Our New Year's Resolutions

(Updated on 12-31-2009)
Although 2009 has been a great year, we are still looking forward to 2010. A million thanks to everyone who has supported and helped us in our mission of providing needy dogs with toys! We are committed to being bigger and better in 2010 and hope to help even more furry friends in the year to come. To help us do that, we have made some resolutions that we would like to share with you.

1. Continue to focus on monthly toy drives & expand to locations in other areas of the city. Our toy drives are the heart of our organization. We are having them once a month (for the most part) at various animal-centric locations around the city. I want to continue with the toy drives and expand to new locations in new parts of Austin in order to give everyone a fair chance to donate. I am also going to begin allowing the hosts to chose the organization that the donated toys will benefit. I began doing this towards the end of 2009, and it's something that seems to be working really well. I love learning about all the different groups that people want to help out; many of them I had never heard of, so they might not have been beneficiaries otherwise.

2. Put more effort into our Facebook page. So far, our Facebook page has mostly been an afterthought. I update it here and there as I think about it, but nowhere near as often as this blog or our Twitter page. But we have quite a few fans on Facebook, and they deserve to know what we are up to as much as anyone else does!

3. Try not to take things so personally. Sometimes when I am setting up the monthly toy drive, people tell me no, that they don't want to host. This is so frusterating, since they literally don't have to do anything- I drop off and pick up the bin and take care of getting the donated toys to whatever organization they are designated for. But sometimes people just don't want to deal with it. Which should be ok, it's their choice. I need to learn not to take it so personal. Another example is certain things I read online. One memorable sobfest happened after reading a story by my Twitter Friend @AmazonCares about a dog who was attacked by a chainsaw. Thankfully, they were able to save his life, but last time I checked in on him, he was having a difficult time learning to trust humans again. His story broke my heart. Another memorable sobfest happened after reading a beautiful blog by my Twitter friend Jazzy the Amazing Wiener (@WienerBites) about her big brother Grady, who recently crossed the Rainbow Bridge. But even as I am typing this resolution, I am not sure I WANT to keep it. I love the fact that I care so much, even though it's fairly emotionally painful at times. Maybe it makes me better-suited for what I am trying to do and more determined to achieve the goals of my little organization.

4. Take more photos for the blog. Sometimes I take photos of the toy drive locations as well as the toy drive loot, but sometimes I forget. I think it's nice for everyone to be able to actually see what we are doing, especially if they have donated or helped out at some point in time. Also, this site is full of pics of Teeny & Tootsie. And while they are awfully cute, there are lots of other poochies (and their humans) that have contributed to our cause. We have featured a dog named Bella a few different times (here and here) and I want to do more things like that. Any pet that has given to our cause and wants to help his/her fellow canine deserves a space on this blog.

5. Begin a Teeny's Friends monthly newsletter. This is my big resolution. Even if I don't keep any of the others (spoiler alert: I'll probably only keep 3 out of the 5) I am going to make sure I keep this one. I want to create (am in the process of creating) a monthly newsletter to send out to all of our supporters to keep everyone informed about what is going on. Our newsletter will contain lots of info, such as where our next toy drive will be located. We will also highlight an organization of the month. If you would like to be added to the newsletter mailing list, please email me at teenys_friends@yahoo.com!

Happy Holidays From Tootsie!

December Toy Drive @ Groovy Dog Over!

Our December toy drive at Groovy Dog Bakery ended on Saturday. Groovy Dog chose Emancipet as their beneficiary; we have had the opportunity to work with Emancipet in the past (our July 2009 toy drive, for example), and always love to support them whenever we can. The folks at Groovy Dog are amazing- they really could not be any nicer. You can really tell how much they love dogs. If you live in the Austin, Tx area, I highly recommend you go and check them out! I will be posting pictures of the loot soon, and am currently working on the details for the first toy drive of the new year, so stay tuned!

Happy Holidays From Teeny's Friends

We at Teeny's Friends (AKA me, my hubby Todd, Teeny, and our miniature schnauzer Tootsie) wanted to wish everyone happy holidays! We love all of our supporters so much and we wouldn't be where we are today without all of your help! We also hope you were good this year and that no one wakes up with a lump of coal in their stocking!

Guest Post For Positively Present

My good friend Dani (and her cutie pie puppy Bella) run a fantastic website called Positively Present. You might recognize Dani; I have posted about her before, when I received a gigantic box of toys in the mail to be donated to needy dogs. Positively Present is all about living life to the fullest and it is an incredibly inspiring website. So I was excited and honored when Dani asked me to do a guest post about animals and how they make our lives better. Want to read what I wrote? Click here to see my post.

December Toy Drive At Groovy Dog Bakery!

I am excited to announce that the December toy drive will be held at Groovy Dog Bakery! Groovy Dog Bakery has any flavor of dog treat that your furry friend could ever want! Barbecue, peanut butter, cinnamon, veggie, etc- click here to see a complete list! They also do cakes for your pets birthdays! I'm really looking forward to stopping in on Saturday to set up the toy drive; I am going to pick up some stocking stuffer treats for our poochies! Groovy Dog is located in Austin, Texas at 4477 South Lamar in suite 580. In the right-hand column is a Google map with the location. Our bins will be there from Saturday, December 5th until Saturday, December 19th. They are currently deciding on a benefit group- I will post that info when I get it! In the meantime, stop by Groovy Dog, drop some toys off in our bins, and pick up some delicious treats for your pets! We will also accept donations of treats if you would rather give those instead of toys. And don't forget your pets when you are doing your holiday shopping! Pick them up some treats to stick in their stockings; they'll thank you for it!

Toy Giveaway At River Dog Prints!

River Dog Prints has not only put us in their December newsletter, but they are giving away one official Teeny's Friends tug toy (along with a super cute set of their dog stationary) per week throughout the month! One lucky winner each week will win this fun little grab bag. These two items together would be a great holiday gift for the pet lovers in your life, or even for yourself & your furry friend! Visit their pooch Scout's dog blog for info and how to enter!
P.S. Scout is the cutie pie in the pic to the left, playing with our toy.

River Dog Prints December Newsletter

Teeny's Friends is being featured in the River Dog Prints December newsletter! Each month they chose an organization to highlight and this month, we're it! Click here to see open the newsletter in a browser window. Thank you so much to the gang at River Dog Prints, we appreciate your friendship and support more than you'll ever know!
River Dog Prints creates & sells custom paper goods. They do cute & creative stationary, photo cards, tags, labels, etc. You may recognize their name from the Pet Postcard Project back in September, as they were the ones who created our postcard. For a sample of their great work, check out our Pet Postcard or visit their website. They are also on Twitter at www.twitter.com/riverdogprints and click here for their Facebook page!