Happy Halloween from Petfinder!

We love seeing Petfinder alumni doing great things. And what's greater than helping other adoptable pets find homes by making a fun video? So kudos to these two naughty Petfinder alumni for doing just that, but no more chocolate, ok guys?

Thank you to Petfinder Facebook fan Gloria Paints Dogs for bringing this fun video to our attention. (For more information about the video visit the Busy Bee Dogs YouTube page.)

Do you know of a video or project that features Petfinder alumni? Tell us!

The Petfinder.com Foundation recently helped 80 shelters and rescue groups across the country by awarding $143,000 for FVRCP vaccinations.

FVRCP vaccinations help protect cats against three contagious diseases: feline viral rhinotracheitis (a severe and highly contagious upper respiratory infection caused by a feline herpes virus), calicivirus (which can cause pneumonia) and panleukopenia (also called feline distemper).

Distemper can be a big problem if it spreads throughout a shelter. Jenny Colucci, a volunteer with grant recipient Stamford Animal Care & Control in Connecticut, tells us, "A few years ago, our shelter experienced a devastating outbreak of distemper among our cat population. We lost over 20 precious cats and kittens to the disease. The only surviving cats were those that we knew had been vaccinated. This grant will help us reduce the chances that this will ever occur in our shelter again and keep our cats safe from disease."

You might say the strapping young Merrick owes his happy new life to a cat litter commercial. Jessica Yuksel of Kinnelon, N.J., sees the irony in this. But she and her husband were watching television when the ad came on, and right at the end, there was a quick "blip" about the Petfinder iPhone application. The couple had been thinking about getting a dog in the future, so they both took a moment to download the app.

Greg Kincaid is the author of A Dog Named Christmas. His next book, the prequel Christmas with Tucker, comes out in November and is now available for preorder at Amazon.com, BN.com, Borders.com, and all major retailers. You can also read Greg's previous blog posts for Petfinder and visit him at www.facebook.com/authorgregkincaid.

This week Greg shares the prologue of Christmas with Tucker. In it, he explores the life of a tethered dog. Enter here for a chance to win a signed copy of Christmas with Tucker. (Official Rules)

From Christmas with Tucker: Prologue
With one paw in the wild and another scratching at the door of humanity, dogs are caught in an awkward spot. It misses the mark to describe a dog as just an animal. We recognize that our pets can be both beasts and evolved life-forms keenly attuned to human needs. Country dogs may be more appreciated for their animal nature -- hunting, herding, and guarding -- while city dogs are cherished for their humanlike ability to expertly deliver companionship and unbridled affection.

From time to time, for a lucky few of us, we come across a dog that seems to move naturally back and forth from one world to the other. Such a dog can howl at the distant coyote, hunt for his own food, refuse to back down from a charging adversary, and run for hours on end with equal glee under snow or sun. In an animal like this, we respect the sheer aliveness that radiates from his eyes. And, when the day's work is done, he'll lie down by our feet, content. For this dog, you know that there is nowhere he would rather be than with you. This dog is complete in both worlds. He models for us how to simultaneously be good and alive -- animal and angel.

Frank Thorne owned this kind of dog. He received the 4-year-old Irish setter in exchange for repairs he made to an old tractor. The owner of the broken-down machine had inherited the tractor and the dog from his grandfather. He kept a picture in his wallet of the old man standing beside that proud setter, taken after one of their weekend hunting trips. The snapshot was good enough -- he had no room for a dog.

Dawn Goehring's life has gone to the dogs. She and her troupe of 14 pooches, mostly former shelter dogs, perform at the Comedy Barn in Pigeon Forge, TN, six nights a week during tourist season.

The dogs skateboard, walk tightropes and hop over hurdles, things you don't expect a dog to be able to do. The stage is a flurry of amazing activity.

For years, Miss Ellie, a Chinese Crested, was the spokesdog for the troupe, but at almost 17, she was ready for retirement, so Dawn began looking for a dog with star quality to step in.

Jennifer Zentz lives in Indianapolis with her dog, McCartney, loves photographing him and is the volunteer co-chair of the Humane Society of Indianapolis' Mutt Strut fundraiser. She previously posted about adopting McCartney and using the Canine Heritage Breed Test to determine the breeds in his background. Here, she shares the results of the test.

McCartney's mystery has been solved! We received his Canine Heritage Breed Test results and were pleasantly surprised by what we found. (Read Jen's original description of McCartney.)

Of course, being the mutt that he is, there were no primary breeds listed in McCartney's results, meaning neither of his parents was purebred.

We love it when celebrities promote pet adoption. So I was thrilled to learn that one of my favorite actors, Lost star Jorge Garcia, just adopted two rescue dogs he found on Petfinder.

Even better, he gives a step-by-step description of the adoption process, complete with adorable photos of the dogs, Pip and Smidge. (Read Jorge's blog post about the adoption here.)

Jorge adopted the pups from Cuddly
Canines in LaHabra Heights, CA. We wish Jorge, his girlfriend Beth and their two new family members a long life of happiness together. Thank you for helping two little rescue pups!

Together with our partners, The Petfinder.com Foundation is constantly awarding grants to shelters and rescue groups to assist with disaster recovery. While these disasters vary in size, financial needs, and impact, I am always amazed at what effort these groups go to to help save the lives of homeless pets.

The staff and volunteers at the Pennsylvania-based Humane League of Lancaster County in Pennsylvania are no different. Recently, fellow Pennsylvania rescue Plain and Fancy Animal was completely destroyed by a house fire, due to electrical issues. The family was burdened was not only the loss of their home, but the loss of their shelter and home to the 40 dogs that were housed there. While this alone would be no small tragedy, Plain and Fancy Animal was also in the process of assisting with rescuing dogs from a nearby raided puppy mill, bringing the number of homeless dogs to 100.

Saturday, Oct. 23, is National Pit Bull Awareness Day, an event founded in 2007 by Bless the Bullys to rehab the image of the breed once seen as the epitome of the all-American dog.

Unfortunately, today Pits have been so vilified that rarely a week goes by without someone telling me that they "just don't trust" Pit Bulls.

Last week I received a reminder of Pit Bulls' true nature.

Gail is a 2-year-old American Staffordshire Terrier who was found wondering the streets of the Bronx, covered in cuts, ribs and vertebrae sticking out, fur missing in patches and bloody blisters on her paws.

I first met Gail last week when I went to pick her up from New York City Animal Care & Control's Manhattan shelter. Rescue group Zani's Furry Friends had worked with the shelter to move Gail into a foster home because she'd come down with kennel cough (which, in a crowded shelter, often means euthanasia). I'd volunteered to foster her.

Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable Pet Week brought Petfinder lots of stories about Pit Bulls, big black dogs and special-needs pets.

One of these stories was about Marco. It really touched our hearts and we just had to share it with you in the lead-up to National Pit Bull Awareness Day this Saturday.

A stray, Marco was brought into Darlington County Humane Society in South Carolina by animal control with raw wounds along his back. The veterinarian who looked at him said that they had been caused by acid, and it looked as if something had been poured on him.

Whatever was the case, it was clear that such wounds would have caused more suffering than any creature should have to bear. And as if one heartbreaking condition wasn't enough, the shelter also learned he had heartworms.