Want a Puppy for Christmas? Katie says adopt!

It's Post Time

Hi everyone. I want to share some good news with you and also, take the time to ask you to do me a favor this holiday season.

First the good news.

My Papa made me a very warm coat.  I just love it.  My other coat that papa made from one of his sweatshirts is very cool, and I love it,.  But as it got colder outside, I really was starting to get cold in that coat.  I wanted something warmer so I could enjoy our family walks.  So Papa made me a nice warm coat.  I love the diamond pattern and it has two layers of fuzzy material that is very warm.  And it makes me look very pretty.  I'll model it for you. 

What do you think?

And now for something a little more serious...

I know that holidays are a popular time for getting pets for your kids. believe me, I understand how important it is for dogs to have people and for people to have dogs. I get that. But I am going to ask that you adopt a shelter dog, rather than buy one from a puppy mill or a pet store. Please. It is so important. There are millions of unwanted and wonderful dogs out there who just want a home and someone to love. I know. I am one of those dogs. I was bred in a puppy mill for racing dogs, and when showed that I had too much independence and would not run fast just to beat other dogs in a race, I was discarded. I was lucky because I was allowed to go to a shelter. But that shelter was overcrowded, and I was moved to another shelter. I finally met my new parents in a lucky turn of events that doesn't happen to every dog. Most dogs get overlooked, or missed, or ignored. As shelters get over crowded, they kill those dogs who take too long to get adopted so they can make room for others who might. It's an awful experience.

On the other hand, I understand the need for some people to get a puppy who they could raise and train from a a young age. That's all well and good, but all dogs can be trained, at any age. And baby puppies don't know how to go potty outside like already trained, shelter dogs do. So you can eliminate the need for potty training and work exclusively on the obedience training. Now just between you and me, some dogs take to training more than others. I know that I can sometimes be a handful for my daddy and he gets impatient because I don't listen. But it isn't because I am stupid or don't understand. It's that I am stubborn sometimes and forget that I should listen and be good. I want to listen, but sometimes I just don't. But that's just as try for puppies, even more because they don't have the experiences that shelter dogs do. And shelter dogs are so much more grateful.

So please, if you plan on giving a companion animal as a gift this year, please adopt, not buy. It would make a formerly unwanted dog like me, very happy. and you can make them a pretty new coat and they will love you for it forever.

Here's an ad from Peta that makes my point a little sharper!

Well, what did you think? Pretty interesting ad, but the dogs in bags makes me very sad.

Here are a few stories you might want to read about adopting dogs from shelters.

Reasons to Adopt a Dog and Myths About Shelter Adoptions

The Pope, Peta, and Overpopulation - Ingrid Newkirk

Peta's Everyday Dogs Ad to Promote Adopotion

5 Myths About Adopting Shelter Dogs

Puppy Mills from the Humane Society

I hope you read over these stories on the internet and get a better understanding of just how wonderful shelter dogs are.  All we want is a chance to love someone. And sometimes we may need a little extra effort, but you should excuse us for that.  It's not our fault.  We were all abandoned by those we loved unconditionally at one time or another.  That's kind of hard to bear for a little puppy.  So if you're going to get a puppy or a dog from either a shelter or a store, make sure you want it for real.

Well, have a nice holiday season.  I hope you can enjoy the new year with a new companion animal from your local shelter.  It'll be your best holiday ever.  I promise.  And I don't lie.

Keep your tail up and wagging!

-Katie

Out of the Box

It's Post Time

Hi everyone.  I want to welcome you to my new blog.

I had so much fun writing stories for my Papa's blog that I wanted to try this myself.  My family is very supportive of my blogging and always encourage me to do the very best I can.

I think that I will blog about my wonderful life and all that I experience at home.  I am so lucky to be here with a family that loves me and accepts me for who I am.  Papa is going to give me the two stories I wrote on his blog so I can post them here.  So I am sorry that the next two posts will be stuff you might have already read.  But I did want to keep all my stories together.  That's the way I like it.


But I wasn't always this comfortable and this loved.  When I was just a puppy, things were different.   I used to live in a big building with lots of other greyhounds.  There were people there who used to treat us OK, but not great.  We got lots of food and water, whenever we needed it.  But there wasn't much love and tummy rubs.  We were made to race each other.  We had to chase this stuffed rabbit around a track.  Now I love to run, I really do.  It's one of my favorite things to do.  But I didn't like to chase after the rabbit.  It was stupid.  And I didn't like the way the people yelled at us if we didn't win the race.  It seemed a little silly.  I mean there were 8 of us in the race and we were all chasing just one rabbit.  We couldn't even catch the rabbit.  We didn't even have to.  All we had to do was cross the finish line first.  Well that didn't seem like fun to me.  Only 1 out of the 8 could cross the finish line first.  The odds weren't fair.  Plus, we were supposed to push and shove other dogs out of the way.  I didn't think that was such a very good idea.  I mean, have you ever been running very fast, as fast as you could, and tried to push someone out of the way?  It's hard.  Plus, if you don't do it just right, you could fall or trip over one of the other dogs that were running fast, too.  I didn't want to trip and hurt myself or any of the other dogs.  I love to run, but I didn't want to hurt anyone.  So I wouldn't do it.  I just ran fast, but didn't push my way to the front.  


After not even one year, the people decided that I wasn't fast enough to be a racer.  And here is where I got very lucky.  Some people who own racing dogs just do very mean things to their dogs if they don't win races.  They stare them, or beat them, or even worse.  It's very bad.  They do very mean things to these dogs.  But some people give the dogs to other people to try to find them homes.  And that's what happened to me.  That's how I got here.  That's why I was lucky.
Many other dogs, just don't make it. They die because nobody loves them and they can't find anybody to love them.


It's true.  I was very lucky.  I went to two shelters before I met my daddy and papa.  And they took me and loved me.And so here I am, to tell you all about it.  I hope that you'll enjoy reading my stories and that you will leave me comments in the box below. 

I am working on trying to install a gadget that will allow you to give me treats.  But I can't find one.  So you'll have to hold onto the cookies until I find a way for you to get them to me.



Bye for now.
Keep your tail up and wagging!
-Katie