This spectacular shot was sent in by Hope Shultz of Roanoke. Hope shares her home a few retired racing greyhounds.
Hope writes: "Nod, the baby of the bunch, will be 3 years old in a couple of weeks. He is quite the ball player too! Love this photo, the joy and anticipation in Nod's expression says it all!"
It's great to have a dog in your home. Except when it isn't.
Journalist John Grogan's misadventures with a crazy Labrador retriever turned into the best-selling book "Marley and Me." Almost anyone who has a pooch in their heart and home has at least one "bad dog" story.
And we here at The Happy Wag want to hear yours.
Post a comment with your best "good dog gone bad" story, and you could win one of two books: "The Dog Behavior Answer Book" by Arden Moore, a noted pet behavior expert, or "Before Your Dog Can Eat Your Homework, First You Have to Do It" by actor and author John O'Hurley.
Deadline to post your comment is April 13.
The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management will bring 70 wild horses and a few burros from western public rangelands to the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington this weekend. These animals will be available for adoption.
The center is located at 487 Maury River Road in Lexington. The horses should arrive Friday morning and will be available for public viewing from 1 to 5 p.m. The adoption process will begin on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and continue on Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon.
Virginia horse trainer John Hockaday will be on hand to give gentling demonstrations.
Karen Roberts of the Bureau of Land Management said the adoption fees vary depending on the age of the horse or burro. The minimum fee for a horse three-years-old or younger is $125. The minimum fee to adopt an older horse or burro is $25.
Roberts said there is an application process for adoptive families and the applications will be screened on site. Bring a trailer with you and, assuming you are approved, you can take the animal home with you.
I got an e-mail this morning from the RVSPCA. They have a plethora of puppies that need fostering. They are looking for folks who can take these babies in and care for them until they are old enough to be adopted.
Foster care is so important to puppies. It helps them learn basic social skills that make it much more likely they will be adopted and adjust quickly to their new homes.
And every puppy in foster care opens up kennel space at the shelter for an adoptable adult dog at Animal Control who is in desperate need of a home.
If you or anyone you know can take in an orphan for a few weeks, please contact Ann Marie Sweeney at 344-4840, ext. 208.
A Community Rabies Clinic is scheduled for Saturday, April 5, at the Roanoke Civic Center. The clinic will provide rabies shots for $5 for dogs and cats and $10 for ferrets.
All pooches must be on a leash and kitties and ferrets must be in carriers. Pregnant animals will not be vaccinated, but nursing moms can be. All pets have to be at least three months old to get the shot.
If this is your pet's first vaccine, the inoculation is valid for one year. If your pet has had a shot before, bring your vaccine certificate with you.
The Roanoke City and County Treasurer's Offices will also have staffers available to issue your dog and cat tags after the pets are vaccinated.
Cash is the only form of payment accepted for the vaccines. Cash or checks will be accepted to pay the license fees.
For more information, call the Health Department at 857-7800, ext. 124.
It always feels good to lend financial support to a worthy organization. It may feel even better when accompanied by gourmet food and wine.
St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog Foundation’s 4th annual “Putting on the Dog” dinner brings seven renowned chefs from this region, including Tony Pope of the self-titled local bistro, Todd Baxter of the Martha Washington Inn, Chad Scott of 202 Market, and Brett McKee, of Oak Steakhouse in Charleston, S.C., to the Roanoke Country Club on Thursday, April 17.
Each chef will contribute one part of the seven-course meal. Wines from South Africa were donated by Jim Loux.
McKee will prepare the entrée: beef short ribs with creamy polenta with asagio and sage (yum.)
Entertainment will be provided by Deborah Liles and Jeff Todd.
Niki Voudren, development director for St. Francis, said that unlike many fundraising dinners, your ticket is your only donation.
"We are not pleading for money or bombarding you with a silent auction" Voudren said. This approach allows people to relax and enjoy an evening of dinner and music with friends while still helping a worthy, local cause.
Tickets are $150 each, and tables start at $1,500. Vourden said tickets are still available and they still have tables they can sell. All food and wine are included in the ticket price.
All proceeds support the training of service dogs. St. Francis is a non-profit, Roanoke-based service dog organization, the only one in Virginia and one of only 36 organizations accredited by Assistance Dogs International, a coalition of non-profit organizations that train and place service dogs with disabled adults and children.
These are two of the photos that arrived in the pets@roanoke.com mailbox last week. I had to reach out to pet mom Carlissa to confirm that the leather-clad pug's name is Gizmo and the sweet little Shih Tzu's name is Paris Hilton.
Carlissa responded: "Yeah !!!!! You love my babies..............Yes, Gizmo is the chubby fawn pug and Paris Hilton is the fluffy white Shih Tzu a.k.a.(Angel/Devil/Clown/Rabbit/Soccer Player and so on). Will they make it to the big time? I promised them that they would be famous someday something like American Idol for dogs."
Well, I can't promise worldwide adulation on the scale of American Idol, but I can promise blog readers will love these cute pics. Thanks, Carlissa.
What a great weekend for sports. Besides all those basketball games, which left me with a wadded-up, tear-stained bracket thanks to Purdue, UConn and Duke, there were also athletes in action at Hollins University.
Until Sunday, I had only seen dog agility events on Animal Planet. A real event, like the one hosted by the Star City Canine Training Club this weekend, are truly amazing and, like most sports, so much better in person.
I apologize now to any contestants I may have distracted with flash photography (I hit a button quite by mistake.) And even without the cooperation of the sun or any visible talent as a photographer, I managed to snap a few nice shots. To see more, click here.
I am not a very good photographer, but most of the images created with my Canon EOS are beautiful. I give full credit to my subjects. I take lots of pictures of dogs, and dogs just look great, live and in a .jpg file.
Big dog, small dogs, amazingly tiny dogs in chic, tailored clothing: I photograph them all.
Saturday, my family made tracks for Six Wags Dog Park in Salem to participate in the Great Egg Beg. Our happy hounds and hundreds of other pooches hunted for Easter eggs, posed with a dude in a bunny costume, put on a talent show and otherwise had a splendid time.
I wandered around the park snapping photos while my daughter and husband tried to help our dogs find treasure-bearing plastic eggs. Alas, the eggs were not running away, so my sighthounds saw no value in expending any effort to find them. If there is nothing to chase, there is nothing to gain as far as greyhounds are concerned.
They did not, however, mistake the above-mentioned dude in the rabbit outfit for the ever-elusive mechanical rabbit of their racing days. I was relieved, to say the least.
The event, a fundraiser for the RVSPCA and sponsored and hosted by Six Wags and K92, was a very well-run affair and I hope it turns into a spring tradition.
To see more photos from the Egg Beg, click here.
