the other winnie cooper

Apologies, Blogaverssary Teaser, and Cute Photos of Winnie! Oh My!

2011-09-16T15:48:00.000-04:00

I am so sorry, I have been a BAD pet blogger! The last post here was in July! The time flies but I have an excellent reason for slacking on the blog...the BF and I got hitched in August!

This is us at sunset on the big day.

Winnie is quite perturbed that she has not been in front of her adoring public in nearly 2 months so I promised her something special for her blogaverssary (how in the world do you spell that word sandwich anyway!?). Stay tuned in the next few days for our big announcement to celebrate the big day.

Until then, please enjoy these photos of Winnie Cooper from the past few months (posted to Facebook and Twitter, and Instagram (@WinnieCooperShihtzu) but sadly never making it to the blog, until now!).

Naps.

Naps again.

Oh wait, more napping.

Just woke up from a nap.

Snugs.

Kisses.

Quelle Surprise! Another nap.

Sharona!

Nap prep.

Oh hai! I am totes awake in this one!
xoxo Winnie

Meeting Fans- Greeting Strangers

2011-07-30T08:03:00.001-04:00

Winnie and I experienced a first for the blog this week, we met a blog fan! A friend and former co-worker was in Vermont for a wedding and emailed me to ask if her seven year old daughter, Helena - could meet Winnie Cooper. Of course we couldn't pass up the (photo) opportunity to meet and greet a faithful super fan like Helena. Plus, no one likes to disappoint a seven year old girl, that is just not good karma!

Winnie has no idea that she's not
the cutest thing in this picture.

Winnie is quite used to getting ooohed and awwwed over as she walks about town, truthfully I think she has come to expect it. When we walked up to meet her super fan and Helena shouted out "Winnie Cooper!" as though she was meeting a real celebrity- well Winnie was not phased one little bit! She wagged her tail and greeted Helena warmly with smiles and licks. Winnie is well aware that her target audience is little girls and older/elderly folks. She always greets people that fall into those categories happily, while she is less likely to be so excited when she sees little boys.

Still working it.

Even while we sat and enjoyed some ice cream, another little girl came up and asked to pet Winnie - and a Mom and toddler at the next table came over to gave a few pets. By this time, I could see that Winnie was reaching her limit of being fawned over so I let her get on my lap, and reminded myself that we need to get out for more socialization (with children and other dogs). When I first adopted Winnie, she had zero tolerance for children (probably one of the reasons she was given up), so she has come a looooong way, but she still needs to brush up on her manners around the wee ones (don't we all? I think I dropped the eff-bomb a couple of times in front of my nephews the last time I saw them, what can I say, we don't see kids on a daily basis!).

Posing for pictures is one thing Winnie does really well.
Practice makes perfect, of course.

Join us on the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop!

With a name like Winnie Cooper, it seems obvious who should play Winnie in the movie of her life.

2011-07-20T08:32:00.000-04:00

Of course I can only mean, the original Winnie Cooper; Danica Mckellar.

It's like a mirror image.

Winnie Cooper the shih-tzu has big beautiful brown eyes and she thinks Kevin Arnold is the neatest (oh wait, I am mixing her up with Winnie Cooper the character from the Wonder Years again...). A movie about Winnie Cooper the dog's life, would give Danica the chance to reprise her star making role of Winnie Cooper.

BTW, If you step into your way back machine you can read more about how Winnie and her namesake are the same but different (that would be this link- here.).

So, what do you think, would Danika Mckellar be perfect for the role of Winnie Cooper in the movie of her life, or is that too easy? Suggestions welcome!

Daily Cute

2011-07-19T08:11:00.000-04:00


I can even make this crappy apartment carpet look good.

Who is walking who? The art of walking a shih-tzu

2011-07-18T08:07:00.000-04:00

I will go out on a limb and guess that most of Winnie Cooper's blog readers are pet owners and probably a majority are specifically dog parents. But I would be very curious to know how many shih-tzu caretakers there are reading this blog. I am no expert on the breed, but from what I have read, I think Winnie is a very typical shih-tzu.

