October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Posted on by — 12 Comments ↓

Good Morning,

October has arrived and with it the Month of Domestic Violence Awareness. This is very close to my heart as I am a proud survivor.

I am one of the lucky ones that managed to get away with my little dog, hid at a friend and then moved to a new city where we were both helped.  If I had left my dog I know my ex would have carried on abusing her so the minute I could run, we ran.

She since has passed away, but she was my inspiration, my hero, my trooper and my lifeline through those dark days, and when she passed it was when I was finally in my own home so she knew I was safe, and could then open my heart to a new pup, and Layla arrived to live with me.  Layla wears a tag that says: Shelter Survivor which speaks for both of us.

Today I am not going to talk about me, but “The Power and Control Wheel” of Animal Abuse and Domestic Violence. This gives us a better understanding as to what happens behind closed doors, and why so many victims stay in the relationships.

  1. Threats – The abuser will threaten to kill or abuse the pet during the relationship or if left behind. (I stayed in mine to protect Baby.)
  2. Isolation – Refusing vet care for the pet. Isolating the victim that the pet also suffers as it is not socialized with other dogs. It is as if you are living in a cage.
  3. Emotional Abuse – Giving away or killing the pet to take away her source of unconditional love.
  4. Economical Abuse – Refusing to permit her to buy pet food or vet care
  5. Legal Abuse – Custody battles over pets. This is heart breaking as they file charges against the victim claiming theft if she leaves with the pet.
  6. Intimidation – Harming or killing the pet and then saying to the victim “Next time it will be you…..” They do this to family and friends who assist with the victim and pets getting away.
  7. Denying and blaming – Blaming the victim or the pet when something happens.

An abuser will want to control everything, and if he or she does not have that, we, the humans, kids or pets become the victims of his or her anger, although he/she will never admit it.

So when people reach out and talk about wanting to leave a Domestic Violence relationship but cannot leave their pets, these are some of the reasons and I from experience would have rather carried on suffering the abuse to make sure Baby was safe, than left her in a house where she would suffer.

Today things have changed and there are Domestic Violence shelters that are allowing pets or they will know where your pet can go and be safe.

Pets do not understand abuse the way we do and they should not have to suffer at the hands of an abuser of any kind as they give us the unconditional love and loyalty that unfortunately humans do not do.

Be safe, have a wonderful week, with a woof of love from

Layla

 

National Domestic Violence Hotline Phone number : 800-799-7233

Red Rover – they help Domestic Violence Victims and their pets https://redrover.org/domestic-violence-and-pets/

 

October Pet Holidays and Observances

Posted on by — Leave a reply

 

Fall has arrived, the weather is cooling down but that does not mean we do not celebrate our pets. October is important to me as it is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Pets are victims too. We must not forget them.

Month

  • Adopt a Dog Month
  • Adopt a Shelter Dog Month
  • Black Cat Awareness Month
  • National Pet CBD Month
  • National Pet Wellness Month
  • National Pit Bull Awareness Month
  • National Service Dog Month
  • National Domestic Violence Month – Pets are victims also

Week

  • National Walk Your Dog Week – October 1-7 (First Week of October)
  •  National Wolf Awareness Week.- October 15 – 21

Days

  • National Black Dog Day – October 1
  • National Fire Pup Day – October 1
  • National Walk Your Dog Day – October 1
  •  Canine Companion Day – October 2
  •  Feast of St Francis of Assisi – October 4
  • World Pet’s Day – October 4
  • Kindness to Animal Day – October 4
  • Catober 9th October 9th – Universal birthday to all shelter cats that birthdays are unknown
  • World Animal Road Accident Awareness Day – October 10
  • Vet Nurse Day – October 13
  • National Pug Day – October 15
  • Global Cat Day – October 16
  • National Feral Cat Day – October 16
  • National Pets for Veterans Day – October 21
  • National Pit Bull Awareness Day – Octobber 22
  • National Make A Dogs Day
  • National Black Cat Day (U.K) – October 27
  • National Fetch Day – October 28
  • National Cat Day – October 29
  • National Treat Your Pet Day – October 30

Have a wonderful October everyone,

Love Layla

 

Our New Year is starting

Posted on by — 10 Comments ↓

Good morning Everyone,

Friday has arrived and with it today we celebrate the Jewish New Year. Our New Year is based on the Hebrew Calendar, and we are celebrating the year 5784. It starts at sunset this evening and ends on Sunday evening as in the Jewish Religion our day starts at sunset and ends at sunset.

