Greetings dog friends, friends of dogs and cats,

It's me Rosie! I have a new post series we're calling Rosie to the Rescue! where I talk about all things to do with rescue groups, which next to food, is my favorite topic.

This month, I'd like to introduce you to a new group that is, kind of a big deal. You could say they're minor heroes, in that they're minors and they're heroes!

That's right, they're kids who are saving the lives of countless dogs and cats across the country and they call themselves, Kids Against Animal Cruelty (KAAC)! They're like the Justice League that's gone to the dogs (sorry, had to).

With several chapters across the U.S. they network on Facebook to save lives posting 2 to 3 times a day until someone goes to the pound and saves a dog friend in need. They've saved over 20,000 lives in 2 years and they're group is growing in spayeds (bad pun? sorry again).

KAAC gets a boost in numbers with the help of a rising star. The group's founder, Lou Wegner, is a 16 year old actor/singer who advocates for animals every time he hits the red carpet. He started the group when he was 14 and now boasts 10 chapters in the U.S. alone and 50,000 members globally!

They're doing amazing work and we're really excited to be supporting KAAC! To read more about Lou and his crew go to: http://www.myhero.com.

Be their friend at: Kids Against Animal Cruelty Facebook!

Hello dog friends, friends of dogs and cats,

Rosie here wanting to introduce you to my partner Bella! Part Border Collie, part Lab and Aussie Shepard she's as tough as she is purty. As partners goes, she's kind of pawsome, hard working, funny and one smart cookie.

So smart in fact that we decided she should have her own column! We're calling it: Bella Knows Best! Here she'll talk about smart stuff that matters, like safety stuff, training and nutrition. This week's edition of Bella Knows Best: 

Gluten Free for dogs?

Hey!  Bella here.  Just got back from chasing some squir – I mean, going for a walk… and saw a bunch of emails asking about the ingredients in our cookies.  This is completely understandable.  If you’re like me, this time of year you’re probably trying to watch your girlish (or manly) figure while helping your parents out with all the holiday meal preparation. You know, licking pumpkin pie platters (preferably while it still contains said pie), clearing away all the turkey trimmings (clearing the way to your tummy!!) and sampling Nana’s fruitcake (or, more likely, using it as a Frisbee, which is all they’re really good for, am I right?!).

No worries.  You can rest assured knowing that my mom and Rosie’s mom are really picky about what goes in our treats, keeping them ultra healthy and delicious.  They only use four ingredients for the base of every cookie they sell.  These ingredients are Certified Gluten Free oat flour, organic free-range eggs, filtered water, and vitamin E as a natural preservative.

That’s it!  No sugar, no salt, no other yucky unhealthy stuff.  My mom learned not to give me sugar the hard way…we tried some cookies from another doggie bakery that contained sugar, and not only did I clear the room…but my mom had to buy a new couch.  Some stains just DO NOT come out!

But anyway, I digress.  So.  I’ve decided to let you in on a few family secrets; letting you guys know why we use what we use.  Let’s start from the top.

Gluten free oat flour.  What’s up with that, right?  I mean, we’re not horses!  Why not good ole’ fashioned wheat flour?  Well, let me ask you a few questions:

• Do your front feet ever itch to the point where no matter how much you chew and chew and chew and lick and chew some more, they just WON’T STOP ITCHING?!?!  And your paw pads turn all red and swell up?

• Do you have bald patches in your coat, or maybe dry, scaly skin, or red bumps and other rashes on your bod?

• Do you barf a lot?  Poop a lot? NOT poop a lot? Poop like me on my mom’s poor couch, where it’s all soupy and slimy?

• And lastly, I know your nose smells, but do your ears smell?  Like, when your mom goes in to kiss you, and instead she makes a lemon face and grabs the cotton balls and alcohol?  Yeah.  Like that.

