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TAILS Product Spotlight brought to you by our friends at Fresh Dog!

Introducing the fastest and easiest way to take your dog from filthy to fresh.

Looking for the ultimate fast fix for dirty fur? Skip the messy bath! Fresh Dog is a new line of innovative products designed to keep best friends smelling as fresh as they feel. Gentle, refreshing, and super easy to use, you and your dog will be happy!

The signature product is Fresh Dog Dry Shampoo Powder. This 100% natural deodorizing powder is safe for use on all hair/fur types. It features a soothing Lavender-Rosemary scent and perfect pH balance to instantly freshen your dog’s coat in minutes. Perfect for waterless bathing, on-the-go spot cleaning, and even for freshening up carpets and smelly pet bedding!

Get your pup even fresher with Fresh Dog Waterless Bath Foam. Enjoy the delicious grapefruit scent while the fun and easy foam repels dirt. Fast acting and quick drying, it’s an ideal way to keep your dog feeling, looking, and smelling good.

Our stinky test dog much preferred Fresh Dog to traditional baths. The Dry Shampoo Powder was a cinch to use, and left her clean and silky. We used the Waterless Bath Foam on her after a long day at the beach, and were amazed at how quickly it got rid of that wet-dog smell. Better yet, there was no sticky residue left behind—our test doggie was super smooth and totally huggable!

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Jill Rappaport - Photograph by Christopher Appoldt

Her journey from the red carpet to the wee wee pad

By Dustin Fitzharris

When I meet Jill Rappaport at her Upper East Side apartment in New York City, I know immediately her dogs come first. Dressed in jeans, a navy blue zip-up hoodie, and flip-flops, Rappaport enters the lobby with a huge smile. She’s carrying Rubie, a red, miniature Dachshund she rescued just a week ago. Before we go upstairs, Rappaport asks for a few minutes to take Rubie outside. Her excitement for a potty break is not only charming—it’s infectious.

When we sit down to talk, Rappaport fills me in on Rubie’s story. While in California, winning her second Genesis Award from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)—the Oscars of the animal world—Rappaport visited the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control. At 5 years old, Rubie was the oldest of all the dogs at the shelter who weren’t sick or otherwise classified as “unadoptable,” and she was on the euthanasia list. “Most people would be happy to return with just an award, but of course, I had to come home with a dog!” Rappaport laughs.

Rubie may be the only dog with her at the moment—but four more await Rappaport’s return at her ranch in the Hamptons—along with six horses. Rappaport tells people, “I have more pets than a sane person, but less than a hoarder.” When Rappaport returned home with Rubie, her other four-legged kids—Sweet Pea (Coonhound), Buck-A-Roo (Yellow Lab), Petey (Bulldog), and C.J. (Havanese)—weren’t completely surprised by the new addition. “My dogs know the drill,” Rappaport says. “They accepted Rubie into the pack, but you could see their faces saying, ‘Mom, was this really necessary?’”

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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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