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Petzooba.com is a diverse eCard site for pet lovers! There’s a good selection of cards for just about any occasion or season you can think of: Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Friendship and even Moving Notices. Some of my personal eCard favorites on the site are The Great Turkey Escape for Thanksgiving, International Dogs in the Friendship section and Seasons for Pet Loss. The Holiday selection has quite a few fun and humorous eCards, too. One called “A Rippin Holiday”, is pretty hilarious.

One of the great things about this site is that you can easily add photos of yourself and your pets to make the cards more personal or you have the option of sending the cards as-is with just a personal message. If you do decide to use personal photos, the images are stored for future use. I uploaded my Gmail address book to the site and created a card that was sent to a bunch of my friends with just once click!

Petzooba offers a free personal subscription which gives access to 14 eCards that can only be sent to one person at a time. For a small subscription fee, Petzooba offers a full year subscription with a growing selection of eCards approaching 200. Once subscribed for the year, you can send to as many recipients as you’d like. Also, with every paid subscription Petzooba will give you a second year subscription free, which you can send to a friend as a holiday gift! Co-founder of Petzooba.com, Mitch Wilder, is a compassionate pet educator and 14 year broadcast journalist in the pet industry. His philosophy is that “No pet should be left behind”. Best of all, Petzooba have chosen Adopt-a-Pet to receive 10% of every paid eCard subscription!

October 26 2010 (Chicago) – White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle has a message for the city of Chicago: adopt a shelter pet. Buehrle and his wife Jamie have partnered with Adopt-a-Pet.com, North America’s largest non-profit pet adoption web service, for a public service campaign launching today in the greater Chicagoland area. Starting today, Chicagoland residents will see light-hearted adoption-promoting billboards and televised public service announcements featuring Mark and Jamie Buehrle playing with their three dogs on the grass at U.S. Cellular Field. Funding for the billboards was generously provided by Nestlé Purina.

“Pets in Chicago’s shelters are getting a boost today, thanks to Mark and Jamie Buehrle,” says Adopt-a-Pet.com executive director Abbie Moore, “By speaking out about their passion for pet adoption, and educating people that they can go to Adopt-a-Pet.com and see photos and information about pets in shelters, they’re truly making a difference in the lives of people and homeless pets.”

Says Mark Buehrle, “Our dogs add so much to our lives, and our family wouldn’t be complete without them. The shelters are filled with great pets, both mixed-breed and purebred. We recently adopted a purebred Viszla. You can pretty much find any kind of pet you want in a shelter.”

Adds Jamie Buehrle, “We’re really excited to launch this campaign with Adopt-a-Pet.com, and we hope that everyone, no matter what team they root for, will become a fan of getting pets out of shelters and into loving homes.”

The Buehrles are extremely active in companion-animal welfare issues. Together they founded Sox for Strays, a monthly pre-game adoption event that brings pets from local shelters and rescue organizations to U.S. Cellular Field. They are also funding a brand-new adoption and care center for Hope Animal Rescues, an Illinois-based rescue group.

Downloadable hi-res PSAs, b-roll and billboard artwork can be found at http://adoptapet.com/chicagomedia

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About Adopt-a-Pet.com:

Adopt-a-Pet.com is North America’s largest non-profit pet adoption website, helping over 9,500 animal shelters, humane societies, SPCAs, pet rescue groups, and pet adoption agencies advertise their homeless pets to adopters. Over 200 Chicago-area animal shelters rely on Adopt-a-Pet.com’s services to help them find homes for the pets in their care. Every month, Adopt-a-Pet.com displays photos and descriptions of adoptable pets to over 1.2 million people trying to adopt a pet. Funding for Adopt-a-Pet.com is provided by the passionate pet lovers at Nestlé Purina and Bayer Animal Health.

