A new year

For many of us, the last year has been a tough one. Rising unemployment and housing problems have seen many families struggling to provide for themselves and still be able to do right by their family pets. Organizations aimed at sheltering, re-homing, fostering and providing medical support to companion animals have seen a decline in donations, and those with endowments and other forms of investment have seen their revenues plummet, too.

And yet -- shelter and rescue adoptions on the United States have never been at higher levels, providing foster care has enjoyed a surge in popularity, and kill rates in many communities are at all-time lows. The love we feel for our pets is, apparently, a powerful force to reckon with, even in hard times.

DogHobbyist.com's parent site, PetHobbyist.com, and its sister site, RescueNetwork.org, are happy to be partnering with an historic Ad Council campaign, The Shelter Pet Project, to make sure people are aware of all the wonderful animals available for adoption through shelters and rescue groups. We hope you'll visit the SPP and become part of its three-year multi-media campaign to get dogs and cats into forever homes.

We've also begun a series of special guest chats on Ending Pet Homelessness in America. Last month, we welcomed Ryan Clinton of FixAustin.org, and tomorrow, Jan. 4, at 9 pm Eastern Time/6 PM Pacific Time, we're happy to present an evening with Holly Lewis, president of The Alliance of Wisconsin Animal Rehoming Efforts (AWARE), to discuss how to start rescuing pets in your community, and how to create valuable networks between shelters and rescue organizations. So you want to get involved in rescuing homeless pets in your community, or are even thinking of starting your own organization. What does it really take? Are the problems too large to overcome?

To join the chat:

If you are a registered user of our site, you can enter the chat room at this link:

http://chat.pethobbyist.com/login.php?room_id=1001

If you're not, you can go here:

http://chat.pethobbyist.com/login_guest.php

Then select "Auditorium - Special Events" from the menu, type in your desired screen name, and come on in!

You don't need to download or install anything, but you do need to have Java enabled in your browser. If you're having trouble entering the chat room, you can find help at this link:

http://www.pethobbyist.com/chatfaq.html

We'll see you Monday evening -- bring your questions!

The 2009 Top Ten in the DogHobbyist.com Bookstore

What books made the biggest impression on our users in the last year? Check them out in the DogHobbyist.com book store!

Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats

The Healing Touch for Dogs: The Proven Massage Program for Dogs

The Nature of Animal Healing : The Definitive Holistic Medicine Guide to Caring for Your Dog and Cat

Working Like Dogs: The Service Dog Guidebook

The Original Dog Bible: The Definitive Source to All Things Dog

The Beginner's Guide to Dog Agility

Raw Dog Food: Make It Easy for You and Your Dog

Dogs: The Ultimate Dictionary of over 1,000 Breeds

101 Dog Tricks: Step by Step Activities to Engage, Challenge, and Bond with Your Dog

The Dog Lover's Companion to New England: The Inside Scoop on Where to Take Your Dog

Follow us!

Did you know DogHobbyist.com's parent site, PetHobbyist.com, is on Twitter and Facebook? And believe us, dogs are front and center when we tweet and post, especially since we spun our busy reptile and amphibian site, kingsnake.com, off into its own social media sites.

We hope you'll follow us on Twitter and become our fan on Facebook -- it's a great way to keep up with dog news and special events!

That's it for now! Have a safe and wonderful New Year with your families, furry and otherwise!

All of us at DogHobbyist.com