Rattie Idol - Last week to vote!

This is the last week you'll have a chance to vote for Rattie Idol! There is still time to vote your favorite into the running for 1st place, but on February 5th the contest will be over.

Just go to the voting page on New Rattitude's Website and vote for your favorites. The votes will be put in a "shopping cart" and after you are finished you'll be directed to Paypal. Each vote costs $1.50 and all of the proceeds are going to help pay for the vetting of all the nurseries that NR is currently fostering.

The above photo is of the pups in the Wisconsin nursery, all named after cheeses (Brie, Romano, Bleu...) and they have a hilarious photo in the contest where they are all wearing cheeseheads. How she got 7 puppies to keep those on their heads is beyond me!

Kiss me, I'm adopted!: Freebies from Planet Dog

To thank people for adopting a pet vs. buying one, Planet Dog has put together a cool free rescue kit. The kit contains a special promotion code for 10% off planetdog.com for 1 full year PLUS:

An Orbee-Tuff adopt toy (Ball for dogs, a Mouse for cats)
An adopt. campaign decal and WOOF or MEOW EURO sticker.
A Bark mini-magazine
A special promotional offer from Dog’s Life magazine

All you have to do is send Planet Dog a copy of the adoption certificate/contract you received from your shelter or rescue group. For more info link to Planet Dog's "Kiss me, I’m adopted" kit Webpage. I'm just bummed that I can't send away for one. Those minty scented Orbee balls are AWESOME and I love the adopt campaign decal.

Battle for the Bone

Frodo LOVES the plush squeakie toys that are brought out when we have puppy fosters at the house and can often be found skulking around their crates, waiting for one of us to forget to lock the crate door to keep him out. Here he is, sitting atop the couch with his prize, but Laika didn't let him keep it for long. She's a 5 pound, tough little cookie and she just bounced up there and grabbed it back from him.

I don't know what it is about shearling material but the dogs are obsessed with it.

Here's a photo of Laika, after she snagged the bone back from Frodo. He looks on longingly but is too much of a wuss to try and take it back.

Send your love to a chained dog for Valentine's Day

We've all seen it - a neighborhood dog spending all of it's time chained outside without any company and sometimes barely even access to water. It's so sad. Well now you can help without any confrontation.

February 7th-14th is "Have a heart for chained dogs" week, and there's a group called Dogs Deserve Better that send out valentine's to owners of these dogs, hoping to educate them on why a dog shouldn't be chained. Yes, most people won't pay attention to this, but if the effort makes even a few dog's lives better it is worth it!

If you go to their Website it will give a detailed explanation but here's the basics. They want folks to send in mailing addresses of homes where dogs are chained. Then they will send Valentines cards along with a brochure about the problems of chaining a dog. Kids around the country volunteer to make these cards and then the group sends them out to the addresses that have been collected.

Last year 10,435 cards were sent out and this year their goal is 12,500. Either E-mail them an address at info@dogsdeservebetter.org or link to their Website and fill out an online form.

The above photo is from the Dogs Deserve Better group.

Vote now for the next RATTIE IDOL!!

Voting opens today for the 2009 Funniest Rattie Idol. It only costs $1.50 to vote, so join in the fun! Go to http://www.newrattitude.org/RattieIdolVote.htm to learn more and to link to the photos. You can help us choose the top 3 dogs entered in the contest. Remember, there are some very valuable prizes up for grabs so be sure to help these deserving comedic dogs on their way to stardom!

- Each $1.50 vote will bring you to the Paypal shopping cart.
- To vote multiple times for an entry simply change quantity in the cart.
- To vote for multiple dogs/entries add them to the cart and pay just once! This saves time and saves NR from paying extra Paypal fees.

If at a later date you see that your favorite photo needs more votes, feel free to vote again. All money raised from this contest will help pay the vetting expenses of the 25 or so rescued puppies that are currently in New Rattitude nurseries.

7:45 pm - WHOOPS! I got so excited that I jumped the gun. TOMORROW is when the voting starts. So be sure to start voting tomorrow. :)

A wild and crazy dog

Last night I decided to take a few more photos of Miss Laika and after about 50 shots with a little black blur in them I opted for video, which is a better media for a wild and crazy little pup. Why am I not introducing a video? Well, that didn't work out either.

It seemed like every video that Hunter would start talking and say something that I didn't really want to share with the rescue world. In the first video he was talking about Guinness world records and said "did you know that there was a guy who pulled a car by his nipples?" Of course I had turned on the video camera right as he said "nipples" which sounded like a really weird thing to say as a video of a little puppy was playing.

