Four Paws with a Cause: The NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) Walk

Cooper & June at the 2nd Annual NEDA Walk

We all know that dogs and advocating on their behalf are very near and dear to my heart.  NEDA, the National Eating Disorder Association, is also a cause that I support very strongly.  In my post, Seven for Sophie, I explained why.  Here is an excerpt from that post:

Lucky Number Seven

After Miss Daisy (Cassidy) left, Ben and I took a three week hiatus from fostering.  Although I love fostering, it was so very nice to have some quality time with our three kids.  Ever since we adopted Willa, she never really got a chance to be the "new" dog.  We always had other dogs around.  We took this opportunity to spoil her rotten....and oh, did she love it!

After three weeks of enjoying my little family, I decided it was time to help again.  There were just too many pups in need for me to sit on the bench any longer.  I called Paula from Sea Dog Rescue and we set up a time to head to our local shelter to find my next foster.

On July 12, 2013, Paula and I met at the local SPCA.  We started walking around the kennels and I immediately fell in love!  With Farrah :)  She was a beautiful hound!  Unfortunately, we were looking for a male to go in my household, so Farrah would have to wait.  (I of course went back to photograph her and do a blog post.  She is still available!)  Hounds are most definitely my weakness.

Paula & I kept browsing.  We saw three boys that struck our fancy.  One ended up not doing well with other dogs and one wasn't available for adoption yet as he was still on his stray hold.  That left one.  Olson.

Photo courtesy of Paula Ford

Product Review: By Nature Dog Food

Recently I was contacted by a representative from "By Nature" pet food to do a review.  As I am quite picky in what I feed my dogs, I did a quick review of their ingredients before I made my decision.  After reviewing their food, I decided I would be happy to do a review for them!

Topaz Goes to her Forever Family!

On April 23, 2013, Ben & I stepped up to temporarily foster a sweet girl named Topaz.  We of course fell in love with her and agreed to foster her until she found her forever family.  I mean, who wouldn't fall in love with this 28 pound brindle bundle of joy?

Hounds Make GREAT Family Pets

Today I set out to write a post on how hounds are sorely overlooked as family pets.  I like to be thorough with my posts like this and include sources and data to back up my personal opinion.  Guess what?  I couldn't find a single piece of information about hounds in shelters.  Pit bull statistics, however, were readily available.  While I love pit bulls and feel that they are discriminated against unjustly, hounds are so very near and dear to my heart.  I feel that the lack of statistics about hounds is my first piece of evidence that they are overlooked and passed by as family pets.

It Could Happen to You: Part 2

I woke up early the morning after June's accident even though we didn't get to bed until almost 4:00am.  I immediately grabbed my phone.  No missed calls.  No voice mails.  I called the emergency vet.  I explained who I was and that June was my dog.  The polite lady on the phone didn't really say anything, so I choked it out, "Is she still alive?" The lady assured me that she was alive!  We would've already been notified had she passed in the night.  Although we were far from out of the woods, she made it through the first night.  I couldn't wait to go up there and visit her, which I did that same day.  I needed to tell my baby girl how proud I was of her that she fought through the night.  She fought to stay alive.  She fought for us.  Now that is pure love.

It Could Happen to You: Part 1

December 31, 2011

Today was my birthday.  I turned 26.  This year had been full of wonderful things and life changing events.  I married my husband in May, and we moved to North Carolina.   I took on my very first general manager position, where I learned quite a bit.  We also adopted our second dog, June, in September.  It had been quite a year, but unfortunately, the life changing events weren't over yet.