The Barking Lot rescues dogs from area shelters, humane societies and Mexico as they are at risk of being euthanized and/or abandoned and they find them forever homes perfectly suited to their needs.

The Barking Lot is holding a BIG DOGS ROCK Adoption Event on Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. at Fiesta Island in San Diego, CA. This HUGE adoption event features dogs over 50 lbs and they need volunteers. Please reply if you’re able to help!! stacy@thebarkinglot.net.

Learn more about the event and join The Barking Lot Facebook Group.

Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog (rescued from a home with 62 other dogs) and Firefighter Dayna Hilton has helped reach millions of children and their caregivers with the fire safety message.

To date, Sparkles has helped save the lives of two children and their two families. There is a video about Sparkles for children on her blog.

The website is a great resources for kids, parents and teachers who want to use strong>Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog to teach about fire safety. There are activity sheets, games, crafts and videos for kids.

Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog is busy dog, sharing the fire safety message on her website, blog, twitter and Facebook page.

The Today Show visited the Pixie Project, a nonprofit website based in Portland, Ore., that specializes in pairing rescue pets with loving families.

Amy Sacks & Karli Covington, the founders of The Pixie Project are committed to changing the image of a “rescue” or shelter animal. While some animals come to the Pixie Project seeking medical or behavioral attention not accessible in a typical shelter, many Pixie Project “kids” are professionally trained, family friendly pets whose circumstances have left them in need of a new home.

With a fully stocked non-profit pet supply store and a knowledgeable and supportive staff trained in the art of “pet matchmaking” adopting a pet through the Pixie Project feels more like a personalized dating service than your mom’s blind date set up.

The Pixie Project also serves a unique support function working tirelessly to connect pet owners with the resources they need to keep their pets with them. No situation is too big or too hard. “Nothing is impossible’” is their motto.

With over 1000 successful adoptions, an inexhaustible staff armed with expert animal knowledge, a whole lot of humor and an ever-changing cast of fantastic animals, The Pixie Project gives animal rescue a fresh and flirty facelife.

The Mustang Heritage Foundation and the Humane Society of North Texas hope to give shelter dogs a second chance with a little loving care and training. Those chosen for the Extreme Mutt Makeover competition – and hundreds like them – will become valuable, wanted and adored companions.

One of the participating dog trainers is Joan Guertin of Common Sense Dog Training, outside of Gun Barrel City, TX. She is one of 15 trainers selected to compete in the third annual Extreme Mutt Makeover, a part of the Extreme Mustang Makeover in Fort Worth, TX, Aug. 13-14, 2010.

In a June 19 drawing, Guertin was matched up with the largest dog in the competition – a 65-pound, 13-month old Great Pyrenees mix male, from the Flower Mound animal shelter. His name is Pogo. (And Pogo already has a Fan Page on Facebook with more than 500 fans.)

Guertin and Pogo have just eight weeks to get to know and trust each other and train together before competing for cash and prizes at the Will Rogers Memorial Center. But there are no losers in this competition. Each dog will receive basic obedience training and a forever home.

A special team of canine professionals used recognized temperament assessment guidelines and scoring systems to select the dogs for the contest. Additionally, the health of each dog was evaluated using diagnostic veterinary testing. The competition will demonstrate basic obedience skills and any special talents or relationship the trainer has developed with the dog. All the dogs will be available for adoption.

And we are happy to report this update that they just completed their first airlift! Please share this wonderful story. It is in French but you all get the idea. Death row dogs in L.A. get a second chance in the South of France. Please help them do another airlift soon by donating to the Santa Cruz SPCA and CAPS.

And you can read more about Riviera Rescue on an earlier post that I did on their work.

Last Chance Highway is an eight-part series on Animal Planet that focuses on the monumental mission of a dedicated handful of animal rescuers. The stakes are high for Shelly Bookwalter and Kyle Peterson and for the soon-to-be-euthanized dogs they are fighting to save.

