Update 8/10: Congratulations to brownkatt (#17) for winning this giveaway!
The Giveaway
- Individual giveaway winner: The winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to www.RescueTreats.com.
- Referral winners: Each giveaway will also offer a $15 gift certificate to a referrer. What's a referrer? A referrer is somebody who tells you about the giveaway. So if you learned about the giveaway because somebody told you about it, be sure to include that person's info with your entry/comment. If the giveaway winner lists somebody as their referrer, the referrer will also win a $15 gift cert (Referrer's first name, last initial, and email address must be provided in the entry/comment. You cannot list yourself as a referrer.)
Marathon Giveaway #1
Ends August 9, 2010.
How to Enter
Vote for me in the Petfinder World's Best Pet Parent contest. The winners, determined by who gets the most public votes, will get to choose which rescues/shelters will receive a Petfinder grant. You can use this link to go directly to my page (I'm on the 4th page):
You will need to sign up for a Petfinder account if you don't already have one. Once you've signed up, you can vote as many times as you want--just click on the "Refresh" button of your browser after each vote. Remember, the more times you vote, the better chance I have of winning, which means the more prize that will be awarded!
After you've voted, come back to this page and leave a comment to this post with the following:
1- the first 5 characters of your Petfinder login.
2- the number of votes I've received after your vote (see image below).
3- your email address (so you can be contacted if you win). To avoid spam, it's best to leave your email in a form similar to: store at walkinthebark dot com.
4- if somebody told you about this giveaway, note them as your referrer and include that person's first name, last initial, and email address (example: Referred by Sean M friendATyahooDOTcom).
** See Comment #1 for an example**
Additional entries:
- Vote for us 5 more times in the Petfinder contest. Remember to hit the "refresh" button after each vote. Leave a comment with the number of votes I've received after your last vote and your email address. There is no limit on how many times you can enter this way. Leave 1 comment per 5 votes.** See Comment #15 for an example** **If you vote at least 15 times, to speed things up, you can just write "5 votes" in the first 2 comments. Then in the 3rd comment, write the last vote count and and your email address. See Comments #13-15 for an example.**
The winning entries (ie. comments) will be selected randomly via random.org. There's no limit on how many times you can win either, so vote and enter often!
Feel free to send us an email at store @ walkinthebark.com (remove the spaces) if you have any questions--don't post your question here as we may not see it. Good luck!
I don't really think I'm the World's Best Pet Parent. That's a pretty lofty statement, and I have spoken to too many other freaking awesome pet parents to not be humbled by their dedication to their furkids. But maybe I could call myself one of the World's Best Pet Parents?
Amazingly, Popeye & I have been chosen as one of the 50 finalists in Petfinder's current photo contest. The finalist with the most public votes wins $10,000 donated to their rescue of choice. The 2nd place winner gets $5,000, and 10 honorable mentions get $1,000. Our rescue gets very few donations, and if you've been following this blog, you know that in virtually every case, our pet expenses far outweigh our adoption fees--sometimes even by the thousands. So the extra money comes out of pocket, from extra work I take on. Winning even $1,000 would be a huge help.
So vote for us and vote often! You'll need to sign up for a Petfinder account, but once you do, you'll be able to vote as many times as you want through Sept 28, 2010 (just hit the "Refresh" button of your browser to vote again).
From the Official rules: The entry with the most public votes at the end of the Voting Period will be selected as the winner of the contest. There is no limit to the number of times you may vote during the Voting Period, however votes generated by script, macro or other automated means will be void. You will be required to refresh your browser after placing your vote in order to vote again.
Check them out on the homepage of www.SiriusRepublic.com. They are each sporting a brand new collar handcrafted and donated by Jennifer at Sirius Republic.
