Lily's Newest Game

Hi everyone! I wanted to tell you about the newest game I came up with to keep my Mama busy!
Usually she sits on the couch and I tell her to throw my little tennis ball for me. 
But this time, I turned it around! I stood up on Mama's bed and threw my tennis ball to her, and let her scamper around and retrieve it for me!
Mama laughed and laughed, so I guess she likes that game.

PS... This is Mama's last week of school for the semester... so we should be back in the blogosphere very soon! 

Happy Easter!!!

Celebrating Richie's Life

Hi everyone! The other day we wrote that our friend Richie crossed the Rainbow Bridge. A lot of the bloggy pets all over the Internet were broken-hearted about it! Some of them have planned a big surprise party in celebration of Richie's life. The party will be Saturday, over on Richie's blog. And you're invited! We'll be there, and we hope to see you too!

Goodbye Richie

Hi everyone. You probably heard the news before us but we just found out that Richie has gone to the Rainbow Bridge. His Momster was holding him as he made the trip, and he went from her arms, straight to the outstretched paws of his sister Molly who was there waiting for him. Even though we know Richie is in a wonderful place now, we are still sad to know how much he will be missed here on Earth. We hope if you knew Richie (or even if you didn't) you could go read his final blog post.


We have to go now... Mama is kinda upset... we have to finish licking her tears away.


Bye Richie! Thanks for being our friend!


Love,
Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe

Look Who's Famous!

Hi everyone! Lily told you that she and Mama got their pictures taken for the newspaper the other day when they went to the doggie Easter egg hunt! Well, guess what... it was printed! There was no story or article with it, and we couldn't find it on the newspaper website, so we can't show you a link. But we did take a picture of the picture, so we could show it to you! Mama says she looks like a scarecrow in this picture. What do you think?

Lily and Mama also appeared on a news website, Patch.com. This is the picture that was on the site.

You can see more pictures of the Easter egg hunt here! That cute pug who appears first was called Lucy, and she and Lily became friends!


We wanted to say sorry we haven't visited blogs for a while... Mama is finishing the semester of school and she got a temporary job subbing in special education schools, so she hasn't had much time to help us. But we think about all of you every day, and Mama does read us your comments! We will try to make the rounds tomorrow if she'll let us!


See ya soon!

Smarty Sunday: There Goes Our Hero!

Hi everyone! It's me, Sammy-Joe, here with another Smarty Sunday! Last week I shared kind of a sad news story about a police officer who pepper-sprayed a baby squirrel. So today, I thought I'd share a happier story involving humans and animals! This happened in our hometown city, Chicago!

Two dogs... a pitbull and a Boston terrier mix puppy, were at home yesterday, when their apartment building caught on fire! The dogs were on the enclos

ed back porch, but they couldn't escape the building. It seemed like they were doomed!

Then, a firefighter named Tammy Rodriguez found them! Both were in b

ad condition. The Boston Terrier was injured, and the pitbull was in cardiac arrest.

Rodriguez, who has three dogs of her own, got right to work at saving the dogs' lives. First, she pulled them both out of the building, getting them to safety. Then, as other firefighters worked on putting out the fire, Rodriguez put specially-fitted pet oxygen masks on the dogs.

The pitbull was unconscious and seemed to be lifeless. But the firefighter thought to herself, "Oh my God, I can't just let this dog die!" So she did CPR on the dog. Finally the pitbull started breathing again, opened his eyes, and actually stood up! He wagged his tail and licked Rodriguez's face!

The pitbull is now fine, and is back with his owner. The injured puppy is still being monitored at an animal hospital.

I'm so happy these two doggies were rescued! Our Mama says she always worries that this could happen to us someday when no humans are home, and she s

ure hopes someone would rescue us! One thing humans can do is order this free decal from the ASPCA. Its a window cling, not a sticker, so you can take it with you if you move. It says, "In case of emergency... ANIMALS INSIDE!" Humans, you can check off how many dogs, cats, and other animals you have, and put down your emergency phone number, so rescuers know how many pets to look for and how to reach you. It might help to get two of these, so you can have one on your front door and one on your back door! You could also use this free, customizable decal. This one allows you to put your pet's picture, name and nickname, and favorite hiding place. If you have more than one animal, though, you might have to order one for each pet! If you want to pay a little bit of money, you can also find lots of different decals on Amazon and other sites.

