A Star Amoung Us

Brady Hollander, one of our best friends that boards with us is a star! Brady and his parents volunteer their time with Sit Stay Read. Brady and his other dog friends go to various city schools and read with the children there. Your the best Brady. We are so lucky to have you as our Best Friend!

It's A Girl!

It's a beautiful girl! Congratulations to Vlady, our camper, and his Mom Jen, one of our Customer Service Representatives.

Jen and Steve Holland are proud new parents to a beautiful baby girl. Willow Abigail. She was born on January 27, 2010 at 12:50pm.

Congratulations Jen, we look forward to having you back! Vlady, Coda and the rest of the campers miss you!

Fun Stuff Fridays, Rough and Rugged

Sadie, one of our camper friends has picked this weeks toy for Fun Stuff Fridays. It is the Rough and Rugged Rubber Ball. From Sadie's view it is definitely rough and rugged! Sadie when she does not have a friend to play fetch with loves to chew on her toys. This ball has held up to Sadie and the rest of her friends for a couple of months now.

The Chicken Dance

It was Chicken Dance Friday in Best Friends Dog Camp yesterday. Well as you can guess no one but Bree really did the Chicken Dance to well, however we did have a lot of cute tricks! Now Hester, I really want to know is the whole stick the tongue out a trick or were you just licking your lips in anticipation for the biscuit Bree had! Rudy that was quite the fancy move you had going on. Sadie, I am so impressed you sat and stayed for longer than a minute! You guys are the best!

Certify Your Yard As A Wildlife Habitat

Although it is only the end of January, it is time to start planning for the summer season. At least at our house anyway! My father and mother have worked on the backyard every year for over 30 years, now that mom has passed the duties have been handed down to me! We have over 52 different types of evergreens, about 30 different types of flowers, 7 types of trees, a koi pond and more. As you can tell it is our passion! So enjoyable I actually had my wedding in the backyard! To some a yard is like a second home in the summer days and nights. A way to escape and enjoy the natural beauty. I thought I would pass these tips on to you from the

National Wild Life Federation. With the right planning you can have your yard certified as a Wildlife Habitat. For those that are wondering, of course we are certified! It has been well worth the upkeep!

Create a Certified Wildlife Habitat
Whether you have an apartment balcony or a 20-acre farm, you can create a garden that attracts beautiful wildlife and helps restore habitat in commercial and residential areas. By providing food, water, cover and a place for wildlife to raise their young--and by incorporating sustainable gardening practices--you not only help wildlife, but you also qualify to become an official Certified Wildlife Habitat™.
How to Create a Wildlife-Friendly Garden
Provide Food for Wildlife
Everyone needs to eat! Planting native forbs, shrubs and trees is the easiest way to provide the foliage, nectar, pollen, berries, seeds and nuts that many species of wildlife require to survive and thrive. You can also incorporate supplemental feeders and food sources.
Supply Water for Wildlife
Wildlife need clean water sources for many purposes, including drinking, bathing and reproduction. Water sources may include natural features such as ponds, lakes, rivers, springs, oceans and wetlands; or human-made features such as bird baths, puddling areas for butterflies, installed ponds or rain gardens.
Create Cover for Wildlife
Wildlife require places to hide in order to feel safe from people, predators and inclement weather. Use things like native vegetation, shrubs, thickets and brush piles or even dead trees.
Give Wildlife a Place to Raise Their Young
Wildlife need a sheltered place to raise their offspring. Many places for cover can double as locations where wildlife can raise young, from wildflower meadows and bushes where many butterflies and moths lay their eggs, or caves where bats roost and form colonies.
Let Your Garden Go Green
How you maintain your garden or landscape can have an important effect on the health of the soil, air, water and habitat for native wildlife--as well as the human community nearby. Reducing chemical use, composting, mulching and reducing turf grass in your yard are important steps to gardening greener.
Ready...Set...Certify!
Once you have provided these essential elements to make a healthy and sustainable wildlife habitat, join the thousands of wildlife enthusiasts across the country who have earned the distinction of being part of NWF's Certified Wildlife Habitat™ program.

