Think Pink All Year Long with a Pink Ribbon Puppies Calendar

By Suzanne Alicie

We are thrilled to share with you a wonderful and inspiring project that has been put together by a long-time member of the CANIDAE breeder program. While the Pink Ribbon Puppies website may appear to be just an adorable site with puppies on it, there is a serious and touching story behind it.

The Pink Ribbon Puppies 2011 calendar is a fundraising project for breast cancer research. It features a litter of nine beautiful lab puppies born this past September. When the co-owner of the dam of this litter was diagnosed with breast cancer, it was decided that as much as she was looking forward to the puppies and wanted to be involved, she needed to focus on her healing process and leave the whelping up to the other co-owner. So while she underwent radiation therapy for five days of each week for six weeks, her friend and “co-mommy” began her days with puppy breath as she helped get the puppies off to a great start in life.

As a tribute to their “other mother” and her battle with this frightening and often deadly disease, each puppy was adorned with a pink colored ribbon. These little furry bundles of joy were also surrounded by pink toys and pink pillows as a show of support. This litter was quickly dubbed the “Pink Ribbon Litter” by the owner and friends. 

The Pink Ribbon Puppies calendars have been made possible by the dedication of this breeder to her friend, to her puppies and to the future of the fight against breast cancer. Elizabeth Arellano donated her photography skills to create the pink puppy images featured in the calendar, and CANIDAE Natural Pet Foods donated towards the cost of printing the calendars. All proceeds – yes, you read that right – 100% of the proceeds from the sale of these calendars will be donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®.

If you would like one of these Pink Ribbon Puppies calendars, simply visit their website and order as many as you’d like. In addition to the 12 x 9 wall calendar, they offer mini calendars, bookmarks and notecards. This is a worthy cause that has likely touched all of us at some time in our lives. October may have been breast cancer prevention month, but together we can help make sure that people “THINK PINK All Year Long.” This slogan is on each page of the Pink Ribbon Puppies calendar to remind us that every day of every year, our friends, mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers and all women are fighting against breast cancer.

The calendars feature the touching story of this litter of puppies and also this loving statement by the creator of the project:

“This project is in honor of my friend, all the women who have fought before her, and for those who will take the same path in years to come.”

Show your support by ordering a Pink Ribbon Puppies 2011 calendar for yourself and for those you love. If you would like to help spread the word about this wonderful project, be sure to visit and “like” the Pink Ribbon Puppies Facebook page.

Photos by Elizabeth Arellano 

Read more articles by Suzanne Alicie