One more thing... Tammy Rodriguez used specially fitted oxygen masks to save these dogs! Human oxygen masks don't fit animals as well and therefore don't work a

s well. It would be like putting an adult oxygen mask on a newborn baby. Find out if your town's fire department has pet oxygen masks. Ideally. they should own small, medium and large pet masks, for large dogs, medium and small dogs and cats, and small animals like rabbits. If they don't, you can put them in touch with Wag'n Pet Safety Gear. The department can buy a kit, or even get financial aid to get a kit donated. Or, people

can donate kits to their local fire departments and police departments for $65.00 each.

Tammy Rodriguez, you're our hero! Thanks for knowing how

important pets are, and taking the time to save these two!

(Tammy Rodriguez with the pitbull she saved.)

Look Who Caught Me!

Hi everyone! Do you like bunnies? I do! Me and Trixie like to try and chase them when we see them outside. But today, guess what happened? Mama took me to a doggie Easter egg hunt, and while we were there we saw a GIANT bunny! And Mama just handed me right over to him! Can you believe that? Then she let someone take a picture of me in captivity! 
Luckily the giant bunny did not eat me. He just handed me back to Mama. She kept the picture as a souvenir! Want to see? 

The Easter egg hunt was actually kind of cool. There were tons of little plastic eggs everywhere, with treats inside them! Mama said all I had to do was touch the eggs with my nose, and I could keep them! I didn't take a whole lot though. I was too busy trying to sniff all of the other dogs! 
Silly Mama didn't take any pictures because she was too busy trying to hold my leash in one hand and my easter egg bag in the other. But, can you believe this? My picture got taken for two different newspapers! Mama says she's not sure if I'll actually be in the newspaper, because they take a whole lot of pictures and then pick the best one for the paper. But if I do get into the paper, I'll show you the links!
Something else very cool happened there. We won a raffle! Mama picked a free professional grooming as our prize. Not what I would have picked... but the other prize choice was three days of doggie day care, and I'm not sure I would enjoy that either. So I guess I can deal with the grooming!
Trixie didn't get to go. Mama said it would be too hard to try to take both of us by herself, and Gramma and Grampa didn't want to go. So Mama said next Easter it will be Trixie's turn! Trixie said she didn't mind, as long as I shared some of the treats I found with her.
Have any of you ever been on a doggie Easter egg hunt? You should try it!
Okay, thats all for now! See ya later!

Blog The Change For Animals!

Hi everyone! Its April 15 and time for our very second Blog The Change! Last time we wrote all about how Trixie was rescued by Almost Home Foundation. Today we wanted to introduce a new way that we found to help support homeless pets!


Social Vibe is a site that allows you to complete simple online tasks, like watching short videos, in exchange for donations to a cause. In other words, when you do the tasks, the companies donate money. You get to choose the organization that your money gets donated to. Of course, we chose "animals," which means that our activities get donated to pet shelters.


Every day, we check Social Vibe to see if there is a new activity for us to complete. When we do activities, we get points. Each 100 points equals 4 teaspoons of food for a pet in a shelter. (It doesn't sound like much, but considering you get 100 points per activity, plus 100 points every time one of the people you invite to do the activity does it too... it adds up!)


So, we'd like to invite you to join us in making a difference for pets. Whenever you visit our blog, check the SocialVibe widget in the sidebar. Click it, and do the quick activity. (So far for us the activities have been simple polls, like answering four multiple choice questions about your daily physical activities.) The widget will even keep track of how many teaspoonfuls of food have been donated by readers of this particular blog... so together, we can see what a difference we're all making!


If you like the idea enough to sign up with your own account, click here:






TrixieLilySammy invites you to SocialVibe.com    \We hope to see you there!In the mean time, enjoy Blog The Change today, and don't forget to visit some other sites that are blogging the change too! 

Sammy-Joe In Pieces

Hi everyone, its me, Sammy-Joe! You may have seen that my doggie sisters did a Wordless Wednesday on "pieces." Well, I want you to know that Mama loves my pieces too! It was harder for her to take pictures of my pieces because I kept moving. She really wanted to show you the cute white spot on my chest... and she says one cool thing is that Lily, Trixie and I all have that white spot on us! We also each have a few white toes. Its one of the things that makes Mama sure that we belong together. Anyway, here are some pieces I did let Mama take pictures of! I hope you like them!

My gorgeous whiskers

My adorable pointy ear

My fascinating green eyes

My tiny, heart-shaped nose

My sweet paws

THE END! (Get it?) 

Smarty Sunday: This Just Doesn't Seem Smart!

Hi, everyone! Its time for Smarty Sunday again! This time I wanted to share a news story about something that happened that just doesn't seem so smart.

Who here likes squirrels? I don't particularly care for them. My species has been known to kill them and eat them. I have never tried that, myself... but they are fun to chase! However, I still can't understand what happened outside a middle school in Mesquite, Texas.

