Lucky Dogs book review

You Lucky Dog by Kate Kelly

Famous dogs and how they went from nobody to stars

This book is very interesting, tells the stories about all kinds of dogs….go behind the scenes to the real tales…

It is an uplifting compilation of true stories about homeless dogs that survived and thrived against the odds to become celebrities.

Dogs like Terry, the female Cairn Terrier, who had mean owners. She was born in 1933 in Alta Dena, CA and adopted by a couple from Pasadena with no children and no patience. She was not housebroken so the owners hired Carl Spitz who ran the Hollywood Dog Training School. He got the job done but the owners refused to pay the bill and did not want the puppy back so she stayed with Spitz.

Spitz took Terry on auditions to be in movies and she was hired to be in Shirley Temple’s “Bright Eyes.” Terry performed in five other films. Then Spitz heard about The Wizard of Oz. He trained Terry to become part of the cast. Terry was such a success that she made it into almost all of the scenes in the movie. Terry was paid $125 per week, more than the Munchkins made.

Terry’s performance as Toto was courageous and outstanding. She followed her directions like a pro. By the end of the film, everyone called her Toto and her name was changed to Toto.

Toto was best known for The Wizard of Oz but she went on to do seven more films.

She died in 1945 and a book was written to memorialize her.

Benji was a shelter dog who also became a movie star. A veteran Hollywood animal trainer found the mixed breed dog at the Burbank Animal Shelter. The dog originally worked on the TV show Petticoat Junction. Every week, he learned different tricks. When the movie Benji was being cast, this dog hit the spot. His offspring were cast in the original films sequels.

There are many stories about Rin Tin Tin. Lee Duncan was his owner and trainer and obtained the dog who was born in Germany. When fighting ended, Duncan could not leave without the pups so he brought back Rinty and Nanette (his sister). He came back to California and got a job at a high end sportings good store in Hollywood.

Duncan trained the dog and took him to dog shows. Eventually the dog made 26 films for Warner Bros. Rin Tin Tin worked hard most of his life. Eventually, the stress got to him and he nipped someone on the set of a film. He died in 1932 but Duncan still had contracts for a dog. He kept the dog’s career going with Rin Tin Tin Junior and successive dogs.

Besides famous movie and TV dogs, there are also inspiring stories of dogs with extraordinary stories such as the dog mayor, Civil War mascot, the dog who delivered the mail, a dog who traveled across the USA by train, and a deaf bull terrier named Patsy Ann who became a harbor master in Juneau, Alaska. In Part Two, there are the stories of dogs who lived at the White House, starting with Bo Obama going all the way back to George Washington’s dogs.

is your dog working today?

Cici is on the job, as she is every day, here at home… asleep, on the couch or bed, or right now in the kitchen checking out the scraps on the floor… she just finished her bone… soon she will nap, then get a bath (shhhhhh, do not tell her)… here she is researching the news for me…

hey, it worked for Edgar Cayce… 

how about your pooch, are they doing important work today on Bring your Dog to work day???

In good company… Bo Obama also gets to work at home every day at the White House with the President…

Pets Best Insurance Top 7 Reasons to Bring Your Dog to the Office

1. They won’t be doing the potty dance waiting for you to get home.

2. You don’t have to pay for doggy day care.

3. You get a mental break and fresh air during their potty breaks (as long as you’re up wind).

4. They make awkward noises and instantly lighten the mood.

5. You can blame that smell on your dog.

6. Your boss just might throw you a bone!

7. Need a smile, just look at their face.

 http://www.petsbest.com/blog/top-7-reasons-to-bring-your-dog-to-the-office/

http://www.dogster.com/bolz/take-your-dog-to-work-day-funny-photos

http://photos.mercurynews.com/2013/06/20/dogs-at-work/

http://www.pawnation.com/2013/06/18/take-your-dog-to-work-day-etiquette/

Blog Hop time…thanks to Life with Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume…  grab the blog hop  link

 

Holiday spirit

well, it is almost Christmas…before you know it…

time to check the balls… I mean, deck the halls… with Bo Obama at the White House  approving the Holiday decorations….he will soon welcome 90,000 visitors to the tune of the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy?”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-34222_162-57556389-10391739/obamas-dog-bo-gets-into-holiday-mischief/

does your dog/pets like Christmas?

is your tree and decor up yet? have your pooches inspected the premises? will the furry ones meet Santa this year? are you in the holiday spirit yet, holiday partying and what gifts are in store if they are good (and even if they are naughty)?

