Hooray for puppy love this Valentine’s Day!

We will be having a small (for ThoughtsFurPaws) contest for the hub-a-bub heart-happy holiday; it’s being generously sponsored by the following brands: Stella and Chewy’s®, Spring Naturals™ and Lickety Stik® by PetSafe®!

This Contest Is Nothin' to Snooze About; a Previous Entrant Can Tell You!

Did you know that, according to Business Wire, pet parents are so so enamored with their special furry someones – that as many as 64% of Americans pet owners will spoil their pet with a special gift this love season? They spend as much as $15 billion dollars collectively to celebrate Valentine’s Day?

Well ThoughtsFurPaws and the aforementioned companies are happy to announce the Valentine’s Contest for Pooches for 2012!

Love to shower your pet with kisses? Then you’ll love Stella & Chewy’s® Carnivore Kisses™ Treats! These freeze-dried treats are made with only natural, premium raw meat and will perfectly compliment your pet’s diet. Every recipe is made without grains, glutens, fillers, added hormones or antibiotics, artificial preservatives and colorings. Carnivore Kisses are 100% nutritious and delicious and are available in 100% Angus Beef, 100% Chicken, 100% Duck and 100% Wild Alaskan Salmon.

Spring Naturals™ is a fresh new line of natural dinners and treats designed to nurture the health and well-being of dogs of all ages and breeds. The family of no-compromise recipes is made with real meats, whole vegetables, whole fruits and whole grains – meat, poultry or fish is always the first ingredient. Then whole chickpeas, green peas and eggs are added to offer pets a unique blend of high-quality proteins. And since these products do not contain meat, poultry or fish meals of any kind, they can be formulated without high-glycemic ingredients like corn, wheat, soy, potato starch or rice. Recently recognized by Pet Business in their 2011 Industry Recognition Awards, Spring Naturals was chosen as the year’s top pet food. Available in Whole Grain and Grain Free varieties (Organic line will arrive this March), Spring Naturals dinners and treats are made by a family-owned company in the USA.

For the pooch with model behavior here is a treat as lovely as he is. Lickety Stik® by PetSafe® is a new and innovative liquid treat for dogs that provides a healthy, all-natural snack while on-the-go. Designed with pet parents’ convenience in mind, Lickety Stik® is easy to throw into a purse or keep in your back pocket when heading out to the park or when packing for a road trip. Most importantly, dogs can’t get enough of this treat! With only 1 calorie in every 10 licks, this is a treat both consumers and their pets can feel good about. Lickety Stik® is available in three irresistible flavors – Savory Chicken, Braised Liver or Smoky Bacon. No matter your Valentine’s Day plans, Lickety Stik® is easy to pack, easy to treat and easy to fall in love with.

*** You can enter the contest by sending me a photo of your cute puppy or dog – he doesn’t have to be dressed up or doing anything silly – just send me your fave dog photo and tell me why it’s your fave and a little background behind the taking of the picture.***

 ♥ ♥ Email them to thoughtsfurpaws@gmail.com; please put “Valentine’s Day Contest” in the Subject Line. ♥ ♥

So here is the latest “Stella-Bella” update for all you Boston Terrier and puppy fans out there…

♥ ♥ First of all, let me tell you how SPOILED ROTTEN THIS GIRL IS: her Daddy, my manager, just bought her a Louis Vuitton dog collar and she looks ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE in it. ♥ ♥ I never thought I would be one to condone spending THAT kind of money on a pet, but I guess I surprised myself…!

Stella and Daddy Sleeping...

You recently read about Stella’s first Christmas - well the collar was a POST-Xmas present — that’s how much Daddy loves this little pistol of a dog… and trust me, she is a pistol. She runs so fast outside the office in the woods and her little fun areas, it looks like she’s a miniature black hovercraft (I know I said that about Henry once, but he’s too old now to move that fast…!) (You FIRST read about Stella HERE.)

Stella's New Amigo!

BTW, Stella recently met a new friend on a walk – we can’t remember his name, but he is pictured to the right there!

Stella is so energetic; her fave toy is a Frisbee. In our business, we do a lot of shipping and Stella has a knack for sneaking into the warehouse and stealing the lids off the shipping tubes, which are perfect frisbees for her little Boston Terrier body.