All these are telltale signs of food intolerance.   There are really expensive tests, where you go to the vet and get poked with pricklies, but a simple elimination diet is the cheaper (and less poke-y) way of determining the food culprit.  Take my best buddy Wesley, for instance.  He’s a bulldog mix, and his farts could clear the next zip code.  Poor smelly guy.  Then his mom and dad put him on a gluten free, potato free diet, and he’s been a lot easier to hang out with ever since!

What is gluten, you ask?  It’s a type of protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.  Not protein like cows and chickens, protein like prolamines and glutelins (say that with a mouthful of peanut butters!).  It’s really sticky and acts kind of like a paste that holds stuff together, and it’s a really common culprit in food intolerance.  With all the genetically modified supergrains out there, the problem is getting more widespread, too.  I mean, the grains that we eat today aren’t the same wholesome goodies that our wolfcestors scarfed down back in the day.  Our tummies haven’t changed – it’s the food that’s different, and it’s making us sick!

The trouble with gluten is that it’s hard to get away from, too, so your mom has to be really careful about what she buys – some products that say “wheat free” may not be entirely gluten free, and if you’re still all itchy and rashy and poopy and smelly, you may still be eating gluten and not know it.  They measure gluten intolerance in parts per million, too – that’s like a flea on an elephant! – and just that little bit can trigger an immune response.  Not fun at all.  Ask my mom’s couch.

Also, you can’t automatically assume that since something says it’s made with oats or oat flour that it’s gluten free.  Sadly, this is not the case.  Even though oats are indeed gluten free, in the good ole’ US of A, 97% of all oats are harvested and stored with wheat – so it’s cross contaminated on the farm, while the tractors are scooping it up – long before it’s made into kibble or a cookie.

This is why my mom and Rosie’s mom go that extra mile to only buy Certified Gluten Free oat flour, made from oats harvested from a certified gluten free farm and tested by the FDA, so there are no amber waves of grain to muscle their way into our cookies.

Bottom line, gluten can be bad.  Not bad like “Bella, stop chasing the kitty!” bad – bad like B-A-D bad. Even though only Irish Setters are prone to Celiac Disease – a chronic autoimmune disease where the gluten actually destroys the villi in the intestines, many of us doggies have some kind of gluten sensitivity or intolerance.  If left untreated, this can lead to an overall diminished health, not only causing those oh-so-fun digestive woes and skin problems, but also arthritis, epilepsy, allergies and inflammatory reactions, pancreatitis, hepatitis, infections, and a whole slew of other really serious health issues.  THAT kind of bad. 

So to keep me, my buddies, and all other critters out there safe and free from worry, my mom keeps the gluten far, far away from the cookie jar.

Stay tuned next time – I’ll fill you in on more secrets from my mom’s kitchen!  Now, I gotta run – the squirrels are encroaching on my backyard again.  They’re about to get the good ole’ Bella what-for.

For more information, please go to www.petwave.com or www.wheat-free.org

My friends got in on this too, introducing:
Spidey Wesley!

and...Harley the Heffalump. Uh she's in a different super hero universe.

 

Fear me evil doers, I am Bat Bella!

What do you think...are the ears to much?:-) 
Oh well, HAPPY HOWLOWEEN EVERYONE!

The Terrible Tails of Frankensquirrel and The Dead Mailman

Greetings dog friends, friends of dogs and cats,

Today we have a tail to tell, it is called, "The Terrible Tails of Frankensquirrel and The Dead Mailman." It is a tail of horror and gore so please, read at your own risk!
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Frankensquirrel and The Dead Mailman

Deep in a forest in the hole of an ancient tree lives a creature of science. No one knows when he first breathed life but all have heard of the day he took his first victim. It was a day not unlike any other except for the chill that burdened everyone, like a heavy package.

Mr. Mailman was walking his daily route delivering mail to the people of Happy Tails, a small suburb outside of Los Angeles. Seemed like every house in town got at least one piece of mail, except for one…. 6686 Normal Lane.

