Tess is a ten-year old Siberian husky, samoyed, wolf , chow chow, and border collie mix –what a mix that is! She is a herder and tries to keep all her humans close together and in a group. Tess loves playing in the snow, barking at me to get out of the water when I’m swimming, running with her owner when he snowboards and mountain bikes, destroying squeaky toys, and occasionally sharing an ice cream cone or popsicle with her humans.

Little Tess lives in Vermont with Dean and is also kept company by Dean’s daughter, Phoebe.

“People who abuse animals don’t deserve to be rewarded,” said PETA spokesman Dan Shannon. “They shouldn’t be given multimillion-dollar contracts . . . or given the privilege of being a role model.”

Click the link, I’m sure you’ll like the article.

As we’ve said before on Muttskis, we love all mutts and mixes, even if they happen to not be mixed at all. With that in mind, say hi to Duke, a lovable Akita adopted from the Midwest Akita Rescue Society by Connie.

An Eagles fan who, like most of the world, hates Michael Vick was told he had to wear a shirt displaying an anti-Vick message inside out if he wanted to attend the game.

“Not only has (Eagles owner) Jeffrey Lurie and the Eagles organization supported a dog murderer by signing this convict,” she said, “but now they want to take away my freedom of speech just because I don’t agree with them?”

This is sickening. I can’t agree more with her, it’s bad enough to have signed Vick, but to try to silence protests against that fact is just terrible.

Saving Shelter Pets is one of my favorite charities and right now, you can buy this very cool painting of a mutt on eBay to support their cause. Only 6 days left, so hurry.

That fact and more are some of the fun things you might learn from this blog post on Interesting Facts About Unusual Dog Breeds.

I love this ad by the Michigan Humane Society to help promote the adoption of shelter kittens. To top things off, they’re actually giving away all cats over the age of four months and they come with “a free “multipoint inspection” including spay/neuter surgery, vaccinations, behavioral evaluation and grooming.” If you live in the area, it’s certainly something you should think about. If not, you can still adopt a sweet pre-owned kitten in your area, after all, you don’t NEED flashy advertising to get a kitty.

In bigger and better news,from 8/16 through 8/26/09, I am donating 20% of all my Etsy sales to Saving Shelter Pets animal rescue and so are other Etsy sellers. For more details, please visit their fundraiser page.

Lastly, thanks for reading, the picture of Percy (my baby) to the right is for all of you.

Name: Violet
Age: 16 months
Mix: Australian Cattle Dog/Collie
Hobbies: Playing fetch, tug of war and splashing in the river.
Owner: Tom, Olympia WA