Welcome to Illinois Birddog Rescue's Have A Heart 6 Calendar contest. This contest is dedicated to all the dogs we bring into the program that are struggling with heartworms, tick-borne disease, and other serious health problems.

The photos that receive the most votes during the contest will win PAWSOME prizes, and the top 12 vote-getters will be featured in our Have A heart 6- 2022 calendar. The rest of the photo submissions will be inserted into the date boxes.

We encourage you to enter the contest with your favorite photo of your dog/dogs and also write few words about why your dog is so special as I use that in the text of the winning calendar pages. Then invite your family and friends to vote for your photo! The contest is open to anyone and it is only $10 to enter your photo.

Voting is easy and fun and open to everyone. Votes are $1 each. Each dollar donated equals an equivalent number of votes. (A $5 donation equals 5 votes, a $10 donation equals 10 votes, etc.) A minimum donation of $5 is required. Proceeds will benefit Illinois Birddog Rescue and fund the medical expenses for many of our heartworm positive dogs. You can vote as often as you like during the contest and you can apply all your votes to one photo or vote for multiple photos too and with so many lovely dogs- we encourage that!

For the best chance to win, be sure to spread the word about your dog's entry into the contest on Facebook, Instagram and via email. Also ask family and friends to go online and support your entry. You can use the sharing buttons that appear on your dog's photo page to share your photo entry with your Facebook friends, and you can email links to family and friends to encourage voting for your dog's photo.

Each year we bring in many dogs that need extra care due to neglect and this year has brought us many new dogs and puppies in need and the last 2 months we have brought in 4 new heartworm positive dogs. Our cover dogs all have heart worm disease, and several have other health problems. Here are their Facebook Recovery Albums:

• Illinois Senior Yellow Labrador- Charlie
• Illinois Beagle- Sally
• Kentucky Hound Mix- Keylee
• Illinois Treeing Walker Coonhound- Churchill
• Mississippi Cattle-dog Mix- Clemmie
• Mississippi Super Mutt- Allyson
• Kentucky Senior Boxer Mix- Ranger
• Kentucky German Shorthair. Labrador Mix- Zeke

The cost to medicate 1 heartworm dog for 1 year through our slow-kill program can be in the hundreds and thousands especially if there are additional medical procedures needed like x-rays, dentals, tumor removal, etc. Often we need to repeat blood work throughout treatment. Many dogs take longer with slow- kill but it is an ideal treatment plan especially for senior dogs that have suffered terrible neglect. Dogs like Charlie, Clemmie and Ranger.



Charlie could be 13 years old and was also 20lbs underweight and he had a terrible smelly skin infection, and both his ears were infected. He was found under a house in central Illinois in early spring and flew north on Easter. Charlie has been recovering at the home of IBR's Founder and President. Clemmie was found in northern Mississippi with a 4-inch gaping wound in his back and subsequent x-rays showed a shattered bullet in his back and birdshot spray all over his body. Clem also has some bad hips and knees that bend like Gumby. He recently had hernia surgery too. He's a happy little guy considering. Ranger was in a Kentucky shelter for over a year without any extra medical care so we are very concerned with his heartworm load. He also has 2 tumors that will need to be surgically removed and a dental when we build him up the next 2 months. Ranger moved to Foster to Adopt on 11-6.

Funds raised from Have A Heart 6 will help us with the continued care of these dogs and many of our new heart worm positive dogs and some of our new special needs dogs like Abraham- a little Cattle dog mixed breed puppy that has a badly healed broken back leg and new Beagle- like Kacey, that just came in with a badly dislocated hip and also a badly healed broken back leg.

In the past few contests- we have had many amazing photo submissions and are so grateful for the support. We would love to get 100 entries and raise $10,000 this year or more. Here is last year's HAVE A HEART 5 CONTEST & PREVIOUS WINNERS.

• A $250 Amazon Gift Certificates, Birddog Blend Coffee and our 20th anniversary Pointer/ Setter mug. The winning photo will also be the cover of the Have a Heart 6 Calendar Contest and an insert into the calendar
  
  

• 2nd through 12th place winners win the 11 other coveted monthly calendar cover pages, and our 20^th anniversary Pointer/Setter mug.
  
  

• The top winning Pointer and top winning Setter receive these beautiful hunting platters and mugs.
  
  
  
  
• Additionally, the top winning Super Mutt and the top winning senior dog will also have their choice of 1 of our beautiful Foggy Mountain dog coats.