Just waiting around .

Just waiting around .
Originally uploaded by astridnicoleetcetera

Sometimes you just have to wait around until someone opens the door.

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Who would have thought orange would be such a fashion forward color! Everywhere we looked, we found others who must have been inspired by thoughts of orange sherbet on a summer day. Astrid looks so sweet in her bandana whether she is wearing the print side or flipping it over to the swirly pattern side. Even sweeter is that every sale from her Astrid Nicole Etcetera Etsy store benefits the Santa Cruz Co Humane Society in Nogales, AZ.

Lazy Daz

 

After a big day at doggie day camp on Tuesday playing with her best friend Zelda, Astrid had a lay around the house day on Wednesday. We all need one of those once in a while! Zelda has been Astrid's best friend at day camp since she started attending camp at Best Friends in Pineville, NC two years ago.

A Nice Lazy Afternoon Smelling The Flowers

 

Sometimes you just need to take time and smell the roses. We're lucky to have a long rose season here in NC, but when it does get too cold, Astrid can always enjoy the sunflowers you see on her bandana.

My Teacher, Sarah

I have been going to a class on Sundays at my day camp, Best Friends, for almost nine months now. Today is the last class that I will ever have with my teacher, Sarah. She is moving to Alabama because she has a new job. She is going to develop programs that will help doggies in shelters be more adoptable. You know how when you go to a shelter and some dogs just sit in the back of their kennel and everyone passes them over even though they might have made the absolute BEST pet ever? Well, she has ideas to teach them to come to the front, say hello and have a better chance. She has lots of other ideas too, like teaching them little tricks like putting their paw up on the kennel for a 'high five' when someone looks at them. Anyway, she is moving this week, so today is my last class.

Sarah is really good at teaching tricks, and helping us dogs get ready for things like the AKC Canine Good Citizen test and therapy pet tests and just all sorts of things. I, along with my mom and dad, will miss her lots, but we know that lots more dogs at this shelter in Alabama will now find homes because of Sarah.

We are giving her a good bye present today. My mom made it and the card too. It's to carry lots of stuff in for her new job. I hope she fills it with treats for all the new doggies she is going to meet.

Astrid's Very Proud Of First Mobile Post!

 

It's Easter Weekend!

Astrid wants to update her blog and show off her Easter outfit. Of course, the bandana is another Astrid Nicole Etcetera original, available only at Astrid Nicole's Etsy store. Astrid special ordered the matching Easter basket and mom filled it with the plastic eggs. On Easter morning, the eggs will be filled with treats, freeze dried liver and pieces of Mellow Mutts, and hidden around the house. This will be a true test of the nose of Astrid Nicole!

We continue our mission with our Etsy store of giving back to the Santa Cruz Co Humane Society in Nogales, AZ for the great care they gave Astrid during the undetermined length of time she spent in their shelter. Due to the generosity of pet owner's, we have many pets out there looking way stylin' in new bandanas and collor scrunchies, while the guests of the shelter are enjoying newly poured cement slabs in their kennels. So far, Astrid's Etsy store has been able to provide funds to pour three of these cement slabs.

Visit the SCHS website and click on a few of the dogs listed that need homes. You'll find some enjoying these cement slabs! Of course, a project of this magnitude takes time, but when completed, with the help of Astrid's friends, other pet owners and simply those that want to support our cause, we excitedly anticipate the next project we can turn our Etsy shop's attention to.

We Are Getting Cleaner and Healthier With Each Sale

Thanks to friends, supporters and their fashion forward canines, Astrid was able to pour another cement slab in one kennel at her former shelter, the Santa Cruz Co Humane Society in Nogales, AZ. She met her goal of raising another $175 - the price of the cement slab - and had it on it's way a few days before Valentine's Day. Because of several recent adoptions, some new canine guests of the shelter will be enjoying the healthier surfaces this will provide while waiting for their forever homes. As space frees up at the no kill shelter, dogs thought to be most adoptable are brought in from the Animal Care and Control in Nogales. Animal Care and Control is the agency charged with the rescuing of strays off the streets of this US/Mexico border community and are taken to their holding center where they stay (for 3 days) awaiting pickup by their owners or.....well, you know. More adoptions at the shelter mean lots more room and opportunities for more great dogs.

As exciting as the fashion and glamour of Astrid's Etsy store, Astrid Nicole Etcetera, is she still found time for a few additonal accomplishments. Having met the testing requirements of Therapy Dogs, Inc. back in November, she's begun a regular curcuit of visitations which include living and rehabilitation facilities along with Alzheimer Centers. Just yesterday, Sunday March 1, we spent a couple of hours visiting and talking with the residents of The Havens and The Laurels in Charlotte. Pictured above is Astrid, wearing her Canine Good Citizen bandana, waiting to leave for the ride there. The stories of the pets they have to share are such fun to listen too and we always see how pleased they are when we part ways, reminding them 'see you again very soon'.

Therapy visitations, learning at classes and Day Camp keep this big, black and brown dog along with her family very busy!

Hands and Heart for Nogales, AZ Animal Shelter - our Valentine goal

This isn't Astrid, but it could be mistaken for her...they look a lot alike. This is Negra. Negra lived at the Santa Cruz Co Humane Society in Nogales, AZ at the same time Astrid did. Negra is still there, Astrid has been with us for over two years now. Notice that the floor of Negra's kennel is just rocky dirt. That's what the land is like in the high desert country where Nogales, AZ is with its elevation of over 3800 feet. Many of the kennel floors are now a nice cement slab, with gravel in the other half of the kennel. That is much cleaner and healthier for the resident dogs and much, much more comfortable. This is a story of how we are working to help the shelter make all the kennels cleaner, healthier and more comfortable.

