Squid

It might solve all my problems, this shaking shimmy

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It is raining hard today. The dogs come in one by one, soaking wet. I dry them each with a towel, and they stand patiently until I stop. Then they give themselves violent shakes and water sprays all over and I find myself wishing I could do that, it might solve all my problems, this shaking shimmy for which there is no human equivalent.

~ Abigail Thomas, What Comes Next and How to Like It: A Memoir

Side Note: “…Animals can shake themselves almost 70 percent dry in just a second…Imagine if you could come out of the shower and, instead of using a towel, you could just press a button and in one-thirtieth of a second you’re 70 percent dry…Researchers posit that the shaking dry was an evolutionary response. We think this has been evolving over millions of years of time to become so good…A furry wet animal can carry about five percent of its body mass in its fur, while a wet ant can carry three times its body mass in water.” (Source: Globalpost.com)

Don’t miss:

And on the 9th day…

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My Brother Rich shared this video with me. It’s been viewed more than 2,300,000 times since it was posted. My hunch is all you dog lovers have seen this 2-minute clip at least once.  It was new to me.

Dogs. The deep baritone Paul Harvey-like voice with a rhythmic cadence. And you have another winner.

This clip is a take-off on the highly acclaimed Superbowl Ram Truck commercial on Farmers.  If you missed it, you need to check it out at this link: And the winner is…