Today, Mars Petcare US announced a voluntary recall of a limited range of three varieties of their PEDIGREE® weight management canned food products due to a potential choking risk. The issue has been identified and corrected at their manufacturing facility. Please note, no other PEDIGREE® products are affected, including any other variety of wet food, dry dog food, or dog treats.

The full press release with information about the three canned food products affected and information on how pet owners can check to see if their can is one of the products in voluntary recall is available at www.pedigree.com/update. Pet owners can also call 1-877-720-3335.

This essay "The last word: Why old dogs are the best dogs" was written in 2008 by the Washington Post’s Gene Weingarten. I've read it several times, and for me, it still rings true.

"Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog." - Sidney Jeanne Seward 

I used to worry that Cleo wouldn't come to trust me, or bond with me. She was already an adult dog when we met and adopted her. I worried that I would not be able to set her up for success, and would do everything wrong. Today, as an old dog, she wears her heart on her "sleeve" or furry leg. She is my number one super fan.

One of our favorite groups Pilots N Paws has a Florida pilot, Jeff Bennett, who just transported his 1,000th animal. We tip our paw to Jeff for donating his time, plane and transportation costs to this wonderful organization founded by Deborah Boies. Read our May 2011 Influence Positively Interview with the group’s president and co-founder.

via www.washingtonpost.com

GREENVILLE, Ala. — On a recent June day, Jeff Bennett flew his four-seat plane from the mangrove-dotted Florida Keys, past some angry thunder clouds to the fertile hills of Greenville, Ala. His mission: to save 23 dogs destined for death row.

Bennett, a 53-year-old retired businessman, donates his time, fuel and plane to Pilots N Paws, a South Carolina-based charity that enlists small plane pilots to transport animals from overcrowded shelters that have high euthanasia rates to foster homes, rescue groups and less-crowded shelters that don’t kill the animals.

Read the full story

Kevin Kosik joined PAWS as President/CEO in September 2011. With a background in corporate banking and more than 20 years of non-profit experience, Kevin brings expertise in fundraising, volunteer management and leadership development to his role overseeing organizational effectiveness and resource development at PAWS.  A Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), Kevin has devised and implemented annual fund, major donor, institutional and capital development programs and projects. He has held senior leadership positions at large non-profit organizations including serving as the Vice President & Chief Development Officer at the YMCA of the Central Bay Area, the Deputy Chief Development Officer & Director of Operations for SIERRA Magazine at the Sierra Club. He has served on the Board of Directors for The Emerging Artists Project, The Crucible and the Contra Costa Humane Society.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? I just came back from a long overdue vacation, so I’d have to say that perfect happiness is sitting on the beach, watching the waves and sharing quality time with family and friends. You have to make your own happiness and that means it can be found almost anywhere. We all need a little more happiness in our lives. I start with keeping the people I love close.

By volunteering at the Pets Are Wonderful Support (pawssf.org) beverage booth at SF PRIDE. All proceeds go to their programs!

President/CEO Kevin Kosik of PAWS SF serves cold ones at SF Pride 2012

Marie is the owner of Switchblade Creative Studios, a design and marketing agency that specializes in working with nonprofit organizations and socially responsible businesses. She also co-manages Small Club, a walking/boarding/daycare service. With Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, Marie volunteers as a foster caregiver, outreach member, and the team leader for marketing & design, and social media. For San Francisco Animal Care and Control, Marie offers support as an Animal Caregiver and provides Marketing and Social Media services.

Marie Macaspac's passion is an inspiration to many within Muttville Senior Dog Rescue and beyond. She gives her time & talent helping unwanted senior dogs find homes. By fostering more than 40 dogs in her own home as well as offering care and shelter for foster/hospice dogs whose end is near, Marie's heart is huge. Marie is a designer and is responsible for the accolades Muttville receives when our marketing efforts are noticed - Muttville's website, the design of Muttville's shirts, postcards/posters announcing an event, the concept for an event, and the design of the fast-growing Facebook page - these are just a few examples. She team leads the Marketing volunteers, overseeing video production, photography production, working with other people who give their marketing talents so that older dogs can be re-homed.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? A quiet sunny warm day surrounded by nature, either the beach or the woods, with a handful of my furry friends enjoying the day with me - my girl ocean blue and all of our fosters/friends.....strolling without a care in the world, just being free and happy...