We reached our goal of raising $175 with Astrid's Etsy dog boutique and we did it just in time for Christmas. The Santa Cruz Co Humane Society in Nogales, Az where Astrid made her home for a period of time is pouring cement slab in every kennel and each slab costs roughly $175 . To reach our goal, we sold bandanas, dog collar scrunchies and greeting cards through our online Etsy shop.

Visiting southern Arizona this Christmas, '08, we stopped at the shelter to pass out treats to the guests there and to hand deliver our check for $175. The improvements we saw at the Santa Cruz Co Humane Society in Nogales were extensive. When we found Astrid there, she was in with two border collie type dogs that had spent their entire young lives in that shelter. My husband and I dubbed them 'the bros' for lack of knowing their names, if they had any names at all. These two dogs quarreled a lot and maybe Astrid was, with their shortage of space and her even temperment, about the safest dog they could put in with them. We are so happy that, for some time now, 'the bros' have been gone. You see, the Santa Cruz Co Humane Society is a 'no kill' shelter so someone, somewhere, must have seen the hidden miracles in these two scruffy black dogs.

As in all shelters, there was, is and probably always will be, over crowding. Compounding this overcrowding problem, was a lack of seperate kennels and many dogs were kept in one large kennel. This situation has dramatically changed, too! There are seperate kennels now, with one or two dogs in each. They are seperated by fencing according to their temperament and size. Now, each kennel is continuing the makeover with a cement pad being poured in each. Helping this project to reach its goal, Astrid continues to raise money with her Astrid Nicole Etcetera doggie boutique.

We had a wonderfully successful Christmas season. This being the first year that we have worked on our Etsy for Nogales' Shelter project, we had no idea what to expect. We were kept mighty busy as people we knew from dog social networking sites bought Astrid's bandanas, collar scrunchies, and greeting cards. We were kept busy by people we didn't know, that had heard of our project, or simply liked our things and wanted to share them with their own dog or someone else's dog. Now, we are headed into 2009 with the same goal...to help the shelter continue to pour cement pads in ALL kennels at the Santa Cruz Co Humane Society in Nogales, ensuring that the canine guests there will have a healthy and clean environment while, like Astrid did, they wait for a special forever home to open its heart and doors. We'd like to reach our second goal, a second cement pad paid for by the Astrid Nicole Etcetera shop by Valentines Day. We've even given our St Valentine's Day goal a name...hands and hearts for Nogales, AZ animal shelter.

And Astrid? How is she doing? She just became a member of Therapy Dogs, Inc. She is spreading joy one touch at a time in nursing homes and alzheimer's centers in Charlotte, NC, where we all moved just five short months after she took that ride home to her forever home. She also considers herself representative of shelter dogs every where after earning her AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate. She attends day camp once a week where she spends an entire day playing with her 'own kind'. She has probably pretty much forgotten shelter life. We wish all dogs could.

90% of the proceeds from each sale are donated to the Santa Cruz Co Humane Society in Nogales, AZ. The remaining 10% will be used to buy fabric for making new items for Astrid's Astrid Nicole Etcetera doggie boutique on Etsy and to pay postage when we ship these items out. We want to help the shelter finish the cement pouring project and we want to be part of the next project, and the one after that.

This story would not be complete without this message. Please, when you consider getting your next canine companion, consider adopting, not shopping.

'Tis The Season

It's about time for an update from Astrid and Astrid's mom on the progress towards the goal of pouring a cement pad in a kennel at the Santa Cruz Humane Society in Nogales AZ. This shelter is where Astrid was a guest for an undetermined length of time, until the age of about two when she came to live in her forever home. As you've probably read, our goal is to use the proceeds from our Etsy shop to benefit Astrid's former shelter. We are now only $22.00 away from the $175.00 it takes to pour one cement slab in a kennel at the shelter. We have names like Monty, Shae, Sasha Louise, brother and sister Liberty and Justice, Sable and Chi, Augie, Dakota, Sassy while there are others we don't even know their names that bought wearables for their dogs, notes for writing and tags for gift giving from our Astrid Nicole Etcetera Etsy shop. Thank you to all and a special thanks to the Santa Cruz Humane Society that featured Astrid as a success story, spurring interest and sales that helped towards our goal.

Astrid's Etsy shop has done more than raised money to help a struggling shelter. It's taught Astrid's mom a little about internet social networking that has brought us into contact with others that hold animal welfare high on their list of priorities. It's also given us an avenue to spread information through informal channels that hopefully spread the word of care and concern, inspiring some type of action that will create a better world for pets and homeless pets.

The period of time that has passed since writing the previous 'My Goal' blog has not been without additional excitement. Astrid visited with Santa and that is what the silly picture accompanying this blog is all about. Even more importantly, Astrid has passed her Therapy Dog, Inc. test and has completed two of the three required observed visitations. After successfully completing the third visitation this Sunday, Dec. 21, we will be honored to turn in our evaluations with passing grades and become a full card carrying therapy dog team. Actually, make that teams because her dad has also tested with her and she and he are considered one team, while she and I (Astrid's mom) are considered another.

We are really enjoying visiting with guests of homes and rehabilitation centers where we see mostly the elderly. We've been told that the list of opportunities to work as a therapy team is almost infinite and includes schools, libraries and reading programs with kids, people with various challenges, etc. Right now, we think we will concentrate on gaining more experience with these centers we've visited and besides, as we we leave we always say "see you soon". Many times, this remark is met with the inquiry "when?" We don't like to dissapoint.