This holiday season, nearly 63 percent of dog owners and 58 percent of cat owners will be buying Christmas gifts for their furry friends, according to the American Humane Association.  Soon, we will share a holiday gift guide or two and holiday pet travel. are you going anywhere FUN for the holidays?

what are you looking forward to this year???  I want to see The Hobbit movie and Les Miserables, coming out soon… (Dec. 14 and Xmas day)…

Blog Hop time…thanks to Life with Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume…  grab the blog hop code

Pets in politics

If you share your politics with your pooches…

Send pictures of your pets wearing election-year flair to Pet Lovers for Obama…

and you can also send photos to Dogs Against Romney… if you are against animal abuse… both Romney and Ryan have shown that they disregard animals and/or abuse them… Ryan kills fish with his bare hands and hunts deer… Romney strapped his Irish Setter on the roof of his car for a 12 hour drive to Canada and laughs about it…

 

 

 

The fur is flying and will continue to do so during the Conventions this week.  Hurricane Isaac has already ruined some of the GOP’s plans… Divine intervention… some say a big uterus is on its way to Tampa… after all of the horrific anti-choice, Akins/Ryan’s pro-rape, rapists have rights but women don’t rhetoric and bills and platform of the GOP, GOP: Don’t Mess with MOTHER God Nature…

Historically, pets have played a very important role in the lives of many presidents and lawmakers.

• FDR’s dog Fala helped him win re-election
• President Ford would often signal his dog Liberty
• President George Bush’s dog Millie and her puppies entertained many of the White House’s visiting guests
• President Clinton’s dog Buddy kept him company in the dog house during the Lewinsky scandal
• President George W. Bush’s dogs Barney and Miss Beazley  hosted annual video tours of the White House’s Christmas decorations.

http://petsinpolitics.blogspot.com/

Harry S. Truman once said…

“If you want
a friend in Washington, get a dog.”

http://www.presidentialpetmuseum.com/Pets/fala.htm

Happy Spring…

and Easter and Passover…

from the adorable Bo Obama…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/08/bo-obama-easter-bunny-photo_n_1410976.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

from Andy Borowitz…

Religions in Summary: Jews hide bread, Christians hide eggs, and Mormons hide a dog on top of their car…

GOP hide their womb envy in hundreds of bills against birth control and abortion and health care for women and pretend they are not waging a war against women…

 

did you watch to kill a mockingbird on TV?  if so, what did you think? relevant?

Atticus’ lesson to Scout that “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb around in his skin and walk around in it”

“it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”. mockingbirds never harm other living creatures.  “They don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us.”

how are you celebrating?

Super-Doggies

March 23, is National Puppy Day, and there is a new cast of animated characters helping to promote the adoption of dogs all over the world – the Super-Doggies.

The Super-Doggies are a trio of animated singing dogs featured in a music video encouraging people to visit dog shelters with hopes of giving abandoned puppies a caring home. The Super-Doggies feature Barack Obama’s dog, Bo and Vladmir Putin’s dog, Buffy.  In fact, in this video both world leaders join their dogs for a global dance party.  Lending a hand in the creation of this video is none other than Eugeniy (Eugene) Kuritsyn, the 2012 Oscar award-winning animator of Rango.

Eugeniy has teamed up with Grammy Award winning producer Neal Pogue who works with musicians like Nicky Minaj, Lil Wayne, Outkast and Pink.  The effort is also getting guidance from marketing veteran Bruce Kirkland who directed The Beatles Anthology project, the Beastie Boys, the Spice Girls, Radiohead, and Everclear.

Americans love dogs

Americans love dogs but do we love women?  just throwing that out since it seems like some people who call themselves American are waging war on women. They also don’t seem to care that much about dogs, animals, the environment, other people either.

in life, we have choices to make every day…  and sometimes they are easy and other times they are difficult…

and it is not always as simple as this…

vs

Mitt Romney drove to Canada with the family Irish setter on the roof of the car. and even now dogs do not like Romney…

Here’s the follow up: Barbara Bush comforting the dog, post-Romney encounter…Barbara: Don’t worry honey, he’s not going on vacation with us.

#46760857

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/romney-dog/2012/03/15/id/432667

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/ad-lib/2012/mar/15/romneys-dog-canine-lesson-candidates/

http://www.huliq.com/10282/romney-criticized-about-his-dog-while-dogs-vital-presidential-lifestyle

and what about this menu?  is there anything on it that working or unemployed or seniors or women or middle class or poor people want????

Romney does not care about the poor, wants to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, and wants women to go back to 1950…

Roe v. Wade
Favors a repeal
“I’d like to see Roe v. Wade overturned and allow the states and the elected representatives of the people, and the people themselves, have the ability to put in place pro-life legislation.”
5 June 2007, Republican Presidential Debate (Manchester, New Hampshire)

http://2012.republican-candidates.org/Romney/Abortion.php

President Obama echoed his support for the Supreme Court’s pro-choice decision in Roe v. Wade.

“Government should not intrude on private family matters,” Obama said in a statement, adding that he also supports policies to prevent “unintended pregnancies.”

Romney was weak about Rush Limbaugh, “It’s not the language I would have used,” Romney said of Limbaugh’s comments  while President Obama called Sandra Fluke personally.

Obama said at a news conference that he’d called Fluke after Limbaugh made his comments “because I thought about Malia and Sasha, and one of the things I want them to do as they get older is to engage in issues they care about, even ones I may not agree with them on. I want them to be able to speak their mind in a civil and thoughtful way, and I don’t want them attacked or called horrible names because they’re good citizens.”

Obama on women’s health care

A 32-page regulatory proposal offers options for providing preventive care, and President Barack Obama‘s health care law requires health plans to cover prevention at no cost to the consumer.

