Free Kibble

Mimi Ausland, Founder, FreekibbleMimi Ausland, a 12 year old girl from Bend, Oregon, wanted to help feed the hungry animals at her local animal shelter. "There are 10's of thousands of dogs and cats in animal shelters across the country, all needing to be fed a good meal." Say hello to freekibble.com and freekibblekat.com!  Freekibble.com's primary mission is to provide good, healthy food to dogs and cats to those shelters who are working so hard to see that none of them go hungry - they need our help. In addition to providing free kibble to the Humane Society of Central Oregon, we've added 13 new shelters to the program (from Oregon to Florida!) and plan to expand the program to many more! Thanks to everyone for supporting freekibble by playing the trivia game - every piece of kibble counts!   We're very happy to say that we're partnering with our Founding Sponsor Castor & Pollux, as well asCanidae Dog Food to feed these hungry dogs and cats a very high quality, all natural kibble - a very decent dinner! Thank you Castor & Pollux and Canidae Dog Food!   We also want to make it easy and fun for you to help provide free kibble by playing Bow-Wow Trivia - and we hope you learn a few interesting things about dogs and cats along the way. Thanks and enjoy!

Help Homeless Pets Enjoy The Holidays

Pets are the latest victim of the recession. During the past year, as more families have lost jobs and struggled to make ends meet, animal shelters across the country have seen a huge upsurge in homeless animals. Shelters and rescue groups have been overwhelmed with dogs and cats being given up by families who just can't afford to care for them. For the shelters, already coping with donations due to the economy, the problem is enormous: how to feed and shelter all these newly homeless pets.

Enter the Best Friends Angel Tree collection for homeless pets. For the ninth consecutive year, Best Friends Pet Care locations across the country are partnering with local shelters to ensure that homeless pets have much more needed food and supplies.

The Angel Tree Program was created in 2000 to help local shelters and rescue groups provide for the homeless pets in their care. Last year more than $25,000 worth of food, toys, treats, and pet care products were donated to 80 shelters and rescue organizations across the country.

You can visit or call any of our locations to make a donation to the Angel Tree.

Happy Holidays to all!

Make a Difference Day

Make A Difference Day is said to be the most encompassing day of helping others, a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. USA WEEKEND Magazine created this day, and it has now grown to become an annual event that takes place on the 4Th Saturday of every month. In 2008 3 MILLION people volunteered to help someone! If you do not have anything or anyone in particular you can think of you can visit the Make A Difference Day website for ideas in you area. If you already have an idea make sure to go on the website to log your project in, so it will count with the millions of others that are volunteering their time on Saturday.

Remember there are always people out their and organizations that can use your help any day of the year! It is still pretty nice weather out there so perhaps you can find a animal shelter or rescue in your area, I am sure they have plenty of dogs that would love to go out on a walk and enjoy the day with you. If it is too cold for you than you can volunteer in their cat rooms. Many places have very spacious rooms for the cat community, they always love to sit in the sunshine and get some love! Not near a shelter or rescue, perhaps you have an elderly neighbor, or simply someone who lives by themselves, offer your time to help them clean up all those crazy leaves we know are flying around our yards this time of year! If you yourself have a dog take your neighbor and your dog for a walk. You can warm two hearts at once!

Enjoy your weekend, and hopefully it will be a fulfilling one for you. To those of you who do volunteer regularly no matter where it might be, thank you. For those of you who volunteer at a rescue or shelter please remember our Rescue Friends Program. For every pet they adopt out the family receives $20 off our services and the rescue/shelter receives a check for $20.

Shop, Save, and Help

The thought of going out shopping for Christmas gifts this year in the wonderful Chicago snow is definitly not exciting me. Going out and playing with Toby in the snow, now that is fun. Just like many of you I will probably resort to shopping online, it is easy and sometimes you even get better deals. I was online the other day looking for information on new cars, Toby decided he needed a new ride to dog camp. Every site I went to gave me the option to save money if I "booked" a vehicle type with that dealer online. In some cases I could have saved up to an additional $2000. Every retailer now a days has some sort of a deal for the consumer and in some cases the deal is bigger online.
There is a new site out there that will allow you to shop your everyday stores like Walmart, iTunes, Sephora, and more. The best part is when you shop those stores through this site a percentage of the sales go towards the shelter you chose to help. They already have a long list of shelters, however if yours is not found you can add it on. What a great idea shopping and helping the animals! Happy Shopping! http://www.bringpetshome.org/home.aspx

We need a home!

Are we not just the cutest bunch!

All four of these kids belonged to the same loving family. Their parents were killed in an accident last week, their friends and neighbors are working hard at trying to find them new forever homes. Check out this site for more information.

http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-home-sought-four-dogs-of-couple-killed-sep17,0,1859541.story

To all of our cat best friends!

Finally a website dedicated strictly to cats. Almost every site out there has a little tidbit about cats and the rest of the site is all about the dogs. Please, they already think they are all that and a box of biscuits! They don't need any more encouragement about how cool they are! Bet they couldn't jump as high as us, let alone balance like we could. I bet they would not chase the mouse out of the basement for you either! I know I need to be nice! Fine, they're cool, I like dogs. (when they are walking away from me!) Seriously though, I am so psyched about this website I heard the front desk talking about. Check it out..http://www.catster.com/
Oh yeah, speaking of being cool and all... if you think I'm cute come visit me or my other friends at the Prairie View location. We are all up for adoption and located in the front lobby. The Pet Motel fosters us for Young At Heart Pet Rescue. http://www.yahpetrescue.com/

September Events

Come visit us and the rest of our best friends at these upcoming events the month of September.
9.10.09 CANINE CARNIVAL Sponsored by the Palatine Park District
http://www.palatineparkdistrict.com/

9.12.09 DOG FEST Sponsored by Canine Companions For Independence http://www.cci.org/site/c.cdKGIRNqEmG/b.3978475/k.BED8/Home.htm

9.13.09 Woofstock Sponsored by Tails of Hope
http://www.tailsofhope.org/

9.26.09 Mutt Mosey Sponsored by Young At Heart Pet Rescue
http://www.yahpetrescue.com/

Our foster dog of the month

Hi,
My name is Harley Joe and I am a 1 1/2 year old GSD/husky mix. I may not be a purebred GSD but I AM 100% sweetheart!! I love everyone - dogs, cats and kids! I especially love to cuddle with my special person. People also tell me that I am just an all-around nice guy. I am HW positive and I've received my treatments so now all I need is a wonderful family to fall in love with me. Please give me a chance!!!! I am currently staying with my new best friends at Best Friends American Pet Motel. If you would like to visit me or any of my other friends please contact German Shepherd Rescue at:
http://www.gsdrescue1.org/index.html

Love,
Harley