We wish everyone a Sweet New Year and  we celebrate with the following :

Apples and Honey for a Sweet New Year

Pomegranate seeds which symbolize plentiful for the New Year

A round Challah (special bread) which symbolizes a reflection of the continuing cycle of years and seasons

Another symbol is the blowing of the Rams Horn, Shofar which symbolizes continuity and a hopeful future. The Shofar is blown in Temple during the service.

Below is a video of what we say to everyone !

https://youtube.com/shorts/1tu_QJ5PxOs?si=TEH1s558T1I9GvN_

To start the New Year I decided to take Layla for her senior check up at the vet today. I am blessed to have a wonderful vet who understands all my quirks as a Jewish Dog Mom. We discussed her health over all which she is happy with but wants to do a Senior Panel of blood tests to check her liver and kidneys which costs a fortune so am waiting to hear from my insurance if they will cover it. I am just relieved that for her age, nearly 17 she is healthy, not over weight, heart is good and she is walking great for her age. So will be praying I get the okay for the tests so that I can get them done and relax totally. We also discussed her grooming as she needs a haircut but because of her age and anxiety I am scared to take her as it normally a 3 hour ordeal for her and my vet said to step back from that at the moment.

Smiling in the park this week

Napping in the park this week

On behalf of Layla and Me we are wishing everyone a safe happy healthy New Year and may it be prosperous,

With a woof and love from

Layla

September is National Disaster Preparedness Month

Posted on by — 12 Comments ↓

Woof Hello all my friends.

Did you know September is National Disaster Preparedness Month. Are you prepared?

We are family so we all must be prepared, humans and we pets so if something happens we can just leave the house safely. With climate change and weather conditions changing all over the world we must be prepared just in case we are caught off guard. It is a worry and I worry especially since Layla has aged and become blind what would happen if I am not home so I have come to an agreement with my neighbors that when I go out for a couple of hours they are warned just in case and I leave a pet carrier out with her harness inside so that they can grab her safely and leave the building.  It might sound crazy but for me I feel more relaxed knowing she is safe plus I have a sticker on my door saying blind dog inside with instructions that the pet carrier is there for her to go out in as she cannot walk fast.

Being prepared with a disaster bag is so important also. I have one prepared with items for Layla and me, including food and water. Living in San Francisco where earthquakes can happen without a warning, I would rather be safe than sorry.

So who is prepared and what do you have to grab to get out safely ?

Last weekend being a long weekend and the weather being perfect I decided to take Layla down to the Embarcadero or Promenade, it is easy to get there on train ride each way and they have a wonderful lawn there where I sat back and relaxed while Layla ran around tail wagging and happy. Umm did I say sit back and relax LOL I was chasing after her to make sure she did not leave the lawn and land up on the promenade which was full of people, dogs, bikers plus so much more. She had so much fun and actually at one point lay down and fell asleep. It was a great couple of hours, relaxing and there is nothing like smelling the sea air of the bay, watching the yachts sailing by, the seagulls flying around and the calm blue waters was so calming.

Lots of new smells

Smelling the flowers

Am thirsty

You can see on the video below how happy she was running like there were no problems in the world, a happy Layla is a happy Me.

https://youtube.com/shorts/WJ2grRFtkHw?feature=share

This weekend I have not thought what to do am going with the flow but am sure we will do something fun together, make memories and be outdoors enjoying the weather while it lasts.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Stay safe,

With a woof and love from Layla

 

 

 

 

 

September 2023 Pet Holidays and Observances

Posted on by — 3 Comments ↓

 

September Pet Holidays and Observance

 

WOW summer is nearly over, weather is cooling here in San Francisco and September has arrived. Let see what are the holidays for us pets in September, woof.

 

Month

 

Animal Pain Awareness Month.

Happy Cat Month.

National Disaster Preparedness Month – Are you prepared ?

National Service Dog Month

Pet Memorial Month.

Pet Sitter Education Month.

Responsible Dog Ownership Month.

World Animal Remembrance Month.

 

Week-Long Observances

Sept. 18-24:  Adopt A less Adoptable Pet Week

Sept. 24-30: National Deaf Dog Awareness Week.

Sept. 24-30: National Dog Week

 

One-Day Holidays

 

Sept. 1:  Ginger Cat Appreciation Day

Sept. 5: National White Cat Day.

Sept. 8: National Dog Walker Appreciation Day

Sept. 9: Tuxie Appreciation Day.

