Has anyone done a Dog Walk Fundraiser?

This week one of my fundraising ezine readers wrote to ask me if I knew anything about doing a Dog Walk for a fundraiser.

I didn't. I've never been involved with one, or even lived near where one was scheduled.

So... if you have information to share about how to set it up, things to be careful of, etc. Please share!

Oh - by the way, if you'd like to get that ezine, you can go to www.marte-cliff.com and opt-in. You'll find a box on the top left - when you enter your name and email address, you'll be asked which ezine you want. You can have one - or all 3 if you like!

Two Tales to Warm Your Heart

This morning's email brought a link to a wonderful story - a story of a life saved and a love found.

It reminded me of the very first "rescue" I took part in before our local rescue even came into existence. Not because the circumstances were the same, but because of the pup involved.

I was a real estate broker and one of my agents had gotten acquainted with an agent from a neighboring town - and it had someone come out that she was a dog lover.

One day he called to tell her that he managed a rental in a nearby town and had gone there today to check the house after the tenants left... and there was a dog tied to the tree in the back yard. Did she want to do something about it?

She told me what was going on and we set out to rescue the dog. By some lucky chance, my big "dog cage" was in the back of my pickup, but we had no blanket.

We arrived at this house to find the most miserable looking, filthy dog you can imagine. The tree he was tied to was surrounded with dust, so of course he was covered with dust. The agent had given him water but he was hungry on top of being filthy.

We couldn't decide what kind of dog this was - he had long, curly blonde hair. Could he be a standard poodle? No, must just be a mixed breed of some kind.

There was a shed filled with clothes the tenants didn't take, so we grabbed whatever looked clean enough for a filthy dog and put it in the crate for a bed, then loaded him up. I have to say that neither of us really wanted to touch him - he was that dirty! But he was friendly and cooperative - glad to have some attention, I suppose.

On the way back to our office my friend called a dog groomer friend who said to bring him right in. She'd donate to the cause. So, we fed him, then took him to the groomer.

Imagine our shock when we went after him a few hours later and found what appeared to be a purebred Cocker Spaniel!

We had him in the office and our secretary asked if she could take him along when she went to pick up her son from day care. Of course we said yes, since we still had no idea what we were going to do with him.

Well, that was that. The day care lady took one look at him and asked if she could have him. She had wanted a golden Cocker as long as she could remember. That night he slept with her son, and they've been fast friends ever since.

That story had a happy ending, as so does this one.

Thank you Carolyne, for sharing your story.

And... Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Marte

PALZwithPawz helping dogs and children too!

PALZ with Pawz rescue takes formerly abused canines and turns them into therapy dogs for children - how wonderful is that?

Read all about Jada Romans and her new dog, Murray.

Something I didn't know until learning about PALZ With Pawz is that most organizations who train therapy dogs do not provide them to children - and especially not to children under the age of 8. PALZ With Pawz is working to fill that need, so that children like Jada can benefit.

Operation Blankets of Love

Yesterday I mentioned that you could check out Operation Blankets of Love and do something similar - what I didn't know was that their website has had a disaster.

We're not sure yet just what happened, but it disappeared. And the web host's site has also disappeared. This is not a good thing, because their web-builder had not kept a back-up file. They may have to start over from scratch to re-create their website.

That's not a good thing - it was filled with great video clips of news interviews and photos of the animals they've helped, as well as all the information about their work.

Why am I telling you this? Because you may also be in a dangerous position. If you have a site built by someone else so the files are not on your computer, do something about it right away.

Recently I've talked with several people - both animal rescuers and Realtors - who have used some kind of service for their website and are unable to get at their HTML files to do basic search engine optimization behind the scenes. They're also unable to make updates themselves. And the worst part is that the people they count on to make updates and take care of SEO don't do it in a timely fashion.

So... I realize the reason so many take that route is that they don't know how to do it themselves. If that's your situation, then find someone to help you. If you have to hire a high school student to come to your house and work, do it. Just make sure that your own files are in a place where you can get at them - and make sure you've been shown how to do it.

Also, if some other person is named as administrator for your domain name, get it changed while that person is still available. If the person suddenly disappears you'll have months of hassle getting it into your own name. Believe me - I had it happen to me early on, and two different friends of mine have had the same challenge.

