(04-08-2013) Animal Philanthropy – How To Give Back! [ An1malPet5 ]

Animal Philanthropy – How To Give Back! Aug 4th 2013, 16:18

 

 

After rescuing Pasha, my Russian Blue, and Lucky the Maltese from a local NYC shelter, I felt compelled to start Animal Fair Media, the premier lifestyle media company advocating fairness to animals by promoting animal rescue and welfare. My animals provided unconditional love and loyalty, inspiring me to make a lifelong commitment to fight for disenfranchised animals across the globe.

Wendy with her rescues Baby Hope and Pasha.

When I launched my animal rescue mission in 1999, shelters across the country euthanized 12 million dogs and cats annually. Animal Fair Media and other amazing individuals and organizations raised public awareness of animal rescue, and dropped this number to 5 million this year. Animal welfare awareness is here to stay until this number is zero, and there are no more homeless pets!

 

By bringing animal rescue to forefront of public awareness, Animal Fair Media encourages responsibility amongst pet guardians worldwide. We have joined forces with politicians and media personalities such as Justin Bieber, Brad Pitt,  Charlize Theron, Beyonce, and Jersey Shore star Vinny Guadagnino, lending our voices to help silenced and vulnerable homeless pets.

 

Our chief philosophy is: act locally! When passionate individuals get involved in their local shelters and organizations, they become a ripple of change that radiates out to the world at large, producing substantial results.

 

Donating money to local shelters or organizations helps, but so does volunteering time and energy. Find a local organization that suits your lifestyle, and roll up your sleeves! You can do anything from volunteering at a shelter to fostering pets in your home for a short time. The most rewarding way to contribute is by adopting a pet – shelters carry both pedigrees and mutts, and enjoy puppy love!

 

Here are a few of our favorite organizations we have vetted to be wonderful :

 

Pet Partners:

You can train your dog to comfort sick children and the elderly in your community as a therapy dog. One million people a year are positively impacted by the companionship of therapy animals (petpartners.org).

 

The Humane Society of New York:

The Humane Society of New York has cared for NYC’s needy animals for over 100 years. You can volunteer at their shelter or give a rescued animal a forever home (humanesocietyny.org).

 

Green Chimneys:

Green Chimneys promotes "the dignity and worth for all living things" by pairing children in need with abandoned animals (greenchimneys.org).

 

K9′s For Warriors

K9′s For Warriors rescues dogs from shelters, trains them to be service dogs and given to Veterans with PTSD.

For the Best the Pet Lifestyle and animal welfare has to offer follow Wendy Diamond on Facebook, Twitter, and right here at AnimalFair.com!

The post Animal Philanthropy – How To Give Back! appeared first on Animal Fair | Wendy Diamond | Pet lifestyle Expert | Animal Rescue Advocate/ Celebrity Pets.

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Can All Doggies Do The Summertime Doggie Paddle? [ An1malPet5 ]

Here's how to make sure your breed can take the plunge safely and swim to shore…

Summertime is the perfect time to take your dog to the beach. But before you toss that stick in the ocean, remember: not all breeds can doggie paddle! One thing is for sure; swimming is the most effective form of exercise for dogs, namely, because it involves the use of the majority of muscles required for movement. It's also the best way to regain muscle and flexibility in injured dogs. While water resistance is more substantial than air resistance, swimming does not put any concussive stress on joints. Therefore, for dogs suffering from degenerative diseases such as arthritis, spondylosis, and hip dysplasia, swimming is fundamental to their recovery and the general improvement of their health. Let's not forget that it's also a great way for you and your pooch to shed some extra pounds!

Animals love their water!

But do all types of dogs know how to swim? "Swimming is not an innate skill in every dog," saysTrish Jones, the Certified Behavior and Training Specialist at Triple Crown Dog Academy. "Some dogs will do what we like to call a 'panic swim' when they can't touch the ground, they flail. I don't consider that swimming." Furthermore, breeds vary in swimming ability. "Labs and Golden Retrievers are the obvious good swimmers,"explains Stacey Alldredge, owner of The Dog Run, the only swim facility for dogs in Manhattan, "but Spaniels and Poodles are natural swimmers as well."

