Bloomingtails Dog Boutique

We are avid web surfers for anything pet related and especially if it helps homeless pets.  So we were thrilled to find out about the Pet Postcards project.  For every post card submitted, one pound of food is donated to animal shelters.  Additionally, companies can also pledge support, as Rachel Ray has done.

The Pet Postcard Project is currently receiving help from Rachael Ray and her Nutrish “Food Raiser” Campaign. Rachael has pledged 1 pound of dog food for each homemade postcard received in the mail by the Pet Postcard Project! The goal is to give 3 TONS of food to both Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and Sabbath Memorial Dog Rescue

“Pet Postcards” for this project are homemade postcards featuring your own pets that you make and then snail mail into The Pet Postcard Project. Each card earns 1 pound of food for shelter dogs. So, if you send 10 cards for the cost of a stamp, you have given 10 lbs of food for shelter pets! Plus, it’s fun. So far, this project has received thousands of cards — funny, weird, sad, cute, even more cute, profound, and above all, filled with LOVE for a beloved pet.

The postcards are roughly the size of an average postcard, and are decorated with photos of pets, drawings, markers, colored pens, stickers, glitter, pretty paper — some are simple (made at your office while you’re supposed to be working) and some are beautiful and complex (made by hardcore scrapbookers), and some are computer generated (for those tech savvy pet lovers). But the thing they ALL have in common is how the card makers feel about their pets.

Currently, the cards come in 4 categories: Dogvice and Catvice (advice FROM dogs or cats), True Dog Confessions and True Cat Confessions; Dog Wishes and Cat Wishes; Dog Excuses and Cat Excuses (NEW!).

Please include a PHOTO of the pet with your cards, or else we won’t know who’s advising, confessing, wishing, or making excuses!

This site does NOT make money on this project. It’s all to raise food and awareness for shelter animals. Don’t buy: ADOPT!

ADDRESS:

Pet Postcard Project
676A Ninth Ave.
#321
New York, NY 10036

You can follow the Pet Postcard Project on Twitter. http://twitter.com/petpostproject

They also have a monthly contest with fantastic prizes!

Enter the monthly contest as many times as you like by mailing in your postcards. Mail multiple cards in one envelope. To be eligible, write your name and contact info on the back of each pet postcard (your info will not be shown on the site). Contest runs from the first day of the month and closes the last day of the month. CONTEST RULES HERE

ADDRESS:

Pet Postcard Project
676A Ninth Ave.
#321
New York, NY 10036

What a great way to show off your pampered pooch and help shelter animals at the same time!

For more information visit: The Pet Postcard Project

We love Mimi Green Collars & Clothing…so much so that our girls wear it frequently!

My Paris is the Diva Dog in the pack, she loves clothes!  The collars by Mimi Green are one of our favorites as they have crocheted flowers that we coordinate to her outfits.  The fabrics in the collar are mixed in a patchwork style, so that there is just not one pattern in a collar, but a blend of different color coordinated fabrics.  With several colors of crocheted flowers available, we can change them for a different look each time.

Mimi Green’s Flying Hearts Tank Top is available with optional hand embroidered personalization for adding your dog’s name.  We recently added these to our dog’s extensive wardrobe, both for Paris, our Chinese Crested and Zoey, our yorkie.

The weather was delightful today so we got all dressed up and went out to the garden and these are some of the pics we took.

The sizing is true to size as you can see as they fit both taller breed dogs and small toy breed dogs.  Paris is wearing the Flying Hearts Tank Dress in a Medium and Zoey is a small.  Paris is wearing the Matilda Dog Collar with the Fuchsia Crochet Flower.

Enter our June 2009 Dog Photo Contest for a chance to win great prizes for your dog.

Each month we run a dog photo contest, open to all dogs, large or small!  Our contest winner is determined each month by a Guest Judge, who is a member of a Dog Rescue Group.  Our goal is to promote dog rescue and this way, we give different rescue groups exposure on our website and newsletter each month.

This month’s judge is Mary DiIorio, a member of South Paws Animal Rescue & Sanctuary Inc. We have featured on of their rescue dogs, Casper, who is need of a home.  To learn about Casper, visit his webpage!  He could be just the little guy you are looking for to add to your family.

To enter, send a max 300 x 300 image of your dog (no enchanced photos please) to carol@bloomingtailsdogboutique.com

June’s prize is a Hide-A-Squirrel interactive dog toy.

First celebrated in 1999, Take Your Dog To Work Day was created to celebrate the great companions dogs make and to encourage their adoption from humane societies, animal shelters and breed rescue clubs. This annual event encourages employers to experience the value of pets in their workplace for this one special day to promote pet adoptions.