In the next video I was about to shut the camera off when he exclaimed, "ewwww, Frodo has weiner gunk!"

Well, I thought the third time was a charm. The video was cute - Laika attacking a monster tug toy that we have. I uploaded the photos and video to the computer and when I played the video, realized that I must have double pushed the button or something. There was about 1 second of video. So I only have a photo that represents most photos taken of Laika - everything in focus but with a little black blur somewhere in the frame. This was one of the last photos taken and note the look on Frodo and Hunter's face. After 10 minutes everyone was a little tired and wondering how much longer until the little bucking bronco was worn out.

Still time to enter Rattie Idol 2009

There are just 3 days left to enter your favorite funny photo of your dog in New Rattitude's "Funniest Rattie Idol" contest. It's only $5 to enter and the prizes are spectacular! Plus, you love puppies, right? Well, all proceeds will go towards the vetting expenses of New Rattitudes current 25 rescued puppies.

Even if you choose not to enter you can take part by voting. Each vote is only $1.50 so get as many people involved as you can to boost the votes for your dog or for your favorite entered photo. The voting starts on February 22nd and I'll post a link to the voting page at that point.

Come on, guys! Everyone has at least one funny photo of their dog, right? Remember, it doesn't have to be a rat terrier. Any dog with a terrier spirit is welcome in the contest.

The above photo was taken of Holly-Jo, one of our past fosters (was Nova) by her mom Allison. Can you believe that little Chocolate lab had a rattie momma? Her poor 15 pound rattie momma gave birth to 6 little lab puppies that were fostered in Washington.

Introducing: Laika

Little Miss Laika arrived on the scene on Friday the 16th and has made it her mission to take over the house. She may just be 8 weeks old and four and a half pounds but that doesn't stop her from trying to boss around dogs and humans alike. This little spitfire knows what she wants and she isn't afraid to let you know! She will need some humans who will take some puppy classes with her and make sure she knows that she doesn't get to be the alpha. That said, she is a loving little girl who is full of playful puppy energy.

When she's out of her crate the other dogs run and hide to avoid her sharp puppy teeth munching down on their tails (chase the tail is a favorite game of hers). Frodo has done a puppy smackdown move on her more than once when the teeth bit down a bit too hard.

She never just runs, but instead bucks around like a wild stallion. In fact she was running under the coffee table and bonked her head pretty hard when she bucked up when she was close to the edge.

I think that she has a mild case of demodex on top of her head and around the ears. Mostly the hair is just thin but I saw one telltale bump that made me think that mange might be just starting up. Since this starts up because of a weak immune system I'm going to see if just getting her on a high quality puppy food (Orijen Puppy with Mulligan Stew) along with an Omega 3 supplement and pre and probiotics will be enough to beat this without going the route of having to take Ivermectin.

Goodbye, sweet Luna

Luna was supposed to be our next foster, however a medical emergency prolonged her stay in the Dallas area. Sadly she had an abscess under her front leg that went unnoticed when the shelter spayed her. The surgery lowered her immune system, allowing the infection to run rampant. She was rushed to the emergency vet clinic but much of the area around the abscess was already dead, falling off and exposing the muscle beneath. They worked tirelessly to stop the necrosis from spreading, but to no avail. She was in extreme pain, and had a severe seizure and it was decided by the vet and her temporary foster mom, Jodi, that the best thing would be to spare her the extreme suffering that she was enduring. She was put to sleep this morning.

It is a sad fact in rescue that we cannot save them all. Sometimes there is no open foster home to take the dogs, and sometimes, like in Luna's case, we are too late to save them. At least in Luna's case she experienced a week of love and care before she passed.

Rattie Idol Premiers today!

So today is the day to start your dog down the road to stardom! New Rattitude is hosting the online Funniest Rattie Idol Contest today that I mentioned a few posts ago. Now until the 21st for $5 you can enter your funniest photo of your dog into the contest's pool of photos. Then from January 22nd through February 5th people will pay $1.50 per vote for their favorite photos. Tell all of your family and friends about the contest and recruit them to vote for your photo.

All proceeds from the contest will go towards the vetting expenses of New Rattitude's 4 current nurseries with a total of 23 puppies. That's a LOT of puppy vaccinations.

The top 3 dogs and their humans will receive the following prizes:

First Prize: For our four-legged winner, a $100 gift card to petcenterdirect. com. For our two-legged winner, a $25 e-gift certificate to restaurants. com!