According the the American Kennel club website shih-tzus should be;

"outgoing, happy, affectionate, friendly and trusting towards all- and although this dog is sweet and playful, he is not afraid to stand up for himself!"

Winnie certainly fits that description and HOW. Here's some evidence from our walk on Friday afternoon. It's July in Vermont, thus it is hot and humid. I made sure Winnie had plenty to drink before we left and we walked on the shady side of the street- that is when we were actually walking...Winnie decided it was a great day to rest and take a number of extended breaks in the grassy areas we came across...extending a fifteen minute walk to 45 minutes.

This grass is perfect, look at it Mom!

Seriously, have you ever seen grass this perfect?!

I am totally going to marry this grass.

And we're back--just in time to celebrate the Petfinder Big Birthday Adoption Weekend!

2011-07-15T18:46:00.000-04:00

So I've been a lazy blogger lately. To be fair, work has been bonkers, then Andy and I took a vacation, and finally I have been a little pre-occupied with planning a little something called a lifetime commitment party...that's right blog readers (hi Mom!)- we are getting married (well sort of...long story short, we're not doing all the legal/ceremony stuff, we're just having a party to share our commitment with all our besties and families)!

Anyhoo, we've just been busy all around, but I finally shook out of it because I wanted to post about the Petfinder Big Birthday Adoption Weekend! All weekend long, shelters all over the US are having a adoption drives, hoping to get to the magic number of 15,000 adoptions (to celebrate Petfinder's 15th Birthday of course!).

Double-y exciting is that one of the participating Vermont shelters is the Kingdom Animal Shelter (KAS), where our very own Beau was adopted from! For the adoption weekend and throughout all of July, KAS is having a special adoption rate for their cats:

Adopt one cat for $60 or get a two-fur (ha, see what I did there!) for $100.

I was particularly enthusiastic about the 2fur deal because I recently read a great blog post over at Pawcurious about the benefits of having a pair of pets that are bonded, titled It's better in pairs. As the parent of a pair of bonded pairs, I wholeheartedly agree- it is better in pairs!

If you are in Vermont (and honestly, I really don't know WHY you don't all just move here, it's pretty much the best state ever)- please consider adopting a kitty this weekend from the KAS (1664 MEMORIAL DRIVE, ST. JOHNSBURY CTR.).

Here's our most recent photo of the big boy, Beau Bridges (taken just a few days ago):

Our handsome Beau-Beau

PS I promise to post photos of Winnie ASAP.

The Petties! The Oscars of pet blogging.

2011-06-22T08:12:00.000-04:00

This is my first year as a pet blogger- and the first time I have heard about The Petties. Which so far, look to me like the Oscars of pet blogging. How exciting! I can't wait to find Winnie Cooper her couture gown!

The awards are hosted by Dogtime.com and here's what they say about the whole thing:

Be a part of the 2011 Petties Awards, Dogtime's annual celebration recognizing excellence among animal-loving bloggers of all stripes. The Petties are the only awards nominated by, voted for, and presented to individuals in the pet blogging community. The best part? Winners are honored with a $500 donation to the shelter of their choice -- it's our way of saying thanks for making a difference!

You have until June 29th to nominate your fave pet blog (ahem!) in the following categories: Best Dog Blog, Best Cat Blog, Best Rescue/Cause Blog, Best Designed Blog, Best Social Integration Blog, Funniest Blog or Blogger, Best Overall Pet Blog.

I am just kidding about nominating The Other Winnie Cooper blog, I don't think we've come far enough in this first year of blogging! It's something to strive for next year-- Perhaps they will add a "Cutest Shih-tzu in the Universe blog" category next year, which I would feel very confident campaigning for.

