Month: February 2010

This week features a story about one elementary school who raised funds that generated 3,000 units of food for a local no-kill shelter. Educators said that the schools involvement not only helps the sanctuary but also inspires the students to gain a better understanding of community service and working for a cause. “For us, it’s incredibly important. When we get donations of this size, we don’t have to buy dog food for a while. Then we can use our cash donations to help save more dogs,” said Marilyn Stewart of Alpha Canine Sanctuary. The school’s annual dog food donation drive started five years ago with one teacher to mark their 100th day of education. Now the entire school is involved plus local business also helped.

While I always love to hear about an animal being adopted from the shelter, the stories of special needs animals being given a second chance especially warm my heart! “Special needs” actually covers a broad spectrum of conditions and abilities. Some special needs animals require continued care such as assistance with walking or ongoing medication for conditions like diabetes or seizures. Others require little or no additional care. While animals who are deaf or blind occasionally need some extra protection or guidance, they typically adapt remarkably well, and few humans would even detect their limitations. Similarly, the loss of one limb typically does not limit an animal at all.

While adopting one of these very special creatures is a great idea, one can also foster them for local rescue groups. Finding temporary foster homes for these animals is always a huge need and of great help as they are being fully assessed or recovering from a procedure or amputation. If you’d like to adopt or foster a special needs animal in your area simply check the ‘special needs’ box when searching for your new best friend on Adopt-a-Pet.com.

Another great reason to consider adding a special needs animal…finish the post by clicking here. Pia blogs often at The Daily Wag the home of episodes from Francesca and Sharkey’s Martha Stewart’s two dogs.

This week features a story about 97 animals who were saved through a program run by the humane society. The organization was sending 97 animals – 95 dogs and puppies and two cats – to various private rescue groups and no-kill facilities in the Northeast. The humane society does transports about every three weeks. On this trip, humane society volunteer driver Teresa Cash was preparing to make the 14-hour drive to meet groups part of the way in Allentown, Pa. The purpose is to move animals to no-kill facilities that have extra room.

Guest Post by Dawn Kairns – Thank you for inviting me to write a guest post about my book, MAGGIE The Dog Who Changed My Life on the Adopt-a-Pet.com blog. It is truly an honor. I’d like to share with you why I wrote MAGGIE the dog who changed my life, a few impressions from readers, and a short excerpt from my book. I donate a portion of my book royalties to Main Line Animal Rescue to support puppy mill rescue and awareness. Maggie was a very special being I was blessed to share my life with. The depth of our love for each other, of our human-canine bond, was deeper and beyond anything I imagined a bond with a dog could be.

Maggie’s way of being so present in the moment brought me more into the present moment. She reached out to people and brought them into our circle. Maggie’s genuine, loving way brought people into their hearts, and so my communication with others became more genuine and from the heart. Through her I learned to live in the present, to trust my intuition and messages in my dreams. She showed me that the most important things in life are love, connection, and following our hearts

My journey with Maggie helped me make important personal and professional decisions about who I wanted to be and how I wanted to live; to honor my wants and question. She taught me the importance of being over doing and to follow my intuition.

Maggie showed me that she read my thoughts somehow and understood me more than I thought possible in a dog. Call it telepathy. Call it a sixth sense. I wrote MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life in the hopes that you, the reader, will tune more into your own dogs and see them through the eyes of beings who understand you, their human, and read your thoughts and energy more than we realize; and in the hopes that you will look at animals as different beings, not lesser beings.

I also wrote Maggie the dog who changed my life to encourage you, the readers, to listen to your intuition, and to question veterinarians when your gut feelings disagree with a vet’s diagnosis. I also encourage you to evaluate the information available about pet food and vaccination frequency and ask yourselves as I did in Chapter Nine, “What’s Really Best for Our Pets?”

Finally, my hope is to help you know that the deep grief you feel when you lose your precious pet is normal; to help you feel supported and understood, and most important, to not feel isolated in your grief.

If you want to learn more about my book, visit please visit my website at www.dawnkairns.com. Maggie the dog who changed my life is also available in Colorado Bookstores, on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, or order from your local Barnes and Noble.

What Are Reader’s Saying About MAGGIE The Dog Who Changed My Life?