And by the way – my Manager brought up a point the other day that I argued him on a d I wanted to know what you all think. He said that Boston Terriers are actually NOT Terriers, which I don’t understand at all. I can’t remember who told him that – but they said that Boston Terriers do NOT have typical Terrier traits, i.e. they have flat heads and ears! HA!

Which other traits he was speaking of I do not know, because the ones I’m familiar with are the obvious traits of:

• “tinyness”
• being a bit wiry
• very active
• fearless
• three types are working, toy and bull
• females bark at EVERYTHING unless you train it out of them

Anyhow, I think Stella shows these in full force… what do you think?

Sooo, on to the Pet Product of the Week!

We and Stella LOVE LOVE LOVED the Spring Naturals Beef Treats — they have a nice, refreshing, smelly “medley” of fruits & berries and are not shaped or formed like any other treat I have ever seen. They are baked, natural treats that are made from real beef with plentiful rations of veggies, fruits and whole grains. They’re a great way to reward your dog…

The best parts about Spring Naturals: first of all, Stella LOVES them because they smell and taste different from anything else she’s EVER had; secondly, because real beef is the first ingredient; and finally, because there is no wheat, gluten, corn, soy, by-products, artificial preservatives, flavors or colors!

So Spring Naturals totally makes “Pet Product of the Week” for ThoughtsFurPaws, with Stella’s four paws of approval!

Also, just to let you know they’re reputable and I’m not just saying this because they sent me a bag for review — Spring Naturals, in early January, won the Pet Business, a prestigious trade magazine, Industry Recognition Award in the dog food category!

** For a newcomer, that’s pretty darn impressive if you ask us! **

Stay tuned for more Stella stories and antics; you;ll soon see how smart Stella is:

she learned sit, high-five and more in just days at the hands of a very patient and smart co-worker of mine!

Here is a super-funny picture of a dog seriously trying to avoid a bath!!

Thanks to my friend Jason and his friend, the dog’s owner!

Have your own funny animal pictures? Email them to me and be featured on Wordless Wednesday: see About Page for contact info!

Stella the Boston Terrier rescue I wrote about here (she is our company mascot) turned 8-months-old on 12/23!

Happy Belated Birthday Stella! Woo Hoo!

Well as most north-easterners know, we had a nice blast of snow the past few days, at least on the east side of Cleveland, in Willoughby, where Cute Lil’ Stella the “Opportunist” resides. Stella just looovesthe snow and thinks of it as somewhat of a toy… or a bizarre treat or something!

Snow-Loving Stella, the Boston Terrier!

She has taken to sniffing and running and eating it all at the same time, barely stopping to breathe (she has been warned about yellow snow!) and just having a blast.She runs so damn fast that she reminds me of a hovercraft, lol!

Her Dad bought her a really warm furry sweater to beat Ole Jack-Frost since we Clevelanders face tough winters (particularly living on the East side RIGHT ON Lake Erie).

We’ll be updating you on Stella soon — stay tuned because she is quite entertaining!

RUFF RUFF

The results are in!

Here are the winners of the Annual Halloween Photo Contest!

I’m offering up two Honorable Mentions after third place because it was so contentious!

1. Hobbs the Confederate Soldier

2. Brulee

3. Petey Honors Fallen Soldiers

Honorable Mentions:  Dakota, “Wolfie in Sheep’s Clothing”

See all pictures (in a row) below…

Hobbs the Confederate Soldier

Brulee

Petey Honors Fallen Heroes

Dakota

Wolfie in Sheep's Clothing

Okay, so this is the last update…

♥ These are THEE FINAL ENTRIES for the Annual ThoughtsFurPaws.com Halloween Pet Photo Contest! If you sent me a photo after 8 pm EST last night, it has automatically been filed for inclusion in the next pet photo contest, a “Funny Pets Picture” Contest to start end-of-November. Of course, I will announce the start of the contest-as well as personally email each late entrant (from this month) a notice that their photo is going up.

Voting for the Halloween Pet Photo Contest, because of the delay in posting these final entries, is extended to NEXT Sunday, November 5th at 10 pm EST.

** PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THE ACTUAL PET’S PHOTO TO VOTE; click on the Responses/Comments section and leave your name and email address please. If you do not vote this way (or by emailing me at thoughtsfurpaws@gmail.com), your vote MAY NOT BE RECEIVED due to technical issues on the back end that arose this week. *** I cannot stress the importance of this…

And finally, at last count, here are the current leaders for the contest — in order — as of yesterday at noon EST:

1. TIE between Dakota and Angel (see 10/10 post for picture)

2. “Petey Honors Fallen Heroes” (see 10/10 post for picture) — Petey needs only 3 more votes to TAKE first place!

