Lost Dogs of Hurricane Katrina.
The forgotten victims of the horror of Katrina were the pets. Residents who were evacuated were not allowed to take their animals with them – in fact many were forced to leave their homes at gunpoint by the emergency services.
This 80-minute documentary by novice San Francisco film maker Geralyn Pezanoski reduced audiences to tears at the SXSW Film Festival last week. The film is titled “Mine”, and it describes how hundreds of pets were left at the scene of Hurricane Katrina. Many of their owners have dedicated their efforts since then to finding their lost loved ones. Deaths of the pets were inevitable, but the survivors were mostly picked up by animal rescue volunteers. Rehoming to new families has now ended in tug of love cases between the distraught Katrina victims and the new adopting families. Have the tissues ready as you watch this tearjerker and see how much the love of a dog means.
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If the Obamas do decide to adopt a Portuguese Water dog this spring, the new pet has an exciting life to look forward to. There will always be someone willing to walk him – if Malia and Sasha are busy doing their homework there are dozens of staff on hand who will be only too pleased to take the First Dog for a walk.  This breed appears to be favourite after advice from Ted Kennedy, who has two Portuguese Water Dogs of his own and he thinks they sould be well adapted to life in the Oval Office.  these are not a breed of dog likely to climb on the stereo cabinet or misbehave in other ways, so they can be trusted when disinguished visitors are in the building.

We already expect the Obama dog to arrive in April, what kind of dog will it be? The favourite breed so far seems to be a Portuguese Water Dog, and it will be an adult dog. There are plenty of breed-specific rescue organisations who will try to match you up with a dog needing a new start. It is a good idea to avoid getting a puppy, as the restrictions of living in the White House make life difficult for a younger dog.

All dog adoptions can be revoked if they do not work out, this is something like returning engagement rings after breaking up! It is better to admit it if the adoption does not work out and the charity will find the dog a more suitable new home.

I am as curious as everyone else to know which breed of dog the Obama family is going to adopt. They have already confirmed they intend to get a rescue dog, which is a good example to set.  Like us, they have decided to time the arrival of their new dog after their spring vacation.  There is no point in booking cruises straight after getting a new pet!The first family will be back home in April so we can look forward to the patter of four tiny new feet around Easter.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and a lot of us are thinking about the cost of gifts and restaurant meals on the day.  Buy roses today and they will probably cost at least twice the normal price.  The same goes for a meal out tomorrow night. We have decided to stay in on Saturday and donate the money saved to one of my favourite dog charities, Rescue Remedies.  I feel much better for doing this, the dogs are having a hard time this winter and dog rescue organisations are being stretched to their limit. There are a lot of ways we can save money and give to a worthwhile cost – imagine if one-tenth of teh costs of Vegas vacations taken from Gatwick was donated to a good cause!!

If you would like to donate to the dogs, just click the link and your money will be sent immediately by a secure Paypal transaction.

Rescue Remedies is a small rescue charity run by volunteers who rehome dogs of all kinds, including purebreds, cross-breeds, special needs dogs or older dogs.

Rescue Remedies is based close to where we live,  in the South East of England. If you would like to help their vital work, click here to see the donation page.

The feelings of loss since Kev died are immensely painful, and they change every day.  At the beginning there was a feeling that he would just walk into the room again as if nothing had happened.  Whenever we were engaged in a mundane task, like cleaning the kitchen, it was easy to imagine that you could see him in peripheral vision.  After we scattered his ashes there was some consolation: I could visualise him lying there peacefully under the tree on his side, the way that I last saw him.  Now, after six weeks, it hurts more to remember him.  Maybe this feeling will pass – I sincerely hope so.

In order to numb my brain I tend to browse online auctions for longer than normal.