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| Please note: I AM NOT A RESCUE GROUP! Do not contact me if you are trying to find a home for your pet. My heart goes out to every pet who needs a home, which is why I am helping over 200 Rescue Groups raise money. Go to the links page to see if there is a rescue group near you who can help you in your pet's time of need. |
Barnum: Golden Retriever/Irish Setter
Jackie: Papillion/Pomeranian
Coltrane: Domestic Short Hair Brat Cat
Jackie: Papillion/Pomeranian
Coltrane: Domestic Short Hair Brat Cat
I have always spent the Holiday season looking at calendars in bookstores.
I'm that person who likes to check out each calendar with a subject I like and
flip through every month, even reading all of the Far Side jokes before I buy it.
Every year I saw the same dog calendars. "For the Love of Poodles," "For
the Love of Yellow Labs"... and they were always pictures of each breed at its
best posed beautifully and majestically. But what about my dogs? What
about all of the dogs in my neighborhood and my obedience classes? These
"For the Love of..." calendars were nothing but Cindy Crawford runway
model-dogs! What about the rest of us?!
And, of course, what about the RESCUES. The mixes, the purebreds past
their puppyhood, the elderly, the dogs missing limbs- each dog with some
evidence of a not-so-wonderful life now behind them hidden deep in their
eyes, but overcome by the happiness of a new, loving forever home.
The final kick I needed was when my brother spent a huge chunk of money to
have a purebred puppy sent to him from another state- when the rescue
group for that very breed was in our hometown. His "you get what you pay
for" attitude launched a fire in me. And he DID get what he paid for. A dog
with hereditary hip dysplasia that he only found out about by accident. The
breeder never reimbursed him for the money for the puppy, which he had
fallen too much in love with to part with anyway. So now this young dog has to
spend her life on medication. And do you think her breeder stopped breeding
that line of dogs with this knowledge? As a Veterinarian I once worked with
told me: "A Good Breeder is an Oxymoron."
January 2005
My new husband, Jeremy, and I set out to create our calendar. Through an
ad in Craigslist, I organized photo shoots all over the Los Angeles and
Ventura Counties in one of the wettest winters Southern California had
experienced in some time. With each new person we met, I felt stronger and
stronger about what we were setting out to do. The love and pure joy these
people had for their dogs equalled my own for my little pack at home. How
wonderful to be around such dedicated, loving people!
March 2005
I started soliciting rescue groups using Petfinder. It was often difficult to
explain to the groups what I was embarking (pardon the pun) upon. I think I'm
the first to do this on such a large scale, so many people were skeptical. But
the few folks who joined up were a good core of loving rescue people, and
interest started to grow.
October 2005
The calendars were ready to go. It was a lot of work, some mishaps with the
printers, but finally they were here. The online orders started coming in, and I
spent every single weekend from October through December going to any
and every rescue event I could get invited to to sell the calendars for the host
group. Hey, Kim Basinger even bought one for her daughter!
I'd like to say they sold like hot-cakes. I overestimated and had quite a few left
over. But lessons learned for 2007!
April 2006
This year I started taking submissions of pictures from rescue groups and
individuals who had rescued their dogs. It gave us a chance to have pictures
we never had had before. Like dogs sleeping, since they were always awake
to check out the strangers when we came to take pictures!
With the number of pictures sent in, I decided to move the "Happy Ending"
stories to the back of the calendar to allow more space for more faces each
month.
September 2006
The second year of calendars are here. A little more conservative in the
amount we had printed, we were able to completely sell out before February!
Many more groups had jumped on board by then, and what a joy to have
return customers! I was so thrilled that people liked the calendar enough to
get another one.
April 2007
The second year of photo submissions is met with a huge response! Where
our first calendar for 2006 had a mere 60 dogs featured, 2008 was preparing
to feature 150! In lue of the amount of dogs, more changes had to be made.
I decided to not feature the dog's breed next to the photos. It was tough for
me because I think people enjoy trying to guess what breed dogs are,
especially mixes or ones they've never seen before. But I thought 150 happy
faces was far more important!
Early November 2007
WE SELL OUT!! Holy cow! The first year we actually go to re-print! I make
the choice to reprint more than I know we can sell before the New Year, but it
was the only way to keep them cost effective. I wasn't going to let any of the
groups lose donations simply because we were getting popular! So a total of
1700 are ultimately printed, with approximately 200 left over.
May 2008
In come the photos for the 2009 calendar. My only hitch is so many pictures
have to be rejected simply because the quality of the photo is too low. Cell
phone shots, ones on low settings, or pictures reduced in Photo Shop cause
me to say no to some really terrific pictures. I deeply apologize to those I had
to turn away.
September 2008
The economy crash. While the media goes on about foreclosures and job
losses, we in rescue know those who is suffering silently. Not only are more
pets losing their homes due to their families' struggles, but the donations that
are depended upon just aren't there. People are afraid to give to charity this
year, everything is so uncertain. Or, much like following 9/11, generous
donors are redirecting their donations to other, more media covered causes,
and the little neighborhood rescue group is forgotten.
March 2009
Unfortunately we planned for the number of calendars we sold last year.
They went to the printers only weeks before the economy crumbled. So
selling of the 2009 calendars was slow. But not without hope. We still raised
over $5000 for the participating groups. Proving there are still great,
generous people out there looking out for our homeless animals.
