2012 Dog Lover Calendars That Do Good for Animals

Travels with Ace ...

Truthfully, I really don't need to purchase a calendar.  Our Vet gives away free art calendars each year.  Not the cheap kind, plus you can select from western art, puppies, or kittens.  I always take puppies; Gary takes western art.  Both of us are pleased all year long.

However, every year I end up getting at least one extra calendar... or two.  I rationalize that I need one in my office, as well as the kitchen, mainly because I can't resist all good causes.  And I give calendars as Christmas gifts.

 It seems more animal rescue and/ or dog organizations produce an irresistible calendar every year.  This year is no exception.

Take a look at this one from John Woestendiek and Ace over at OhMiDog and Travels with Ace: Dogs on the Road.  The Travels with Ace calendar recaptures some of the more memorable moments from their year and 27,000 miles of travel across America, about half of that spent tracing the route John Steinbeck, 50 years ago, took with his poodle in Travels with Charley.  

It's an 18 month calendar priced at $25, plus $3 shipping.   Not only is OhMiDog one of my favorite dog blogs, I traveled with John and Ace vicariously for that year and became addicted to reading about their adventures.  Gotta have it;  already ordered one.  

Here's the real kicker:  half of all profits will go to Rolling Dog Farm in New Hamphire (formerly rolling Dog Ranch in Montana), the sanctuary for blind, deaf and disabled animals.  Fetch a Travels with Ace 2012 calendar for yourself or as a gift for a friend.

2012 Pinups for Pitbulls Calendar

Have you ever seen any of Pinups for Pitbulls calendars?  They are retro-fabulous and they sell out quickly!  

This year Pinups for Pitbulls, an advocacy and public education group working on behalf of bully dogs, has devoted their 2012 calendar, titled Our FUTgotten Heroes, to women who advocate for Pit Bull type dogs along with their adorable dogs.  With a very World War II retro military theme.  Quite swanky! 

It's usually available on Amazon, though currently it is sold out.  When they restock, be sure to snag a Pinups for Pitbulls 2012 calendar!

Pit Bulls of New Orleans 2012 Calendar

The Sula Foundation's 2012 Pit Bulls of New Orleans Calendar is a beauty!

You'll find the pit bulls of New Orleans seated on stoops, relaxing on porches, hanging out at local shops, along with very cool graffiti art.  

Preview the calendar and then fetch your copy.  Cost is $18 plus $4.95 shipping.  

You can also purchase your 2012 Pit Bulls of New Orleans Calendar at the Sula Foundation web site.  

Labrador Life Line 2012 Calendar

If you love a Labrador Retriever (and you know we do), you'd better have a look at the Labrador Life Line 2012 calendar.  

Filled with beautiful photographs of Labs, selected from favorite entries in one of the organization's contests.  The snowy deck yellow Lab for January is adorable.  I love that you can click to preview each month, too. 
 
Fetch your Labrador Life Line 2012 calendar for $19.99 at the Labrador Life Line's Cafe Press shop.


I love The Sanctuary for Senior Dogs' Graying Muzzles 2012 - a celebration of old dogs - calendar.  Celebrate senior dogs all year long with this beautiful calendar.  Order your Graying Muzzles 2012 directly from The Sanctuary for Senior Dogs web site.  They're just $10 each.  What a bargain!   

Graying Muzzles 2012 Calendar from The Sanctuary for Senior Dogs.

This is just a super small sample of all the wonderful calendars available and the sale of each one benefits an organization working hard to make the world a better place one dog at a time.  

What better gift could you give this holiday season?!


Please, feel free to publicize other animal welfare groups' calendars in the comments below.  Be sure to add links so readers can find them to purchase.
  .

Saving America's Mustangs offers Wild Horse Eco Sanctuary

Horse advocate Madeleine Pickens' non-profit organization, Saving America's Mustangs, has a proposal to help wild horses, and save taxpayer dollars. She's offered to take in more than 2,000 wild horses scheduled to be permanently removed in late January from the Antelope Valley Herd Management Complex in Nevada.  Below is a news release from Saving America's Mustangs:

As Congress returns from the holiday weekend, members will be greeted by a full-page ad in Politico blasting the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its decision to proceed with the roundup of more than 2,000 mustangs in northeastern Nevada, despite a cost-effective alternative on the table.

“As costs [of the BLM wild horse program] spiral out of control, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who oversees the BLM, and BLM Director Bob Abbey pledge reform. But their talk is cheap when opportunities for real action are ignored,” the ad admonishes.

The advertisement was placed by philanthropist and businesswoman Madeleine Pickens, who has purchased two ranches in Nevada and is in the process of creating a wild horse eco-sanctuary in the area. Mrs. Pickens’ ranches are situated amidst the BLM’s Antelope Complex, where BLM intends to conduct the massive wild horse roundup beginning this week.

In early December, Mrs. Pickens and her Saving American Mustangs Foundation had offered to provide state-of-the-art holding facilities for the captured horses on her private lands, and requested the BLM to postpone the roundup by a few months until the ranches were ready to receive the horses.

Mrs. Pickens proposal would prevent the waste of tax dollars incurred by shipping the horses thousands of miles to off-the-range holding facilities. Despite this, BLM rejected the offer.

“For three years BLM has stonewalled our proposal to create a wild horse eco-sanctuary that offers a cost-effective, public/private partnership solution to the government’s unsustainable warehousing of wild horses,” Mrs. Pickens said today. “Today I turn to the Congress and the American people to urge the BLM to heed the call for change before it is too late, and the last of our cherished mustangs is lost forever.”

Last week, a coalition of prominent organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States , the Western Watersheds Project and the ASPCA sent a letter to BLM director Bob Abbey urging him to postpone the roundup in favor of the cost effective alternative plan.

Beginning as early as January 20, the BLM intends to capture up to 2,228 mustangs, or 83 percent of the wild horses living in the Antelope Complex, claiming that the 1.3 million acre public lands area can sustain just 427-788 horses. Meanwhile, the agency annually authorizes the equivalent of more than 2,000 privately-owned cattle and nearly 7,000 privately-owned sheep to graze the same area.

The BLM has been harshly criticized over the past several years for its aggressive policy of rounding up wild horses from public lands in the West and stockpiling them in government holding facilities in the Midwest . The U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Senate Interior Appropriation Committee, and Interior Secretary Salazar himself have acknowledged that the program is fiscally unsustainable, yet the roundups continue. The BLM now warehouses more wild horses in government holding facilities (40,000+) than are left free on the range.

Saving America’s Mustangs is creating up to a million acre Wild Horse Eco-Sanctuary as a permanent home for wild horses presently in captivity. The “Mustang Monument” sanctuary will be a living museum, where visitors can reconnect with the great outdoors and learn about America ‘s wild horses and the important role they play in our culture and our history