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

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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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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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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