Sure the house was ON Normal Lane, but it was anything but a normal. Built in the 30’s, it looked as if it would fall apart at any minute and certainly didn’t look like anyone lived there. The foliage around the house was overgrown to the point of hiding the shack that dwelled there, like it was protecting it from the prying eyes of all who would dare look in it’s direction. There were some dark secrets living in that house and there they would stay for no one ever came out of the house nor went inside….it gave the mailman the chills every time he went past the house.

Lucky for him he only passed the spooky house on route to his last delivery. Yep, one more delivery to the house across from 6686 to the house with the crazy, barking dog who he yelled at to shut up every time, some times even banging on the window. “Stupid dog,” he thought. He began to day dream of what the rest of his day might bring….a day at the zoo perhaps? Maybe get an ice cream cone? Hmmm…

But then, what’s this?! A flyer advertising the grand opening of a shoe store….addressed to 6686 Normal Lane!! How could this be? No one ever left that house so how could they need shoes? He could just ditch it, say it got lost in the mail, happens all the time after all. Oh but this is silly, it’s just a house, probably some ancient person lives there by themselves and can’t care for the house is all.

Mr. Mailman swallowed hard then began walking toward the house cautiously. Searching for a mailbox as he drew nearer, the brush and trees seemed to grab at him as he passed them on the front lawn. There, he spotted it, on the porch all rusted, a mailbox hanging on one nail next to the front door. Creeeeaaaak went the steps as he approached the box. His hands shook as he dropped the flyer into the box.

Just as soon as the mail touched the box he went running away from the door, lest he learn any secrets the house posed. He didn’t want to know, he just wanted to run! He made it to the brush and the grabby trees. He stopped in front of the house to catch his breath, smiling, he made it! There, not so bad.

Mr. Mailman took one step and out of the brush jumped a glowing, green squirrel!! He looked like he had been sewn together from pieces of other squirrels! His horrible orange eyes flashed and as quickly as that he tore off Mr. Mailman’s leg and ran off with it in his mouth! Mr. Mailman collapsed onto the ground in agony, bleeding and alone. He died there on that day. No one knew how such a gruesome thing could happen, except for me.

I saw the whole thing; I was the dog across the street. I told everyone, but no one would listen, I’m just a crazy, barking dog, sure! Well, Mr. Mailman died a long time ago now. We have a new Mr. Mailman, and I bark at him cuz that’s what I’m supposed to do. But chasing away squirrels, that is what I MUST do. If you had seen what I saw on that horrible day, you’d chase squirrels too!

Getting by with a little help from Best Friends!

Greetings dog friends, friends of dogs and cats!

Things are really moving and shaking around here! Seems the Barkery gets busier every week. But in all the hub bub, we want to keep you in touch with what's going on with the animal community and the humans that are fighting the good fight. 

And so, with no further ado, here is yet another installment of: Meet and Greet an Animal Do-Gooder!! This month we're featuring Best Friends Animal Society! Here's the scoop:

How long has your organization been in existence and how did it get started?

Best Friends Animal Society was founded in 1981, guided by a simple philosophy: kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us. Best Friends had its origin with a group of animal lovers who were unwilling to accept that humane societies and shelters "had no choice" but to kill their unadoptable animals.  In a pilot program, they rescued animals from shelters, rehabilitated them, and found homes for hundreds of these cast-off cats and dogs. Those who were still unadoptable formed an eccentric assortment of wonderful and lovable creatures whose numbers grew until Best Friends was established as a large and unique sanctuary at Angel Canyon in Utah.

Describe the kind of work being done by your organization?

In Los Angeles, Best Friends works collaboratively with animal rescue groups, LA city shelters and passionate individuals to make No-Kill Los Angeles a reality. For many years, Best Friends’ presence in Los Angeles was carried out through its many adoption events, spay-neuter campaigns and partnerships with city and county government. Early this year, Best Friends Pet Adoption & Spay/Neuter Center opened to the public as a flagship for these pursuits.

These are tough times for animal friends and human friends, what are some of the challenges facing your organization today?

