Kirby here-
Have you heard of "pawing it forward", actually I think my mom says it's "Paying it forward", but hey, I'm a dog! Anyways there is a really cool news station here that featured a dog abuse story, the link is below. This news station is doing a pay it forward theme all month! I just want to encourage all the pawrents out there to think of a way to "paw it forward." Can you help at a local shelter or maybe can you provide for a treatment that a dog or cat at a shelter might need or maybe you can foster a dog or cat. My mom paws it forward by volunteering for Harbor Humane Society. Is there something you can do? Can you somehow share the love that you have for your furriend and give some to another...If you already do this share your story! If not, please consider doing something!
http://www.fox17online.com/news/fox17-story-of-animal-neglect-abuse-102910,0,4985420.story
Have you heard of "pawing it forward", actually I think my mom says it's "Paying it forward", but hey, I'm a dog! Anyways there is a really cool news station here that featured a dog abuse story, the link is below. This news station is doing a pay it forward theme all month! I just want to encourage all the pawrents out there to think of a way to "paw it forward." Can you help at a local shelter or maybe can you provide for a treatment that a dog or cat at a shelter might need or maybe you can foster a dog or cat. My mom paws it forward by volunteering for Harbor Humane Society. Is there something you can do? Can you somehow share the love that you have for your furriend and give some to another...If you already do this share your story! If not, please consider doing something!
http://www.fox17online.com/news/fox17-story-of-animal-neglect-abuse-102910,0,4985420.story
Also, we recently found out about how much supplies Harbor Humane Society goes through every month:
• 4,000 pounds of cat litter
• Approximately 1,000 pounds of dog and puppy food
• Approximately 900-1,000 pounds of cat and kitten food
• Approximately 200-300 rolls of paper towel
• Approximately 200-300 cans of cat/kitten food
• 60 gallons of bleach
Harbor Humane Society is the ONLY animal shelter in our county, therefore, every single animal that is found as a stray or is an owner surrender in our county is taken here! I believe they average 700 animals a month! They only have room for about 50-60 dogs and they are a kill shelter. Please check out a shelter near you furever home and find out how you can help! Whether it's donating, volunteering, fostering or adopting EVERYONE can do something!
Woof!
Kirby
Hey mom...what's that smell over there...I've smelled this before...it's...it's...SQUIRREL! I just know there has to be one over there!
"hee hee hee...that silly little dog can't see me hiding in the leaves and grass!!!"
Yeah...that little squirrel thinks he's so smart! He thinks I can't see him...well...get ready sucka! 
"Oh @%$&^*#! I think he sees me! What do I do! What do I do! What do I do!?" 
One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, four...you better run squirrel!
YIIKEESSS!!!!! YIIKEESSSS! YIKKEESSSS!!
Ha ha ha!!! Woof! I just love freaking those little buggers out!! 
Don't I just look mortified! I can't even hold my head up with dignity here. I can't even believe she was taking pictures of me in it. Now, I remember Angel Max told me about the coats AND sweaters and to just go with it...it makes our mom happy to think we are nice and warm on our walks. So I went ahead and walked with it, well mostly except for like every 10 feet I stopped and shooked. The coat never fell off, and all mom did was laugh! You'd think she would have said, "Oh poor Kirby, that coat is just really bugging you isn't it...let me take it off of you honey." But no, she just keeps walking and laughing...walking AND laughing!!!
WOOF! WOOF!
Many little creeks and streams run through the park and empty into the Grand River. The park is nicknamed the Ledges because throughout it, huge ledges have been formed over the years. There is one trail that has quite a few of them.
All along the ledges are little caves, and crevices the kids and Kirby enjoyed exploring:
(Kirby wishing he could have joined them!)
Me, Claire my niece and Kirby in one of the little caves. These were really cool, we found one that was actually dripping water. Some were big like the one above, others you had to be little to fit into:
That is my nephew Tyler in a little one, he had to lay down because it was that small! As you can see from the pics there are leaves everywhere. Here is are a few handsome pics of Kirby in them:
They were everywhere along the trail and Kirby enjoyed keeping an eye on them.
