To our dogs, our surrounds are full of exciting smells, textures and tastes. These innocent troublemakers are not always able to judge for themselves what is safe or harmful to ingest, inhale or roll around in.

Below is a brief overview of different poisons that may be found in our homes that we are unaware of, some signs of poison our dogs may exhibit and steps to take if your dog has come in contact with poison.

It is important to note that not all poisons will affect dogs in the same way. Many factors can determine the type of reaction your dog will have. Its height, weight, general health and age are just some of the things that could affect how your dog reacts. Also, not all poisons cause an immediate reaction. In fact, some may take days, weeks or years for you to be able to see noticeable signs or symptoms.

Poisonous hazards

The following are just a small sampling of common items found around the home that can be poisonous to our furry friends.

• Alcoholic beverages
• Antifreeze
• Avocados
• Batteries
• Carbon monoxide
• Cat litter - Chocolate
• Coffee (grounds and beans)
• Detergents/soaps
• Fabric softener sheets
• Fertilizers
• Garlic
• Grapes and raisins (large amounts)
• Home cleaning products
• ce melting products
• Lead
• Many common houseplants
• Moldy/spoiled food
• Mothballs
• Onions and onion powder
• Over-the-counter human medications
• Paints
• Pennies
• Pesticides
• Poinsettias
• Potpourri
• Rat/mouse traps
• Salt
• Silica gel
• Tobacco products
• Wild mushrooms

Signs/symptoms of poisoning

Below are a few of the most obvious signs of poisoning in a dog. You know your dog best, if you feel like your dog may have been exposed to a poison, don?t wait for symptoms to appear ? contact your vet immediately.

• Vomiting
• Excessive thirst
• Excessive panting
• Abnormal heartbeat
• No appetite
• Trouble breathing
• Seizures
• Lethargy
• Lack of coordination
• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea
• Tremors
• Coma

• Remove your dog from exposure to the poison. For example, if your dog is lapping up a dangerous liquid, place them somewhere that will prevent them from continuing to ingest it.
• Contact your vet or an emergency vet immediately.
• NEVER give medicine, induce vomiting or use any home remedies without instruction of a veterinary professional.
• If you are unsure what poison may be affecting your dog, collect samples of contaminated urine, vomit or feces for testing.
• If you know what poison your dog came in contact with, make note of what type it is, the ingredients and any other identifying information to share with the vet.
• Your vet may recommend inducing vomiting by using three percent hydrogen peroxide. Follow the vet?s instructions carefully when using this technique.

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/comlist.html
http://www.aspca.org/apcc
http://www.peteducation.com

• Keep your vet's number and the numbers for any emergency vet services near all telephones in your house.
• The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (888) 426-4435. Please note, a $55 consultation fee may be charged.

Please note: The above information was complied from a variety of Internet sources and is not intended to replace the advice of a vet or serve as medical advice. It is provided for educational purposes only.

In conjunction with National Homemakers Month in April, the Celebration Team is developing a guide for your reading (and using) pleasure. Here are the topics:

• Cleaning with Your Canines
• Decorating with Your Dogs
• Homemaking with Your Honeys

This guide will include tips, stories and pictures from YOU on how your dogs help make your home a wonderful place to be.

Here are some examples:

• Decorating with Dogs: Doggie beds can be purchased in colors to coordinate with your room and furniture colors. These can take the place of any throw pillows you may have but which have been chewed up by the dog.
• Homemaking with your Honeys: No need to purchase an expensive home security system, the woof woof, bark bark works far better and faster than a system where the security people take forever to get to your home!
• Cleaning with Your Canines: If your dog likes to leave nose and paw prints on your sliding glass doors or windows, do NOT clean this off. These are wonderful sun-blockers and break up the glare in your room.

In closing, here is a wonderful tip that we know most women will be happy to know:
Dog Hair in your kitchen and/or bath room drains prevents your fine jewelry from going down the drain in the event you drop these. Not only does this save you a tremendous amount of money for a plumber but it saves many a family argument about how silly you were to have your jewelry at the sink anyway!

Now that you have the idea, GET BUSY! Send us your tips, funny related stories and any pictures that you may have starting NOW. The Guide will be available for public viewing on April 1st from the Celebration page.

EVENT BONUS!

