• Feed and walk the neighbor’s dogs while they are on vacation. Your child might even get a little bit of spending money as a bonus.
• If you have a friend or neighbor whose dog never gets walked, offer to do it for them.
• Enroll your dog in an obedience class. Go to the class with your child so you all can have some quality bonding time.
• Bring your obedience-trained dog to visit neighbors and/or seniors who live alone.
• Using non-toxic face paint, put your dog’s paw prints on homemade cards and take to the senior center.
• Visit the local animal shelter and take pictures of adoptable dogs. Make flyers and hand them out at ball games, BBQs, and birthday parties.
• Buy fabric paint at a crafts store and paint t-shirts with paw prints or dog faces. Write the words ‘Adopt A Dog’ in big letters. Give them away to friends.
• Decorate a can or jar with cute dog drawings or pictures. Ask friends and neighbors to drop in spare change. Donate the money to your local animal shelter.
• Make dog biscuits and take them to your neighbors dogs and to the animal shelter.
• Help a friend find a new best friend by going with them to adopt a dog from a shelter.

Were you thinking of the recent fad of breeding designer dogs? Actually, this term was coined by Rescue Me Dog’s founder, Cheryl O’Leary, out of respect for all the lovely mixed-breed dogs that can be found in local shelters. As a parent of both purebred and pure-cross dogs, she wanted others to know that a dog of any mixed ancestry can provide the same amount of enjoyment and purpose as its purebred cousins. I can’t think of a better word to celebrate the status of our adopted and adoptable mixed-breed dogs.
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