I'd like to share with you some blogs I just nominated:
Best Overall Blog: Two Pitties in the City
Best Cat Blog: Romeo the Cat...and Pugsley too!
Best Cause Blog: The Bad Rap Barn Blog

Please check these blogs out and if you feel inspired, nominate them, because, the finalists are determined by the four bloggers with the most nominations in each category. There are many other deserving blogs to nominate, so I will probably have to return and continue to fill out the ballot.

How about you guys? Tell me your favorite blogs and why? I've got an RSS reader full of my favorites, but I can always add more!

A very special Daily Cute

2011-06-15T07:59:00.000-04:00

My little Angel

While Winnie has not been feeling too well after over-exerting herself at the Walk for Animals on Sunday, you can see in this photo she had a lovely time. This is a cross-post of this photo from Andy's photography blog. His post is titled, "Heavenly Dog". How cute is he? Almost as cute as the shih-tzu in the photo above! This particular photo is one of his practice shots of flash photography. I am happy to let him continue to get practice and take more photos of Winnie if they come out as fantastic as this!

The babying begins, er, continues, depending on who you ask

2011-06-14T08:41:00.000-04:00

We had a quite the scare last night. Winnie had a trip to the emergency Vet!

At around 7 p.m. I noticed that she wasn’t getting up from her nap on her dog bed. This was unusual because I was in the other room, and generally she likes to be in the same room (if not in the same square foot of space) as I am. When I went over to check on her she didn't even wag her tail for me (virtually unheard of!). She just kind of looked at me all sad and pathetic. I tried to pick her up she yelped and cried (it was a horrific noise). I tried calling her to me and she wouldn’t get up or even wag her tail.

With visions of horrible back injuries and worse I decided to take her to the emergency Vet. We have a great 24 hour emergency hospital in the area which luckily we have not had to use very many times. The Vet that saw Winnie diagnosed her with *soreness* from the Walk for Animals... um, this is truly funny because I carried her in her doggy sling for most of the walk! Nonetheless my delicate little flower is taking an anti-inflammatory and needs bed rest. The Vet actually told me to "baby her." Which I laughingly said would be, "no problem."

So, the babying begins (er, continues, depending on who you ask). She is not doing a whole lot better this morning, although I did get a tail wag and a smooch on the face. I was encouraged by these baby steps. She'll be under observation for the next few days and if she hasn't made significant progress she may need to go in for x-rays to see what's going on. Fingers crossed that she heals up and feels better soon.

Just to end this on a mildly amusing note; I googled "Shih-tzu in a baby bonnet" to see if I could find a funny image to accompany this post. Surprisingly, the interwebs did not come through for me (can you believe there's not ONE image of a shih-tzu in a baby bonnet?!). However, I did find this cute image:

It's like they can read Winnie Cooper's mind!

You can buy a baby hat (which I believe is for a human baby, whatever that is) with this little cutie on it from CafePress.com.

Walk for the Animals- Here's how it went down.

2011-06-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

Happy Sunday Afternoon! We completed the Walk for the Animals this morning, and here's a few photos (my apologies for the lack of photos, I was so focused on being sure Winnie behaved I didn't reach for the camera as much as I would have hoped!). Never fear though, Andy was there taking photos with his fancy camera, so he promised me he would get them to me later this week to share with you all. But for now, here's a couple to prove we were there:

Being a goofball.


I look terrible and Winnie looks adorable, story of my life.

The day started out pretty gloomy and I was pretty sure it would rain (the forecast said 70% chance) , so there was a lot of debate back and forth about whether Winnie Cooper should even go with us. She usually refuses to walk in inclement weather (we live in Vermont, where the weather is dicey about 95% of the time). Plus, Winnie is not terribly well socialized with other dogs, and taking her to an event with close to 100 dogs is a crap shoot- at best. Eventually I decided to bring her (after all we were walking as Team Winnie Cooper!) and treat this as a training opportunity.

Just in case I brought her baby sling (which is this Outward Hound carrier), so if she decided she didn't want to walk I could scoop her up and carry her in her bag. I also brought her favorite treats and a drool rag (for some reason when she gets anxious she becomes a drool machine).

