The Joy of a Road Trip - Pixel Blue Eyes is Driving to Blog Paws 2013!!

Mommy and I are all packed up and ready to start our big adventure in D.C. at the BlogPaws 2013 Conference!! Mommy is very tired and not often an early morning person, so I promised her I would drive for the first part of the trip so she can rest.
I take my driving very seriously you know. Must always keep your paws on the wheel and your eyes alert for oncoming traffic or crazy cat drivers.





I can't help but sing while I am driving too, especially when one of my favorite songs comes on the radio, like "Who Let the Dogs Out?" which of course is the theme song to my good friend Tillman Skates show by the same name. Woo hooo! Mommy and I are going to have so much fun on this trip!! Can't wait to share all my experiences with you.It'll be a week to remember!!

Happy Mostly Wordless Wednesday friends! 

Please visit my fellow pet bloggers links below and see what they are up to today.

Pixel's Kitty Sister Causes Monday Mischief

This is my special dress that I will be wearing for the awards ceremony at the Blog Paws convention this weekend. I've had it hanging up in Mommy's & my closet safe from getting hurt in any way...or so I thought. This weekend, when I was packing my doggie travel bag for the trip, I got my dress out and low and behold, it was torn.

I'm not naming names or anything (Snowflake), but I know that one of my kitty sisters (Snowflake) likes to climb up into our closet and play in there. Why did she think this was a toy? 

I asked, "What are we going to do Mommy? I can't wear a dress like this. I know I don't usually like wearing clothes, but Blog Paws is special. I was even ready to do a trick or two in it for friends there." Then Mommy said the most wonderful thing....

"Sweet Pixel, I can fix this dress. We are very lucky that only the inner lining got ripped up, the outside of the dress is still perfect! Let me see what I can do."
"Yayyy! Thank you Mommy, I can't wait to see what you do!" I said with a huge smile on my face.

Next thing I know, Mommy takes the dress and in a mere five minutes, comes back and it looks perfect. All she had to do was cut off the inner lining part, it still looks beautiful and no one would ever know, except for everyone who reads this blog, BOL! So, kitty mischief or not, I still have a dress for Blog Paws!
I still need to go have a talk with the kitty (Snowflake) in question. "Oh Snooooowflake!"

A Pixel Special Report on The Joy of Animal Rescue & Recognition from Pet Finders

 This is a Pixel Blue Eyes special report! I am so excited to share this good news with all my friends as we continue to prepare for our great adventure of going to Blog Paws 2013 this week!!
Last week, the Blog Paws team told all bloggers who are planning on attending the Blog Paws 2013 Pet Blogging and Social Media Conference, that Pet Finders, the world's largest pet adoption and care website, was having a contest to "adopt" 10 bloggers who are actively involved in or have a passion for helping rescue pets. The 10 bloggers would then be given some great opportunities while at the Blog Paws conference.Bloggers just had to answer some questions that Pet Finders posed to learn a little about what we do.


The two main questions they asked were 1) Explain how you help adoptable pets and pets in need";  and 2) "What inspired you to help pets in need with your blog?" What Mommy Jenny wrote about her work with the Smyth County Animal Shelter is below.

Senior dog Bo was adopted by a wonderful couple!

I volunteer each week at my local shelter. Every weekend I go to the Smyth County Animal Shelter in Marion VA and take pet portraits of all adoptable dogs and cats, working closely with Officer Kristy Moore (an amazing animal advocate) and the wonderful shelter staff. I take my time with each pet, as needed, to help bring out a smile and make them feel more secure as I take their photos. I spend many more hours making adoption posters for each pet, adding extra special touches to make the posters and the animals themselves as appealing as possible. I am co-administrator for the shelter Facebook page, and upload all the posters as they are completed, encouraging our followers to share, cross post and adopt. I regularly contact rescue groups and individuals about certain dogs or cats, such as breed specific rescues, senior rescues and other special cases. I also create funny, charming or emotional posters & cover art for the shelter page, to keep people engaged & interested. It is a constant labor of love that averages around 20-25 hours per week.

