Join ASPCA for Valentines Matchmaking

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

courtesy ASPCA
Which Pet Will You Want to Date?

The pet world is about to meet the 70's show, The Dating Game. Are you ready for ASPCA's live streamed  “Meet Your Match” dating show, where viewers will meet some of the most eligible shelter pets who are looking to find their forever homes. 

Talk about a terrific bonding opportunity. Watch this event unfold with your Fido and he'll be barking out his opinions and asking you to vote for the “most eligible” adoptable on Facebook,

Featuring a “relationship expert” answering viewer questions about their pets, this event is certain to be cute and funny. The event will take place on February 12^th at 6pm EST at www.ustream.tv/aspca. You can watch it right here on All Things Dog Blog, starting a 6 PM EST, in our sidebar viewer. After the live show finishes at 7 PM EST, the show will repeat continuously through Valentines Day, so be sure to stop in and enjoy it with your pup.

Hook up with the Twitter party occurring in conjunction with the live stream to help build awareness about pet adoption. Join in with the hashtag #PuppyLove to enjoy trivia questions about animal/human couples. This event just screams Valentines bonding. We plan to use this as our Weekly Wag. See you there? I hope so!

Find out more here: 

www.facebook.com/ASPCA

www.twitter.com/ASPCA

Join us each week for the Weekly Wag bonding series, held during the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop. The hop is hosted by Life with Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers, and Confessions of the Plume. You are welcome to link up here, or check any of their sites for their rules of participation. Happy hopping! 

Super Dog Thank Yous to Our Sponsors

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

Event Barkers, a partnership of Dogtipper.com and AllThingsDogBlog.com, hosted and produced Super Dog Sunday ™, a charity pet photo contest, to help Petfinder Foundation with their work to aid shelter animals. We have donated our time and prizes to this event. Our generous sponsors have donated funds to Petfinder as well as providing fabulous prizes worth over $1500 to reward 8 on our entrants. Winners will be announced shortly, as we are still awaiting our judges decisions.

Please take a moment to thank our sponsors by visiting their sites or leaving a message at their Facebook or Twitter pages. We know they will all appreciate a word of thanks for their support of this fun and inspiring event.

Arenus.com, on Facebook and Twitter

EventBarkers.com, on Facebook and Twitter

LuvandEmma.com, on Facebook and Twitter

NaturesLogic.com, on Facebook and Twitter

TobyandMax.com, on Facebook and Twitter

Additional prizes will be provided by:

Gypsy Eyes Clothing, on Facebook

LifeandDog.com magazine, on Facebook and Twitter

I'd love to hear from those of you who participated in the photo contest. Did you and your dog enjoy the process of bonding by creating and taking your photos? I hope you found ways of making it fun and easy for him to enjoy the process. Feel free to share :)  We look forward to bringing your more tips next year, in our continuing effort to help your bond strongly with your pet, while supporting rescue and adoption.

While Super Dog Sunday™ is an annual event, please know that shelter animals are in need of warm beds, food and care year round. You can help by giving of your time, your pocket change and your support of those who are able to generously work on their behalf. Feel free to donate any time of year, and if you are so inclined, your local Petfinder shelter would no doubt love your offer to volunteer with assistance at adoption events, daily care or as a foster family while a forever home is found. Visit this link to locate your nearest Petfinder shelters. Anything you can do to help will be appreciated. Thank you for your support!

Helping Bonded Pets Deal with Loss

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

© AllThingsDogBlog.com
Patches and Xena: BFF's

Our Retriever mix, Xena, was nearly an only pet at the time we adopted her at our neighborhood PetSmart. Although we did have a kitty, Corey Lou, she was 18 years old and not exactly a bundle of playfulness. Xena's beautiful Golden Retriever mom was a show dog that had gotten outside during a heat cycle and, well, you can guess the rest of that story. 

A few months after Xena came to live with us, we decided she could use a housemate to keep her company during our absences. Instead of another dog, we felt a kitten would be well-received since she was still a puppy and had demonstrated a like for other fluffy felines she had met.

So off we went one day, back to the same rescue where we adopted Xena. They had a batch of kittens, cute as they could be, playing and tumbling all over each other to meet us. We had taken Xena along, hopeful that she would give us some insight into which kitten to select. Sure enough, as we introduced each kitten to her, we could see a significant difference in the first impressions occurring. 

Patches was last, and her predecessors in this process had not fared terribly well. Each had demonstrated some form of fear or dislike of Xena. Not Patches. She stood up tall and swatted Xena right across the snout as if to say "Let's get one thing cleared up right now; I'm in charge!" And that she was. Xena took an immediate liking to her, despite her spunky introduction, and so it would go throughout Xena's life with us. The two bonded almost instantly and played tag together for years, as if they were litter mates.

Following Xena's passing 2 years ago, Patches spent her days snoozing at the entrance to Xena's crate. She was on watch. Although she did search the house daily, it was always a fruitless task and she would then return to Xena's crate to stand guard.

Finally one day I had the lightbulb moment. I took Xena's crate down. Who knew that its presence was keeping Patches thinking that she would return? Not me, obviously. That oh-so-obvious change put Patches onto a new path. She is once again spending time with our family, napping in areas close to the other pets, rather than only at Xena's crate. It took a while, but she realized that without a crate there, Xena must be permanently gone too.

Patches has now bonded to Tanner. This took time, but his patience and calm demeanor with her has finally brought her around. Oliver, not so much. He has learned a lot about her lack of desire for play, although he still gives it the 'ole college try once a week or so. No luck! Until he gives her some space, she's not likely to get connected to him, but at least he understands the necessary manners he must employ in order to live with her and keep his nose intact. After all, we know she can take care of his snout with one swoop.

What's holding your bonded pet back from rebonding with you after the loss of another pet? Hopefully you'll take a close look at each and every symbol of the pet that was gone. Somewhere in that search you'll find the connection that will help you get your left behind friend back into your inner circle. Good luck!

This post is part of the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop hosted by Life with Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers, and Confessions of the Plume. You are welcome to link up here, or check any of their sites for their rules of participation. Happy hopping!