Archive for July 2010

Animal shelters and humane societies are overrun with abandoned pets looking for loving homes. The real tragedy is that thousands of these animals end up being euthanized rather than adopted. Sadly, shelter animals are often thought of as "sloppy seconds" or "someone else's problem." On the contrary, a rescued dog or cat can be a great alternative to purchasing a pet from a breeder. Lets be the solution to the problem of overcrowded rescue, shelters and pet homelessness. Adopting a pet from a shelter can be one of the most rewarding things you can do. The benefits are numerous.

1. Save 2 Lives & Enrich Your Own. According to The Humane Society of the United States sadly about 4 million dogs and cats are put to sleep each year because of overcrowded animal shelters. Pets who don't get adopted within a set time frame from a shelter are often euthanized due to shelter overcrowding & lack of supplies. Adopting a shelter pet means you are saving two lives. You are not only helping a deserving pet in need gain a home, but now there is shelter room for another animal in need to lay his or her head.

This is Arrisa, adopted in January. She's five years old and happily retired from her racing career. She's also a bully stick addict.

A picture is worth a thousand barks! Help us bark awareness about animal adoption & save lives. Share pic of your fuzzy face rescue on our Best Bully Sticks Facebook page!

Many well deserving & caring non-profit animal shelters and rescues rely upon the generosity of volunteers and donations to continue their rescue efforts. Animal shelters depend heavily on fundraisers so they can continue to operate their facilities and tend to the needs of homeless, abused and stray animals in need of extra love and care. So you can imagine that they need your help! Our friends at ehow have thought of some creative & simple things we all can do to help our local animal rescue & shelter raise money and supplies for their efforts.

1. Set a Monetary goal. How much do you want to raise, and in what time frame?

2. Organize a Spare Change Jar. Make a public announcement or send out email  at your work or school that you are trying to raise money for your local rescue & shelter. Set the jar and sign out for people to donate spare change. Every week you can collect the money and drop off proceeds to local rescue or shelter.

3. Host a dog wash event. Have volunteers sign up to commit some time to helping set up and participate in the dog wash event. Contact local pet stores to see if they can donate shampoo & brushes for the event and have people donate clean old towels to the cause.  You will also need a hose and access to water. You might want to consider hosting the dog wash in the rescue parking lot to draw awareness about the organization and spur on adoptions. Advertise that people can bring up their dogs for a bath and charge a fee. Local newspapers may advertise this event for free, and flyers can be distributed among the community.

4. Host a dog walk-athon. Choose a day and host a dog walk, either through town or at a local park. Charge a "walk fee" of maybe $5, and everyone walking their dog will receive a certificate, knowing that their money is going to help an animal shelter. See if you can get buttons or t-shirts donated. You can even set up a stand and sell items for a little extra money, such as bottled water or dog dishes.

5. Organize an auction. Collect donations from local businesses and people. Try to get a couple of large prizes, such as tickets to a major league baseball game or a mountain bike. Sell tickets for the prizes, and at the same time, you can sell 50/50 tickets to raise even more money. Refreshments are another option to make more money if you have enough volunteers.

6. Throw a garage sale and donate all money raised. Collect donations of items to sell, and advertise all over town. Make sure to be clear to everyone that all money raised goes towards the animal shelter.

7. Challenge the local community to give & get involved. Create an excitement that is infectious, and others will want to join in and do the same thing. Encourage others to do what they can to raise money for animal shelters and your efforts will go a long way.

You can also help Best Bully Sticks champion the rescue shelter fund-raising cause by doing the following:

8. Click to Give a $1 at Checkout! Participate in our Best Bully Sticks $1 Donation Program by shopping on www.bestbullysticks.com and clicking to donate a $1 at checkout. For every $1 you donate at checkout we will donate a $1 with a 100% of the proceeds going to rescues and shelters in need across the country. The money raised will help with out reach, basic animal necessities and rescue programs. Donations raised monthly by you will be given to 3 lucky rescues during our ongoing monthly Best Bully Sticks Rescue Shelter Giveaway

9. Enter our Best Bully Sticks Rescue Shelter $1500 Giveaway! Lend a helping paw by clicking to find out how you can nominate your favorite local rescue or shelter.

Best Bully Sticks Rescue & Shelter $1 Donation Program is a Success!

Thanks to the generous donations of Best Bully Stick customers $750 was raised last month and Best Bully Stick matched dollar for dollar for a grand total of $1500 to be given away to 3 lucky animal shelter & rescues ($500 each).

How to Nominate a Rescue or Shelter

Do you have a favorite dog & animal rescue or shelter? Well we want to know about them & reward them. Please leave a comment below nominating your favorite animal shelter/ rescue (Nomination week runs: 7/26/10 - 8/1/10) . Once all the nominations are in then we will have final voting where the top 10 rescue/shelters with the most nominations will be entered for the opportunity to win $500 for their rescue or shelter. You will then be able to vote on the top 10 nominated rescues & shelters for a period of one week (Final Voting week runs: 8/2/10 – 8/4/10) and at the end of the week the 3 rescues or shelters with the most votes will win $500 each. We will also give 2 runner ups not selected for the $500 prize 100 6" thin bully sticks toward their rescue & shelter.

