Ziggy and Dogtoberfest

I took Ziggy to an event called Dogtoberfest on Saturday.  There were many fun events, including a dog parade with dogs in costume.  Since Ziggy refuses to dress up, I had to be creative with his costume.  And since I'm not creative, I ended up just putting black circles all over him and calling him a Dalmatian.

"What ARE these black spots all over me?"

"Hey, I look just like that Dalmatian over there!"

Many people thought he did not have a costume at all, because the black spots blended in to his fur so well.  I used ink from a child's stamp pad, so it is non-toxic and washable.  And I'm going to give him a bath and wash those spots off... any day now.  

"Ziggy, you look nothing like me!"

Since Ziggy doesn't like other dogs getting in his space, we stayed a short distance from the others while we waited for the parade to start.  Ziggy quickly found something to occupy his attention.

"Construction workers!  I bet they need my assistance!!"

While Ziggy supervised the construction workers, I took some pictures of some of the other dogs in costume.

The first place winners of the costume contest had a decorated wagon for a dog with an adorable outfit, and a real parrot with her own costume - she was wearing a tiny parrot bikini.

This sweet guy may not have had a costume, but he had a lot of fun anyway!

Once the parade started, Ziggy did really well even being surrounded by other dogs.  Of course, being Ziggy, he did have to make a few stops along the route...

"Let me just sniff over here!"

"I'll just even off the edges right here."

However we eventually made it to the end of the parade, and enjoyed the other festivities.  In addition to the costume contest, they had several other contests such as Ugliest Dog, Prettiest Eyes, and Best Trick.  Can you guess which one Ziggy entered?

If you guessed the Best Trick contest, you're correct!  Ziggy was one of several dogs showing off their best trick.  He did his praying trick where he prayed to get adopted, and although that prayer hasn't come true yet, he did win 1st place in the contest!  He won some very nice prizes, and made some new friends as well. It was a fun day, and we had a great time. 

Ziggy's Advertising Campaign

Ziggy has never been accused of being too humble.  In his mind, he’s not “just a dog”, he’s ZIGGY!  So it’s no surprise that he insisted on a “Wall of Fame” on his webpage.  I tried to convince him that nobody likes a braggart, but he refused to listen.  He seems sure that if the rest of the world will just realize how special he is, they will be lining up to adopt him.  Since I absolutely refused to let him brag about the number of common household items that he has chewed up, or the amount of kibble he can eat in one sitting, he had to settle for bragging about his few awards and media appearances.  I said to him – Ziggy, don’t you think listing all the websites that have shared your desire for a home just makes you seem desperate?  But again, he pretended he couldn’t hear me.  So I gave in, and helped Ziggy add a new page to his website.  Now Ziggy is asking me to contact even more blogs and websites to ask for help in sharing his desire for a home.  If you have a blog or website and share Ziggy’s story and his need for a home, please let him know (his e-mail is Ziggy@adoptziggy.com) so he can add it to his list.   Or as he so proudly refers to it – his Wall of Fame.

Ziggy Wins An Award

I recently took Ziggy to an area fundraiser so he could participate in the agility demonstration.  While we were there, Ziggy entered the "Best Trick" contest and did his prayer that all the homeless pets would find homes.  This is a picture of him doing this trick at an adoption event earlier this year:

Ziggy won second place in the contest and received a medal!

An Award

We won an award! It's the Doggie Bloggie Award from Something Wagging This Way Comes. It means a lot that we'd get an award for this blog at a time when I'm having trouble coming up with anything to blog about. Without a steady supply of foster pets, life has become a lot less interesting. Fortunately with Ziggy around, there is always something new to share, so maybe I should credit Ziggy as the true recipient of this award. Thank you SomethingWagging for this award!!

Here are the rules of the Doggie Bloggie award:

1) Thank the person who gave the award and link to them.
2) Name 10 things about yourself-creative, weird, enticing, whatever.
3) Award 15 doggie bloggers-whoever you think deserves this regardless of whether they are old or new.
4) Share the love with the doggie bloggers you award by commenting on their site.
5) Finally, have a great time! After all, doggies are nothing if not fun!


So here are 5 things about me, and 5 things about Ziggy that you may not already know.

5 Things about Me
1. In 2006 I ran the Disney Marathon in under 5 hours. I haven't gone running since then.
2. I was indirectly struck by lightning at the top of Mt. Whitney (14,000 ft). Now I'm scared of thunderstorms.
3. I am addicted to chocolate. Refer back to #1 and realize why this is a very bad combination.
4. I have never been able to whistle, but I still keep trying to learn.
5. I can say the alphabet backwards and forwards in less than 10 seconds. (impressive, isn't it?)


5 Things about Ziggy
1. Ziggy is learning to walk on a treadmill, so I will have to exercise even less than I do now.
2. Ziggy's favorite game is to wait until I'm not looking, then grab my computer mouse and run to the other side of the room.
3. Ziggy's favorite sport is counter surfing - not just for food, but for anything he can pull off of the counter.
4. Ziggy's favorite hiding spot is under the futon. After he does a sneak attack on another dog, he runs and hides.
5. Ziggy weighs 60 pounds, but he can still fit himself through the cat door in a metal pet gate with a very tiny door for a cat. (also impressive!)


And now I would like to award this Doggie Bloggie award to just a few of my favorite dog bloggers...
Two Pitties in the City Because you are the kind of dog owners I would like to be!
My Life With Dogs  Because you do a great job with helping rescue pets!
Rescued Insanity  Because I just discovered your blog and I love it. 


