Boosting pet funds online

The Internet is a bit good, isn't it, when you see how it can help change the lives of animals for the better with just a few quick clicks?

It becomes so easy to make a difference. Sometimes I can do it just by lying here and telling the Lady Of The House what keys to press on the keyboard.

Quite a few of my virtual friends 'across the pond' are busy voting for their favourite American animal shelters in this voting competition being run by care2.com. Some of them are supporting the shelters that helped THEM personally, or their breed.

I would love to help too, but when I tried I couldn't vote from a UK postcode.

But it did make me think that perhaps I should mention a competition that the LOTH is currently running on her own Lost & Fond website. She's asking people to vote for which good cause becomes Lost & Fond's next charity of the year and benefits from charitable donations made by users of the site and charitable donations made from any revenue the site itself makes from advertising.

Anyone anywhere in the world can vote for their favourite out of seven pet charities that were shortlisted from nominations made by visitors to the website. All you have to do is register as a user of Lost & Fond and then email your vote in. It explains a bit more about it all on this page about the seven nominated charities.

Voting closes at midnight (UK time) on June 1, 2011.

The finalists are:

• The Blue Cross
• Happy Endings Rescue
• Hounds for Heroes
• Nowzad Dogs
• Oldies Club 
• Retired Greyhound Trust
• Rhodesian Ridgeback Welfare Trust

If you have time this weekend, maybe you could have a look and see if there's one you would like to help. The voting is currently VERY close between three of the seven - you can see here how voting stood last Wednesday - but with 11 days of voting still to go ANYONE could win if enough people get behind them.

Please spread the word if you can, because the LOTH is keen that as many people as possible know about the opportunity and have a chance to have their say.

Fair thee well

So yesterday was the Spring Fair organised by the Lady Of The House and her friend Alyson.

It was a very windy day so the first challenge was for the LOTH to make the Retired Greyhound Trust banner she'd been lent stay firmly attached to the wall outside our village hall.

I didn't help because at this stage I was strolling along from our house with the Man Of The House.

As you can see, thanks to lots of string she eventually succeeded.

The format for the fair was that the LOTH and Alyson had invited five craftspeople along to sell their wares and alongside that we were doing a tombola, a bric-a-brac stall and collecting donations instead of charging admission and THAT was the money that was going to the RGT.

It was my first meet and greet so I was a bit nervous, but the MOTH had brought me a familiar furry blanket that I lie on at home and I was soon happily saying hello to people as they arrived.

Apparently, inside the fair it was really busy and the LOTH didn't have chance to take any pictures, she said, until it had quietened down a bit.

Outside, I soon had some company. The LOTH's friend Jane bought her two greyhounds, Jack and Sophie  - and a friend of the LOTH's from primary school (who she hadn't seen for 20 years!!) also turned up with her greyhound called Lulu.

I'll be honest, at first I wasn't sure about them. You may remember that although I love people I'm not the most naturally sociable when it comes to other dogs. I told Lulu (pictured left above) that this was MY show and would she please get her nose out and stop poaching my customers.

But the MOTH told me that we were ALL there to show people what great pets greyhounds make - and I should stop being so unfriendly.

So I closed my eyes and sighed heavily and then decided to slap on a smile and be friends for the greater good.

We were all good pals by the end of the afternoon and we made a great team along with our folks. The GOTH and the BOTH did lots of work inside. The GOTH made tea and coffee for everyone and the BOTH helped on the tombola as well as collecting donations at the door.

And when we got home and counted up the money the bric-a-brac, tombola and donations had made £178 - which the LOTH was very pleased about. We're planning to make it up to £200 - one way or another - this week before we send it off to the RGT.

Thanks for all your encouragement before I did my meet-and-greet. It did help to know you were rooting for me. Huge thanks also the the stallholders who supported us and to friends Dawn and Dom - we couldn't have done it without you.

To make the weekend even more special I was the week's featured blogger on Pet Blogs United which is so lovely and exciting and has introduced me to some new friends already.

If you've not visited Pet Blogs United already - do stop by and say hi. They do a wonderful job of creating links between pet bloggers and highlighting good causes.

Read all about it

The Lady Of The House and her friend Alyson are holding a spring fair next month in our village to raise money for the Retired Greyhound Trust.

The nice people at that charity have sent us lots of posters and promotional materials, which I thought I had better cast an eye over.

