Our Shelter Pajama Party

A couple weeks ago, one of the directors at the animal shelter where I volunteer came up with the CRAZY idea of having a free adoption weekend with a pajama party theme. The shelter is not usually open on Sundays and never open before noon, so this would be a first on many counts.

I normally do all the graphic design for the shelter, so I was asked to make a poster to publicize the event. Because I was so busy at the time, I asked my daughter (a graphic design major) to do the honors. She ingeniously came up with this colorful, eye-catching poster seen here.

The day before the pajama party, I was at Joann Fabrics and happened to notice a pattern for dog pajamas sitting on a counter. I hadn't really even known there was such a thing! I bought it, along with a few remnants of polar fleece fabric that were super-duper cheap, around $2/yard.

That night, I went to work and made about 10 pairs of dog pajamas in different sizes. They were extremely easy to make--I got it down to 15 minutes per pajama. After all, how can you have a pajama party at an animal shelter and NOT have the dogs in pajamas?? Cats, well, it's understandable for them to not be in pajamas, because who wants to risk getting clawed up? What a blood bath. It's bad enough trying to dress up dogs!

Here's little catahoula mix puppy, Leah, rocking her teal pjs. Unfortunately, the pattern only came in 3 sizes, and not having the dogs nearby when I was sewing, I couldn't really customize them to the correct size. You can see Leah's pjs were a little tight so she busted a seam in the front. However, she was ADOPTED, and that's all that matters!

This Little Brown Pup also wore teal and was also ADOPTED!

Sweet Virginia in purple plaid. ADOPTED!

Here's the same purple plaid, but this time on Sasha (I wished I had bought a wider variety of fabrics!). Sasha also got adopted, but unfortunately, she was returned a couple days later. Apparently, one family member was not on board with having a new dog in the family (that family member had not accompanied the rest of them to the pj party, and no one had mentioned that there even was another family member). Oh well, it happens. Sasha is bound to get a new home soon--she's super sweet.

Little Boog in the grooviest pjs of all, but he has yet to get adopted. Go figure! Maybe it was his feminine pajamas that confused would-be adopters? Sorry, Boog, I'll take full responsibility for your gender confusion.

And here's our former temporary foster, 9.5-year old Sioux. I wasn't going to try to stick her poor arthritic limbs into pajamas, so I just made her a dignified suede-like coat with sherpa lining. And guess what, Sioux was also ADOPTED! WOO HOO!

The pajama party was a tremendous success with 25 adoptions in all (split between cats and dogs) In fact, after all the adoptions on Saturday, there were so few dogs left that they had to get some more from a nearby shelter! All the staff and volunteers felt a bit silly in our pajamas all day, but hey, if that's what it takes to get animals into good homes, why not!

Read more...

Give A Dog A Home

It's been much too long since I've posted. Why? Probably because there's too much to tell, and I feel overwhelmed when I sit down to write a post! But they're all good things--I'm just really busy with filling wholesale orders for my business, helping at the shelter, and family stuff.

At the shelter, I'm working with the dogs and helping them with graphic design projects. I designed their logo, newsletter, and most of their publications and marketing materials. For this, they have put me on a small monthly retainer, which is so nice of them. I keep telling them I'd do it for free anyway, but the retainer makes them feel better about asking me for things. I really enjoy the graphic design projects--but my first love is still the dogs.

Reese was a young German shepherd who had been abandoned by his owner. The animal control officers found him living in filthy conditions, covered with more fleas than they'd ever seen on one animal. Reese's tail had been run over months ago, but his owner had not done anything about it, so it was festering and infected. Our shelter had him on the operating table within 10 minutes of his arrival. Poor Reese lost his tail, his boy parts, and his fleas, all at the same time. But now, this beautiful dog lives on a 30-acre ranch with horses and a human who is a horse and dog trainer. I adored this dog, went to the shelter to work with him every chance I got, then cried happy tears when I heard he'd been adopted.

This is 2-year old Liz, with her adorable perpetually windblown ears. She spent 6 months at a shelter to the south of us, and then 6 months at a shelter to the north of us. Both shelters wanted to put her down, not because she had any issues but because she's a pitbull and time was running out. Our shelter brought her here, where we will find her a home, come heck or high water. Our shelter has a success rate of 93.75%, which is so awesome.

Notice the adoption jacket both dogs are wearing? My younger daughter is taking a class in entrepreneurship at her high school, which requires that she start a small business. With my help, she is making and selling these adoption jackets. We opened her Etsy shop two weeks ago, and she has already sold 8 jackets! A portion of all sales will go to our animal shelter. Click here to go to Give A Dog A Home on Etsy. Enter coupon code--oursforayear--to get free shipping!

Read more...

Five Days and It's Good

Well, I didn't really believe those of you who commented that things would get better with Cabana and Francie. But you were right! Cabana's comfort has improved, and I think Francie is finally understanding that harassing gets her nowhere, except inside her crate. This afternoon, Cabana got up on her ottoman, one of her favorite spots, while Francie was laying only inches away on the couch. That was the first time Cabana elected to be that close to Francie. (Sorry, this photo is pretty darn blurry.)

Five days ago, Francie only ate about half the food in her dish at mealtimes, and her poops were always runny and tinged with blood. Now, she is almost as fastidious about cleaning her plate as Cabana is, and her poops are firm and healthy. WHY is that so gratifying?! On the subject of food, Cabana adores baby carrots and comes to get one whenever I open the fridge. The first time I gave Francie a carrot, she almost audibly said, "Blecch" and spit it on the ground. She watched as Cabana ate hers enthusiastically and picked the discarded carrot back up. She chomped it into three pieces but left the pieces uneaten. Tonight, though, she happily gobbled down two of them. What a good girl to eat her veggies.

This morning, Lake County Animal Services kindly allowed me to participate in their adoption event at a local Pet Food Express. Francie charmed everyone who stopped to meet her, snuggling up and leaning in on their legs for some love. This girl knows how to work it! She was great with every person and very good about meeting the other adoptable dogs there. I was extremely encouraged and proud of her. No one seemed seriously interested, though--but I'm horning in on another adoption event in San Francisco tomorrow.

There were two litters of puppies at today's adoption event. These are lab/plott hound mixed pups. So sweet! Aren't their eyes incredible?

Read more...