This post comes from Pawesome.net and is all about a special needs dog Popeye. Popeye, is like most other dogs in many ways. He enjoys his walks, he loves to wrestle with other dogs, he knows basic commands like “down” and “go to bed,” and he can run like the devil. But it’s how he’s different that makes him the center of attention wherever he goes. Checkout Popeye in action below and then read more about how he has adapted to normal dog life as a special needs dog, and click more to see his video. –>

Want to help shelters in your area adopt out more pets? Spread the word about Adopt-a-Pet.com! Here are two easy ways to do it: 1. Tell your local shelters and rescue groups about Adopt-a-Pet.com! 2. Links save lives. Ask your local animal-related businesses to post a link to Adopt-a-Pet.com on their web sites! Keep reading for more details on how you can use these two easy ways to help homeless pets.

1. Tell your local shelters and rescue groups about Adopt-a-Pet.com!
Many animal shelters and rescue groups who use Adopt-a-Pet.com to promote their adoptable pets report that their adoptions more than double in the first year alone. Now those are results! Are your local shelter or rescue group’s pets posted on Adopt-a-Pet.com? If not, they’re missing out on a ton of exposure. Do an easy good deed for the animals: let your shelters know you’d like to see their pets on Adopt-a-Pet.com! We’ve made this easy for you with a printable flyer that highlights some of the features that animal shelters and rescue groups find super helpful in their efforts to help homeless pets. Just print and hand to the administrator at your local shelter! If you want to be even more helpful, you can volunteer to help the shelter upload photos and information about their available pets, too!

2. Links save lives. Ask your local animal-related businesses to post a link to Adopt-a-Pet.com on their web sites!
By using a computer and internet connection you have virtually limitless ways to help raise awareness of homeless pets. Start by using Google to find local trainers, groomers, pet stores, dog parks, and veterinarians. If they have a website e-mail them and politely ask them to add a link to Adopt-a-Pet.com to their site (graphic links and search boxes can be found at http://www.adoptapet.com/public/links/index.html). A simple link to our website will enable folks around your community to learn more about adoption when they are viewing these websites, and will help pets in your local shelters find homes.

This post comes from our friends over at Paw Prints Magazine. Recently they hosted a story from Dale Smith, a Kansas City resident who enjoys the outdoors, and includes his Border Collie Keegan when he adventures out. Dale learned a valuable lesson recent on a fly fishing trip to Roaring River State Park. Dale explains how during his trip, “I turned and saw Keegan broadsided by the current and was washed off the rocks and full on in the river. I dropped my fly rod and started running down stream towards him. My adrenalin kicked in and my heart started racing… the post continues at Paw Prints Magazine.

We would like to thank MyPetHealthGuide.com for featuring adoptable pets from Adopt-a-Pet.com. MyPetHealthGuide.com helps decode your cat or dog’s occasionally mysterious behavior, with a range of advice from animal behaviorists or veterinarians, so you can be sure you’re making the right, healthy choice for the furriest member of your family. This month they are featuring Justice, a 14-month-old Husky/American Pit Bull Terrier mix in search of a loving home. He is medium to large in size with a chestnut-colored coat and white and golden markings. He walks well on a leash and understands basic commands. If you would like to learn more about Justice and/or health care advice for your pet, please visit MyPetHealthGuide.com

A picture is worth a thousand words… but nothing captures a pet’s personality like a video! Online pet videos are one of the most successful (and fun!) ways inspire potential adopters to fall in love with a homeless pet. Shooting great videos of pets for adoption is easier than you may think. We’ve had decades of experience filming shelter and rescue pets for adoption, using just a regular digital camera with a video setting, and no editing software! Now with these tips, you can too.

If your shelter or rescue doesn’t post videos of their pets for adoption, maybe you can volunteer to do it for them! Mobile adoption stops can be a great place to video many pets in once place, out of the shelter or kennel. You can upload them to YouTube from the comfort of your home.

– Lighting: There is a reason this tip is first! Poor lighting can make the cutest pet look dismal. Go for LIGHTER over darker. Indirect daylight is best, like in a bright indoor room, under a shady tree, or outside on an overcast day. If indoors, turn on as many lights as possible to make it as bright as daylight.

– Location: pick a location where the pet is going to be the most focused on you. In a foster home’s living room or yard, in a shelter office, hallway, play yard, in their kennel. Let them hang out there until they are done exploring and most likely to focus on you.

– Background: simple soft backgrounds work best, like grass or a solid color bedspread or sheet (avoid patterns) draped over where ever you will be placing the pet. Darker colors if the pet is light colored, lighter if the pet is dark.