Sept. 10: National Pet Memorial Day.

Sept. 10: National Hug Your Hound Day

Sept. 13: Pet Birth Defect Awareness Day.

Sept. 13: Scooby Doo Day.

Sept. 16: Puppy Mill Awareness Day. 

Sept. 16: Responsible Dog Ownership Day. 

Sept. 17: National Pet Carbon Monoxide Safety Day.

Sept. 19: National Meow Like a Pirate Day.

Sept. 19:  National Cat DNA Day

Sept. 21: National Cat and Dog Gut Health Awareness Day.

Sept. 22: National Walk ‘n’ Roll Dog Day. 

Sept. 23: Adopted Dog Day.

Sept. 27: Sighthound Day.

Sept. 28: Remember Me Thursday #RememberMeThursday A very important day

Sept. 28:  World Rabies Day. 

Sept. 30: National Puppy Mill Survivor Day.

Lots of Observances and for us the most important one is #RememberMeThursday.

Have a wonderful safe September with love from Layla

 

September is here

Posted on by — 10 Comments ↓

Woof everyone, September has arrived.

September is a very important month as Remember Me Thursday happens this month and we must not forget all our fur friends in shelters that are looking for homes, but I will talk more about it on another blog.

We have a long weekend this weekend and I am so excited. Mom has promised to spoil me extra and weather permitting we will spend as much time outdoors and go on a train ride which I love going on so am hoping it won’t be too hot and we can do that adventure.

We had a busy week but Mom took me last Saturday to another park where they were having a Shi Tzu meet up, something we have not done in a long time but it was so much fun, a different park meant lots of new smells, it was chilly but so worth going although BOL Mom left her coffee at home which was mixed with Hot Chocolate from Real Mushrooms https://shop.realmushrooms.com/?ref=488 and she was not happy BOL. I did a lot of sniffing, rolled in my stroller, and made some new friends, plus of course got lots of treats. It was so much fun and I hope we will do it again soon.

Sniffing is the best

There were lots of stairs so Mom put me in my stroller to be safe but you can see the fog over the city in the background

On Tuesday I met up with my friends in my park, we had what Mom called a Senior Rescue meet up although I napped under the tree Coco and Thomas had fun and there was a lot of laughter and of course treats.

Coco

Thomas

I love sleeping on the lawn under the tree, Layla

Labor Day weekend is a long weekend with lots of family fun but please keep us safe, see the list below that we must be aware of to keep them safe plus if we follow this list we can kick back and relax with no worries.

  • Keep Food and Drinks Out of Paws’ Reach
  • Pay Attention to Where You Discard Grease
  • Don’t leave pets unattended near open water
  • Discard food items safely
  • Lookout for heatstroke

Have a safe wonderful weekend everyone, we cannot wait to see your photos of your weekend,

With a woof and love from Layla

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I might be old but I am healthy

Posted on by — 16 Comments ↓

Good Morning Friends,

We hope you are staying cool in the awful hot weather and of course drinking lots of water. Today I am going to share with you my secrets on why I am so healthy for an old girl and am very blessed to have a doting Mom like mine, who makes sure I get all the nutrients I need to stay healthy.

When Mom rescued me, I was living off kibbles yuck, and she immediately changed me over to home cooked food with lots of veggies and fruits. With aging she has added some supplements to my food to help my old body stay well and although it might sound crazy it seems to be working BOL. I also make her walk as much as possible as exercise is very important for her joints plus to keep her brain active I fill snuffle toys and make her work getting them out. It keeps her busy and therefore not sleeping the day away.

You can read more about how bad kibble is on this website and why raw food is healthier for your dogs

https://www.thepetfoodcon.com/

park time

Food – In this house we do not believe in kibbles of any kinds, gross, they have fillers and other not good stuff in them. I like my home cooked food although Mom has introduced me to raw food also and we now alternate as changing my diet keeps me interested in food BOL. The company Mom gets my food from is Raw Paws Pet Food, great yum products, and worth checking out. The plus is the raw food has fish in it also, so I am getting the balanced diet I need.

https://www.rawpawspetfood.com/Default.asp?sscid=51k3_szat  Coupon LaylasWoof15

 

