Tag Archives: dog rescue

Rest in Peace, Ciccio

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Ciccio when he was happy

Note: originally I posted this yesterday after I read that Ciccio had passed, but when I returned to Facebook I saw that it was denied again (there has been a lot of arguing over his custody as the story of Ciccio has swept across Italy, creating a tense situation of the strays in Brindisi). Sadly, now it is confirmed so I’m re-posting the story. The report I read is that he died peacefully due to cardiac arrest.

With a heavy heart, I have to share the sad news that Ciccio passed away today. If you read my earlier post a few weeks ago, you’ll remember he’s the dog in Italy who captivated the public by showing up at the church for Mass every day since his owner Maria Lochi passed last November. I am not sure of the exact cause of death, but recent posts on his Facebook page have discussed his deteriorating health with photos of him at the hospital. Given his age of 13, plus the fact that he was so broken hearted over the loss of Maria, they suspect he just wanted to go.

I added the top photo because it shows Ciccio when he was happy, you can see the sparkle in his eyes. This photo was taken when he was younger, and his owner Maria Lochi was alive. Compare it to this one that was taken after she passed away, and you can see his sadness.

Ciccio

Rest in peace, Ciccio.

Dogs Teach Us Things

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My dog Henry

Barnaby was like a mood, a fragrance of the harmonious inner life, permeating everything with which he came into contact. He knew sorrow and he knew joy, and he held them in a delicate balance of serenity and peace. He knew how to respond equally joyfully to an invitation to walk or talk or sit together, which seems to me to be a particular kind of training in grace—a willingness to respond easily and happily to even the most modest adventure together. Perhaps it could be said that within his framework of being a dog, he lived life as a spiritual exercise.  —from Mystical Dogs by Jean Houston

My yoga instructor read this to our class this week and it made me think about my dog Henry, shown above. We had to say our goodbyes one year ago this weekend, and so I thought it would be nice, a tribute of sorts, to share it here. I haven’t featured Henry on the blog like the others, because it’s been too hard. In fact, Henry’s BFF Nicholas also passed away last October, so that’s two missing from my Dog Bios. But I’ll save those posts for another day, and for now just try and honor the light that Henry shared with everyone he met. Like the excerpt says, “a willingness to respond easily and happily to even the most modest adventure together”, that was my Henry. Like all dogs, he was a champion of living in the moment, but with his own added zest.

I miss you, Captain Feathers.

Typographic Tuesday: Groucho Marx

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Groucho plus quote

Originally with Typographic Tuesdays, I wasn’t going to actually write anything. But the problem is that I usually end up having something to say and today is no exception, so here goes…

The lovely dog atop the quote is aptly named Groucho. I first noticed his photo on the Best Friends Los Angeles Facebook page, because they had a very clever campaign timed with the Super Bowl titled “The Super Bull”. I think these folks do a fantastic job with their approach to not only finding homes for all sorts of dogs, but also with their efforts to show the public what great dogs the “Bull” breeds can be when given the chance to thrive. This campaign focused on their love of playing hard, giving it all they’ve got just like any given football hero. Here are some more photos of handsome Groucho, who by the way is still available for adoption! Besides getting an amazing dog, what a great conversation starter he would be! Sigh, I’m starstruck.

Best Friends LA dog Groucho

And here is the main image for their campaign, with some of the other dogs they featured, every single one of them a hero in so many ways.

BFLA's Super Bull Campaign

If you’d like more information on Groucho or any other dog, please do visit Best Friends of Los Angeles on their website here. Okay, I’m done talking :-)

Cory Booker Saves Freezing Dog

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Mayor Cory Booker saves freezing dog

Newark, New Jersey super mayor Cory Booker is in the news today for saving a freezing dog after seeing a tweet from a local TV news reporter. This is one guy who really jumps in and saves the day, having saved people from burning homes and shoveling snow for residents of his city. Once this pup was warm and safe he even went on to personally shred the careless owners. Go Cory!

From the story on mashable.com:
“This is brutal weather,” Booker told WABC. “This dog is shaking really bad and you just can’t leave your dogs out here on a day like this and go away and expect them to be OK. Hypothermia on any animal including a human animal will set in pretty quickly. So this is very sad. You can just feel the dog shaking pretty badly.”

Booker put the dog in a heated police car, called its owners and scolded them for leaving the dog outside. The owners said they were away from home and didn’t know how the dog, named Cha Cha, got out of the house. They apologized to Booker.

