I am Tilin, a Welsh corgi and wine country dog, aka @winecountrydog.
I started pawin the puter and dooin social media in 2008, after I had life-saving back surgery and had to sit-stay to recover. That is when I came to create wine country dog ezine™ — an independent pet-ezine.
My ancient self does have a few health pawblems, but my ortho surgeon gave me a chance to walk again. Other good vets and Mum have helped too. Myself goin wobbly but strong toward 17th BD in November 2014.
Luv to paw-write and tweet, and travel to meet new furriends and nice humans. Some of them write about wine or craft beer or food and health. Wine country has got nommy fresh whole foods and farmers markets. And wine country means most effurrywhere in world these days eh.
You find that my furbro, Jackie Nippers Corgi, does sometimes join me on adventures and on twitter. Our beloved Ani Meezer rarely does.
All three of us were rescued from diffurrent circumstances. Furbro is a "breeder rescue." We doo encourage adoption of furriends from good animal rescue charities. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Howlo. I am Jackie Nippers Corgi (aka pawlitico™).
You may find me on walkies with furbro Tilin Corgi, and out at wine tastings and regional food adventures up and down Pacific coast. Sometimes on social media with furbro. We like to paw-write tasting notes for wine and food.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Our thanks to Mum (aka winecountrydogma™) for editing, web dev, photography, pro fact-checking, and for grrreat homemade whole food meals. Mum is trained in D.A.R.T. and helps us paw out animal rescue info during disasters.
On this last day of February 2009, I was happy to awaken to the stereo sound of a pair of Downy Woodpeckers rat-a-tat-tatting in some backyard trees.
You might recall that I'm a Corgi who's said to be "inordinately concerned" with activities taking place over my head. So sez dog-ma. Well, I do take a few minutes a day to watch birds, but I rarely ask dog-ma to pull out her Audubon book.
I was so excited to hear the Downies tree-drumming. They don't often visit me. I love their dramatic coat designs — I mean, their lovely feather patterns.
What a beautiful morning and a nice way to begin counting down the days till spring.
Little Zanzibar and Nairobi Meerkat were born near the end of January at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. Seein' their darling faces in photos made me realize that, oh howl, I haven't seen any happy pics from Australia since before the Victoria bushfires.
So I'm smiling a big smile at these two arfully cute Meerkat pups who took their first peek at the human zoo public on February 20th.
Australian newspapers say that Zanzibar and Nairobi are the pride of the Taronga Zoo's nine-member Meerkat family. Meerkats are very intelligent and social little mammals, native to the Kalahari Desert and South Africa.
Taronga zookeeper Ms. Bobby-Jo Vial says she's "extremely thrilled" and feels very lucky to be the "Mamma Meerkat."
My best wishes to you, baby Meerkats!
I really like that there's a Taronga Conservation Society and Wildlife Hospitals at Taronga and Western Plains Zoos. The hospitals rehabilitate and release as many native Aussie animals as they can. Each year they care for about 1,500 native animals! These animals are brought to the hospitals by members of the community after being found sick, injured, or orphaned.
I wouldn't be surprised that Taronga's gotten a few rescued animals from Victoria to care for.
My paw-prayers go out to all the many Victoria animals who survived the bushfires and are trying to recover from injuries and burns.
I've been listening to sentimental love songs. Is that so arful? . . . I guess it depends on your pawspective.
I turned up the volume while listening to the pets' version of "Love me with all of your heart" on Youtube. Dog-ma overheard and had to hunt down a kleenex.
"Knock it off now, will ya?" dog-ma said. "I get your point. You've got to love your friends while you have 'em, because life is short."
See, dog-ma understands. She just doesn't like to get soppy.
Howl, I think it's appawpriate to be all mushy on Valentine's Day.
So here's a wee Valentine message. This is a classic Letterman show clip. It's of Odie, the late great talkin' Pittsburgh Pug!
"Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight." – Albert Schweitzer
How many animals lost their lives in the Victoria, Australia, bushfires? How many survived? The overall impact on pets, wildlife, and farm animals is not yet fully known. Many of the traumatized and injured animals out in the blackened landscape haven't yet emerged to seek water and food.
In and around all the fire-affected areas are many animals who are burned, injured, homeless, ownerless, or lost, and animal welfare authorities are trying to rescue and medically treat them all.
RSPCA Victoria captioned the above photo by Russell Vickery/Herald Sun: "Koala found in Vic fires . . . bless its beautiful heart."
RSCPA posted these comments on Facebook:
For all those wanting to donate to the RSPCA, we have a team on the ground around KingLake helping feed and treat animals as well as (hopefully) helping to reunite displaced stock and domestic animals with owners.
Go to www.rspcavic.org.au and click on the bushfire link.
There is an area you can donate money AS WELL as an area to explain how/what you can help. For instance a lady called here before saying she has a horse float that she will donate etc. If the RSPCA/victims DO need what you can offer (once everyone knows what they do and don't need), then the VIC RSPCA will then contact you and arrange how to make it happen.
Things they might need:
• Horse floats/all horse equipment • Shearing gear for Sheep • Hay for horses, sheep, goats etc. - there's obviously no grass to feed on... just charcoal • Dog leads, collars • Rabbit/guinea pig/bird food (some may have managed to grab their smaller animals) • Cat and dog cages (portable transportation type cages) • Cat and dog beds/toys
The Lost Dogs' Home, Australia's largest pet shelter, has also been in the field. They've delivered pet food and supplies for owned and lost pets, and have offered their Animal Ambulance fleet, as well as veterinary staff, portable cages, free animal boarding, and veterinary treatment — free of charge to injured dogs and cats affected by the fires.
As Moopheus, the star of The Meatrix, points out, "In the mid-twentieth century, greedy agriculture corporations began modifying sustainable family farming to maximize their profits at great cost to humans and animals."
Our pawpetual question: Why do dogs and cats get canned and kibbled foodstuffs 'stead of fresh foods? If you live 'ere in wine country or other place where fresh whole foods are plentiful, why not support local markets and make your own pet foods?
