Transitions

On Thursday night, while watching The Vampire Diaries, a new commercial got my attention. The announcer stated that vampires are in my area and that I should check out this website to learn more. A locally produced web series about vamps? Cool!

Transitions premiered last August and is being produced by Ream Enterprises, which is based near Kalamazoo. So far, the first half of season one is available on the website, and the remaining six episodes will be available later this spring. The second season is under development; auditions are by appointment.

I haven't been able to watch this web series yet, but I definitely want to check it out.

Pedigree: Write a Post and Help a Dog

Pedigree has some of the best television commercials around. Some are funny, and some bring tears to my eyes. If I'm in another room and hear one of their commercials come on, I make it a point to go back and watch it. I can't say that about many other ads!

I don't know the official titles of any of these commercials, but in my mind, some of my favorites are "We're For Dogs," "We're for Shelter Dogs," and "Oliver Goes Home."

The ones about Oliver really get to me. Oliver is an adorable terrier mix who's found himself at the shelter. Pedigree started off his story with a short commercial showing him looking so sad from his cage at the shelter. Later, another commercial started airing; it was Oliver's lucky day. He was adopted and got to go home, where we saw him playing and just having a ball. It's a happy ending that gets to me every single time I see it.

Now Pedigree has a new commercial about senior dogs, and as always, it's a good one. This ad goes with their new Healthy Longevity Food.

Why am I writing about this on an entertainment blog? Well, for one thing, the Pedigree commercials are entertaining. However, as you've probably guessed, that's not the main reason.

Pedigree is running a promotion, and this post is part of it. I'm not getting paid for it, but shelter dogs will benefit.

The sad fact is that about four million dogs find themselves in animal shelters and rescues every year in the United States. While they wait for their forever homes, Pedigree would like to help them. That's where we bloggers come in.

For every blog post about the Pedigree Adoption Drive that is published through Sunday, September 19, Pedigree will donate a 20-pound bag of their new Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs to a shelter. That's right; a shelter somewhere in the U.S. will receive 20 pounds of dog food because of this post. Isn't that great?

If you'd like to help, you can do the same thing. To make sure your blog post counts, include the following bullets and add the direct link to your post to the Blog Hop below. (Bulleted info courtesy of Boulder Dog)

* Each year, more than 4 million dogs end up in shelters and breed rescue organizations. Pedigree created The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive to help shine a spotlight on the plight of these homeless dogs.

* This year the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive is raising awareness for homeless dogs by donating a bowl of food to shelter dogs for everyone who becomes a "Fan" or "Likes" the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive on Facebook. So far more than 1 million bowls have been donated.

* Special for BlogPaws West: For each blog that posts about the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive through September 19, PEDIGREE will donate a bag of its new Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs to shelters nationwide. It's simple: Write a post, help a dog.

* Thursday, September 16 through Sunday, September 19, the Pedigree BlogPaws bloggers will host a Blog Hop to help raise awareness for the "Write a post, help a dog" effort.

Include the hashtag #dogsrule somewhere in the post; you should also use it as a tag or label. You'll also need to link to the Pedigree Adoption Drive Facebook fan page within your post. When you're ready to promote your post, tweet it using #dogsrule.

That's all there is to it! Just follow the guidelines, and a shelter will get a 20-pound bag of dog food.

You might have trouble fitting a post about the Pedigree Adoption Drive into your blog's theme, but please try. Somewhere in the U.S., an animal shelter and the dogs housed therein will be grateful that you did.