Check out the story here on Mashable, including the tweets that led to the rescue here, or the WABC news story here.

Typographic Tuesday: Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Today’s quote for Typographic Tuesday is by Martin Luther King Jr., in honor of his recent birthday plus all the warm, hopeful feelings here in America that are in the air with an inauguration and a new year for setting things right. I’m including this photo because I think it’s one of the most tender images I’ve seen in a while.

Here’s the background: a few months ago I did a post on Sara Turetta and the group she started called Save the Dogs. One group that really helps Save the Dogs is the Swedish-based Hundhjälpen. Not only do these guys send pallets loaded with all kinds of dog food, treats, toys, medicines, etc. they also take regular trips to Romania and volunteer however they can. In the end, they transport a lot of these dogs back to Sweden and find them warm, loving homes. This photo is from their trip just a few days ago, and the kindness of this simple gesture melts my heart. Thank you, Hundhjälpen and Save the Dogs for never looking the other way.

To find out more about Hundhjälpen or donate, go here. To see all of the photos from their trip, visit their Facebook page here. And of course, Save the Dogs’ website is here.

Animal Blueprint Company

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Animal Blueprint Company Mutt

In keeping with my last architecture-themed post I wanted to share this. A few years back I saw a mention for these great dog blueprints from the Animal Blueprint Company in a home decor magazine (Elle Decor? The now defunct Met Home? Who knows!). As they are described on their website: “a distressed finish gives this animal art print the feel of working blueprints used by architects, engineers and construction supervisors of the mid 20th century.” Cool.

I think they’re really great, and of course what caught my eye was that they featured one from the Mutt Series of 20 (hooray for mutts!). Each print includes a drawing of a dog with some call-outs highlighted, then a breakdown of history and attributes under “Construction Notes”, such as:
Breed: American Mutt
Origin: Local Shelter, Friend or Neighbor
History: Rescued by those who care! While a mutt does not come with a breeder’s certificate, they are known to demonstrate all the best traits of their various breeds, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
The great American family dog. Mother may have been a bit of a lady, father a bit of a tramp. Perhaps part Shepherd, Collie, Retriever, Spaniel, Husky or none of these, no one knows for sure. The love of a rescued dog is without boundaries and touches all those in its reach, often transforming the rescuee into the rescuer…

The text goes on to describe attributes such as coat, color, height and weight…of course without really being able to provide any definitive information at all! And isn’t that also a reason why mutts are so awesome? I’m guessing these Animal Blueprint Company folks have a sense of humor, stamping each print with “Canine Architect: I.M. Paws” (I.M. Pei, haha). Okay.

They also have tons of purebred dog blueprints with factual information, here are a few of them. Oh, and there are cat breeds and a few horses available, too.

Animal Blueprint Company Alaskan Malamute

Yorkshire Terrier by Animal Blueprint Company

You can order their prints framed or just matted, and I just saw that if you order by TODAY (December 17) you can still give one for Christmas this year. Maybe this idea will be perfect for that tricky someone on your list, or even yourself.

Click here for the Animal Blueprint Company website.

PS: I should probably add here that products and books that I feature on my blog are just things that I like, not revenue-generators. And when it’s a designer (like me) being an entrepreneur (like me) AND I like what they’re creating, it’s definitely the trifecta!

Westside Story

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Westside German Shepherd Rescue, Los Angeles

UPDATE: Not good news, folks. I checked with Westside German Shepherd Rescue today and discovered that the group did indeed lose their funding and so now they’ve lost this beautiful facility. I’m leaving the post up because it’s still a beautifully designed space, but more importantly because WGSR is an amazing and dedicated group that deserves attention. And even more important than that, this development serves as a reminder just how delicate budgets are for rescue groups. If you’re thinking about donating money this year as holiday gifts, please consider a shelter or rescue organization. :-)

So it turns out there’s something else that makes everything better, and that something else is DESIGN! I’m not only saying this because I am a designer, but also because it’s true. And, in my opinion, one of the areas where design really moves mountains is when it’s applied to projects that are typically mundane and just a little too darn utilitarian. Case in point: the beautiful new design for Westside German Shepherd Rescue in Los Angeles, designed by RA-DA. Instead of a sad, depressing shelter, they’ve created a comfortable and beautiful environment with a Cape Cod flavor for some special guests while they get ready for their new homes. Of course dogs love comfort, but if you’re thinking that dogs don’t care about beautiful environments, think again: if it means a shelter is more inviting to potential new families, I think they’re all for it!

