On April 8 it will have been a year since I had to put my little Chili dog to sleep. To honor her life, I have started an account at cafepress. Cafepress sells items printed with unique artwork (like the picture of Chili) one at a time.

You might have noticed that in this picture, she doesn't have the Superman symbol on her chest. Cafepress doesn't print items that contain copyrighted material, but I'm sure the pawprint means Superdog in canine. My good friend Tony Baldacci suggested the pawprint instead of a blank blue chest-plate.

I don't know how much people will want Chili in their lives, but I'm donating all my profits, however tiny they may be, to the ASPCA, so that Chili really will be saving the world one dog at a time.

Cats are welcome too. I'm not sure if I should change it to, "Saving the world one PET at a time," but hopefully people will know that the ASPCA saves all pets, regardless of demonination.

I'm still building this "shop" at cafepress, so any comments are welcome. Should I change "dog" to "pet?" What kinds of products should be available? So far I just have a coffee mug, but there are other items available. They put pictures on T-shirts, bags, caps, etc. Just about anything you can think of.

I was already planning this when the GREAT PET FOOD RECALL started this week. It's very sad that this happened, but it's serendipitous that it happened just when I was thinking of honoring my dog by raising money for the ASPCA.

In addition to Chili, I lost two cats last year and have only one left. She is twelve. She ate 3 cans of the suspect food, but so far she is as healthy as ever. My daughter's two ginger toms ate 22 cans of food that might have been tainted, but they seem fine too. Don't worry. They didn't eat all 22 cans at once. They eat wet food several times a week as part of their regular diet. I know other people who own cats and dogs, but I haven't heard from them yet.

Here's hoping the crisis will pass soon and our pets will be healthy and happy for years to come. If you would like to save the world, one dog at a time, please let me know so I can set you up something nice at cafepress.

Thanks.