Heidi and Penelope

 

Heidi and Penelope (Randyjw; May 4, 2016)

 

Heidi and Penelope were rescue dogs and have already lived their lives here on this earth. It has been many years now since they have been gone, but I thought they deserved a little tribute as I was thinking back on their lives and of a particular episode, which was really extraordinary.

 

You always hear some miraculous tales (tails!) about animals helping or saving people, and this is one of them. I am changing the relationships and some of the specific details a bit, for various and sundry purposes, but the story is essentially the way I recall it.

 

Heidi was a dachshund, and they are very intelligent animals. Penelope was either a bichon frise or a maltese, I believe. Heidi was russet and black, in color, and Penelope was a curly-haired fluff of white. She was also very smart, but was residually wary of people, as she had been severely abused as a puppy.

 

Both dogs were well-cared for since they were brought home from the shelter from where they had been adopted. They were rarely leashed, but I guess nobody had complained and they were never a nuisance. They just went out and did whatever doggies do when they go for walks in their safe, and mostly secluded, neighborhoods. They had a big backyard to run around in, and led, I would fathom, what would be considered fairly comfortable lives.

 

Heidi was vivacious, so sweet, and understood whatever you said to her. She had alot of energy and was considerably rambunctious. Penny was a subdued individual, and preferred a quiet petting curled up with you on the floor. She would shy away from most people, but since I always took the time to single her out and spend most time visiting with her, she allowed me to be her friend.

 

Heidi knew I loved her, and didn’t have one iota of envy that my time was given so exclusively to Penelope. She was okay with it; probably even thankful that I did so. Heidi was such a good girl and suffered the lack of attention and affection so that her little “doggie sister”, Penelope, could experience the healing, in some small way, of making up for human inadequacies, which had been lacking since her birth, this time around in her new home.

 

At the end of the long backyard was a lake, and a small dock of wood set at the edge of the water and the shore. The dock was in need of repair, as it was in the process of decay and had some dry rot, as well. We had all just been down to see it, and the guy I was with, who was looking at the dock to determine its state of functionality, wound up stubbing a smoked cigarette on top of one of the posts.

 

The little dog, Heidi, whom I called “Heidi-ho”, came up to me when we had gone inside the home, and swung her body quickly in a half-turn, indicating I should follow her. I looked at her to make sure that was what she wanted, and, indeed, it was. In fact, it was a major race, and Heidi made that perfectly clear. I followed her to the back door, opened it for us both, and raced after her as she headed for the dock.

 

There, where Heidi had led me, I found what had turned out to be a catastrophe in the making. The post had started to smolder, catching fire from the cigarette butt that had been extinguished, none too well, on its surface. Heidi had averted a disaster, which could have had deadly consequences for all of us. We doused the post with water from the lake, and were saved by a little German-breed dog! History does have a way of coming full circle, after all!

 

Thanks to her fast action and quick thinking, Heidi, a rescued dog, became our very own rescuers, instead! “Hey, ho! Heidi-Ho!”

Bow, Wow! And, How!

 

Bow, Wow! And, How!

 

Here’s a fun and easy way to give freely to dogs and cats in need. Freekibble.com, started by a young girl named Mimi Ausland, created a trivia game as a way to help people help animals in need. By going to the site and answering some fun multiple choice questions,  dogs and cats can receive free kibble food and cat litter. Whether your answers are right or wrong, you’ll discover some fun and helpful information. Just keep clicking through each following question for maximal benefit to the animals. Visit Freekibble.com, or Mimi’s other site she came up with, Freekibblekat.com, and you can learn a little and love a little — a little animal, that is!

 

See Freekibble.com:

http://www.freekibble.com/

 

The official food sponsor of Freekibble.com is Halo, co-owned by Ellen DeGeneres. They have helped to provide the dogs and cats in homeless shelters with millions of bowls of food since their beginning (*tinkly-bell angel sound*). Halo is presently seeking an outside public relations agency or an individual public relations consultant on a contracted part-time-type (15-25 hour) basis (independent, non-employee) via Indeed.com (advertised April 12, 2016), which looks really interesting. Respond by May 15, 2016.

