Thursday, January 26, 2012

Adoptable Thursdays



This week will feature a wonderful dog from Bullies in Need. It was so difficult to just pick one dog, so Bullies in Need with definitely be featured again!

Bullies in Need can be found at bulliesinneed.ca

Introducing Mayer, whose picture was seen on the post For the Love of ALL Dogs

Mayer is one of our “long term” foster dogs. He’s living the good life with his foster momma and canine brother but we know, even though he would never complain, that deep down he dreams of running along side his forever family one day. Mayor is one of those dogs who is very active outside but who will snuggle up right next to you when indoors. He loves being with his people – so much so that he struggles when they have to go to out to work. Mayor’s foster momma has been working very hard to make sure Mayor learns that when people leave, they will come home. He needs a mature family that will work with his current routine to continue reinforcing this. Not to worry though, Mayor comes with his own special instruction manual. Mayor manual outlines his daily walking, jogging and fetching activities. Mayor loves to be active with you and if you’re having one of those lazy days he’s learned how to keep himself busy on an indoor treadmill. After all, that stunningly handsome body doesn’t just take care of itself. After his exercise routine Mayor loves to snuggle up with the latest issue of Doggie Health magazine and relax the afternoon away while sipping on hot chamomile tea. That’s right, this muscular man had a soft side to him too, he knows how to wine and dine the lady dogs just as well as he plays football with the boy dogs. Mayor and his foster brother often head out on the town to make new doggie friends. Mayor’s manual clearly explains that there are not to be any of those little cat critters in the home please. They look way too much like his squeaky toys for him to comfortably live with one. Other chapters in the manual include “How to properly wash out stinky stuff that Mayor insisted in rolling in”; “How to keep up with all the great house training and obedience training that Mayor has learned so far”; “How to disperse millions of kisses and snuggles all over Mayor’s totally irresistible face” and “How to run the city when you live with the Mayor”


AND introducing Margeurita, whose picture was also found on the above post

"Margo" for short, is about 3.5 months old and already a whopping 21 lbs! She's solid and strong! Margo is up to date on shots (one more round due end of month) and is spayed. Marguerita is full of spunk and determination. She would benefit being in home with structure and someone who would be willing to take her to puppy classes.Margeurita is still working on her house training abilities, but is a very smart pup and catching on very quickly! Crate training is also a work in progress, she so desperately just wants to be with people and have fun fun fun! She is catching on quickly and learning that her crate is a happy place. Margo shares the house with 4 cats and is doing very well. She will sometimes chase depending on her mood but once she corners them, she just sits and barks at them. It's priceless to watch. Little does she know, no friendships come about from yelling :) We absolutely love this sassy little chica! Margo loves to snuggle and has the best gentle puppy kisses ever! She can't wait to kiss kiss kiss her forever family.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Something to Share

I try not to be a radical opinionated blogger, because it isn't really who I am. I wanted to share a blog post written by Glennon at Momastary. A cousin of mine shared a post off her blog and I was amazed at what I found. Recently one of her posts really moved me and me the follower who doesn't comment very often found myself with lots to say.


Please go read it and as Glennon says disagree with love. I hope that you would do so here as well.

My comment was:

Glennon, I found your blog earlier this week when a friend shared a post of yours. I’m not a Mom yet, but I am a big sister, a daycare teacher, and I believe in God. I believe in what you wrote, your letter to Chase was wonderful and every child deserves to receive such a letter. I too am a picker and a chooser of the bible. I interpret what I read. I do not attend church and I do not pray everyday. I believe that God is there and I believe he chooses to love everyone. I question a lot.

I question the bible as well as other religious texts from all religions. They were written by many different men and in a culture very different from the one we live in today.

Your letter to Chase was written with your religious viewpoint in mind. Many people have decided to comment only on your viewpoint and with their own. Many people have chosen to comment on sin and sexuality instead of why the letter was written. Your post was about bullying which involves all people of the world. As Dr. Seuss said “a person’s a person no matter how small”. Bullying ends with acceptance, acceptance that we may not understand why people feel a certain way, do certain things or believe in certain beliefs however we can accept that we may never understand and that doesn’t make them any less than us. Going back to religion, we are not ones to judge, if and when God calls you to the pearly gates it is his responsibility. If you are not a believe of God it is still not our position to judge others by the way we live our lives. We may not agree but we may not judge.