– Props: put one or two toys near the pet, even if the pet will not play with them. They make the pet look friendlier, and give scale if a person is not in the shot with them.

– Focus: To get the pet focused on your camera’s lens, so he/she is looking into the camera as much as possible, use the tastiest smelliest treats you can find like cut up hotdogs (for dogs) or tuna (for cats), or a feather toy or squeeky toy.

– Helpers: You can video a pet alone, but helpers do make it easier! One can hold the pet, and if you have a third, they can get stand at your shoulder with the treat/toy.

– Length: If you’ve got great film editing skills, you can film for as long as you like! But for most of us, the best technique is to film clips that are 30 to 60 seconds long. You can then pick the best single clip to upload, no editing needed.

– Sound: If the filming “location” is noisy (like a shelter kennel full of barking dogs), after you upload the video to YouTube, on your “My Videos” page click on that videos “AudioSwap” button. You can then replace the audio with any one of hundreds of free songs, with just a click or two!

– Talking: If you are going to talk in the video, keep what you say short and positive. The video is not the place to go into complicated specifics about the pet. Save that for the text on their adoption page, or when you speak to the adopter in person. You want the viewer to focus on LOOKING, not listening.

We hope these tips help you in your making of great videos of pets for adoption!

Recently PeoplePets.com featured a pet from Adopt-a-Pet.com, Shadow von Schlossberg. Shadow, who’s 2 years old, weighs a healthy 80 lbs., and though he’s athletic and loves to play, he has a calm side, too. The super-smart pooch responds well to commands and corrections, and bonds quickly with other dogs (though not so well with cats). According to the volunteers at Westside German Shepherd Rescue who know him wel, he has tons of personality, and will keep you laughing with his silly antics. Fun, good-looking and sweet — what more could you ask for? Learn more about Shadow Here.

Your pets are treasured family members and need protection as much as your own family in the event of fire. Sadly, some 500,000 pets are affected by fires each year, and over 40,000 of them die. Most fire victims die from smoke asphyxiation. A fire needs oxygen to burn, so lack of oxygen or inhaling smoke is more often the killer than the fire itself. Following are some tips to help you know what to do to prevent fires and if a fire breaks out in your home.

Be sure you have working smoke detectors on every level of the home.

• Place detectors near bedrooms and in the kitchen, either on the ceiling or 6–12 inches below the ceiling on the wall, well away from air vents.
• Be sure detectors are in good working order. Mark your calendar to remind yourself to check the batteries regularly (for example, at the start of a new season).
• Another smart home safety measure is to install a carbon monoxide detector in your home. Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that can cause severe illness or death to both people and pets.

Have an emergency exit plan that includes your pets, and practice the plan regularly. Once a fire starts, it spreads rapidly, so everyone should know what to do to escape.

• Affix window decals around your home so rescue workers know there are pets inside. Decals can be obtained from your local Bark Busters trainer, the ASPCA or your local fire department.
• Fire experts report that many dogs perish in fires because they are confined in a crate or room and cannot escape. Be sure your fire plan accounts for crated dogs.
• Keep leashes at hand so you can leash your dog to prevent him from escaping in panic.
• Keep pets on a ground floor of your home to make rescue easier.
• Keep hallways and exits free of clutter to allow you to get out of a burning house more safely.
• Make sure pets always wear a current visible identification tag.
• Make sure your pets are microchipped and the registered info is current.
• Research a safe place to take your pets. Ask friends or relatives if they can shelter you and your pets, and check with local pet-boarding facilities, humane societies and animal shelters.
• Assemble a dog disaster kit with dog food and his medications, copies of his health records, your veterinarian’s phone number and list of facilities you can take your pet, recent photo taken of you with your dog, favorite toy or bedding, and extra leash and collar affixed with the pet’s I.D.
• Give a key to a trusted neighbor, and make sure he knows where the dog might be located within the house so he can inform firefighters.
• Ask your local fire department if the fire trucks carry pet oxygen masks. If they don’t, ask neighborhood pet owners to join you in making a donation to buy masks for the fire department.
• Listen to your dog! Canines have a keen sense of smell and can detect smoke long before humans. If your dog is acting strangely, look into the situation promptly and be prepared to gather your family and follow your evacuation plan.
• If you must evacuate and can’t find your dog in the house, leave an outside door open and then call your dog’s name once you get out. He may be able to hear you and escape.
• If your dog was in a smoke-filled building or if you can smell smoke on his fur, take him to your veterinarian. Toxic fumes can be deadly.
• Prevent fires from happening by ensuring your dog doesn’t have access to dangerous combustible items.
• Keep electrical wires and batteries out of your pet’s reach. Chewing or biting anything electrical can cause him shock or burns, or could start a fire.
• Don’t leave lighted candles unattended. A lit candle knocked over by a swinging tail can burn your pet or cause a fire.