PRIZES:

* 3 rescues or shelters will win $500 each from the grand prize of $1500

* 2 runner ups will receive 100 6" bully sticks for their rescue or shelter

To nominate your favorite dog rescue simply comment below.

Also You may only nominate 1 time, however you can campaign on behalf of your favorite animal shelter or rescue by tweeting, posting on Facebook, and telling your friends to nominate as well.

Retweet:  RT: @BestBullySticks Giveaway: Nominate your favorite dog rescue to win $500 (3 winners) http://bit.ly/9MobxO

Thanks for nominating! Tell your friends to also nominate their favorite rescue & stay tuned for the final voting round next week where we tally up the top 10 shelter/rescues with the most nominations and you will be able to cast your vote for the top 3!

Question: Why do we have a nomination round and then a final voting round? In addition to getting the top voted $500 each we want to draw much needed attention to all wonderful rescues around country >> hence 1 week of nominations & 1 week of Final voting on the top 10 with the most nominations. Then the top 3 with the most votes win.

What if your pet rescue/shelter didn't get the most votes and win? Have no fear we will be holding this giveaway every month with the money earned from our Best Bully Sticks Rescue Shelter $1 Donation Program (we match every dollar) ! So there will be 12 times a year to win, with 3 different rescue shelters winning each month. So stay tuned to our blog for our monthly Best Bully Stick Rescue Shelter Giveaway!!

Nomination week runs: 7/26/10 - 8/1/10
Final Voting week runs: 8/2/10 - 8/4/10

Give the gift of  a good chew by shopping www.bestbullysticks.com .  Delicious & all natural, the way nature intended! Please make sure to check out our growing selection of dog treats, dog chews, and of course our  bully sticks . Try our NEW All Natural Free Range Odor free bully sticks!

Also, don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter for Best Bully Stick News, New Products & Discounts!! For daily updates follow us on twitter @bestbullysticks

Become a fan of our facebook page for exclusive coupons and giveaways. http://www.facebook.com/BestBully

Food allergies and sensitivities are all to common in the canine world now a days which is cause for concern for loving pet owners like you and me.  Some of the common allergens in dog food include: beef, dairy, chicken, lamb, wheat, eggs, corn, soy, and whey. Before you can start treating your dog for food allergies you must first be able to recognize the symptoms. So, what are the tail tell signs & symptoms of a food allergy? Good question! Here are a few food intolerant symptoms that all pet owners must be aware in order to get your dog on the road to recovery.

1. Itchy skin. Excessive scratching, especially around the face.

2. Ear Infections. Recurrent ear infections that cause itching, swelling and a foul odor can be a tail tell sign your dog may be suffering from a food allergy

3. Hot Spots. Ulcerated, painful, itchy, hairless, & irritated sores on your dogs legs, paws, fur & coat which may worsen due to your dogs incessant licking & scratching.

4. Chronic Skin Infections. Ongoing skin infections may result from food allergies left untreated.

Team Montana recently sent us over a wonderful email with some official updates & pics on Best Bully Sticks sponsored dock jumping dog Montana. We are so proud of your accomplishments team Montana, keep up the grrreat work!

Good evening Best Bully Sticks pack,

Here is a quick update on team Montana.  Kentucky Dock Dogs club hosted a fun jump at Nolin Lake and  Montana was the winner of the Master finals with a big jump of 20'6".

Thanks for the sponsorship!
Team Montana

Eric jumps Montana

Montana stretches out to get that toy!

Montana catches bird

BEST BULLY STICK HAPPENING UPDATES!!

We Are Now  Better Business Bureau Accredited!

So what does this certification mean for you? If a business has been accredited by the BBB (Better Business Bureau), it means BBB has determined that the business meets accreditation standards which include a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve any consumer complaints

Introducing Best Bully Sticks Rescue/Shelter $1 Donation Program!

Help Best Bully Sticks lend a helping paw to worthy animal shelters and rescues around the country who are dedicated to the safety and protection of animals. Please donate a $1.00 at checkout to Rescues and Shelters in Need around the country.

How It Works!

*Best Bully Sticks will match dollar for dollar. For every $1 you donate at checkout we will donate a $1 (i.e. If 500 customers donate a $1.00 for a total $500 Best Bully Sticks match the contributions raised)
*All the money raised will be donated to animal rescues & shelters (100% no administration fees) and audited by a Third party
*Donations raised by you will be given to 3 different rescues monthly. All money donated will be shown publicly and organizations that benefit will be announced on our blog.
*We will interact via contests, story submissions, guest blogs, etc with animal rescue and shelters for their chance to be one of the 3 organizations donated to each month.

NEW! PRICE-MATCH GUARANTEE!

We are so confident that we offer the best prices at www.bestbullysticks.com that we now match ANY online vendor price on any item we sell!

If you find anything on bestbullysticks.com for less on another website (excluding Amazon and Ebay), let us know and we’ll credit the difference to you. It must be the same item. For bulk items, we’ll try our best to match the price. Email us at bbinfo@bestbullysticks.com with any questions or to take advantage of this great new service.

Refer-A-Friend now offering a 6% discount per referral