As you all know, I am a HUGE animal lover.  Not only do I love to rescue dogs and cats (just one cat for now), but I also enjoy learning about other ways to help our furry friends.  Finding free apps on iTunes, such as Pawcard, attending animal themed charity walks, reading books and magazines; I enjoy it all.

More recently, I have taken a liking to help deformed/disabled "special needs" animals.  I suppose it all started when my husband and I adopted Penny, our tripod Chiweenie.  At first, I was a bit put off by her deformed front paw.  I did not think that Penny was ugly; I was simply uncomfortable at seeing something so different.  But something in my heart kept telling me that we were the only ones that could give Penny the loving home she so rightfully deserved.

Meeting Penny in person was all that it took.  Watching her hop around while wagging her tail brought joy to my soul.  After just two months, we stopped viewing Penny as "special needs" because she can do everything that her four-legged fur siblings can.  And then there is the amazing pet gate jumping video. 

If you haven't seen it yet, check it out here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0bVijS9JTw

My husband uncovered one my deep hidden secrets:  I love dachshunds!  I had always wanted one and felt that the time was right to adopt one in March of this year.  That is when I discovered Hope.  She is a gorgeous double dapple doxie that was born without eyes and is completely deaf.  And she just happened to be the product of a backyard breeder.

While working with Hope has been challenging, it has also been greatly rewarding.  She can now navigate through the house without bumping into walls, climb up the basement stairs and even open the closet door with her nose!  I can certainly see why they call special needs dogs "special."

On one of my dog video searches on YouTube, I came across National Mill Dog Rescue.  They are a rescue group whose sole mission is to help end puppy mills all across the United States.  Their mascot is an adorable Chihuahua named Teddy.  He is a puppy mill survivor that was extremely malnourished, had eye ulcers and rotting teeth. 

Thankfully, he was rescued by National Mill Dog Rescue and has since been adopted into a loving home.  Teddy is now trying to help spread the word about the importance of ending the horrible practice of puppy mills.  I noticed a post from Teddy in my Facebook feed on Tuesday that he was teaming up with Harley.  Harley is a fellow puppy mill survivor that had to have one of his eyes removed due to severe infection.  Imagine my shock and outrage when I read the following:

"My friend Harley was told by Modern Dog Magazine that he is too old and ugly to appear on their cover."

WHAT?!  "Too old" and "ugly?"  This dog is a survivor.  He has quite literally been through hell and back just to be told that he is not "good enough" to be on the cover of a magazine that is supposed to help educate others about taking care of their pets.

Do we tell women who have survived breast cancer due to having a mastectomy that they are "ugly?"  No, we treat them as inspirations.  Would you ever dream of telling a child who has lost his/her hair due to chemo therapy that they are "ugly?" How about people in wheelchairs or those with prosthetic limbs?  Where do they fit in on Modern Dog Magazine's beauty scale? 

I shutter to think about the implications of a dog being "too old."  Does this mean that Modern Dog Magazine would have pet owners discard their dogs when they grow older?  Our humane societies are filled with animals that have been surrendered by their owners because they are "too old."  These people then turn around and buy a puppy.  Is this how we treat humans?  Why is this practice deemed "acceptable" in a majority of minds?

What kind of example is Modern Dog Magazine setting?  They are only aiding in teaching our children to believe in extremely unrealistic beauty standards that simply do not exist.  And they obviously do not carry the view that a dog is a member of the family. Would you think of cutting your mother or father or grandparent out of your life because they are old?  

This kind of prejudice simply cannot be allowed.  ALL dogs are beautiful and deserve to have loving homes.  It is time to break the stigma that differently-abled means broken.  Penny and Hope are two of the happiest, friendliest dogs that you will ever meet.  Whenever we go to pet events, people pass by our four-legged babies and go straight to them.  They want to hear about their stories.  Many have even asked which rescue groups Hope and Penny came from because they are thinking about adopting a special needs dog as well.

To further prove how wrong Modern Dog Magazine is, Penny recently won first place in the 2nd Chance Animal Rescue-IL Most Photogenic Dog of 2014 photo contest.  She was also a finalist in the Share the Spotlight Contest with InstaCredit Automart.  This is why publishing Penny's children's book, Priceless Penny, is so important to me.  Through sharing Penny's amazing adoption journey, we hope to show the world that different is beautiful and nothing is impawsible.  Please visit her official website at: 
www.pricelesspennyp.com to learn more.

As animal lovers and advocates, we need to take a stand against such prejudiced beliefs.  Please, help Teddy, Harley, Penny, Hope and other dog survivors to be recognized as the wonderful creatures that they are.  Let Modern Dog Magazine know exactly how you feel by e-mailing them at:  info@moderndogmagazine.com.  Together, we can give a voice to the voiceless!