As a little added "incentive" for this event, those of you that turn in your tips by March 31st will be eligible for a prize. We will be selecting the prize winner (s) from a random drawing right after April 1st. Of course we will accept entries after April 1st as well, but if you want a prize - get your information to us by March 31st.

"Unadoptable. She'll have to be euthanized."

That was the verdict when CeCe's owners tried to surrender her to local animal shelters. Gentle and housebroken, 5-year-old CeCe was suffering from emotional problems brought on by her chaotic and tense home life. Unable to cope with her uncertain world, CeCe's only defense was disassociation. She would retreat into her crate, with no toys and no soft blankie for comfort, and would hide there alone for hours, fretting. Ignored and becoming increasingly fearful, CeCe found comfort in sucking on her paws, much like a child might suck its thumb. Soon, the habit became a compulsion. By the time that her owners decided CeCe needed a new home, her problem had created a grave situation: her owners knew they could no longer care for her, and the shelters wouldn't take her. In desperation, her owners contacted Col. Potter. It was CeCe's last hope.

CPCRN routinely accepts challenges, rescuing Cairns that have been neglected or abused and who need help overcoming their fear of humans. But CeCe was different. The damage had gone deep into her soul and created a problem that could be insurmountable. Sensitive and loving CeCe had internalized the intense anxiety in her home and emerged almost shell-shocked. The big question facing the rescue workers was: Could CeCe overcome her past and escape the label "Unadoptable"? It was hoped that with enough time and patience, that CeCe could. So she was welcomed into one of Col. Potter's many experienced foster homes.

Early reports made it clear that CeCe faced a long road to recovery. When bored or stressed, CeCe would suck and gnaw at her front paws to the point of hurting herself. Even though she would whimper, she would continue obsessively sucking her paws, growling if anyone tried to interrupt her ritual. She also demonstrated her frustrations by ripping chunks of grass from the yard when she was outside or by shredding her bedding when inside. And while she seemed to crave love, following her foster mom around like a shadow, CeCe still kept herself emotionally detached. But despite her emotional problems, CeCe was ever the lady. She submitted gracefully to grooming, made no housebreaking "mistakes" and showed no aggressive behavior over toys or food. She was clever as well, quickly mastering all the basic commands.

Wanting to help this delightful girl escape her past and be able to prepare for a loving future, an animal behaviorist volunteered to evaluate CeCe. As usual, CeCe wanted to greet the visitor, but her need to suck her paws immobilized her. She stood on her wrists, licking the pads of her feet and whimpering, occasionally whirling in excitement before resuming the paw sucking. It took her half an hour to calm down enough to approach for her share of attention, and the petting that she received triggered another round of frenetic paw sucking. Both the behaviorist and the veterinarian agreed that CeCe could only overcome her problem with pharmacological treatment and a continuation of the behavior modification training that her foster home was providing already.

From the beginning, when CeCe would suck her paws, her foster mom would walk away from her. Always desperate for affection, CeCe soon learned that to get the cuddles she craved, she would have to keep her feet out of her mouth. Soon, the behavior began to diminish. With the medication also helping curb her obsessive behavior, CeCe's paws were starting to stay dry. It was also becoming possible to distract CeCe from her paws by suggesting that she go find her tennis ball. Within weeks, CeCe even began enjoying playing with the ball. She was also finding it easier to accept love without becoming distraught. Then one day, CeCe made a major breakthrough: her foster mom returned from shopping and CeCe greeted her with little kisses instead of retreating to suck her paws.

It was clear that CeCe was going to beat the "Unadoptable" label. Soon, she was ready to be listed on the website. Even though she was labeled Not Yet Ready for Adoption, everyone at CPCRN rejoiced at this milestone, knowing that now it was just a matter of time before she would be ready.

Slowly, CeCe began to emerge from her shell and enjoy her daily life. There was the afternoon that she began zooming through the yard after the resident Cairns. And the day that she decided it was okay to play tug-o-war with her foster mom. Another day, in true Cairn style, she gleefully pulled the stuffing out of a toy. Soon, she was able to ignore small "paw sucking triggers," such as the resident Cairns barking and roughhousing with each other during CeCe's naps. Now, CeCe would quickly recover herself when visitors dropped by, only sucking her paws for a few minutes before greeting the guests and then, when the visit was over, escorting them to the door without so much as a lick at her toes.

