Thai Street Paws and Contest Winner

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Dogs in need of help are everywhere. It seems that every corner of the globe has a problem with homeless dogs. It's heartbreaking. Many people wonder why "someone" doesn't do something. We are, each of us, "someone." One woman who has changed her life in order to help street dogs in Thailand, is Tamara Johnston.

Tamara originally went to Thailand from her native Australia, to teach. A qualified primary school teacher, Tamara taught eleven years in Australia and five years in Thailand and Malaysia, bringing her teaching skills to children in other lands. This is her second time teaching in Thailand. While in Thailand the first time she began to see the problem with the Thai street dogs. Her "lightbulb" moment came when she found a puppy, a mere four weeks old, outside a Temple. The little one was in danger of being run over by cars. Tamara brought home the puppy she called Bella and they have been together ever since. This meant going through the work of getting Bella into Australia when she went home and back to Thailand when she made up her mind to sell everything and return to Thailand. Tamara's passion for helping the street dogs of Thailand began the day she rescued Bella. 

Tamara had continued to help the street dogs from Australia but she knew it would be easier to accomplish her goals if she were on the ground in the country. While there are a couple of big rescues in a major area, Tamara is in Songkahla where no one helped the dogs. No one but Tamara.When she moved back she moved to Bangkok but when she went back to visit Songkahla she knew that that was where he help was most needed. She started Thai Street Paws Rescue.

The problems are enormous. Veterinary bills can quickly add up. Even though it's less expensive in Thailand, she lives in Thailand, consequently, her life is also tied into their economy so it is just as expensive for her as for any other resident. 

Social media allowed her to show people the dogs, raise funds, arrange adoptions. Ah, but the devil is in the details. Raising funds puts her in competition with everyone else who wants money to help various causes. If you've been reading my blog for awhile you know that I advise against donating to organizations so big that they are on TV and promising gifts when you donate. Gifts? You're buying them. What about the payment to the various staff members from the Director on down? Better to donate to a grassroots organization. It doesn't matter if it's in your backyard or on the other side of the world, they are the ones who are truly in need and are usually functioning on a shoestring. Then there are the dogs who need veterinary care, those who need to stay in a foster home. Tamara fosters some herself and cares for about 30 dogs that are on the street near her residence. She obviously needs volunteers.

"The plan is to live here for many years," says Tamara. "I even moved my dogs from Austrlia to here and that was a big step." It was, indeed.

With homes lined up in various countries, the problem has become getting the dogs to their adopters. She needs volunteers who are flying out of Thailand. She will take care of all the paperwork. It costs them nothing. They just need to accompany a dog on the flight, otherwise, they can't leave.

When a friend in the U.S. wanted to send her beds and blankets for the dogs it was outrageously expensive and nearly impossible. She ultimately mailed them but the money that went to the post office could have gone to feed or vet the dogs. 

Tamara still works as a teacher. She teaches at a Thai university and she has her own tutoring centre. She would dearly love to work full-time with the dogs. She has three dogs of her own now, and she takes three foster dogs at a time, the rest are boarded out in private facilities. Her goal now is to open a safe house for the dogs, separate from her own home, where they will be able to recover and wait for their forever homes, off the streets and into loving arms.

Tamara knows she can't save every dog but each one is a victory. She is one woman in an adopted country, with a heart of gold who has the courage of her convictions and has put her life where her heart is: saving as many street dogs as she can.

For those who want to help, every little bit counts, it is put with the donations of others and it adds up.  You can donate through her You Caring fundraising site:

Here is the link for the YouCaring Site so that you can donate to this life-saving cause:

Thai Street Paws Fundraising

You can follow her on Twitter: @oztam76  

Paypal: oztam76@hotmail.com

Facebook: Thai Street Paws Rescue


Contest Winner: The winner of last week's contest to win a copy of Simon Tofield's newest book, Simon's Cat Off to The Vet... and Other Cat-astrophes is Nancy Dionne!  Please contact me through my website: www.darlenearden.com, with your name and address to send to Akashic Books. Congratulations, Nancy!

Watching Cat Videos and Saving Lives

Avi Photo Courtesy Eddie Pena

I'll bet you're wondering what watching videos and saving lives have in common. It's actually pretty simple, so simple that you'll wonder why you didn't think of it first. 

You're sitting at your computer. I know that because you're reading this. What are you going to do after you've read this blog post? Go back to work and wait for another break to surf the 'net again? Or are you going straight to surfing? If you're reading my blog it's a pretty good bet that somewhere along the way you're going to be watching cat videos. What would you think if every time you clicked on a site to watch a cute cat video, cat meme or cat photo it meant you were making a donation to cancer research, to help save lives? Pretty neat, isn't it? Here's the payoff (any pun intended), the site, Cats vs Cancer, exists. Point your browser to catsvscancer.org to find it.

