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Happy Weekend pet lovers! It’s finally Saturday, and that means it’s time for our Weekend Pets Photo Contest! The theme for this week’s contest is “Puppies and Kittens.” Post your photos of your babies back when they were actually babies on our Facebook wall and you could win some cool TAILS prizes and be featured on our site! Are you a Twitter fanatic? You can also Tweet us your Weekend Pet photos using the hashtag #weekendpets.

Congratulations to Susan Zerrien, winner of last week’s Weekend Pets contest!

Good luck! Woofs and wags!

When I met Joan she was a mere 1 pound, 1 month old and hissed at my 5-foot-10-inch frame. Just before she met my hand as it scooped her up from a city street, she stood in defense against my Ford Escort that drove over the top of her, my car tires straddling her.

Her might at that mini size impressed me, taking on a 1 ton car in the night as she sat beside one of her deceased siblings. Joan of Arc earned her name, and now at the age of 12 she has continued to stand up to bigger objects.

With long fur in a black-and-white tuxedo pattern, Joan’s beauty is deceiving. She uses that beauty to flirt with my male cats and dog.

Joan positions herself strategically, deliberately in the middle of doorways, stairs leading to my bedroom and office, hallways or a window leading out onto a porch roof. She can be lying in an elegant mound, paws tucked under her while growling like a vicious beast.

Joan of Arc, otherwise known as Little J, Beautiful Bird and Warrior Princess will stand in resistance, stretch her front legs forward and sharpen her claws in an intimidating manner on a rug underfoot.

I refer to her as my furry orca washed up on the rug as she lies upside down, her curly belly fur exposed. The boys have to stop for her or she will reach out and grab them. Her warning signal is a deep, persistent growl.

Trucker, my 60-pound dog, learned early in their relationship to stay within at least 3 feet of her when he passes by. He will sit patiently, waiting for me to stand between him and Joan so my legs provide a barrier for him to walk.

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June is Pet Preparedness Month, so take some time to get informed about caring for your pets in emergency situations. After the jump, check out a super informative infographic on how to give your puppy CPR. Thank you to Carrington for putting this together!

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Artist paints portraits of dogs who have lost their lives, advocating for a no-kill solution

By Eve Becker

It all began when Mark Barone and Marina Dervan set out to adopt a dog. While on their search, they were appalled to discover that more than 5,000 dogs are killed each day in shelters across the United States. Deeply disturbed by this horrifying statistic, the couple not only rescued Gigi, a beautiful 1-year-old dog with a sweet disposition and little time left, but they decided to take action through art to advocate for a no-kill solution.

“In addition to finding a dog, we found out all these atrocious facts about the current shelter system in America,” Dervan says. “It was overwhelming and we both felt absolutely powerless to do anything. Then we realized that the only ones who are powerless are the animals. They don’t have a voice.”

Barone, a successful artist based in Louisville, KY, pledged to honor the dogs who lost their lives by painting powerful portraits of them. To show the scale of the problem, he set out to paint 5,500 portraits—the average number of dogs killed in shelters on a typical day­—due mostly to overcrowding. He and Dervan dropped all other work, cashed in three IRAs, and have dedicated themselves to their project, An Act of Dog.

Every day, Barone prints out photos from DogsInDanger.com or other sources and captures each animal’s soul in a stirring memorial. Starting in May 2011 and painting about 10 portraits a day, Barone is almost halfway through his mission. Although the portraits are of dogs, Barone and Dervan are striving for all animals in shelters to be saved.

The goal is to create a memorial for the animals, so they won’t be forgotten. According to Barone, the process is emotionally wrenching. “It’s difficult going into [the studio] every day because I want to at least try to connect with each of these animals in some way. That’s the only way I can paint with any meaning. You give up a little bit of your soul every day when you go in there, but I think it’s worth it,” he says. “There’s something comforting about it too for me, with all the dogs around me when I’m painting, but something sad at the same time.”

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Pam Hoerauf created and maintains The Daily Oskar and Pet Blogs United. She is owned by Oskar, an excessively handsome miniature schnauzer and 2 cats, Chloe & Moe. She’ll be here every other week sharing with TAILS readers everything there is to know about pets and social media!