And a few of Remi's favorite dog bloggers...
Evolution of Darwin  Because Darwin is the most beautiful blue Great Dane ever
The Life and Times of Remington  Because Remington is a great name, and he likes football more than any dog we know.
Tucker  Because Tucker is a Most Handsome Great Dane
Zona's Pawprints  Because even though Zona isn't a Great Dane she's a very special dog!


And a few of Noelle's favorite dog bloggers...
Mayzie's Dog Blog  Because Mayzie is Noelle's role model and she wants to be just like Mayzie
They Call Me The Booker Man  Because he always makes Noelle smile, but she doesn't have a crush on him because she knows he is Mayzie's boyfriend!
The Circus Dog  Because Lola is very beautiful and and even has one of the same nicknames as Noelle!
Frankly Speaking  Because Frankie has 87 gazillion friends but still finds time to visit us.


And a few of Ziggy's favorite dog bloggers.
Pei Days  Because Ziggy could TOTALLY be part Shar Pei and he can't believe I forgot to include the possibility that he could be anything like his friend Lola! He's pretty sure he got his curly tail from his Shar Pei genes.
Daily Dose of Jack  Because Jack is very funny and Ziggy loves his blog.
It's a Dog's Life  Because Hero is Ziggy's hero and role model!
Grins and Kisses  Because Ziggy was honored that Yin and Yang thought he could be part pug like them!


We have so many more favorite blogs that I wish we could share this award with! If you've been awarded this award, and had already received it or don't have the time or inclination to share it, that is all good too - it's just for fun! If you haven't visited some of the above blogs, go check them out and make some new friends. And don't forget to stop by and say hi to Something Wagging This Way Comes!

Tags and Awards

I used to have approximately four readers of my blog.  They were faithful readers.  They came back week after week to read all about each foster pet I brought home.  They were with me during Noelle's puppy days, when Noelle was lazy instead of naughty.  They were even with me when I first started fostering cats.  They faithfully read my posts for the first two years of blogging, and that kept me going, and kept me writing this blog. 

Then a few months ago, another pet blogger discovered this blog.  And suddenly I was meeting people all over the world, instead of just the few people I knew in this small corner of the Internet.  And for the first time I discovered other blogs, and these fun blog games and awards.  So today I'm going to share some recent awards and tags that I've received from some new blogging friends.


I received the Sunshine Award from One Pibble's Wish.  The Sunshine Award is given to a blogger who brings a little sunshine into someone's life. Thank you Pibble!  Here are the rules for this award:
- Post the award within my post.
- Send the award to 12 bloggers who add a little sunshine to my life.
- Post links to the 12 blogs I've sent the award to.
- Leave a comment on their blog telling them they've gotten the award.
- Put these instructions in my post so they'll know what to do!

I've seen this award on several other blogs, so I'm just going to post twelve bloggers who add sunshine to my life, even if they've already received it.  I hope you'll stop by and visit their blogs if you need a little bit of sunshine in your life.

• Mayzie's Dog Blog
• House of Cats
• Pitter Patter
• Frankly Speaking
• Two Pitties in the City
• Tucker
• Brutus the Frenchie 
• Daily Dose of Jack
• Dog Eared
• kissa-bull
• Stella, Gunther & Betty
• Mango's Great Adventures

I also received the Happy 101 Sweet Friends award, which comes with the following rules:

- Copy the image and paste it to my blog

- List 10 things that make me happy, and do one of them today.

Noelle asked if she could list the 10 things that made her happy, so I said she could.  So here are Noelle's answers:

1. When mom or dad come home from work and greet me.
2. When we go for a walk somewhere with lots of interesting smells.
3. When Bernice or Angie C. come over and visit me.
4. When Remi or a foster dog plays bitey-face or tug-of-war with me.
5. Sleeping on my dad's lap while he plays his X-Box.
6. Sleeping on my mom's lap while she plays Farmville does important work on her computer.
7. Getting treats just for doing things like sitting or lying down.  It's so easy!
8. Chasing cats.
9. Chewing up frisbees. 
10. Showing my mom and dad how much I love them.

And finally, we've been tagged by the House of Cats and Mayzie's Dog Blog for the photo tag game.  Here are the rules: Go to your first photo folder, find the 10th picture, post that photo and explain the story behind it. Then, tag five blogs to do the same.

So since the House of Cats tagged me, I went to my cat pictures folder and found the tenth picture, which is from May 2009:

This is Anastasia, a previous foster kitten.  I was trying to take her picture for the website, but she was not happy about it.  I did not use this picture on her web page, because she looks a bit scary.  But I liked the picture enough to keep it on my computer.  Fortunately no one ever saw this picture, and Anastasia was successfully adopted. 

And since Mayzie the dog tagged me too, I went to my dog pictures folder and found this one from May 2008:

It is one of my previous foster dogs, named Vala.  She was the most energetic, happy dog I have ever fostered, and she just loved people.  I wanted a picture of her with her ears up, like she normally looked.  But when I had my husband hold her so I could get her picture (otherwise she'd go running and jump up on me), she would put her ears back.  So Dave decided to be helpful and hold her ears up for her.  Poor dog.  My fosters have to put up with a lot from us sometimes.

Thanks Amy and Mayzie for the fun game!  I decided to tag five other foster blogs, in case they want to play too.  Of course they may be too busy chasing after playing with their foster pets to participate.

krazycatlady's blog
Freckles' Foster Friends
One girl, too many animals...
buggaboone
kind hearts

Thank you to my four faithful readers (Hi Grandma!) who have put up with me for so long, and thank you to all my newer readers and new blogging friends for making me feel so welcome in your community.