Give a Little Bit

"It's time to "Do Something".

    

My name is Ava Aston and I love animals. I know put on your surprise face, no shocking information here considering my furkids are plastered all over the internet. Most people know me as an Independent Recording Artist and yes my first love is music, my second is animals. I have five dogs (three of which are rescues) and to be honest if I were not careful I could possibly end up on an episode of hoarders. Only in my episode the animals would be living in the lap of luxury. The only hard thing they would have to endure would be which orthopedic doggie bed to sleep on, or which organic food they want for the day. Who doesn't love animals? I mean really... can we even trust people who don't?

So last spring I started a little something to help bring awareness to the epidemic of animal neglect and cruelty. To shine the spotlight on the heroes who work day in and day out in animal rescue, also as a way to help encourage people to get involved. Not everyone can rescue, adopt, or foster an animal, but everyone can give. A midweek reminder to think about those on the front lines giving second chances to animals whom without their efforts would suffer and often not make it. Donating on a regular basis even as little as $5.00 can make a huge impact. So "Waggin Tail Wednesday" was born #WagginTailWednesday or #WTW.

There are so many amazing rescue organizations utilizing Social Media, Facebook in particular to help save animals. Neglected, dumped, abused and just when I think I have seen the worst thing I can possibly imagine, another horrific case pops up.

So I post one rescue, news story or video every Wednesday. The idea is for people to visit their pages, websites, give, and share. Animals are Gods creatures, are innocent and do not deserve to be tortured. They are not cupcakes to be sold for profits, should not be bred in puppy mills, sold in stores and most certainly do not belong in ads given away for free or sold on craigslist.

Animal abuse and neglect is an epidemic in this country that many turn a blind eye to. People think they can't help, afford to help, don't have time, etc. Sharing a link of a dog up for adoption is free, pledging $1 or $5 I'm pretty sure will not cause anyone to go hungry. When large numbers of people take a minute out of their day to "Do Something" it can and has literally saved and completely changed the lives of animals who have suffered beyond your worst nightmare. All it takes is for one to care and act.

Think I'm exaggerating? Google "Puppy Doe" or read about it here Unfortunately things like this happen every day. I believe that most people are inherently good, loving and would not do such evil things, but there is also an epidemic of ignorance that at times blows my mind. Having an animal is a lifetime commitment, not a toy to give away when one grows tired of it or it gets a little "inconvenient". Having a baby or moving is not a reason to dump a pet, sorry but it's just not! Rescues and kill shelters all over the country are bursting at the seams to the point where thousands of innocent creatures are killed every day simply because there is no one to adopt them, and the shelter is out of room.

It has to stop and the only way it will ever stop is if enough people "Do Something". Puppy mills, and selling dogs in pet stores has to end!

I'm not for more laws but to stop the viscious cycle it needs to be done. A simple solution is: In order to be a "Breeder" one must be "Licensed". In order to be licensed, one must pass a test (similar to a Dr., Real Estate Agent or any other licensed professional) and pay a high yearly fee. This will keep out the "backyard or kitchen" breeders who are selling to their friends or on craigslist. In order to breed one needs to know the history, potential medical issues being passed on, do the proper testing i.e.: (OFA X-rays for hips) etc. Pet stores should not be allowed to sell dogs or cats. An alternative would be a station to see animals from local shelters or rescues. It would stop "impulse" buying and all together these types of changes could help stop the problem. However the whole cycle is a money making machine so there are people who do not want it to stop or care about the innocent animals hurt in the process. Puppy mills, dog fighting, neglect, abuse, it's all happeneing everyday right under our noses. If people would be on alert, and start to call attention to cases when they see them we can save more lives. Call lawmakers, it all starts with "doing something".

A rescue I give to on a regular basis is Animal Rescue Corps. Check out this video about what they encounter on a regular basis Watch Here.

