Our awesome friend Toki is at it again! This time, this cute Boston Terrier pup is wrangling up some wascally wabbits to help bring smiles to the kids at Children’s Hospitals nationwide. And of course, I Love Rescue Animals wants to help support Toki Poki as much as we can, so we went searching high and low for a wabbit of our own.

We succeeded. Kinda.

Well. We think he makes a good wabbit. Good job, Snarf.

The Contest & Cards

Toki Poki is running the Wuvable Wabbit Contest until midnight tomorrow. What’s the contest all about? It’s all in support of the Toki Poki Bunny Hop – another fantastic card collection pack brought to you by our favorite pet trading cards with a purpose! These collection packs will be sent to Children’s Hospitals across the nation and you could get a chance to have your favorite wuvable wabbit included in the pack by submitting a picture by tomorrow at midnight!

Yep. Tomorrow. Midnight. Deadline: April 13, 2011, 11:59pm. GO!

If you don’t get a chance to submit a picture, you can still take part by voting for your favorite picture on the Toki Poki Facebook Gallery (you can find more instructions there). The top 10 voted pictures will end up being the cards for the new Wuvable Wabbit collection pack! How awesome is that?

It’s pretty awesome.

So what are you waiting for? Go check out the Wuvable Wabbit Contest Page on Toki Poki and help make kids (and wabbits) smile!

Filed under: Causes, Contests, Partners on April 12th, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Every year in Austin, Texas, there’s awesome event called The Mighty Texas Dogwalk and it’s an event I’m sure a ton of people can get behind. Why? Not only do you get out and walk with your dog with lots of other awesome dog lovers, but all the proceeds of the walk benefit today’s group: Texas Hearing & Service Dogs. Now, there’s something special about this group. Yes, they do a lot of good because they are training hearing and service dogs and helping out people in need, BUT, did you know that all of the dogs they train are adopted? Yes! Adopted! Each dog is from a shelter! How amazing is that? That is why we are proud to support this awesome group as our Day 52! If you’re in the area, please take part in the Mighty Texas Dog Walk this year.

In other 365DAA news, we’re sad to announce that this is our last day. Unfortunately, while we had over 100 pledges, we received only about half of those shirts. But don’t worry – we’re going to try again next year and use the entirety of 2011 to focus on getting shirts and promoting our cause for 2012. We’ll be making a more formal announcement in the next coming days in which we’ll thank our supporters and talk about our intentions for next year, but for now: Thank you to all who have helped so far! Please don’t think this is it – we’ll need your help even more to get the word out and continue with this project! And please – Keep sending us shirts! The more we have, the more prepared we’ll be for next year! You all rock! Now… back to Day 52.

Also see this shirt on flickr!

About Texas Hearing & Service Dogs

THSD is a non-profit organization that trains Service Dogs and Hearing Dogs to assist people with disabilities. Hearing Dogs are trained to alert their deaf owners by touch and lead them to everyday sounds, such as a door knock, smoke alarm or telephone. Service Dogs assist individuals with physical disabilities by opening doors, fetching wheelchairs, retrieving dropped items, operating light switches, moving paralyzed limbs and getting help.

THSD adopts all of our dogs from animal shelters and rescue leagues. Utilizing positive reinforcement, we train the dogs, pair them with their new partners and then train them as teams – all free of charge to the recipients.

Where You Can Find Them

• Official Website
• Facebook
• Twitter

Don’t forget to pledge your own shirt to this project by emailing 365 AT iloverescueanimals.org. This project CANNOT happen without you! Thank you for your support! Find out more about this project on our 365 Days of Animal Advocacy page.

Filed under: 365 Days of Animal Advocacy 2011, Projects on February 21st, 2011 | 3 Comments »

One of our favorite events here in Austin, TX is an annual event called Dogtoberfest Austin. Not only do they hold one great event to celebrate our canine friends every year, but they also do it to promote adoption and raise funds for local rescues and shelters. Each year new groups are nominated and the end of the event, the proceeds are split among them. I love this event and I love that they are all about raising awareness and funds for pups looking for their forever homes!

Also see this shirt on flickr!

About Dogtoberfest Austin

Dogtobefest Austin is a 501c3, non profit , who’s mission is to provide awareness about dog rescue, as well as raise much needed money for rescue. We hold an annual event at the Domain, which has become the premier, pet related event in Austin.