Second Prize: For our four-legged winner, assorted SitStay goodies. For our two-legged winner, a $50 hotel gift card, and a $25 e-gift certificate to restaurants. com!

Third Prize: For our four-legged winner, assorted SitStay goodies. For our two-legged winner, a $25 e-gift certificate to restaurants. com!Best of luck to everyone!

Go to www.newrattitude.org/fundraising.htm today for all the details and a link to the online entry form.

The photo above was taken by Paula Nowak of Jawa, one of the 6 puppies in the Georgia nursery that she is fostering.

New Rattitude Video

One of our New Rattitude foster parents, Jessica, made a great video featuring many of the terriers that the group has rescued. It takes awhile to download, but it's worth it. Just click the link below and it will take you to it.

New Rattitude Video

The Rocketman has a forever home!

We only had Mr. Rocket for a short while before a perfect home was found for him. His new mom and dad, Pat and Bob, are retired and Rocket will have a companion to dote on him 24/7. Typically I would have held onto Rocket until he was fully recovered from surgery, however the Malone's have experience with convalescing dogs and I know and trust their vet. They also live less than a mile from us and near the pet store where I work so if they have any questions then I'll be close by.

Rocket will travel with the couple in their RV to their cabin and will have the company of the dogs that they regularly dog-sit for friends. He sleeps on the bed with them and Bob makes sure that Rocket gets all of the tummy rubs that he requires. It's a very happy ending for a very deserving dog.

Stay tuned for the introduction of our next foster, Luna. She is still in Texas, waiting for a ride to Washington but we hope to have her by next week sometime.

Tilly attacking tennis ball

So, I'm sure some of you are tired of my Tilly videos, but here is another one of her with her favorite toy, mini tennis balls. This is her little corner of the kitchen where she is babygated in. Invariably you can look in her bed and find 4-5 little balls in the bed or under the cushion.

As many of you know, Tilly is a rescued puppymill breeder who at 7 years old is just now learning to play.

Funniest Rattie Idol Competition is here!

New Rattitude is hosting a very fun competition that will raise funds for the vetting of the several nurseries that we are currently fostering. At last count we had 4 litters of puppies born in the last month or so with a total of 23 puppies. Puppies are very expensive, thanks to all of the vaccinations that they need and fostering a litter can be quite pricey.

Anyhow, everyone has heard of the TV show, American Idol, right? Well we are holding a competition for a Rattie Idol (or a rattie wannabe Idol) . For $5 you can enter your funniest photo of your rat terrier (or other breed of dog as well.) You can register to be in the contest from the 14th to the 21st of January.

Then the fun begins. From January 22nd to February 5th people can vote for their favorite "Rattie Idol" for the cost of $1.50 a vote (these will be Paypalled.) If you don't have a Paypal account just let me know and you can send me the money and I will Paypal your vote for you.

The top three winners will receive some fabulous prizes and a certificate. (Prizes will be announced on the 14th, but I know what they are and trust me, they are GREAT!) I happen to know that there are some hilarious photos of my fosters out there so be sure to take part in this very fun competition.

Rocket update

So Rocket seems to be getting around more but he's still very sensitive about his leg. At first I was worried that the surgery might not have worked, since the vet's assistant said he should be touching down on it now. He's not, but I think that it's a combination of the fact that he's very sensitive about his leg after so many years of it hurting and that the muscles are tight. He's super careful and will yelp like he's been stepped on if you get too close for his comfort to his leg, even if you haven't touched him. On top of that he's got it pulled up at all times and the muscles seem really tight. I have been massaging it and after I stop (he won't tolerate it for more that 30 seconds or so) he will go walk and then stretch the leg way out behind him, straightening it.

He's also laying on that side of his body now sometimes, on top of the leg, so I think that the pain isn't that bad at this point.

He comes to work with me so I will regularly be massaging his leg and hopefully soon he'll start using it again. He did touch it to the ground last night, which was a first since the surgery, but he hasn't done that since. I just need to be patient with him because he's gone through a lot in the last week. He'll start using the leg when he's ready to.

On a happier note, I will be doing the home visit tonight of the couple who has applied to adopt him. The references have been checked and everything looks great so he should be going home very soon. Thankfully they have very good vets who I know and they will continue the care that New Rattitude started at the Edgewood Veterinary Clinic.

Peoplepets.com E-article mentions New Rattitude

Wow, I have so much new info to post about. I'll have to come back later today to tell you about New Rattitude's Funniest Rattie Idol contest and how Rocket's doing.

Anyhoo... The folks at People Magazine created a Website that's all about pets called Peoplepets.com. It's a fun, fluffy type of Website with typical People Magazine type articles, but all of them focused on animals.

