While 50 soldiers slept silently, a suicide bomber on the mission to destroy an entire army camp crept up with the intention of detonating a killer bomb. The plan didn’t fare well for the would be bomber thanks to three stray dogs keeping watch over the camp.  

Two non profit organizations, Roberts Cause, and the Puppy Rescue Mission helped to make the reunion possible between the dogs and their new thankful owners. Both dogs are currently in Georgia reunited with Sgt Duke and his other three dogs until Target heads out to Arizona to be with his new owner.

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Several animal rescue  groups will remain in Haiti to continue the Haiti an governments efforts to spay and neuter pets and vaccinate them. Prior to the earthquake, the Haitian government had trained more then 80 veterinarians and  vaccinated over 100,000 dogs and cats in a large scale vaccination and pet population program.

The lives of many animals have been lost and confused, homeless and starving animals are now wandering the streets of Haiti.

The Christian Veterinary Mission has been in Haiti for 30 years, and there were actually two vets on staff when the earthquake hit. They immediately began to help families and their pets. The HSUS has been monitoring the situation along with the AVMA to see where they need to go to be most effective.

Currently, the Animal Relief Coalition of Haiti is on ground in Haiti to help the animals as well as raising money for them.  Organizations that form this group are WSPA,  IFAW, AHA, ASPCA, Best Friends and United Animal Nations.

According to Best Friends website, at this time ARCH is no longer asking for donations to help the animals stating that they have effectively raised enough funds through peoples donations to contain the animal situation. They are gathering up the animals, vaccinating, applying flea control and restoring health to the animal victims.  They are currently seeing between 25 and 50 animals a day.

Scheduled to arrive  today  in the Dominican Republic is a mobile animal unit  which will then go on to Haiti  and should arrive in several days.

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Any animal lover out there can agree that pet over population is a problem. We can all agree it starts with spaying or neutering your pet. We know that goes along with responsible pet ownership. But, there are times when a pet just can’t be kept any longer. Personally, I’d eat one meal a day to make sure my animals had one too, but that’s just me. Everyone isn’t that way. Then there’s illness that strikes a family, or death or this economy which can sometimes leave the family with no choice as to whether they feed their children or their pets. I get that. What I don’t get is an SPCA that lies to you about killing animals.

In the Tampa Bay paper online today, I read an extremely disturbing article about the Tampa Bay SPCA passing themselves off as a no kill when in reality, they are killing baby kittens, dogs and adult cats at a higher rate then they are adopting them out. Their kennels are not filled, some of their cat cages are empty and volunteers are being asked to sign a confidentiality statement so that they can’t relay to anyone what they see going on there.

My guess is that the 3 million they take in every year from unsuspecting donors would not nearly be that much if they showed their real statistics of euthanasia. Sure, everyone that donates to a shelter doesn’t do so because its a no kill, but, I would suspect that the majority of their donors have also been misled, just like the public and those dropping off pets to be adopted out.

Now, you say, what kind of person drops off pets and should they even have a say if they drop them off. Yes, while I don’t always understand their reason for the abandonment of a pet you’ve had since it was a baby, I certainly can respect the fact that they are attempting to find it a home instead of just leaving it behind in an abandoned apartment or house or letting it loose on the streets like so many others are doing. They are doing so under the assumption that their pet will be given the chance to find another home.

Tampa Bay SPCA says they check the animals for health problems, aggressiveness or cats that won’t use litter boxes. These animals are euthanized. So, you are telling me that someone won’t take a chance on a dog that has a little medical problem or a cat that maybe doesn’t like the litter the SPCA uses? Obviously.

How many other "no kill" rescues are using this same facade to hide behind? It’s disturbing to me to know it’s going on in my hometown or anywhere for that matter.

If these shelters and rescues put as much effort into adopting out the animals as they do in hiding the truth of all the euthanasia, they would have a much higher adoption rate and much lower euthanasia rate. But, from what I’ve seen in the past,  for the most part, that’s not their goal. Their goal is to just run a shelter, dupe the public and hope that a few animals are adopted to at least show their feeble attempts at being a rescue shelter.

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The rumors are circulating. Could it be possible that the Six time Super Bowl Champions the Pittsburgh Steelers are even entertaining the thought of signing Michael Vick, dog killer. A man who blatantly killed dogs with his bare hands. What kind of monster does that?

As a long time Steeler fan, I find the rumor to be quite upsetting. Why would such a hard working, moral team like the Steelers even consider this? What could Vick possibly bring to them that they don’t have? Oh ya, controversy. That’s about it. The team’s accomplishments would be so over shadowed by the ill feeling of decent Steeler fans towards Michael Vick that you wouldn’t even remember them for being the best  NFL team in football history.

Why would Tomlin even consider it, not to mention the Rooney’s? Some of the finest, most respected people to ever own a football franchise. Ya ya, forgive and give second chances and all that crap. It doesn’t cut it in the NFL. One strike and you are out. These players are the figureheads that our kids look up to. So, we tell our kids, go out, commit a felony, but that’s ok, cause you can always get a job in the NFL if the local trash company turns you down.