My consistent efforts in this have made a remarkable difference in the euthanasia rate at the shelter. When I started doing the photos in July 2012, their euthanasia average percentage per month was around 80%. As of April 2013, the euthanasia percentage was 26%, the lowest it has ever been! These photos, the posters, the networking, the many encouraging posts I do on the shelter Facebook page to show the humanity and heart of the Animal Control officers, have all helped to completely turn the entire community around. The shelter used to be looked upon quite negatively by the community, but now the shelter has an amazing network of local and distant supporters, rescue groups and fans. I see hope where there used to be despair. (The Smyth County Humane Society, which I am a member of, has been wonderfully supportive of all our efforts, helping foster, sharing photos, posting them to Pet Finders and Adopt a Pet, transporting and paying spay/neuter fees when possible.)

The puppy paw I am holding belongs to a beagle pup that was adopted!

I not only post the adoption posters on the Smyth County Animal Shelter Facebook page, I also do periodic blog posts on my "Pixel Blue Eyes: Her Tails of Adventure" blog (www.pixelblueeyes.com) about my efforts, sharing the adoption success stories & photos, telling stories of how my little girl Pixel helps me prepare each week for the photo shoots, and showing the world how easy it is to volunteer and help the animals. It is rewarding beyond anything you could imagine! I often share special needs pet posters on my blog's Facebook page & twitter account as well, because social media is a remarkable tool for helping find homes for pets in need!

One particular case is extra special. A seriously neglected mini schnauzer, visually impaired, and covered in thick fur & mats, was in desperate need of a home and he didn't have much time. I posted his photos & heart-wrenching story on my "Pixel Blue Eyes" blog Facebook page and within a few hours he'd been shared over 300 times. Within 2 days Mr. Schnauzer was adopted by a Pixel Blue Eyes fan, who drove for hours the following Wednesday to adopt his new "boy", who is now named Thumper and living the good life! I have become friends with many of the adopters, so getting updates on lives I've helped save is a tremendous gift!

Sunny really is getting trained by her foster mom in agility.

Our little shelter has had dogs go on to be therapy dogs, agility dogs, and we've brought people together like never before. I am thrilled over the incredible success that 20-25 hours per week of volunteer work has brought about. A million dollars could not make me feel as rich as I do knowing I am helping make a huge difference in the lives of so many animals!







I was inspired to help pets in need personally and with my blog after seeing so many photos of rescued animals in terrible conditions and looking completely hopeless. We've all seen those photos...the dog or cat is sitting or standing slumped over, it's the worst day of their life, they are scared, hungry, abused, dirty, and someone snaps a quick photo or two where you often cannot even see the animal's face. It is terribly sad and distressing to see such suffering. How can any shelter animal get adopted and find a forever loving home if the only photos of them show a forlorn dog with a defeated soul or a cat with a broken spirit? After seeing so many photos of miserable pet in need, I realized that I could offer my photographic skills to my local shelter and see if some great pet portraits would help get some of them adopted. I called the Smyth County Animal Shelter in Marion VA in February 2012. I spoke with Officer Kristy Moore, a wonderful woman who had been working hard for months trying to get a web page and Facebook page running for the shelter. She was trying to do all she could to get the animals there some exposure to increase adoptions, reclamations and rescues of the animals. It seemed my timing was perfect. Shortly after we connected, I had two medical emergencies including emergency surgery at the end of April, but we hit the ground running at the beginning of July, 2012. Our very first week of pet portraits resulted in 6 animals being adopted in a week. Kristy and I were elated, and I did my first blog post about that wonderful first week of success as part of the "Bloggers Unite for Dog Rescue" blog hop on July 23, 2012 (http://www.pixelblueeyes.com/2012/07/the-joy-of-helping-rescue-dogs-pet.html).

