We had two adoptions (that were recorded for posterity, that is) – Roscoe and Vincent. We met new doggies and had a lot of visitors.

Thanks to those of you who stopped by. We welcome those of you who’ve never come to visit with our merry band of volunteers and canines at next weekend’s adoption event – Hollywood Feed, 4864 Poplar Avenue, Saturday, February 11 from 12pm-3pm!

Here are some happy pics from today’s event along with a video of our dog of the week, Little Girl. Read about any of the dogs below on our website at http://realgooddogrescue.com

If your canines are anything like some of ours, you know how much squirrels are appreciated! By them!

One of our Real Good Dog Rescue adoptees (Jessie Wiggles) absolutely ADORES looking out the windows to the back yard and darting out the doggie door whenever she sees a squirrel invading her back yard space!

Did you know there are more than 280 species of squirrels (according to the Washington Post)? Amazing!

Apparently squirrels get an appreciation day on January 21 as well as a week later on in the year (April 8 through 14).

Since squirrels may be running a bit low on their food at this time of year, be nice to them and put out an extra special treat for them on their special day!

But be sure to NOT lure them into the yard if you have a squirrel chaser in your back yard!

Jessie Wiggles looks for squirrels invading HER back yard!

Here’s a dynamic duo – a blue heeler and his sidekick – that need a foster home – please help us help them and more by opening your home to foster or by sharing their need with your family and friends.

If you can help, contact Lisa at ltrenthem@gmail.com or call 901-652-9781. Thank you.

We're the dynamic duo and we need a foster home NOW! Please help us!

Angel weighs about 35 pounds. She is very friendly and outgoing.

Please help this sweet one find her forever home soon! Apply for her at http://realgooddogrescue.com

This post has our pics for the adoptions. More pics coming up, including some featured blog posts with some of our adorable adoptables.

Thanks to everyone for coming out and making our day a great one! We enjoyed meeting you and introducing you to our pups!

While many of us do that, we definitely should be limiting that practice – because table scraps can provoke a variety of health problems, including pancreatitis and, in some cases, death.

For those of us who continue to feed table scraps, make sure you know the list of items you should always avoid feeding your canine friend. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, this list includes:

• Xylitol-containing products (artificial sweetener found in sugar-free gum and candy)
• Chocolate
• Onions
• Grapes & raisins
• Fatty & fried foods
• Macadamia nuts
• Avocados

Even if we slip from time to time as those adoring eyes gaze at us while we cook, eat, or put away the leftovers, we all feed dry, wet, and/or raw dog foods on a regular basis. Have you ever wondered which of those foods is safe? Particularly when you hear of some name brand foods being recalled, such as Iams and Eukanuba, that gives us cause for pause. Just how DO you make sure that what you’re feeding Fred or Fredora is safe?

First you want to make sure that what you’re feeding is a safe, high quality food. Who do you trust? You will typically get good advice from your vet. If you go to a good pet store you will also get good advice from staff who work there. For instance, Hollywood Feed is a “Natural and Holistic Pet Food Merchant” whose staff is trained to provide you with information so you can make the best decision for your dog.

However, maybe you’d like to access dog food reviews that give you detailed information on a variety of foods. Maybe you’re the sort that likes to do your own side-by-side determinations for what to feed. In that case, you need a trusted resource.

There are many places on the Internet that will give you opinions on dog food. Some of those are actually affiliated with the companies whose food they review! Not sure that’s the most un-biased set of eyes to be reviewing something.

Recently I found Dog Food Advisor at http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com and this looks like a great site. Let me tell you a bit about it.

The site was created by Mike Sagman, who has a degree in dental surgery from the Medical College of Virginia. He also has a major in chemistry and a minor in biology. He became passionate about canine nutrition in 2007 after he lost his adorable adopted shelter dog Penny to what he says was his “unquestioned trust of commercial pet food.” After that, he made it a personal goal to help others avoid a similar situation.

At Dog Food Advisor you can search reviews by brand or by type (dry, wet, raw). You can access recommendations for Best Dry or Wet Dog Food, Best Grain Free Dog Foods, Best Puppy Foods, as well as Suggested Hypoallergenic, Low Fat, Low Protein, Raw, and Weight Loss Dog Foods.

The site gives comprehensive information on how dog foods are rated – see http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/frequently-asked-questions/rate-dog-food/. They have a good Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, as well as a link to articles and videos that are helpful.

Finally, we all need to stay “in the know” about the food we feed our canines. There are often dog food recalls and we need to know about those as soon as they occur so if they’re related to food we feed our Fred or Fredora we can immediately change foods. The Dog Food Advisor has a great service for this. In addition to providing a list by date of dog food recalls, they also provide a mailing list to which you can sign up to be informed by email as soon as a dog food recall alert is issued. Sign up for these alerts here.

Take some time and explore the reviews on the food that you feed your furry friend. Make sure you’re feeding a high quality food and that there aren’t any recalls on the food you’re feeding. After all, you DO want your furry friend around for a long and healthy life!

We had a great day at our first adoption event of the New Year, Hollywood Feed on Union Ave. Thanks to the fantastic adopters who showed up to claim their pets! Adopted: Seelie, Peyton, Checkers (not pictured), Ren (not pictured),Teddie. We were able to get photos of some new pets: Charlie Brown is a young pit bull pup. Polo is an adult tiny poodle/ shih tzu mix. Look for many new dogs to get posted this week! Also adopted this week was Wink, and Peggy Hill. Cameron went to a new home in Maine.

… that January is Walk Your Pet Month? This can really fit in well with a common New Year’s resolution of “I need to get in shape” or “I need to get more exercise” or “I need to lose some weight”!