“It’s simply a beautiful book…” — Karen Bingham, Murfreesboro, TN “

“… I was with you on every page.” — Ellen Mikula, Broomfield, CO

“Last year I picked up a copy of Marley & Me. I was so moved by this book … I recently searched the internet for another book similar to Marley & Me and came across your book … I couldn’t put it down … I loved your book … It’s just nice to have someone else out there that understands my connection with my dog and the loss that I feel.” — Angie Bitz, Parker, CO

“…Your book was really healing for me…” — Patty Bakken, Minocqua, WI”

“…What an inspiring story–I cried and laughed throughout the wonderful tale of love and ‘finding yourself.’ You are an inspiration. I can relate to … the connection with your animal teachers… the holistic approach to healthcare … the spiritual aspect … ” — Sue Mallery, Laguna Vista, Texas

“I enjoyed reading your book so much … I began reading it, and I just couldn’t put it down. It’s lovely.” — Glenda Denham, Boulder, CO

“It is one of the best written books I’ve ever read.” — Marcy Spiker, Minocqua, WI

To see more Reader’s Comments visit: www.dawnkairns.com/index.php?page_id=273 or

Amazon Reviews for MAGGIE the dog who changed my life

Excerpt from MAGGIE: The Dog Who Changed My Life

“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. Animal and human spirits are inextricably intertwined, and you know there will never be another dog that comes close to the presence of this one and the bond that you share. For me, Maggie is that dog.

You know it when it happens. You think a thought and your dog responds. She knows what you’re asking of her, even though you never trained her to do it. You recognize that your communication is beyond words, beyond training. How do you explain it? You peer into her eyes and know you are looking into the depths of a loving, advanced soul. You may wonder, as I did, who are you in there?

When Maggie and I are out hiking, running errands, or just hanging out being “girlfriends,” I meet several people who have loved and lost such powerful relationships with their canine companions. They recognize that magic between Maggie and me, for once you experience it with your dog, you can’t miss it when it appears before you. I see the longing in their eyes, the painful missing, and the ache of irreplaceable loss.

“You just made my day,” one man wistfully tells Maggie when she greets him at the coffee shop. Sometimes I see this man keep his distance, and he just nods at me—as though it’s too unbearable for him to touch the pain of his loss at this moment. I imagine his own precious memories with his dog dancing before his eyes.

“Enjoy every moment you have with her,” the gentleman at the coffee shop tells me.

I do enjoy her every moment. I know the day will come when I will walk in his shoes with that mournful longing, when I’ll be forced to learn to live with her absence. But to know it intellectually and to live it, I would later find, have nothing in common. That day, as far as I am concerned, is so far in the distant future it doesn’t even exist in my awareness.

As a child, I was taught that animals were inferior to humans. We were superior to all life on Earth. This teaching was inherent in both culture and religion. Maggie helps me challenge that belief. She shows me over her lifetime that she is an intelligent, emotional being with a huge presence. I learn to respect her as a being who I share this planet with—a different being—not a lesser being.”

© By Dawn Kairns

http://www.dawnkairns.com/

http://www.maggiethedogwhochangedmylife.blogspot.com/

www.twitter.com/themaggiebook

Author Bio

A family nurse practitioner turned writer, Dawn Kairns is a lifelong animal lover. Her passion for dogs led her to volunteer with the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, Front Range Labrador Rescue, and Freedom Service Dogs. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Dawn volunteered with the Humane Society of the United States in Mississippi, assisting the displaced Katrina dogs. Her own dog and cat are rescues.

Many people make negative associations about pets that are in animal shelters. Often the animals in shelters aren’t there because they  have difficult behavior or health issues, it is because they have become a victim of circumstances beyond their control. Here are a few of the most common reasons pets are found at animal shelters. We hope this helps you to clear up some of the common misconceptions and myths about shelter pets!

#1: Moving is the number one reason pets are given to a shelter. While moving is sometimes an excuse used by owners that simply no longer want their pet, since pets can of course move with their families, many companion animals really can’t move with their families. They are relinquished because an owner has died, is relocating to a senior-care facility, or has no choice but to move into low-income housing that prohibits their pets.

#2: Cost of regular pet care. Especially in today’s economy, families often are forced to move in with other family members where their pets are not allowed, or cut back drastically on their living costs, including being able to feed and care for their pets.

#3: Lost pets. One of the most avoidable reasons that pets find themselves at the shelter is because they got lost and did not have a microchip or tag to facilitate a reunion. Some pets are lost for months, and end up in a shelter after their family has stopped looking for them.

#4: Adolescent pets are the most common age group seen at shelters. Often families buy or acquire an adorable puppy or kitten, not realizing the time and effort needed to care for and train a young pet.

#5: Pets as gifts. Especially pets  given as surprise gifts often end up in a shelter either because recipients were not involved in the selection process, the pet is not a match for their lifestyle, and no one planned to care for them.

These are just a few of the real reasons wonderful adoptable pets end up in an animal shelter. You can find a pet like these in your local animal shelter or rescue by using the searches available at http://www.adoptapet.com and give a deserving pet like these a loving home.