Hello to all of our two-legged, three-legged, and four-legged friends (and anyone we missed)! A few weeks ago, my computer broke and then I went out of town for a week, so I haven't been able to update the blog. As it is, I still haven't set up my newly repaired computer so that I can get the photos off my camera, but that is coming. You will have to settle for words for now.

The pups are doing great. It is "vet season" I guess because in the past two months Wrigley, Maizy, and Probert have all been in to see the vet for their necessary yearly visits. Wrigley's visit was mostly uneventful minus the news that he is overweight. Since he is getting the same level of exercise as the ideally-weighted Addy, Maizy, and Probert, our only choice was to cut his food down. Poor Wrigley. Though, having been away from him for nearly a week last week, when I saw him again with "fresh" eyes he looked thinner to me! I guess we'll see how he does!

Maizy's visit was exciting in that she required a tooth cleaning, x-rays (to take to a new ortho doc), had an ear infection, and had a little arm scab that she kept tearing open. She came home from her tooth cleaning appointment in a No-Bite collar limping from hip manipulation and having lost a tooth that just fell out during the dental! Only six years old and she is falling apart! She is an angel about her ear medicine, though, and her arm healed after a few days in the collar (which she hated. a lot).

Probert's visit last night was good. The doctor took blood in order to test his liver as she thinks he will be on his medication long-term and wants to be sure it's not affecting his liver. He also needs his teeth cleaned, so I will be scheduling a dental for him soon. He also had a little mass aspirated and we'll find out what that was. Luckily, everything else is great, so we got out of there relatively unscathed!

Addy doesn't see the vet until April, so she is plenty happy about that!

Funds Raised!

Thanks everyone for your support with all of the work I've been doing with Pinups for Pitbulls. Well, the event on Friday went off without a hitch! Here are a few pictures (no pups, sorry!). At the end of the evening (or really, the next morning, since I got home at about 4:30am), we had raised over $2000 for the bullies! Thanks to anyone who helped promote or came out! It is much appreciated. Look for our family-friendly fundraiser coming up in December in Wheaton.

Me and Tracy, my partner in pit bull fundraising (with the Brown Dog Dad in the back).

All set up for the midnight raffle (there was a second at 3am).

A packed bar and smiling faces. Good signs.

One of my favorite merch items that we have... the Pinup for Pitbulls tote bag.

Gutted

So, in working on planning tonight's (!!!) Pinups for Pitbulls fundraiser here in Chicago, I have been in touch with a few GREAT bully-friendly local rescues. I am so inspired by all of the hard work that they are doing, and at the same time, I am being heartbroken constantly thinking about the hard lives that so many animals have. There is no way to not wish I could do more.

At the event, there will be photos and descriptions to promote dogs from both One Tail At A Time and Making A Difference Rescue who are in need of sponsorship or foster/forever homes. One of the dogs that really touched me from Making a Difference is Hero. He was found by a woman in her yard, collapsed. She thought he was dead. Once he was picked up, an email was sent out from Animal Control to the director of Making a Difference with only two words, "Help me." And so, we are all trying to find Hero the home that he deserves.

Yesterday, I also received an unexpected email from a caregiver at PAWS Chicago asking if we could promote another dog at our event. Red is already famous in Chicago for attempting to protect his elderly owner during a home invasion. During the course of the attack, Red was shot and paralyzed. His owner sadly could not physically give Red the care that he now needs and Red is in search of a home to live out the rest of his days. I really hope we can help him.

Please think of these dogs... send them your good thoughts. We are hoping to help some of them out tonight, even if it's just by reminding people that there are so many dogs out there that need our compassion and love.

Playing Dress Up

So, once again this year we participated with Pinups for Pitbulls and submitted a photo for the 2010 calendar. Out of the almost 100 submissions, we were NOT chosen to have our own month in the calendar, but our picture will appear on a page in the back. Oh well. Enjoy anyway!


The photo was a huge collaborative effort in tribute to the Elvgren pinup painting, Station WOW. I can't tell you how much fun this shoot was. Everyone who worked on it was great. The photographer, Chris Zibutis is awesome and was assisted by his lovely wife, Monica Zibutis as well as their friend Robyn Martin. The hair and makeup was all done by my sister-in-law, Jenna Hopman. The dog-wrangling and general pup supervision was handled by my husband, Shawn Hopman. We shot at the yoga studio where I teach thanks to the kind owners. The pup models were your friends, Addy and Probert. As you can see, Probert is an old pro at this looking adorable on film thing by now!

Guess who has 4 birthdays!?

Tomorrow is Probert's four birthday! I haven't decided how we will celebrate, any suggestions?

Here is a picture of Probert from when he was first adopted. The toy is his Ellie that he brought with him from the rescue. Um, until Wrigley de-stuffed Ellie. RIP, Ellie.

Probert's Dog

I think I posted before about Probert's problem with coming out of his crate. Every single time he came out of his crate, he had to steal something or have something in his mouth. He would grab laundry, socks, shoes, toys, try to pull the blankets out of the other dogs' crates, etc. So we have remedied this problem by consistently handing him something when he comes out of his crate, so he can just go downstairs without the obsessive "finding something" game he had to play previously. Most of the time now he happily takes his no-eyed, no-nosed, one-eared dog and races downstairs with him. Clearly, he is a well-loved stuffed dog.

In other Probert news, yesterday I threw a ball and he fetched it! I don't think I've ever seen him pick up a ball in his life. Previously he would chase them while they bounced and rolled and then not know what to do after that, but yesterday he picked it up and carried it to a new location! It sounds stupid, but when the Brown Dog Dad came home I showed him and he was equally amazed. Probert might be a dog, afterall!

Howl-O-Ween

Yesterday Addy and I went out to Tracy's store, Natural Pet Market in Wheaton, IL for the annual Howl-O-Ween party. Addy did not really dress up for the party, but for my own amusement at home, I dressed her as Tupac. Picture her rollin'.

She also whipped out her adorable high-five trick and won the trick contest! Now we get to go back to Natural Pet Market with a $25 gift certificate! Wooo!