Trying to transform Los Angeles into a no-kill city is no easy feat. There are countless players who need to work in concert toward this common goal, from our NKLA Coalition Partners to Los Angeles Animal Services to individuals and organizations that support the cause. Although it’s not always smooth sailing, we are keeping our focus on what we can impact, and that's inspiring others and giving them the tools needed to adopt, foster, donate and volunteer. The animals deserve it, and the City of Los Angeles deserves it.

Tell us about the new facility Best Friends opened up recently in Los Angeles.

The Northeast Valley Animal Care Center is a 44,000 square foot facility built in 2007 as part of the LA Animal Services shelter system.  Because of budgetary reasons, the facility never opened to the public. In early 2012, Best Friends Animal Society and the city of Los Angeles entered in to private-public partnership allowing Best Friends to conduct adoptions and spay/neuter services to the community.  On any given day there are approximately 200 dogs and cats on site. The Center is located 20 minutes north of LA and off three main freeways: the 405, 118, and the 5. 

Being a pit bull, people sometimes think that I cannot be friends with too many people or other dogs, however I consider myself quite social. If it’s ok, I would like to apply to become a best friend. Does Best Friends Animal Society have a form I need to fill out in order to become best friends with you or what is the process? I have references if you need them.

While we consider all animals best friends of ours, the agreement we have with LA Animal Services requires that all of our adoptables come from one of the other LA City shelters.  If you or one of your best friends is looking for a new home, we offer Community Animal Assistance to help our friends that are not part of the LA City shelter system. They can be reached at AnimalHelpLA@bestfriends.org.

I like happy tails, do you have a favorite success story?

We are lucky to be part of so many success stories, however Bugsy’s holds a special place in our hearts.  Bugsy, a soulful and calm Rhodesian ridgeback, spent several months with us struggling to put on weight, in part due to a tenacious bout of pneumonia.  At last, Bugsy caught the eye of a patient, loyal lady.  Determined to make Bugsy a part of her family, she spent weeks diligently visiting Bugsy at our Center to bond with him and allow him time to recover.  After a couple months of slow, yet steady improvement, Bugsy and his new family forged their new life together.  Many hugs and happy tears followed them home.

I have seen posters around Los Angeles with lovely portraits of dogs that say NKLA, at first I thought it was a new dog band, but then I heard that NKLA is an initiative started by Best Friends, can you tell us more about it?

NKLA, or No-Kill Los Angeles, is a coalition of animal welfare organizations, city shelters and passionate individuals, led by Best Friends Animal Society, dedicated to ending the killing of healthy and treatable pets in L.A. shelters. The plan is straightforward. Provide spay/neuter services where they are needed most so fewer animals go into shelters, and increase adoptions through the combined efforts of the NKLA coalition so more animals come out of the shelters and go into new homes.

Best Friends is providing grants to coalition partners for every pet they adopt to a new home over the number they adopted last year, as well as finding spay/neuter projects for pet owners who can't afford to have their pets fixed.

Do you serve treats at your dogs and if so, what flavors? I happen to like peanut butter flavor, but I know there are other flavors out there.

Our dogs receive a bountiful amount of treats in a variety of flavors.  While peanut butter remains a favorite, other favored selections include chicken and sweet potato recipes.

Do you have any fun events coming up for party animals out there?

We host weekly adoption events that can always be found on our website, www.bestfriends.org/LA, or our Facebook page, Facebook.com/BestFriendsAnimalSocietyLA. 

We also have a really fun event coming up called “Strutt Your Mutt.” We invite all animal lovers in the Los Angeles area who want to raise money for homeless pets to come and have a great time with their dogs. The event consists of a leisurely 1-mile group dog walk followed by a festival that includes doggie yoga and massage, photo opp's, free consultations with trainers and pet specialists, complimentary treats for your dogs, fun activities and contests, refreshments and more. For more information and to register, you can visit StruttYourMutt.org.

How can human friends contact you if they want to volunteer, donate or adopt an amazing animal friend that will change their lives with an increase in love?