Cinnamon Courtesy Jayne Lewis

I had an opportunity to interview Tom O'Connor, co-founder and CEO. His friend Eddie Pena, is co-founder and COO. 

Q. WHOSE IDEA WAS THE WEBSITE?  HOW LONG HAS IT BE UP?

We just launched about 7 weeks ago on December 1st, 2014.

I got the idea for the site two years ago when I realized how good the internet was getting at raising money for charity, after saw my wife, Amber, playing an app/game on her phone that donated money to fight world hunger for every few minutes you played. I instantly loved the idea of generating money for a good cause by simply entertaining someone for just a few minutes.

At the same time I'd been thinking about how adorable cat videos were really taking over the internet in such a funny way. Everyone was sharing them on social media, email, etc.

Then it hit me. Wouldn't be really great if you could raise money for a good cause simply by watching cat videos? 

Q. HOW IS IT FUNDED AND HOW DOES IT RAISE MONEY?

We are an all-volunteer operation at the moment, so for now it doesn't cost too much to run the site. Eddie and I initially funded it with our own money, and now we are raising money through the google ads placed on the site, as well as direct donations.

Once we have a big enough audience, we can sell ads directly to companies, just like any other site. This is a big step because selling our own ads would generate a lot more for our charity partners!

Cat Courtesy of Karin Bundy

Q. WHO IS INVOLVED IN SELECTING THE CHARITIES THAT ARE SPONSORED AND HOW OFTEN DO THE CHARITIES CHANGE?

Right now we are changing the charities monthly. We research them on our own, and have been relying on people from other organizations who have years of non-profit experience to guide us in making our charity choices.

Q. WHY DID YOU OPT TO FUND CANCER IN PEOPLE? WOULD YOU EVER FUND RESEARCH FOR CANCER IN PETS?

Nearly everyone I spoke to in the years leading up to our launch could tell me a story about how cancer had affected them in some way. Whether it was a close friend, or a family member, cancer wasn't something you I found people very far removed from. As far as funding research for cancer in pets, yes, we have discussed it and may do that at a later date.  

Q. IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SAY?

Thank you for the support. People always ask how they can help us....of course you can "donate meow" as we like to call it, and that really goes along way! But even more so we want you to come watch videos on the site, share content with friends, and come back often.

The more you visit, the more you help us in raising money for our charity partners.

Meet the co-founders here: bit.ly/1sXBCAA I promise that you'll love their video. The Charity of The Month is also posted on the site so you'll know where the money is going.

On New Year's Eve, Superior Digital Displays, donated a 13-story billboard in Times Square to support the cause. Really. Here it is:

Cats vs Cancer lets you do something good while you're having fun. Who can resist that?

Behavior

I don't know why most people don't understand that behavior problems are the cause of the death of more dogs than any one health problem. Think about it. The dog misbehaves, they take it to the shelter. The dog isn't housetrained, they take it to the shelter. And the shelter will usually only hold the dog for a few days, except for the no-kill shelters and even then, no-kill shelters have situations where a dog must be put down.

Most problems are fixable if people take the time. In fact, they wouldn't have the problem at all if they'd taken the time to train properly (and I do mean positively) in the first place. We know that aggression begets aggression and that's a topic for another blog entry!

Some behavior problems are genetic. Why do dogs do what they do? How much is the owner's fault, how much is genetic and how much is a combination of nature and nurture?

After my mother died, I wanted to do something meaningful to honor her and to keep her name alive. I went to the American Kennel Club's Canine Health Foundation (www.akcchf.org) and started The Marcia Polimer Abrams Fund for Canine Behavior Studies. Everything that AKC/CHF does ultimately benefits people so please don't scream at me about only caring about animals. That's not true. This is a win/win. My mother was my best friend and I became her sole caregiver. It was from my mother that I learned about unconditional love.

Part of my royalties from the sale of my new behavior book, "Rover, Get Off Her Leg!" will go to the fund. The book is available online and anywhere books are sold.

I also use the behavior fund to give gifts for weddings, anniversaries and to honor other special occasions. There is a form at akcchf.org that allows the donor to designate where they want the money to go and all they have to do is remember Behavior Fund if they don't want to write out the entire name. Or just mail them a note and put the behavior fund in the note line at the bottom of your check. It's such an easy thing to do.

http://darlenearden.com/chf-fund.htm

If everyone who loves dogs gave a dollar or two for behavior studies, imagine what could be accomplished for dogs and their people.....