One evening my husband began to tell  me about a contest that he had heard about on the radio.  InstaCredit  Automart was having a photo contest and the winner would get to be in  the next InstaCredit Automart commercial!  We looked at each other and said, “Penny!”

She is our adorable tripod baby that  was born with a deformed front paw and a severe overbite.  Aside from  being the gorgeous girl that she is, Penny is also super friendly.  She  loves everything and everybody.  In fact, she practically raised the cat that we rescued off of the street as a two week old  kitten.

Young and old alike cannot seem to get enough of her.  Everyone is always surprised at the softness of her  fur.  She might just be the softest dog in the world.  We had no doubt  that Penny could win.

I uploaded a photo of Penny in her  Christmas dress to the InstaCredit Automart Facebook page.  Then, I  began my ruthless social media campaign.  I posted the link on my  Facebook page, Penny’s Facebook page, my twitter page, Penny’s twitter page, my Instagram, Penny’s Instagram…

The votes began to come rolling in.   Like any good pet parent, I was checking her totals every day…sometimes  twice!  As the numbers climbed higher, I felt more confident that Penny  would be crowned the winner.

Soon, I was fantasizing about what  could happen to Penny if she won.  She would be asked to be a spokes dog for Purina, get her face on bags of dog food, be the guest of honor at  dog events like Bark in the Park.  After that, she would be asked to appear on the Today Show to explain her incredible adoption story.  This news would spread to the beloved Ellen DeGeneres, who  would soon book us for her show.  Penny and I would get to live the  dream of traveling the country spreading her message that different is beautiful and nothing is “impawsible.”

On June 2nd, I received a  phone call from InstaCredit Automart.  Penny was a finalist!  We were  invited to the Ultimate Pet Play Date where she would compete with the  other finalists for the coveted commercial spot.  The weather that day was anything but supportive.  We got caught in two torrential  downpours on our drive there.

We arrived early (as usual) and  decided to sit in our car until the event official kicked off.   Naturally, we went into full-on pageant parent mode.  We silently judged Penny’s competition that began to fill the parking lot.  Honestly  speaking, I thought Penny was a shoe-in.

We headed into InstaCredit Automart  and waited for the contest to begin.  Dogs of all shapes and sizes were  everywhere.  Most of the owners were in competition mode and did not  really mingle with the other pet parents.  That didn’t bother Penny one bit.  Her tail never stopped wagging.

She happily sniffed each pooch that  passed by.  She even got sniffed by Buckley Jr. and Buckley himself.  In case you aren’t familiar with these dogs, they are the “famous” InstaCredit Automart dogs.  Buckley’s handler kept bringing him past Penny.  I took this as a very good sign.

Before I knew it, it was time to line  up to be judged.  The announcer began to tell everyone the rules.  The  dogs were going to be judged on a 15 point system:  friendliness,  presence on camera…and agility.  My heart dropped.  They wanted the dogs to perform tricks!

I was livid.  Nowhere in the rules did it mention tricks.  I frantically began to ask my husband if I should  make Penny stand up at the end of the “red carpet” and make her dance  for a treat.  We agreed to just let Penny be Penny and see what would happen.

We have not trained Penny to perform  any tricks since she is a tripod dog.  The issue isn’t that she cannot  perform tricks.  She jumps over our 3 foot pet gate on her own!  The  issue is that we love Penny and know that her three “good” legs have to work much harder than a “normal” dogs’ in order to  compensate for her “stump.”  This puts extra pressure on her joints  since the weight isn’t evenly distributed.  

Also, she is part Dachshund  and we are trying to be very careful with her back.  My friend had a doxie that slipped a disc.  The surgery cost $5,000!   While we would do anything for our fur babies, we would rather not take  the chance of injuring them.

Penny did her very best as she  strutted down the red carpet.  She even stopped to sniff the judges.  We stood by the front doors, watching and waiting. Suddenly, a little  fluff ball of a dog came running over to Penny.

“Oh, my gosh!  She’s a tripod, too!” squealed the dog’s owner.  The tiny long-haired Chihuahua’s name was  Lena.  She had to have her front right leg amputated due to abuse from  her former owner.  Lena was a smiling ball of energy.  I could see why she bonded with Penny.  And her owners were thrilled to meet  another tripod pooch.  We took several pictures of Lena and Penny  together.  You can check them out on Penny’s website at: www.pricelesspennyp.com.

We turned our attention back to the  contest just in time to see Boomer, a homely looking Boxer, come schlepping down the carpet.  That’s when the show began.  His owner  dropped to her knees and proceeded to have Boomer give her a high-five, dance and do the exploding fist bump.  I knew at that moment we were  toast.