Come on folks, be realistic, not only does Michael Vick NOT belong in the NFL, he for sure does not deserve to be a Steeler. Let some other less fortunate, less talented, less moral team pick him up since the commish decided its ok to reinstate him (with conditions).

If you want your voice heard opposing the Steelers signing Michael Vick, here’s on online petition you can sign.

http://www.petitiononline.com/stlrs09/petition.html

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Too cute or too ugly, thats the question I’m asking about the winner of the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest that was held friday at the Sonoma Marin Fair in California.

Pabst, a 4 year old mixed breed boxer was the recipient of the award. With his scrunched up face and under bite, he took the top honors beating out last years Chinese Crested, Rascal.

Pabst will receive $1600.00 in prize money, along with a modeling contract from House Of Dog and also pet supplies.

Miss Ellie, another Chinese Crested, took top honors in the pedigree category.

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After an 8 month undercover operation over 22 states involving 17,000 puppies, the HSUS has filed suit a federal class action suit against Petland Inc, an Ohio based company.

The HSUS maintains that the chain has duped its customers into buying unhealthy puppies from puppy mills without the consumers knowledge. In the complaint, it also states that Petland is the largest supporter of Puppy Mills in the US.

Many of these puppies are being sold with parvo or congenital defects that will impact them the rest of their lives, as well as high vet bills and heartbreak for their owners.

Petland Vice President maintains that each puppy is checked by a licensed veterinarian and comes with a health certificate prior to arriving at the stores. Petland has responded to the accusations claiming that the suit is nothing more then a smear campaign and full of false accusations.

Rallys were held on March 14th at several Petland stores by concerned consumers joining in with the HSUS to demand the stores to stop buying their puppies from Puppy Mills. Horns honked and people stopped by to tell of their nightmare with puppies they had purchased from Petland.

To get more information or if you have purchased a Petland puppy, you can contact the HSUS or visit http://www.stoppuppymills.org/ or to find out how you can help stop puppy mills.

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Even famous people mourn the loss of their pets as witnessed by Martha Stewarts blog about her pet chow, Ghengis Khan.

In a horrific turn of events, while propane tanks were being delivered to the Pazzazz Pet Boarding Kennels in Leighton, Pa, something sparked the tanks and a fire broke out, destroying the kennel and killing several dogs.  Stewarts dog Ghengis was among those that were killed in the fire. The delivery driver was also severely burned in the accident, but managed to throw one cairn terrier over the fence to safety. The driver is listed in critical condition.

Karen Tracy, the kennel owner and her mother had several of their dogs in the kennel that were killed. Tracy is an avid breeder and trainer of dogs, many of which have been shown at Westminster.

Ghenghis was the grandson of Martha Stewarts chow Paw Paw, who was seen quite often on her show with her and in her magazine. Paw Paw died last April at the age of 12.

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The American Humane Society of the United States and The Humane Society International are hosting an online pet photo contest for Spay Day, which occurs on February 24th.

How can you participate? You have the opportunity to submit your pets photo online or vote online for another pets photo. To vote, it simply is a $1.00 donation and you can vote as many times as you like for as many pets as you like.

If you submit your own pets photo, you can then facebook or twitter, or let your friends know so that they can go vote for your pet also.

The winning pets entrant will then get to choose the charity of their choice for the proceeds to go to. This is a fun way to get your pets photo online and raise money for charities.

There is no cost to submit your pets photo. There will also be some other great prizes that your pets photo can win including a $200.00 shopping spree to Humane Domain in the Judged cateogry, and 500 winners in the Fundraisers category which is based on the number of votes the pet photo gets.

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We know how tough it is right now just to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. So many animals are showing up in shelters and rescues that they are having to turn them away. People just can’t afford to feed themselves and their family let alone their pets. Not only is it hurting the pets, but its hurting the people that own pet stores and supplies, groomers, veterinarians, all the businesses associated with the pet industry.

A lot of the mom and pop stores that have been around for years are having to close their doors, they can no longer afford to stock their shelves with pet supplies or even pay the operating costs to remain open. Some of them are cash only because the costs of getting credit cards machines are so high. Since people are living on credit right now, this has a huge adverse affect on them.

There is a soluton for them them,  ACH Processing can certainly help. They not only have small business loans, but they also have credit card machines for free. Thats right, free, and very low transaction charges as well as no long term agreements, no annual fees and no cancellation fees. Where the heck were they when I needed them for my small business. Everyone wanted to charge me and arm and a leg making it impossible to take credit cards.

Don’t let these poor economic times ruin your dreams, not when theres help out there for you. Check it out for yourself, it just may be the help you are looking for.

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Do you travel with your pet? Do wish that the airline would be accomodating? Well, now theres one that truly cares about travelling with your pet, Jet Blue. Jet Blue gladly accepts small animals on both domestic and international flights in the cabin. With their new Jet Paws program, it will walk you through from beginning to travel time to make it much easier for both you and your pet. To kick off their new program, Jet Blue is having a contest, the Jet Blue Look alike contest.. If you have a pet that looks like you, take a chance to enter and win some fantastic prizes.

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