The results are in, and I'm proud to announce that Molly is a great American mini-mutt!

I would have bet a bag of dog treats that Chihuahua would show up in Molly's heritage. However, there were no results for her primary and secondary breeds, which means her parents were mutts as well.

Still, Canine Heritage found a real surprise "in the mix": Molly's one discernible line was ...

Dudley was looking pretty pathetic when Beverley Blomert of Gainesville, GA, first cast her eyes upon him on Petfinder.com.  Nevertheless, she says, "there was something in his eyes that said, 'Take me home.'"

She took the look seriously and did just that. She adopted him from Dekalb County Animal Services in Decatur, GA. Once in his new home, he came down with pneumonia.  "The vet wasn't sure if he would make it.  After days of hospitalization, intravenous antibiotics, a month on oral medication, lots of TLC and a good grooming, he is now fully recovered and the most wonderful and loving dog."

Click through to see Dudley's dramatic makeover photo!

The Petfinder.com Foundation recently awarded Indiana's Newton County Animal Control a $5,000 disaster grant to help it recover from an electrical fire.

The fire started in a fuse box and then spread throughout the shelter. Fortunately, the staff smelled the smoke from their offices and called the fire department, who extinguished the fire. The staff and firefighters were able to get all the animals safely out of the shelter. The pets are now temporarily housed in the shelter's small office in a separate building.

In their first "Humane State Ranking," the Humane Society of the United States ranked all 50 U.S. states on animal protection laws dealing with pets, wildlife and farm animals, and covering issues from animal cruelty to animals in research.

The HSUS graded each state in 65 animal-protection categories including animal fighting, puppy mills, equine protection, wildlife abuse, factory farming, fur and trapping, exotic animals and companion-animal laws. Each state received a score out of 65, which was determined by the number of strong animal-protection laws within the state. (Learn more about the rankings here.)

So who placed in the top?

In the animal sheltering world, good customer service saves lives. Last year Petfinder visitors were surveyed regarding their experiences adopting pets. While many visitors were committed to adopting no matter what, some reported less-than-stellar experiences. (Read more about our customer service survey here.)

This prompted Maddie's Fund and the Petfinder.com Foundation to promote excellent customer service through the Put Your Best Face Forward grant. Here's a list of 2009 grant winners.

This year, we have once again joined Maddie's Fund to award Petfinder shelters and rescue groups a total of $51,000 for providing great customer service. By
sending the message that it's important to take care of adopters as well as animals, we can save lives.

In April I participated in the Be the Change panel at the pet-blogger conference BlogPaws. The panel's points were simple: Anyone can make a difference, and collectively, our small efforts can have a huge impact for pets. As the panel concluded, we issued a challenge to ourselves and the bloggers in attendance to "Be the Change."

Since then, those pet bloggers have done fantastic things to help pets. (See a few of the ways people got involved.) Now we're inviting you to participate!

Starting tomorrow, July 19, we're kicking off the Dog Days of Summer Pet Food Drive. Please join us as we raise food and supplies for shelters in need and spread the word about how helping pets can be fun.

Want to participate? Here's how:

Everyone stops to ask "What is she?" when Molly goes for a romp in the dog park. She is an 11-lb. bouncy blonde with pantaloons, a fluff of a tail she holds high, and crooked, wispy ears.

Since Molly is a determined little digger, her pregnant owner worried she would get loose and get hurt once the owner was unable to keep a constant eye on her. The owner didn't want to burden the local shelter, so went looking for a new home for Molly. That's when Molly came to me.

The image of a dog in an oven is disturbing -- but it's making an important point: Leaving a dog in a car on a hot day can be just as dangerous as putting him in an oven.

That's the message of the new Hot Car/Hot Oven PSA campaign by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. The unsettling posters remind us that leaving a dog in a hot car is not only dangerous -- it's illegal.

We talked to Debbie Knaan, LA's deputy district attorney in charge of animal cruelty cases, about the campaign -- and what to do if you see a dog in a hot car. Her answer: If you see a dog left alone in a hot car, try to locate the owner, notify on-site security personnel if possible, or call 911.

(Check out our article on signs of heatstroke and what to do if a pet is exposed to high temperatures.)

In our June newsletter we asked if you had ever had a lost pet returned to you or found someone else's furry friend. The responses offer an important reminder: Tag your pets. Better yet, microchip them.

Several months after Jenn's dog, Oscar, disappeared in November, she and her son moved. In May, they received a letter from a shelter that had tracked them down, thanks to a microchip, although Jenn had failed to keep the information up to date. It took some "detective" work by some compassionate shelter workers. "Microchips rock," Jenn says.

Pat Barnard's tabby cat had a tag and fortunately it was enough to get her Samson back to her. "I'll never know for sure how he got so far (10 miles) from home, but if it hadn't been for his ID tag, I know I never would have seen him again."

Dr. V is a veterinarian and the author of Pawcurious, a blog that tackles humorous, educational, and touching topics. Each day Dr. V wrestles with dogs, cats, and emotions in the drama of life in a small-animal vet clinic. Today she shares her experiences with pet food allergies and explains what an elimination diet is.

Two years ago, my then-7-year-old cat Apollo strolled by, plopped on the floor, and revealed that he had big patches of fur missing on his thighs. Since he was an all-black cat to begin with, it was pretty obvious, and pretty ugly.