Aura and Mr. Blue, in love.

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Don't throw out that pet hair, donate it!

Here’s something we all can do to help: Donate our pet’s loose fur, horse hair, and our own locks to help soak up the oil!  Hair soaks up oil (which is why we have to wash it), and can be made into mats and poured into nylon tubes to help soak up the oil.

To learn more about how to donate, talk to your local hair salon and groomer, and visit Excess Access.

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Now onto our new giveaway for May, courtesy of WagAndBark.com. They have supplied us with two different safe, humane, pain-free anti-barking and training collars for dogs, as well as a Tic Taser so you never have to touch a tick again! That means with this giveaway, there will be THREE lucky winners!

In the past month, I have found a wonderful training method for my mischievous 8 month old kitten: a blast of cold air on her back from a can of condensed air. She hates the feeling, the sound startles her out of her behavior, and she immediately stops what she is doing. The training collars from WagAndBark.com work the same way. No jolts or painful electric shocks, no smelly sprays, no rolled up newspapers, no more cowering dog, afraid you’re going to reprimand him for something he doesn’t remember doing, whether it was ten minutes or three hours ago.

One lucky reader will win a complete JetCare System remote control training collar suitable for dogs of all sizes, over the age of 8 months. (Retail value $199.95!) One important element of dog training is to remember that dogs want to please us. They learn much better from positive reinforcement from the humans they love. This remote control unit allows you to train your dog without frightening him, and reward her when she stops doing something wrong and comes to you instead!

The JetCare^® System Education Pro Kit with Odorless Refill’s remote control has three buttons: 1) a sound button which alerts the dog it is time to cease his behavior; 2) a button providing a short burst of cold air (one second); 3) a button providing a slightly longer burst of cold air (three seconds). This training collar requires your participation. It is to redirect unwanted behavior and reward your dog when he is acting how you want him to act.

A second lucky reader will win a mini anti-bark collar for dogs under 17 pounds and over 8 months (retail value $119.95). This collar includes a microphone so that the harmless cold air spray will activate upon your dog’s bark.

A third lucky reader will win the very handy The Tic Taser™ with Piezo Electric System, “An effective and ecological method to eradicate ticks.” (Retail value $19.95.) This pen-shaped device uses no batteries. It works via the Faraday cage system of electrical charges. The ball at the end goes around the tick while it is attached to the body of its prey. Closing the “cage” around it creates a charge that destroys the tick’s neurological system. You can read more about the Tic Taser at WagAndBark.com.

Have I seen this Tic Taser in action? Thankfully, I have not as I have not yet seen a tick this year to test it on. But at such a great price, it would certainly be a wonderful gift to your entire family if you live in a wooded area and deal with ticks often.

How to enter:

1) Mandatory: Subscribe to the Go Fetch Gifts Blog via a reader or email (in the top right corner). This way you won’t miss out on all the awesome pet product giveaways coming up this year!

2) Mandatory: Leave a comment on this blog letting me know you subscribed and using which method. You also must include WHICH collar you would like to win: the remote control training collar or the mini anti-bark collar.

3) If you include in your comment that you now follow me on Twitter and “like” our Facebook page, you then get one more entry for each. Tell me your Twitter name so I can follow you back!

4) Tweet this for a bonus entry:
@LeighPeterson is giving away anti-bark & training collars at http://www.GoFetchGifts.com/blog/

Entrants must be 18 and older and items will only be shipped to addresses in the US. You may enter up to midnight Eastern time on May 27, 2010. Winners will be selected using random.org by June 1, 2010 and notified via email. Winners will have three days to claim their prize.

Good Luck!  Woof!!!

Comments & entries are now closed.

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In honor of Mother Earth, I’d like to introduce you to a line of eco-friendly and pet-safe cleaning products: CLEAN + Green.

CLEAN + Green is the only line of eco-friendly aerosol pet cleaning products on this beautiful planet we all share. The developers of these all-natural stain and odor removers, SeaYu (Twitter: @SeaYu), were kind enough to send us some samples so we could see and sniff the results for ourselves. We give it four paws up! The company offers a large array of products, including cleaners and odor removers for carpet and upholstery, concrete, wood and tile, autos and cages, as well as de-skunk cleaner, litter box cleaner, and furniture refresher.

I used to love using Febreze. I would “freshen” up the furniture and carpet with it and enjoy coming home to a fresh smell. But after my Persian cat developed some sort of growth on his liver, I started wondering if I might have contributed to its development. It occurred to me that my pets were constantly laying on the surfaces I had doused with chemicals, and their noses were much closer to the fabric and carpet than mine ever was. They were breathing in much more of these chemicals than I, and their bodies are smaller. I haven’t used Febreze since, and I admit, I miss it.

