Challenge participation

The Etsy DOGMAFiA team is having a creative challenge this month. Our theme is "Irregular Dogs" - "You know the not so perfect dogs - a Rescue Dog - maybe they are missing a leg, an eye, have a broken tail, no ears, lumps & bumps, a crooked nose, etc."

The idea has been to sorta raise awareness for awkward or handicapped animals who still make amazing pets and live great fulfilling lives despite their disabilities. Most participants are putting their entries up for adoption in their shops, and at many have decided to donate the "adoption fee" to a rescue or charity of their choice.

My entry is Nina, the three-legged Italian Greyhound...



I decided to create a backstory to explain her life with her disability. Here's what I... she wrote:

"My name is Nina, and I'm a former puppy mill mama. I had an accident when i was a baby and lost one of my legs. When the millers saw that i couldn't be sold in a pet store, they decided to keep me as breeding stock. My years in the puppy mill were gloomy. But then a great thing happened - the puppy mill was discovered and closed down. Nice people came and rescued us. Now i live in a foster home and its wunnerful, i get to sleep in a comfy bed and play with other dogs (don't think for a minute that they outrun me with all their legs, i catch up). But I heard that life gets even better in a "forever" home..."

Now my main reason here is because I feel that it is extremely important to spread information about puppy mills. People need to know what goes on behind those "papers" and "breeders" that the pet stored hide behind. It seems that nothing can be done legally about those mills, but informed people can vote with their dollar and can easily choose not to support puppy mills and go elsewhere to find a pet to add to their household. And although Nina's story is made up, if it inspired one person to google "puppy mill" and learn a bit, I'm satisfied. For more information about puppy mills, check out Prisoners of Greed.

phew. sorry for that. What can i say, puppy mills are something i feel very strongly about.

So uhhh just for fun and because this is getting too wordy, here are the other entries to date.



That's Kami, a black lab who's missing part of her tail by Bentleys Bones. She's up for adoption.



That's Molly, a Basset Hound that's lost her long ears by HowlinHounds. She's based on a real life dog who had a very unfortunate experience at a puppy mill, before being rescued. Molly is available for adoption.



That's Molly and Daisy and Gus and Jake - a gaggle of two-headed golden retrievers by art4milkbones. Gus and Jake are available for adoption.

Gemma the Toothless
The last one thus far is Gemma the Toothless by FrumsGlassMenagerie. She is based on Frum's own rescued IG Gemma who doesn't have any teeth so her tongue hangs out. Seems that the glass Gemma has already been adopted!