You all know me as the co-founder of Real Dog Moms of Chicago, but did you know that my full time job is working as the Program Manager for Pet Partner of Illinois? With the current concern of the spread of COVID - 19 we are all sitting at home with our pets and seeking ways to keep ourselves busy. Eventually “normal” life will resume (it has to, right?) and we will seek wonderful new experiences to put the past behind us. I’d like to share one way I think you could spend your time now while at home following best practices to keep our community safe: become a registered therapy animal team. Since Pet Partners was the first in the industry to require training for the human end of the leash, now is the perfect time to take our online training course.
written by Alysia Slusser Unless you’ve been living under rock for the past month you should be more than aware of our current crisis. What you may not know is how this crisis will carry over to our beloved furry friends. While we are all holed up in our cozy homes (hopefully) watching our favorite trash TV there are still animals being brought into shelters around the nation and with many adoption events having to come to a slow trickle, many of these animals are at risk. Animals will keep coming in and once the shelter is full very hard choices have to be made. If it’s a tough time to be human it’s an even tougher time to be an animal. Written by Lisa Klobuchar
By Jillian Braun - Jillian is a foster, volunteer, and Associate Board member at One Tail at a Time. She’s been involved with the organization since 2017 when she adopted her little southern mutt, Albus. The number of animals that we lose in our shelters each year is daunting which can make it feel like an overwhelming problem to solve and hard to nail down a place to start. Luckily, at One Tail at a Time (OTAT) there are so many ways to make a difference, no matter your location, background, or availability! Freedom Rides & Transports One of the best feelings is to be the first person a pup sees when they’re being rescued. Take little Enchilada, here, who was surrendered by his owner at Chicago Animal Care & Control. Thanks to the Chicagoland Rescue Intervention & Support Program (CRISP), this little chihuahua avoided the shelters and was sent to foster through One Tail at a Time. Driving him to his foster where he transformed from a scared little pup to a confident dog was incredibly rewarding. All you need for freedom rides is a car and some spare time.
The goal of Real Dog Moms has always been doing good while having fun. We are here to help you have fun with your dog and meet fellow dog-loving people while giving back to those who need it most in our rescue community. There are already amazing people and rescues doing incredible things in the Chicagoland area and we want to support them however we can. In order to set ourselves up to help them even more, we will be handling our events and donations a bit differently moving forward.
Written by and photos from RDMOC volunteer Alysia Slusser Follow all of her and her pup Franklin's hiking adventures on Instagram @go.fetch.franklin As the new year begins many of you are resolving to get outside more, exercise, and do activities with your dog, but may not be sure where you can go. We're here to help!
Before I get into my favorite places to hike I feel like it’s necessary to write a bit about how to hike with your dog. As more and more people want to get outside our places of beauty are being disrupted and as a card carrying member of Leave No Trace (read more on the 7 principles here) I'd like to take a minute to talk about trail etiquette. Stitch has a need, a need for speed <insert Tom Cruise meme here>. On January 1st, some of the One Tail staff was supporting Mutts of the Midway's first CRISP shift. (Welcome Mutts, we love you) Stitch came in as an owner surrender, due to the inability to afford his medical care. At 4 years old, Stitch is having 4 minute long seizures and may have either meningitis or a disk injury. When he was relinquished he was unable to walk and after two weeks with One Tail on steroids, he's gotten some mobility back, but this boy has a dream... the dream to keep up with his foster siblings. I've spent a lot of my free time helping dogs in rescue since 2007. Sadly (and embarrassingly), one of the places I've helped the least is Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC). This is due to a number of personal reasons, none of which were the facility or dogs themselves.
In August of 2019, I started leading CRISP shifts with my friend Emily, as well as working with her to pull dogs from CACC, (both) for Second City Canine Rescue (SCCR). I've grown to know the staff at Animal Control, work directly with them and the dogs and decided that one of my DECADE RESOLUTIONS (ahem) was to start volunteering at our local intake shelter, myself. Every time I worked a CRISP shift or went with Emily to check out some dogs SCCR was interested in rescuing, I felt a deeper draw to volunteer. I've spent hours stalking adoption event photos, waiting for the dogs I've met in person to find their forever homes. Clearly it's time, right? During this month's Bissell Empty the Shelter event at Animal Control I saw a post pleading to help them reach over 3,000 adoptions for 2019. This adoption total is DOUBLE what it was two years ago. This excited me so much and nudged me further, to finally sign up and inspired me to challenge you all to do the same. So, I reached out to Tara Majeed and asked her to write a blog about her inspiring volunteer work in helping our local intake shelter flourish and reach these record breaking numbers. I asked her to share how our amazing community of dog lovers can do more at the ground level. Imagine how many more dogs (and cats) could be saved if everyone decided it was time to volunteer!!! Here is the AMAZING information Tara has put together. Including the links for how to get involved. I have reserved my spot for the January 4th Orientation. Email me, and let me know if you'll join me. Happy New Year (new decade) Friends. How do you resolve to help more dogs? xo - jes Real Dog Moms 2019 Holiday Gift Guide
Looking for something for your beloved dogs this holiday season? Here is our list of must haves for your favorite fido. We have listed items only tried and valued by our own real dog moms of Chicago team members. Or in Kerry's case, really desired! Once you've found your new favorites, hop over to our Holiday page to see all about out gift and card exchanges. Don't miss the return of our Annual Decorate Your Dog Contest either! Read more... |
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REAL DOG MOMS OF CHICAGOOur goal is to connect dog rescues, dog-friendly businesses & dog lovers. Based in Chicago, Illinois, we host fun events for dogs & humans at great places with all proceeds going to local dog rescues. Archives
December 2023
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