Dog Mom Jewelry Bracelet Give Away

We're celebrating a birthday!

No cake;  no candles.  
However, there's a gift for one of you!

As many of you know, my mom passed away earlier this month.  

Today, February 26, is her birthday.

I decided to celebrate with a giveaway and a special sale at For Love of a Dog.

When you visit For Love of a Dog, you'll see that my Dog Mom jewelry is on sale, plus some specific dog breed jewelry, too:  Pit Bull, Labrador Retriever, Cocker Spaniel, Beagle, Dachshund, Fox Terrier, Lhasa Apso (Shih Tzu.)    These are the breeds of dog that were my mom's special life companions.  Maybe they're yours, too.

A Dog Mom bracelet seemed appropriate for this giveaway.  This one is in her favorite colors:  purple and red!
  

This is a one of kind piece of dog lover jewelry that I created specially for this celebration.

The focal is a hand crafted purple porcelain dog bone with DOG MOM hand inscribed.  The dog bone is surrounded by a variety of chubby artisan lampwork beads in shades of purple and lavender.  Pale lavender core with purple raised dots, a looping scroll design, and a drum rondelle.

The clasp is a silver heart with paw print lobster claw.  To finish things just right, I added an artisan lampwork heart that is nicely fat and scarlet red.  

A $75 value, this chunky bracelet will be re-sized to the winner's wrist measurement.

This give away is open to residents of the US and Canada (sorry, International friends!.)  There are lots of chances to win:  tweet every day (10 chances per day are possible), follow For Love of a Dog / Talking Dogs on Twitter, and comment on this blog.

One winner will be chosen at random by Rafflecopter.  That winner will need to respond within 24 hours or an alternate winner will be chosen.  Questions? Contact me:  sue (at) forloveofadog (dot) com 

A note about Raffflecopter:  if you're using the Chrome browser you may get a malware warning which is sometimes triggered by Rafflecopter.  There is no malware here!  AND sometimes you may need to refresh the page and let it load fully before the Rafflecopter will appear correctly.

Enter now!  

And be sure to check out our special sale at For Love of a Dog! Fetch dog jewelry on sale now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wordless Wednesday: Speak English, Dog!

Andy The Little Rat Dog House Guest

Today we have another guest post from the Dog Daddy at our house:  

Dorothy's Dog - Andy

Readers of this blog may have noticed that it has not been as active as usual lately. Sue’s mother, Dorothy, has experienced some health problems and is now in rehab preparing to be able to return to her home. 

Those of you who have been through such an experience will understand. For those of you who have not, there is no way to relate it in a single blog post. I will just say that blogging is just one of many things in our lives which have been impacted. 

As Sue told you in an earlier post, Dorothy’s dog, Andy, a Lhasa Apso, has come to live with us for awhile. This has been a real adventure for all of us, especially for Andy.

Having been a city dog all his life, he has never known the joy of being free in the yard without a leash. At first he wouldn’t leave the back porch without me leading the way.  Now he goes out alone.  He slowly maneuvers down the steps, does his business and explores the world going a little further each day.

With a 2 acre yard that’s a lot to explore. 

Andy only has one eye.  Unfortunately he's nearly blind in that eye.  His exploring is a slow process, but fascinating to watch. Sometimes he will get to the other side of the house and can’t find his way back. I call him, and keep calling him, so he can follow my voice back to the back porch.

One day he got lost in the yard and found Sue’s For Love of a Dog Jewelry studio, which borders the back yard.  He found the studio porch and it's door and was sitting there waiting to be let in. When I called to him he realized his mistake and followed my voice back to the house. 

So far we have kept Andy separated from our dogs as he has a“little man’s complex” and Jeffie does not like a strange dog in his house. Rudy, however, is fascinated.  He stands at the baby gate which keeps Andy in the mud room and studies him. 

I think that at this point Rudy has finally figured out that Andy is a dog, just a very strange little fellow. We think the two of them would get along okay but Rudy is still very much a rousting puppy. Andy is old and has mobility problems so we are afraid he could get hurt. When Andy goes out to explore the yard, Rudy goes from window to window to try and keep an eye on him.

We talk to our dogs a lot and we always end up giving them numerous play names. Andy is now known as Andyman, Little Dog, the One Eyed Wonder and Little Rat Dog. Sue says I shouldn’t call him Rat Dog because I could give him a complex. 

I think it is a fitting name. With Jeffie and Rudy both weighing around 100 lbs. and Andy weighing about 20 lbs. Andy is pretty much like a little rat!

We love dogs and believe that all dogs deserve the best care possible, so we will continue to give that to Andy.  At the same time, we're looking forward to Andy's return to his own home and dog mama.  And I'm sure the Little Rat Man feels the same way!

Random Thoughts: Mothers Hospitals Dogs and House Guests

Andy - Guest Dog at For Love of a Dog

We have a house guest.  Andy is my mother's dog and he's been staying with us since she was rushed to the hospital on March 14.  While we've been enriching the oil companies by traveling the interstate back and forth between our farm and the hospital, as well as our farm and my mother's home, the dogs have been ... well, waiting.

Waiting and hoping life will return to normal.  Soon.  

I can relate.  I just wish I had the patience of a dog.  The time to nap would be welcome, too.

The dogs are doing a whole lot of napping and very little flying disc or Jolly Ball exercise.  They, of course, know something strange has happened and they offer comfort whenever they can.  Comic relief, too.

They also know there's a very strange critter in their house.  Andy.

My mother's dog, Andy, is a 12 year old Lhasa Apso.  At least, that's what his registration papers say.  He sure looks like a Shih Tzu to me.  Believed to be a Missouri puppy mill survivor, he has a long list of health problems.  Not only does he have megaesophagus, Andy has lost one eye and is almost blind in the other.  In addition, he has some locomotion difficulties that are most likely neurological.

Andy is a money pit and the apple of my mother's eye.  

Normally this king of my mother's castle spends his days in my mother's lap, takes walks on a leash, and spends his nights in a very cushy bed.  These days he's spending his life in our mudroom with a crate at night. 

And he's having some big adventures.  These adventures will be detailed later this week by the dog daddy at our house.  Among them are his encounters with "the big dogs" at our house, getting lost in the yard, and discovering there's a world off-leash.

In the meantime, Andy is safe behind the baby gate.  Safe because he has "small man's complex."  No shirker, he's ready to attack and defend.. against the very curious canines on the other side of that baby gate.  Ready for his next adventure which is sure to bring smiles to our faces.

Dogs.  Gotta love 'em.