Jennifer is herself a dog lover and is fosterer to Chilly, a highly trained and super ball-obsessed canine ambassador who's looking for a forever home in the Bay Area. She's got a big heart and makes really cool collars and other accessories. Check www.SiriusRepublic.com out and maybe your pet can be as fashionable as Seven & Gracie. (Let's just hope they don't turn into divas now.)
I know you're dying to see them, so let's start off with some pics. But you have to promise to read my bio below before deciding that you're interested in adopting me. After all, I'm more than just a pretty face.
There's me, as a baby. Freaking cute I was.
That's my foster human, Robin, and resident dog, Logan.
Body shot. So sexy!
I'm good at yoga.
That's my friend, Phoebe, come to visit.
I run funny.
That tickles!
Cuddles.
Grroarr. Seven vs the evil rope toy.
That's Gracie. She was a stray who landed at our house a few weeks ago. She needs a forever home too.
Phoebe's come to visit again and this time, she's brought her "brother," Boomer. It's a dog party!
These ears are heavy. I need to rest my head for a bit.
Ok, now I'll just rest my ears.
All good!
All right, now that you've seen the pics, it's time to read my story. And if you're real good, I might just show you a couple of videos later too.
My story's actually pretty long. So first I'll give you the short version. Then I'll give you the long version.
The Short Version
I was born on Nov 17, 2009. That makes me a young whippersnapper. My mother was found as a stray in Taiwan--already pregnant and about to give birth. I was 1 of 11 puppies! I'm a Formosan Mountain Dog mix. I'm about 40 lbs now but may grow to be 50-60.
I went from home to home until I finally ended up with Robin, who's fostering me until I'm adopted. I now live with 2 other dogs and plenty of cats.
I'm a pretty good dog. I'm housetrained, walk well on leash and know how to "sit." I love to play with other dogs. Gracie, the other foster dog, is a puppy like me and we just play and play and play.
I do get nervous when meeting new people. I don't like it when strangers approach me too quickly, which happens all the time because they think I'm such a fascinating dog to look at. But people who take it slowly, especially if they come bearing cheese, I get comfortable with more quickly.
I take correction well and I prefer a human that can be a good leader. I don't want to lead; I'm a follower at heart. So it's very important my forever human is comfortable taking charge and providing discipline and boundaries. It makes me feel safe to know that I can trust my human to take care of things.
I love to be petted, and I'm very affectionate. I'm the perfect size to be squeezed, though not on the first date.
I'm being fostered in Sacramento. If you're interested in adopting me, please send an email to request an adoption application. There is a $200 tax-deductible adoption fee to help cover the rescue dogs' medical expenses. I'm neutered, microchipped, and current on shots. A homecheck will also be required to make sure every dog goes to an environment suited for them.
The Long Version
You might want to grab a snack and get comfortable.
Part 1
Ni Hao Y'all, Seven here, sending out a what's up from sunny Yilan, Taiwan!
I'm a five month old puppy. My Mama was a Taiwanese street dog who was rescued by a nice Canadian couple. A few days after her rescue they realized that she was pregnant, with 11 puppies! You can imagine their surprise!
Anyways, I was the first puppy to be chosen for adoption, because of my super cool tiger stripe spots. Everybody who sees me comments on how totally awesome I look, so of course I would be the first of the litter to find a home. Alas, though, it turned out that while the husband of my new home really wanted a dog, the wife DID NOT. So that home fell through. Sigh?.
It's okay though, because now I have a foster home! I've got a foster sister, Dresden, a foster brother, Romulus, and even a foster cat, XiaoMao (Xiao is a bit of a snob though). Our human, who will hereby be referred to as Foster Mama Extraordinaire, has got me on a pretty sweet routine. At 7:30 am, she likes to go for a surf. That means that I get to spend two whole hours on the beach with my foster brother and sister! We wrestle a lot. It all looks pretty vicious, and since they're bigger than me, sometimes it looks like I'm losing. But I'm a tough pup and really we're having tons of fun, and getting lots of exercise.
