Sweet Sugarface Layla!

 Layla is almost 13yrs old and she lives with her family in Virginia.  She has had a very busy life since being adopted at age 9; she rescued her human from a vicious dog attack, has mentored and nurtured foster pups and new family members, and together with her humans works tirelessly to promote the adoption of older dogs, dogs with disabilities and dogs who are challenged by breed discrimination.  She still loves to play, learn new tricks and excels at cuddling and snuggling.  She has an almost-famous sibling named Indigo that helped to educate us all this past year in a series of features we posted here at west coast dogs.  Read them both here and here and learn more about this wonderful dog and her family of heroes.

Waiting for our BarkBox

We’re back and excited to tell you about this cool new product/gift idea that we’ve signed up for.

First a bit of background, for Christmas my sister signed me up to receive a monthly gift called a luxe box that contains cosmetic sample sizes, shampoos, nail polish, etc.  We thought it was a great gift and love the idea of getting package every month.  Then, being the dog lovers that we are, we decided to investigate to see if there was something like this for dogs, and sure enough, there is!

It’s put out by a company called BarkBox, you can find them here at BarkBox.com.  The really neat thing about this (besides the cool products) is that for every single box they ship, they give a donation to an animal shelter or rescue group.  AND…they actually encourage people to send them suggestions for worthy rescue groups to receive these donations.

Then we discovered that they didn’t ship to Canada, so we emailed them and they told us to be patient, and well, we didn’t have to sit stay for very long because within a few weeks they wrote us with the great news that they are now serving the Canadian market as well as the United States!

But back to the BarkBox.

We just ordered today, so we expect to receive our first box later in May.  Each box contains dog related treats, samples and products to try.

We plan to report in each month to let our readers know what we’ve received and how we liked it.  The only challenge we’ve had so far is that we had to choose between three dog sizes, basically small and cute, just right and big and bold.  You may know we have a small and cute and well, a less-smallish super cute dog here at west coast dogs.  So, thinking that summer is coming and we could all afford to lose a few pounds, we went for the small and cute selection.

And wait, that’s not all….the great dog-loving, charity-giving people at BarkBox are offering a promotion to our west coast dogs readers.  Enter the promo code WESTCOASTDOGS and get $5 off your order.

It makes a great gift and you can sign up for three, six or nine months or longer.

Be sure to check back with us in a month or so and Tiggy and Holly will be reviewing their first ever BarkBox parcel.

Welcome Phoebe! (and her spokesperson Jayne)

Now Phoebe isn’t your ordinary dog, not by any stretch.  Phoebe is a dog of adventure, a dog of experience and a dog who is taking a stand against cyber bullying and cyber crime.

We’re not quite sure where to begin, but we’re very excited to have you talking to us today.

Now Phoebs, can I call you Phoebs?

Yes, of course you can, people call me that all the time! BOL!

Now, because of my own Husky heritage, I can tell from your photo that you are a Siberian Husky, how old are you?

I’m five years old now.

Let’s have Jayne tells us a bit about your background:

Well, as she told you, Phoebe is 5 year old Siberian Husky who used to be a sled dog.

A REAL sled dog?!

Yes, a real sled dog!

But, isn’t that a bit of a rough life for a dog?

Yes it is.  When she was a sled dog, she lived outside 24/7 in a fenced in area tied to a blue barrel that was her only shelter.

Well, we’re certainly glad that things changed for her.  How did she come to live with you?

My husband and I found her on Craigslist just over 3 years ago.  She was part of a sled dog team that was being given up by a couple in Canada who were divorcing.  All the dogs on her team were named after the characters on the TV show, “Friends.”  A woman in New Hampshire rescued the team and was able to socialize three of the dogs to be adopted out and we ended up with Phoebe!

That must have been a big change for Phoebe, how did you all manage?

Well, it was kind of like having a full-grown puppy.

What do you mean?

I mean, we had to teach her to go up and down stairs, to not pee in the house and that dog beds were better to sleep on than the floor.

Did she have any health issues when she came to you?

No, not really she was just extremely skinny when we got her, but has since “fattened up.”

Now how did Phoebe get into her new career?

Our vet suggested taking her as many places with me as possible to socialize her, so when I had to go to a school two hours away, I asked the headmaster if I could bring her.

Phoebe ended up sitting with me in the school library and she was like a kid magnet.  Students were drawn to her and would come and pet her and then open up to me about things that were troubling them including being bullied online.

Crime Fighters!

Wow!  Phoebe could be a secret agent!

Actually I saw this as an opportunity for both Phoebe (to continue to socialize her) and for the students to give them a comfortable environment to open up about cyber bullying and ultimately to teach them about how to stay safe online.

Sounds like you saw and opportunity and you took it.  Did Phoebe require any special training in her new role fighting cyber bullying?

Well, I began teaching Phoebe tricks like right shake, left shake, right high-five, left high-five, and double high-five.

Then, I started taking her to schools with me on a regular basis and when I talked about cyber bullying, I’d bring her on stage, have her do her tricks, then when I asked her, “What do you say to cyber bullies?” she would growl on command.  The kids love her!

What is your job, meaning do you ordinarily talk to kids about cyber crime etc?

I speak to middle and high school students, college and university students, as well as doing training for law enforcement on how to work on cyber crime cases and doing keynotes at conferences worldwide.

What is Phoebe’s schedule like now?

Her schedule varies and depends on the school’s rules.  We are hoping things pick up in the spring – it seems schools like to have us come in the fall or spring, just before school lets out.

What does Phoebe do when she’s not stomping out crime?

She’s spoiled rotten!

I take her everywhere I can, in the car when I go out to do errands, and many businesses allow me to bring her in, like our local bank, an auto parts store and the AT&T store.  They love her just like the kids do!

She sounds like a great ambassador.  Does Phoebe have a blog/website?

You betcha!

She has her own page on our web site at:

http://www.haltabusektd.org/phoebe/index.html

Twitter account at https://twitter.com/#!/Cybercrimedog and:

a Facebook profile at http://www.facebook.com/phoebe.crimedog

Now if kids don’t have a Phoebe to open up to, what should they do if they feel like they are being bullied online?

They should find someone they can tell what is going on.  Don’t think it will just go way, because it won’t.  If they don’t feel comfortable talking to someone in person, they can contact Phoebe online, or contact Uncle Jim, who is our celebrity spokesperson, at http://www.haltabusektd.org/about/staff/unclejim.html.

That sounds like a great option for someone who may feel that they don’t have anyone to turn to.

Both Phoebe and Uncle Jim will keep any contact anonymous.  They can also file a report with us at http://www.haltabusektd.org/help/help.html.  Then there is a site where they can report the cyberbully anonymously at http://www.schooltipline.com

Now, what does the future hold for Phoebe?

I’d love to spread the word about her and the work we do together out in the public more.  It’s my fantasy that maybe a dog food or dog toy company would like her to be their spokesperson.  She’ll continue to go to schools with me and as long as it’s by car, we hope to get to as many schools as possible to spread the word about staying safe online!

Any final comments?

Phoebe would like to shout out a big “ROO ROO!” to all your readers!