Paco got his "big boy" surgery!!!

POOR PACO!!! He got his "big boy" surgery yesterday and he's not feeling too spry today!! He can't figure out why he has to wear a lampshade on his head!!! But now he's ready to look for that loving home of his own!!!
Me and Mom are watching him pretty close to make sure he doesn't rip out any stitches or anything.

We're competing again in the shelter challenge so you folks be sure to vote for us okay? Just go to www.animalrescuesite.com. Click on the vertical tab on the right that says "Shelter Challenge." Type in "lighthouse" for shelter name. Click on Costa Rica for country. Click search. When our name comes up vote for us and wait for the confirmation question.

All is well here at Lighthouse for right now. The sun is shinin', there's a nice breeze, and we have some GREAT new friends in our guest room!!
By the way!!! We are renting out our guest room to vacationing animal lovers!! If you're coming to Costa Rica we'd love to have you stay with us!!! You can read about our place at
http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/37923

Tailwags!!!
BudBud

We need your votes!!!!

A new shelter challenge has started!!
The vote site has been REALLY messed up and we were losing TONS of votes but now!!!!!!
WHOOOO HOOOO!!!!! Doin' the HAPPY DANCE!!!!! It looks like they finally got the site workin'!! At least now we show up in the international category!! We're in 1ST place!!!!!!!! Lots of people have posted us today to tell us they were FINALLY able to cast a vote!!! WHEW!!!!! If you still have problems voting PLEASE let us know!! Be sure to read this whole post please!!!

Go to www.animalrescuesite.com. Click on the vertical tab on the right that says "Shelter Challenge." Type in "lighthouse" for shelter name. Click on Costa Rica for country. Click search. When our name comes up vote for us and wait for the vote confirmation question. You will be asked to identify the animal in the photo.

There is NO PRIZE for 2nd place in the international category this time so we will have to stay in 1st place to win the thousand dollars.

We showed up in 2nd place international last night so you folks must be doing some HEAVY VOTING!!! THANKS!!! We even LOST a lot of votes over the past three days due to their system being messed up!!

In the overall category we were #49 yesterday. Today we are #26!!!! WOW!!!! We could actually win the grand prize if this momentum keeps up!!! So ask all your friends to vote too please!! Just forward this reminder to them!!

If we could get a weekly prize (most votes for the week) we could win a thousand dollar prize for that!!

OR!!!! If some of you can write stories and enter the "New Beginnings Story Contest" and designate us as your chosen shelter we could win $3,000.00!!!!!

OR!!!! If we get LOTS AND LOTS and LOTS of votes we could win the GRAND PRIZE of $5,000.00!!! Just think how many animals we could help with that!!!

So there's lots of ways to win if we just put our minds to it!! And our clicking fingers/paws!!!

Thanks again to all of you who have been voting and those of you who have been trying to vote!! You should be able to vote with no problem now!!!

Remember, if you want to be added to our daily reminder list just let us know!!!
One email a day, with a captioned photo of a Lighthouse kid is all you will get. We don't do spam or anything like that.

Tailwags!!!!
BudBud

WE WON!!!!!!!! $2,000.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom is cryin'. Dad is cryin', and us perros are all jumpin' around spreadin' loose fur everywhere!!!!!

WE WON 1st PLACE!!!! $1,000.00!!!
And we won the weekly prize for the most votes!!!
That's another $1,000.00!!!!!!

$2,000.00!!!!

YOU FOLKS ARE AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! And please tell all your friends we say THANKS!!!!

We're including a video of some of the kids you'e helped with your votes in 2010!!

Mom says there is no way we can tell you all how much this means to us!!! It is the best Christmas present we could EVER have!!!! It will help with EVERYTHING here at the shelter!!!
God bless ALL of you!!!!

Tailwags and tears of joy!!!!
BudBud, Paco, Maricita, Juliette, Joy, Andre, Milana, Mieko, Sassy, Bunny, Lluvia, Lisa, Delilah, Krystal, Storm, Laika, Bingo, Poas, Spanky, Larry, Blade, Jingle, Riki, Frances and Bruce

WE NEED YOUR VOTE!!!!

HOLA Y'ALL!!

MAN!!! All our friends are trying SOOO hard to help us win this challenge. There's only two more days to vote!! Today and tomorrow. Sunday, Dec. 13, 2010!!! If y'all see this in time go to www.animalrescuesite.com and click on the vertical tab on the right side of the page that says "Shelter Challenge." Then type in "Lighthouse" for the shelter name and "Atenas" for the city. Then click on Costa Rica for the country and click search. When our name comes up PLEASE vote for us!!! We really need to win this. Things are getting way too expensive and Mom and Dad are having a hard time making ends meet. Especially with 23 animals in the house!!! We're eating them out of house and home!! Here's our Christmas card from LAST year!!
And there's ten more of us right now!!!