At the beginning of the event, Winnie was quite barky (okay, she was a little yappy dog). And I had to take out a few treats to reward her when she was quiet and calm and gave her some pretty stern NO's for when she got a little aggro. It took about 30 minutes for her to chill out. By that time I think she was already getting tired from all the unusual stimulation and I decided that she should probably hang out in her doggie sling for the actual walk. Winnie was one of the only pampered pets to be carried on the walk (Vermont is a pretty outdoorsy state, the majority of the dogs were bigger, Labs, Goldens, Huskys, mixes of all of these, etc.). At one point in the walk we went by these little girls that kind of squealed, "Look at the doggie in the bag! Awwww!"

For the last short leg of the Walk (the whole walk is probably less than a mile total) I let her out of the sling and she walked with the rest of the dogs across the finish line. Luckily the rain held off for the walk, although about 10 minutes after we got home the sky opened up for a quick shower.

I graded Winnie with a B for her behavior at the event. She was a C- when we arrived and an A- when we left. I will note that I should have taken her for a walk to get her mellowed out before we arrived for the walk, so I learned a valuable lesson there. However, Winnie was paying attention to her training and did well once she knew what the expectations were.

Team Winnie Cooper raised our goal of $500! I hope to be able to update you on the total amount raised for animals in Chittenden County, VT soon.

So, what did you all do on your Sunday morning?

Are we internets famous yet? The week in review.

2011-06-11T08:30:00.000-04:00

This week has been a fun week for the Winnie Cooper the dog and The Other Winnie Cooper-the blog.

Starting with Wednesday's post, "Hello, DUH! You shouldn't leave your dog in a hot car." There's been a lot of traffic and a lot of feedback on the topic on Facebook and Twitter. All good stuff, luckily I haven't had any crazy people advocating for leaving dogs in hot cars!

Thursday morning was a love fest for Winnie. It is quite common for me to have the dogs on the bed when I wake up, and I spend the first few minutes of each day giving kisses and belly rubs. In Andy's words, "It's ridiculous." Winnie is a big fan of this routine, and waits ~~patiently~~ somewhat tolerantly for Andy to get up each morning so she can hop into his spot on the bed and get her morning fix. Thursday was no exception and I gave extra long belly rubs, just to celebrate Thursday....and mostly because I knew I wanted to take some photos of Winnie wearing sunglasses for my post on how to keep dogs cool in the summertime. I figured I could relax her and get her to cooperate a bit better if she got a nice long belly rub. No, I am not above bribery (or trickery for that matter). Enjoy some of the outtakes of the sunglasses photo shoot below.

And Friday was extra special day because Andy featured some of his photos of Winnie on his photography blog. As I have mentioned here before, I am always trying to get Andy (a semi-professional and extremely talented photographer) to take more photos of the pets for this blog. His work focuses a lot on nature and landscape photography, so it's challenging for him to take a lot of photos of the animals. In his words, "They move too much." Check out the pictures and the rest of Andy's blog: Visual State.

But in case you don't go over there and visit, here is one of the photos; seriously cute.

I sincerely hope you all had a great week as well! Stay tuned tomorrow for an update on our Walk for the Animals adventure (it's supposed to rain, with a chance of sever thunderstorms! good times.).

Daily Cute

2011-06-10T08:10:00.000-04:00

Are you there Dog? It's me Winnie.

Let's talk about how to keep your dog(s) cool in the summertime

2011-06-09T09:06:00.001-04:00

Yesterday’s post about the stupidity of owners leaving dogs to suffer in blazing hot cars really hit home for a lot of people. I heard through the grapevine (aka Facebook) that a few people in Vermont are picking up the baton and will be leaving flyers and calling the authorities when they see a dog left in a hot car. I really couldn’t hope for more than that from my little blog rant!

