puppytales

Anamigo.com is an online community that is all about pets and the people that love them!  Members post pictures of their furry best friends, and share tips, stories and tales about their pets. It is a cool place to be if you are a pet mom or dad.

So Anamigo is holding a contest. A pretty awesome one really. All you need do is post a photo, get votes, and hopefully win some money!  Entries that get the most votes will win daily and weekly cash prizes.  You could win:
- Daily prize of $25. (You have 7 days to win!)
- Weekly prize of $125

The contest will be running for a year…yes, a whole year… it began November 2, 2008, and ends on November 1, 2009. You also need to be a member of Anamigo to enter.  You can enter one photo each  7 days cycle.  Only one entry per Anamigo account is allowed per seven day period, and no entry may be used for more than one seven day period.

So if you have a dog or cat that you love to take and share pictures of, this is a contest worth checking out. I am going to get my dogs in their best picture taking moods, and start snapping away.

Go to the Anamigo website, take a look around (you’ll love it, especially all the wonderful pictures!), read the complete contest rules, and if you decide to join, don’t submit any photos cuter than mine, ok??  LOL.

Good Luck to anyone who enters!

If you check out any sites today that you have never visited before, please make one of the websites The Animal Rescue Site. By visiting their site and clicking on the purple “Click Here to Give - it’s FREE” button, you will help provide food and care to rescued animals living in shelters and sanctuaries.

Want to help more? There’s a fun and easy way–go shopping at the Animal Rescue Site Store! I kid you not-if you have not checked out their store before, you are going to love it. And since the Holiday Season is pretty much here already (you know it is!), why not do some online shopping and save time and gas? Every purchase you make will also help feed and care homeless animals in shelters. Take a look. From home and garden items to jewelry and books, they have just about anything you can think of. I am going to be highlighting some of the wonderful items they have from now until Christmas, like this beautiful Sparkle Paw Heart Charm Bracelet !

Check out these too cute Halloween costumes for your dog!

Batman Dog

Skunk Dog

Pumpkin Dog

Bumble Bee Dog

How Now Brown Cow

PetSmart has long been an advocate of placing dogs and cats with loving homes. PetSmart has offered in store cat and dog adoptions , and has sponsored special adoption events, for a long time.

Now PetSmart offers an online adoption process as well. Now pet parents can search for dogs and cats available at participating adoption agencies across the country by zip code, distance, breed, gender, color, size and age. Pet Parents can view photos and profiles of available pets, read information about the adoption agency and find details on the adoption process.

To learn more about PetSmart’s New Online Dog Adoption process, check out their website.

I think it is an interesting question to ask of doggie moms and dads…where does your “Fido” sleep? According to some statistics I read on the Internet, forty two percent of dog owners share their bed with their pooch. In our home, the answer is no, our dogs do not sleep on our bed. But that’s because we have no more room on our bed,  with our little ones (of the child variety)  always sneaking into our bed at night.

But I know many friends that do allow their dogs to sleep with them on their beds, and I say if it works for you and your “Fido”, why not? Everyone wants some comfort and companionship, especially at night time…even our four legged babies!

Many, but certainly not all, dog “whisperers” and trainers may shake their heads no at this thought, and disagree with me. Supposedly, bed privileges destroy the owner’s standing as pack leader. Allowing a dog in the bed, I’ve heard, is a critical dog-rearing error. Well, that is an opinion not a stone cold fact, right?

I think the decision of letting “Fido” sleep in bed is really dependent on the nature and personality of each individual “Fido” . Obviously co-sleeping with pets will naturally work out fine in some families, while in other homes it will be more of a problem.

Common sense is a great thing, and clearly, if you have a new puppy, or an older dog, that is not housebroken or is prone to those night time “accidents”, sharing your bed is probably not such a good idea. In fact, with a new puppy, you may want to visit the idea of crate training for your puppy.

And what about the “Fido” who chases more cats in his sleep than he would even dream of chasing in broad daylight hours? If you are losing sleep with “Fido” in bed next to you doing aerobic moves all night,then this is probably not such a good sleeping arrangement and it may be wise for the sake of your health and mind, to get Fido his own bed.

Then there are the “Fidos” who will, unfortunately, take advantage of the situation. If you have a dog that growls at you in your response to your command of “move over”, or “get down”, this would be a sure sign that “Fido” believes he is in control, and immediate sleeping arrangements should be made. And no, by this I do not mean that you or your spouse leave “Fido” on the bed while you sleep on the couch. I’ve actually heard of a story where a dog would growl at the husband when he attempted to move “Fido” so as he could crawl into bed next to his wife, and as a result, the husband would leave and go sleep on the sofa. Um..not so good to share the bed with “Fido” in cases like this, I’d say.

But if all is well with your dog—no growling, no accidents, no nocturnal cat -chasing– then why not share some snoring time together with your dog ? Most dogs, like their owners, just like being cozy and having a soft place to sleep. Generally speaking,  pets are not going to get any uppity ideas just because you’re all snoring together. In my humble opinion, I don’t believe that there’s any reason a well-behaved dog shouldn’t share a bed with with his owner.

So if sharing a bed with your dog works for you and your  family, then why not?  Just make sure “Fido” shares the blankets!

If you like this article, you might want to read: Doggie Dreams–What Could They Mean?