Row 1:

1. knitted winged heart tattoo
2. crocheted tug toy
3. knitted anatomically correct heart

1. crocheted anatomical heart
2. no-sew tug toy with loop–use pink, red, or heart patterned fleece.
3. sewn a candy heart—one that said “Bite Me” would be fun!

1. 4″ knitted heart
2. 5″ crocheted heart
3. knitted fuzzy heart

1. knitted cupcake
2. knitted candy heart
3. sewn heart-shaped dog bed—enlarge a heart template to the right size for a bed for your dog, sew according to the instructions, & stuff with appropriate filling such as a foam layer with batting layered on top.

The guy rescuing Alex is Steve Markwell, founder and executive director of Olympic Animal Sanctuary.  Olympic Animal Sanctuary is a unique organization that takes dogs who have been deemed dangerous, that won’t be accepted by any animal shelters, and/or that are going to be destroyed because of behavior.  Steve is giving these dogs a home for the rest of their life and working on their fears & reactivity to make that life as good as possible. (note: Steve is also my cousin)

Please don’t chain your dog and do something about dogs you see that are chained—contact animal control, animal welfare groups, or anti-chaining groups.  Support legislation banning the chaining or tethering of dogs.

I.  The hearts & bones sweater has a cute motif and has knitted straps to keep the sweater in place.

II.  This sweater has a heart with a bone shot through it and some crocheted trim.  (for more patterns by this designer for purchase, check out Kay’s shop on etsy MySavannahCottage)

Cool! (ha!)  It turns out we don’t need to worry so much about our dogs’ feet getting too cold.  Researchers have learned that dogs’ feet are specially adapted for cold weather and are similar to penguin wings, dolphin fins, & arctic foxes.  The vascular network draws cold blood from the surface of the pads and also rewarms the blood before it continues into the dogs’ core because the veins (carrying cold blood) are running right next too arteries (carrying warm blood) which rewarms the blood in the veins. (thanks Margaret!)

Just because they can withstand extreme cold though, doesn’t mean your dog wants to.  And you do need to protect them from other things that might harm their feet like de-icers, etc.

I saw this incredible video this morning.  A kayaker was out fishing when, what looks like a Visla, comes frantically swimming towards him from who-knows-where.  Happily, the kayaker rescues the injured & terrified dog.  The dog was taken to a vet and identified by it’s microchip as Barney, but no one knew how the dog had ended up in the ocean.

In a heartbreaking turn, the kayaker made the connection after seeing a story about Donna Chen who was out walking her dog about 1 mile inland and was run down & killed by a drunk driver, Blake Talman, in a hit-and-run.  It’s believed Barney ran off in a panic and jumped in to the ocean to escape.  How lucky that this kayaker was at the right place at the right time so the family didn’t have to suffer another loss.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday and that the coming year brings you all joy, good health, & prosperity.  My pet resolutions this year are to play more with our cats, put together their new cat tower (I’ll be doing a post on this great cat tower I’m making), finally make Saffron’s rain coat from one I got at a thrift store, and to be consistent about teaching Saffron new tricks.

Here’s what Bart (top) & Sadie looked like the day they showed up dehydrated and hungry.

And here they are now.  Happy, healthy, and so much fun!