Kirby also got to meet my sister's dog Dillion at her house. Dillion also has a blog (that he shares with 2 cats and 20 some chickens!) here is his link 
Kirby's mom
But this wasn't any ordinary park...I haven't been to a park yet with sand on the walk ways! Then I looked up and saw this:
So, mom and I walked through this tunnel and then we came to this:
Mom said this place is called Lake Michigan! WOW! Here are few more pretty pics my mom took:
Mom and I walked ALL the way down the beach in the above picture! You see, most of the parks along Lake Michigan do not allow dogs in the parks or on the beaches in the summer. However, starting October 1, us four legged furriends get our days at the beach! It wasn't very crowded at all and mom and I walked for quite awile and saw no one. Mom wanted to see if I liked water or not:
Guess what? That's a big NO! That cold water touched my paws and I had had enough of that! I stayed on higher ground after that. Besides there were way to many smells and try to figure out!
Here is picture of me posing by the water. 
So mom and I walked one way down the beach for quite a while, then we turned around and headed back. We walked and walked and walked till we came to this:
Yes, after all that walking through the sand, we were going to walk up all those steps!!! Actually I think I was doing way better than mom! When we got to the top this was our view:
Mom and I sat down at the top and enjoyed the BREEZE! check out my face:
Yeah, this was great up here! It was sunny and breezy and just so much to see:
Well, mom and I sat there for quite a while, just enjoying the day. Then we headed back to the car for a drink of cold water!
That was a fun adventure that me and my mom went on. Stay tuned for next weekend when I may be visiting some place nicknamed, "the ledges!". Mom has to find out if they allow dogs there or not. Cross your paws that they do!
Isn't she just cute! Mom said this was her first adopt a thon event, she whined in the car both ways but aside from that handled it like a pro! She was great with people and all the dogs and wasn't shy at all. She is going to make a wonderful friend for someone. Her story is very sad and I want to share it with you. She was an owner surrender along with another beagle named Grover. Grover had a thyroid problem that was very easily solved with a pill every day. The owners never took care of it. They basically fed Grover and Sadie whatever whenever and they became overweight. Sadie is a little overweight and like mom said, she needs a good food and exercise. Grover however is about 50-60 pounds overweight, he is a BEAGLE! So you can imagine how extremely bad he is right now. When Grover was surrendered he could barely step over the edge to get into the building! Sadie and Grover are in the same kennel and mom saw Grover yesterday, she wants to cry everytime she sees him because he is so overweight. He is know prone to diabetes, heart problems, joint problems and loads of other problems! This is neglect folks! The humane society would love to adopt them out together, but the chances of that are slim. So they are doing everything they can for Grover to get him healthy and trying to find Sadie a good home.
Moose was the other dog there. He is a BIG lab-pit bull mix. He was found as a stray a few months ago. They figure he is about 4 years old or so. He really is a laid back guy, but for some reason Mom said he had an attitude yesterday (I know how that is). Mom had him at some other adoption events and he usually is very good but he was growling at some of the other dogs, so Moose spent a lot of time walking around outside and chewing on rawhides in his crate. It was okay, he was very happy to be doing that. Here is a pic of big ole Moose:
Mom said they had a great time yesterday with the dogs and visiting with people. Mom likes the adoption events. She always comes home exhausted but she always feels good! She found out yesterday that 3 dogs she has had at adopt a thons were going into foster to adopt homes! These are people who agree to foster a dog and have the option to adopt them. It is kind of like trying out a dog. It has been very successful! Also, a few others are going into foster homes so they can work on things like housebreaking and obedience. The lady that was helping my mom yesterday just got her foster dog adopted out (yeah!) and picked up another one Friday night to start fostering...mom says she is really cool!
Yep, another toy! This is one of my "job" toys. You see I need jobs to do when mom leaves and finding treats is one I tend to be excelling at! This is called a "Tug a Jug" it is made by Busy Buddy, they make my other treat ball too. Anyways, I had a lot of fun with it. Mom put some kibble in it and I gave it a shot. I guess you are supposed to pull the rope up and down and the treats will come out. I can't get the kibble to come out yet!! 
I tried pulling it up onto the couch. I thought maybe if I stared at it long enough the kibble would come out... 
I tried getting them out by laying down....still no luck.....
Okay, mom, we need to discuss this toy....I think this "job" is going to be really difficult for me!
Well...there is always tomorrow....
Woof!