Today I wanted to point you to some excellent tips to keep your dog(s) cool in the summertime, some from me and some from actual experts!

Angelina, this is *not* cool.

How we keep our dogs cool in the summer:

While we are at work we leave the air-conditioner on an energy saver setting and keep all the blinds closed to keep out the blazing sun. Yesterday when I got home from work, the outdoor temperature was about 90 degrees, which is a scorcher for Vermont. Indoors it was a much cooler 75 degrees. As always we have fresh water for the dogs and cats, but in the hot summer months, we add ice to the water before we leave them for the day. As the day progresses as the ice melts it keeps the bowl full of cool water.

What the experts say about keeping the pooches cool:

I read a recent blog post from one of my favorite dog supply companies: Doctors Foster and Smith, titled; How to Keep Your Pets Safe During Hot Weather! This blog post has really good information for all dog owners; including, ways to cool your dog in hot weather, what to do if your dog is experiencing heat stroke, and how to prevent dehydration.

Another resource I will point you to is www.mydogiscool.com. They have a great summer tips section, but my favorite thing on their site is a tool that allows you to put in your zip code, and it will give you the five day forecast (via The Weather Channel) plus it will alert you if the temperature is dangerously hot, so you know when to leave your dog at home.

I'd love to hear more about how you all keep your dogs out of the heat. I am seriously considering a kiddie pool for the backyard, what do you guys think?

Hello, DUH! You shouldn’t leave your dog in a hot car.

2011-06-08T08:27:00.000-04:00

I opened my newsfeed this morning to discover that the Eastern US will be experiencing a heat wave for the next few days. This time of year there are quite a few news articles about the dangers of leaving a dog in a hot car. So I wonder why I continue to see dogs left alone in cars. I think everyone is aware that while there is a heat wave, you should not leave your dog in your car, even for a minute. If you don’t know that, I sincerely hope you don’t own a dog. However, I am not sure that most people realize that in even relatively mild temperatures, say like 82 degrees F, a car can heat up to dangerous levels.

For me, it’s not just that you shouldn’t leave your dog in a dangerous, potentially life threatening situation, hello, DUH! It is also common sense that if it’s 80 degrees out (or even 70 degrees!) you yourself would not sit in a car alone for ten minutes with the window just cracked, why would you leave your dog in there? Would you shove your dog in an oven while it heats up?

I am probably preaching to the choir, as many of my blog readers are dog lovers that will completely agree with my sentiments here. But I want to tell you all my summer plans…

I will be on the look-out for dogs in cars and I will be putting a flyer about the dangers of leaving a dog in a hot car on each and every one I see. I am really tired of walking by and feeling helpless while I see a dog panting in the back seat of a hot car. In fact, if I see any signs of distress, I will be calling the police and animal control. There have been too many times in the past where I worried about the reactions of the dog owner and whether I would be crying wolf. This summer I will be taking action because I firmly believe that a dog’s life is more important than me being a little uncomfortable with calling the authorities.

If you live in Burlington, VT or the surrounding communities, be forewarned, if you leave your dog unattended in a car, you may find a flyer or worse, the police at your car when you return. In Vermont we have a law that protects animals from their owner’s stupidity. If you leave your dog to suffer in a hot car you can be convicted of cruelty, which carries a sentence one year in jail and/or a fine of up to $2,000.

For more information on this issue, please visit MyDogisCool.com, it’s the best on the web for this issue.

Our Weekend in 4 photos

2011-06-06T08:14:00.000-04:00

It was a pretty chilled out weekend. We did some (late) spring cleaning and ran a lot of errands. I cleaned out my bedroom closet and discovered a box of doggie shirts and and other accessories, so I dressed the dogs up. Our errands included a trip to our local pet supply store for food and cat litter, and of course I walked out with 2 new dog toys.

New bone, made by Kong. Lasted 10 whole minutes.

Invincible chain toy, Winnie didn't make a dent in it.

Rona in her "Bad to the Bone" shirt.