A baby squirrel, about the size of a hamster , was running around outside of a school and even chasing students. School staff members asked their police-officer-in-residence, Officer Davis, for help. When the baby squirrel ran towards the officer, the officer doused the squirrel with pepper spray. The children, who were watching, protested and begged the officer to stop, but he ignored them. One of the kids was recording the whole thing on his cell phone, and he later uploaded it to Youtube for all to see. Some kids showed the video to their parents, who went to a local TV station. Not only were the parents horrified to see that their children had watched a police officer pepper spray a baby squirrel, but the children also reported that, before getting the officer to intervene, the principal had kicked the squirrel!

Neither the principal nor the officer believe they did anything wrong. They say the squirrel was behaving "erratically" and might have been dangerous to students.

So... yeah.

You can read the story and see the video here, if you want.

You'll be glad to know that the baby squirrel was okay. The Animal Control people showed up, cleaned the pepper spray off of the little squirrel, and turned him loose into the wild.

Now, in case this ever happens to you, I did a little research to find out what would be the correct thing to do when attacked by a ferocious baby squirrel.

1. Walk away from the squirrel. Go inside or something.

2. If the squirrel continues to act strangely and doesn't leave, call Animal Control! They can humanely trap the squirrel and take care of it. If the squirrel is sick, or if it is a baby orphaned squirrel, it can sometimes be cared for at a wildlife rehabilitation center. (Rabid squirrels are really rare in the USA and almost unheard of.) If the squirrel is not sick, the Animal Control people will release it in a safe place.

3. Do not kick the squirrel, spray it with pepper spray, or otherwise endanger it.

What do you think, friends?

Anonymous Little Dog Seeks Advice!

>
Hi, friends! Its me, Lily! I wanted to write to you to ask some advice on behalf of... uh... this little dog I know. This dog... she wishes to remain anonymous, so I'll call her Tilly... has been having potty accidents in the house! She's almost two years old, so its not like she's a baby. And she is, supposedly, house trained. She knows, when her Mama takes her outside, she should go potty, and she always does so right away like a good little dog. Then she gets all proud of herself and prances around in circles! In fact, most of the time she remembers to hold it until her Mama takes her outside.
But sometimes I... I mean, Tilly... forgets! Sometimes Tilly has to go potty, and she just goes right there in the house, pee and/or poop! 
Tilly lives with another doggie, but her Mama knows that she's the culprit, because the poops are teeny-tiny, like her. 
Tilly also doesn't know how to ask to go potty. Tilly's Mama says her other dogs used to bark at the door when they had to go, and so they never had potty accidents. But Tilly and her sister just can't figure that out! So if Tilly has to go, and its not during one of the usually scheduled times that her Mama takes her, sometimes she just lets it all out! 
Tilly doesn't want to go potty in the house. She knows it makes her Mama mad. But, more importantly, it makes her Gramma and Grampa mad! (Yes, Tilly also has a Gramma and Grampa who she lives with. Its a weird coincidence, isn't it?) Mama... I mean, Tilly's Mama... can forgive her little doggie no matter what. But Gramma? Not so much. She gets super mad, and then she even yells at Tilly's Mama! 
So, Tilly wanted me to ask my friends for advice. Does anyone have any tips on how to potty-accident-proof a two-year-old doggie? Please let me know, so I can tell her! 
Thanks, friends!
Also, don't forget, if you're a new bloggy pet, and you or your parents have their own business, you can join our Pet Blogger Business Directory! 

Our Favorite Neighbor!

Wordless Wednesday: Us In Pieces

Smarty Sunday: Cats Who Browse In Libraries!

Hi everyone! Its me, Sammy-Joe, back with another Smarty Sunday! 
First an announcement... if you are a pet blogger who has your own business, check out the directory of businesses run by pet bloggers that we are building! If you want to be included, please email us!
And now back to Smarty Sunday. 


This time I have a cool book recommendation for you about a cat. (Yes, I know, my last Smarty Sunday post was about cats also. But I am the Smarty Sunday guy, so I get to decide what to write about... and since I am a cat, I want to write about cats!)