Dresden and Romulus have taught me all sorts of good skills- for example, how to pummel into another dog at top speed, causing both of you to roll in the sand. TONS OF FUN!!!! The goal is actually to get as much sand in our fur as possible, because foster Mama E loves to vacuum every day. You just cannot separate her from that machine. Anyways, Dresden and Romulus have also tried to teach me to roll on dead fish. They think it smells goooooooooood. But I don't like it. I like to be a clean dog.
You'd think I might run away while Foster Mama E is out in the water, paddling around, but I don't. I'm a good boy and I wait for her on the beach. But I don't go swimming in when I see her catch a wave back to shore, like Dresden and Rommy do. That's too scary.
When we get home around 9:30, we play a game called, Who's the smelliest dog? This is where Foster Mama E smells each one of us in turn. It's a sort of a competition. And guess what the grand prize for the smelliest dog is? A bath! None of us have the heart to tell her that we don't really like baths. Anyways, I rarely win the competition because I don't do the dead fish roll thing.
I get free reign of the house until about 11am, when Foster Mama E ties me up to her desk while she works. She says I'm too young and I might pee in the house if she lets me run free for too long. So I usually nap at her feet while her fingers tap on the keyboard- clickety clack clickety clack! Sometimes I wonder why she doesn't do something more productive with her hands, like scratch me behind the ears. She says scratching me behind the ears won't put the kibble in the bowl. Duh. Putting the kibble in the bowl puts the kibble in the bowl.
At 1pm, we go out to the beach again, but only for a 30 minute walk. This means more wrestling, more sand, and more dead fish, and for Mama E, more vacuuming.
When we go inside, I run around for another hour then I go into my crate so I'm not underfoot while she does her chores. I don't protest. It's a good napping place.
At 5:30 we go out again, and as always I get lots of love when I relieve myself in the proper place. Wooo hoooo. Who's a good boy? Seven's a good boy!
Then Mama E goes to work, which means 4-5 hours in the crate. I don't mind it. I almost always get a treat going in. Mama E says, Seven, where's your purple blanket? and I run to my crate. At 9:30 or 10pm, it's back out on the beach for a lot of playing! Mama E loves me because I come right when she calls, and stay close to her all the time, and when she's ready to go in, I am too. Rommy and Dresi aren't so good.
Sometimes Foster Mama E sits down in a chair, buries her head in her hands, and moans, My house is a zoo, my house is a zoo, over and over. When she does this, I sit by her, giving her big, woeful eyes. I'm good at the woeful eye thing- I'm a dog, it's my birthright. Also, I have really cool Cleopatra style black eye-liner around my eyes, so the effect is particularly nice. When I do the eye thing, Foster Mama E picks me up and we have a nice cuddle. She tells me I'm a good boy and she'd like to keep me, but two dogs is her limit. Three dogs and one cat in one small apartment with one human is TOO MUCH she says.
We gotta go soft on her. Seven months ago, she had never even had a dog, and didn't want one! But Dresden, who was abandoned outside a convenience store, got to her (Dresi does a pretty good woeful eye herself), and then Rommy, who was hit by a car then abandoned on the beach, also got to her. In the last six months, Foster Mama E has adopted TWO dogs (Rommy and Dres) and has had THREE foster dogs, and ONE other pup that she watched for two weeks while her friends visited America. She called it a trial by fire. She likes me cause I'm pretty good about not ever peeing in the house. That woman hates urine on her floors with a burning passion. When I do my business outside she acts like it's Christmas and showers me with love and affection and sometimes a treat.
Anyways, what else can I tell you? My pictures do nothing to show my cuteness, because I won't stay still, and when the camera comes out I get a little sheepish- all that beeping, clicking and flashing makes me nervous. I'll probably grow up to be on the big side of medium. I LOVE other dogs, and I have a raging crush on the cat. I'm not aggressive with the kitties though- I just really like to put my face right next to her face. And sniff. A lot. I'm waiting for her to make the first move (you know, I go 90% and wait for her to do the last 10) but so far she just stares at me like I'm completely repulsive.