Dogs In Need Of A Foster Home

Please help these two adorable goldendoodles find a foster home! The beige one is Trixie she is 6, the black one is Shaggy he is 4. Their Mom has to go out of the state temporarily for a work assignment and is unable to take the dogs with her. They are both very well behaved, they are regular grooming clients with us here at Best Friends. Mom would prefer to keep them in the same home. For more information on these two you can contact Kristin via email at kmccabe501@comcast.net

Fat Cat on Fun Stuff Fridays

This weeks cool product came to mind while I was pet sitting for a very fun family of pets. One of them was a kitten named Lilly. She was the best, I tell you who needs television when you have a kitten. However no matter how many toys I had playing with her she was still more fascinated with attacking, in this order, my left shoe and each lace on it, my left pant leg,my right pant leg, then my right shoe and each lace. Then we would go back again from the right side and start the whole fun process over again! She absolutely loved to pounce at things that were almost in a row. Lilly this Fat Cat Toy is for you! It is called the Catfisher Door Hanger. You can hang it on any door knob and your cat or kitten will have hours of fun. It even has cat nip infused in it. What I thought was even neater was the dangling parts are interchangeable with other ones. Your cat will never be bored again!

Dog Camp Super Star Day Revisited

Here it is. The re-do of Camp Super Star Day. A lot of good contenders, it will be a close call on this one. Who will be February's Camper of the Month at
Best Friends? Bruiser, you are looking pretty cute. Stewie your a ham for the camera but you already made it last month. Kayla, I don't know you have some really good moves, and are a natural for the camera! The winner will be announced February 1st!

Paw Painting In Dog Camp

Today in camp we made a paw print mural. I thought I would share some of the cute pictures. The mural is hanging in camp for those who want to see it.

Give A Day Get A Disney Day

Back in October I blogged about volunteering and receiving a FREE day at Disney Land. Have we started? The program has officially began. Give A DayGet A Disney Day. Summer is around the corner, which means vacation season is upon us. How cool would it be to be able to get into Disney World for FREE for the day! Let alone to be able to help those that can use the help. Volunteering is one of the most rewarding things in life.

Dog Camp Resolutions, The Winners

Yesterday was the day, a lot of close calls. Perhaps in a couple of months you will all have accomplished your New Years resolutions! The winners in camp were:

Hairy: His goal was to be more confident and walk across the camp room floor, as opposed to walking against the wall! He definitely accomplished his goal. Yeah, Hairy!

Sasha: Her goal was to walk like a lady and not pull on her leash. While not accomplishing this goal all the time she has definitely made improvements! Way to go Sasha!

Sadie: Her goal was not to jump on people. Great attempt Sadie. Like Sasha she has not been able to do this every day, but she sure does try.

Great job to all of our friends who have tried to accomplish their resolutions. Some of you did far better than us people!

Lion and Dog Playing

Click on the photo above to see something you definitely do not see every day! A very adorable lion and cute dog playing together. Check out Pettube.com for more cute pet videos.

WCIU,Dog Television Stars

Your pet can be a television star!

Go to the website for WCIU, The U, and fill out the online form. They will call you when your pet is next on the list! How cool is that, I have seen a lot of cute furry friends come through the doors here at Best Friends, I hope you all send in your information!

Snow Bunny Day in Dog Camp

Due to some technical difficulties there was a little delay in posting this. Sorry to everyone who was watching for it! Tuesday was Snow Bunny Day in Dog Camp. Everyone was showing off their cute poses!

Smokey The Bear

Happy 65th Birthday Smokey The Bear!

You can click on the above picture to go to Smokey's website and read about his beginnings. What a cool story!

Fun Stuff Fridays.... The Road Refresher

click on above picture to view video feed on YouTube

The Road Refresher by Jolly Pets is this weeks feature on Fun Stuff Fridays. It is a pretty cool invention that has removable heavy duty Velcro on the bottom of the bowl to allow you to attach it to the floor boards of the car for those summer road trips. It also has a middle floating piece that will prevent to much water from filling up and spilling out into the car.

Camp Super Star Day

Today was the day. Everyone showed off their talents to see if they had what it took to be February's Camper Of The Month! It was a busy day, with lots of distractions so we will give everyone another chance at it next week. Everyone definitely had the cute factor going today,but not too many tricks, other than the look what I can steal from my friends! Practice this weekend guys, we'll be checking you out next week!

Ferruginous Hawk's Journey

AP photo/Chicago SunTimes/Tom Cruz

Talk about one long ride! This Ferruginous Hawk traveled on the front of a train for over 1000 miles. This hawk is the largest hawk known in North America. Thanks to Dawn Keller of Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and some other caring people this lucky hawk has made almost a full recovery. Because of the injuries he did sustain he is unable to be released back into the wild. Once the proper permits are received this beautiful bird, appropriately named Journey, will be used in educational classes.

