2012 Holiday Gift Guide

Last year I had fun putting together my holiday gift guide for animal lovers, and I chose items from nonprofit organizations because part of those proceeds help even more animals. This year I'm going a different route and supporting small, home-grown businesses by choosing items from my favorite stores on Etsy and displaying one of my favorite items from each store. (You can click on the shop name to view their other animal-related items.) I'm also going to split the categories into types of items as opposed to who they're meant for: jewelry, kids, clothing, artwork, home decor, stationary, wedding and pet memorial.

I hope you enjoy--let me know what your favorites are in the comment section below!

A Dog Year: Movie Review

I’m stuck on the couch recovering from some back issues, and it just so happened that the Netfix movie that came in the mail today was A Dog Year. So after some work, I decided that this would be a good movie to entertain me while I’m feeling very immobile!

A Dog Year is based on Jon Katz' book and came out in 2009 with Jeff Bridges as the main, and nearly only, character in addition to Devin the dog. The movie starts off at the airport where Jon (Jeff Bridges) is picking up a dog that he must have adopted from someone he knew across the country, but the dog clearly has some behavioral issues. The dog gets out of the crate as Jon tries to put a leash on him and ends up darting around  baggage claim. A circle forms around the dog, and Jon rushes over, slowly gets on his hands and knees to calm the dog down, and begins telling him, “I’m Jon Katz… I’m a writer… I’m 56… I have a bad back… Devin, look--I have a treat for you!” I love that this was his way of trying to connect with this new dog in his life!

The movie follows the journey of Jon, who is taking a break from his marriage and is behind on writing his new book, as he adds the challenge of caring for this mischievous, messy border collie named Devin. He gets frustrated when the dog keeps escaping to run furiously down the road and keeps destroying his kitchen to eat all of his food. Jon calls the person he got the dog from and is ready to give up and send him back, but something clicks and instead he becomes determined to conquer the challenge.

Not a lot changes with his efforts to train Devin except for some home damage control—he tapes the refrigerator and cabinets shut with bright red duct tape! But when Jon decides to rent a house in the country to clear his mind, the locals in the small town recommend a dog trainer. He gives in and goes to see her, but when she diagnoses Jon’s own inner turmoil as the main hindrance to Devin’s training, he becomes angry and leaves. He doesn’t want help or to admit his own problems to himself, and certainly not to others. The young handy-man who had suggested the dog trainer helps Jon build a small fenced area for Devin at the house, and when they’re finished he asks, “If he’s so much trouble, maybe you should just get rid of him.” Jon replies, “I’m not getting rid of the dog. I’m not giving up on him.” And maybe he realized he’s not ready to give up on himself yet, either.

When he sits down at the computer to write again, he begins to recount his story about Devin which it opens him up to life again and brings him out of his mid-life funk. He decides to go back to the dog trainer with his new-found sense of determination and patience, and he finally makes headway in Devin’s training and their bond with each other. The trainer reminds him that you have to take it "one step at a time."

This movie will remind you that patience is always key in these kinds of situations, and you should certainly be prepared before taking in a new animal that has known behavioral issues. Through his journey with Devin, Jon finds patience with the dog but also within himself. It’s a simple movie with a simple plot line, but the feelings he encounters along his journey with Devin really ring true in so many ways and will leave you smiling at the end. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 (based on Netflix ratings of 3 “liked it” and 4 “really liked it”), for some of the corny circumstances and some missing links in the story. Overall, I recommend it as a great feel-good movie for dog lovers out there!

Thoughts from my Recent HSUS Deployment

May 2011 Deployment in MS

I had the opportunity to deploy as a volunteer through the Humane Society of the United States’ Animal Rescue Team recently, where I volunteered at a temporary dog shelter in Texas for five days. This was my sixth deployment through HSUS (and RedRover Responders, formerly United Animal Nations), so I feel fairly seasoned as an emergency animal shelter volunteer. But even still, I always learn something new each deployment, and I take away memories that will forever stay with me—memories of working with other caring volunteers to help animals on their journey to a new, humane life.

So what are these temporary emergency animal shelters? These shelters are set up to house large numbers of animals who have been taken from a manmade disaster such as puppy mills, hoarding cases, dog-fighting rings, or other cruelty cases, or animals sheltered during natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes or wildfires. Because there is such a range of reasons for setting up a temporary shelter, each deployment is unique in its own right, with the same end goal of helping animals to have a safe, healthy place to live until they are transferred to their permanent homes.

Because many of these shelters care for animals that have been seized from criminal cases, the details of these shelters are confidential until the case has gone through the court system (as is the case with my last deployment). However, I can share with you a couple of the things I took away from my last deployment.

I have to say first that I am fortunate to work for an animal welfare organization on a daily basis—it’s what I love to do, but it also means that the staff understands the need for national animal rescue volunteers as well. So I was lucky just to have the chance to take a little time off work to deploy! I’m also lucky that I got to work with some fantastic animals and some amazing fellow volunteers. It’s such a unique experience, so you really do remember each deployment and the people you work with. You all are there with the same concerns and passion to help the animals, so it quickly feels like you’ve known the other volunteers for years! And you tend to see the same volunteers and HSUS or RedRover staff, so you do get to know each other better with each deployment.

When I got back to work, my Executive Director asked me if there was one thing I could pinpoint that I took away from this particular deployment. It’s hard to choose just one, but it did come to me and takes a little explanation. It’s an amazing feeling to work with animals that have been neglected and to be a part of their new lives. It’s a feeling that’s hard to put into words. Not all of them have been socialized or are quite ready to go directly into a family home, but each and every one of them deserves a second chance at life and to know what they should have been given all along. The majority of the dogs at this particular shelter were pit bulls or pit mixes, but they didn’t fit the undeserving stereotype of their breed. Most of them were so sweet and were just happy to have our company and pets! (And we were more than happy to be in their company and give out those pets, too!)

One of my volunteer duties was to work in one of the smaller sections of the shelter where we had to walk the dogs more often due to health reasons. I become really attached to one, but it’s funny because if I’d just seen photos of all the dogs there, I know I wouldn’t have picked her as my favorite! She was a little pit bull mix who was just so incredibly sweet. I can’t think of a better word to describe her. She just wanted to be near you and be petted, and you could see her sweet demeanor and personality just by looking into her eyes. Each day as I went to walk the dogs, I would get especially excited when it was her turn to go out. It was hard to leave her there (I would have tried to adopt her if she weren’t in Texas!), but I know that some other family is going to be unbelievably lucky to bring her into their home and that she’ll get to live a happy life from now on. Just thinking about it makes me smile.

But that brings me to one of the main things that sticks out in my mind about this deployment. There are always going to be one (or a few) animals in these shelters that the volunteers will fall in love… but guess what? There are animals right down the road in our local animal control shelters that are just waiting and hoping that someone will walk in there and fall in love with them so they can have a second chance at life, too! They come from all walks of life and ended up in the shelters for different reasons—many reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with them, just like in the deployments. And you can’t just look at a few photos online to know which one you’ll really fall in love with. It’ll certainly help you narrow your search before you go to the shelter, but please keep an open mind when meeting all of the animals. You may surprise yourself and fall in love with an animal that didn’t quite fit what you had envisioned. You have to meet them and fall in love with their personalities, not the color of their fur or their breed. Just like people, you can’t judge an animal by the cover of its book. You may be like me and decide to take home an animal that you never thought you would… but that will make your family happier than you could have ever imagined!