As they began to announce the winners, I saw several of the judges look at me and Penny.  They started talking to each other and I thought that we might still have a chance.  Little Miss Lena won second place!  My husband instructed me not to scream as he figured that Penny won first place.

My heart was beating wildly in my chest.  I was ready to parade Penny up in front of the judges and pose for pictures. 

“And our first place winner is…Boomer!”

WHAT?!  There had to be some sort of  mistake.  While I understand that every pet parent knows that his/her  baby is the cutest, I can honestly say that this dog was very plain.   And I am not speaking as a sore loser.  I even told my husband that I would have been completely happy if any other dog would have  won.  There was an adorable miniature Greyhound, a dazzling Yorkie, the  list goes on.  Why Boomer was picked as a finalist in a photo contest, I will never understand.

This brings me to my major complaint:  Boomer won because of the tricks that he performed.  I do not feel that this was fair.  A dog should not be judged on what types of tricks it  can do unless the contest is specifically for tricks.  This was supposed to be a photo contest.  The dog’s  personality was supposed to be judged to assure that he/she would get  along with the InstaCredit Automart dogs that he/she would be filming  with.  But, they chose to boil it all down to tricks.

Penny is such an inspiration.  She  doesn’t need any tricks or gimmicks to make her special or unique  because she already is.  Abandoned as a stray in
California, Penny has  remained sweet to everyone that she meets, even though
she had been tossed aside like garbage.  Being born with several deformities
doesn’t stop her from doing anything that a “normal” dog can do.  She continues
to amaze us daily with the power of her loving spirit.



 



We don’t need to win a contest to  validate how wonderful Penny is.  We have
the honor of getting to  experience Penny every day.  Our lives were forever
changed for the  better the day that we made her a part of our furry family. 

Writing has always been my passion.  I love being able to connect with people
through the gift of words.  However, the journey to becoming a published author
is anything but easy.

Much like a college graduate, I entered the publishing arena wide-eyed and ready to put the work in to see my dreams come true.  Upon doing a Google search for publishing companies, I came across Trafford Publishing.  I quickly filled out their online form and submitted my collection of poetry for consideration.

Imagine my excitement when I received an e-mail from Trafford stating that my poetry was wonderful and exactly what they were looking for.  I was sent a contract to sign with the promise of grand things to come. 

For some reason, $1,000 didn't seem like a large price to pay at the time.  My book was published and actually turned out well.  It can be found on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and is available on Kindle and Nook.  However, I was constantly hounded by foreign speaking employees trying to get me to spend thousands of dollars more on marketing packages.

Needless to say, I cut ties with them immediately.  Now, I am left with a box full of my books and the occasional $1.00 royalty check. 

I have now written my first children's book entitled "Priceless Penny."  This tells the amazing adoption journey of my three-legged dog, Penny.

Once again, I took to Google to help me find the perfect publisher.  I soon discovered Tate Publishing.  My dreams of being a successful author were rekindled.  I could have my very own book trailer...if I was willing to spend the money.

I signed the contract with my head in the clouds, making my dreams appear closer than ever.  While I certainly thought that the $4,000 Tate was asking for was steep, the fact that they were so willing to create a payment plan option for me put my mind at ease.

Thankfully, I began reading some comments from my fellow authors and friends on Goodreads.  I soon found out that both Trafford and Tate Publishing are whats known as "vanity publishers."  Essentially, these are companies that will literally publish ANYTHING as long as they receive payment.  Luckily, I was only $150 in when I cancelled my contract with Tate. 

Like any hopeful author, I began to tirelessly send out over 120 query letters.  Rejection after rejection came pouring in.  Until one day, I received a letter from Martin-McLean Literary Agency, LLC.  My manuscript had been accepted for representation! 

I did research the company on Predators and Editors and found that most of the complaints dealt with the fact that the potential authors' manuscripts had not been accepted.  One author complained that the publishing company that the agency had secured a contract for him/her "wasn't big enough."

I honestly felt like the complaints had no merit.  With the contract signed, my faith in humanity was restored.  I did not mind paying $52 a month to have submission packets mailed to potential publishers.  Most recently, I received a letter from the agency informing me of the Book Expo America.

For $300, the literary agent would attend the conference and speak with at least 30 publishers.  Like Jillian Michaels says, "You need to take risks."  So, I sent in my confirmation letter.  But, something didn't feel right about it.  Why should I have to pay my agent to attend a conference that could possibly guarantee him/her a cut of my profits?

I decided to ask the Goodreads gurus.  They informed me that this is most certainly not the norm.  Once again, I had been duped.  I am greatly frustrated that such people/companies exist.  With all of the information on the Internet, how does one know who or what to believe?  

I have still not given up on my dream of becoming a successful author.  I am now a full fledged member of the SCBWI, which my Goodreads friends have assured me are legit.  Hopefully, fourth time's the charm.