Welcome to Illinois Birddog Rescue's Have A Heart 7 Calendar contest. This contest is dedicated to all the dogs and puppies 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 7- 2023 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 write a few words about why your dog is so special as I use that in the text of the winning calendar pages. Check out last year's Special 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. Votes are $1 each with a $5 minimum donation. 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 and special needs 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. The last 4 months we have brought in 7 new heartworm positive dogs- 6 from the same neglectful home where they were tied to chains or kept in horrible cages. Our cover dogs all have heart worm disease, and several have other health problems. Here are their Facebook Recovery Albums:

• Illinois English Setter- Mamasita
• Illinois English Setter- Lizzie
• English Setter- Grimmley
• Iowa Pointer- Peter
• Illinois English Setter- Dottie

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. Mamasita needed to have surgery to remove 2 huge mammary tumors and Dottie will be having surgery in early January to remove some suspicious tumors on her neck. Many dogs take longer to become heartworm negative with slow- kill, but it is an ideal treatment plan as the dogs don't need months of cage confinement and can have normal low-key exercise and play. Finding homes for these dogs can be challenging and as of the start of this contest, all the Setters pictured are waiting for Foster to Adopt homes.



Funds raised from Have A Heart 7 will help us with the continued care of these dogs and many of our new dogs in this picture collage including Edelweiss- a sweet Brittany/ Pointer mix that came in from an over-crowded shelter in Arkansas with mange, and Lucky, a young Beagle/ German Shepherd mix that was found as a stray in southern Illinois- also recovering from a terrible case of mange, Daisy- a middle aged Beagle that was dumped due to a divorce and also pulled from an over-crowded shelter in Indiana, but being for severe ear infections and terrible inflammation on her feet and lastly Leeroy, a Hurricane Ian survivor that has suffered some terrible neglect including out of control mange and starvation. Edelweiss and Lucky have recovered from their mange, but Daisy and Leeroy have a long road to recovery.

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 6 CONTEST & PREVIOUS WINNERS.

• A $250 Amazon Gift Certificates, Birddog Blend Coffee Birddog Blend Coffee and our 20^th anniversary Pointer/ Setter mug. The winning photo will also be the cover of the Have a Heart 7 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, Setter and Super Mutt/ other breed will have their photo placed on a wine label with the choice of 2 bottles of the same wine varietal: BRUT Sparkling, Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay.
  
  
  
  
• Additionally, the top winning senior dog will also have their choice of 1 of our beautiful Foggy Mountain dog coats. We need to keep our sweet seniors warm!