The lovely Oskar

My name is Pam and I’m a pet blogger.

When people find out that my dog has a blog I get a lot of strange looks, some chuckles, and even the occasional rude comment.

It all started with my personal blog. I found I was sharing more and more stories about Oskar—my excessively handsome miniature schnauzer—and I was getting a great response. Then I stumbled upon someone who had a blog just for their pet, written from the pet’s point of view. And frankly, it cracked me up.

Oskar has a huge personality and I love taking pictures of him. Thus, The Daily Oskar was born.

Pet blogging allows you to not only keep a timeline of your pet’s life and daily activities, but to share your pet’s journey with friends and family, and interact with “pawsome” people. Ask anyone in the pet blogging world—they will tell you that you’d be hard pressed to find a more warm, funny and supportive group of people than pet bloggers.

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Anthony Melchiorri, star of Hotel Impossible, offers insider tips on staying in hotels with pets. Photo courtesy of the Travel Channel

Hotel Impossible star shares tips to make hotel stays possible

By Eve Becker

In the Travel Channel’s new series Hotel Impossible, Anthony Melchiorri is the hotel “fixer.” He swoops in, uncovers the flaws in a struggling hotel, and quickly whips it into shape.

In filming the series, which premiered in April, Melchiorri has not yet encountered any animal-related issues in the hotels he has worked with. “But my nickname is ‘Pit Bull,’ so if you ask them, they’ve had a Pit Bull in their hotel,” Melchiorri laughs.

Given the popularity of people traveling with pets, hotels are increasingly adopting pet policies. Many hotels cater to pets, just as they cater to their guests, he says.

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Spirit of ’76 is a social media challenge grant to pair up to 76 service dogs with military vets in need. The campaign was put forth yesterday by Dog Bless You—a community led by Charlie Annenberg Weingarten, vice president of The Annenberg Foundation and founder of philanthropic media organization site explore.org. “Dogs are the guardian angels of the human soul, and few people need or deserve them more than those who have served our country,” said Annenberg. “If we entrust dogs to help critical missions on the fields of war, we should entrust dogs to help take care of our men and women at home.”

Since its founding in 2011, Dog Bless You has used challenge grants to brings search and rescue dogs to locations ravaged by disasters, pair guide dogs with the blind, and bring more than 40 service dogs to veterans with PTSD. This year’s challenge grant, valued at up to one million dollars, will be the biggest initiative in the community’s history. The organization never asks for donations, believing that the commitment of time and show of support is the best vehicle for creating awareness and engagement around important issues.

From PTSD to those with life changing injuries, the organization will feature new pictures, videos and stories of war veterans and their dogs every day. And, work with dozens of service dog organizations to foster discussions aimed at educating and inspiring.

Participating organizations include Pets to Vets, Soldier’s Best Friend, Puppies Behind Bars, Freedom Service Dogs, Paws for Purple Hearts, Paws and Stripes, Patriot PAWS, and ECAD, with more to be added during the course of the campaign.

Here’s how to help: From now until Independence Day (July 4) Dog Bless You will donate a service or companion dog to an American veteran in need for every 1,000 followers to its Facebook, Pinterest, or Tumblr pages. It’s that easy!

What do you get when you mix obsessive “Harry Potter” fans with irresponsible pet parenting? Unfortunately, a massive surge in abandoned pet owls.

We all remember Hedwig—the endearing and adventurous owl who was a loyal companion of Harry’s. And for some, admiration for this lovable character inspired them to get their very own Hedwig. Whether they thought that an owl would make a cool friend or just an alternative to traditional mail carrying is unclear, but what is clear is that most of them soon changed their minds.

The Mirror reports that across the U.K., hundreds of owls bought as pets by avid enthusiasts of the Harry Potter series are being abandoned. Some are being dropped off at bird sanctuaries. Rescue worker Pam Toothill said, “Before the films were out I had six owls, now it’s 100…people saw Harry’s owl in the movies and thought how cute and cuddly they looked. Now they are bored and fed-up with all the work involved.”