More structured exercise can help you and your pet in many ways, including:

• meeting fitness goals
• controlling weight
• combating illness and disease
• improving mood
• boosting energy
• promoting better sleep
• helping you enjoy life

Science Daily had a great story about why owners should exercise with their dogs (link to story). Mental and physical health benefits abound for both people and canines. These include:

• Dogs need an outlet to relieve their energy or they may develop destructive behavior.
• Exercised dogs are happier and more content.
• Excercising together promotes the human-animal bond.

While stopping short of making a blanket recommendation for human-canine exercise periods, the general guidelines for physical activity are:

• larger and working dogs have higher energy needs
• smaller and toy breeds need less exercise
• dogs should get out twice daily for 15-60 minutes at a time for exercise
• just allowing your dog to run loose in the back yard is not sufficient exercise

Here are some links to sites that give good information about exercising with your dog friend. Have a look and let some of the guidance support you as you and your Fido or Fluffy get set to walk!

• Exercising with your dog
• Exercise for Dogs
• Benefits of Exercise for People and Pets
• Losing Weight and Exercising More – Dogs and People Overcoming a Common Problem

Happy Walk Your Dog Month from Real Good Dog Rescue! This is a winter reminder that in the spring and summer we often put out a call to help us walk our foster dogs at Overton Park. It’s great visibility for the foster dogs and we promise you’ll have a great time with our volunteers. Make a resolution to help us help more by walking the dogs with us!

1. National Bloody Mary Day
2. National First Foot Day

But today, on this 2nd of January 2012, let us not miss National Pet Travel Safety Day! National Pet Travel Safety Day (or NPTSD) is a holiday “created” by Colleen Paige, a Celebrity Pet & Safety Expert and Animal Behaviorist.

Although we can debate the merits of such a created day, the occurrence of the day gives Real Good Dog Rescue a real good reason to review some safety tips for pet travel. More and more pets are going on short and long trips with us and it’s a likely bet that we aren’t all paying attention to the various suggestions that people offer for making driving trips with canines a safer experience for all in the vehicle.

How many of you drive with your canine friend having full run of your vehicle? We’ll raise our hands here at this house. Not a good idea at all!

Research conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and Kurgo (a pet product company) and reported by CBS in 2010 reported that 80% of respondents have driven with their pets on a variety of car trips … but only 17% said they use any form of pet restraint system.

According to AAA, driving with an unrestrained dog causes a distraction that is equal to talking on a cell phone or texting while driving! Yikes!

According to Colleen Paige,

At just 10 M.P.H. to an abrupt stop, such as an animal running in front of your car, your dog is at great risk of flying into or through the windshield and, at the very least, suffering broken bones from the blunt force trauma of being thrust into the back of the seat, hitting the dashboard, or flying out the back of your vehicle. Many small dogs that ride on their owner’s laps are often crushed to death from the impact of the person’s body against the steering wheel, where sadly the dog will often be between. Source

Now, how many of you can raise your hands for allowing the dogs to stick their heads out the window, sit in your lap while you’re driving, or ride in the back of an open truck? Let’s hope few or none of you! In addition to being cautious about these things for OUR safety, we also need to be cautious about these things for the safety of our dear canine friends!

Writing in The Whole Dog Journal, Pat Miller listed several safety hazards associated with the above.

• A dog who interferes with driver’s physical ability to drive the car. A dog sitting on the driver’s lap can interfere with steering. A dog who gets on or under the accelerator or brake pedals, hits the gear shift, or blocks the driver’s view can cause an accident.
• A dog who interferes with driver’s mental ability to drive the car. When the driver’s attention is taken away from the road to deal with dog’s behavior, the dog has become a safety hazard.
• A loose dog can become a flying missile if the car stops abruptly or is hit by another car.
• If the car windows break or the doors pop open in an accident, a loose dog can escape, get hit on the road, or run off and become lost.
• An unsecured dog can interfere with the efforts of rescue workers in an emergency.
• A dog with her head out the window can suffer injury to her eyes from bits of flying debris, or worse, can have her head smashed by objects that pass too close to the car (other vehicle mirrors, signs, branches).
• A loose dog can fall or jump out of an open window or back of a truck. Source

None of us wants bad things to happen to our canine friends. But what could or should we do? Here are a few ideas:

• Get a good safety harness and use that with your dog’s seatbelt – they allow a little movement, but limit free range vehicle roaming.
• Use a crate – and make sure you RESTRAIN the crate by looping it through seatbelts or using some tie downs with it!
• Don’t have a lot of confusion and craziness of human passengers as that will add to the confusion and craziness of all canine passengers.
• Use safety barriers in your vehicle.

There are many resources that are available for you to review and that will help you provide a safer traveling experience for your fine furry friend. Take a few minutes and explore some of them!

• AAA’s PetSpot has great tips for safe car travel with your canine friends. In another location on their PetSpot site, AAA has a link to all their articles about pet-friendly travel.
• Colleen Paige’s post has some good tips for driving a new dog or puppy home as well as a nice list of items you should have in case you’re going on any long road trip with a dog. AAA’s PetSpot has a very useful list of even more items you should take when you travel with Fido or Fluffy.
• Pat Miller’s post has some strategies for canines who chew seat belts! Pat also gives some excellent tips and tricks for training dogs to have good car manners.
• ASPCA’s page gives 10 tips for safe and smooth car travel.
• Bark Buckle UP has a wealth of information for all types of travel with dogs.

Let’s all resolve (since it’s still really close to New Year’s Day when we’re “allowed” to make resolutions) to travel more safely with all our pets this year! Below are some pictures of Margaret the Basset Hound who was a GREAT traveler!