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.

Donna Straub and the employees at Pueblo Animal Shelter are doing great work to leave their mark.

They have started a program called “Home for the Heroes.” It is a foster pet program for the military that places the pets of soldiers in foster homes while they are deployed. And then they pick them up and take them back to their forever home once they return. The foster families often send the soldiers photos and updates about their pets while they are deployed.

Only about seven or eight dogs and cats of deploying men and woman the shelter has been able to hook up with foster parents. They’d like to be able to do more, but readily acknowledge it’s difficult for a family to give that kind of time commitment. Straub would like to see other shelters in the United States try similar programs.

“It’s our way of supporting the troops and saving another animal from coming into the shelter,” she said.

To find out more about Pueblo Animal Services go to www.Puebloanimalservices.org or for information about Home of the Heroes call 719-544-3005 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              719-544-3005      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

It’s Saturday so that means it is time for the pet bloggers blog hop created by the Two Little Cavaliers, Life with Dogs, and Baby Patches from Nip and Bones. This Saturday event is in its fourth week but we are only just now joining so we better get posting.

Join the blog hop on Saturdays to meet and greet new Pet Bloggers and reconnect with old friends. The blog hop is for all pet lovers so even if you blog isn’t devoted to your pet you can join. Even if you don’t have a blog you can join to find new friends too!

(What’s a blog hop and how can you join? Here is the 411. It’s very easy … here is how.)

It’s Saturday so that means it is time for the pet bloggers blog hop created by the Two Little Cavaliers, Life with Dogs, and Baby Patches from Nip and Bones. This Saturday event is in its fourth week but we are only just now joining so we better get posting.

Join the blog hop on Saturdays to meet and greet new Pet Bloggers and reconnect with old friends. The blog hop is for all pet lovers so even if you blog isn’t devoted to your pet you can join. Even if you don’t have a blog you can join to find new friends too!

(What’s a blog hop and how can you join? Here is the 411. It’s very easy … here is how.)

Pet Paradise Resort, an upscale pet boarding, daycare and grooming resort, will start collecting and donating pet hair clippings from all 13 of their resort locations to help with the oil spill cleanup effort in the Gulf of Mexico. Pet Paradise will be working with Matter of Trust, who creates the hair booms to soak up the oil.

Matter of Trust has about a dozen locations along the Gulf Coast where the hair, along with used nylon stockings, is made into booms which help soak up spilled oil. It is estimated that one pound of dog hair can soak up one quart of oil in one minute. On average there is about 2600 oil spills a year.

Pet Paradise Resort will start shipping collected pet hair to Matter of Trust’s warehouses located along the Gulf of Mexico and in San Francisco. The company has grooming salons in all 13 resorts located in Texas, Louisiana, Florida and North Carolina.

If you have ever wondered what you can do with your old, scratched CDs and DVDs, then we have a great option for you. Don’t throw them away just yet because you can donate your used CDs and DVDs and help dogs and cats.

Discsfordogs.org will take your used CDs and DVDs, which are sometimes too scratched to sell to stores. They will then sell the items in their online store for just $1 each and donate 100% of that money to the local SPCA.

According to their site, they will even reimburse you for the cost of shipping or donate those funds to the SPCA as well.

Here is how it works.

PAWS of Jackson Hole advocates for animals and promotes responsible pet ownership through local outreach programs. PAWS is a resource for education, support, and financial assistance; fostering collaborative relationships within the community.

PAWS received its 501(c)(3) status as a non-profit in 1999. At that time, PAWS was a grass roots organization of concerned citizens, working out of their homes, who wanted to make a positive impact on the lives of pets and pet owners in Jackson Hole.

Now PAWS has grown into a professionally managed organization with two employees and an 11-member board of directors. Its mission has grown from one of education to full animal advocacy. PAWS continues to look for ways to make a positive impact on pets, owners, and community.

LEARN MORE ABOUT PAWS of Jackson Hole

PAWS of Jackson Hole
250 West Pearl Ave.
Jackson, WY
307-734-2441
info@pawofjh.org

Last year, the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center handled more than 140,000 cases of pets exposed to toxic substances – more than 10,000 of which were related to household plants and garden products.

In cooperation with Treviso Media Group, the ASPCA has developed Pet Safe, which is compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch and includes toxic plant information compiled by a team of toxicologists. Pet Safe is now available in the iTunes Store for $2.99. With the app you’ll always have the life-saving information you need right at your fingertips.

The application is a great tool when you’re shopping for new houseplants, planning your garden, or checking if the plants in your home or yard are toxic. Pet Safe includes:
– a searchable database of plants reported to adversely affect the health of dogs, cats and horses;
– detailed profiles of each plant, including common and scientific names, images and a list of potential symptoms if ingested;
– information to help you if your pet has ingested something toxic; and
– one-touch dialing to the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center.

Safe Harbor Lab Rescue’s mission is to successfully rehome stray or surrendered Labrador Retrievers in Colorado by offering medical care, training resources and breed education.

More about Safe Harbor Lab Rescue:
- Safe Harbor was founded in May 2002 by two Lab lovers with help from Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR).
- Through November 2009, more than 1,300 Labs have been rescued.
- They rescue and rehome more than 250 Labs per year.
- They are an all volunteer organization with teams of volunteers dedicated to Lab Intake, Medical Care, Foster Care, Transportation, Adoption, Behavior Assessment, Website Management, Fundraising/Community Events and Hotline and Email response.

And if you live in the Denver area you can help SHLR raise money at the SHLR March Fundraising Event on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 6:30 pm …. Canvas and Cocktails Fundraiser. Enjoy a fun evening of painting and cocktails in Cherry Creek and support the Labs of Safe Harbor Lab Rescue! Register now at www.canvasandcocktails.com

Note: No talent or experience is required! The venue provides the canvas, paints, and hands-on training to allow you to create your own masterpiece. A portion of the registration proceeds to directly to Safe Harbor. The class will be painting the darling doggie picture posted above.
Join your fellow SHLR supporters for a fun night of cocktails and painting!

Learn more about Safe Harbor Lab Rescue

On November 13, 2009, Oreo ran out of luck and the ASPCA decided unilaterally that she was not a good candidate for adoption. Before she was killed, numerous animal protection activists advocated saving her life. A reputable New York No Kill sanctuary, Pets Alive, offered to take her. Despite all attempts to save her life, Oreo was killed by the ASPCA.

This has led New York Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner and Senator Thomas K. Duane to introduce “Oreo’s Law.” Oreo’s Law will grant legitimate animal protection organizations the right to request that healthy and treatable animals be transferred to their care when another shelter is planning on killing them. We cannot bring back Oreo, but this law will save many lives!

You can follow the progress of the legislation on the Save Lives – Pass Oreo’s Law Blog and on Oreo’s Law Facebook Page.