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By Dustin Fitzharris

Elaine Hendrix, who is perhaps best known for her role as the conniving Meredith in the Disney remake of The Parent Trap, has made a career out of playing women who are top dog. The Tennessee native says she gravitates toward roles that portray her as the seductress.

In her day-to-day life, however, she’s anything but. When she’s not on camera, you’re likely to find Hendrix hanging with her five dogs and two cats, or working tirelessly on behalf of various animal charities. More than a year ago, Hendrix helped launch Animal Rescue Corps (ARC), a non-profit organization solely focused on rescuing animals. Since it began, they have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and spearheaded 16 major rescues, including several at puppy mills.

“I think one of the reasons so many support us is because politically we’re very much a bipartisan organization. We don’t have any type of agenda, other than rescuing an animal,” Hendrix explains.

Hendrix’s love for animals is nothing new. When she was a little girl she had 103 stuffed animals and gave each one a name. “I was one of those creative and sensitive kids who very much believed that they needed to breathe and have room,” Hendrix recalls. “I treated my stuffed animals very, very well.”

During her adolescence, Hendrix made the “unfortunate mistake” of watching an undercover fur special—and it changed her life. Until then, she wasn’t fully aware of the cruelty some animals faced. It was then her activist nature kicked in, and today helping animals has become her mission in life.

Throughout the years, Hendrix has lived with various animals—dogs, cats, turtles, fish, rabbits, and hamsters. TAILS caught up with her to talk about her current pets: her two cats, Goodie Cornbread and Kimbo,  and her five rescued dogs, Tiloc (Australian Cattle Dog), Rossmore (Jindo), Dinky and Blitz (Chihuahuas), and Ellie (Shepherd mix). With this motley crew, Hendrix always has her hands full, but she is especially busy when it’s time for bed.

TAILS: What kinds of bedtime rituals do you go through?
Elaine Hendrix: We go outside for our last potty break. Then everyone always gets a treat afterward for being so good.

Where do they sleep?
Everyone sleeps in my bedroom, and I shut the door. The Chihuahuas’ preferred bed is my bed. Tiloc and Rossmore each have their own bed. My kitty-cats, Kimbo and Goodie, climb up on the bed with me. Kimbo likes to sleep up on my head; Goodie typically camps out on my feet. Ellie is still being crate-trained right now.

Who is the pillow hog?
Kimbo. He’s my spooner, but I have to pull the covers back a little, because he only likes to sleep on the sheets. He hates to be under anything.

What about Dinky and Blitz?
They like to go deep under the covers, burrow under the sheets, and snuggle close.

Do the dogs ever get upset with the cats?
Sometimes if the cats are walking around you’ll hear a growl from underneath the covers, but everybody gets along.

Does anyone snore?
Actually my new little girl, Ellie, is a snorer. Out of all of them, she’s usually the one I’ll find in a spread eagle.

Who wins the title for “best cuddler”?
I would say Dinky, who I found on the street. They all like to cuddle in their own ways, but as far as who will walk right over and plop herself down, it’s Dinky.

Any early risers, or do they let you sleep in?
Blitz is definitely the laziest. He would stay in bed all day. I found him as a stray—the vet thinks he’s about 3 years old. Rossmore, who’s 7, likes to get up early. But since Ellie is a puppy, she’s getting up the earliest these days. I was fostering her, her mom, and her five siblings. They all found homes. Initially I wasn’t going to keep any, but then I decided I wanted Ellie.

Do you think they dream?
Oh yeah! Their little muscles start twitching and they let out a high-pitched sound. I always say, “Are you chasing bunnies?”

What do you still have dreams of doing?
I’ve really been so fortunate, and I’ve also worked my tail off—no pun intended. I’ve had a very good career, and it’s still going strong. I have two full-time jobs. Acting is what pays the bills. Then rescuing—that’s what I spend my money on!

Visit ElaineHendrix.com and AnimalRescueCorps.org to learn more!

Happy Wednesday pet lovers — in celebration of Memorial Day this past weekend, for today’s Wordless Wednesday we want to see pictures of your patriotic pets! Post your photos on our Facebook wall and your photo could be featured on the TAILS site!

And congratulations to Leslie Young-Fiero and her dog Bailey, last week’s Wordless Wednesday winners!