Champion of My HeartA real-time memoir about life with a fearful border collie, by Roxanne Hawn

A 5-month-old, female, border collie (mix) puppy jumped from a moving car Sunday, April 22, 2012, on Golden Gate Canyon Road (west of Golden, Colorado). Please use email and social media to alert anyone you know who lives in the area or who hikes, bikes, or rides horses in the area, including in Mount Galbraith Open Space Park, White Ranch Open Space Park, Centennial Cone Open Space Park, and Golden Gate Canyon State Park.

[This is not our dog. We're trying to help a neighbor.]

UPDATE: Monday night, April 30

I am THRILLED to report that this puppy was found last night by a family, living near Guy Hill, which is very close to where Oreo jumped from a moving car 8 days earlier. She is skinny and will go to the veterinarian today (Tuesday 5/1) for a check-up, but otherwise, she is safe and sound … back with her foster family.

I hope to get details on her recovery soon (including photos), but I do know that she was found Monday sometime and thanks to the wide-spread sharing of her lost report, the family knew who to call to report her being found.

BEST OF ALL … the family who found her might be interested in adopting Oreo!

Many thanks to everyone who helped!

UPDATE: Friday night, April 27

An animal communicator believes OREO is moving east (toward the town of Golden). She also believes that Oreo is staying to the south of Golden Gate Canyon Road off in areas where cattle graze. There is a good chance she is in the Mt Galbraith area. Keep looking!

***

The last real sighting was late Sunday (4/22) afternoon near Golden Gate Canyon Road and Horseradish Gulch Road (about 6 miles from her foster home).

Lost Border Collie Puppy – Golden Gate Canyon, Golden, Colorado – Please Help!

• Her name is Oreo
• Border Collie mix puppy (black and white) – 5 months old
• About 35 pounds
• Purple collar (no tags, no microchip)
• Foster puppy living with family in Golden Gate Estates (near the Jeffco / Gilpin County border) for 1 week when lost
• Puppy is VERY SHY. She may be hiding or may run if pursued.

If found or seen, please call Leslie or Sean @:

303-582-9391

OR

303-548-7232

To celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Champion of My Heart, we’re doing our biggest giveaway to date — a high-end air purifier from Oreck (retail value around $400).

On April 13, 2007, which also was a Friday the 13th, we began Champion of My Heart. Since then, Champion of My Heart has become an award-winning dog blog of some note. Thank you!

To celebrate, we’re giving away ONE Oreck AirInstinct air purifier through a random drawing of qualifying entries.

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Lilly and I could NOT be more pleased to take part in Pillars of Strength – A Special Day for K on this of all days. You see, K (who is both a real-life dog training and local dog blogging friend) is the QUEEN of all Heart Dogs. So, a tribute to her on Valentine’s Day seems fitting.

All the love in the world to you, beautiful K (and your family). May all the strength and blessings in the universe rain down upon you as you fight back against the darn cancer veterinarians found in your bones.

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The folks behind Buy A Shirt Help a Dog donate one-third of every t-shirt purchased to another non-profit dog charity every 4 months. They’re taking nominations for dog charity groups through December 31, 2011. Pop on over and nominate your favorite! We’ve already nominated ours … Humane Society of Boulder Valley.

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Fellow dog writer and dog blogger Peggy Frezon from Peggy’s Pet Place asked us to take part in blog book tour to promote her new book Dieting With My Dog: One Busy Life; Two Full Figures and Unconditional Love. I’m VERY good at keeping Lilly’s weight perfect, and I mean perfect. Even our veterinary nutritionist friend said Lilly had a perfect body condition. Me? As I mentioned last week, not so much. So, I asked Peggy a few questions about her weight-loss journey.

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Now, in its third year, the Santa Paws Drive is like Toys for Tots, except the money and toys donated go to pets in selected shelters and rescue groups. That includes Black Dog Animal Rescue Inc. in Wyoming this year. Goodness knows everyone at Chez Champion of My Heart loves black (and mostly black) dogs.

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Even after all the years working in magazines, I’ve never quite adjusted to thinking about holidays 6 months or more before they happen. That’s why I’m just NOW putting out a call for friends and vendors to think about gift ideas for the Champion of My Heart community.

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The ASPCA launched a campaign to educate people about the puppy mill sources of puppies sold in pet stores. You too can take the pledge NEVER to shop for anything in stores that sell puppies. And, you can sign a petition to the White House, asking for legislation to close dog care loopholes (particularly for mass puppy breeders who sell pups via the internet).

I know you guys. I’m confident that you know all too well where pet store puppies come from and what it means to give your money to stores that propagate this icky dogs-as-cash-crop industry.

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September 17-25, 2011, Petfinder.com is hosting Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week and asked bloggers to take part. Big surprise … We picked this adoptable border collie in Newburgh, Indiana, to promote. His name is Marty!

All American Dawgs, the rescue group currently caring for Marty, posted this description:

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The girls of Champion of My Heart first “met” Ecco D’Oro, a passionate Spinone Italiano (Italian pointer) with a penchant for stealing underwear and snorkeling in the koi pond, when we reviewed Ecco’s human grandma’s book about a Native American artist named Quincy Tahoma.

"It's exhausting being this handsome."

The truth? We were a little sad that we were not the first dog-based book reviewers on the scene.

Since then, however, we’ve made friends via the blog, via email, and on Facebook with Ecco and his many, many dog friends … who collectively put the “Power of the Paw” into action every day through both virtual and real community efforts.