She added that many smaller dogs love being in the water, but lack self-assurance because they were not bred to swim. The best thing to do with pocket-sized pups is to acclimate them to the water slowly, and to remember to use positive reinforcement methods to boost their confidence! However, there are some breeds that will simply never be able to swim at all. "Pugs and Bulldogs are not swimmers," says Alldredge. "I mean, if you look at their bodies, you can see that they're not going to be much in the swim department – short legs, heavy body, scrunched-in face. They have trouble breathing, and their legs can't support their bodies." But don't fret – these breeds can still enjoy the water: just slap a life vest on their backs, and remember to never leave them unsupervised! Both specialists agree that, with the exception of Pugs and all types of Bulldogs, there is a way to teach dogs to swim.

The Dog Run has even started swim classes for puppies! "You can teach a dog to swim by acclimating them to the water. You should go into the water with them, while holding them up above the surface and using other dogs that are better swimmers as an example," explains Jones. You could also throw something in the water that your dog is somewhat attached to, such as a toy, but you must make sure to throw it in shallow water and not too far from an exit, so if your dog begins to flail, it can return to firm ground as quickly as possible. If after all of these attempts, your pup still thrashes and struggles to keep its head above the surface, it is simply not a swimmer and should join the Pugs and Bulldogs in the shallow end! And no matter what, do not expose such dogs to water without a life vest! In addition, dogs with short noses should not swim on their own, and dogs that suffer from diarrhea caused by water must always remain on dry land. Other precautions every pup parent must take before allowing his or her pooch to take the plunge include: showing your dog entrance and exits so it can find its way out when experiencing muscle fatigue, avoiding very cold water that often causes muscle spasms, rough sea that might be too strenuous for a dog, and making sure your pooch doesn't swallow excessive amounts of salt water to
avoid severe illness.

Swim sessions for your pooch are often offered at canine training facilities, and, if your dog is recovering from injury or suffers from a degenerative disease, ask your vet to put you in contact with a swim therapist. If you live in the New York area, call The Dog Run at: 212.414.2500, where your pup can swim for thirty minutes for $40.00. You could also contact the Rivergate Vet Clinic at: 212.213.9885 to get in touch with renowned New York swim therapist, Peter Kross. For those of you who live elsewhere, or if you're planning a vacation, here's a list of great places that provide swimming facilities and hydrotherapy for your pooch!

Here are some pet-friendly places that offer swimming for your pups:

The Dog Run, formerly Bonnie's Swim Center
New York City, New York
212.414.2500
www.whoswalkingwhodogtraining.com

Triple Crown Dog Academy
Austin, Texas
512.759.2275
www.triplecrowndogs.com

Happy Tails Resort and Spa
Seattle, Washington
253.939.3494
www.happytailsresort.com

Tangram Kennels
Morriston, Florida
352.528.3828
www.tangramkennels.com

Dog Swimming: The Canine Spa
Dillsburg, Pennsylvania
717.432.3148
www.dogswimming.com

Northern Virginia Animal Swim Center
Middleburg, Virginia
540.687.6816
www.animalswimcenter.com

Dog Gone Smart
Norwalk, Connecticut
203.838.7729
www.dog-gone-smart.com

Pet Inn Resort and Spa
Alexandria, Louisiana
318.445.7333
www.petinnresort.com

New England Canine Rehabilitation and Fitness Center
Springfield, Massachusetts
413.783.0066
www.k9rehabs.com

 

For the Best that Pet Lifestyle and Animal Welfare has to offer follow Wendy  Diamond on Facebook, Twitter, and right here at AnimalFair.com!

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Tags: Animal Fair Media, dog gone smart, dog swimming: the canine spa, dogs, dogs swimming, happy tails resort and spa, lucky diamond, new england canine rehabilitation and fitness center, Northern Virginia Animal Swim Center, pet inn resort and spa, swimming, swimming with dogs, tangram kennels, the dog run, triple crown dog academy, wendy diamond

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Chicago, Can You Blow A Local Veteran and Dog Away From Your Generosity? Support K9s For Warriors Today! [ An1malPet5 ]

K9s for Warriors rescues dogs from shelters prior to being euthanized and trains them to be service dogs for veterans with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury. We hope you can donate $10.00, $100.00 or what ever amount you can afford – 96% of every dollar will help a Veteran with PTSD in Chicago receive a service dog from K9s For Warriors.

