How to Launch Your Political Organization for Animals in Your Area and the Simple Steps It Takes to Do It

DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY : Online webinar this Saturday, March 23, 11 am Eastern Space limited Cost is only what you can afford About 90 minutes Forward to others

"How to Launch Your Political Organization for Animals in Your Town, City, County or State--and the Simple Steps It Takes to Do It"

Also trains you to stop bad laws and to achieve aggressive enforcement of animal protection laws

For more info and to register contact jlewin@nifaa.org 203-453-6590

http://www.nifaa.org/ Julie Lewin, president NIFAA: National Institute for Animal Advocacy; author of the comprehensive how-to book "Get Political for Animals and Win the Laws They Need" available at.http://www.nifaa.org/

CONTENTS

NIFAA-Nar Webinar III:
How to Launch and Run a Political Organization for Animals in Your Town, City, County, or State —and the Simple Steps It Takes to Do It

"Change comes from power. Power comes from the organization." Sal Alinsky, the father of grassroots organizing

Power in the lawmaking arena comes from an issue group's ability to impact election outcomes "electioneer." A bill's merits and, the need for it are low on the lists of factors that determine its fate. Only political groups can electioneer—charities cannot. A political group signals to lawmakers that advocates of the issue are not naive or amateurs, that they understand how to wield power, to endanger the lawmaker's re-election, and to play to win. Every other issue pursues legislation through political organizations, because they work.

You will learn:

•What a political organization is and how it works.

•How to start your political organization for animals in your town, city, county, or state.

•The structure of your political organization.

•The on-going tasks your political organization will perform and how to perform them.

•Recruitment is your number one activity.

•Getting and using political district maps.

•The different types of political organizations--what each can and cannot do legally.

•What papers to file to launch each type of political organization and where to file them. It's so much easier than forming a charity.

•Political action committees can be formed in 2 days. •Starting an independent political group.

•How rescue and rights charities for affiliated political groups.

Or schedule your own webinars for your group or you alone!
Webinar I: "Get Political for Animals and Win the Laws They Need"
Webinar II "How the Lawmaking Process Really Works--and How Your Political Group for Animals Impacts Each Step"
Webinar IV "Reform Your Local Animal Shelter and Animal Control Department"
April 13 & 14: ASK JULIE: ONLINE Q & A SESSIONSOPEN MIKE

For info contact jlewin@nifaa.org now
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Gea My New Foster Puppy

Gea is a pretty white and chocolate colored Border Collie - Australian Shepherd (Assie) cross with a lovely soft coat of fur. She was born about the end of April, 2011 making her about 9 months old -- still a bouncy puppy. Both Border Collies and Australian Shepherds are smart, active dogs that need a lot of exercise, training (they like fun jobs), and playtime!

Gea was adopted at about 10-12 weeks old and recently returned to the rescue because she was too active in their house and doing puppy things like chewing on things and barking at strange noises. They did no training, not even crate training and no exercise either. Not the right home for an active puppy and puppies are not born knowing the rules of living with humans. They need daily training and exercise and can not be expected to roam freely in a home without supervision.

Gea is now in my home as my new foster puppy and is being crate-trained. She is doing very well in the crate and sleeps all through the night. I am clicker training her and as expected for her breed combo she has some smarts about her. She is very food motivated and works well for dry kibble. I also am giving her slices of hot dogs and pieces of raw chicken gizzards for treats. She also receives two raw beef bones in her crate daily -- once when I leave for my part time job away from home (about 2-3 hours) and again at night when I leave her in her crate and leave the room to go to sleep.

I am walking/training/exercising Gea about 3 or 4 times per day for about 10-20 minutes at a time. Both on and off leash and both in my large yard and out on the wooded trails. I am working on multiple commands during each learning lesson. Some of the things we are working on:

• Sitting and looking at me before I let her out of the crate and again before I let her out the door.
  
• Loose leash heeling on my left hand side. Clicking and treating when she is in the right position.
  
• Automatic sitting when I stop.
  
• Recalls (Come) and sitting in front of me.
  
• "Watch Me" -- clicking and treating when she give me her attention by looking me in the eyes.
• "In" asking her to go back into the crate, then clicking and treating.
  
• "Up" asking her to jump onto a log or bench.
  
• "Touch" asking her to target my hand by touching it with her nose.
  
• "Down" laying down.
  