Yes..... They look fine. Can't see any printing errors. And they are right. We greyhounds do make great pets.

I know a lot of you who follow my blog live a LOOOOOOONG way away from us - but for those who ARE in the Burton-on-Trent area here's a few details.

The Spring Fair is on from 2pm to 4pm on Saturday April 2 and it's a great chance to pick up last-minute gifts for Mother's Day (which for us in the UK is Sunday April 3). It is at the Priory Centre (which is Stretton's village hall).

Stalls will include Alyson and the LOTH selling eco-friendly cleaning products and toiletries - which are kind to the environment and your pocket; Dawn's Jewellery; The Honey B's (homemade jams, pickles and chutneys); a lovely yummy cake stall; Craftybugs gifts for all occasions and a lady who makes dolls clothes and peg bags. There's also a bric-a-brac stall where all proceeds will go to the Retired Greyhound Trust and a fund-raising tombola for them. There's no charge for admission - but donations for the RGT are welcome.

I might take a stroll down with the Man Of The House to do a bit of meeting and greeting and see if I can show the folks that even if they can't adopt their own greyhound just now they might be able to make a small donation to help re-home other hounds.

Woof Factor 2011

All this month there's a competition being run by a charity called The Oldies Club which - as its name suggests - works hard to find forever homes for older dogs who sometimes get overlooked at rescue shelters.

The Oldies Club is running Woof Factor 2011 throughout March 2011. It's a great idea for a fund-raising photo competition for dogs aged seven and older. You pay £2 to The Oldies Club for each photo you enter - and you can enter as many times as you like.

Judging is by a panel of celebrities including TV vet and Oldies Club patron Marc Abraham; Coronation Street actress Michelle Keegan; "Doggerel" author Angela Patmore (she sounds nice with a surname like that!) and dog trainer Karen Wild.

The Lady Of The House just couldn't decide which photos of me to enter, but in the end we narrowed it down to just these four.

At the end of the day it's all about raising money for The Oldies Club - so do consider entering your dog (as many times as you want) to help other older dogs find their forever homes.

Homer gives us a mention

Homer is the official newsletter of the Retired Greyhound Trust - and how excited was I when the latest copy dropped on our doormat this morning and I found out that I was their Page 4 girl.

Well, I was ON page 4 anyway.

They'd given me - and this blog - a mention in return for the used stamps I've been helping the Lady Of The House collect. I have written about the appeal for stamps before, but you can read more here on the RGT website if you want to catch up.

Huge thanks to Alyson, Eileen and everyone else who has been helping me collect my stamps. I have another bag-full nearly ready to go now.

A very nice lady called Janette wrote on the wall of my Facebook page a couple of days ago that she'd seen me in Homer magazine - but I didn't know what she meant at that stage.

What a nice surprise!

The newsletter also says what a tough 12 months it has been in the UK for so many people - and that the RGT has been no exception.

More than 4,200 lovely homes for retired dogs were found in 2010 through this one greyhound charity - but they need more help to continue their great work.

I was shocked to see that the RGT's annual veterinary bill alone is more than half a million pounds!!

The newsletter also talks about model Twiggy's support for RGT which I blogged about last month.

If you are in the UK and able to help the RGT fundraise through collecting used stamps - or loose change - or anything you can contact them through their website or by ringing 0844 826 8424.

Twiggy shows some greyhound love

Disappointing news from the Retired Greyhound Trust that in 2010 they re-homed 500 LESS greyhounds in the UK than the previous year.

Lots of people work really hard to find just the right forever families for dogs that have finished their racing careers - but the work never stops.

There are nearly 1,000 dogs right now in RGT kennels across the UK waiting for new homes and lots and lots more waiting just for a place in the kennels.

Last year the RGT did find homes for 4,200 greyhounds (including me - yay!!) but they really need to find more.

Now the RGT has got a famous face spreading the word for them that greyhounds make great pets - the famous model Twiggy. The Lady Of The House says Twiggy is a great animal lover. (The LOTH also says it's most unfair that Twiggy never seems to look a day older, but we're not going to hold that against her).

There's this lovely picture of Twiggy and two friends on the RGT website today.

Twiggy said: "I am devastated to hear about the Retired Greyhound Trust's struggle with homing figures. I would urge anyone who is considering a dog to think greyhounds. 

"The sooner the charity can find good homes for those in kennels then the sooner they can free up space for the many more who are on the waiting list." 

