Meet Cammie

Even before Chewie, our toy poodle, died of thyroid cancer, we decided that we would never buy another dog.  There are just too many that need to be rescued.  :(

K-9 New Life is an all breed, no-kill dog rescue organization in our area.  They do really good work and we support them.

The mission of K-9 New Life is to take in dogs from shelters when they have run out of time or are injured or too sick for the shelters to handle. We provide them with health care, rehabilitation, training and a loving foster home until they can be adopted. Our focus is to give these less fortunate dogs a second chance to live the happy life they deserve.

  They have a facebook page that I follow.  So we saw the story of Tuesday unfold.  Tuesday was rescued last Fall.  She was due to be spayed when she surprised everyone with the fact that she was pregnant!  She gave birth on October 30th to 6 pups, 5 of which survived.  While no dog could fill the hole in our hearts after Chewie died, we wanted another dog in our lives.  So we checked to see if any of the pups were still waiting for adoption and there were two left. 

We scheduled a visit with the foster mother, Donna to see the two pups, Chloe and Penny.  Since Tuesday gave birth in her foster home and her pups were raised in a home environment, they were all very well-socialized.  Donna very graciously gave her home for what I can only describe as "Puppy Romper Room"!  The pups were four months old when we visited.  Of course we left with one!  We chose "Penny" but we renamed her Cammie.  Since all the pups were together, they really did not know their names and all would come if you called just one.

Shortly after we got Cammie, I saw a beaded dog collar and thought to do a custom one for Cammie.  I wanted to do her  name and have paw prints on either side.  So I set out to make a pattern.

I figured out how wide and long I needed the beading to be to cover a nylon collar.  Then I made an excel grid so I could start playing with the design pattern.  You can see in the photo that I went through several iterations before arriving at the desired paw print shape.  

Next I used a Guitar/Belt Strap loom to create the beadwork.  I chose bright pink and a copper color to match Cammie's coat.  

After beading the pattern, I sewed the beadwork onto some ultra suede to attach to the nylon collar.

And here is Cammie showing off her personalized collar!

We are very grateful that we can provide a good home for this sweet dog!  Thank you Donna and K-9 New Life for saving Tuesday and her pups!  :)

Happy Beading!

Betsy