At www.AngelAnimals.net, they recently asked the question: “Have you had an afterlife sense of a pet’s presence?†Here is my response:
My dog Rainbow died suddenly and very unexpectedly. I wasn’t prepared to lose her at the young age of 4 ½. Not long after she passed on, I found a feather that displayed her markings—red with black highlights on one end, and white spots on a red background on the other. The feather looked so much like Rainbow that I took it as a sign from her that she was okay. I had never seen a feather like that before. Read more…
Posted on April 16th, 2009
Filed under: General, Rainbow Bridge | No Comments »
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Sharon L. Peters recently wrote in her USA Today column about losing her beloved dog Rufus. She happened to meet Rufus one Saturday when dropping off cans for recycling at the local animal shelter. Sharon adopted Rufus, an older dog, and enjoyed a few good years with him. Her story got me thinking about how I met some of the dogs that have been an important part of my life.
When I was a kid we couldn’t have a dog because my sister was allergic to them. We had gerbils, and I even got a pony before I ever had a dog. I used to walk the neighbors’ dogs and take care of them when their people went on vacation. Then one morning when I was 12 years old, a puppy appeared on our front porch.
Read more…
Posted on April 13th, 2009
Filed under: General, Kate's Family | No Comments »
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The Noah’s Wish training was near my birthplace, Davenport, Iowa. I stayed with my aunt and uncle in nearby Bettendorf, Iowa the night before the training began. It was fun to visit with them and see my cousin and two of her daughters. I hadn’t been down there for a few years and it’s really not that far away. They all took very good care of me and I wondered why I don’t visit more often. I guess we all just get busy with our own lives, myopic at times.
I finally got to meet their two little dogs, Chewie (short for “Chewbaccaâ€) and Rudy. You see, they didn’t have pets before. Read more…
Posted on April 11th, 2009
Filed under: Adopted, General | No Comments »
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Last weekend I attended Noah’s Wish volunteer training in Iowa. Noah’s Wish (http://www.noahswish.info/) is “a unique animal welfare organization dedicated exclusively to rescuing and sheltering animals in disasters, throughout the U.S. and Canada.†Their mission is “to save animals during disasters with our rescue and recovery services and to mitigate the impact of disasters on animals through our educational outreach programs.†I attended Noah’s Wish training in Wisconsin in 2006 because I wanted to learn from an organization that had done an outstanding job during Katrina. Read more…
Posted on April 11th, 2009
Filed under: General, News, We Recommend | No Comments »
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Meet Jenny Pavlovic
Author of 8 State Hurricane Kate
at the
Minnesota Valley Humane Society Woofer & Hoofer Walk
Saturday, May 2nd
Alimagnet Park, Burnsville, Minnesota
Have your book signed by the author!
$5 per book sold will be donated to the Minnesota Valley Humane Society.
Click on “Woofer & Hoofer†above for more info
Click here to sponsor Jenny and Cayenne on the walk Â
Jenny will also donate $5 to MVHS for every book sold via www.8StateKate.net when you enter “MVHS†on the second line of the address on the online order form.
Learn more about the Minnesota Valley Humane Society at www.MVHSPets.org.
Posted on April 8th, 2009
Filed under: Book Tour--Virtual, Calendar of Events, Cayenne/ Zulu, Events | No Comments »
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I just had to share this F-Minus cartoon by Tony Carillo. It made me laugh. Of course, the smart author brings a puppy along with her. 🙂
 
You can see more of Tony’s cartoons online at: http://comics.com/f_minus
Posted on March 30th, 2009
Filed under: Book Tour--Virtual, General, We Recommend | No Comments »
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This message is from Animal folks of Minnesota, www.animalfolksmn.org. I apologize for any formatting issues. When I copy a message with old formatting over, I sometimes have difficulty re-formatting it correctly. I used to spend a lot of time trying to fix this, but I haven’t been able to get this one to look perfect. The content is more important than the look, and I have to get to work!
UPDATE – H.F. 253 / S.F. 7
H.F. 253 was heard by the House Agriculture Policy Committee on Friday, March 27.  After testimony and debate, the bill was “laid on the table,” which means the bill did not receive a vote. This is very disappointing because all bills must have passed through all policy committees in one body (House or Senate) by the first committee deadline of March 27; this means H.F. 253/ S.F. 7 will no longer proceed this year.
But, the good news is that both H.F. 253 and S.F. 7 can be brought up again in 2010 for discussion and a vote. They are each sitting in the respective House Agriculture and Senate Agriculture Committees. Read more…
Posted on March 30th, 2009
Filed under: General, News | No Comments »
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Update–MORE ACTION NEEDED–the bill has passed the MN House Civil Justice and Safety Committees, and will be heard by the MN Ag Committee on Friday, March 27th. Please contact the members of this committee if you support this bill. To get more info about the bill, please go to http://www.animalfolksmn.org/follow-the-vote.html. The Ag Committee members to contact are shown below.
As I mentioned before…The subject of the bill is now commercial breeders with “20 or more adult intact animals” and includes breeders who produce five or more litters per year. I don’t know why responsible breeders would have a problem with this bill. Read more…
Posted on March 25th, 2009
Filed under: General, News | No Comments »
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I’ve been doing some training with Bandit, Chase, and Cayenne. Cay is still learning the basics, like sit, down, stay, come, and stand, now from a distance and with a verbal cue and/or hand signal. We’re adding distractions too. She is very biddable and wants to please, but is still vulnerable to distractions. Sometimes I can look into her eyes and see that the wheels are turning, but she doesn’t quote have it yet. But then I think about where she was even three months ago and I can see that she has come a long way. We’re in obedience 3 class now and she improves each week.
I’m working off and on to teach Bandit and Chase a trick that isn’t easy for them. Their learning styles with this trick are very different from each other, yet similar to how they each performed when we were out tracking. Read more…
Posted on March 25th, 2009
Filed under: Cayenne/ Zulu, General, Kate's Family | No Comments »
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ALERT: H.F. 253 passed in the House Civil Justice Committee on Monday! H.F. 253 will now be heard on Friday, March 27, in the House Agriculture Committee. For details, go to www.animalfolksmn.org.
Please support S.F. 7 and H.F. 253:
Minnesota currently has no State laws to regulate the dog and cat breeding industry. Senate File 7 (Betzold) and House File 253 (Tillberry) have been introduced in the Minnesota Legislature to provide regulation.
Before every Senator or Representative has the opportunity to vote on a bill, all legislation must first be heard and passed in the appropriate policy and/or finance committees. There are different committees in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. Â
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Posted on March 24th, 2009
Filed under: General, News | No Comments »
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