Mushrooms – Mom has gone crazy about mushrooms but honestly there is a method to her madness. She loves supplements that are powder so she can mix it in with my food and that is what is so great about these. She mixes in the 5 Defenders and Lions Mane Mushroom Powder Extract into my food daily and I feel the difference and Mom sees the difference in my brain functions from the Lions Maane , for an old girl my brain is working well. I also get their calming supplement which relaxes me at night, and I am sleeping through the night which Mom is loving, BOL. The Mushroom company has now started supplements for my cat friends and as Mom says we must not forget to remind our humans that the hot chocolate is so good for us coffee lovers. Real Mushrooms are the best.

https://shop.realmushrooms.com/?ref=488  Coupon code for 10% off with LaylasWoof

My old joint and muscles – Mom is determined to keep me mobile and walking without pain and thanks to this amazing formula it is working and I am as energetic as a you pup with the Hip and Joint Supplement plus muscle formula, I am a happy camper here.

https://myospet.com/?aff=852

Senior Supplement – All In from Vetericyn. This is one that keeps my insides healthy, relaxes me during the day and soothes my aches and pains if I have any. Mom started me on this supplement when I refused to take the one for my liver and since on it my liver levels have stabilized so if  Mom is happy I am happy. If you sign up for their emails you automatically get 10% off. They also have fantastic anti Itch products which I keep in the house for emergencies.

https://vetericyn.com/

My Tushy – after my UTI and discussing with my vet as Mom realized us old ladies do not clean ourselves the way the young ones do so she bought some Tushy wipes and wipes my butt clean after each potty, it is keeping me clean and smelling good, what could be better than that. Plus, she is now using the facial wash on me so my face is nice and clean all the time as she cleans it with a microfiber towel so I am pampered daily. They have amazing other grooming products also, a must have in our house.

https://www.earthbath.com/discount/LAYLASWOOF15?redirect=/collections/all/

Shnoozing on my walk, life is good

Debating whether I want to walk or not

So, to all my friends, we might be aging slowly although Mom says its too fast for her but with all the above which Mom has discussed with her vet before giving to me I am plodding along, doing good, riding in my stroller, so life is good in the Layla neighborhood.  Please discuss with your vet before you change anything.

Have a safe weekend, stay as cool as possible!

With love and hugs

Layla

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keeping your dog busy on hot or cold days – Giveaway

Posted on by — 22 Comments ↓

Good morning, friends,

Thank you for visiting our blog this week as we love reading your comments and sharing what we have spoken about as sharing is caring.

This week we are going to talk about keeping our dogs busy, especially senior blind dogs so that their brain is still working and they are not sleeping the day away plus it is a great idea to keep your pup busy during the day on hot or cold days.

Layla as you know is blind, a senior like her mom and I try to keep her busy playing with her snuffle ball or doodle bug which is a godsend as she loves them and the challenge of getting the treats out of them keeps her occupied as she is rewarded by finding them.

Come of doodle bug give me my treats, Layla

You can see her doing it on the link below :

https://youtu.be/1LkXHydKu5E

I have been researching good healthy treats for her and came across this company which I really liked. So, I would like to introduce you to Farm Hounds, a company that started in 2004 and is focused on dogs. Their goal is to provide the very best nutritional options to us parents of our fur kids. Since they started they have partnered with the local farms to provide us with good top quality treats, chews and other products for our spoiled fur kids that we know what we giving them is only the best.

Website : https://farmhounds.com/

So, after contacting them they sent me these treats for Layla that are called trainers, perfect size for the Madam and she is loving them, barking every time we come inside as she wants her stuffed snuffle toy and a happy dog is a happy Mom. You can see on the photograph the flavors she received and if she had her own way LOL she would have eaten them all by know. As a picky eater I cannot believe how much she is enjoying them and me loving watching her busy trying to find them.

Sniffing her packages after they arrived, what I love is that each packet of trainers tells you what farm it is from which I think makes them really special

As I have taught Layla sharing is caring so we are sharing with all of you a chance to win their products but we are doing it with a  $50.00 gift card so that you can shop and get what you want for your pups.

This giveaway is for the USA only, you have to be 18 years old to enter. We were sponsored by Farm Hounds.

Let the fun begin and good luck to all that enter, have a wonderful weekend,

Below is the link to enter :

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/baa88aa64/?

With a love and woof from

Layla

Adventures are the best

Posted on by — 6 Comments ↓

 

TGIF!! It is Friday and Mom is exhausted, but we had such a fun Saturday last week, it was the best.