If interested in volunteering, donating, or adopting , your human friends can reach us at 818-643-3989, visit us online at www.bestfriends.org/la, or stop by the Best Friends Pet Adoption & Spay/Neuter Center.  Our address is 15321 Brand Blvd in Mission Hills, and is open to the public Wednesday through Friday from 12pm-8pm and Saturday and Sunday from 10am-6pm.

Greetings dog friends, friends of dogs and cats,

We here at Rosie's Barkery think that Pit Bulls are pretty great! Myself I am part "Pit", or American Staffordshire Terrier, as is the proper breed name and I have a whole lotta friends who are "pit bulls" too!

Like many other dogs, "P Bo's" (as my Pa Pa calls us), are experiencing hard times. That's why Rosie's Barkery is proud to announce a new group to the list of organizations we support, they're called Stubby Dog!

Stubby Dog is all about educating humans about American Staffordshire and English Staffordshire Terriers and supporting the rescue's who help those breeds. They're doing important work that gets to the root of the issues and we here at Rosie's Barkery think they're great!

But don't just take our word of course, you can read what they have to say in this month's "Sniff N' Greet an Animal Do-Gooder". I interviewed Stubby Dog's VP of operations and co-founder, Laura Petrolino.

What areas of the country are you a helper to?

StubbyDog is a national organization. What we are doing is helping dogs throughout the country (and internationally as well).

How did Stubby Dog get started?

StubbyDog was formed in 2009 and launched in 2010. We observed all the wonderful organizations and their amazing work on behalf of pit bulls – from rescue and rehabilitation, to shutting down dog-fighting operations and tackling legislative injustices, etc. Unfortunately, despite all their terrific work, there still remain well over a million pit bulls being killed in shelters every year.

An organization whose sole mission was to change the discussion and public perception!

Our goal is for people to no longer view pit bulls as a special category of dog – but, instead, as just a dog.

And this why we formed StubbyDog: to change the discussion and public perception, and in turn make the world a kinder place for these wonderful dogs!

These are hard times for animal friends and human friends, what are some of the challenges facing your organization today?

As with most non-profits, being able to properly fund the outreach and campaigns we are currently pursuing, as well as those which we have planned for the future is of up most importance. We really feel like our potential positive impact is only limited by the resources we have available to allow us to pursue our goals.

What is a BSL?

Breed Specific Legislation and Breed Discrimination Laws are laws put into place that discriminate agains, ban or in some way target a particular dog based on their breed or appearance.

Pit bulls used to be America’s favorite dog, called the nanny dog for their patience and protection of children. There are a lot of pit bull heroes. Personally mine are Cesar Milan’s Daddy (R.I.P.), Hercules from the show on Animal Planet “Pit Boss” and Sgt. Stubby. Who are some of your pit bull heroes?

My pit bull heroes are simply the every day dogs that do nothing other than be loving, fun and loyal companions to their families. Every dog is a hero for the family that loves him or her.

I like happy tails, do you have a favorite success story?

Oh wow! That’s a tough one, there are sooo many! These dogs simply overwhelm me sometimes with their amazing ability to overcome enormous odds and not only live out happy lives with loving families, but in many cases also serve as therapy dogs or pit bull ambassadors in one way or another. A few stories I particularly love are Jagger, Sal , Sarge, Mr. Buddy Rose , Handsome Dan and Hope .

Do you serve treats at your dogs and if so, what flavors? I like peanut butter but I know there are other flavors out there.

Well, my dog loves sweet potato :)

Do you have any fun events coming up for party animals feeling festive?

We do, but they are top secret right now. Stay tuned to our Facebook

 and Website for announcements.

How can human friends contact you if they want to volunteer, donate or adopt an amazing animal friend that will change their lives with an increase in love?

Anyone interested in donating can either contact me

 or simply do so through our online system.

Anyone interested in submitting a story can contact Micaela Myers.

Anyone interested in volunteering or with any other questions can contact me.

Thank you for your time and efforts on behalf of all pit bulls out there!