Sorry to disgress from dogs for a minute - but if you're involved with a rescue or a shelter, this is important to your fundraising efforts, as well as your ability to have your dogs and cats for adoption seen on line.

So what is Operation Blankets of Love? It's a very small group of people who are making a big difference in Southern California. They collect blankets from donation bins placed in vet clinics, Petco Stores, and other pet-related places. Then they deliver them to shelters and rescue groups across 7 counties. Shelter workers say it is amazing how much comfort those homeless dogs and cats get from just having a blanket to snuggle into. And when they're more secure, they're happier, and they're more easily adopted.

In the year since this project began, they've delivered over 35,000 blankets, towels, treats, pet beds, pet carriers, and toys to over 100 different shelters and rescue groups. They even helped with the rescue during California's wild fires.

They also do pet care talks in schools and take kids on shelter tours so they can learn more about responsibility and caring for our furry friends. Teaching the kids now just might help reduce the number of abused and abandoned pets in years to come.

I'll let you know when their site is back up. But in the meantime - how many blankets could you find to take to a shelter in your home town?

Well-mannered, polite dogs

Sunday I went horseback riding with a friend, and when we got back we settled on her front porch for a bit of refreshment. Her 4 dogs were there to greet us.

Usually, walking onto a porch with a crowd like that would mean 4 dogs, all pushing each other out of the way for attention, but these dogs don't behave that way.

First, Abbey came to greet me. She's the blind one, so she had to sniff a bit and make sure she remembered who I was. Abbey was one of a litter of pups who had been dumped in a ditch and found muddy, cold, and hungry. She was the only blind one of the litter, and as her foster mom, my friend found she couldn't part with her. Abbey does fine with her nose and her ears to guide her.

Next came Louie - the only boy in the household. He got up on the bench next to me and snuggled a bit. Experts say dogs don't like hugs, but they forgot to tell Louie. Louie was a rescue too, but his situation wasn't quite as dramatic as Abbey's or Tika's.

Tika is the girl with 3 legs. She was one tough rescue, forcing us to borrow a live trap to catch her after she'd been seen wandering around for a couple of weeks dragging a broken leg. It took days to trap her, even after the neighbors got around to letting us know about her.

But she's fine now, and you'd never convince her that there's anything wrong with the way she gets around.

Finally, ever the lady, Annie came to get some attention. She's my favorite, maybe because I've known her the longest, or maybe just because she's so darned sweet. My friends got her because one of their neighbors went snow shoeing and found her living by a travel trailer that had been abandoned when the snow got too deep that winter. She was a skinny, hungry pup, but that changed as soon as she got to my friend's house.

Unfortunately, the people had been gone too long - the rabbits and chickens left in their cages were all dead. But, a couple of weeks later another pup showed up, and he found a wonderful home.

I don't know how Sally taught her dogs such perfect manners, but it sure makes it a pleasure to visit with them.

Another rescued dog finds a home...

I just got off the phone with the animal coordinator at our local shelter, and she told me one of my favorite dogs just found a home - and the other one has a good possibility of being adopted tomorrow. That makes my whole evening brighter.

Both of these two were adult dogs, and so loving and kind. Both prefer being with people and will follow the shelter workers around, begging them to stop cleaning for a minute and rub a belly. Both had beautiful manners. So why were they there?

Poppy lost her home because she chased horses. Well, she's part Heeler, of course she would chase livestock! But her humans didn't want to take the time to teach her when to chase and when not to, so they turned her in to the shelter. My own little Pepper would have been more than happy to "herd" my horses, but we taught him that wasn't the thing to do. We humans actually had a little help on that score from a horse and a well-placed hoof - which thankfully didn't break anything.

My other favorite was Sally - a Siberian Husky who came in with 5 puppies after being found running down a highway. What was her story? Did someone dump her and the puppies and drive off, so she was trying to follow? Or had she been dumped long before and given birth to her puppies in the woods? She was certainly skinny enough to have been going without good meals for quite a while.

We'll never know of course. Thankfully, neither she nor her babies will be having any more babies, and all 6 are now in homes. We can only hope the homes are good ones and that the 5 pups don't turn up later as the unruly teens we talked about last time.

Here's to loving dogs,

Marte

P.S. Remember - if you'd like me to list your rescue on this sidebar and on my rescue page at www.doyoulovedogs, all you have to do is comment here or send me a note at writer@marte-cliff.com