See Beautiful; Eat (?) Beautiful

Today we are participating in the {This Moment} See Beautiful blog hop hosted by Sugar the Golden Retriever every 2nd Friday of the month.

Last time, I posted "see and hear beautiful," so this time I thought I'd try both see and eat beautiful. 

See Beautiful
We have a hawk that hangs out in our neighbor's huge eucalyptus tree.

Guest Post from MAF: Help Save Dogs and Kids!

As you know, we lost our angel Abby to osteosarcoma. 

Pamela Anderson had nuthin' on our beach babe.

It was while Abby had cancer that we discovered Morris Animal Foundation when we participated in their K9 Cancer Walk with our girl. We also entered her in the Orvis Cover Dog contest which raises money for MAF. We've been supporters ever since, and attended their gala, and I've pledged to donate a portion of the proceeds from Rescue Me, Maybe to them. 

So, when MAF contacted me about doing a guest post, I was happy to agree! I asked if they'd specifically write about a new project they recently started. Thanks very much to Katie and MAF for sharing this info with Pooch Smooches' readers! 

Take it away, Katie: 

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Every year, ten thousand American dogs are diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. This is a number that Morris Animal Foundation, a nonprofit working to further veterinary science, would like to change. Even more devastating than the sheer number of dogs with this terrible disease is that this type of cancer develops in young dogs—those between two and three years old. Osteosarcoma does not let up, either, as this cancer will commonly come back in dogs that have already had this ailment.

Photo provided by MAF

Owners can often tell that something is wrong when their dogs start to show symptoms of lameness. At this point, it is highly likely that the cancer has spread to other parts of the dog’s body. The current treatments for osteosarcoma include amputation and extremely strong chemotherapy drugs.

In order to combat this terrible disease, Morris’ 5-5-5 Project will fund five osteosarcoma studies. This project as a whole will last five years and will provide the chosen five studies with approximately $5 million. Every year for five years there will be a new osteosarcoma study bringing hope to dogs affected by this illness.

This study even has the potential to help kids, too. Finding the most effective cancer drugs for dogs, could potentially mean finding the most effective treatments for children affected by osteosarcoma. Morris is continuing the fight against cancer with this new project; join us and donate to Morris Animal Foundation. Thank you to all of our donors and those spreading the word about Morris studies!

Author Bio: This is a guest post by Katie F. on behalf of Morris Animal Foundation. Visit morrisanimalfoundation.org/ to learn more about the animal health research that Morris Animal Foundation participates in.

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With Abby, she was hit even younger by the disease, being only 15-months old when she was diagnosed. As Katie writes, it was the limping that caused us to take her to the vet. With such a young, goofy dog, we figured she'd just overdone it. But when the limp didn't go away, x-rays confirmed osteosarcoma. 

We opted for amputation (obvi, from the above picture!), and also a lotta chemo (both IV and at-home pills) plus holistics treatments. We had another amazing 15 months with her and lost her at age 2 1/2. But she lives on in our hearts, and now in the character of Maybe in Rescue Me, Maybe.

Here's hoping the research funded by MAF can find some answers and bring hope for parents of both dogs and kids who get this horrible disease!

Thanks again MAF for the post and for everything that you do for the animals! #CancerSucks!

Thanks to Heart Like a Dog and 2 Brown Dawgs for hosting the Thursday Barks and Bytes Blog hop. 

Wordless Wednesday: Boys, Boys, Boys

Rita here. I'm taking over cuz Momma's always too wordy. I'll tell you what's been going on with pictures. My post is kinda all about boys. And at the end, you get to see me naked on a faux sheep-skin rug.

First, of all... Remember this little guy? My cousin, Reggie?

Well, he's not so little anymore. He turned 1 recently and we had a FUN playdate!

Monday Mischief: Picking Granite to Match Your Dog

Remember a while back when I mentioned my bro and sis-in-law were re-doing their master bath, and my bro selected the granite because it matched his brindle mastiff's coat?

Well, it's all installed now, so here's the final product next to the inspiration:

Leo next to the new shower bench

Give Cancer the Paw: Putting the Fun in Funding for K9 Cancer Research

Welcome to the 2nd installment of the Give Cancer the Paw hop, from Pooch Smooches and Peggy's Pet Place!

Less-Wordy Wednesday: Rita's Super Bowl Sunday

Did y'all watch the Super Bowl? Or just the commercials? We watched, and since the Broncos are a sworn enemy of the Chargers, we were quite happy with how the game went down. In fact, I may have yelled a time or two: It just keeps getting better! (Sorry, Denver fans...)

As for the commercials, on the whole, I found them disappointing (and some were downright annoying). We agreed with Rita, that the Budweiser commercial was the best one. 

Rita rooting for the horse & puppy to get together

Monday Mischief: It Is Evil and Must Be Destroyed

Last week we brought something new into the house. A harmless BOSU ball (which the hubs wanted to help build strength and balance). 

However, the bosu ball was accompanied by a force for evil that we, obviously, did not recognize as such when it came into our midst. 

Luckily, Rita - Defender of the Realm - was at the ready and alerted us to the intruder.