Great Bear Wilderness Brookfield Zoo

photos from Chicago Zoological Society

As the saying goes "Lions, Tigers, and Bears, oh my!" Well perhaps not all in the same enclosure but close. This spring Brookfield Zoo will open their new Great Bear Wilderness exhibit. It will alternately house the grizzly bears and polar bears. This area will be considerably larger than the separate areas the bears are used to now. They will have both above water viewing and underwater viewing. This 27,ooo acre exhibit will have 3 separate 9000 acre habitats. Sounds pretty nice. There is said to be plenty of waterfalls, trees, and caves so all the bears can feel at home when it is there turn to vacation there. This will officially open on May 2010.

January Pet Guest of the Month, Lizzy

This is Lizzy, she is our January Pet Guest of the month here at Best Friends Pet Care. Lizzy is a beautiful Australian Shepherd that loves to spend her time here in doggie play group with the other dogs! Thanks for being a loving friend to us all Lizzy. We love you!

Fun Stuff Fridays.. Play and Spin Mystery Cat Toy

To go along with the previous post I thought I would blog about a cool cat toy this week on Fun Stuff Fridays! This is the Play and Spin Mystery Cat Toy from Kong. It is basically a sturdy plastic tree stump with material on top for scratching, a mouse inside that squeaks periodically when turned on, and a tail that sweeps back and forth. A pretty neat interactive toy. It even comes with replacement tails for when your cat's prey drive kicks in!

Cool Cat Site

This site is for all of our cat friends out there! Click on the picture above to view a really cute cat web site. Some of the things are pretty out there, like the cat doing the tango, but others are just plain cute!

Dog Camp: Hidden Treasures Day!

They were busy today in Dog Camp! Today was Hidden Treasures Day! Everyone should be tired from their search party expeditions to find all the treats!

It's A Winter Wonderland!

All that Chicago Snow sure does not stop the campers! Bring it on!

Western Fox Snake Relocation Project

This little guy might not be as cute and cuddly as the dogs and cats we see here at Best Friends Pet Care, however he still deserves the love and care. He is among the 12 Western Fox Snakes, and 2 Garter Snakes that were re-homed for the winter season. The Lake County Forest Preserve District has begun the Western Fox Snake Relocation Project this year in an effort to help the snakes find a new place to hibernate for the winter. For more information on this project you can check out the Daily Herald.

Doggie New Years Resolutions, The Beginning

Well, today was the day! Not everyone chose to make their resolutions known, Vladimir..... we are still waiting! I know Toby was not to sure about putting his out there either. It is one thing to talk about it but now they all have to commit to resolving! We will run this contest for the Campers for the next two weeks. Wish them all luck! Here are some of their resolutions...

Hairy: I promise to be more confident in my ability to walk across the camp floor. I will no longer walk against the wall.

Sadie: I promise to use the skills my mommy and daddy taught me and not jump on my friends when they come to say hello to me!

Arthur: I promise to come to the realization that I am cute and smart like a human, but I really am a dog! That means no stealing human food!

Sasha: I promise to act like the lady I really am, and stop pulling on my leash!

Mia: I promise to realize that Hairy might like me more if I stop barking at him all of the time!

Koda: I promise to be confident in the fact that my mommy loves me a lot and feeds me every day, I am not starving and I don't need to eat everything I see on the flooor!

Kallie and Murphy: We promise not to tag team people, especially our Mom. People will love us and take us to camp or on a walk more often if we remember our manners! Sit and Stay, we got it!

Stewie January Camper Of The Month

New Years Resolutions For The Dog

The new year has finally come. I am sure most of you have made your long list of resolutions for the new year. Before we know it February will be here and we will still be talking about starting them! Do you have your resolutions written up for the furry friends in the family? No begging at the table, come when called, don't chase the squirrels! Toby's was to cut back on the peanut butter raw hides! For those of you who have your dog in Best Friends Dog Camp don't forget to bring your dogs resolutions with to camp on Tuesday! We will post them on the chart and keep an eye on them for the next few weeks. We will post updates on the blog so you can see how well they are doing! Prizes will be awarded in 2 weeks for those that stuck to their resolutions! Lets see if our dogs truly are better at making promises than us humans!