PLEASE VOTE!!!
Tailwags!!
BudBud

Extra Lovin'

Hola Y'all!!!! Things are going pretty smooth right now. No emergencies for almost three days and we have FANTASTIC guests from some place called Germany!!! They LOVE us furkids and we're gettin' all kinds of extra lovin'!!!

Mom and Dad have started renting out the guest room to vacationers!! Mom says this might help raise some money for the shelter!! Mom and Dad say prices keep going up and our retirement is staying the same for another year or two. Mom fusses about something called "government" and says each of them should have to live on what we make each month. I don't know what all that means but it seems to worry Mom and Dad a lot.

Us perros and gatos are THRILLED that we have guests coming in to stay in our guest room. We get all kinds of attention!!!

Mom says the only people who would want to stay here are REAL animal lovers!! She listed our guest room with www.airbnb.com. We had three guests a couple of months ago and right now we have two GREAT people from Germany!!! In December we have someone else coming to stay with us!!!

Paco is doing FANTASTIC!!!! He's running and playing like the puppy he never got to be. He's healthy and happy!!! Now all we have to do is find him the perfect home!!!

There's a TV crew coming here today to interview Mom and Dad. They're doing a show about people who have moved from the states to other countries. Mom says I have to be on my best behavior!!!! I don't know why she would say that. I'm ALWAYS on my best behavior!! Gotta go!! Mom says we need to tidy up the house before they get here.

Don't forget to vote int he shelter challenge for us!! Just go to www.animalrescuesite.com. Click on the vertical tab on the right "Shelter Challenge" type in lighthouse and click Costa Rica for country. Search and when our name comes up VOTE FOR US!! Then be sure to wait for the confirmation question to confirm your vote.

TAILWAGS!!!!!!!!! BudBud

Goings on at Lighthouse

Hola Y'all!!!

It's been a while since I posted!! I've been pretty busy takin' care of Mom and all the other furkids.

The photos above are of the new kid here!! She was a mess when she arrived and she turned out to be a SCHNAUZER!!! Who would'a guessed??? Her name is Lacy and she is a real sweetheart!!

Mom lost her voice about a month ago. The doctor says her right vocal cord is paralyzed!! Nobody knows why. She's doin' exercises and stuff and trying to make it work again. And the doctor gave her a steroid spay to use. She is finally able to talk a little better but she still can't yell or sing!!! The doctor says if it doesn't correct itself they might have to do a surgery.

Paco is doin' GREAT!! He is a happy, healthy furkid except he has a weak back end. His back legs don't work exactly right. It doesn't seem to hurt him or slow him down though and he runs and plays with the other furkids!!! Mom's gonna get him ex-rayed to try to find out what the problem is.
Here's a video of some of us out in the yard playing!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZHsgs4gk-s

Don't forget to vote for us in the shelter challenge!!! Just go to www.animalrescuesite.com. Click on the vertical tab on the right "Shelter Challenge" type in lighthouse and click Costa Rica for country. Search and when our name comes up VOTE FOR US!! Then be sure to wait for the confirmation question to confirm your vote.

TAILWAGS!!!!
BudBud

Great new TV show possible!! Go watch it!!!

WOW!!! What a GREAT show this would be to have on television!! Go to
http://www.vetswithoutborders.com/
and watch each episode!! These vets are doing wonders for the animals in third world countries.
The lady who is putting this show together wrote to us and asked us to show it to all our animal loving friends!! Mom cried while she was watching it of course.
Tailwags!!!
BudBud

Here is what she wrote.

"Hi There,
I’m an animal rescue volunteer by night and TV producer by day. I’m launching a new web series that I thought you and your membership/volunteers/colleagues/friends/etc. may like to see. It’s called “Vets Without Borders” and it follows Veterinarians without Borders as they set up field clinics to sterilize dogs in Todos Santos, Guatemala.

Todos Santos is a small mountain village. The field clinics are dusty spaces with limited electricity and no running water. Their operating tables are wooden desks covered in garbage bags. Most dogs have never seen a vet before. Rabid dogs have attacked people in the community, killing them with the disease. The vets are there to spay/neuter and vaccinate the dog population, but in a community with no other vet care there are many crises to overcome.

The website is live now at www.vetswithoutborders.com. There are several social networking links on the page so please consider posting it to your Facebook or Twitter so others will see the show too. Our goal is to get enough people to watch that we can get a TV series for this show, so that more people can learn about the desperate need for veterinary care that helps both people and pets in developing countries. Not to mention the importance of spaying and neutering pets right here at home!

I truly hope you’ll considering forwarding this message to others. If you have any questions please just let me know. And thank you so much for the amazing work you to help animals in your community."

Erin Skillen

Producer/Vice President
May Street Productions Ltd.