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When we first got Smitten from Toronto Animal Services, we knew she was a special dog but we didn't know she had a love for the beautiful game. Every chance she gets, she's out there practicing and improving her technique.



Yes, I know she's cheating when she picks up the ball with her mouth but that's nothing compared to how she cheats when she plays chess.



8 Comments to “Skillz”

  1. pibble says:

    Too incredibly cute! (And I'll keep in mind that she cheats at chess!)

  2. GoLightly says:

    It's a science, and she's carefully building her paw/ball coordination, clever girl!
    My old red dog in my avatar was a baton-twirling majorette in a past life. Give her a stick, and she'd twirl it on the end of her nose, toss it, and catch it, with amazing hilarious results. Towards the end of her long life, she felt she had mastered the skill.
    She retired from twirling sticks. She had attained her Ph.D. (stick twirling).
    She yelled at soccer/b/jolly balls, she'd herd them at full speed, then spin them up on her nose. Maybe she was a Harlem GlobeTrotter in another life;)

    Good luck, Smitten! Practice makes for perfection. What a beautiful, lucky dog she is!

  3. *LOL* The dog got some mad soccer skills, that's for sure! Thanks for giving me a smile for the day!

  4. What a talented girl! (as all herding dogs are.) :-)

  5. Dana says:

    That's terrific! What a beautiful, and obviously talented,
    dog.

  6. Lynn says:

    What? What game? I don't get it. There are only 3 games that I know of: Football, Baseball and Basketball. Is there another game out there? Signed, American Girl

  7. Biscuit says:

    Hah, she's amazing! I watched that about five times. Go Smitty!

  8. ha! she's so good at it! and i love her haircut

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A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.
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