Winnie also has a bad-ass
skulls & crossbones shirt.
Somehow, less convincing than
Sharona's.

A Little Orphan Annie gets Adopted!

2011-06-01T09:24:00.001-04:00

Last week the Humane Society of Chittenden County (HSCC) featured Annie the cat as one of their “Pets of the Week” on their Facebook page. If you follow The Other Winnie Cooper on Facebook (hint, hint: go here) you probably know that I always share the pets of the week via Facebook and tweet them out too (hey that reminds me, do you follow Winnie on Twitter yet? If not, go here).

I was particularly smitten with Annie because she looks a bit like Walter and because I love the name Annie (it’s my sister’s name and she passed away about 10 years ago). Check out how gorgeous this cat is:

Yesterday, I was excited to learn that Annie has been adopted!

Annie’s Story

Last fall Annie’s owner was arrested and when she went to jail, Annie got left behind. Annie had a guardian angel in the form of a Lieutenant at the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office, a man that has a track record of helping animals in need. The officer personally brought Annie in to the HSCC so she could be cared for while her owner was in jail. Annie was not with the HSCC long before her owner was released from jail and reclaimed her. Unfortunately, just seven months later the owner died of a drug overdose and Annie ended up at the HSCC once again.

As you can imagine, Annie was hostile at first but over the first few weeks at the shelter and with the amazing help of the staff at the HSCC, Annie came around and began to show her true personality. According to Megan, the HSCC volunteer coordinator, “Annie is an extremely outgoing kitty, and does not hesitate to express herself … loudly!” Annie proved to be a sweet, trusting kitty despite what she has been through.

I am happy to report that a young couple saw Annie’s photo on Facebook (yay for Facebook and the power of social media!) last week. When they found that they could scratch Annie's belly, hold her upside down, and cradle her like a baby while she just purred...they were sold. They just bought a new house and Annie will be their first pet!

A Happy Ending, Now What?

These types of happy stories are one of the many reasons I work to raise money for the HSCC. So, now what? This is where I ask you to donate to my Walk for the Animals fundraising effort! Yay! Please consider donating, so more kitties like Annie can find new, loving homes.

DONATE NOW.

I am nothing if not obsessed with photos of my pets.

2011-05-31T08:07:00.000-04:00

I got my first iphone this weekend. Of course one of the first apps I downloaded was for Instagram, because I am nothing if not obsessed with photos of my pets.

Here's the very first photo I took:

Another gadget in my face. Awesome.

Here's the second:

Hold on, I got a little something in my eye.

They never disappoint when it comes to bringing the cute! You can count on seeing some more Instagram photos from Winnie Cooper on Twitter. Have you been seeing a lot of photo apps (either Instagram or others like it)? And, like me are you unable to let the cute just happen without memorializing it with hipster photos?

She's Crafty- The Story of my Sunday Crafternoon

2011-05-28T10:20:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, I spent my Sunday afternoon being crafty, in the good way...not the like the Beastie Boys song (try to get that out of your head now!). Here's the story:

For quite a while, I have been building a wall of dog and cat art in the dining room/ office in my apartment. It centers around a print from a local Vermont artist, Dug Nap. The text reads, "I love you, but naturally my pets come first."

I found the print at a thrift store for 25 cents and the frame for 50 cents and it was so perfect, I immediately hung it up at home. At the time I hadn't met Andy - but it certainly saved some awkward conversations when we were getting to know each other. I added the sheltie painting, which I have had for many years, so many that it probably qualifies as vintage at this point! It's actually a paint by numbers that my younger sister painted, it represents our childhood dog, Sam, a shetland sheepdog as well as my first dog as an adult, a sheltie named, Daisy.

