"Help Spare Shelter Dogs From The Winter Chill"

A warm thank you to our readers and supporters in this mission. After making a few phone calls, we found a near by shelter who was more than happy to accept the rest of the sweaters. We have been asked by email and on my blog more than once about an address to send donations. We have given a great deal of thought to ways to get more sweaters to dogs everywhere. Here in our small home town we only represent a small corner of the country. The winters are nice compared to many chilling places up north and through-out.

After talking to other shelters  just in our area I can only imagine what dogs go through every winter all over the us. Its obvious we have (unexpectedly) stumbled upon a HUGE issue that should be addressed.

The question lately has been…how? How do we address such a large scale issue? Well I think we have found the answer. I believe with the help of other caring dog lovers and our friends and the friends of friends we can accomplish an amazing thing.

And, while we may be venturing in new territory I am not at all skeptical of the compassion that exist through our blog readers and many more pet lovers through-out out this country. The key  has always been to build a bridge between the dogs and the people that are willing to help them.

So it is with this blog that we have decided to expand our mission beyond the scope of our small town and invite others to reach out from all over.

Here’s how you can help:

Send us your old sweaters and we will recycle them and distribute them to animal shelters all over the us so that dogs just like the ones we’ve already helped dont have to suffer through the cold winter(the smaller the better). Im sure if you dig around your closet you can find a sweater or two that you never plan on wearing again.

Send your old sweaters to the following address:

PO Box 19071
Hattiesburg Ms
39404

If you DONT have any old sweaters:

Then pass this blog to someone who does!

Do you have a friend or family member who has a passion for animals besides yourself? Then simply copy and paste the url below in an email and ask a friend or family member to visit this blog so they can help too!

http://bignutshell.com/blogs/dogproject/

Here is your chance to give back for the holidays and help save thousands of dogs from a freezing winter!

Thank you all for your support in this mission. And Im sure the dogs will thank you too!

We will post updates soon!

Today was probably the most productive day thus far!

We ended up with more than enough sweaters for all the outside dogs here at our local shelter.

In fact we have a few left over. So instead of letting these dogie sweaters go to waste, we are going to call a few more shelters tomorrow to see if they can use them.

We have 23 left and Id hate to just throw them away. Im sure there are plenty of dogs that would appreciate them.

I think its pretty safe to say at this point, winter is here to stay and its not getting any warmer.

I wish we could just keep buying and recycling these sweaters for these dogs but we can only do so much by our self.

But at least I know we are helping as many as we can.

A part of me feels like Im sick of looking at these sweaters anyway but the other part of me cant help but think of all the other dogs out there in little towns all across the country. Just wish   we could do more. But It looks like our duty is coming to an end.

This has been a lot of fun through and Ive enjoyed blogging about tit. Thanks to everyone for the emails and support. Overall this has been a great experience. It doesn’t take much to make a doggy happy and warm and Im just glad we could be a part of this.

Im happy to report the animal shelter was happy to accept the sweaters and have agreed to use them. According to the weather channel its getting down in the 30s and I have no idea what the wind factor is but considering the cold front headed our way Im expecting it will get pretty chilly.

I dont think these sweaters were nearly enough.

Tomorrow we will make another trip to the good will and see if we can get some more. Now that I know the shelter is going to use them I dont mind the small investment.

Ive found that the best sweaters are in the kids section as those seem to be the best fit for most of the small to mid-sized shelter dogs. There’s really not much to report at this point. I will do an update as soon as we can.

Today marks the day of two important events. The starting of this blog, and the eye opening experience that has lead us to start of this blog.

As I write this I wonder how many people are warm in their homes while thousands of shelter dogs are left int he cold. Today our family set out to have some fun by visiting our local animal shelter.

Its something we try to do at least a few times a month, if nothing else just to remind us of how lucky we are to have a dog with a warm home. But this time of year it can get particularly for some of these dogs.

Our local shelter takes in more than 10,000 animals per year and As the population of the shelter increases,  more and more dogs are forced to remain outside in the cold. Currently, as I’m writing this the chill factor is  48°F and  the wind is blowing 17 mile an hour with a cold front headed our way.

And we  live in the deep south. So I can only imagine what the dogs up north are going through. This shelter is the last home some of these pups will ever know. And almost all the funding dog shelters receive come from private resources and donations. (not the city).

While I understand many of these dogs will never find homes (although troubling) it hurts me to think that their last resting place ESPECIALLY during the holiday season would be a cold, dark hole.

I stepped out for just a few minutes to take the trash out tonight and couldn’t wait to get back inside in the heat. I can only image what it must be like for these little guys right now as they shiver through the night (ALL Night).

I can understand that some people just cant afford to adopt. And I can even understand (to a certain extent) that this may be their last resort. BUT I cannot for the life of me understand why ANY dog should have to suffer through this cold winter chill!

So after much talk, Alisha and I thought it would be a good idea to pay a visit to our local Good-Will and see if we can find some old sweaters. Actually Alisha came up with the idea for dog sweaters, and I came up with the idea for recycling them.

And here’s what we’ve got so far.

We were able to purchase 12 hand-me-down sweaters at a decent price (normally worn by humans) and with a little creativity (and Alisha’s amazing sewing skills) make doggy sweaters!

I was surprised at how easy it was to make these into doggy sweaters. I pictured it begin a little more difficult than this. But I guess with a little creativity anything is possible.

We even tried a few on our dog Dexter and he loved it!

I think this is going to be a lot of fun! I will do an update tomorrow.