Last Saturday Mom surprised me, and we went to the Stern Grove Dog Park which has a beautiful lake at the end of the path. It was so great to be outdoors in fresh air, no cars and just relax, although I kept Mom on her feet the whole time as I was so busy wandering and smelling everything. It was the Chihuahua Meet Up and a friend of ours was celebrating his birthday so there was a picnic with lots of yum food for the humans and home-made dog treats for us spoiled dogs. We munched away, chatted, wandered around and just had a great time. You can see in our photos how beautiful this place is, Mom calls it heaven BOL. Being a natural park there are warnings against Coyotes as they are there, lots of birds and other animals, but with all the dogs playing in the park you cannot see them. There is even area designated for BBQ’s which Mom wants to have one there BOL, I hope she does as that would mean lots more food for me, Miss Piggy.

Can you see me ?

Now did you know that August is National Dog Month, it is a month when we celebrate having dogs in our lives as family, very important as we are all blessed to be one big family with loads of love, fun, adventures, and spending quality time with ourselves. That is one of the reasons Mom is taking me to the dog park daily plus the adventure we did last week as it means no electronics, no nothing, just Mom and me, what a wonderful life.

 

We also want to wish our favorite company, that keeps me healthy, calm and my brain working a Happy 8th Birthday, Happy Birthday Real Mushrooms, you are the best and Mom loves her coffee with the hot chocolate in, it keeps her happy BOL. You can get some for yourself or your dog from this link where they are having a birthday sale.

My magic mushrooms

https://shop.realmushrooms.com/pages/8th-bday-sale?ref=488

 

So on this happy note, we going to wish everyone a wonderful weekend, stay cool and safe,

 

With a woof and love from Layla

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clear the Shelters

Posted on by — 12 Comments ↓

August is a very important month in the lives of dogs, we celebrate many holidays for them but today I am going to highlight one of them that are very important to me.

As you all know Layla is a rescue, she came straight from the shelter to my home and is now living the life of luxury. Unfortunately, the shelters are over flowing

Layla in the shelter

with dogs at the moment as people are so quick to get one, then for some reason or another dump them back at the shelter which is no life for a poor dog, if anything it is traumatic and worse of all some of them land up in High Kill Shelters which means a death sentence for them, which is not their fault but the humans fault and they pay the price with their lives. We need to put a stop to this, have a list of people that dump dogs so that they are blacklisted and cannot get another and most of all put an end to this cruelty.

Another issue we must deal with is putting a stop to Backyard Breeders and Puppy Mills as those poor dogs are like machines churning out puppies for lazy people who do not want to work but the opposite make money off their poor dogs and then when the dog cannot give birth anymore dump them in shelters. We must also put a stop to Pet Stores selling puppies and instead make them get shelter dogs adopted and find homes which will help the overcrowding at the shelters.

Most rescue organizations are working 24/7 to save these poor dogs, have to find fosters to rehabilitate them and the work is never ending and it the human race that is causing these problems not the dogs, a dog is part of your family and if you cannot keep him or her then do not get one to start with.

If you want to adopt a dog, whether pure bred or a mutt which I love, go to a shelter to see what they have, yes it costs money, but you would be paying a breeder a lot more if you got from them, plus your dog is spayed or neutered, up to date with vaccinations and healthy but most of all desperate for a warm bed and place to call home.  We must all do our part by saving them the misery of a shelter cage because of some awful person not thinking of the consequences this poor dog will go through because it was dumped. We need to clear the shelters especially the High Kill ones where the poor dogs are killed to make space for new ones.

I hate being blunt talking about this and it hurts me but this is the reality of shelter dogs and it is time to clear the shelters and get the High Kill ones closed down also as the innocent should not be paying the price with their lives. Let us all spread the word and Clear the Shelters. 

Below are the links of Petfinder and 24PetConnect where you can find listings of shelters/dogs in your areas, this is how I found Layla.

https://24petconnect.com/

https://www.petfinder.com/

Now to something funny, Madam Layla LOL.

Layla has become a treat thief, I cannot leave treats anywhere in the house or park and she finds them, digging through my bag for them and I am very amused with this change in her behavior.  I have started dehydrating fish for her as treats and she is addicted, cannot get enough of them LOL, so when in the park the other day I had a bag with me and she went for the bag, pulling everything out till she got what she wanted. It was cute and funny to watch as it made me realize that at her age 16+ years old she still has it in her to get what she wants, and her nose is going a mile a minute.

Layla in the park sniffing the air for treats

So we are wishing everyone a safe weekend, stay cool and please lets spread the word and clear the shelters,

Thank you with love from

Layla