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Many thanks to Living Large in Our Little House for tagging Champion of My Heart in this Best of Blogging 7 Links thing that’s sweeping the web. It began with mostly travel bloggers, but it’s reached our shores. Here are links to our 7 Best blog posts:

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Today is the last day to vote for Champion of My Heart for Best Dog Blog. This month-long campaign for votes has been a real beast. So, all you here and who follow Champion of My Heart on Twitter and Facebook have my gratitude for putting up with all the begging and reminders.

Thank you for your help and support and encouragement.

There is no way of telling how the voting has been going or how close (or not) the voting might be. Just like all of you, I’ll find out Friday, August 26 @ 5 pm (eastern time) [3 pm here in CO].

Plans for the Petties Award Ceremony changed mid-stream. Rather than a live event at the BlogPaws Conference, Dogtime will be broadcasting  it somehow via YouTube.

I’ll be watching from home, most likely. Perhaps we can do some live chatting online in the process. Or, maybe Tom will take us girls on a date to celebrate no matter the outcome.

We’ve been told that not only will each winner get a prize package that includes a $1,000 donation to their pet shelter / rescue of choice, but that there is some $10,000 donation in play too. I have no details on that.

The Real Lessons

Winning last year, being nominated this year, and giving it our best run taught me several things. Some good. Some not so good.

I’ve been thinking about it a lot in recent days. And this process is a lot like the process of helping Lilly over all these years with her fears, and here is what matters most — win or lose:

• We tried, together.
• We are honored that so many of you nominated us and got us into the finals.
• We asked for and received your help. We value each and every vote, each and every person who helped us get more votes, and every single moment of honesty and kindness extended to us in the process.
• We sustained our efforts every day this month … as we have the 84 months Lilly and I have shared our lives … because it’s the trying that matters most.

Before I beg one last time for votes, I leave you with this passage sent to me by a friend, after I suffered a recent and big disappointment in my life:

“Let go. When we release our attachment to the outcome, we allow the power of grace to work its magic.”

One Last Shameless Voting Reminder

Please vote again today, the final day … you never know if it’s the difference between winning or not!

Please VOTE Champion of My Heart as Best Dog Blog!

I’ve been saying all along that you can vote each day (1-2 times). Other nominees are asking for more votes per day, and indeed the site will let you vote, and vote, and vote. We’ve been told “excessive voting” will not be allowed. But no one really knows what excessive voting means, I’m simply asking that you vote however many times YOU feel is fair.

If we’re chosen, we’ll give the $1,000 donation that’s part of the prize package to our friends at Humane Society of Boulder Valley.

Thanks so much for everything. Have a great weekend!

Today is one of four annual Blog the Change Days, where pet bloggers promote their favorite people, organizations, and events that improve the lives of animals in communities all over. The girls of Champion of My Heart decided to promote Petfinder’s Big 15th Birthday Bash. The goal? To get 15,000 pets adopted this weekend. Whew!

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A couple weeks ago, we jumped into help a neighbor’s nephew whose two Malamutes were stolen from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Ukiah, California. Here is the back-story of their recovery, as far as we can piece together.

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M’wah! Lilly and I offer our biggest THANK YOU to everyone who nominated Champion of My as Best Dog Blog in the 2012 Petties (DogTime Media Pet Blog Awards). We made the finals! So, once again, we need your help (and your votes)! Here’s how.

Voting ends Friday, July 29, 2011.

How to Vote Champion of My Heart as Best Dog Blog

1. Go to the DogTime Media Petties Page (use this URL of the link doesn’t work http://dogtime.com/petties.html).

2. Click on the little button next to Champion of My Heart in the Best Dog Blog Category (left-hand column, second block).

3. Select your choices in the other categories, if you’d like. (Our suggestions below. You do NOT have to vote in every category).

4. Click the VOTE button at the bottom , and you’re done.

If you do NOT see the VOTE button, hold down your SHIFT key and click on your page reload icon. That forces the page to dump your cache and use the most recent version of the page available.

UPDATE ON VOTING RULES (7/6/11 @ 11:30 am)

Unlike in 2010, when you could only vote once per email address, this year you can vote every day … just not excessively. According to DogTime’s Chrstina Kwan, “We aren’t capturing email like we were in the nominations phase. However, my tech team has assured me that there is something in place to prevent someone from sitting at the computer all day long submitting votes. Telling readers to go and vote once or twice a day is fine, but not excessive voting.”

That said, Lilly and I would appreciate:

• One vote now
• One vote each day (through July 29), if you are so inclined.
  

Extra Love and Gratitude to Those Who Campaign for Us

We appreciate every vote . Extra credit, good mojo, and eternal thanks to those who post our voting plea via email, Facebook, and/or Twitter as well:

Suggested Tweet:

I voted for @champofmyheart for Best Dog Blog. Won’t you please do the same? http://su.pr/1ib892

Suggested Facebook Post:

Our friends from @ChampionofMyHeart need your votes for the Best Dog Blog Award. I vote for them once each day, and I’m asking you to do the same. http://su.pr/1ib892

Share the Best Pet Blog Awards LOVE
With Champion of My Heart Friends

We’re happy to report that several of our pet blogging friends also made the finals in various Petties categories. Lilly and I would consider it a personal favor, if you voted for them too.

You do NOT have to vote in every category to take part, but we know our friends would appreciate the help.

Best Overall Pet Blog: Pet News of Views

Best Dog Blog: Champion of My Heart

Best Cat Blog: The Conscious Cat

Best Cause Related Blog: Be the Change for Animals … or K9Chronicles Rescue Me … or Raising Ruby

Best Blog Post: Raising Ruby … OR … I Love Rescue Animals … or Sparkle Cat

Best Designed Blog: your choice

Best Social Integration Blog: your choice

Funniest Blog or Blogger: Will My Dog Hate Me? … OR … Grouchy Puppy