— Written by By Liam Crowe. Liam Crowe is the CEO and grand master dog behavioral therapist of Bark Busters USA (www.BarkBusters.com), the world’s largest dog training company. Since inception, over 500,000 dogs have been trained worldwide using Bark Busters’ dog-friendly, natural methods, which focus on fostering a positive relationship between owner and dog to establish a lasting emotional bond based on respect and trust.

On July 30, 2010, my seven year old daughter Stella was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.  What she thought was going to be a regular visit with her doctor turned into an ambulance ride to the hospital and four days of needles, tests, and round-the-clock visits from doctors and nurses.  She was scared and unhappy about everything she was learning about her new future with diabetes.  Aside from being allowed to stay up as late as she wanted, there wasn’t much about her stay that she would have considered fun.  At least until she got a visit from Bruin.

On our second day in the hospital, a little beige dog trotted through her hospital room door followed by her owner, who explained that Bruin, a Havanese, was a therapy dog and that he was visiting all of the children at the hospital that day.  My daughter Stella is a HUGE dog lover and could not have been more excited to receive such an unexpected visitor.  She looked like a prisoner who was getting a visit from a family member.  “Finally!” she was thinking, “Someone who understands me!”  Bruin jumped up on her bed and lay down next to her so she could pet him as the adults chatted.  Bruin’s mom even had treats that Stella could give him, which they both enjoyed.  Before leaving, Bruin’s owner took a photo, which they gave us, of Stella and Bruin together.  A little memento to remember her new friend!

When Bruin finally left to visit another child, I could see a definite change in Stella’s attitude and it remained visible for quite some time.  That little fuzzy dog had soothed her in a way that none of us had been able to do.  It was a pretty amazing thing to see.

The very next day we got another surprise visit.  The same organization (www.LOVEON4PAWS.org) had a whole group of dogs at the hospital for a tour.  These were dogs who were signed up to be therapy dogs but who hadn’t met with their first patient yet.  They stopped at Stella’s room and asked if it was okay if they came in to say hi.  They hadn’t stopped in any other patient rooms so Stella was thrilled.  At least ten dogs and their owners piled into her room…big dogs and little dogs, all of them happy and calm and excited to be visiting with someone.  Stella was able to pet several of them before they had to leave to continue their tour.  As soon as they were gone, Stella asked me if I thought they would be back the next day.  That was the first of many times she would ask that question that day.

We are now several months into my daughter’s new life with diabetes and she still talks about her hospital visit with fuzzy little Bruin and how cool it was that the kids at the hospital get to visit with dogs.  I’m so thankful for the work this organization, and others like them, does.  They gave my daughter a happy memory to carry with her from her time at the hospital and I never would have thought that was possible.

As you can see, therapy dogs and their owners do a wonderful service to anyone who is sick, scared, and lonely.  All of the volunteers I spoke with told me how rewarding the work is.  Many of their therapy dogs had been adopted from animal shelters or rescue groups.  I encourage anyone who is interested in finding out what it takes to become a therapy dog team to visit http://www.deltasociety.org. Delta Society is a wonderful organization that certifies therapy animals of all kinds and helps connect volunteers to volunteer opportunities.

Editor’s note: Laurie Wisneski is Director of Adoption Services for Adopt-a-Pet.com.  This is her first blog post, but with three rescued dogs, two kids, and an adopted Guinea Pig named Molly, you can bet she has a lot to say.  We look forward to more of her posts!