Dog Song Saturday: A Dog is a Friend by Jimmy Scott

A dog is friend for life... people leave, dogs stick around.  Oh, yeah!  It's Saturday!  Time for a dog song at Talking Dogs.  If you're reading this blog, you're going to appreciate the lyrics of today's dog song.  A Dog is a Friend is an original song composed and performed by Jimmy Scott.  It's from his album "Little Love Songs/Strumology" which is available at iTunes and cdbaby.

Grab a dog.  Sit. Stay. Relax and pat that dog to the tune of A Dog is a Friend with Jimmy Scott.  If you're in the mood, check out more dog songs at Talking Dogs.  Then come back here and scroll down below today's dog song video and explore some barking good dog blogs because today is a Pet Blogger Hop.

Valentine Dog Lover Earrings from For Love of a Dog Jewelry

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and For Love of a Dog Jewelry & Gifts has some new dog lover earrings.  Just perfect for that special someone who loves dogs.

Shown to the left are adorable dog lover earrings with a chubby red jasper gemstone heart dangling from three dimensional glass dog bone beads.  

Hand wire wrapped with silver jeweler's wire and accented with sterling silver beads, these earring are adorable!

How about these silver heart and white dog bone earrings?  

Sleek silver hearts look fantastic with white and proclaim to the world that your heart is taken by your favorite canine companion.

Fetch more dog lover earrings from For Love of a Dog.  You'll find we have lots of dog bone earrings with hearts and gemstone beads, plus other dog loving earring styles as well.  All handmade by dog lovers in the Missouri Ozarks.  In fact, we offer dog breed jewelry in many dog breeds, mutt and mixed breed dog lover jewelry, and even dog rescue jewelry.  Save 10% on your entire order - including sale items - when you use this discount code at checkout: FLDNEW  Free shipping, too!

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New MACH Agility Dog Lover Jewelry at For Love of a Dog

Thanks to customer requests, For Love of a Dog Jewelry & Gifts now offers jewelry to celebrate your dog's achievements in agility events.  

Show off your bragging rights with the Master of Agility Championship handmade bracelet shown to the left.  White jade gemstone beads and super cute three dimensional white dog bone beads are hand wire wrapped with silver jeweler's wire.  The focal is a hand stamped sterling silver circular disc with MACH, accented with a sweet silver star dangle.  This dog lover bracelet is adjustable in size with an extender chain decorated with a silver dog bone and heart.

If white isn't your color, you may like this very similar MACH dog lover bracelet shown below in jasper gemstone beads with a black onyx star. 

Love agility, but no championships yet?  Or perhaps competition isn't your thing.  Check out this beautiful dog lover bracelet simply celebrating agility.  Chunky bracelet features fat white jade and a hand stamped focal.

Does your Australian Cattle Dog or Australian Shepherd compete in agility?  Fetch this handmade copper ankle bracelet with hand stamped solid copper bar:  AUSSIE AGILITY.  A great way to celebrate your dog's efforts, plus you can benefit from the healing properties of copper.

Fetch more dog lover jewelry from For Love of a Dog.  We offer dog breed jewelry in over 75 dog breeds, mutt and mixed breed dog lover jewelry, and even dog rescue jewelry.  Enjoy fast, free shipping in gift box packaging from folks who love dogs and hand craft these items right here in America.

Wordless Wednesday: In Begging Focus is Key

Begging:  Jeffie shows Rudy how it's done!

Does your dog have rights? Mine does! Guest Post

Today we have another Talking Dogs guest post from the dog daddy at For Love of a Dog, known to some of you as the Chief Medical Examiner and my husband, Gary.

 
Does your dog have rights?  Mine do! 


Recently I've read a number of articles about animal rights. They've really gotten me thinking about the issue. Of course, as I read and ponder, I have my own three dogs in mind. 

One self proclaimed expert on the subject stated that “With rights come responsibility and animals are not responsible.” 

At first I thought, well, that is that.  Of course animals can’t have rights, they have no responsibility. But the more I've thought about it, the more I'm seeing the issue in broader terms. I'll use my dogs to illustrate my recent thinking. 

First let’s deal with me, the one whose rights are not in question, at least not this one. I have the right to own a dog or in my case even multiple dogs. With that right comes responsibility. In exchange for the right to own a dog, I can think of 5 basic responsibilities I have:

1. I have the responsibility to provide my dog healthy food and water. 
2. I have the responsibility to provide my dog with adequate shelter. 
3. I have the responsibility to provide a life free of unnecessary pain or violence. 
4. I have the responsibility to provide love, attention and companionship. 
5. I have the responsibility to provide the training my dog needs to exist in his environment. 

In our house, as in many, we go well above the basics when it comes to our dogs. They live in our house and sleep in the bedroom with us. Jeffie even has his own pillow on the bed. They enjoy organic dog food and a fenced two acre back yard.  I could go on, but won't.  Any real dog lover knows the drill. 

Now back to my dogs. I believe they have a right to all the things that I am responsible for giving them. So if they have these rights, what are their responsibilities? Well, they are responsible to do many things and to not do many things. 

My dogs are responsible to return the love, attention and companionship that I show them. I pat their head, they lick my face. Basic give and take. They are responsible to eat the food I provide, accept the shelter I offer, to come when I call them, to guard our home, and accept any training demands I place on them.  

Of course, anyone who loves a dog knows they do much more than the basics without expecting anything in return. 

Now for the list of what they are responsible to not do. My dogs are responsible to not do their business in the house; not to beg when told not to; not to bite me, visitors or the vet; not to bark at night or keep me awake; not to chew the furniture or rugs.  This list could go on, except my dogs are so good I can’t think of any more. 

So there you have it. My dogs have rights and they have responsibilities just like I do. My guess is that your dogs have rights, too.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Image: myremi and webcooltips.com

January 23 is the Chinese New Year.  And I'm off the hook for doing any kind of cleaning!

Did you know that the Chinese believe that on New Year's Eve, all brooms, brushes, dusters, dust pan and other cleaning equipment are put away.  Sweeping or dusting should not be done on New Year's Day for fear that good fortune will be swept away.

What a relief!  One of my own New Year's resolutions was to take pictures of my dogs with less dog hair in the photos.  You know, so it looks like I do sometimes run the vacuum cleaner at our house.  (I do, I do!)  Well, I won't be running that vacuum today!

Jeffie thinks cleaning is highly over rated!

So, lay down that duster.  Put away that Windex and vacuum cleaner.  Play with those pups and focus on receiving lots of good fortune in 2012, the Chinese year of the Dragon!

Adopt a Senior Black Dog: Raven is Homeless in Missouri

I feel a special heartache when I see senior dogs surrendered to an animal shelter or picked up (and unclaimed) by animal control.  However, I won't preach on that topic today because it's more important that you take a look at Raven.

Raven is about 8 years old and currently living at the Humane Society of Missouri animal shelter in Maryland Heights.  He's a beautiful black Labrador Retriever dog mix who's already neutered.  He has great manners, is housebroken and walks very nicely on a leash.  He's looking for a home to live out the rest of his life and he'll give all the love you can take in exchange.

If you have room in your heart and house for this wonderful black dog boy, please contact the HSMO at 314-951-1588 and reference animal ID number A522300