My beliefs are similar to yours God gave us 10 commandments he handed those down to us. They apply to every person in every culture whether you believe in God or not they are social references that people believe. I do not believe that God spoke to many disciples and told them that women were less than men, that women needed to follow different rules than men. I think that men choose to record the cultural norm of the time just as we now tell others and choose what we accept as the cultural norm. We choose to believe that people of all races and women are equal. We choose to believe that we should love others and act with kindness. We choose to believe that being gay is a cultural norm and is to be accepted. Gay rights is not something that will go away, it will move forward and it will become a cultural norm.

Glennon I am so happy that you choose to confront this issue on bullying and sad that many have taken it to be a discussion of gay rights. Bullying begins at such a young age, many young children will exclude one another to feel powerful. Many young children will say hurtful things to one another because they do not yet have that social filter that adults are so proud of having. Those children have learned to be unaccepting of others because no one has taught them to be accepting. I hope that many of the Mom’s and adults in the world ensure that they show and teach children how to be accepting of others.

I hope that this post moves you the same way it did me. I will now be setting up a weekly shared post from blogs, newspapers etc, that move me. Please look for these on Saturdays.......name pending...suggestions welcome. I will continue to mostly blog about pets but I will be sharing more about my love of children too.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

For the love of ALL dogs

I have said before that I stand strongly on the side of turning over the "pit bull law" here in Ontario. Recently a local MPP Randy Hillier along with Cheri Di Novo and Kim Craitor put forth another bill to make this change. This bill was tabled after the first reading and will go on to have a second reading on February 23rd. If this passes again, a third reading will be done and the bill will then be signed off on and will take effect.

Please take a moment to sign the petition,


Remember that this law does affect all dogs who are Bully type dogs or just look like it.

I can honestly say I do not believe in bad dogs only untrained ones. All dogs have the ability to be trained and loving family members. Please help Ontario turn over this law so that caring and loving owners can have their pets back in their homes.

*Note: The dogs pictured in this post are listed on the Bullies in Need website to be adopted. They will also make another appearance on Adoptable Thursdays with more bully-type dogs this week.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Adoptable Thursdays

Welcome to adoptable thursdays, this week we have multiple pets who are all located at the Ottawa Humane Society. All pets deserve a home of their own no matter where they come from.

Here are some links to find the animals located here;


Monday, January 16, 2012

School Starts Again

Since I am an online student, I didn't start school until today. I usually have all these plan about what I think I can accomplish and when, of course then I always panic when I see the workload and assignments ahead of me. I know that it all works about but I seem to be prone to that first day panic.

I just need to start printing out my assignments and recording my readings into my agenda and as always the organizing seems to settle any panic. To be honest once school starts my agenda is the only thing that keeps me sane, my whole life is planned in there!

Thank goodness I have such adorable stress relievers too!



Thursday, January 12, 2012

Adoptable Thurdays


This week we are honoured to feature,
Ella an adoptable kitty from Forever Home Rescue in Hamilton


"Ella is one of those adorable little calicos that keeps getting over looked because she is no longer a kitten. She must have a halo over her head *somewhere* because she's such an angel! The perfect home for Ella might be with another laid back cat, or she could be the Queen of her Castle! Ella doesn't ask for much - just a loving home, kisses and she promises to greet you at the front door at night after you come home from work. Prepare to fall in love with this colourful beauty!"

If you are interested in adopting Ella you can go directly to foreverhomecatrescue.com to contact Beth and go through the adoption process to make this little girl yours.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Monday Madness

Koda and I were able to go on a big shopping trip on sunday! We went to Petsmart (big surprise) and looked a outdoor kennels. My Mom was in earlier and noticed one that she liked. A nice log house!

Koda loves being outside but we haven't ever been able to find an outdoor kennel that we liked for him. When we had an outdoor dog we actually had a kennel made especially for her. He usually makes due with whatever he can find. Of course we always make sure that he is only left on on warm days.

I will admit to being the owner who lets their dog run around off leash outside however Koda is very good at staying on our property or visiting the neighbours who have dogs and love when Koda comes to visit. Lately I have been tying him with Sophie's tie-up, which holds him too.

I didn't know much about the log house, not many people are looking for outdoor kennels when they come into the store. However Mom picked it out and if we don't like it then we can return it. Koda got up close and personal with his dog house on the way home when we realized that it wouldn't fit in the trunk! (if he laid down he had plenty of room)





After all that we left Petsmart and went to THE DOG PARK!! This was Koda's first visit ever to the dog park, Sophie isn't keen on snow so she stayed home on this trip. The park is wonderful with benches and trees all fenced in. It even has a small dog area sectioned off. We had a great time;


Thursday, January 5, 2012

Adoptable Thursdays/ Shelter Pets Project



Welcome to one of our new features, Adoptable Thursdays.

