This pup was saved in her final hour before euthanasia. While the authorities thought it was aggressive, it turns out the poor dog was just scared. It’s now a happy rescue success story.

The recession has led to tons of animal surrenders and more shelter pets than ever before, but you can help. PetFinder has a great list by location of rescue groups in your area that are participating the Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays program. The goal is to provide even temporary loving homes to dogs, cats and other animals in need. –Of course, organizers are secretly hoping that you fall in love with the animal and keep it after the thirty day foster period, but even giving these pets love for thirty days can help, so look into helping out a critter this month.

Hey everyone. I just thought I’d give you a little update on the site. First off, submissions are low, so if you haven’t set in pictures of your pet, please do so. Second, there’s going to be some changes with the advertising for a while. I was working with the Robert Sherman Ad Network and they essentially are trying to exploit smaller blogs to host their ads for free, so they’re gone now and other things will replace them.

In bigger and better news,from 8/16 through 8/26/09, I am donating 20% of all my Etsy sales to Saving Shelter Pets animal rescue and so are other Etsy sellers. For more details, please visit their fundraiser page.

Lastly, thanks for reading, the picture of Percy (my baby) to the right is for all of you.

New Orleans has recently announced plans for the city to celebrate a Week for the Animals. This needs to be a worldwide holiday. Muttski’s readers, thank you pets and all animals in this world on the week of March 21-29.

Think of everything animals have done for us and let’s lend a helping hand to make their lives better in return. You can volunteer at you local shelter, donate blankets to the shelter, donate money to an animal charity or just take your pup on an extra long week, just celebrate!

I love these little artworks you can commission for your pet. Artist Glynis Nott customizes all of her felt animals based on customer submitted images of their pets. Her website has more info on how they are made, as well as more images of past felted pets.

I loved hearing about this Florida many who runs a wonderful sanctuary for over 500 cats. If you love it or hate it, please let me know so I can be sure to adjust Muttskis content accordingly. Thanks guys!

Sad news for shelter animals today, the Durham Region Humane Society in Oshawa, Ontario lost 150 animals in a fire. Only 10 animals -8 dogs and 2 cats were able to be saved. Many dogs were already picked for adoption and just waiting to go home.

The Durham organization relies solely on donations and has been trying for years to find a better shelter to replace the building they occupied for 20 years.

Monetary donations can be made via their website, humanedurham.com, or by contacting the Ontario SPCA at 1-888-668-7722, ext. 323.

(Photo from Flickr user R’eyes)

Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter is offering discount animal adoptions for the rest of the month and dogs over 2 years old are free.

If you’re looking for a new pet and are in the Baltimore area, don’t miss out on this great chance to get a new muttski in your family.

If you aren’t in that area, you still may check your local shelter for recession specials, as many places are getting flooded with abandoned pets from families who can no longer afford them.

Unfortunately, Mexico is not a forerunner in the animal rights movement. It is not uncommon to see street dogs wandering the city, picking through the trash and getting kicked by local residents. In an area with so much human poverty, it is no wonder that dogs are frequently used as convienant punching bags.

The YouTube clip above is not for the faint of heart. Indeed, it almost made me cry and I am terrified to see the movie it is advertising, Companions to None. But I do think it is an important issue that many people who do not live next to the Mexican border have no idea about. Living in San Diego, I have not only seen the way dogs in Tijuana are treated, but also how well they can recover when taken in by a good family.

I urge everyone to see this film and support the workers associated with it. This is something that spaying and nuetering can greatly improve, and that’s something that we can change with more conciousness of the problem.

In addition, I’d like to refer those interested to the Baja Animal Sanctuary. They specialize in helping dogs and cats from Baja Mexico get loving homes in America. My mother owns a wonderful muttski that once munched on rocks in the streets of Mexico and now she loves to cuddle up with her mom and her stuffed sheep and go right to sleep. The amazing thing about dogs is how many of them can come back from tramautic experiences. The Baja Animal Sanctuary can help. If you’re interested in donating, please click here.

And for those of you interested in helping out good old American born dogs and cats, I always recomend my favorite animal charity, Saving Shelter Pets. They work as hard as they can to keep dogs and cats in over-crowded shelters from being euthanized.