Romney’s support for personhood amendments and the Blunt Amendment is evidence that he’s going as far to the right as anyone can when it comes to women’s reproductive health.

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/democrats-mitt-romney-is-more-extreme-on-womens-rights-than-rick-santorum-video.php

President Obama: auto industry bailout

Romney would have allowed the industry to collapse and lose 1.3 million

manufacturing jobs

Romney wants to tax the middle class and poor while President Obama wants to tax the 1%…

Romney’s pitch is that he’s Mr. Fix It — a corporate turnaround artist with an MBA. Looking for a candidate who’ll get the economy moving and put people back to work? Just so long as you overlook his only leadership experience in government and all the mass layoffs he orchestrated at his vulture-capital firm, Romney’s your guy.

What happens to that pitch if the economy improves, growth strengthens, and job creation picks up steam before the election? I don’t know. More importantly, I don’t think Romney knows, either.

Santorum’s pitch is altogether different. Whether the unemployment rate is 8.3% or 3.8%, Santorum is offering a message about culture, values, and religion. He doesn’t like contraception; he wants to restrict access to pornography; and a spirited defense of the separation of church and state makes him, in Santorum’s words, want to “vomit.”

As the former senator put it yesterday, “My campaign doesn’t hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. It’s something more foundational that’s going on.”

Whether one finds Santorum’s agenda offensive or not, at least this is coherent and consistent. Unlike so many Republicans, he’s not rooting for bad economic news before the election, because the health of the economy is independent of his right-wing societal vision.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/20/10773490-why-unemployment-doesnt-matter-to-santorum

vast differences of Character, Vision and Values for our country… and if you are upset, paranoid and/or concerned about the NDAA and other bills restricting our civil liberties, the right wing GOP’ers meanwhile have invaded women’s privates and privacy in horrific ways, and want women who have abortions to be sent to jail for killing their unborn fetus “person.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/17/1075219/-Breaking-First-Degree-Homicide-Of-The-Unborn-Child-Bill-Passes-CO-House-On-Second-Reading

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/03/20/guest-post-a-doctor-on-transvaginal-ultrasounds/   a dr speaks out against unwanted, unnecessary t.v. ultrasounds, politics

What good is a law that adds only pain and difficulty to perhaps the most painful and difficult decision a woman can make? Shouldn’t women have a right to protect themselves from strangers’ opinions on their most personal matters? Shouldn’t we have the right not to know?

http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/the-right-not-to-know

There are bills like these being considered and/or passed in states that have GOP governors and/or where the GOP has the majority.

GOP legislators have sought to exempt religious orgs from having to offer health insurance that covers contraceptives.

…In Arizona and Kansas, Republican state legislators pushed bills allowing a doctor to lie about the health status of your fetus for fear you might opt to get an abortion.

And should you make that harrowing choice, Virginia Republicans, following in the footsteps of their colleagues in a number of other states, passed a law requiring that you have an ultrasound first.

But the women behind Government Free VJJ have a different kind of approach:

“Follow these simple steps,” the website beckons…

1. Knit or crochet a lady part
2. Print a message to enclose
3. Mail it to your male Senator or Congressional Representative [links provided]
4. We’re in the process of arranging hand delivery to congressional offices in Washington, until then, go ahead and mail yours in!
5. Record your items in this spreadsheet so we can track which representatives still need to receive a “gift”!
6. Don’t forget to thank your representative if he respects women and supports our rights.

There are kntting and crochet patterns available to make a “snatchel.”

http://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2012/03/20/sending-your-congressman-a-uterus-of-his-very-own

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/03/knit-your-congressman-vagina-contraception-abortion

here is the crochet pattern…

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crocheted-uterus

The Huffington Post

‎”I am a woman and I have these human rights: The right to life. The right to privacy. The right to freedom. The right to bodily integrity. The right to decide when and how I reproduce.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/womens-reproductive-rights_b_1345214.html

book your gyn appt, call the RNC http://www.politicalshake.com/2012/03/20/need-to-see-a-gynecologist-call-the-rnc-today-republican-national-committee-inundated-with-calls-and-emails-from-women/

Happy first Woman for President’s Day

with all of the uproar because of the GOP’s Back to the Past 1950’s agenda, think it is only fitting to talk about having a woman in the White House… from Marlo Thomas about women and power… she asks… “America has never leapt over that final gender barrier by electing a woman to our highest office — and the interesting thing is, so many countries around the world have achieved that equality.

Why not us?”

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marlo-thomas/women-in-power_b_1276510.html

 

I would LOVE to vote for a woman for President… Elisabeth Warren comes to mind…  would love for there to BE a woman for President…

this is way overdue… ERA…

http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/

 

here is the First Lady and Bo … Bo has been showing up a lot more it seems, perhaps to highlight the difference between Romney’s abusive dog car ride and Bo’s having it made… Michelle Obama even said that she’d like to come back as Bo…because he has it so good…

 

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/02/michelle-obama-surprises-some-white-house-visitors-more-others/48800/

 

 

this is crazy funny… First Ladies as Dogs… for a little comic interlude…