Something that has always made me smile is the word DOG spelled backwards is GOD. Just like him all they want is our love... think about it. It's in the bible, he gave us charge over the animals to care for, and the lion will lie down with the lamb. You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat animals. So don't forget to tune in every Wednesday on Facebook, and be on alert for ways in which you can make a difference in the lives of animals. Have a beautiful day!

Blessings, Love & Music
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

No Excuse

I've blogged about animals on many occasions, and well what can I say? I love furkids, deal with it. Besides it's been said ones true character is revealed in how they treat animals. So you know what that means... yes that means Greek Girl is a Good Person ;o)

Seriously though besides having four furkids of my own (used to be five until our ten and a half year old Maltese "Itty Bitty" passed unexpecedly of congestive heart failure back in September of last year) I am involved with rescue. Sometimes fostering, and often do home visits for potential adopters for a few different rescue groups. A home visit is necessary to make sure the animal does not end up back in a dangerous situation. Because as you might have guessed not everyone out there is what they appear to be. Or for whatever reason their wires get crossed in their noggins and decide it would be OK to dump their pet in a shelter. So home visits are necessary and vital to make sure rescued furkids truly do go into forever homes.

After all the things I have seen in rescue nothing really surprises me. However, I was particularly upset this past week when I saw a story in the news about an outrageously horrific situation involving craigslist. I would hope that most people understand why it's never OK to put an ad on craigslist for an animal, especially for Free. It's sad but stories like the one I'm about to share happen often these days. The following link is about a story of a man who was recently arrested for having been found in a motel room with multiple animals he had dismembered. Animals he had obtained from craigslist.
Don't believe me... here ya go:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/16/jason-brown-adopted-dogs-dismember-motel_n_5592267.html

I know life can be chaotic, especially in the times we are living. The economy is rough and people have life changes, I get it. However I'm not sure why when some people start to cut back they jump to something as severe as dumping a family pet in a kill shelter. There are always options, there is always a way, it's just a matter of if someone is willing to make the effort to make adjustments that will allow them to keep their pet. Some people just don't want to be bothered.

We have an epidemic of puppy mills producing millions of puppies that are shipped to pet stores. Backyard or kitchen breeding dogs to make an extra few bucks. Then add to that the ones who refuse to spay and neuter either for financial reasons, or even worse they don't want to make their pet an "it", are just a few of the absurd justifications I have heard. When you add it all up it equates to five to seven million animals and growing being euthanized in shelters across the country every single year. The only way this is ever going to change is to change the law. Make Puppy Mills illegal, and not allow backyard breeding. Have mandatory spay/neuter and for anyone who is interested in betterment of the breed and who wants to breed, make them have to be licensed. The license would be a very hard test like a Dr. and include a high yearly fee which would keep the backyard breeders out. Believe me I'm for LESS Government control not more. The government wants to control almost every aspect of our lives i.e.: health care, cap and trade to regulate how much energy we consume, food, medicine, etc. Yet they allow the rampant torture of Gods creatures in Puppy Mills. It boggles my mind, that however is a blog for another day.

My point here more than anything is why is it that at the first sign of trouble or inconvenience, people's first instinct is to throw up their hands and "dump" the family pet? They wouldn't ever do it to you, you wouldn't do it to a child, so why on earth do it to a helpless creature who only wants your love? I'm really beginning to think that God must be rethinking the whole part where he gave man charge over the animals. I can just imagine with all the evil things that go on every day, he must be sitting up there thinking maybe it should have been the other way around. It'd probably be a lot less cruel of a world.

As you can imagine there is no circumstance where I would ever give up an animal, period. Trust me and it's not like I'm rolling in the dough either... I'm an Independent Recording Artist. That means there's no label or big machine pushing my music all over TV, radio & social media. I do the best I can with what I have and work my pants off. I built my following brick by brick, fan by fan, and work social media like mad. Like everyone else out there working for their dreams I do what I have to do and try to live my life according to my moral compass. That for me means even if I were homeless on the street, I'd be in my cardboard box with my four furkids. That's just how I roll. Animals are family, there is never a reason to "get rid" of them, period. That may sound extreme to some people, but a living creature that can not survive without you that you made a commitment to is not something to be taken lightly, or to be forgotten when life changes. It's called making adjustments. I thought it would be interesting to post a few meme's that quite bluntly demonstrate some of the illogical thinking regarding dumping pets. Some also that dispel some of the misconceptions about what happens to your pet after you dump it at a the "shelter".

