Ho No No! Again!

Ho No No – Please support our Christmas campaign!

We told you about Ho No No earlier this week but wanted to give you an update and ask you again to please help us. We also wanted to give you a bit more background. This year the campaign has had many strands, all with the ultimate aim of stopping puppies being bought as Christmas presents. Our two pronged approach targets both sellers and buyers.

To target the sellers we are trying to encourage pet shops not to sell puppies at this time of year, just as we stop rehoming during the festive period. The biggest of these ‘shops’ is the world famous store Harrods. Part of the Ho No No campaign is to send thousands of cards to Harrods to persuade them to stop selling puppies this Christmas, if we can convince them to stop then persuading other pet shops to do the same should be easy.

But we can’t do any of this without your help! Send a card to Harrods FREE by going to http://greetingcards.dogstrust.org.uk/ . There is a registration form to fill in but we can assure you its very quick, you won’t get loads of spam from us and it will mean the world to us and to the puppies that will have a better home as a result.

Every year we remind people that ‘a dog is for life, not just for Christmas’ and provide reasons why getting a dog at Christmas is not a good idea. Despite this, a third of all children put a puppy on their Christmas wish list and more than one in six parents say they would buy a dog as a Christmas gift if their child asked for one!*

Our Ho No No campaign targets buyers by reminding them that buying a dog online is not a great idea. Although there are many reputable sellers, we really want people to be aware of the dangers of buying an animal online and to understand why Christmas is not a great time to introduce a puppy into your home.

Dogs Trust friend Dermot O’Leary recorded these words of warning for us, isn’t he lovely!



Find our more about what Dogs Trust is doing this Christmas please visit our site http://www.adogisforlife.com/

*Dogs Trust survey carried out by One Poll in October 2011. 1,000 respondents of parents with children aged 3 to 16 years

Just in time for Christmas: book competition!

Oh, the Christmas season is upon us. While that traditionally means mince pies, mulled wine, festive music, and holiday cheer, it also means sales, raffles, prize draws, and competitions aplenty! It really is the most wonderful time of the year...

We have the pleasure of giving away two fantastic books to three lucky Dogs Trust supporters just in time for the holidays, Doggerel by Angela Patmore and Poppy's Puppies by Sophia Fergus. See below, a summary of each book and read closely to answer the questions and enter the competition:

Doggerel by Angela Patmore

Doggerel is being sold in aid of the Association of Dogs' and Cats' Homes, which embraces many of the UK's animal charities large and small.

In this book, you will find portraits and true stories of discarded dogs that were not afraid to love again. These wonderful characters, fifty out of over 100,000 dogs a year that are unwanted and abandoned by their owners in this dog-loving nation, have sad stories of abuse, neglect and dereliction to tell. Often rescue dogs have been thrown out by owners who could no longer afford them, or who found them inconvenient or naughty, or who simply could not be bothered with them any more. Many have just seven miserable days behind bars before they are put to permanent sleep by council-appointed agencies. Unwanted dogs are desperate. They yelp and whine and cry out for someone to love and save them. These lucky fifty have emerged triumphant and wagging, often against apparently insurmountable odds, to make their new owners very happy.

The rescue charities are at crisis point. They need kind people to come forward and give these dogs a chance. Rescuing a dog can change not only the dog's life but yours, if you are willing to give it a try. This book explains how. It also tells you everything you need to know about finding the right dog at a shelter near you, and getting him or her used to you and your home. There are lots of other books about dogs. This one is about the ultimately lucky ones that were in dire need of help and love, and who got both.

Poppy's Puppies by Sophia Fergus

In this book, you will find the stories of just a few of the puppies (dogs under 12 months) helped by Dogs Trust in the last few years, including Barney the Blue Peter dog; Harry the hearing assistance dog; Snowy the deaf puppy who had to learn sign language; and many more puppy tales to tug the heartstrings.

There's also lots of useful puppy information in this book: choosing your puppy; caring for it, including feeding and training your puppy. Also, for the folks that purchase it online or in-store, 50% of royalties go to Dogs Trust!

Doggerel and Poppy's Puppies are both available from Amazon, but three lucky Dogs Trust supporters can win a copy of BOTH books by answering the questions below:

• What percentage of royalties will go to Dogs Trust from the sale of Poppy's Puppies?
• Doggerel is being sold in aid of what organisation?

Please e-mail your answers to feedback@dogstrust.org.uk along with your name and address by 11.59pm on Sunday 28th November. Please note, only e-mailed responses will be accepted (answers left as a comment on Facebook, Twitter, or this blog are NOT valid). Good luck!

The winners will be chosen at random after 5pm on Monday 29th November. Please note that only UK residents can enter. Winners will be notified on Tuesday 30th November.

Personalised Dogs Trust mugs can brighten up Christmas for dogs and people!

Christmas present ideas are often a challenge, particularly in these difficult economic times. So why not revisit a classic idea - the mug - but make it more fun by personalising it? Better yet, you'll be helping the dogs in our care while you do it!

Although it's a mug with a Dogs Trust logo on one side, you don't have to have a picture of a dog on the other! Your cat, hamster, ferret, budgie, snake, goldfish etc are more than welcome to grace the dishwasher and microwave safe ceramic. It doesn't even have to be an animal at all....

Here are some of the ideas for photos you could add that we came up with in the office, though we're sure you can think of better ones:

• Family and friends - a pic of the little 'uns for doting grandparents, perhaps?
  
• Special occasions - weddings, christenings, parties etc
• Surprise announcements - you can add a caption text to the mug. (Surely someone will go for a 'Will You Marry Me?' mug... ;))
• A picture of yourself - so the whole office knows who the mug belongs to!
• Your favourite holiday destination - so you can dream...
  

Or, a more serious suggestion that came up could be to add a photo of a pet that has been loved and lost as a lasting tribute.

Whatever you decide on, you have until Wednesday December 16th to get your orders in time for Christmas (although if that's not an issue you can continue placing orders after that). Just use this link to get started.

Each mug is just £7.50 including postage and packaging, and 25% will go straight towards the dogs in our care.

Last year we cared for over 16,000 dogs, and at any one time there are around 1,500 dogs in our centres across the UK. Your support matters, so thank you for following this blog. If you're not going for a mug, perhaps you can pass on this link to someone you think might be interested!

Personalised pet stories that help raise vital funds for Dogs Trust

Remember those personalised story books from when you were a kid? Now you can feature your pet in a series of festive themed poems and raise vital funds for dogs needing homes.

With It's Your Story, you can get your pet's name on the cover and in the verses of the text, their picture is incorporated into all the illustrations and a personal message is printed at the front of the book. It's not exclusively for dogs, so if your cat (or other pet) wants a look in, that's just fine.

Best of all, you'll be helping dogs across the UK every time you order, as we receive £1 for each book ordered.

As if that were not enough, Dogs Trust supporters are being offered a 10% discount if they use this code at the checkout: DOGST10

Order now!