The painting of the black and white cat at the top was a gift from my good friends, David and Holly. They were visiting David's grandfather and as they were looking through some of his artwork, they came across this painting of a black and white cat that looks exactly like my cat, Lucas, who passed away 18 months ago. It was a really awesome addition to the wall o' pets and a fitting tribute to one of the best cats that ever lived (no joke, he was the BEST). The other pieces have been accumulated over the years, most are gifts from my friend Rachel, who has an amazing eye for vintage finds, and shares my love of the kitty cats.

For awhile I have been thinking that the wall is short on the doggy love. I had some vague idea that I wanted to create silhouette portraits of the dogs, something that could fit with the vintage handmade vibe already up on the wall. Then last week, I saw some posts from a favorite blog, Banjo and Millie, about representing Banjo and Millie in artwork (see those posts, here and here). Since Millie is a shih-tzu (Paws Up for Tzus!) too, I was inspired by the art choices (found on the ever amazing Etsy of course). I trolled around on Etsy for a while trying to pull the trigger on some custom art of Winnie and Sharona, but as it turns out, I am too cheap to buy art (Evidence: up at the top of this post when I admitted the centerpiece of my art "collection" cost just 75 cents!).

So the next step in this journey was a trip to the craft store. I had long ago saved the instructions to a DIY custom silhouette project from another fave blog, Young House Love. If you read the instructions from YHL, you'll see some stuff about photoshop and printing...I decided to forgo all that newfangled technology stuff and buy tracing paper instead. I also purchased two 8' X 8" frames (2 for $10!), black paper and patterned fun paper for the background (all from the extensive scrap-booking section of our local craft store). The total project cost: $13.

I did actually try to snap some photos of the project, with a vague notion of giving you all a step by step on how I did it...but then I remembered I could just provide you with the link to the DIY I used and save us all a lot of embarrassment (i.e. there was dirty laundry in the background of all the photos I took). And this isn't a DIY blog, this is a, "I love my dogs so much I have to tell the world about it on the regular- blog."

Here's the gist: I took a photo of Sharona in profile, then I traced the profile shot onto the tracing paper (old school, straight off my laptop monitor) and used it as a template to create the silhouette on the black paper, then I assembled it all in the frame. It took about 20 minutes.

Here's the photo I used of Sharona:

Here's my finished product: One custom silhouette of Sharona (Winnie's has to wait until after she gets a haircut, but I have all the materials ready to go).

And here it is on the wall:

It definitely felt good to do this art project myself after having it in the back of my mind for the better part of a year. It also feels great to have only invested in $13 for 2 (well eventually it will be 2) pieces of custom art. So, tell me, do you have art representing your love of animals?

Team Winnie Cooper is Walking for the Animals!

2011-05-26T07:33:00.000-04:00

As I told you about last week, the Annual Humane Society of Chittenden County's Walk for the Animals is right around the corner (June 12!!). Below is the PSA that's running on the local TV stations, it features some extra cute pets from the shelter.

Team Winnie Cooper is still looking for some walkers for our team! Right now it is just me, and I can probably drag the BF with me too...so, are you local? Are you an animal lover? Join Team Winnie Cooper!

Our weekend with a really big dog

2011-05-25T07:50:00.000-04:00

We had a house guest this weekend. We dog sat for our neighbors/ landlords on Saturday night.

Their dog Thorpe is a mixed breed--giant mixed with scaredy cat I think. Thorpe is a BIG dog. He stands about 6 inches taller than Sharona and as you can imagine he makes 'lil 12 pound Winnie look like a speck of dust. Thorpe is a bit timid compared to Winnie and Sharona, but once he settles in and gets comfortable he is very chill.

A speck of dust? Really?

I am still the cutest.

So where was Sharona you ask? Here's a pic I snapped of Rona while Thorpe and Winnie napped in the dog beds:

Couch to myself. Loves it.

We learned a lot about what it would be like to have three dogs, and how different it is to take care of a really big dog. Sharona seems like such a lightweight after having Thorpe around for a day!

Welcome to the comic blogging stylings of a shiny new animal shelter volunteer & social media helper!