The Truth

How do these people sleep at night?

There is No Excuse.

Can you imagine?

Every day they die waiting...

More ridiculous excuses.

You can make a difference.

Pets Do not Belong on Craigslist - Ever!

Trust, Love. Unconditional that never ends... Don't fail them.

You can make a difference. Not only be being vigilant to furkids in need around you, but also with social media. Sharing helps place dogs. Giving even the smallest amount, even $1.00 to a rescue who has just taken in an animal with obscene medical bills makes a difference. There is strength in numbers... if everyone who cares and has liked a page gives even the small amounts when a rescue asks instead of scrolling past, just think of the number of animals that would be saved.

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

Second Chances

Unconditional love... requires so little yet gives so much.

I'm an animal nut, I admit it. This has already been throughly established in my over two years of blogging. Currently we have four fur kids in the Aston abode (it was five until our ten and a half year old Maltese "Itty Bitty" died of congestive heart failure back in September). I do not hesitate to rescue, rehome and have been angrily referred to as a "Doggie Rescue Ambulance" by "Punkin" our talking fur kid, the one with her own channel on my your tube page. (see Punkin videos here)  She can be a jealous little Pekingese and does not like to share her momma with other fur kids.

She gets especially mad when she sees her momma cheating on her looking at homless doggies on the internet. I try to explain to her that sharing these little faces helps to get them jail broke from the kill shelter where they may end up being put to sleep, but she doesn't care. Like I said she is jealous. She has her warm bed, toys, organic food, and has her momma trained so well that she gets brocccli mixed into her little food mash every day. That along with plain kefir, glucosamine & chondroitin, and even a little wet food. I tell her she has no idea how good she has it, or what kind of horrors happen to doggies in the world every day. She super especially does not like her brother "Pepe" who was pulled from a kill shelter whom she thinks steals all of momma's attention.

So over the weekend I was enjoying a hot cup of happiness a la Dunkin's looking at one of the pages of the amazing rescue's that I subscribe to and I learned about a fundraiser were doing to raise emergency medical funds. When the shelter calls with an emergency case that they are unable to care for, this rescue steps up (as much as it can afford to and even beyond that many times) and gets that animal to an emergency vet to make sure they get the advanced care they need. Otherwise they would be euthanized at the shelter. I know, sad but true. It amazes me what human beings do to animals on a daily basis. Honestly I don't know how some people sleep at night.

Having just had our four furkids at the vet on Saturday and having spent a pretty penny for their yearly shots. It got me to thinking... I know vets have to make money and don't get me wrong, but I think they have gotten just a bit out of control. In the long run it ends up leading to animal neglect. The funny thing is this year we even did their rabies shots at the county clinic which was only a $5.00 donation per dog... total of $20 bucks. At the vet that would have added another $80 to our already near $500 total.

It's great that places like Petco do shot clinics, however to get advanced vaccines like Lyme if you live in an area where you need it like we do, the shot clinic vets charge $40 each just for that vaccine. So no matter how you slice it, it ends up being about $120 per dog to do the shots. Which if you have more than one dog, starts adding up very fast. I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. I have four fur kids and pay for what they need no matter what. It just makes you think when a vet charges anywhere from $50-100 and up just for the office visit. Then anywhere from $20-40 for a vaccine that costs less than $3.00. I'm all for capitalism and profit, but doesn't a vet get into medicine because they love animals? Or did I miss something along the way?