Each week, they organize a band of volunteers to take part in a unique mobile adoption campaign. Shelly leads an effort to find homes for strays and unclaimed shelter dogs. And every week, Kyle and crew member, Lucas, climb aboard their big rig to transport more than 150 dogs thousands of miles to meet their new families. It’s an exhausting ritual but one that finds homes for more than six thousand pets every year.

Learn more about Kyle’s pet transport service at his website, and visit the pet adoption page to find out how to adopt a Last Chance Highway dog.

According to French animal welfare associations, there is a dearth of small, adoptable dogs that are suited to city dwellers in France. Because of the lack of adoptable small dogs in French shelters, dog lovers are buying animals in pet shops, furthering the suffering of animals bred in puppy mills.

In the United States, there is such a surplus of small adoptable dogs, 25% of them purebred, that shelters are killing them for lack of space and in France, there are not enough small adoptable dogs and there are people who would gladly adopt them. But Riviera Rescue/ Sauvetage Riviera needs your help to make this happen.

Riviera Rescue/ Sauvetage Riviera is a program that pulls a manageable number of small adoptable dogs at a time. The dogs are sterilized, micro-chipped and vaccinated, quarantined for 21 days, treated (if needed) for respiratory infection or parasites and then flown from death row to freedom in France. They are planning the first Riviera Rescue this summer, with French and American media covering the story. A film crew will be documenting the rescue from the worst Los Angeles shelters of seven lucky dogs who will survive. Once the first seven have been rescued, they will be ready for the next airlift.

Generous sponsors including American Dog Magazine, Hope for Paws and Air France are already on board. But they need more help to rescue more death row dogs. If you can help with the price of the fare ($112), please contact us at Hollywoodjinky@gmail.com.

Join the cause because animal suffering has no borders.

Three years ago Charles Hay Elementary School in Englewood, Colo., adopted Missy, a Black Lab, from a local animal shelter. The students wanted a school dog and the staff found that the impact of a canine for teaching kids was very beneficial. At 8 weeks old, Missy became the school mascot. Then the staff realized that Missy needed surgery on both her knees and her hind legs, at a cost of $8,000. School officials say budget cuts made using school money out of the question. However, they found a local organization willing to help out, The Colorado Helping Hands Foundation along with the Alameda East Veterinary Hospital both chipped in to make Missy’s surgery possible. And now Missy is healthy and back at school fulfilling her school mascot duties.

]]> http://www.leavingourmark.com/blog/2010/05/24/missy-the-lab-is-this-schools-best-friend/feed/ 0 http://www.leavingourmark.com/blog/2010/05/21/garage-sale-to-benefit-dog-shelter/ http://www.leavingourmark.com/blog/2010/05/21/garage-sale-to-benefit-dog-shelter/#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 14:29:02 +0000 admin http://www.leavingourmark.com/blog/?p=1812

This weekend is the Misha May Mutt Rescue Garage Sale to benefit the Baby Bear Medical Fund for sick and injured dogs. The sale itself takes place May 21-22 – Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m.-12 noon at 3901 W. Seventh Ave. Pkwy. (1 block east of Colorado Blvd.), Denver. For more information email mishamayfoundation@gmail.com.

Even though there are numerous organizations helping animals, in the end, each animal needs a home he or she can count on to uniquely nourish a broken or neglected spirit. It is the mission of Misha May Mutt Foundation to help you help these “special” dogs become whole once more.

Products that Give Back: Resqawearness.com

Susan and Kathy Mannix, two sisters from Utah, Resqawearness.com, a clothing line to raise awareness for animal rescue.

The economy was what pushed them to take the leap into starting their own business. Kathy lost her job and applied for a sales job at a Screenprinting company in St. George, Utah. She didn’t end up with the job, but was very impressed with his clothing line. I ended up relocating to St. George, Utah working for someone else and didn’t know a soul. I decided to join a local animal rescue group but wanted to be able to make a difference for animals in my own way.

So Kathy started talking with her sister Susan, who is a Graphic Designer about the idea of starting a well designed and modern clothing line to raise awareness for animal rescue. They currently have 6 designs and are excited to see where the business takes them.

Products that Give Back: Resqawearness.com