Does your dog have talent? Do you like to take videos of your uber-cute dog, as much as we like to take photos of our dog Cleo? This is your chance to show off your dog's cleverness, and win a lifetime supply of GREENIES® products!

What would your dog do for a GREENIES?? Now through June 29, enter your best pet video to win The GREENIES® Awards, a new online video contest where you compete for a chance to win a lifetime supply of GREENIES® chews or treats for your pet.

"This is an excellent chance to celebrate those magic, everyday moments that make being a pet parent so special," said Tim Blankenbaker, Senior Brand Manager for The GREENIES® Brand. "The exuberance pets show when they're about to get their favorite treat is something any pet parent can relate to."

With the long summer days, we love spending more time outdoors playing with our dogs. Even my senior dog Cleo, loves to stroll through our local park and sniff around, and if she gets lucky, enjoy a quick encounter with a puppy.

This time of year a couple of my neighborhood dog parks have clean up days set aside for residents to spend a little extra time clearing dry shrubs, fallen tree limbs and forgotten poop. I think it is a great way to bring the community together.

In San Francisco we're lucky, but there are many towns that have dog parks or off-leash areas that need more work than just a little clean up, before people can take their dogs there for some serious playtime. Fortunately, you now have a chance to apply for one of 30 grants, at $2,000 each, from the Nutro Company that will be awarded through October.

This older looking dog clearly has nothing to prove, and would get a pile of extra treats and love for putting up with this man cat. 

With one of the best names we've heard,Thomas O'Malley Flufferpants is a cat intent on testing this dog's patience.

Many of us with dogs today, had dogs around us at some point in our childhood. I am no exception. With Pet Appreciation Week going on, this seemed like a good time to remember the five dogs whose paw prints I carry still. They deserve recognition for their role in my early childhood development. With my dog Cleo such a complete presence in my life today, it is easy to be forgetful about the five who laid the foundation, the ones who came before her.

The five dogs from my childhood were the first to show me that dogs give fearlessly, and how they influence positively. 

"School is in session daily with Cleo."

Before Cleo (BC), there was Scooter, Shadow, Tasha, Zorro and Maggie.[...]

Pamela & Honey on the beach

In her paid work as a housing counselor for a nonprofit organization, Pamela sees that helping animals and helping people go together. Many first home buyers approach her for help because they are struggling to find apartments that allow animals. Others have trouble getting homeowner's insurance that doesn't discriminate against their dog's breed. And shelters in the areas hardest hit by foreclosures are struggling with an influx of pets from families who have lost their homes. Issues at the center of people's lives have tremendous impact on the animals who live with them.

This realization that compassion toward animals can't exist without compassion for people influences the content of Pamela's blog, Something Wagging This Way Comes. Yes, it's full of silly jokes and stories. But more serious posts describe ways for people to travel with reactive dogs, provide arguments for why puppy mills are bad capitalism, and even posit that someone seeking a dominance-based trainer might be looking for a way to understand their dog, even if the approach they take is misguided.

Pamela is the contributing Pet Travel writer for A Traveler's Library where she reviews books about pet-related travel. When she's not traveling with her dog, Honey, Pamela and her husband foster puppies for the Tompkins County SPCA.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I'd love to live in a world where life is more important than commerce. In that world, puppy mills and factory farms wouldn't exist because making money wouldn't take precedence over the health and welfare of living creatures. People would live balanced lives that gave them time to treat each other and animals with kindness. We'd remember that relationships are more important than acquiring stuff.

via www.desiretoinspire.net

Marcie’s professional background is Business Administration, but a hobby and passion for technology led her down the path of empowering online communities to make positive change using Social Media. She has developed Social Media strategies for both profit and non-profit organizations. She enjoys helping other animal welfare organizations voice their unique mission, and then share that mission with an online community thirsting to help their cause.

Her favorite quote explaining her philosophy on Social Media: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

My personal happy moments are when I’m home and my family of humans and critters are simply enjoying life with one another. I can’t even express how fulfilled I feel when my family is together, connecting and loving each other. It’s my most desperate wish that every person and pet on earth experiences that feeling.

This video featuring a German Shepherd and a cat had us wondering, what would our dog Cleo do?

Would she tag out and walk away? Maybe a few years ago she'd keep at it out of curiosity, but today..[...]