Currently there's an article about how rescue groups transport animals along the "Rescue Railroad" to either a foster home or a forever home when the dog/cat is in a shelter several hundred miles from his/her final destination.

Our very own Paula Nowak, New Rattitude's transport coordinator, was interviewed for the article and it links to New Rattitude's Website which is a great way for our Website to get some much needed publicity. So go check it out and stay tuned for more posts. I'm on a roll. :)

We won again!

Remember the other "voting" contest for shelters that I posted about? It was put on by Care2.com and adoptapet.com and you were only allowed to vote once. New Rattitude didn't really have a chance since they only allowed one vote, however, each week they did a drawing for a $500 award. Well, with just 25 votes, New Rattitude was drawn as the weekly winner so we just won another $500 to add to the $1,000 prize we won from Theanimalrescuesite and Petfinder.com's contest.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter a vote for us in this contest. There weren't a ton of votes, but hey, we won anyhow.

Money Hungry

Yesterday, I brought home the cash that was in the donation jar for Rocket's surgery at the pet store. I had counted it and it was stacked next to the laptop on the dining room table while I went to find my purse to write a check to New Rattitude for the total.

Frodo became a little money hungry and hopped into the chair that I had left out, reached up, and snagged the dollar at the top of the stack. This is what's left of it. Thank goodness the $20 and $10 were at the bottom. There was about $50 he could have munched. Argggghhhh!!!!!

The power of the cone

Rocket came to work with me this weekend and I have to say that he was the poster child of gimpy rescue dogs. The combo of the giant head cone, full leg cast, "Adopt Me" bandana and his big brown eyes peering out from the depths of the cone did a number on the hearts of any customer at the Pet Market who saw him this weekend. It's difficult to see him peering up at you from behind the counter and not want to start stuffing dollar bills into his surgery donation box on the counter. One guy even handed me a $20 bill to put in there because he was so taken with Rocket and his story.

The best part of the weekend was that someone saw his flyer in the window and came in to see him. Her and her husband had just lost a dog to old age and wanted to find another older dog. Here I was worried about his age making it difficult to find a family for him (he's 5). She was actually talking about him being much younger than they have adopted in the past. Their last dog was adopted from the shelter when he was about 10 or 11 years old so Rocket seemed like a puppy to her. Anyhow, they are a wonderful, active, retired couple who are looking for a canine family member. The best part is that they don't live far from me and the pet store so I'll get a chance to see him on occasion. Thanks to New Rattitude Rat Terrier Rescue there are an awful lot of spotted little dogs in my neighborhood. lol

The Rocketman

Rocket is somewhat of an ironic name for our newest foster who is very mellow and whose favorite activities seem to be eating and snoozing. With his one erect ear and one fully folded ear he's quite the cute little comical figure.

He seems to be feeling a bit better and has become quite attached to Troy. In fact he scared me to death yesterday when he tried to go down the stairs to see Troy when he was in the rec room. He wobbled there midway down the steps, frustrated that I would dare interrupt his descent by carrying him back up to the main level of the house.

Since he's a bit overweight he's been getting small portions for meals and when the other dogs get treats he gets a piece of sweet potato instead of the the jerky that they are getting. After each meal he looks up at me like he's waiting for the next course. We're not being mean, it's just that with his knee surgery, and any arthritis he has from the luxating patella it's important not to make the joint carry any more weight than it has to. The 2-3# that he will lose will make a big difference in his healing time and his long term overall health. An overweight dog is at much higher risk for diabetes, pancreatitis, and other dangerous diseases.
Like all male dogs (and Tilly), Rocket likes to mark the shrubs of the back yard to stake his claim. For some reason he feels the need to lift his healthy back leg to do this marking, which makes it a tricky endeavor. He does this hilarious move: first, he tentatively takes his rear left leg off the ground, balancing on his front legs and rear right wrapped leg. The rear leg then kicks off and he tries to balance on his front two legs as he pees on the shrub. This doesn't work well though, so he ends up doing a modified canine cartwheel, complete with urine sprinkle, since he can't balance on his front legs very well. The worst part is one of the other dogs will often walk up and pee on his handiwork and then the poor guy has to start all over again. Thankfully Rocket keeps his marking to outside, unlike Tilly.
We will take him to the vet's on Monday for his leg wrap to be removed and for them to check the incision. He's leaving the wrap alone for the most part, but does lick the edge of the bandage every once in awhile so I am watching to make sure he doesn't develop a hot spot there.