If you are looking to add a new member to your family, please look to your local rescue groups, as well as shelters. There are hundreds of animals out there hoping to find their forever home. Check out this years benefiting rescue groups, or visit the City of Austin, Townlake Animal Center.
Never buy an animal from a pet store, or through Internet or newspaper ads.

Where You Can Find Them

• Official Website
• Facebook
• Twitter

Don’t forget to pledge your own shirt to this project by emailing 365 AT iloverescueanimals.org. This project CANNOT happen without you! Thank you for your support! Find out more about this project on our 365 Days of Animal Advocacy page.

Filed under: 365 Days of Animal Advocacy 2011, Projects on February 20th, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Day 50 is here! Sad to say it might be one of the last of this project since we don’t have a lot of shirts left, but I’m super excited that we are celebrating the 50th with one of our favorite groups and some fabulous friends. Today is dedicated to Save This Pup, an amazing group and a really great idea that could help lots of shelter dogs all over the world. Laura Posey, the founder of STP, is a remarkable woman with a lot of passion for what she does. From the very first day we met her, she has been a wonderful friend and we look forward to doing a lot more with this group in the future. We love Save This Pup!

Also see this shirt on flickr!
Part of a photo shoot! See alternate photo 1 and alternate photo 2.

About Save This Pup

Many shelter dogs are lucky to find loving homes. But what happens to the pets left behind—those equally deserving companions who for some reason just haven’t found a home? Because it costs less to euthanize pets than it does to care for them, under-funded shelters are often forced to make hard decisions affecting good pets. Now you can.

For a small monthly fee you can sponsor a pup—feed them, keep a roof over their head, make sure they get the care they need until they find that special loving home. When you sponsor a dog you’ll get a best friend for life! You can also stay in touch with your new pal online — get regular news updates, photos and more.

The SaveThisPup Foundation is unique in that it supports the animal adoption organizations and the homeless pets at a direct, local level. All contributions collected through the site will be distributed directly to the animal shelters or rescue organizations and are tax deductible as the law allows. It is also unique in that you get regular feedback and updates on exactly what your money is doing to help a special dog find a forever home.

Where You Can Find Them

• Official Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube

Don’t forget to pledge your own shirt to this project by emailing 365 AT iloverescueanimals.org. This project CANNOT happen without you! Thank you for your support! Find out more about this project on our 365 Days of Animal Advocacy page.

Filed under: 365 Days of Animal Advocacy 2011, Projects on February 19th, 2011 | 1 Comment »

When we first moved to Texas, one of the very first dog events we attended was Barktoberfest, an awesome event put on by our next group, the Central Texas SPCA. It’s a fundraiser to raise money for their no-kill facility and there were a ton of dogs, lots of games, and some awesome animal groups. It was a great start to getting involved in local events and we have a lot to thank the Central Texas SPCA for!

Also see this shirt on flickr!

About Central Texas SPCA

The Central Texas SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is a private nonprofit 501(c)3 non-euthanasia (no-kill), limited intake animal shelter, established in 1988. We provide shelter, food, medical care, and adoption services for homeless and abandoned dogs and cats. These services are funded solely by private donations and adoption fees. We receive no government funding and are not contracted as animal control with any local municipality or county. We accept owner release animals in addition to rescuing from local “open-door” (kill) facilities on a space available basis.

The Central Texas SPCA does not kill shelter pets to make room for more animals, and we can only accept animals as size appropriate space is available in either our cat condos or dog flats. The CTSPCA regards its no-kill mission seriously. In addition to the standard release and rescue, we are able to offer a second chance at life to many animals thanks to our established Special Needs Fund and Foster Care Program. These key elements provide us the opportunity to rescue the occasional injured or sick animals that others may discard as unadoptable. We only face the heart wrenching decision of euthanasia when it is in the most humane medical interest of the animal as deemed necessary by two separate veterinary opinions. These opinions are brought before our Rainbow Committee, comprised of three Board Members, for consideration and a unanimous decision.

Where You Can Find Them

• Official Website
• Facebook
• Twitter

Don’t forget to pledge your own shirt to this project by emailing 365 AT iloverescueanimals.org. This project CANNOT happen without you! Thank you for your support! Find out more about this project on our 365 Days of Animal Advocacy page.

Filed under: 365 Days of Animal Advocacy 2011, Projects on February 18th, 2011 | 2 Comments »