2011-05-21T08:48:00.002-04:00

One day not too long ago, I was in a funk about my real job, the one with the paycheck. Usually my real job kicks ass. I work on the marketing team at an environmental non-profit, where I am the manager of the social media presence among other things. I love my job and I think the mission is a great a plan to change (and even save) the world. Sounds awesome, right? Well, like any other job, sometimes you hit a wall and feel like a Roomba vac, bouncing into the wall again and again and then circling around aimlessly. It’s hard to do your job after you just smacked your head into a wall, even if it is a metaphoric smack.

That day, I emailed my fave local animal shelter, the Humane Society of Chittenden County (HSCC) and told them about the work Winnie’s blog has been doing to promote the HSCC and about my professional background. I told them I could help on a more official basis, and get in the loop with the organization and help push their shelter forward with some amazing social media outreach.. A few days later, I took a meeting with some super nice peeps at the HSCC and voila! You are now reading the comic blogging stylings of a shiny new HSCC volunteer and social media helper!

It’s been a little slow since my initial meeting, I still need to go through a volunteer orientation, but I am on a new path to do some great work for another great organization that has a worthwhile mission. It was during and after this soul searching, that I found I was having a hard time articulating any blog posts to you dear readers, not even my bread and butter- cute photos of Winnie! I was so excited for this new volunteer venture but it seemed premature to brag about it here on the blog, but NOW it feels right! So, I apologize to the Other Winnie Cooper blog fans (you are few, but you are loyal and, most importantly- you are awesome) that I went away for a few weeks, but the Other Winnie Cooper blog is back and in full effect (insert cheesy 90’s dance beat here).

Tell me what you think in the comments below and join the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop!

Are you a baseball fan? Do you love animals?

2011-05-20T07:10:00.000-04:00

Are you a baseball fan? Do you love animals? If you answered yes, and you live in Vermont, this one's a win-win! June 20th is Opening Day for the Vermont Lake Monsters. It's also Humane Society of Chittenden County (HSCC) Day at the ball park!

AND if you buy your tickets for Opening Night TODAY, Friday, May 20, you can help HSCC by purchasing a ticket to the Lake Monsters Opening Night at Centennial Field. 50% of your ticket price will be donated to HSCC! You must purchase your tickets AT THIS WEB PAGE TODAY in order for your donation to go toward HSCC. You have until midnight!

Opening Night at the Lake Monsters is always fun and this year they are opening a home stand with the Lowell Spinners (Minor League affiliate of the Red Sox, who you may have know are very popular in Vermont).I know I'll be there! How about you?

Photo from The Big Pupi

I don't know why I never thought of it before but, I just discovered that you can buy MLB hats- for your dog! Is that too over the top?

I am not a great photopgrapher-

2011-05-19T07:25:00.000-04:00

But my honey is! He posted a few photos (taken on his phone no less!) of our pet menagerie on twitter (@photoronin) and BAM, they get 60 views! What the!?!

I thought that The Other Winnie Cooper readers would enjoy these photos more than anyone would-- so here are the great photos he snapped:

Car Rides without Mommy are hard.

Maxin' & Chillaxin'

My favorite is this one with the animals all on the bed with the filtered light behind them. Don't they look like angels? Don't be fooled...this doesn't happen everyday.

Our little Angels.

If you check out how Sharona is laying, you can see that she has taken the time to build herself a little nest. On this particular say, the bed was probably not made yet....but on the days when it is, I will inevitably go into the bedroom and find Sharona digging around building herself a nest! It drives me crazy, but then I think- what's the word for it? Oh yeah, it's ADORABLE!

P.S. You can follow my partner/ boyfriend/ honey's photography blog: here. He photographs a lot of beautiful things in our great state of Vermont. I am working on getting him to get me good shots of the animals on the regular.

Daily Cute: Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-18T09:31:00.001-04:00

You said, "Leave the cat alone"...
we're not even close to him.

Daily Cute

2011-05-17T07:26:00.000-04:00

I am one with the pillow.