Finally, the day came when her foster mom reported that CeCe was ready to find her forever home. Her spot on the CPCRN website was updated to include the triumphant information that CeCe was now Adoptable. After months of hoping that CeCe could beat the odds, CPCRN team members were overjoyed as the news quickly spread: CeCe did it! This little princess was going to get her own Happily Ever After.

To those who have kept watch over her progress from the start and prayed for a breakthrough, CeCe is a perfect example of the kind of work that goes on at CPCRN. Without Col. Potter, CeCe would have been euthanized, through no fault of her own, as a tragic end to a sad life. But she was given the second chance she deserved by a devoted Foster Caregiver who provided the safe haven, the hours of patience and love, and the specialized medical care that she needed in order to overcome her past. Like so many others who come into Col. Potter's open arms, CeCe has a story with a happy ending. It is the story of The Little Foster Who Could…overcome the odds and become a true Cairn Princess!

Join with us to create a series of CPCRN Celebration Cairn Quilts this year to help in fundraising for our rescue efforts. These quilts will be in groups of 4, 6, and 12 blocks created by those who want to help, and will be assembled and quilted by crafting members of CPCRN. Of course, anyone who wants to create an entire quilt is more than welcome, but even a single block will move us toward our goal.

The rules follow:

1. Finished block size will be 8 inches. We would prefer you send us 9 inch quilt block to allow us to cut them perfectly square and still have room for the seam. You need to be sure your 'design' is in the 8 inch center area of your block.
2. Blocks can be ANY form of quilting: pieced, applique, fabric dye or paint and background color can be ANY color - just realize that if you use NEON ORANGE or HOT PINK, we will have to wait until we get OTHER squares that match up to it to use it. Feel free to add embellishments like ribbons or buttons as decorations to give each square a unique look.
3. The subject is CAIRNS.... and the theme is WHY WE LOVE OUR CAIRNS. . So they can be doing anything you want... Please have at least one cairn or cairn like dog, even if only in silhouette, on your square. These blocks can be decorated any way you wish as long as it something in it resembles a cairn and fits on a 8" square. Last time we did this, we had a wide variety of methods .. it was lovely.
4. Please use 100% cotton fabric for your square. This way we will all have the same fabric in it. If something on your square is NOT washable, please attach a note to the square.
5. Please sign your square with a permanent pen, then iron the signature with a dry iron. This will permanently set it in place.
6. When you are ready to mail us your square, send us a note, and we'll email you the address.
7. Once we receive the squares, we will match them up with other squares and have OUR quilters assemble the quilt tops, add batting and complete the quilt. We will then sell them either on Ebay or at our CRAPs, or we will include them as prizes in our New Leash Raffles.

Thanks for participating.. oh and if you know someone not a member who might want to help... feel free to pass on. This will be an ongoing fundraising project for this year, so you can not be too early or to late!

PLEASE NOTE- These squares are being requested specifically for fundraising efforts for CPCRN. By sending a square, you are giving CPCRN permission to use them in our fundraising efforts - both in quilts, and using their image in other media - for example. . on our website, or as a background for a hand crafted card, or even as a picture for our Cafe Press Store. We truly appreciate your help in our fundraising activities.

If you do not sew, you can still participate... Here's two ways (or email us and we'll talk you thru)

1st method:
Go to a fabric store and get one 'FAT QUARTER' of a background fabric (if you don't know what a 'FAT QUARTER' is, ask, and they will be glad to help).. and a 'FAT QUARTER' of a fabric you like for your cairn. You will also need to get some 'WUNDER UNDER' - it is a fabric that has iron on glue on BOTH sides, one side has a paper back. Cut your background fabric into the right size squares per above.
Iron the Wunder Under onto the BACK of the print fabric - LEAVE THE PAPER ATTACHED. Print out a cairn silhouette and glue to the backing of the wunder under. Cut your print fabric into the cairn shape ... Remove the paper and iron it onto the FRONT of your white/ivory fabric. Voila - square is done (I suggest you put a piece of wax paper between the print fabric and your iron so you don't get glue on it... quilter hint)

2nd method:
Go to a fabric store and get one 'FAT QUARTER' of a background fabric ..
Get some Fabric paint that is PERMANENT. (very important tip.. make sure is permanent)
Paint a picture of a cairn on your fabric... this is easier than it looks cause they lead themselves to the scribble method of drawing...
Please be sure to keep within the center 8 inches of the block

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