Shelters all over the country are full of dogs and cats that are dumped because people can no longer afford to care for them. Or even worse people keep them and just let them go with no shots, and leaving medical conditions untreated for years on end. Then for one reason or another the animal ends up at the shelter with an advanced condition that in many cases ends up taking their little lives. This is so stupid and so preventable. I understand that a vet goes to medical school, they are a Dr. and just like Dr.'s they should be rewarded for their hard work. However there should be a line somewhere. A line between making a profit and being obscene to the point where people can not afford to care for their pets. A vet I love and used to go to in this area for example used to charge $40 for an office visit. It is now over $100 for a regular office call, and an emergency visit is $150.

I don't know it just seems to me that if you care for animals and love them so much that you go to school to be able to care for them for a living... when you get out and open a practice, that you will not become so greedy that you forget that the animals are the ones who suffer when you decide to start raising prices, and raising, and raising, and raising. Making it harder and harder for people with multiple dogs to have multiple dogs. Which leads to less dogs being adopted from shelters. Just my two cents.

I want to see more dogs who are sitting in shelters get a second chance at life, and vets continuing to charge into the stratosphere for care is not helping the situation at all. So when you see a rescue posting on Facebook or somewhere asking for donations, know they are the only chance for these creatures. Your taking a minute to share and give $1, $5, $10 or whatever you can afford to do can and will make a difference. If everyone who sees these posts takes the time to do it, the rescues can save more innocent animals.

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava :D xo
www.avaaston.com

True Story

This is what a Fur-kid in the midst of a nervous breakdown due to Thunderstorm looks like...

Did you know that some fur-kids turn into little gremlins during thunder storms? Neither did I.  And I thought I knew everything there was to know about fur-kids, being that I have five of them.  See when I was growing up my mom had a boarding kennel, as well as raising and showing Collies and Sheltland Sheepdogs (which looks like a Miniature Collie for anyone who doesn't know what one is).

Those who have been reading my blog a while may remember that back in the fall the Aston doggie clan grew by one when we rescued "Pepe" from the Harlem Kill shelter in NYC.  We were supposed to just be "fostering" him for the local Pekingese Rescue where one of my other fur-kids "BoBo" came from until he could find a forever home.  That was until we went there and jail-broke him from the shelter and I scooped him up in my arms. We saw how abused and scarred he was.  We could not let him go and decided to keep him.  No one in their right mind was going to put up with his biting, trust and other issues.  It wasn't his fault his previous owner was a moron and hurt him.  He needed someone patient to help him work through all his little quirks.  So WE meaning me decided the only way to keep him safe was to keep him.  Then I had to tell Mr. Aston "honey we're getting another dog".  Meanwhile who could blame him for thinking about how to put me in the trashcan along with all the five fur-kids.  Just kidding.

Since then it's been a long seven months, and at times we call even him "Pepe-Laden" if you get my drift... Most of the bad behaviors are gone, although he does slice and dice a finger or two when he's in the mood.  He has never bit me though, ever.  Just last week he even went after the neighbor because he does not like cigarettes and the neighbor was smoking while making sudden movements towards him.  Which is not the smartest thing to do especially since we told our neighbor about the situation multiple times.  "Pepe" had burns all over his little body on him when we got him, from the shape they were we suspect they was cigarette burns.

Anyhow little "Pepe" has made miraculous strides and most of the time he is a happy little mush who just wants to be loved and safe, play with his toys and sleep.  Well durning this rash of wacky weather, our area has been hit with some monster thunderstorms lately.  So picture this, I'm in my office one day doing some social media drinking a hot cup of happiness a la Dunkin's when "Pepe" decides he is going to hide from the rain and thunder noise on top of the shredder of all places.  I pull him off, once, twice, three, four... and on we went.  After about the tenth time he jumped off and decided it would be a good idea to chase me around the office biting at my feet.

