New Name for the One-Eye Beast

In honor of my favorite time of year and love for Halloween,
I am testing out a new nickname for Bella...





PUMPKIN!

What do y'all think?

Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet: Tenchi needs some Love!

Greetings peeps and paws.

It's Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable Pet week and we at the SWD house really want to get a beautiful girl named Tenchi - out of the PAWSAtlanta shelter and into a furever home!

Tenchi is a sweet lady - believed to be a lab mix - looks like she could have some pittie or rottie mixed in her pedigree as well.

Sadly, Tenchi falls under the umbrella of *less adoptable* because of her dark fur and because her mix of breeds. Also, at four, some deem Tenchi too old to adopt. I almost made that same mistake with Blu. Eight years later... and my boy is going strong at a spry 12 years old. Let's give this special gal the same chance at happiness!

Check out the beautiful, pawsome Tenchi, seen in the video here.



Don't you just love her!



Once each day this week I will be Tweeting (with hashtag #LAPW) and Sharing info on Tenchi and other *less-adoptable* pets on Facebook and Twitter to help them find a home. I’m also posting this link to the BlogPaws Be the Change for Pets Facebook Page. At the end of the week, Be the Change for Pets will tabulate everyone’s blog posts, Tweets and Facebook shares so we can see our global impact!

The last Be the Change Challenge raised over 50,000 lbs of pet food and supplies for pets in need. Now let’s get together and raise the bar for *less adoptable* pets!

Let's do it for Tenchi!

SWD is back for a good cause: Write a blog, Feed a Dog!

While renovations aren't quite complete at the SWD house, we've returned early to help our shelter buds everywhere.

Because of this posting, a shelter gets a 20-pound bag of dog food! That's right, from now through Sept. 19th, if you have a blog of any kind, all you have to do is write a post and Pedigree will donate a 20-pound bag of food to an animal shelter!

It's really that simple - Write a blog, Feed a dog!

All you have to do is: include the bullets listed here and add the direct link to your blog post to the Blog Hop below.

* Each year, more than 4 million dogs end up in shelters and breed rescue organizations. Pedigree created The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive to help shine a spotlight on the plight of these homeless dogs.

* This year the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive is raising awareness for homeless dogs by donating a bowl of food to shelter dogs for everyone who becomes a "Fan" or "Likes" the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive on Facebook. So far more than 1 million bowls have been donated.

* Special for BlogPaws West: For each blog that posts about the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive through September 19, PEDIGREE will donate a bag of its new Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs to shelters nationwide. It's simple: Write a post, help a dog.

* Thursday, September 16 through Sunday, September 19, the Pedigree BlogPaws bloggers will host a Blog Hop to help raise awareness for the "Write a post, help a dog" effort.

Let's make Pedigree donates tons of dog food to shelters everywhere!

Power to the paws y'all!

Shout-Out from Sleeps With Dogs

Hey Y'all!
We are out roaming the streets while the SWD house undergoes a renovation. We are planning to move back into our new digs soon. Please stay tuned...

Ode to Donkey

Devoted
One of a kind
Needed to be near
Kissable
Everyone loved him
You will always be in my heart


Donkey (12/99 - 6/10)

Tired of Looking at Fido's Fanny?

I can think of a couple dogs in the SWD house who could benefit from RearGear's No More Mr. Brown Eye bum covers! I am not saying any names, Blu and Donkey!





Just when you think you've heard it all... RearGear's creator has already sold over 200 covers and offers designs including a disco ball, air freshener, heart, flower, biohazard, smiley face, number one ribbon, cupcake, sheriff's badge and dice. You can even have covers custom made. That's right, for five bucks you too can dress-up your pooch's pooper. Oh the possibilities are endless! Check out RearGear's Etsy site if you are interested or need a good laugh.

Family Meeting at the SWD House

After picking up yet another crumpled leaf and wiping nose prints off the glass door again, I decided to call an emergency family meeting. Yep, I spoke with Donkey, Blu and Bella about cleaning up after themselves and perhaps pitching-in with house cleaning.

Here were their responses:







What's a mother to do.
Any suggestions?

Reading Hour At The Sleeps With Dogs House

Dog imitating life or Life imitating dog?
you make the call.

*bonus points if you can name the nose*

If The Hat Fits... Wear It!

It's Elementary

10 Things I've Learned From My Dogs:

1- It's okay to remain shower-free for long periods of time
2- Shaking your ass does get attention
3- Stalking is an acceptable behavior, esp. when food is involved
4- Napping is good anytime of the day
5- Non-stop talking will get you what you want
6- You actually can sleep with only 50% of your body on the bed
7- Daycare isn't just for kids
8- Love comes in all shapes and sizes
9- It's okay to pee outdoors

10- Beauty comes from within

When Poop Happens!

What goes in must come out!
That's right y'all, poop happens.
Have no fear of the doodie,
I found something to make every dog owner's life a little easier.



Dogbag duffels - from www.dogbag.com
Fun, festive, lightweight, easy to use dog bag dispensers.
No more bulky, cumbersome dispensers for the SWD crappers.
I attached a dogbag duffel to Bella's leash clip on our walk and it worked like a charm!

Donkey, Blu and Bella -- Twittering?!

Coming soon to a computer near you...
Tweets directly from Donkey, Blu and Bella.
That's right, the trouble-making trio will be twittering on their own.
As Bella says: Power To The Paws!


Even your Chihuahua can tweet

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Social networking is going to the dogs.

In its first-ever toy created for the canine community, Mattel isintroducing a product called "Puppy Tweets" that meshes the hugely popular Twitter with consumers' love of pets.

Puppy Tweets is a plastic tag with a sound and motion sensor that you attach to your pet's dog collar and connect its USB receiver to your computer. Then you create a Twitter account for your dog and enjoy updates all day from Sparky or whatever its name is on your computer or smartphone.

The tag is set with several pre-recorded tweets that are triggered by the dog's activities. So is he's running around, you might get a tweet that says "I finally caught that tail I've been chasing and...OOUUUCHH!"

If Sparky is napping, he'll tweet "Somedays it feels like my paw is permanently on the snooze button!" If he's making a ruckus, his tweet will let you know that as well, saying"YAHOOOOOOO! Somedays you just gotta get your bark on."

"Puppy Tweets capitalizes on two popular trends - the use of social media and real time communication, as well as peoples' extreme love for their dogs," said Susan Russo, Mattel's director of marketing.

Puppy Tweets is part of the No. 1 toymaker's line-up of new products for 2010 that it showcased to members of the media Thursday ahead of the industry's annual Toy Fair in New York next month.

Jim Silver, a toy industry analyst and editor-in-chief of TimetoPlayMag.com, said he was "curious" about Puppy Tweets when he first saw it.

"I thought that a 5-year-old doesn't know about Twitter," he said. But he said that Mattel is going after an entirely different market and "expanding beyond kids" with Puppy Tweets. "This is a product for adults."

Does it make sense?

Said Silver,"It's a good thing to try especially since no one else has come up with a pet product quite like this."

Puppy Tweets will be available at retailers in the fall, and will carry a
suggested a retail price of $29.99.