So, I tested Clean + Green’s Furniture Refresher and Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner.

The Furniture Refresher is a light, clean mist. Like all Clean + Green products, the ingredients are organic, biodegradable, non-toxic, non-flammable, non-carcinogenic, and contain no harsh chemicals or perfumes. You won’t enter the room to a perfumey smell with Clean + Green’s furniture refresher, but the spray smells much healthier. It smells very fresh, kind of like a mountain mist or morning dew. But that odor stays where it is sprayed, refreshing on contact. When you walk into the room, you don’t smell….well, anything. And that’s a good thing.

I tested the Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner on some very old stains and two newer stains (thanks, kitties) and couldn’t believe my eyes. I wish now that I had taken a before photo so I could show you how well this product works. I wasn’t expecting it, to be honest, because the ingredient list is so natural and seems so tame. I guess I’ve been trained to think that you need harsh chemicals to clean stains. But when I went to check on one of the spots I had sprayed, I could barely find it!

If you think like me (a child of the 80s and former big-banged hair spray addict), you might wonder how an aerosol spray can be healthy for the environment. So I asked a Clean + Green PR rep about that and it was explained to me as such: “Aerosol isn’t a chemical, it is just a ‘liquid suspended in a gas.’ So – Clean+Green uses a nitrogen-based propellant, and nitrogen is naturally occurring in 72% of earth’s atmosphere.”

Visit the Clean + Green web site for more reviews, coupons, rebate offers, and to purchase or use the store locator. Unfortunately, the locator doesn’t show that I can purchase the products near me yet, but you can purchase online and receive free shipping on orders of $25 or more.

You can also become a Clean + Green fan on Facebook.

(Psst, please become a GoFetchGifts Facebook fan too!)

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Win a FURminator!

Our first pet product contest is for a FURminator! Win a brand new, medium sized FURminator deLuxe deShedding Tool for dogs or cats. I got a cat sized FURminator for my asthmatic cat last summer when I noticed he was starting to have frequent hairballs. I quickly realized he was shedding more, and regular brushing didn’t seem to help. So I got a FURminator and the hairballs ended immediately.

April 30th is National Hairball Awareness Day

The FURminator we’ll be giving away is the most popular size, however, and will probably work for both dogs and cats. We’re heading into shedding season, and the FURminator is the best way to control shedding in your home.

I’ll have different methods to enter the win each pet products. Many will involve following me on Twitter or becoming a fan of our Facebook Page, so you might want to get a head start. You’ll be able to enter to win once, twice, or three times by using each method!

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Not a football fan and unable to name a single Philadelphia Eagles player besides Vick, I initiated research of the team members only to find out that the players themselves nominated Vick for the 2009 Ed Block Courage Award. Why? Because they understand the nuisance he’s had to deal with as the pesky press, animal lovers and rights organizations call him out on his crimes; because they are teammates and they want to rally around the moral runt of the pack. Poor Vick!

But I wonder: do they really relate more to Vick the famous but hounded football player, and not to the villain who would think nothing of torturing any one of his teammates’ beloved hounds?

Vick and 31 others from the 32 NFL teams will be “honored” at the annual award banquet on March 9, 2010 in Baltimore. There’s one award with such low standards, I’m glad I cannot be nominated. According to their web site, “The Ed Block Courage Award Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of neglected children and ending the cycle of abuse.” Luckily for the organization’s renown distinction, Vick spares innocent children and opts for innocent puppies to maim and abuse.

BET’s “The Michael Vick Project”

Great news for dog kickers and criminals! BET’s docu-series on Michael Vick premieres Feb. 2, 2010. The eight episodes will follow Michael as he rebuilds his life and blah blah blah. I won’t go into it here, but you can read more about it from a horribly written release on BET.com. It talks a lot about the “mistakes” and “choices” he made. I find it interesting that they “chose” those words. Is it really a CHOICE or a MISTAKE to become so involved in force breeding (raping), starving, drugging, and fighting dogs that you invest time and money in your operation? Did he say “oops” every time he disposed of the duds by killing them via electrocution, drowning, hanging and shooting them?

No. These awful actions were easy for him to do because he is cruel and void of compassion. And the fact that anyone wants me to believe that stripping him of his football career and throwing him in jail suddenly packed him with a conscience and some regret is insulting. People don’t turn from evil to good that fast. You either respect animals or you don’t. You either empathize with an innocent creature or you don’t get it at all.

Smoke & Mirrors

When Michael Vick was released from prison, not only did he get his big, important, overpaid NFL career back, but he also launched a campaign to clean up his image. I don’t know–and I doubt–if that was due to true remorse. What I do know is that he had money set aside to hire a PR team to help him look good (better?) in the public eye.

