Come laugh, eat, drink and have a whole lot of fun.  Enjoy four seasoned comics from Live Comedy Atlanta helping Happy Tails empower pets to help people.

Gourmet food and drinks are available, so come thirsty and bring your appetite. Also bring all your dog loving friends to help support this worthy cause.

Comedy Night at Nancy G’s

Saturday, August 1st, 8-9:30pm

This intimate venue holds 40 guests so contact Michelle Mark via email to reserve your seats today. $15/pp in advance or $20/pp at door.

Doors open at 7pm. Nancy G’s is located at 4920 Roswell Road, NE Atlanta, GA 30342. Content is PG-13

Thanks,

Michelle

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Since this is a dog blog, a couple times a month our boy Bo (woof!) thought it would be nice to get the news through a dog’s eyes. Bo invites everyone to read a chapter from his upcoming book BAD TO THE BONE at Bo Knows. It’s a funny memoir about the crazy adventures we have shared together over the last 14 plus years, told through Bo’s eyes.

Okay Bo, take it from here…..

I never put much stock in book learnin’.  Maybe it’s because I never went to college. Truth be told I never went to high school either, or even obedience training. I’m a dog from the streets, using common sense to get me where I am today.

Undoubtedly I’ve missed out on some great experiences: Guzzling water straight from a funnel while my brothers in arms chant “Chug, Chug, Chug!”, adding the freshman 15 with late night pizza treat delivery binges and going cow tipping instead of studying for the midterm sit/stay exam.  Ahh, if only we were able to go back in time and choose differently.

But maybe it’s not too late. I could head to Wisconsin and partake in their finals week. It appears dogs are welcome there. Here’s the story.

Library Mall is going to the dogs, and stressed-out students will be glad for it.

The Pet Therapy study break on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus will be on Wednesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Library Mall at the western end of State Street, with staff from University Health Services bringing their dogs to the mall so students can pet and play with the puppies.

The “counseling canines” are intended to reduce the stress that students can feel heading into final exams.

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I recently read an article on Happy Tails, it’s a group of pet owners who volunteer time to share the unconditional love and joy pets can give by visiting patients at a variety of facilities.  In order to become a therapy dog your dog must meet certain health requirements, have completed a a basic obedience class, and pass a pet/handler evaluation.

Lisa and I have discussed what a great way this would be to spend special time with your pup and give back to the community at the same time. We are now looking to attend an orientation to find out more. If you’re  interested but aren’t sure what it takes,  Dogster member Georgia and her mom Christy recently became a certified therapy team and were kind enough to share their experience on getting started.

Christy lives in the Atlanta, GA area so she chose Alchemy Dog Training to take Georgia for basic obedience class.

I arrived at my first obedience class “dragging” my 80 lb. golden who I said was “totally trained.” Our reason for being there was to get her Canine Good Citizen certificate before she could be evaluated for pet therapy training-our ultimate goal.

The class was well organized, well run and fun. When an instruction is not followed correctly, it is addressed and corrected immediately using (only) positive reinforcement. (In our case, it was the parent who needed correcting more than the “child”…)

During the course of the 8 weeks, I definitely learned a thing or two and so did Georgia. The “homework assignments” between classes serve to reinforce what you two have practiced in class. Whether Georgia enjoyed the classes as much as I did, or she happily attended because there were treats involved, we may never know but she did well and graduated.

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I want to thank Shadow for barking to me about a former Michael Vick dog that has undergone an amazing transformation. It’s great to hear about the dogs that were rescued and rehabilitated, once again showing it’s about the owner not the breed.

Daisy Mae, formerly part of a dogfighting operation, is now a therapy dog in Santa Barbara making weekly rounds at Cottage Hospital’s pediatric ward and Villa Riviera retirement home. Gentle and affectionate, the three-year-old cuddles with the elderly and frail, and even allows small children to hold her tight when they are undergoing painful medical procedures.

Her owner Alison Hansen found her in a shelter affiliated with the BAD RAP organization, or Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls (badrap.org). The dog was extremely withdrawn and frightened, cowering against the wall.

“Something came over me. I vowed, ‘She can never have a bad day again,’” said Hansen, who admits to originally wanting an athletic dog that she could exercise with. “I had wanted a [Labrador] experience, but what I got was a little sack of potatoes.”

Read more about Daisy Mae’s turnaround and dogfighting on the Santa Barbara Independent. If you’re looking to learn more about the breed stop by the Pit Bull friendly site Bad Rap.

* Pics courtesy PAUL WELLMAN

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