Every hour, a veteran commits suicide! Service dogs are a natural cure for PTSD! Animal Fair and Wendy Diamond have partnered with  K9s for Warriors and dedicated her book tour to raising enough money for a dog to be rescued from a shelter and trained as CGC-certified service dog for a Veteran with PTSD!

The K9's For Warriors Program/Rescue removes dogs from shelters and transports them back to their facility. After having a complete physical, the dogs are trained to meet CGC (Canine Good Citizen) standards. Upon completion, they are paired with a veteran with PTSD based upon his/her special needs and the special tasks the dog is most capable of performing. It costs approximately $10,000 to graduate one veteran/canine team from the time the dog is accepted into training. This includes housing, feeding and training with his veteran for three weeks.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a very real epidemic amongst veterans and affects up to 30 percent of all soldiers; 184 new cases are diagnosed every single day. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, one soldier commits suicide every 65 minutes. This is an alarming statistic, but studies show dogs can be very therapeutic in the treatment of PTSD and other military-related stresses.

Shari Duval (wife of PGA TOUR player Bobby Duval) was inspired to start this program by her own son. She explains, "My son, Brett Simon, returned home from two tours in Iraq as a bomb dog handler. I didn't even know what PTSD was. I only knew that my son came home a different person."  She continues, "Our family noticed that when he was with his canines he was better, more like the 'old Brett.'  Our family had the resources to help Brett, but we knew most do not. I spent two years researching service dog therapy and finally decided to open the K9's For Warrior Program/Rescue."

K9′s For Warrior Program/Rescue's success is a triumph for the organization.  Duval commented, "The warriors arrive here broken on two legs and leave here walking into their recovery on six.  They are able to go and do things that weren't possible before they received their service dog." She added, "These dogs provide more medical improvement for the warriors than all the drugs they have been placed on."

In Chicago, we will honor Justin, 37, a former Staff Sergeant in the United States Army, where he served for 7 years. He graduated from K9s For Warriors in May 2012, where he was paired with Cody, a Labradoodle. Justin needed a hypo-allergenic dog, so K9s For Warriors put out a call far and wide for a special Labradoodle. Cody was found in North Carolina and a foster was arranged, but the organization was having trouble finding transport to K9s For Warriors for Cody's training. A future warrior, Justin, called and said he would be happy to drive the dog down without knowing that Cody hand-picked for him! Since the two graduated, Justin has credited Cody and K9s For Warriors for helping him recover: "I went to Iraq in 2003, Afghanistan in 2006 and K9s For Warriors in 2012. I finally made it all the way home back to my family in 2012."

Justin and Cody

Wendy Diamond will host the BARK BREAKFAST 10 City Media Tour, which will feature her hilarious new book, How To Train Your Boss To Roll Over. This brand new instructional manual will promote a positive work environment and explain how to work towards making a societal difference by raising awareness and funds for the K9′s For Warrior Program/Rescue. Our bark breakfast benefit will celebrate our wounded veterans and rally to raise awareness and donations for our American heroes that have sacrificed selflessly for our country. Dogs are welcome to breakfast treats, too! You will also get to meet the veteran and the dog who will benefit from your generous donations!

Please watch this video to understand the importance of your donation:)

The Bark Business Breakfast will sweep into Chicago on Saturday September 7, 2013 from 10AM-12Noon.

Please donate to this wonderful event andif you can't attend you can still support a Veteran with PTSD in Chicago!

For the Best that Pet Lifestyle and Animal Welfare has to offer follow Wendy Diamond on Facebook, Twitter, and right here at AnimalFair.com!

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Tags: animal fair, Bobby Duval, Brett Simon, Department of Veteran Affairs, K9 for Warriors, K9's For Wounded Warrior Program/Rescue, military-related stresses, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, service dog, Shari Duval, shelter dogs, soldiers, veterans, wendy diamond

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Matter: Monogamy’s Boost to Human Evolution [ An1malPet5 ]

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Titi monkeys are monogamous--a way of life found in just 9 percent of mammal species.

