Special Paw Parade this Weekend...

Tucker the Boy

My good pal, Brewskie Butt’s staff manager Vicki Boatright, is a fantastic artist. To celebrate her online community and the growth of her pet portrait business, Vicki is hosting a virtual “Paw Parade” on January 3, 2010 from 2 -6 p.m. EST. The parade will feature portraits of the pets Vicki has painted throughout the year, including one of my pal Tucker. Tucker manages my staff’s BFF so my staff commissioned this painting of Tucker for his staff’s birthday. Very cool, yes?

The Paw Parade will virtually march through the Canton, OH Arts District, where Vicki lives and works. The event will be based on Twitter using hashtag #Pawparade. You don’t have to be on Twitter, though. You can also go to Vicki’s blog to view her creations.

Miss Vicki has been kind enough to use this opportunity to raise money for my January Furpower beneficiary, Last Hope Animal Rescue in Long Island, NY, and enter into a drawing for a free, custom pet portrait!

You can donate to Last Hope by clicking here.

You can enter the drawing for a free custom 16″ X 20″ single animal pet portrait by leaving a comment on Vicki’s blog, at http://bit.ly/7cB3wF, explaining why you would like your animal painted by BZTAT (that’s Vicki’s supercool artist’s handle).

No purchase or donation is necessary to enter. Winner will be drawn randomly from all entries.

Again here are the details:

Date: Sunday, January 3, 2010
Time: 2 pm – 6 pm EST
Twitter Hashtag: #PawParade
Where: Virtual Parade Route thru the Canton, OH Arts District via Twitter
Grand Marshal–Brewskie Butt

It will be fun to see all of Vicki’s pet creations on display!

Friday Shelter Appreciation Activities...

Vicki at her easel

As you all know, I’ve teamed up with Big Paw Designs and Peoplepets.com to encourage everyone to find ways to celebrate our local rescues and shelters and to let them know how much we love and appreciate all they do! So do anything you can – no matter how big or small – to show them you care.

I wish the week lasted longer because there are so many people I want to showcase who are doing awesome things. There are some wonderful people I wanted to tell you about who are doing awesome things for their local shelters.

Vicki Boatright, an artist in Canton, Ohio (and @brewksiebutt’s mom), is opening up her art studio tonight for Canton’s monthly First Friday gallery walk event. Tonight she is doing something special and hosting her local rescue, Friends of the Pound of Stark County, and some adoptable dogs in her studio during the gallery walk. Brewskie is not that excited about having dogs in his staff’s studio but he’ll tolerate it for the good of the animals.

Cody Keith in Austin

Generous reader Ginger Geronimo and her mom put together two big boxes of wishlist items like towels, treats, toys, office supplies, a flashlight and more to donate to the Greater Birmingham Humane Society.

Ginger's sweet furbaby, Twinkle

Countless others of you volunteer and donate on a regular basis and support and cheer on our wonderful shelters and rescues all the time. I want to recognize your ongoing efforts too!

Together we can make a difference. Thank you all for participating and reading and for your continued support of animals. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!

Romeo & Pugsley