DoT's Dog Days Of Summer Secret Swap

Welcome to this weeks edition of Dogs On Thursday!

Next month on July 10th, Dogs on Thursday will be One!
There will be a contest in July to celebrate, so stay tuned.

And...Today starts the sign ups for our Dog Days Of Summer Secret Swap.
Here is a button for the swap, I am not very good at button making so maybe there will be more buttons to choose from next week.

The swaps officially Starts on Thursday July 10th and Ends on Thursday August 28th.
This is a Summer Themed swap.
It is also a secret swap and there is a $30. minimum.
For this swap each participant must send a package containing at least one summer related toy, one treat bag for the fur baby(ies) and one treat for the human owned by the fur baby(ies).
One card with a tip on how to help keep cool in the summer heat.
Please mail packages no later than August 21st.
(Stuff happens down the road so after you sign up and you find you are running late or need help or and angel please contact me or Natalie.)
If you want to participate please email me or Natalie with the answers to this questionnaire.

DoT's Dog Days Of Summer Participant Questionnaire.
1)Your Name
2)Dog(s) Name(s)
3)Snail Mail Address
4)Email Address/Blog Address
5)list any related allergies for you or your furbaby.
6)What is your pooches favorite summertime activity?
7)What is your Favorite summertime activity?
8)What are your dogs favorite treats?
9)What is your favorite treats?
10)How do you and your Pup stay cool when the temperatures rise outside?




I have another special dog story to tell you from my trip to the UK.
Some may already have heard this tale but is was new to me when we visited Edinburgh, Scotland.

Here is The Story of Greyfriars Bobby

John Gray used to take his little dog Bobby, a Skye terrier, to work with him everyday in Edinburgh were he was a Constable there.
After the one o'clock gun sounded, he and Bobby would have lunch in a pub near Greyfriars.
On February 15th 1858, John Gray died of tuberculosis after Gray was buried in a graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in the Old Town of Edinburgh.
Bobby would refuse to leave the grave of his master, but only when the one O'clock gun would sound would Bobby leave the grave and find his way to the pub were he and his master used to have lunch and the Pubs landlord would continue to feed Bobby.
For 14 years Bobby watched over his masters grave, stirring the emotions of the people of Edinburgh.
The gardener and keeper of Greyfriars tried on many occasions to evict Bobby but in the end they took pity on him. He built the little dog a shelter nearby and helped to fed him regularly, especially on Sundays when the gun did not sound.

In 1867, when it was pointed out by the city that an ownerless dog should be destroyed, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir William Chambers (who was also a director of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), went to court to fight for Bobby's life and then paid for the renewal of Bobby's licence, making him the responsibility of the city council.
Every year there after the children and other kind citizens made sure that Bobby's licence was paid for each year and that he was cared for and fed.

It is said that Bobby never spent a night away from his master's grave even in the most dismal weather conditions.

When Bobby died on January 14, 1872, he could not be buried within the cemetery itself, since it was consecrated ground; instead he was buried just inside the gate of Greyfriars Kirkyard, not far from John Gray's grave.
A year after the dog died, the philanthropist Baroness Burdett Coutts had a statue and fountain erected to commemorate him.
A red granite stone was erected on Bobby's grave by The Dogs Aid Society of Scotland, and unveiled by the Duke of Gloucester on May 13, 1981. It reads:
"Greyfriars Bobby — died 14th January 1872 — aged 16 years — Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all."


I hope everyone has a cool and pleasant week!

Technical Difficulties

Sorry folks, due to many technical difficulties beyond my control Dogs on Thursday will continue next Thursday.
For today here is the the Mr. Linky box for those that made a post today and want to sign in.
(or I hope there will be a Mr. Linky box when I hit the post button, the way today is going there may not be one.)

Dogs On Thursday with a bit of Scotland

"Hidden in the misty Scottish Highlands,
where the purple bells of heather gently sway,
lies the ancient wellspring of our rich endownment,
that lives in you,my faithful friend,today..."
~Glenny Palmer

Welcome to this weeks edition of Dogs On Thursday!

I hope everyone is staying cool and dry in this early summer heat wave.
We have had so much rain here lately that we may be rowing to work soon!

I just wanted to mention to those of you that have multi species households that Monica and BubblesKnits
have started a new weekly group for cat lovers called Whiskers on Wednesday.

Next Thursday we will announce the new DoT Dog Days of Summer swap details and start taking names of those that want to play.
So stay tuned.

Planet Dog is giving away the awesome 'Kiss Me I'm Adopted' kits for anyone who had adopted a dog or a cat!

Also Nichole's Sophie was just spotlighted over there so Go check it out!

Plus don't forget, June 20th is Take your Dog to Work Day!
There is even a picture contest to enter over on that site!

And...speaking of taking your dog to work....
Today I want to briefly share with you a dog we met in Edinburgh Scotland right outside our hotel room.

I was so amazed by the amount of bagpipers everywhere we went in Scotland.
But to me the best sounding one was this man.
According to our hotel porter this man played his pipes day and night and is a common fixture at the hotel and he is there three times a day.
(I took this one after I got on the bus that is why its color is different.) Outside our hotel and we could hear him in the morning when we woke up and even in the evening when we returned after a day of sight seeing.
The Pipers faithful friend is a service dog and his name is Scratch according to the hotel porter.
We were unable to get a chance to talk to the piper but I did get to pet his best friend for a minute in the mornings.
We also saw many of these guide/service dog donation boxes in Scotland and I had to take a picture of this one before dropping in a few euros.
It was in a restaurant that we stopped at just over the Scottish at Gretna Green.
It was the first one we saw in the shape of two dogs.

Okay I only have a few more posts of the interesting dogs we met on our trip then it is back to our regularly scheduled 'Doggie Spotlights'.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Dogs On Thursday

Welcome to this weeks Dogs on Thursday!
(Sorry I am running late I didn't have a chance to post before running to class/work this morning.)

We have two new members Megan and Alice. Everyone go say Hello and Welcome.

I had a fantastic time on my three week trip abroad to Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England.
There are no words to describe the emotions I experienced while visiting these amazing places.
Thank you Natalie for holding the fort while I was away.
I took tons of pictures of everything on my trip and will be sharing some of them on my blog as the months go by.
I think between my husband and I we took a total of about 3,000 pictures. I haven't looked at the final count but I know it is up there.
Anyway I did take some pictures of some dogs that we encountered that I will share with you over the next several weeks.

This one is of a very happy little Irish dog that we met at a photo stop/bathroom break on the way to Adare from Limerick

The young man who's donkey and dog owned him said that the dogs name was Jasper (at least that is what I thought he said as his accent was thick and hard to understand.)
The young man said Jasper always enjoys riding on the back on the donkey and will get upset when he is not able to and will bark constantly at his feet, so he gives in and puts him up to ride on the donkey's back to make him happy.
He posed well for all the tourists and was quite a friendly little guy.
You can even see him smiling as he sits the soaking up the warm sunlight.


Since summer is upon us already it is almost time for another swap.
I was wondering if you would be interested in a secret swap or one where you know who your pal is?
Please let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments.

Gretchen's Paw Prattle

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