"Monogamy is a problem," said Dieter Lukas of the University of Cambridge in a telephone news conference this week. As Dr. Lukas explained to reporters, he and other biologists consider monogamy an evolutionary puzzle.

Some gold lion tamarins mate monogamously. The male and female primate will stay together, sharing the work of raising their offspring.

Many female mountain gorillas will mate with the same dominant male, sometimes for pleasure, sometimes to keep other females in the group from being able to get pregnant.

Carl Zimmer

In 9 percent of all mammal species, males and females will share a common territory for more than one breeding season, and in some cases bond for life. This is a problem — a scientific one — because male mammals could theoretically have more offspring by giving up on monogamy and mating with lots of females.

In a new study, Dr. Lukas and his colleague Tim Clutton-Brock suggest that monogamy evolves when females spread out, making it hard for a male to travel around and fend off competing males.

On the same day, Kit Opie of University College London and his colleagues published a similar study on primates, which are especially monogamous — males and females bond in over a quarter of primate species. The London scientists came to a different conclusion: that the threat of infanticide leads males to stick with only one female, protecting her from other males.

Even with the scientific problem far from resolved, research like this inevitably turns us into narcissists. It's all well and good to understand why the gray-handed night monkey became monogamous. But we want to know: What does this say about men and women?

As with all things concerning the human heart, it's complicated.

"The human mating system is extremely flexible," Bernard Chapais of the University of Montreal wrote in a recent review in Evolutionary Anthropology. Only 17 percent of human cultures are strictly monogamous. The vast majority of human societies embrace a mix of marriage types, with some people practicing monogamy and others polygamy. (Most people in these cultures are in monogamous marriages, though.)

There are even some societies where a woman may marry several men. And some men and women have secret relationships that last for years while they're married to other people, a kind of dual monogamy. Same-sex marriages acknowledge commitments that in many cases existed long before they won legal recognition.

Each species faces its own special challenges — the climate where it lives, or the food it depends on, or the predators that stalk it — and certain conditions may favor monogamy despite its drawbacks. One source of clues to the origin of human mating lies in our closest relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos. They live in large groups where the females mate with lots of males when they're ovulating. Male chimpanzees will fight with each other for the chance to mate, and they've evolved to produce extra sperm to increase their chances that they get to father a female's young.

Our own ancestors split off from the ancestors of chimpanzees about seven million years ago. Fossils may offer us some clues to how our mating systems evolved after that parting of ways. The hormone levels that course through monogamous primates are different from those of other species, possibly because the males aren't in constant battle for females.

That difference in hormones influences how primates grow in some remarkable ways. For example, the ratio of their finger lengths is different.

In 2011, Emma Nelson of the University of Liverpool and her colleagues looked at the finger bones of ancient hominid fossils. From what they found, they concluded that hominids 4.4 million years ago mated with many females. By about 3.5 million years ago, however, the finger-length ratio indicated that hominids had shifted more toward monogamy.

Our lineage never evolved to be strictly monogamous. But even in polygamous relationships, individual men and women formed long-term bonds — a far cry from the arrangement in chimpanzees.

While the two new studies published last week disagree about the force driving the evolution of monogamy, they do agree on something important. "Once monogamy has evolved, then male care is far more likely," Dr. Opie said.

Once a monogamous primate father starts to stick around, he has the opportunity to raise the odds that his offspring will survive. He can carry them, groom their fur and protect them from attacks.

In our own lineage, however, fathers went further. They had evolved the ability to hunt and scavenge meat, and they were supplying some of that food to their children. "They may have gone beyond what is normal for monogamous primates," said Dr. Opie.

The extra supply of protein and calories that human children started to receive is widely considered a watershed moment in our evolution. It could explain why we have brains far bigger than other mammals.

Brains are hungry organs, demanding 20 times more calories than a similar piece of muscle. Only with a steady supply of energy-rich meat, Dr. Okie suggests, were we able to evolve big brains — and all the mental capacities that come with it.

Because of monogamy, Dr. Opie said, "This could be how humans were able to push through a ceiling in terms of brain size."