Have you ever heard of a cat who lived in a library? If not, then you've probably never heard of Dewey The Library Cat! In his book, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, Dewey's mother, Vicki Myron, writes about how he came to live in the library. It all started when he was a tiny kitten. On a freezing cold night, someone stuck him in the book depository. Maybe someone found him and was trying to help him, not understanding that it was actually colder in the book depository than it was outdoors because of the metal. Or maybe this was someone's unfortunate way of getting rid of an unwanted pet. Either way, it turned out well for Dewey, when he was found by Vicki, the library director. Vicki and other staff members nursed him back to health, and the kitten's new home became the library! 
The book tells about how Dewey roamed the shelves of the library, using them as his own personal never-ending cat tree. He spent special time with library visitors, especially children, and formed a special bond with a child with severe special needs. In a lot of ways, he made the library the most popular place in town, and even brought the whole community together! 
If you love cats (and you better love cats!) you'll love this book.
Dewey's book reminded me of another library cat that some of you may actually know. Have you ever heard of Tober, the Thorntown Library Cat? He's not only a Library cat, but he's a bloggy pet too! Like Dewey, Tober was a rescued cat... although he didn't get tossed through the book depository. He was rescued on purpose by staff members at the library. Before that, he was a stray who lived outdoors.
They even look a little alike, don't they?

TOBER

DEWEY

After Mama and I found out that it was possible for cats to live in the library, we wondered why our library doesn't have a cat in it! In fact, we found on the Internet a map with a list of library cats all around the world. The list is pretty old, and some of the library cats have either passed away :( or been brought to live in the private homes of library staff members. These days people are scared about being sued, and you never know... some little kid might sneeze, and their parents could sue the library for making it unaccessible to their child with cat allergies! (In Dewey's book, the librarian explains that an allergist showed them how to tackle this issue.) 
Anyways. I'm getting a little too long-winded about this. I just love the idea of libraries... and how about other places in the community... adopting pets! There are so many unwanted pets out there, and letting them be adopted by places like libraries can give great homes to some of them!
To make a long story a little shorter, make sure you check out Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, by Vicki Myron. 
Thats it for now! I hope you feel smarter!

New Page On Our Blog

Hi everyone! First of all we want to say sorry for our April Fools joke! We were so touched that some of you really did want to adopt Lily's hypothetical puppies! In fact, we are kind of sad that we don't have any real puppies to offer you! You want we should try to find Lily a boyfriend? ;)


But for real, if Lily's puppies did bring out the puppy-lust in anyone, remember that there really are tons of puppies (and sweet "adult" dogs) in the shelters right now waiting for you! Lily's surprise puppies were a prank, but Lily's mama's surprise puppies were very real! (Obviously since Lily was one of them!) If you want one that looks a lot like little Lily, search for a chihuahua-maltese or chihuahua-poodle mix! 


Okay... now we have something cool to show you. 


Back when Mama used to take care of children and she was a "mommy blogger," she used to read a blog called 5 Minutes For Mom. One of the things they had was a directory of businesses run by other mommy bloggers. Bloggers were encouraged to shop for gifts and other things among these businesses to support their fellow mommies!

So we thought we'd do something similar and create a directory of businesses run by pet bloggers! 


We already added a few businesses that we know about or that we noticed on friends' sidebars. But if you have a business we didn't list, we would love it if you would email us and tell us about it! We will add it to the directory right away. Its a little crude now, but as it grows, we will try to make it better! 


Do you like our idea? We hope you do! 


Have a great Saturday!

Lily's Crazy Surprise!

Hi everyone! You'll never believe what happened in our house!
Lily has been acting really tired lately, and she's been gaining a lot of weight. Mama thought this was partly because the cold weather has kept us from getting much exercise, and partly because of all of the treats we've been sampling for our product reviews. She was planning on taking us for lots more walks as soon as the weather warmed up!
Then, the other day, Lily started acting really weird! She was walking around in circles and acting like she had to go to the bathroom. Mama kept taking her outside, and she'd squat down, but nothing would come out. Mama was starting to get really worried, thinking that maybe she ate something weird or was really sick.
And then... all of the sudden... a tiny, slimy alien came out of Lily! 
I was so freaked out! I thought, "WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY BABY SISTER?"
Mama was freaked out too... but she knew exactly what was happening because she'd been through it before with Lily's original dog mama. Yep... its true... Lily had puppies!
We don't exactly know what happened. Lily is barely ever out of Mama's site! All we can think of is that little chihuahua at Lily's playgroup who kept trying to jump up on her. Maybe, somehow, they got a few minutes alone together?
Anyway... we now have four little munchkins who are going to need homes in about eight weeks. They kinda look like Lily as a puppy, don't they? Does anyone want one? We'd be happy to ship one to you, if you are unable to come to Chicago and pick one out. If someone has to raise Lily's babies, we'd love for it to be some of our bloggy friends! So, let us know! Mama wants to keep them all, but Gramma and Grampa say NO WAY, so we really need some homes to step forward!
In the meantime, here is a picture of the little mama resting comfortably with the four little ones. Aren't they cute?

PS... Happy April Fools Day!