Gea is doing very well and her attention span which was near zero when I got her (Sunday November 13th) is improving nicely. She is still a puppy and her attention is easily distracted by birds, bugs, noises, dog's barking, etc. Gea startles easily -- I don't think she received enough novel experiences and solicitation with enough different people and dogs. Also I feel this might be due to her not feeling that she had a leader which would allow her to relax knowing that someone else was in command and make the decisions.

Please only consider adopting Gea if you plan to do right by her and give her what she needs -- good leadership, fun times, training, and a family that will commit to her for her life span.

You can find a lot of good info on both these breeds online.

To start the adoption process, please fill out the online Adoption Application Form. or email raesance@gmail.com for an application or with questions.

Adoption fee is $375.00 and covers age appropriate vaccinations, spay/neuter, micro-chip, wellness exam, fecal, de-wormer, flea and heartworm preventative and any other various medical expenses needed. This fee also includes transportation via rescue road trips as many of our dogs are pulled from high-kill southern shelters.

Some helpful articles:

Energetic, Anxious, or Reactive Dog? Try the Calm-O-Meter Method | Karen Pryor Clickertraining - http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1262
How to Reward Calm Behavior | Karen Pryor Clickertraining - http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3320

Just how smart are some Border Collies? "World's Smartest Dog? Meet a Border Collie Whose Memory Astounds
Chaser the Dog Has Learned to Identify More Than 1,000 Objects" http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/world-smartest-dog-nova-special-shows-border-collie/story?id=12875750

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Living with a teenage Lab

Another week with Charlie the Chocolate Lab Pup

Puppy Play

Charlie finally talked Gigit into some fun and had her playing with him for a few minutes. They zigged an zagged in circles around the yard. Gigit can make much tighter circles than long legged Charlie. Then Gigit got tired, but Charlie didn't and being a teen he didn't want to take no for an answer which made Gigit mad and she had to do some snapping and growling to get through to Charlie that playtime was over and it was time for him to leave her alone.

Poor Charlie wants to play with my dogs most of the time and they being older dogs really get a bit tired of his constant play nagging. He has put his nose under Gigit and has lifted her back legs off the ground. He tried to do the same with Logo, but 95 pound was too much to lift.

Charlie barks in their faces, licks their faces, rolls around on the ground and kicks them with his feet, and does anything he can think of to try to get one or more of them to give him some attention and play with him. He has managed to get Gigit to play with him a time or two and has cause BooBoo to get mad enough to chase him for a short distance. He even aggravated Logo until he growled at him.

From Charlie

Toy Time

Charlie is slowing learning how to play with dog toys. I guess whomever owned him didn't introduce him to toys so he was not sure what to do with them. He likes a small stuffed toy that squeaks and today I got him to play tug-a-war with me for a while. He may never be a gun-ho retrieving fool like some Labrador Retrievers are, but with a little more time I think he will really look forward to playtime with dog toys. That will make my three older dogs happy.

Bicycle Running Time

Image via Wikipedia

I have started bicycling with Charlie running alongside the bike. I have a special attachment for the bicycle that has a short lead that I attach to Charlie's slip collar. He was a bit scared of the bike at first and the tug on him when he tried to move away from it. But I walked the bike along for a while and then rode it slowly at first. Now I can ride it much faster and Charlie gallops alongside the bike.

Biking with your dog is a good way for you both to get needed exercise and biking is so much less trying than jogging with your dog. I really thing more people should give it a try. But do not try it by just holding on to your dog's leash or you could end up hurt.

There are a few different bike/dog products around. I have the K9 Cruiser Bicycle Leash http://snipurl.com/sqpd5 and I like the way it keeps your dog towards the back of the bike where he has less chance of getting in the way of the moving tires.

There are some other dog bike leash attachments, like: Springer, WalkyDog, Bike Tow Leash http://snipurl.com/sqpl4 and others.

You might also want to use a special dog harness with your dog bike leash. EzyDog Dog Harness is a comfortable padded dog harness. http://snipurl.com/sqqgd



And there are other options, two of them shown in this video...
Terra Trike and Dog Powered Scooter, Willie

Some people with large, active dogs really like the scooter where the dog is pulling you. The dog gets more exercise this way and you don't have to work peddling a bike.

Bicycle leashes comparison Compares the K9 CRUISER and the SPRINGER http://snipurl.com/sqp8f