Tag Archives: pets

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Brownie Troop 67255 Earns Pets Badge

Submitted by Sara Smaling

Metro Denver

Englewood

Third Grade Brownie Troop 67255 recently earned their Pets badge. While learning all about pet care, the girls also had fun making fleece dog blankets. The troop donated the blankets, along with some canned dog food, to the Little Old Dog Sanctuary. The sanctuary rescues old and special needs dogs and cares for them to their end of life.

We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.

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Girl Scouts from the Pikes Peak Region Donate Items for Pets in Need

As many as 100 Girl Scouts from troops across the Pikes Peak region teamed up to collect items for Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region. The organization created an Amazon Wish List, which included peanut butter, kennels, hand sanitizer, dog treats, food, toys, and more. On Wednesday, September 30, 2020, Girl Scouts and their families stopped by the parking lot for the Rocky Mountain Vibes baseball stadium to drop off the items they collected. This event followed all local COVID-19 guidelines.

Girl Scouts of Colorado’s new Chief Executive Officer Leanna Clark, along with her adopted rescue dog Sabe, were also at the event. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Colorado Girl Scouts have not had the opportunity to meet or see Leanna in person. She thanked the Girl Scouts for their hard work on the project and presented them with her special CEO patch. It features Sabe, along with Colorado’s state flower, the columbine. The patch ties to things about Girl Scouts that are important to Leanna: friendships, leadership opportunities, and ways to get outdoors and appreciate the beautiful state we call home!

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Helping Pets Experiencing Homelessness

Submitted by Erin Sullivan-Ortiz

Northern & Northeastern CO

For our Girl Scout troop’s Take Action Project 2020, the girls decided that they wanted to help homeless pets! These creative girls collaborated virtually over the summer to gather information, create a script, record individual parts, and ultimately put it all together in this awesome video designed to raise awareness and encourage fostering/adopting homeless pets! Additionally, they used cookie funds to provide toys, food, posters, a professional banner, and a financial gift to Innocent Paws Puppy Rescue! Not even a global pandemic could keep them from dreaming big and working hard to make the world a better place!

We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.

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Highlands Ranch Girl Scouts Donate Items for Pets in Need

As many as 100 Girl Scouts from troops across Highlands Ranch teamed up to collect items for Humane Society of the South Platte Valley. These items included dog treats, non-clumping cat litter, dry erase markers, and gently used towels/blankets. On Saturday, August 29, 2020, Girl Scouts and their families stopped by Cherry Hills Community Church  to drop off the items they had collected.

Girl Scouts of Colorado’s new Chief Executive Officer Leanna Clark, along with her adopted rescue dog Sabe, was also at the event. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Colorado Girl Scouts have not had the opportunity to meet or see Leanna in person. She thanked the Girl Scouts for their hard work on the project and presented them with her special CEO patch. It features Sabe, along with Colorado’s state flower, the columbine. The patch ties to things about Girl Scouts that are important to Leanna: friendships, leadership opportunities, and ways to get outdoors and appreciate the beautiful state we call home!

A special thank you to CBS4/KCNC-TV in Denver for joining GSCO for the event and sharing the story with their viewers.

* This event followed all local COVID-19 guidelines.

We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.

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Girl Scouting at Home: Brownie Pets badge Part Three of Five

 

 

 

 

 

Girl Scouts of Colorado’s Outreach Program team has created a series of materials, including videos, to help Girl Scout Brownies earn their Pets badge at home! Step One was to find out what care different pets need. Step Two involves learning about keeping pets comfortable. Step Three focuses on keeping a pet healthy and safe.

Exercise your pet. Dogs need a lot of exercise to make sure that they are happy and healthy. Taking them on walks is a great way to exercise them! Take charge of your dog’s exercise by mapping a route around your neighborhood that you can take them on.

Map a short walk around a couple of blocks for some fresh air and map a longer one around a local park to really get the dog’s energy out! You can use the map apps on a smartphone to plan your route or other apps and websites like MapMyRun. Once you’ve created some routes, take a walk!

OR

Research the foods/items your pet shouldn’t eat. Did you know that dogs shouldn’t eat grapes? Or, cats shouldn’t have onions? Snakes shouldn’t eat fireflies. Keep the Animal Poison Control hotline number (888-426-4435) somewhere visible, like on your fridge, if your pet accidentally eats something it shouldn’t! Look at this resource for a complete guide to poisonous substances. https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control

Foods to avoid feeding your pets:

  • Alcohol
  • Avocado
  • Chocolate/Coffee/Caffeine
  • Citrus
  • Coconut products
  • Grapes/Raisins
  • Nuts
  • Onions, Garlic, Chives
  • Raw/undercooked meat, eggs, bones
  • Salty foods
  • Xylitol (a sweetener found in gum, candy, baked goods, toothpaste, and more)
  • Yeast dough

Other products to protect your pets from:

  • Certain plants including aloe, tomato plants, amaryllis, daffodils, azaleas, tulips, lilies, and many more
  • Human medication
  • Household cleaning products
  • Essential oils
  • Dryer fabric softener sheets
  • Grout
  • Petroleum jelly
  • Mosquito repellent with DEET

OR

Learn five “stay-safe” commands to teach your dog. Caring for a dog is a big responsibility, and it’s your job to keep your dog, and other dogs and humans around them, safe. To do this, you should teach your dog some basic safety commands. These commands set boundaries and guidelines to help them have a safe and happy life.

