Valyn

On Halloween about twelve and a half years ago one of the greatest dogs ever entered our lives. Valyn was a cross between a Newfoundland and a Great Pyrenees and instantly took over a large part of our hearts and home. As a puppy he was the clumsiest dog in the world, but he had such heart and spirit it was hard to do anything other to appreciate the efforts he made.

As he grew up he became the calming force around the house. No matter what other animals came and went over the years, he was the one clam spot in our hectic lives and he did his best to keep all the other critters calm as well.

When he was about 2 or 3 years old he started collecting cats. Not in the pic them up and shake them way, but in the I’m going to hold you down with my big paw until you relax and lay here by me of your own free will. It was amazing to our cats, and even neighborhood strays come to regard his as the ‘safe zone’. It didn’t seem to matter what was chasing them, then cats always made a run right for Valyn and laid next to him for protection and warmth.

His only bad pet experience came one year when the goats Michelle had for 4H were out testing each others skulls by head butting each other. In a fit of curiosity Valyn went out to play and was promptly knocked nearly unconscious. From that day on he enjoyed the company of the goats through the safety of the fence.

As Valyn got older he got like many of us and stopped chasing things so much and spent more time on the porch just letting his voice be heard. He never really seemed to bark at anything in particular, he just liked the sound of his own voice. And it was a loud voice. In his last year with us he made the trip to Tennessee with us every time. Getting in and out of the truck became harder and harder, but he seemed to really love the hours spent together just driving. He enjoyed the rides in the car or truck that in the end the only thing that had made him happy in days was a ride in the car. Even if it was his last ride.

About 2 months ago our vet confirmed what we suspected. Our nearly 13 year old gentle giant had bone cancer. The only treatment would have been to take his leg and hope that he could learn to adapt at his age to life with only three legs. And even that wasn’t going to buy him a lot of time. So we did what we though was best, got him some great pain meds and spent the last two months spending as much time as possible with him and being happy to have him on our lives just a little longer. That time came to an end at 3:47pm on March 12th, 2012. He went peacefully surrounded by the people that loved him and he loved.

Letting a beloved pet go is one of the hardest things we can do. But in the end we know that he is now free of pain and happy all the time and waiting for us to join him at some time in the future. I know he is back to his old puppy form and playing with his best bud Jaba. I just hope he doesn’t mind if we make him wait a little while before we join him.

Penguin Bead

Diane has been hard at work expanding our animal bead collection. We now have more than 60 animal beads to choose from and we are still on the hunt for even more. Each bead is made in sterling silver, and a few are made in 14k yellow gold, but each of them is adorable.

Whether you like dogs, cats, fish or birds, we just might have the animal bead you are looking for. Take a look at our collection and let us know what you think.

Personally, I love the penguin  the most.

Thank you everyone for all of your support this year and we look forward to being able to help even more animals next year. We have great things planned and can’t wait for the new year.

Diane and I are finally in Tennessee!!! We are thrilled to be here full time now and can’t wait to be able to start building the farm and getting ready to start hosting animals in need. It’s such an exciting journey we are getting started on and I can’t wait to have all of you join us on this trip.

Along with that we are excited about getting back to bringing everyone new jewelry designed with an animal theme. I might even be able to start hand making jewelry again as soon as we get my studio built.

The Temporary Horse Pasture

Thank you to all of our wonderful customers, your purchases have done great things for animals in need.

Orange Flower Art Glass Bead

Diane and I are proud to announce the launch of our newest jewelry website Doe Creek Beads. Doe Creek Beads specializes in beads and charms for collectors and happy jewelry wearers everywhere. We carry three lines of jewelry currently, Kera, Reflection and Armore LA Vita charms with plans to add more as soon as we are able.

We currently have an assortment of glass beads, silver beads and charms, and all sorts of themed charms and beads. We would love to have you go over there and check out the site and let us know what you think.

If you run, manage, or support an animal charity you can sign up for an affiliate code that is just for you. When someone clicks a link on your website, or uses your special URL, your group earns 15% from every sale made.

Some key features of our program:

• No hassle fundraising: Once your affiliate program is set up it becomes a hands free method to continually raise funds for your animal charity.
• No limits: There is no cap to how much your animal charity can raise. 15% of every sale goes directly to your rescue.
• No minimum payouts: Unlike other affiliate programs, our goal is to help you help animals in need. When you accept your payout via PayPal it is paid every month, regardless of amount.

To start earning money for your charity, rescue, or even yourself, sign up today.

Diane and I want to thank everyone that has helped us be able to help animals all around the US and Canada. We have made a lot of great friends through animal charities and we are looking forward to making many more.

To help get the new year started off right we are looking for more new charities and rescues to help. If you know of a great animal rescue that needs help, please post it here and we will add them to the ever growing list of places that we try to help.

The pendants have large jump rings added to them and the earrings have bishops hooks added to them. By special request we can also add bead clips.

We can also set them with natural gems if you prefer, just contact us and let us know what you would like and we will let you know how much natural gems will cost.

Most animals are perfectly capable of surviving even a harsh winter outside on their own. But there are a lot of things to consider before you toss Fido out in the snow.

The most important thing to consider is if your pet is an indoor or outdoor pet. I know that this seems a simple thing, but dogs and cats can’t just put on a jacket when it gets cold outside. Their fur takes time to come in and if they spend the majority of their time indoors it may never fully come in at all. The leaves them susceptible to all sorts of cold induced illnesses, including death. If your pet is primarily an indoor animal, do not toss him out in to the snow, ever. It would be like waking up in your warm bed in the morning and being immediately thrown barefoot in your PJs in to a snow drift. You wouldn’t appreciate it and neither will your pet.

Another important thing to consider is the breed of your pet. A siberian husky or great pyrenees, like our dog Valyn, loves the snow. Valyn is perfectly content to lay in the pasture and let the snow simply cover him up leaving nothing but a white snow drift while a chihuahua might not appreciate the snow very much at all..

If you are going to send your pet put in to the winter weather take some basic precautions.

• Trim the hair between their toes to help reduce snow and ice buildup between their toes
• Make sure that there is a clean, dry, shelter for them to retreat to on their own when they do get cold
• If your pet is normally an indoor pet, never leave them outside unattended
• If your pet will be outside a lot, feed her a little more than normal. Keeping warm burns calories
• Keep your pet well brushed, but do not trim their coat if they will be spending time outside
• For larger animals, horses etc., if they don’t develop their thick winter coat put them under a horse blanket, but make sure it stays dry

Keeping your pets and animals safe and healthy in the cold winter months is simply a matter of common sense, if you are outside freezing and shivering because of the cold, odds are your pet is too. Bring them inside or provide a safe warm shelter for them. Remember, they can’t tell you when they are cold, all they can do is hope that you will take of them.

Share some of your tips in the comments section or on Facebook.