The Saturday Pet Blogger Hop...Plus: Intrepid Cat Saves The Day!

               

          Now on to this week's Pet Blogger Hop!

Happy Saturday to everyone-and whadayasay we dogs go hoppin' right away?! We'll meet at the Old Elm Tree, chase some squirrels, and then visit everyones' blogs together-how does that sound? And we're officially giving up on Timmy! 

Photo by www.rachellaurenphotography.com

Here are just a few, easy-to-follow rules for joining this hop:

__ Use the Linky tool provided to sign up. Note: if your blog is not pet-related it will be removed from the list.

__Follow the three hosts at the top of the list (and while you're at it, follow us-we'd appreciate it!)

__ Peruse these fabulous blogs and follow and comment as you desire.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for Week # 60 of "Living with Your Pet" tips gathered for the pet lover in all of us.

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Watch Out Dogs And Humans: Squirrels and Chipmunks Can Carry The Plague!

    Photo of deadly varmint courtesy of Annie Wells/Los Angeles

I've been right all along-these glorified rats are a health risk, and we dogs must take the lead to save the planet! According to an article in today's Los Angeles Times, both chipmunks and squirrels can carry infected fleas and plague, and both people and pets can contract this disease from close contact with these creatures. Hello? The Plague, The Black Death! Aaaach! Although this warning appears to extend only throughout California, we here in Ohio are keeping a close watch on these swishy-tailed killers. I personally keep my backyard free of squirrels (although sometimes it takes me hours each day), and I'm also vigilant during my walks, but can't chase them directly up a tree since I'm constrained by a leash and by Parental Unit on the other end of said leash. 

 We canines must unite against this threat- and quickly! How are you ridding your domain of these potential killers?

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BlogPaws 2013!

Parental Unit and Truman the skateboarding dog from BlogPaws 2012

Although we weren't able to make it to this year's BlogPaws conference, we were there in spirit! Because I've been to their very first conference and Parental Unit has been to the four previous conferences, we can attest to their overall fabulousness. And Parental Unit says she will attend BlogPaws 2014 in Lake Las Vegas (just 30 minutes outside of the  Las Vegas strip) come heck or high water...whatever that means!

Meanwhile, join this bloghop to see what everyone's saying about the 2013 conference held just this weekend. We're sure folks are still in recovery mode-recovering from all the learning and fun, that is!

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Annie the Musical And Broadway Animal Trainer Bill Berloni: The Adventures of Sandy, Part II

We're thrilled to bring you Part II of our interview with Bill Berloni, Broadway's premier animal trainer and rescuer of shelter dogs extraordinaire. In case you missed it, check out our first post  on Berloni and his history with Annie the Musical and its scruffy co-star, Sandy. By the way, Annie has been nominated for a 2013 Tony Award: Best Revival of a Musical-congrats all around! And we hope this nomination means more ticket sales, more money to the Pedigree Foundation (two dollars from every ticket goes to the Foundation), and in turn, more money donated to help shelter dogs by our good friends at Pedigree!

Because Berloni started out as an actor, he says he "can empathize with them" and the rigors of live theater, for both the human and dog performers. While Berloni is Sunny's, and his understudy, Casey's official trainer, the dogs have to be comfortable with all of the cast members, so he "trains the actors to be one of the handlers so they [the dog] learns to love the actor...so they work for them. Otherwise the dog would be working [and looking] offstage with you [the trainer]", which wouldn't work in live theater. In this version of Annie, the lead actress, Lilla Crawford, takes off two of the eight shows a week for vocal rest, so the understudy dog, Casey, goes on with the understudy star, Taylor Richardson. This makes perfect sense even from a laypersons' perspective because what the audience sees is the real-life bonding of a girl and her dog and the love between them.

Behind the theater curtain though, is another cast ritual: Sunny (or Casey) always says "Hello" to the cast and crew (over 30 people) before the show, so they can get their enthusiastic greetings done before they appear on stage together. After all, no one (except perhaps the audience) would want to see Sunny joyfully galloping over to greet, say, Daddy Warbucks, when he was supposed to quietly comfort Annie. Of course, something like that would never happen on the Broadway stage...

Our third installment from our interview with Bill Berloni will include more behind-the-scenes Annie stories (did Sunny really howl on stage?), and we'll also preview his latest project. And yes, it features a scruffy dog!

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Extension Of Time To Win: Paper Pups, 35 Dogs To Copy, Cut & Fold!

In case you didn't see the announcement on our Facebook page the other day, we are extending the deadline to enter to win one of THREE copies of this awesome book by our friend, Hiroshi Hayakawa.
You now have until Tuesday, May 28, 2013 at 8:00pm EST to enter. We'd be appreciative if you would tell your friends and maybe even give it shout-outs on your blogs and social media. Check out our review and enter to win here: http://www.boccibeefs.com/2013/05/paper-pups-35-dogs-to-copy-cut-fold.html

As always, thanks for your support!

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