Every Thursday I will feature an adoptable pet with a picture and a blurb. If you are interested in having a post about an adoptable pet please send us an email at journey-blog@hotmail.com (another new feature, the blog's own email)


While I don't have an adoptable pet this week to feature, I know that there are lots out there. Recently I received an email about the Shelter Pets Project Campaign. The Shelter Pets Projectis all about adopting pets rather than buying. A person is the best thing that can happen to all of these pets! They launched in 2009 and helps people to find the pet they are looking for by typing in their area code/zip code. The project was created by The United States Humane Society, Maddie's Fund and Ad Council.
You can find the Shelter Pets Project in these locations;

Web: http://www.shelterpetproject.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shelterpetproject
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/shelterpetsproject
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/theshelterpetprojector

I think that rescue and shelter are wonderful things to be involved in. You can always tell how a person will treat you just by the way they treat their pets! Hope you enjoy the first of our many changes.


Author Note: I was contacted by a representative of the Shelter Pets Project to share their message. I am in support the message of adopting shelter pets instead of buying.

Monday, January 2, 2012

2012 Resolutions

I am very excited to write this years resolutions and look back on last year's resolutions which included:

1. Find a healthy inexpensive dog food that Koda and Sophie may share.
*We use Petsmart's Authority Brand, Koda is on weight maintenance, while Sophie gets mini chunks and occasionally wet food. I found it easier to feed them on schedules rather then allowing them to free-feed. This also means that I know exactly how much everyone is eating and what. Although they still steal out out the cat food dish!

2. Re-attempt to train Sophie to stop barking at everyone and everything.
* Sophie entered Petsmart's training class for beginners and did awesome while at Petsmart. We are still having issues at home although we meaning I am more strict with what I allow her to do. She lost many privileges when I was away for placement due to her behaviour. She sleeps in her cage now at night and is caged during the day. She is also tied up while outside to play or go potty. Santa even brought her a Bark Off machine however we have not noticed a difference in the barking at the door.

3. Play more with my pets.
* I certainly enjoyed this one! Koda and I spent many days at the lake playing all kinds of water games. Sophie did enjoy learning tricks and hav
ing one on one time at Petsmart's training classes. Jack really didn't appreciate my affection which included giving more hugs and snuggles.


4. Learn from all of life's lessons
* I learned a lot this past year; that one can truly love their job and the staff they work with, that I am not fond of working with school age children but I love working with infants, that if I put my mind to it I can get all A's in school, that I can go to school and work all at once, and I can achieve as long as I am willing to put in the hard work needed.

5. Enjoy the many changes that life brings
* This year I went back to school full-time online while working and as it turn out I love my courses. I also continued working as a supply for a local daycare and in October joined Petsmart where I now work as well. I really enjoy the differences in my two jobs as well as working with both children and pets.

6. No longer dwelling on life's regrets
* I have to say that this year I moved more fully away from university and my experiences there. I found a program that I truly like at college and I am continuing to keep in touch with friends. I am happy to say that Blair really does like her life at Grandma's house but I do miss having her around.


7. Blog more often
* I think I did my best to blog more often, I go through periods where I blog lots and time where I don't blog as much. I try my best to share the blogging world with everyone but sadly so far no one has really approached it with the same enthusiasm. I am happy to say I have met new friends and really enjoy the time I spend "wasted" on the computer here in blogville.

I think that I have done my best to accomplish last years resolutions and so now here is the resolutions for 2012:

1. Finish school
2. Take a sign language class
3. Enjoy time spent with my pets playing and relaxing
4. Decide where I will work/ live after I graduate
5. Continue to move forward with my blog
6. Blog lots!

I hope you all had a great last year, I know that I went through lots and I am so thrilled to say that this year will be great! I look forward to continuing to meet new friends and enjoy blogging with old ones.

Happy 2012



Sunday, January 1, 2012

Welcome 2012

I do hope that everyone enjoyed their winter holiday but I am just so excited to jump into the new year!
I have lots of plans for this year and some resolutions too. I enjoyed my winter holiday which was made even better by the purchase of a brand new Macbook Pro with help from my parents. They are wonderful with helpful loans, along with christmas money. It is with this new computer that I hope to make changes not only to this blog but also to my life.

We (the pets and I) would love to have you all stick around for our new changes!

ps. hopefully starting with uploading pictures...