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

Many thanks to my friends at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley for inviting me to their Q&A with Alexandra Horowitz, author of Inside of a Dog. Exhausted and weary from real life, I chose NOT to take notes. So, here are just a few tidbits.

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“Two is my limit. Two is my limit. Two is my limit,” I chant in my head as I step into the new Humane Society of Boulder Valley satellite adoption center inside a Petsmart in Westminster, Colorado.

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Thanks to Kim Sporrer, media maven at Humane Society of Boulder Valley, a few newspapers have mentioned Never Shock a Puppy in articles about the humane society’s No-Choke Challenge. The most recent of which featured a mondo picture of me and Lilly. OMG.

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Despite concerns it might be too much for her, we took Lilly with us to the awards event at Humane Society of Boulder Valley Thursday night. At times, she threw oh-hell-no looks me. Other times, she smiled and even wagged. A few strategies helped Lilly cope in the crowd.

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A couple of weeks ago, I got a funny voice-mail message from Kim Sporrer, who handles communication stuff for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley (where we adopted Lilly in October 2004). She asked me to call her and, in the meantime, to keep the evening of February 24 open. She was a little cryptic.

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Thanks again to all of you who contributed money during our Never Shock a Puppy campaign last fall. The funds raised by the entire coalition actively supports the Humane Society of Boulder Valley‘s No-Choke Challenge, which launched January 15, 2011.

Because that’s where we adopted Lilly in October 2004 and because Boulder Humane is truly one of the most progressive animal welfare spots in the country, we could not be MORE thrilled to support their efforts … first by raising money through our Be the Change campaign and now by spreading the word about the No-Choke Challenge.

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A while back, Stephanie Feldstein, the animals editor for Change.org, contacted me about our Never Shock a Puppy efforts. She asked a bunch of questions via email. I answered, and the result is this blog post. Many thanks to her for the interest and enthusiasm.

[Speaking of news ... Humane Society of Boulder Valley is launching its No-Choke Challenge today. The graphics are to die for. I promise we'll write more about it in the coming days. Stay tuned!]

Now, Back to Our Scheduled Topic!

Lilly and I are so pleased that we can return the favor to Stephanie by asking those of you who agree with our very public stance against shock collars to sign this petition, asking Petsmart to stop selling shock collars. Please.

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It’s time for a good news post, don’t you think? Here are three happy things we wanted to share.

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The $500 donation is one of the biggest reasons I hoped to win the DogTime Media Best Dog Blog Award. It took some doing to work out the details, but I had the chance to celebrate the donation that YOU made possible last Friday. Thanks, again, for your votes!!

This bonus $500 helped the Never Shock a Puppy coalition reach its goal of raising more than $2,500 for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.

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In week 7 of the 2010 Never Shock a Puppy dog blog campaign, we discuss whether or not snake aversion training is the one “acceptable” use of shock collars.  Personally, my answer is no, but there are many people I like and respect who believe otherwise.

Since Lilly has survived TWO rattlesnake bites in TWO years, I like to think we know a bit about this particular subject.

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We only have TWO weeks left to reach our goal to raise $2,500 for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley. So, we’ve added some donation incentives, with many thanks to Kevin Myers from Dog Lover’s Digest, who has written TWO terrific posts in support of our Never Shock a Puppy campaign:

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Today, we officially launch our Be the Change campaign and service project over at Never Shock a Puppy. Each Wednesday, between Sept 1 and Oct 20, we’ll be blogging here and over there on the the topic of the week. For the big kickoff, let’s start with the big picture — the philosophy, the mindset — behind our Never Shock a Puppy efforts.

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It’s official. The girls of Champion of My Heart, along with several members of our blogging coalition, will launch our Be the Change effort September 1. You can read all about it on our new microsite called … Never Shock a Puppy.

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I’d already planned a post about Lilly’s coming-inside breakthrough, when pals reminded me that TODAY, July 15, is one of four BIG Be the Change for Animals days each year. I’ve been consumed with the fact that July 15 is another “hospital” day, so my whole week has been about that.

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Amid the distractions of real life, I nearly missed the chance to spend a day learning more about fearful dogs. It’s a total fluke that I remembered last week, but I’m glad I did. I get to study with Nicole Wilde!

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