Mutt Monday Tallies Our Mutt vs Pure Census

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

The Mutt Monday Census is in. We started our tally back on March 27. Unofficial as it may be, it was fun, informative and lively. If you enjoy hearing stories of adoption and rescue, you'll find plenty at the post at the link. 


Who came out on top in the census? Team AKC had more votes, but my tally was admittedly a bit confused by the many votes that were ambiguous. I'd say Team AKC won by about 10 votes or roughly 30% of all dogs represented. Some of the purebreds were rescues, causing their owners to be confused as to how they should vote. Understandable. Enjoy the comments and their stories. I sure did!

© TerraPaws.com

One Grab Bag prize was given out to a randomly drawn commenter at that post: Jill W. Lucky Jill got a cute, dog-themed Tshirt and a bag of Terra Paws treats for her fido. Stay tuned for more fun giveaways from my sponsors who love showing off their stuff to you guys.


This week's blogger highlights will appear below. Bloggers are invited to link up as many pet-themed posts as they like. Just keep it family friendly and you're welcome to share your posts here. Have a great week!

National Mutt Day: Celebrate Your Mixed Breed Dog!

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

If Xena were still with us we'd be having a party for her today. Her heritage spoke mostly of her Golden Retriever mom who had an enraptured evening when she escaped her home during a heat cycle and, well, you can guess the rest.

© A. Boyko
From the 35 mm. Archives

Xena's father was apparently a Black Lab/Chow, and she acquired the Lab's color, giving her much the look of a Flat-Coated Retriever. Numerous vets' first impression of her were just this, until they looked a little closer and heard my report.


Being three-quarters Retriever meant that Xena had many of their characteristics. She enjoyed the water, loved to carry things in her mouth, and was extremely people-pleasing. Not a hint of Chow ever showed up in her disposition, ever friendly and affectionate with everyone, but her hind quarters and tail told the story. Bushy "butt fluff" and an upward curl in her tail were a quick sign that additional DNA was at work here.

© C. Boyko
Can You Guess What I Am?

I share all this not because Xena was not a purebred, but because she was. In fact, she was a delightful and affectionate dog who never ceased to disappoint. There is definitely another "Mutt" in our adoption future. With 2 dogs and a cat, though, we're set for now. Our next Mutt will have to wait.


Do you have a Heinz 57 in your home? Let's celebrate our mixed-breed dogs together. Post your smiling furry friends on my Facebook page and be sure to tell us about them. I'll get us started with a pic if our cat, Patches, whose heritage is highly suspect. She could be the poster cat for today's celebration! See you on Facebook.

Mutts and More Mutts:It's the Magical Mystery Mutt Tour

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

© courtesy Will My Dog Hate Me

Today's post is a bit of fun reminiscence about Xena, my Retriever mix that we lost to a stroke in October. I'm ready to talk about her now, having gone through the mourning period and realizing I NEED to talk about her now. I miss her.


My fellow bloggers, the folks at Will My Dog Hate Me, Peggy's Pet Place, and I Still Want More Puppies, have launched today's blog hop called the Magical Mystery Tour. This is sort of celebration of our mixed breed dogs, and Xena would never forgive me if I didn't participate. So here goes:


When I wrote a post, preparing my readers for what I assumed would be Xena's last year or so, I had no idea how soon it would creep up. Truth be told, I think I wrote this post more to prepare myself, than my readers :(. I knew she was slowing down, despite the still playful spirit inside. Her desire to snuggle with and toss around her daddy's socks will never leave the video recesses in my memory banks.


Xena was a beautiful younger dog--a mix of a Golden Retriever mom and a dad that was Labrador Retreiver/Chow Chow. Or so we were told. She was often mistaken for a Flat-Coated Retriever in your early years, even by new veterinarians. Her personality (don't tell me dogs don't have one; I simply don't buy that!) and behavior traits fit the 75% Retriever that was apparently in her DNA. She was people pleasing, loving, playful, affectionate and ever the mother.

Patches

Adopting a kitten at age 2, I allowed Xena to select her new housemate. Patches, a Heinz 57, won her over with her spunky attitude and quick left cross to her nose, assuring Xena that life would never be dull with Patches in the house. Was she every right. The two bonded instantly over a good ear-washing and back-end cleaning, provided by Xena's warm and loving tongue. Mom? Yup!

Robby

When Robby, our rabbit, arrived a few years later, she attempted to do the same with him. Robby was not as willing, but Tanner was pleased to have bathtime help, as a puppy, when he entered the picture in her 10th year. Tanner and Xena quickly became like-sized playmates that enjoyed a daily tag game, along with regular wrestling matches, right up till the week before Xena left us.

The best way to honor Xena in this post is probably with photos. When she joined us, it was before digital cameras were the norm. Pictures of her puppyhood are probably buried in a box somewhere, but I'll share a few of her later years here. Please comment; I could use the TLC right now. Thanks!

How about we announce a giveaway today, in honor of our sweet Xena. She was truly the epitome of man's best friend, so the perfect gift would be a MANKINDdog™ coffee mug. I'll give two away in a drawing next Friday. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post here at the blog, or comment on this post on my Facebook page. Best wishes to all of my Mutt-loving readers!

© MANKINDdog™

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The Adoption Option: Help from Adopt-a-Pet

Find me on Facebook   Follow me on Twitter    Write to Dr. Jacki, ASK THE VET

ASK THE TRAINER at All Things Dog Blog

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adoption and

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If you missed my first post about Adopt a Pet, you can still find it here at Join Me for a Tour of Adopt-a-Pet. Sometimes you find a site that can't be reviewed in one short post. This one falls into that category.

My favorite feature of their pet-finding search boxes is the Search Saver. The Search Saver will actually keep looking for your requested pet, and notify you by email when it becomes available in your area. No more daily or weekly trolling through pages of pets, looking for just the right Rover.Their software will do it for you!


Adopt-a-Pet is also working to make it easier for you to share pet possibilities with others. They call this Social Petworking, and it works through Facebook, Twitter and other social applications. You can use their Social Petworking feature with a quick sign up at this link: Adopt-a-Pet Social Petworking. I checked this out and found that they have had 115,000+ pets shared through this application already. That's simply awesome.


If you are totally over the moon about adoptions and rescues, Adopt-a-Pet has some fabulous code you can post on your website to promote pet adoption. They partnered with artist Shepard Fairey to create the artwork, and also sell products with this cool design at Mutts Like Me. You'll notice a sample of this at the top of this post, and one in my sidebar. I love the image!


If you love it too, you can even download computer wallpaper or cell phone backgrounds (Blackberries, IPhones, Razors and regular cell phones) with this art at the Mutts Like Me site. It's free; they just want to get the word out about adoption.


Time to wrap this up. One last topic and I'm outa here. Adopt a Pet has also provided a nice resource about veterinary care on their website. For folks who are not up to speed on what they might need for their new housemate, this is really helpful. Be sure to check out What to Ask Your Veterinarian.


I certainly hope all this wonderful information about adoption has gotten you to thinking about sharing your home with a less fortunate furry friend. I've provided a lot of resource materials here, and encourage you to use the search function at the top of the page to find anything you're interested in learning about sharing your home with a dog. Here's wishing you an awesome adoption.

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Be sure to visit Adopt a Dog Park to learn what you can do to help protect our precious dog parks.