September 2009
The calendars are ready to go for our Fifth Anniversary edition. Did you
notice? The cover is done in a wood design, which is what is given on Fifth
Anniversaries. I'm excited about this year. Because the economy is still in a
tough spot, I only ordered 1000 to be printed for 2010. I'm in the new
situation this year of returning to college this month (UCLA Grad School for
Film/TV Producing). Our budget is tight, so we can't afford to be stuck with
leftovers again. But I am feeling confident the 1000 will be just right, and we
will sell out!
December 2009
We SOLD OUT on December 15th! What perfect timing for the Holidays and
the New Year. Thank you so much to everyone who donated. We raised over
$5000 from online sales alone (which is a lot considering it is $10 at a time!)
The biggest news is HART (Homeless Animals Rescue Team) out of Fairfax
Station, Virginia, raised over $1000 themselves! This is above and beyond
the largest amount raised by a single group in the history of the project.
Proving that my little tool can really make a difference for your rescue group.
HART worked very hard to advertise the calendar with their supporters, which
lead to so many orders. Congratulations HART! Let's get ALL of our
participating groups equally outstanding donations for 2011!
August 2010
We are ready for 2011! Still a little gun shy of the economy, we bumped the
order up to 1100 calendars (100 more than last year). Jeremy and I were
able to take advantage of the MacBookPro I had to buy for school and use
Indesign for the layout this year. It added some fun effects for the names in
the calendar and made putting the calendar together a lot easier!
September 2010
The calendars arrived on September 1st! Let's sell out again this year!
August 2011
Did end up with a lot of leftovers of the 2011 calendars, so we ordered 1000
(one hundred less) this year. I went for textured backgrounds for the 2012
calendar and I truly love how they turned out. Also, I am trying a new Month
Theme. I call it "Whatcha Sayin'?" and I have put cartoon speaking bubbles
next to the dogs as to what funny thing I think they are saying from their
picture. I had SO much fun creating those (I'm a Comedy Writer), hopefully
everyone else will like it!
Also BIG NEWS! Through the generosity of my friend, Hank Hedland, I am
adding GREETING CARDS for the first time ever! They are all 100%
Handmade by Hank and beautiful. There are Season's Greetings cards, but
also Happy Birthday, Thanks, Thinking of You and blank cards you can use all
year long. The greeting cards will ALSO be sold all year long, so you can
support your favorite rescue group 365 days a year!
The Future?
I keep reaching out and trying to grow. Groups are now finding me online and
I welcome each and every new participant! I am also trying to find new ways
to get the word out about the calendars. If anyone has a suggestion, think of
me as a Basset Hound- all ears!
I would ultimately like to add a cat edition to this project. My thoughts are
once I am no longer struggling to sell the calendars each season, I will be able
to take on an additional version of the calendar. And my 3 rescue cats at
home are going to say "about time!"
Besides the donations... why do this?
Living in Los Angeles in a tiny one bedroom apartment, I had as many rescue
pets as I could fit in there. Although I enjoyed giving my time at the local
shelter, I knew I was only reaching a handful of dogs and getting the word out
to a handful of people. How could I go to a larger scale?
Now I reach an endless audience on the web. And I share with them faces of
dogs from all across the country. The "Happy Endings" stories are there to
remind people not only the horrors these animals go through, but the
compassion that is out there to help them in their hours of need. I want to
change the world! I want you to hang your calendar up at work and have a
co-worker see a picture in it and say "That's the kind of dog I've been looking
for! Where do I get one like that?!" And you can proudly say "RESCUE!"
We'll never be able to put the bad people out of business. The breeders, the
hoarders, the puppy mill villains, the abusers, the neglectful and the selfish
people will always be there. But if through this project I can convince just ONE
more person that their preconceived notions about rescue dogs or animal
shelters is wrong. That wonderful, beautiful, loving dogs of all kinds, ages,
and shapes can be found there. That mankind has to take responsibility for
CAUSING the overpopulation in the first place, because WE are the ones who
have let these animals reproduce unchecked. And the solution is not KILLING
THEM.
If I can help one more dog find his or her way to a warm, safe, loving home.
Then it's all worth it. As I've seen written on so many rescue websites:
Saving one dog won't change the world,
but it will change the world for that one dog.
Chrisi Sage
EMAIL ME!
| My Two Red-Heads Barnum and Jeremy |
A Short Resume I am an actor and writer by desire, recently receiving my MFA from UCLA in Film/TV Producing, specializing in Digital Media. I am a professional Dog Obedience Trainer, graduate of ABC (Animal Behavior College) and have done group dog training classes in: CALIFORNIA Santa Clarita Park District Los Angeles East Valley Shelter The Van Nuys Petco Los Feliz Small Animal Hospital GEORGIA The Peachtree City Petco Flat Creek Animal Clinic in Fayetteville Plus private sessions in both states. I have worked in several Vets' offices, kennels, as well as being a pet sitter and dog walker. I have been a volunteer with the SPCA LA and the Los Angeles East Valley Shelter. What can I say? I love to be around dogs! (My extended family includes: 3 Dogs, 2 Cats, 3 Mice and a Fish) My love to Dear Barnum who died of cancer March 13, 2006 at the far too young age of 5. Love to my cat, Coltrane June 2010 followed by his best friend, Agave August 2010 Those kitties were with me for 14 and 16 years. How could it have gone by so quickly? |