I'm crossing my paws that more people come forward in the UK to offer homes to greyhounds - after finding out that we're not really lots of hard work like some people think.

We can't really share our home with another greyhound because I'm afraid I wouldn't like it. But many many greyhounds get on really well with other pets (including cats).

Anyway, since we can't re-home another greyhound, the LOTH has been on the phone to the RGT today (she thought I was asleep but I was listening really) and she and her friend are planning an RGT fund-raiser for later in the year - which I'm sure she'll get me to tell you about some time in the future.

Helping hand for the hounds

Morning everyone.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend with your friends and family.

The Lady Of The House met a great lady called Dawn in the course of covering that court case we mentioned last time.

Dawn runs a living with pet bereavement forum and is also a huge greyhound lover (what great taste she has!) and recently ran an online auction to raise money for the RoyalHeart Greyhound Rescue in Scotland.

So I thought I'd give their website a big shout-out today - and NOT just because they have a very handsome greyhound who looks a lot like me and my friend Bunny on the header of it. Although you will see that they have.

RoyalHeart is run by Rachel Anderson and Eddie Cassie.

Their work, and their website, is dedicated to Hero, a greyhound that Rachel and Eddie fostered and then adopted who died suddenly in 2009. He is the greyhound pictured in the website header.

They have included a lovely quote about Hero on their website: ''Our Golden Ray Of Sunshine Has Gone Behind A Cloud, But Not For Long, He Shines On In Our Hearts''.

Anyway, the online auction will hopefully have raised £600 when all the money is in - and much to the Lady Of The House's surprise we did actually win a few items which are being posted down to us. I'll let you know when they arrive as the LOTH is keeping it as a surprise from me what we have won!!

Now for the Saturday Pet Blog Hop.

We are again taking part in this Saturday's Pet Blog Hop, hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.  If you'd like to join in and make new friends, please follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste the html code into your html editor.  Thanks again to our hosts for putting on the hop! If you follow a new blog after finding them in the blog hop - please let them know that you found them on the Saturday Pet Blog Hop.

Two new friends - but neither of them are ducks

There were lots and lots of ducks in Rolleston brook when we walked that way this morning.

The Lady Of The House likes them - I can take them or leave them.

Can we go now?

I enjoyed our morning walk earlier this week when I met a new friend called Lucy when we walked down the Kingfisher Trail.

From a distance, I thought Lucy looked a bit like me, but when we got closer I could see her ears were very different. Hers were quite feathery and hung down. She was actually a cross between a Saluki and a Lurcher. I would like to have shown you a picture of her...but the LOTH was so busy talking to the lady that Lucy owned that she forgot to take her camera out of her pocket.

Lucy's story was that she'd been adopted from kennels in Tutbury some years ago having been abandoned by travellers. She was very nervous at first and showed signs of having been treated harshly. She also has some scars on her front leg which look like they might have been barbed wire injuries.

Anyway, Lucy is a very pretty girl now with a happy life and clearly devoted to the lovely lady she owns. I hope we meet her again and if we do I'll nudge the LOTH and try and bring you a picture.

I also met a new virtual friend yesterday - Mayzie - and she is celebrating her first anniversary of blogging tomorrow (Jan 27) by trying to get as many people as possible commenting on her blog. For every comment she gets on that day's post her mum is going to give 25 cents to Second Chance Animal Rescue Foundation which rescued Mayzie.

So do pop across and say hello to Mayzie and add your comment tomorrow.

To new lang syne

I thought I should reflect on 2010 today as I may have an enforced break from the blog for the next couple of days.

Tomorrow is not just New Year's Eve but it's the Lady Of The House's birthday. It was also the day that the LOTH and the MOTH got married. She says it was her idea so he wouldn't forget it...he says it's all a bit much when you only just had Christmas five minutes ago. Anyway, we might be a bit too busy celebrating to get on the blog...in which case I'll see you in 2011.

It's obviously been a special year for me coming here to my new home. The Boy Of The House has always been scared of dogs, but he and I now get along famously as you can see here. I'm glad I could help.

I still like to help my family do stuff to help me old racing pals find new homes through the Retired Greyhound Trust and it was such a shame that the bad weather in December meant that lots of Christmas fund-raisers and fayres had to be cancelled.

It costs so much money to keep us in kennels while we wait for the right homes to come along - but I hope that this Spring there's lots more we can do to help.