So my friends, we are incredibly thrilled that our blog was picked as one of the 10 Pet Finder blogs to be "Adopted" at Blog Paws this week! I hope you will take a moment or two to visit the Smyth County Animal Shelter Facebook page. You never know when sharing a photo or even looking at them might mean the difference in the life of a precious homeless pet, or in the life of another person. True love lives and pets are where it's at!

What is Pixel so Concerned About? Wordless Wednesday

I am of a very serious frame of mind in this photo...can you tell me what I am so concerned about? And what I might be talking about? I promise to tell you everything...but I want to hear your ideas. Leave a comment with your guess, then select this link to read on. But don't read ahead until you've given a guess as to what I am so serious about. 

Happy Wordless Wednesday!!!!

As always, my thanks go out to my friends at Blog Paws who host this Wordless Wednesday blog hop. 

I can't wait to meet you all next week at the 2013 Blog Paws Convention. Mommy & I are getting our final touches together to attend.
Click on the links below to see what my other fellow pet bloggers are doing today!

In Search of "Long Lost Kibble" - A Pixel Adventure

I want to talk about a very important subject right now...a subject that is of great importance to me. I hope you will open up your hearts and minds to this all too common, yet highly hidden topic. Long Lost Kibble. Look at this poor long lost kibble that I found just recently. It's alone, isolated, rejected (by the cats) and abandoned. This poor kibble has no one to love it, no one to come looking for it, no one to care what happens to it.
That is why I am here. I have made it (one of my many) life's mission to go and seek out long lost kibble such as this one. I know you've heard me talk of this delicate subject before, but seeing this one lost on a dining room chair is just too much! How could things have gone so wrong for this kibble that it is left alone?

It all started when I was helping Mommy and Auntie in the kitchen. I was walking by the dining room when I sensed it...something was out of place (besides the slumped sweater on the chair). I could feel despair, I could feel loneliness, I could feel a little kibble....alone. I breathed deep so I could triangulate it's location. I followed my nose, and that's when I saw it. The long lost kibble.

I needed to get a better vantage point, so I snuck around carefully to the other side of the chair, careful not to startle the lost kibble. Once I had a good spot, I immediately sent out the distress call to Mommy and Auntie, doing my normal 'lost kibble warning' of a low Grrr-howl that is our special signal that kibble is in need of rescuing.

Auntie came over and went to reach in and get it but I ran back around to her side and lovingly stopped her immediately. I put my paw up (the universal sign for "wait") saying, "Auntie, please wait! I am a professional and I must be the one to get it." She immediately understood and put it back.

Since I needed Mommy to document this newest Long Lost Kibble extraction, I went BACK around to the best side of the chair so she could capture the drama. Once I was back in position, I had to stop and think things through...I was close enough to do whatever extraction was necessary to save that lone kibble, but I wanted to do this right.

I realized that the 'soft paw' approach was best in this case, based on height of the chair, my height, the location of the kibble in relation to the sides of the chair, and the type of kibble that was under duress. "Come here my little long lost kibble," I cooed to the tender morsel as I slowly and ever so gently raised my paw to reach for it. "There, there little kibble. I'll save you."
I could sense that things were going well as I inched closer and closer.

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Finally, the perfect moment arrived. I made a breakthrough and I was able to actually touch the kibble! They call me "Pixel Soft Paws" in certain Nursing circles for my gentle pawed approach to nursing, so I have worked hard to hone that same technique in the search and rescue efforts of lost kibble.
By golly I set out to save this little kibble from being lost forever, and I succeeded!

As I moved in for the last portion of the long lost kibble extraction, I felt glad that I could help this little kibble be lost no more. It would now be appreciated and loved forever. That's all any of us hope for isn't it? So next time you see a long lost kibble, all alone, don't just leave it there. Be kind to the kibble and save it. You'll be so glad you did!