As you know, a week ago I was at the BlogPaws conference in Ohio, where I spent a couple of days with a bunch of pet lovers and bloggers.
I came home with, as Bandit would say, forty-leven million ideas.
The one that seemed to burn the most in my heart also seemed the stupidest. But I’ve learned from my dogs to trust when my guts are talking to me, so I went for it.
I contacted the human rights organization Faceless International and offered my dogs as spokesdogs.
Bandit has written about Faceless before, and as I … er, I mean he … penned that post it occurred to me that having a puppy talk to to kids about the very serious topic of modern day slavery and human trafficking might enable children to understand the message.
I’ve also been talking about a road trip for a while, and I thought it might be fun to tie it in with Faceless, maybe visit a school that’s doing a fundraiser for them or something.
I was prepared for the folks at Faceless to laugh at me. But instead, they were excited.
I mean, really excited.
Turns out they’re in the process of developing cirriculum for schools to help teach kids about modern day slavery and human trafficking. And having two furry pups to help spread their message was just the angle they needed.
So we talked on the phone today, threw around forty-leven million more ideas, and pretty soon you’ll start to see Bandit and Scout writing about a very serious topic in what hopefully will be a way that both kids and grown ups will understand.
OK, so I didn’t use my dogs to help a shelter or an animal charity. I used the dogs I love to partner with a charity I respect to shed light on a cause that I think needs to be brought to the forefront.
So thanks, BlogPaws! For the ideas, for two days of shared creative energy, and for helping me think outside the box!
You can read Bandit’s post to some folks at Faceless, in which he explains what Faceless is, the only way a puppy can.
You can learn more about Faceless International on their website. And don’t forget to follow Scout and Bandit on their blog, It’s A Dog’s Life.
Good for you! What a great cause!
On Friday I launched on my blog: R.O.A.R. Squad – Rescue Owners Are Rockin’
For the next year I will be collecting photos of rescue owners and their pets from all walks of life from across Canada and the United States and posting them on my blog- Fido & Wino.
Read about how to take part: http://fidoandwino.com/roar_squad/
Read the launching blog post: http://fidoandwino.com/2010/04/16/launch-r-o-a-r-squad-rescue-owners-are-rockin/
Check out the first, official R.O.A.R. Squad member (my husband ): http://fidoandwino.com/2010/04/16/r-o-a-r-squad-john-and-his-dog-kayloo/
If you have a rescue, or know of someone with a rescue it would be wonderful if you wanted to take part!
Shauna, our cat is a rescue! I’ll def check it out!!
Joanne
This is an incredible idea and effort. Way to go!
Lovely post. Thanks for letting us know. We will make sure we tweet about this to our followers.
Thanks (maps4pets.com)
Thanks, everyone! I’m excited to be able to use my dogs for a human cause I feel strongly about.
Joanne
Superb article. Great post. We think BlogPaws and the team are top. 100% behind all such ventures.
We tweet about this a lot. Anything similar ventures that has a possible benefit for charities should be given 100% support from all. If you want us to Tweet for you guys just get in contact: http://twitter.com/maps4pets
I think Bandit and Scout certainly seem up to the challenge for such a worthwhile cause!