 

Please see Indeed.com to view the specific requirements and how to respond (in the keyword search, enter: PR Star for Halo, Purely for Pets in the search box):

http://www.indeed.com/

 

Here are some follow-through links I clicked on for this article:

 

The Shelter Pet Project: Many furry friends await a caring forever home; maybe you can find one here?:

http://theshelterpetproject.org/

 

The Animal Rescue Site / Greater Good: Cool Pet Products! Items purchased here show how many bowls of kibble are contributed to help needy animals. There are several excellent t-shirt designs I really like: the pink shirt which says ‘In the event of emotional breakdown place cat here’, and a drawing of a curled-up cat is sprawled across the chest area; the henna design t-shirt is pretty cool and incorporates some cat paw prints in it; the paw heart design on the baseball t-shirt is really pretty, and there are others, too.

 

The most gorgeous coat, starting at $33.99, is the Sunshine Daydream Hooded Jacket in the brick color (also available in purple) Item #38153. It’s handmade in Nepal, fairtrade, and akin to envy-inspiring, like Joseph’s coat was! It has pockets and a sun on the front, but here’s the utmost: It funds 28 bowls of kibble at Freekibble.com (sponsored by Halo, remember); and, not only that, if you enter the promocode GIVEACOAT, then Soles4Souls, which donates coats and shoes to needy people in the U.S. and abroad, will donate a coat to someone in need!

 

Please see The Animal Rescue Site / Greater Good:

http://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/store/

 

Halo’s foodline and philosophy is to create organic good-for-pets products, offering a full range of flavors, styles and products, including herbal grooming products, supplements and treats, in addition to stews, kibble, and shredded styles of various real meats, like rabbit, venison, fish like salmon, and others. It sounds great, but as their slogan says, it’s “Purely for Pets”!

 

Now, if only there were a free Middle Eastern food program for people-folk, like us, called “Free Kibbeh” (dot-com?)!

 

Job Opp: Dog Blog and Cat Mog

 

Another great job opp rolled into my inbox on Indeed.com this morning, and it’s a Community and Content Creator position for Redbarn Pet Products in Long Beach, California. I can’t tell whether it’s a remote or on-site position, but based on lack of that detail being mentioned, and based on further gleanings from a cursory tour at their website, I would hazard a guess that it’s likely a local presence at the headquarters — but that’s just a probability. Who knows what further possibilities exist unless one explores the potential?

 

The job seems like something that any one of us in the WordPress blogging community, who also happens to adore dogs and cats and dreams of a paid job with a real company, might envision as the perfect wish-fulfilling opportunity. As like most job descriptions for this type of work, the general parameters are to basically write and curate content of the particular subject matter, build relationships with the appropriately relevant sites and people, generate positive and enhanced associations, relations and sales, etc., and have some general affiliation, proficiency and efficiency with the essential skills and assets to get the job done. That’s my overview/assay of the general requirements in such a job; as for the specifics, you can visit the sources.

 

I briefly visited at the company website and found there an engaging story about two friends who met playing hockey and built up their business over the years. It’s a good story of the American Dream, based on the transplanted vision of these lifelong Canadian pals who set out to create a product they could take pride in. Their emphasis of the values they espouse permeates the overall culture presented with their offerings. Their ingredient list and plant ownership, both in the U.S. and in Paraguay, seem to parallel the oversight and involvement of their efforts emulating their mission. It also adds to their general appeal that they additionally help animal shelters and different organizations and people who are also trying to help animals.

 

This is the take I come away with from a brief visit at their site. I guess more would only be able to be gathered from having direct exchanges with the company itself, and so I’m limited in that matter and respect. You’d have to find out more for yourself.

 

You can go to the Indeed.com job site and do a company search for “Redbarn” to pull up the listings and details for the position, if you’d like. Here’s a link to Indeed.com as a starting point from where to search:

 

http://www.indeed.com/

 

And here’s a link to Redbarn Pet Products via their main home page. You can read more about the company, visit their Career listings, and more:

 

http://www.redbarninc.com/

 

• The Indeed.com position references a position from about 1-1/2 to possibly 2 days ago, perhaps, and, additionally, is NOT listed specifically as an available position at the company’s Career listings on the website. So, your diligence is required in reference to all these matters.

 

Good luck and happy blogging!