  • Come
  • Stay
  • Leave it
  • Drop it
  • Wait

The key to training your dog is using positive reinforcement, like treats. For tips on how to train your dog, talk to your veterinarian or look at these helpful resources:

We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.

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Girl Scouting at Home: Brownie Pets badge Part Two of Five

Girl Scouts of Colorado’s Outreach Program team has created a series of materials, including videos, to help Girl Scout Brownies earn their Pets badge at home! Step One was to find out what care different pets need. For Step Two, you’re going learn about keeping pets comfortable, so we’re going to make a cozy cat cave.

Materials

  • Deep Cardboard Box (with no lid)- You can use different-sized boxes to make a cat cave that works best for the age and breed of your cat. Use the box that will work best for your cat’s needs!
  • Long sleeve T-shirt
  • One rubber band
  • Comfy bedding material (blanket, towel, or even a sweater)

Directions

  1. Begin by stretching your long-sleeved T-shirt around the box, with the neck-hole of the T-shirt facing the open top of the box.
  2. Next, pull the shirt around the box in such a way that the neckhole of the T-shirt is centered on the top of the box. The neck hole will be the “door” that enables the cat to enter the cave.
  3. Once you have the “door” of the cave centered on the box, pull the sleeves of the T-shirt tight around the back of the box and secure them together. If the sleeves are long enough, you can tie the sleeves together. Otherwise, just use a rubber-band to connect the two sleeves.
  4. Finally, place the bedding material inside the box to complete your comfy cat cave. If you have any of your cat’s favorite toys or catnip, you can also put that inside the cave to make it extra welcoming for your furry friend.

We also created a video to help you complete this step of the badge, check it out here.

We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.

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Girl Scouting at Home: Brownie Pets badge Part One of Five

Girl Scouts of Colorado’s Outreach Program team has created a series of materials, including videos, to help Girl Scout Brownies earn their Pets badge at home! Step One: Find out what care different pets need.

Research the basics of care for two different pets. Maybe you want to learn about how to care for a puppy, kitten, turtle, or even a hedgehog! Whatever the pet is, learn the most important ways to care for that pet. With your caregiver’s permission and after taking the Girl Scout Internet Safety Pledge, go online to find out what the experts have to say about caring for different types of pets. Try to find websites run by veterinarians or animal shelters for the most accurate information. Other good research websites include:

You can also call friends or family members with pets and ask them what they think are important ways to care for their pet.

Bonus: Create a “care” poster or video for your favorite pet

  • Team up with a sibling or caregiver to make a two-minute video about the essentials of caring for a specific type of pet. If you have a pet at home, maybe they can even make a guest appearance!
  • Use a piece of paper and some craft supplies to create a poster to remind you of how to care for your chosen pet. Be sure to make it colorful and add some illustrations!

We understand that not everyone has a pet at home. For an alternate activity for the first step of this badge, check out this video.

We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.

 

 

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Bronze Award Girl Scouts: Because pets need to eat too

Submitted by Emily Sage

Northern & Northeastern CO

Loveland

Hi! We are Troop 71020. We are a Girl Scout Junior troop. We are going to share with you how we earned our Bronze Award, and what we learned along the way.

When it came to our Bronze Award, we thought of animals and said “what if they’re hungry?” We brainstormed as a troop and met with community organizations, and finally found the perfect idea: a pet food drive! A pet food drive would help decrease the number of pets that are starving. We also wanted to help people that couldn’t afford pet food, so we found a local charity called House of Neighborly Service that provides food to those in need, including pet food. We organized a pet food drive across our community; put collection boxes in local stores, schools, and churches; and advertised our drive and the need for pet food. Our drive lasted for three weeks and we collected 1,489 pounds of pet food! We used money earned from the Fall Product Program to purchase bins to help store all of the new pet food. House of Neighborly Service was very thankful for our donation.

While working on our Bronze Award, we faced a couple problems, such as some stores weren’t willing to sponsor our project. It was also hard to figure out how to help the whole community with just ten girls and meeting just one time a month. To solve these problems, we split up and each individually found a location to host our food drive boxes and we expanded our options to include churches, schools, and workplaces, rather than just retail stores. Of course, if we did this again, we would change a few things, like having more time to find locations to host our food drive.

Pets around the world still need food, and you can donate pet food to a local food pantry or animal shelter whenever you can. One person can make a difference by making an action or donation in their community or around the world.

This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments, too.

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Helping pets earns Silver Award

Submitted by Jessie Asay
Denver Metro

I love animals and I decided to do my Silver Project on Pet Adoptions and Pet Care. Thousands of animals are euthanized every year because they don’t find a forever home. They get lost, or turned in for various reasons and the many shelters and rescues cannot keep up with the sheer numbers of animals that come in. I worked with the PetsMart National Adoption Weekend program, setting up information tables with pet care, adoption, shelter/rescue information and collected donations for the four shelters that had adoptable pets at the store that weekend. I collected $117 in donations that was divided between the four rescues as well as food and animals toys.

I created a “Paws for the Cause” patch program, so that girls and troops can continue to learn about pet care, facts and adoptions long after the adoption weekend. The shelters at the event expressed interest in having troops come and do service projects for them so if your troop is interested in doing service projects for local shelters, please contact me and I can give you the contact information for the shelters/rescues. For information on my “Paws for the Cause” patch program, my fliers on pet care, adoption, and shelter information, please contact me at Judy.Moisey-Asay@va.gov