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Dot Earth Blog: With Arrests, Signs of Justice in Slaying of Costa Rican Turtle Guardian [ An1malPet5 ]

Lindsay Fendt In a series of raids early Wednesday morning in Limón province, Costa Rican police arrested eight suspects in the May murder of Jairo Mora, a 26-year-old environmental worker protecting sea turtle nesting beaches.

Two months after the murder of Jairo Mora Sandoval, a 26-year-old environmental worker trying to prevent egg poaching from leatherback turtle nests in Costa Rica, authorities made the first arrests on Wednesday in a series of raids in and around Limón, on the Caribbean coast.

The arrests came as both domestic and international pressure for action grew. Demonstrations were held this week in the capital. On Thursday, the Tico Times reported that John Knox, a United Nations official focused on the intersection of human rights and the environment visiting the country, held a news conference in which he made this point:

"It's not the task of social organizations, civil society or citizens to put their own lives at risk to protect the environment. These are police functions that have to be adequately carried out by the government," Knox said. "It's one thing to protect turtle eggs from tourists, it's another to protect them from poachers…." [Read the rest.]

Earlier this month Representative Jared Huffman, Democrat of California, urged Secretary of State John Kerry to press Costa Rica to pursue justice in the case, noting that three American women and a Spanish woman who were volunteers in the turtle protection effort had been abducted in the same incident (they escaped).

For the moment, the motives behind the slaying remain murky. A detailed Tico Times article on the raids describes conflicting theories about the murder. Police are pointing to evidence of a simple robbery by a violent gang, but conservationists assert there were signs that efforts to stem egg poaching may have led to the killing.

Hopefully the truth will out and justice will be done. Earlier Dot Earth posts on the murder are here. Track the latest developments through the Twitter hashtag #JairoMora.

Postscript: Just a quick note of thanks to Lindsay Fendt, one of the reporters on the story, for permission to use one of her photographs.

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Thursday, 1 August 2013

MaxShop Responsive eCommerce Template (Shopping) - An1malPet5

Maxshop is our first template from eCommerce category. It is an extremely stylish template for retail. Nothing superfluous, only beautiful e-commerce design. A fresh, new and simple design suitable for all type of goods and products. Important! WooCommerce and WP e-Commerce versions are on their way and will be here soon. Other version can be brought by the demand. So if you want any other version like Prestashop, Magento and Opencart than please mention them in the comments. Thank You Features PSD Files are Included This HTML template is a 4 column responsive layout. Has a very simple, clean and elegant design. There are 8 HTML pages in this template. Very well written, clean and fully commented code. Written in HTML5 / CSS3. Made with Twitter Bootstrap. Very easy to customize and edit. Compatible in all major browsers till IE8+. Responsive is compatible with all major devices Pages Home Slider Brands Carousal LighBox Promotions / Offers Products: Grid Style Products: List Style Sidebar Featured Products Price Slider Categories Accordion Product Detail Images Gallery Description Tabs 6 Step Checkout Page Shopping Cart Page Blog Blog Detail Support Faced a problem? No worries – our premium class customer support service is always ready to help you. Credits All images used in the preview are only for demo purposes and not included with the theme package. All the images are copyrighted and licensed to their respective authors and owners. Fonts used in this template are Google Websafe Fonts. A PRODUCT OF PIXEL ART STUDIO INC

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Senna - Portfolio and Blog PSD Template (Portfolio) - An1malPet5

SENNA is a premium unique and creative PSD template perfect for a creative agency, graphic designer, photographer, artist or anything in between. Its stunning design, carefully thought typography, patchwork grid based portfolio along with fine touches of design elements, SENNA let's your work shine and play in the eyes of your visitors. To ensure quality and consistency across the board, SENNA comes with 7 custom designed pages: Home Page About Us Page Portfolio Archive Page Portfolio Project Page Blog Archive Page Blog Article Page Contact Page Credits Font Used: Open Sans and Bebas Neue(both available for free from Google Fonts and Font Squirrel) All images viewed in the live preview are for demo purposes only and are not included with your purchase. These images are courtesy of: Bernd Kammerer(we asked and have his permission).

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