As RA-DA states about the project: “This project reconceptualizes the environment surrounding the adoption of pets. Replacing the concept of adoption is an idea of ‘re-homing’. With this term comes the implication that these animals are well-adjusted and just going from one home to another home. The design responds directly to this and although the site is in an industrial area, the architecture is more residential from the exterior siding to the interior design. Past the front lobby area is a gallery that is designed to resemble an outdoor boardwalk. The kennel rooms line the edges of this boardwalk as a series of separate ‘houses’. A training yard at the end and large doors connect the space to the back of the property, used every day for exercising the dogs and on Saturdays for adoption events.”

Westside German Shepherd Rescue exterior

Westside German Shepherd Rescue exterior

Westside German Shepherd Rescue lobby

Westside German Shepherd Rescue boardwalk

Westside German Shepherd Rescue offices

So big high-fives to RA-DA for designing such a beautiful stopover home for German Shepherds on the move, and also for just using their design power for good!

If you’d like more information on Westside German Shepherd Rescue, click here. There’s also a wonderful video about this rescue organization and its founder Robin here.
For more information on the West Hollywood-based architecture firm RA-DA or to see more of their stunning work (which includes some other animal facility projects–yay!), click here.

All photographs courtesy RA-DA. Photography by Ralf Strathmann.

Those Who Stay

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Umberto Boccioni, study for "Those Who Stay"

On my last trip to Milan, a local friend suggested that I visit the Museo del Novecento which is located just a few steps from the Duomo. So I did, and I highly recommend it to anyone that would like to spend a few hours looking at some wonderful 20th century works of art. It’s also a beautiful building, with an interesting layout that includes a winding climb and lots of escalators. In fact, the building’s layout was so interesting that I had to get help a few times from the kind security people on a couple of the floors (but what else is new?).

One piece that stopped me in my tracks (causing me to hover around it for so long that I drew attention from the security people) is this one titled Those Who Stay by Italian artist Umberto Boccioni. It’s sort of one of three pieces that make up the series titled States of Mind about parting ways at a train station. And when I say “sort of” it’s because this is actually a study and not the finished version of Those Who Stay, but I like it better. Don’t get me wrong, I like the Futurist movement as much as the next guy with all of those geometric shapes and Cubist flavor, but this one seems much more compelling to me for a specific reason: it oozes heaviness and sadness. The other two pieces in the States of Mind series are titled Those Who Go and The Farewells.

The reason I’m drawn to this painting is because I’ve always hated goodbyes, and I think it captures that sadness completely. I’m talking about final goodbyes and the emptiness you feel when your loved one is no longer in this world. For me and a lot of other people, the loss of a pet has the same heart-ripped-out pain and devastation and the only thing that helps me heal is to remember that I’m not alone in this. In this painting, all of the left behind streaky figures share the sadness of loss and goodbye together. It’s amazing how art can affect you that way whether you like it or not, pulling you headfirst into a sea of emotion with a language of its own, but without any words. Like a sad, sad song that matches just the way you feel inside, you can gaze into a painting like this whenever you need to and just feel sad because you must.

One of my dogs isn’t well. His name is Nicholas, and I haven’t featured him on the blog yet because he’s been declining since I started it in July and it’s just been too hard. I don’t know how long he has left, I don’t think there’s anything else I can do, and I’m facing that awful decision. But one thing I do know is at some point I will be spending a lot of time gazing into Boccioni’s Those Who Stay.

Visit Museo del Novecento.
This link will take you to MoMA’s Collection page, where you can see the Boccioni series (click NEXT when you get there to see all three paintings in sequence).
A good article on Umberto Boccioni can be found here.

Request from Marley’s Mutts

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Adoptable Oscar for Marley's Mutts

Money makes the world go round, it’s true. And it also pays for necessary veterinary care, food, shelter, toys…all those things that a rescue group needs to keep going round rescuing. If you read my post about Zach Skow and Marley’s Mutts a while back, then you recall what a great job this small group is doing to save and rehabilitate these wonderful souls, big and small. Currently, they are in the running to win up to $250,000 in grants from the Chase Community Giving Contest and all they need is your vote by September 19. If you are a Facebook user, please take a minute to cast yours by following this link to the dedicated page for the contest here. If you prefer to skip Facebook and you are a Chase customer, you can also vote directly here. Marley’s Mutts has also created a little video here. Just taking a minute to do this can make all the difference for dogs like Oscar. Thanks, everyone.

Photo of Oscar courtesy of Marley’s Mutts.