I suppose you might be interested to know why Foster Mama E really wants me to go to America. I mean, why not find a home in Taiwan?
Well, I'm a little under-appreciated here. People like those tiny yappy dogs, and I'll probably grow up to be a big boy. Also, there's a major street dog problem. Even good doggies get abandoned at the train station and the night market. Most people who are amenable to having a bigger dog already have one or several. Supply is overwhelming demand. That's probably true of America, too, but Foster Mama E can't help but hope that I'll find a good place in the USA. (She might be a little biased because she's American).
Even if I did find a good home in Taiwan, pet ownership is viewed a little differently here, and because I've grown used to an American style home (foster Mama E is a Californian with that whole my pets are part of my family' mentality), it might be hard for me to get used to a Taiwanese style set up.
Anyways, of course I'll be vaccinated before I ship off. Foster Auntie Abbie has it all under control for transportation, too- once I find a good home, I'll be able to hitch a ride with someone flying back to America. So all I need now is that good home.
Oh yeah, one more thing! When I run, my ears flop together, crossing at the tips, and then flop apart with every step. They seem too big for my head really. Foster Mama E thinks it's ADORABLE!!!
Thanks for reading about me =)
baby pics:
Part 2
Here I am with 2 of my siblings and Foster Mama E at the Taiwan doggy embassy getting our paperwork to fly. It's April 2010 and there's a couple in the US interested in adopting me!
Unfortunately, this didn't end up working out. I went to live in Sonoma with a wonderful couple and their dog. The flight was very stressful to me. I have to admit that once we landed in the US, I was very scared. The airport was so noisy. Things were banging left and right. I didn't feel safe.
I quickly learned to trust and love my new family. But the world outside was still daunting to me. As much as they wanted to help me overcome my fears, my family didn't understand that all I needed was just some time to settle in and get my bearings again. Instead, they exposed me to even more new and (to me) frightening situations.
I'm not a leader by nature but it seemed that my new family were nervous people. I know now that they were nervous only because I was nervous, but at the time, I thought they were nervous because they too felt threatened by the scary world outside. I didn't think they could take care of themselves so I tried my best to take on the role of leader. That wasn't fun at all. In fact, it was awful and made everyone a nervous wreck. I was just trying to be a good dog but I was almost put down because nobody understood my language.
Luckily, the nice people at this rescue stepped in. They have lots of experience with dogs like me so they had a better understanding of what I needed.
Part 3
I went to live with at my current foster home at the end of May. The month before that was the worst time of my life, not because the people weren't good--in fact, they were always kind and gentle and I loved them very much--but because they just didn't understand what I needed at the time.
The first day that I went to live at my current foster home, I mostly spent my time sniffing and exploring. Nobody pushed me to do anything. They stayed close and watched me but mostly just let me get comfortable at my own pace.
By the next morning, it was like a reset button was pressed. Life was grand once more. I played with the resident dog and cuddled with my new foster mom. She gave me a couple more weeks to just take it slow and settle in.
When we had our first guests, things went great. Of course the presence of cheese helped!
Even the trip to the vet went well. The previous vet had left a stitch in my belly after neutering me so we went to the new vet to have it removed. I was nervous but everybody was so proud of how well I did there. Of course it helps to have an awesome vet.
Since then, I've done great with everybody I've met. Some people do make me nervous but I just stand closer to my foster mom and wait for her to tell me it's ok. She's a great leader, just like Foster Mama E in Taiwan, so I feel more confident. The more people I meet, the better I continue to do.
I may never be the kind of dog that jumps up to greet every passing stranger, but that's bad manners anyway. I am eager to please and I learn quickly, so if you would like to be my pack leader and best friend, I promise to be a most faithful, loving, and goofy companion.
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