Controversy and Conflict in Our Little Corner of the Dog World

Recently it was brought to our attention that one of our blog friends had “called out” a municipal animal shelter in the area for what this “blog friend” heard was going on there.

We have spent a good amount of time looking into it and thinking about it.

While we want to thank the person(s) for contacting us, (multiple times), after all things are considered, it is NOT our policy to put someone down or ridicule them for what they think, or say on their own blog. After all, a blog is meant to be a place to express ones thoughts and opinions and provoke discussion about them. And that’s exactly what this blogger is doing.

Wrong or right, it is our God give right, and our duty as citizens to question the actions of our government and the agencies that spend our tax dollars. Because we at IDT do not have any first hand knowledge about this specific subject, we can not in good conscience comment on the validity or accuracy of any statements made. That is up to the author of that blog.

What is NOT in question here is: the large amount of passion and commitment  this blogger has in making sure that all animals are treated with kindness and in a humane way.

2012 Iowa Dog Trust “Pawlitzer Prize” Awards

If you read this blog yesterday you already know that Dog Leader Mysteries gave us a great vote of confidence by awarding us for our work on this blog. We see this as great praise and inspiration. It has inspired us to pass this inspiration on to other bloggers as well.

By doing this we hope to encourage more bloggers to help dog owners around the corner and around the world by offering them quality instruction, information and guidance. We will be calling ours: The “Pawlitzer Prize” Award.

This award will hopefully bring some added attention to some great but, lesser-known blogs too.

The rules for the “Pawlitzer Prize” Award are very simple.

1. Nominated Blogs must contain at least 80% dog related content.
2. Nominated Blogs must be active and post new items at least once per week.
3. Nominated Blogs must have “G” or “PG” content that is acceptable reading for children as well as adults.
4. As a way to promote all of the blog sites, we would appreciate it if nominees and winners provide a link back to this blog. It will not only promote each blog, it will also serve to make all of the blog sites more visible to Google, Yahoo and the other major search engines. This will bring more traffic to all of our blogs.
5. Copy & paste our award image (above) on your blog with a link back to iowadogtrust.wordpress.com  This will insure that your blog will be eligible for our Annual Award Drawing.

You may also want to consider creating a “top five blogs” list of your own. Let people know about blogs that you feel are important or interesting. After you reveal your “top five” picks, let them know about it by leaving a comment on their blog.

Our First Five “Pawlitzer Prize” Award Nominees are:

• http://peopleforanimals2011.wordpress.com/
  People For Animals is one of our favorite blogs because each article is designed to educate, update and inform readers (Iowans and non-Iowans alike) on animal laws,  stories and events, in hopes to get the ball rolling for tougher legislation to protect our companion animals.  Education is the key to getting this problems solved.
• http://trainingaservicedog.wordpress.com/
  An Excellent blog about the trials and tribulations of training a service dog named Bambi. The owner hopes to someday help veterans train their own dogs but at the moment she is learning and documenting the training of Bambi.
• http://www.dogleadermysteries.com/
  Deborah Taylor-French writes mysteries for children; full of animal rescue and positive dog leadership. She has taught as a guest artist for California’s Artists in the Schools, led numerous teacher workshops and has raised five adopted dogs.  She is also the one who provide the inspiration for this award!
• http://iowadogblog.com/
  This blog celebrates and discusses all things doggie in Eastern Iowa and the Midwest. It includes Announcements and events about local and regional dog happenings, Stories about her dogs and other dogs she encounters as well as suggestions for places to go (walks or getaways), for people/dogs to see, and dog-related things to check out.
• http://waywarddogs.com/
  Wayward Dogs is the bloggers attempt to keep track of — and if possible help – the lost and wandering dogs that she encounters. It’s also about a human search for meaning and community. It’s about sniffing around and scoping out the surroundings. It’s about venturing off (and on) trails of conventional living.

Please take a few minutes to visit each of these great blog sites and leave a comment for them.

We will be adding more nominees as the year goes by.  So if you have a dog blog, just “Follow” this blog, or “Like” one of our blog posts and you will automatically be added to our list to be considered for future Pawlitzer Prize Nomination. We are also working on some sort of prize giveaway or reward of some kind for our Annual Pawlitzer Prize Award. We’ll announce it at a later date.

Related articles

• Five Animal Blogs I Dig (dogleadermysteries.com)

 

This Year Make a New Years Resolution You Can Keep

Please Help Me. If not you, Who?

We all do it. It’s really nothing new. We all sit around during the holidays and proclaim that “This coming year it’s going to be different. This year I’m going to ….” and then we go into detail about what we are going to do different and how our life will be different because of it.