Well, I'm off now to try and wrap a little present (my paws aren't too good with sellotope but I think the BOTH is going to help me).

I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve and that 2011 brings you everything you could hope for.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog and I hope to keep hearing from you - and reading your adventures too - in the New Year.

Good news for Alfie

Just a short, late, quick post from me today.

We've been a bit busy helping the Lady Of The House's mum and dad. They are so lovely ... and they doggy-sat me early last week when the L O T H and the M O T H went to a concert in Birmingham for a few hours and we had a really nice evening together.

But then on Friday the L O T H's dad fell over on the ice and has broken his right arm just below the shoulder. So the L O T H has been doing a bit of running around to help out ever since then.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Alfie, who I wrote about yesterday, has now got enough money for his operation. There was LOTS of support for his page on Facebook and Happy Endings wrote to the L O T H tonight to tell her that Alfie will see one of the best vets in Europe for liver problems in dogs next Tuesday.

I'll be crossing my paws for him.

Alfie on the Happy Endings Animal Rescue website

Help Alfie get his own happy ending

Special mention today for 20-week-old Greyhound-Labrador cross Alfie who's been given up by a succession of owners during his short life after they found out he was seriously ill.

Alfie has ended up at the Happy Endings animal sanctuary in East Sussex where they are appealing for help to fund an operation after finding out he has a rare liver condition that stops his body getting rid of toxins.

Alfie has a Facebook page which you can join and share with your friends.

Alfie looks so lovely. He reminds me a bit of my friend Frankie.

I hope he gets his operation and a new forever home for the new year.

Stamping around is a sneezy business

Bless me

What is this odd expression all about, you may well ask?

It's not me giving you a cheeky wink, actually.

It's me caught as I was about to sneeze.

All because I was being helpful.

I volunteered to 'help' the Lady Of The House pack up a HUGE box full of used postage stamps - to help raise money for the Retired Greyhound Trust - into a couple of BIG envelopes

We've very kindly been given a lot of stamps recently and we thought it was time to get them away in the post. But we'll keep collecting them off the Christmas envelopes - and if you'd like to donate your stamps to a good cause, here's the info on the Retired Greyhounds website.

But I think a bit of dust had gathered in the box along with the stamps. But one good Atisshooooo!!! later and all was well.

There's some more in here L O T H!

The first card of Christmas

Although we were missing out on the Thanksgiving fun that some of my doggy friends were enjoying in America this week, yesterday there was a frisson of excitement (or maybe that was just the cold?) when the first Christmas card of the year dropped through our letterbox.

It was this beautiful scene, below, of Serena galloping over snowy ground on a card sent by John and Judith at my old temporary home - the Retired Greyhound Trust's Crossing Cottage Greyhound Sanctuary.

The reason it was so early was there were some raffle tickets inside which we'll be selling to raise funds for the great work they do.

They also told us about a couple of events coming up in December - an annual Christmas gift fayre on December 4 and 5 at the sanctuary (which is just outside Newark in Nottinghamshire) and the annual Boxing Day walk!

They are also encouraging people to give a Christmas gift with a difference and sponsor one of their long term resident greyhounds who for various reasons have not found a forever home with a family but will stay at Crossing Cottage for as long as they need to.

Sponsoring a greyhound costs £24 a year, or £2 a month. You can also sponsor a kennel for £60 a year or £5 a month, Visit the website to find our more. It sounds a great idea to me. I'm so thankful I found a forever home at the third attempt and I'd love it if people could gift a greyhound sponsorship for some of my old friends.

A fun Saturday for Greyhounds in the West Midlands

Just seen on Twitter another great event for a good cause if you are in the Midlands and looking for something to do tomorrow.

Perry Barr Retired Greyhound Trust is holding a family fun day and companion dog show which will also raise awareness of the great work they do and boost their funds.

Hey! There are even some classes for dogs that AREN'T greyhounds - you can't say much fairer than that.

The show starts at 9am and admission is only 50p - it's £2 to register to enter a class. If the weather turns nasty on us again it's indoors too!

So get along to Solihull Riding Club, Four Ashes Road, Bentley Heath, Solihull B93 8QE

Hounds for Heroes deserves our support

Here's a wonderful website I can thoroughly recommend to you today.

Hounds for Heroes is a registered charity which has been set up to provide specially-trained assistance dogs to injured and disabled men and women of both the UK armed forces and the civilian emergency services.

