January 2018 Newsletter

Olive

Thanks to Megan Wilson of Everett, WA

"This is Fleury, a 6-month old Pyrenean Shepherd. She has taken over
Papa's chair as her own".

Thanks to R Godfrey of Ontario Canada for this nice picture.

Thank you to everyone who has submitted pictures of their pets! If you have a great picture of your pet (showing off our tag would be nice!), you can submit it here.

If you haven't seen your picture submission in our newsletter, check out our facebook page. Once there, you can see lots of pet pics, submit more and chat with us or other pet fans!

Felipe Rodriguez will likely never forget how 2018 started out for him. On January 2nd, he was staying at his sister's home near Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was home alone with the family's dogs, including little Zoey, an 8 pound bichon frise. Zoey was outside and he had just seen her through the window, playing in the fenced-in back yard. When he heard a screech, he ran to the back door, opened it and looked out to see what was going on - but wasn't sure what he was seeing.

Zoey was definitely in a scuffle with something but his mind struggled to make sense of the scene. Then suddenly, two huge wings opened up and with a couple powerful strokes, lifted off the ground, up over the trees and out of sight. It was a large eagle and it seemed to soar quite easily even while clutching something nearly its own size in its talons.

"You know, for a moment or two, it was a beautiful sight. For those two seconds, it was like wow, that's beautiful." he said. But then he realized that it took Zoey.

“It seemed like something from the ’Wizard of Oz,’” he told The Associated Press. “I'm a city boy. This doesn't happen in my world.”

With no better ideas, he got into his car and drove off to search in the direction the eagle flew. He called his sister, Monica Newhard, with the terrible news. Newhard and her husband joined in to search in the wooded area nearby. They all realized how hopeless their plight was. But despite the odds, they kept looking, resigned to knowing that if they were very lucky, they might recover Zoey's body.

Four miles away, Christina Hartman was driving along a secluded, snow covered, road. Somehow, in the sea of snow all around her, a clump of white fur got her attention and she stopped to investigate.

"I noticed this little frozen dog, icicles hanging from all over. It could hardly move," Hartman said. She scooped up poor little Zoey and took her to her home where she gave her bowls of chicken soup to warm her up. Zoey had some scratches on her neck and had a limp but seemed to be recovering quickly as she warmed. Hartman knew that someone was missing this little girl and needed to find her home. She looked online for any notices about missing dogs but didn't see anything that matched.

The next morning, she was about to make her own post about finding a dog. But first she made another quick check. And there it was- Zoey's family had posted pictures of her with a plea for help. She grabbed the phone and excitedly made the call.

“I said, ‘It's a miracle! I have your dog!’”

An unexpected happy ending to a wildly unbelievable 24 hours for Zoey and her family. Considering that she survived the attack, the flight, the fall, the freezing weather, and landed somewhere to be found in the snow, she is quite the lucky dog! Read more on the AP website.

Did you or someone you know get a new pet recently? We have lots of tiny tags for puppies and kittens. And our collar tags are a great solution for pups who might chew on a hanging tag. Use the coupon below to get a discount on your order!

Last fall, the whole country watched news coverage as seven simultaneous wildfires devastated northern California. One of them, the Tubbs fire, burned part of Santa Rosa becoming the most destructive fire in modern California history, destroying 4,655 homes.

As soon as it was safe to do so, several agencies and individuals went back to the smoldering remains of neighborhoods with the sole purpose of searching for and rescuing pets that for whatever reason, weren't able to be evacuated in time. Hundreds of cats were rescued. Many were reunited with their families but many weren't and needed new homes.

Over 1,200 miles away, in Longmont, CO, Jenn Thompson paid close attention as her old neighborhood was on the evening news every day. She and her family had moved from Santa Rosa to Colorado in 2010 but still felt connected to the area. She saw the story about all the cats needing homes and wanted to help. After all, they had recently lost a cat to cancer so they... had an opening. At least that's how she presented it to her husband.

But before she had a chance to contact anyone, she got a phone call from a pet hospital in Santa Rosa. One of the cats that had survived the fire and had been rescued from the rubble had a microchip. They told Thompson the great news; her cat, Pilot, was alive and was being treated there. Thompson was shocked.

Pilot was the Thompson family's kitten they adopted in 2004 when they lived in Santa Rosa. He was the full time companion of the Thompson kids for years, acting more like a dog than a cat. But then one day in 2007, he disappeared. They searched and put up posters but quietly suspected that he'd been killed by coyotes. The years went by and eventually, resigned to the fact that Pilot was gone, they adopted another cat. And then they moved.

An odd twist of fate, getting the call they'd been hoping for 10 years earlier!

“I got off the phone and told my husband, and he’s like, ‘You’re going to go get him, right?'”

She did, of course, and Pilot is now in Colorado, recuperating from two surgeries from injuries suffered in the fires. He's 13 now but seems to remember the family and still does some of the things that they'd forgotten about like standing in his water bowl.

You can read more on the Times-Call website.

"Wait til I say 'Go'..." (13 sec)
imgur

Dog ballet- with balloon. (40 sec)
YouTube

"I'll just lay here and watch the birds". (15 sec)
imgur

"Okay, that's about enough..." (15 sec)
imgur

You may also call 1-800-543-TAGS and mention the coupon code; one of our happy, helpful customer service representatives will gladly give you the discount.

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