But by the end of January the “resolution for change” has been put on the back burner (so to speak) or forgotten completely. But that’s OK. No one got hurt, no one’s life was harmed because of it … it’s just something that never got done. Right?

Well it might not be that simple! Lives might actually be hanging in the balance, be lost, or at the very least, they might be changed for the worst.

I’m not talking about humans here. I’m actually talking about the pets that live in shelters and with rescue groups across our great land. Millions of shelter pets are counting on us to look after them and to provide the much needed resources that they need so that they can live long enough to find great homes.

So this year, why not make a resolution you can easily keep? Resolve to help your local shelters and rescues … and then do it.

It’s actually very easy! Just search Google or Yahoo for “Animal Shelter” or “Animal Rescue” and then put your city or state behind it. When the results page is displayed, simply click on the links and pick the one (or more) groups that you like the best.

Then contact them and give them a few dollars. Any amount will be helpful. You can also take them some old blankets, towels, a few gallons of bleach or some cleaning supplies. Every shelter and group has something that they need. All you need to do is ask. Better yet, why not give them a few minutes of your time once in a while. They can always use an extra hand so help out where ever you can. They will really appreciate it!

If you can’t decide, just drop us an email and we’ll help you figure out which group is the best fit for your assistance.

Remember … Donate Locally or Your Donation will NOT Help Local Pets In Need!

Merry Christmas From Iowa Dog Trust

We would like to thank everyone for supporting the efforts of the Iowa Dog Trust  to help the children and the dogs of Iowa. We would like to wish everyone the Happiest Christmas and the very best in the coming new year!

No Big Deal, It’s Just a Dog

No Big Deal, It’s Just a Dog

How many times have we all heard someone say, “No big deal, It’s Just A Dog?” If you are like me, you wonder what they really mean when they say it!

Many people look at our four-footed friends and say, “It’s just a dog” … and in most cases that’s OK. When they say it, it’s just because they simply have never had a dog in their life.

Some of the population only sees a dog as an animal that is used to guard a home from burglars, or used as a workout buddy, or as a babysitter for the kids, or as an accessory for movie stars and millionaires.

On the other hand the phrase “It’s Just a Dog” scares me a bit. And it is the reason our animal shelters and rescues are filled to capacity most of the time. I say this because these are the people who say it and really mean, “It’s just another thing that I own.”  These are the people that, once the newness is gone the dog is simply cast aside like a worn out pair of shoes or a torn coat. Most “Just a Dog’s” are left outside in the yard or kept in a small kennel with barely enough to eat, little or no shelter and very little (if any) human contact. In the worst-case scenario, these kinds of people drive them out into the countryside and dump them by the side of the road miles from home. They are left to fend for themselves. But theses aren’t the worst “It’s Just a Dog” people. Not by a long shot!

There is one more group of people that say, “It’s Just a Dog”. They are the ones who see nothing wrong with abusing dogs. They are the ones who hit, kick, fight, shoot and take pleasure from inflecting abuse.

This group of people has no respect for life, human or otherwise. They use and treat dogs like property. They use them up, throw them away like trash, and then get more. The really scary part is that a lot of these people are children under the age of 18. A study of children who have been convicted and treated for animal abuse issues are almost 3 times as likely to commit violent crimes after they reach the age of 18. (Source: Juvenal Justice Newsletter)

It is up to use to spend time and teach children from a very early age. They must learn that animals are not things that can or should be abused. The study showed that incidents of abuse started as early as the age of three.

It’s up to us. The ones who never say, “It’s Just a Dog” … We are the ones that know and respect what dog’s can do. We are the ones that need to educate those who do not know that there is no such thing as “Just a Dog”.

Please support the Iowa Dog Trust and other organizations like us. With your help, we can all make a difference.

Related articles

• Our Young People Need Our Help (iowadogtrust.wordpress.com)

Welcome to the Iowa Dog Trust Blog

The Iowa Dog Trust programs are designed to teach both young people & their adults all aspects of responsible dog ownership. When fully implemented, our programs will supply dog owners with all of the information they need for daily life with a dog.

One of the main sources of this information will be an interactive website. We will also provide free and low cost instructional seminars, workshops, medical consultation and dog adoption counseling. 

For fun, the Iowa Dog Trust will organize statewide outings, fund raising events, exhibitions and dog fairs. With the help of area groups we will also be presenting all forms of dog sport competitions, including (but not limited to) Agility and Obedience trials, Dock Dog and Frisbee Disc competitions, Flyball and other trained disciplines. 

With community involvement we also hope to provide assistance across the state to those owners who, for one reason or another, are no longer able to afford the level of care or training that their dogs need. We believe that the loss of a job, displacement or illness should not affect the lives of our “best friends”.

This Blog will serve as a way for us to keep you up to date on the things that are happening and to share announcements of upcoming events.