I was wearing shorts and flip fops so I was rightly concerned he might actually get me, so much so that I had to plop a chair down in between us to stop him.  I then ran out of my office yelling like a little girl and shut the door.  I'm standing there on the other side of the door thinking to myself "Greek Girl what in the heck in the world are you doing?!?! - you're a grown adult and you're letting a little 14lb dog boss you around".  Meanwhile before I had ran out, "Punkin" was sitting there looking at this whole thing like "this is total Muckery".  BTW all the other four fur-kids were left on the other side of that door with "Pepe-Laden".

So I marched back in there and told him I was not having any of it... then I drugged him.  Yes - I did.  I gave him a "Composure" chew.  No not real drugs silly... I would never do that.  Composure is a natural supplement that contains the active ingredient Thiamine (Vitamin B1) and some other ingredients which promote "balanced behavior" in dogs.  As well as help to calm anxiety.  He was so unhinged I gave him a whole one, the dosage for a big dog.  Sure enough he "calmed down" and went to sleep until the storms passed.

Moral of the story... give "Pepe" a composure "before" storms come next time.  And that my friends is why Greek Girl is not afraid to drug her dog if she needs to.  Remember to get yourself some "Composure" in case your fur-kids get skitzo during a storm.  Hope you have a beautiful day!

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava :D xox
www.avaaston.com

Big Dog vs Small Dog

So here I am with my Great Dane Sampson, who is now in heaven.  He was an amazing dog.  It was really great having him for the short time that I did, he developed spinal degeneration at the age of eight.  I used to hear so many silly comments from people, it used to make me laugh at the things they would say about his size... "Hey is that a dog or a horse" coming from some dude with a big pie eating grin on his mug from across the street on a walk.  I'm thinking, really... seriously? Or there was always one of my favorite's "Hey do you have a saddle for that?" Again, some really "A" material on the big dog jokes don't ya think?

Since Sam's passing, I went in a totally different direction with my dog size choice. I now have three Pekingese who weight 8,10, 13 lbs & one little 4 lb Maltese... Collectively they don't even make half of a Sampson. Which is kind of handy seeing as though when I go on tour it's like having one big dog in four little pieces. So I was thinking about what makes people choose the pets they do, or do our pets end up choosing us?

I have always loved animals, even as a little girl.  I was out in the yard as early as four years old picking up snakes (yikes).  One time I rode my bike down to the local pet store (2 miles away) to buy a hamster with a $5.oo bill I found on the floor in a diner (yup I was even in the Greek diner's back then at age seven).  Or my personal favorite, hiding a kitten in my room thinking somehow my mom would not find out, what was I thinking? You see I'm allergic to cats, but I just could not resist a neighbor kid giving away a kitten, so home I'd go and hide it in my room.  Only to come home from school to find my mom sitting on my bed hold it asking "Ava, what is this..." Me: "ummm what, I don't know what it is or where it came from."...

Bobo sporting a party hat!

So it only stands to reason that this grown up Greek Girl has always had lots of fur kids around. To tell the story of how I ended up with four dogs, would be four totally different blogs.  We all know this Greek Blonde Girl loves to yap her trap but to keep it short I'll just tell you about my Pekingese "BoBo".  He was a rescue from Petfinder.com  It is a really wonderful option to choose if you are looking for a fur baby.  They have been around for fifteen years and have had over seventeen million adoptions. That's a lot of fur kids finding forever homes (well lets hope they were forever homes).  It's great because you can search in your local area for specific breeds of dogs, cats, horses, birds, whatever creature floats your boat.  It helps rescue organizations help more animals, as most have a nominal adoption fee that covers vet expenses, etc. and this helps them to be able to help more animals who need saving.  Pets really only want our love, and they have so much to give.  No matter what kind of muckery a day has brought there is nothing like coming home to the love of your fur baby.  Even Mr. Bricks has a wire haired fox terrier named Sunny, (he's adorable btw).  Gee I just hope Mr. Bricks doesn't feed him McRibs.

Mr. Bricks please do not feed Sunny any McRibs

*Please remember to spay & neuter your furkids....  just sayin.

Blessings ~

Ava xox