The charity has been founded by Allen Parton, who was seriously injured while serving with the Royal Navy in the Gulf War.

You may have heard about his life was transformed by an amazing assistance dog called Endal who was named Dog of the Millennium.

Sadly, Endal died in 2009 - but his good work is continued today by EJ (Endal Junior) who was the first dog to be trained under the auspices of Hounds for Heroes.

This is SUCH a great cause and there's lots of ways you can get involved and lend your support from donating on the website, buying merchandise - like their special dog tags - volunteering or organising a fund-raising event.

Please have a look today and see how these amazing dogs are making such a difference to the lives of our heroes.

Good luck to all the Waggy Walkers

I'm sorry I can't join them, but I wanted to say good luck to all the dogs and owners taking part in one of the many Waggy Walks going on around the UK tomorrow.

This is an annual event organised by the Dogs Trust - and hopefully they will between them raise thousands of pounds which enables the Dogs Trust to keep thousands of dogs in its kennels around the country and carry our lots of good work like educational programmes and subsidised neutering.

The Dogs Trust also runs a great scheme for people whose lifestyles don't lend themselves to actually owning a dog - you can sponsor a dog.

The Girl Of The House tells me she used to sponsor a dog for £1 a week from her pocket money.

Good luck Waggy walkers - I'll be thinking about you tomorrow.

Firewalk with the PDSA

Some people really will walk through fire for pets - or at least over it.

The PDSA is looking for volunteers to join its Firewalk next month at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre, Shropshire.

On the evening there will be a two-hour motivational talk by trained experts - which apparently is what you need to prepare you for the challenge of walking on a bed of hot coals.

If you are 16 or over you can be part of this special event if  you pay £10 to register and commit to raising at least £150 in sponsorship.

To find our more go to The PDSA's firewalk page or ring Lizzy on 01952 204791 or email fundraising@pdsa.org.uk

Personally, I'll stick to pounding the pavements and frolicking through fields.

Food Glorious Food

I enjoy my food, but I do eat quite calmly and steadily and I'm good at not begging for food from the family. I let them eat in peace.

I do have my food dish raised up. Rather than buy a pet dish stand, my family got a good tip to use a plastic flower pot which is a good fit for my dish. It means it's a comfortable height for me - and it won't overbalance even if I push it round the floor to get the last bit of food.

Dinnertime!

I keep hearing this song called "Food Glorious Food" playing around the house. Apparently three of the family will be doing songs from a musical called "Oliver!" in tomorrow's fund-raising Playathon by Little Theatre Company which I mentioned earlier this week (See here)

I've not forgotten that teddy you've got in the tombola you know, people. Singing in my ear isn't going to distract me either.

Got my eyes on the prize

Last day of the month and it's been busy busy busy in our house - and I've been watching it all.

The Lady Of The House is helping organise a tombola to run when the Little Theatre Company holds its BIG sponsored Playathon on Saturday.

This is a fund-raiser they hold every other year apparently, and members of the group read plays and sketches and perform musical items non-stop for 12-hours.

Lots of people and companies have been very kind in donating prizes for the tombola - and as it has to run 12 hours there need to be lots of prizes.

Well, today the L O T H fetched all the prizes into the living room and stuck tickets on to them and put the other tickets into a big tub.

What really caught my attention were the cuddly toys. Yes, I know I've got plenty of my own...but there was this really sweet little teddy bear with a little jingly bell inside and I couldn't take my eyes off him as you can see.

Aahh! He's such a sweet teddy - can't I have him?

So the L O T H had to get the prizes boxed up and outside into the garage pretty sharpish in case I decided to take him away.

The Boy Of The House has promised that if he wins the teddy he'll bring it home for me......I hope he's lucky.

See you tomorrow for the start of a new month.

Thank you for the stamp support

Hello

Just a quick posting today as I'm busy enjoying the Sunday sunshine in the garden - lounging on my doggy duvet on the patio and occasionally taking myself off into the shade when the sun gets too hot.

Just wanted to say thank you to the nice people who have contacted me through the Lady Of The House to say they will pass on their used stamps after I appealed for them through this blog last week.

The Retired Greyhound Trust collects used stamps and is trying to raise £1,500 this year - the cost of keeping a greyhound in kennels for a year.

The L O T H is happy to post stamps off if you send them to her or you can send them direct to the RGT. See the previous posting for more information.