On June 26, 2009, business, animal shelters and pet-care professionals from around the world will work together to better the lives of shelter dogs everywhere.  Thousands of businesses will open their doors to employee’s pets to celebrate the greats companions dogs make.

Pet Sitters International invites you to join in the celebration.  Visit their site to find tools to promote this event, letters to send to your employers about participation and ways you can get involved to promote Take Your Pet to Work Day.  Pet Sitters International Take Your Pet To Work Day.

Our blog is meant to be a place to share information about our dogs, product reviews and fun stories about our dogs.

All comments are reviewed and approved by the moderator.  What it is not meant to be is an advertisement for dog breeders or any other questionable content.  Our policy on our website is that we do not link with dog breeders and there are no exceptions to that policy.  The same holds true on our blog, ie, we do not post comments with links to dog breeders in the content.

Adoption and puppymill rescue is a cause that is near and dear to us.  Several of our dogs are puppymill rescue dogs.  Our aim is to encourage people to adopt from the thousands of dogs sitting in shelters waiting for their chance for a loving home.

Two of our dogs were from responsible breeders.  There are good breeders out there who care about their dogs and screen potential homes for a good fit.  However, as we have no way of knowing whether posts from breeders are the responsible ones or the ones who function under the guise of a breeder but are really just puppymills in it for the almight dollar.  Therefore, our policy is to not accept posts from breeders as we have no way of distinguishing between the two.

Apparently, in an effort to convince the public that he is rehabiliated, he is going to work with humane societies.  We shall see. We suspect it is more of a plan to work himself back into a position of being allowed to play football again.  Our opinion is not in a million years!

Meanwhile, The National Geographic Channel will be airing the latest episode of Saving The Vicktory Dogs this Friday, May 22nd at 10 pm.  Be sure to watch!

Our May Photo Contest will be open for picture submission until May 27th.  Submit your dog’s pictures (no enhanced photos with graphics) for a chance to win this month’s prizes!

View the Contest Rules and Instructions for Photo Submission.

View our May Entries.

During the winter months, when we don’t treat our dogs for flea and ticks as we live in upstate New York, I started doing research on natural flea and repellent products.  I had happened to read the directions on the product my vet recommends and was somewhat taken back by the fact that it said to wear gloves when applying the product.  That raised a red flag for us.  If I need gloves to apply it,  did I really want to put it on my furbabies?

After a lot of reading and searching the internet,  we have decided to take a more natural approach to treatments.  Garlic is purported to be a natural flea and tick repellent.  While some disagree that garlic is good for dogs, we home cook and have always used small amounts of garlic as a flavor enhancer and our dogs love it.

Cain & Abel, the makers of Green Tea & Lime Repel Shampoo and Spitzer, did a video presentation for their vendors on the chemicals in flea and tick preventative products.  It was very enlightening and we have provided a link to a synopsis of their educational session.  You can read it by clicking the link to the article.

Common Pesticides in Flea & Tick Products

After digesting the information provided in the above link, we decided to search out alternatives to commercial flea and tick prevention products.  One of the mainstays in our library is The Goldstein’s Health & Longevity Program - Natural Care for Dogs and Cats.

We are now using Earth Animal Internal Powder, which was recommended by Dr. Goldstein, who has been using it on their dogs for years.  The Internal Powder is available in both powder form, which you add to your dog’s food, or in tablet form.

We have combined the Internal Powder with also using Repel Shampoo as added insurance.

For more information on natural flea and tick repellent products, visit our Health & Wellness and Dog Spa categories at Bloomingtails Dog Boutique.

The Dog Whisper on Friday, May 8th will include Cesar working with puppymill dogs, an issue near and dear to us!

From a press release:

This month, National Geographic Channel is proud to premiere a very special episode of Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan. On Friday, May 8 at 9 pm ET/PT, what begins as a routine rehabilitation for volunteer Kim Sill’s five year-old Pekingese and six year-old Yorkshire Terrier puppy mill rescues will become a special assignment with a much broader aim. Once Kim has the information she needs to treat Sophie and Lovey’s respective people aggression and obsessive licking, we’ll join Cesar on a ride-along with the organization she works for, Last Chance for Animals - a national non-profit dedicated to eliminating animal exploitation through education, investigation, and legislation - on a mission to rescue a pack of dogs from a local suspected puppy mill. By observing the entire rescue process, Cesar hopes to provide LCA with the necessary canine know-how to work with puppy mill rescue dogs from the moment they’re picked up, and help to spread awareness about the practices of non-compliant kennels. Cesar also hopes to bring awareness to the general public about the heart-rending issues regarding puppy mills.”

Comfort Flex Harnesses are designed by a local manufacturer and produced in Upstate New York.