3. Brulee – who, to clarify, is a foster kitty and sib to the late Sweet Praline, not a “rescue kitten” as I previously mis-wrote (see 10/26 post for picture) – Brulee needs only two votes to tie for 2nd!

4. “Clyde the Native American” (Honorable Mention – but still gets a prize package) (see 10/22 post for picture)

5. “Wolfie in Sheep’s Clothing” (Honorable Mention – but still gets a prize package) (see 10/26 post for picture)

So, on to the final entries. Please be patient and scroll all the way down, there are about 15  photos in this post! And there are 15 more final entries above!

Ash

Baxter as Spaghetti and Meatballs

Beagle Doctor

Beagle Nurse

Bear and Daisy

Bentley the 2nd Chia Pet Entry!

Buddy and Bambi the Hair Sheep

Charlie the Cowboy

dog convict charged w/ ankle-biting & crumb-snatching!

"Gia's Drag Queen Impression"

Heidi the Cow & Sammi the Squirrel

Hobbs the Confederate Soldier (Close-Up)

Hobbs the Confederate Soldier

Holly the "Holla-peno" Pepper!

Sucrose

Please continue to weigh in on the final entries — get your contest votes in on these, the pics in the post above, and the several Halloween Photo Contest posts below…!

Okay, so this is the REAL last update… (please be patient if this page takes a bit to load)

♥ These are THEE FINAL ENTRIES for the Annual ThoughtsFurPaws.com Halloween Pet Photo Contest! This is the second part of the last post of entries. I had too many pics to post at once and didn’t want to slow down load-time. So please be sure to check out these photos AND the ones below, in addition to other, previous posts with “Halloween Pet Photo Contest Entries”

If you sent me a photo after 8 pm EST last night, it has automatically been filed for inclusion in the next pet photo contest, a “Funny Pets Picture” Contest to start end-of-November. Of course, I will announce the start of the contest-as well as personally email each late entrant (from this month) a notice that their photo is going up.

◊Voting for the Halloween Pet Photo Contest, because of the delay in posting these final entries, is extended to NEXT Sunday, November 5th at 10 pm EST.

** PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THE ACTUAL PET’S PHOTO TO VOTE; click on the Responses/Comments section and leave your name and email address please. If you do not vote this way (or by emailing me at thoughtsfurpaws@gmail.com), your vote MAY NOT BE RECEIVED due to technical issues on the back end that arose this week. *** I cannot stress the importance of this…

And finally, at last count, here are the current leaders for the contest — in order — as of yesterday at noon EST:

1. TIE between Dakota and Angel (see 10/10 post for picture)

2. “Petey Honors Fallen Heroes” (see 10/10 post for picture) — Petey needs only 3 more votes to TAKE first place!

3. Brulee – who, to clarify, is a foster kitty and sib to the late Sweet Praline, not a “rescue kitten” as I previously mis-wrote (see 10/26 post for picture) – Brulee needs only two votes to tie for 2nd!

4. “Clyde the Native American” (Honorable Mention – but still gets a prize package) (see 10/22 post for picture)

5. “Wolfie in Sheep’s Clothing” (Honorable Mention – but still gets a prize package) (see 10/26 post for picture)

So, on to the final entries. Please be patient and scroll all the way down, there are about 15 photos in this post!

Juno the Good Witch Great Dane

Lady Edwards

Lucky

Luna the Geisha

Lyndi Lou as Lady Gaga

Lyndi Lou as Lady Gaga II

Nimrod the Cat as a Sock Monkey

Ozzy the Vampire

Ozzy the Vampire II

"Know Where I Can Find Some 'Booty?'"

Rally as a Squirrel Cardinals Fan

Remy the Sprinkled Donut!

Rufus the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" Great Dane!

Simba the Pomapoo Pumpkin

Spot the Witch

DON’T FORGET: Please scroll all the way down to “Responses” to vote; DO NOT click on the pet’s photo or I may not receive the vote due to tech issues. You can also email two votes per email to me at thoughtsfurpaws@gmail.com.

Don’t forget also to check out ALL the Halloween Pet Photo Contest Entries that have been posted over the last three weeks or so. There are about 100 or so!