“Several months ago, Mr. Vick’s PR representatives approached the ASPCA to help educate America about the heinous act of dog fighting following his release from prison. We were the first animal welfare organization given the opportunity to work with Mr. Vick but immediately turned him down…” wrote Ed Sayres on the ASPCA web site in August of 2009.

So, they tried again with the Humane Society of the United States and scored a touchdown! Any support from me to the HSUS was severed that day, when they announced that they would be working with Vick on their anti-dog fighting campaigns.

Stand Up

Want to complain? Along with BET, the companies behind this slap-in-the-face show are DuBose Entertainment and Category 5 Entertainment (whose Director, Mitch Jacobson, has a dog of his own. I wonder if he left the dog at home while he filmed Vick.). The other company, MV7 Productions, is Michael Vick’s own production company.

As for the Courage award, there is an online petition you can sign, but it may be too late to renounce Vick as a winner.

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I did a number of things to get him to calm down, and they did help. But the biggest help was time and patience. Once Charlie turned three, I noticed a big change. He had matured. Now I’ve shared my home with him for 13 years, so he obviously holds a big piece of my heart. To imagine having surrendered him (something I never would have done) is such a sad thought. To think many people do just that!

So I interviewed many people who adopted pets and then realized they were in way over their heads. Some people innocently adopted puppies and kittens without realizing just how naughty they can be. Some knowingly adopted pets with issues but were still surprised at what a challenge it proved to be. But all of them stuck with it and now live happy, peaceful, loving lives with these pets.

Read the full article, Training With Patience: Making Forever Homes Last

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I am not sure why, but in entering for some of the other raffle prizes, my “employee” threw a ticket in our own basket. What are the odds? She won!

So now, we’re giving away the charm…AGAIN. All you have to do to enter to win is leave a comment to this post and tell me why you want it. Is it for your fabulous fido? Is it a gift for your mom’s precious pooch? Tell me how this cute little charm will be put to use and you could win it back from us!

Want to double your chances of winning? Just Follow Us on Twitter and send a tweet linking to this contest! You’ll be entered twice! (Include  @GoFetchGifts in your tweet so I know you tweeted.) This contest will be closed on Sunday, June 21st Monday, June 22nd at 6 pm and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter. Please, U.S. residents only.

And don’t forget, we are always holding our Most Fetching Dog and Cat contests. Our next contest is for Most Fetching Dog and it ends July 3rd!

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What a lovely afternoon it turned out to be, watching all the joyful dogs run and swim. We played “guess the breed” and scored for correctly guessing the Catahoula and the Pointer. We were largely ignored by the pups who were just so ecstatic to be free and had so much territory to smell, but a few did come up to see us for a pat. One personable pooch asked us to throw his ball for him a few times! A few honored us by exiting the lake and shaking off their drenched fur a few feet from us.

We sat in awe as we observed all the distinct personalities. So many “leaders” and so many “followers.” So many instigators and so many bashfuls. Being the owner of a hard-headed alpha I was a bit nervous around all the excitement, but thankfully all questionable situations were quickly calmed by observant pet parents.

Here are just some of the beautiful dogs we saw.

This beautiful Lab walked around for an hour holding his duck in his mouth. He wanted to make sure everyone saw what a great hunter he is!

Lucky Shepherd mix getting socialized at an early age!

This German Shepherd's dad asked him to speak if he wanted the ball. He's getting read to bark!

Making friends!

WOOF. So many beautiful breeds to admire!

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On Saturday, June 13th, we will be represented in both Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Austin, Texas!

Bob’s House for Dogs is a brand new shelter in Northern Wisconsin. They are holding their first annual Canine Carnival that day, and we will have a booth set up. We also donated a crystal dog collar charm for their raffle. The shelter is being opened by an Eau Claire Police Chief and his family, and it was named after their former beloved rescue dog, Bob. Bob’s House will rescue dogs from the Eau Claire County Humane Society, housing them and processing adoptions from their newly built facility. The new shelter’s web site is http://www.bobshousefordogs.org, however as I write this the site appears to be under construction as well! Below is a news clip about the new shelter.

That same day, the Austin Boxer Rescue of Texas will be holding their annual Silent Auction Fundraiser. GoFetchGifts.com donated a hand-crafted Boxer planter for the auction.

Finally, on June 20th, GoFetchGifts.com will be represented at the 13th Annual star-studded Heart of the Hamptons Ball in New York. Each year, this gala is produced by the American Heart Association. Past attendees and speakers have included Christie Brinkley and former Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani. We donated a luxury stainless steel dog treat jar and matching stainless steel dog bowl for the auction, which will be part of a dog-lovers basket.

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