Pip is home for the holidays

Pip's new ride

Holiday is in the air allright. I drove to Whole Foods to meet Pip's new dad, Brett with a crate and to pick up some marrow bones for the dogs. The lights are all twinkly and stage is set to lure the crowds into Thanksgiving purchases and pave the way for Christmas. Ok, I went for it, too. I got some Rice Nog and gingerbread cookies.

We are sitting here right now eating Chef Boy-Ar-Dee pizza in a box like I used to have as a kid and watching 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' It's time for a trip down memory lane, but with new memories.

Brett and Pip

Amber, BeBe, Peanut and Nolan are just a chomping on their marrow bones. Of course, Amber ate all the good stuff out of hers and sat there waiting on something else, something better. She reminds me of me, always working that angle for a better deal. It's so hard not to spoil her.

It took six hours today, but I finally got all the Petfinder, Adopt-A-Pet and other sites updated with the dogs. I added Guido and Spuds to the Texas pages. I am so excited to get them here. I can't wait to see them and hug them, get them all cozy in their own crates with a bone to chew.

This is going to be the best Christmas ever, a season of trying to move past the awful things that happened last summer at Spindletop and look for new beginnings and healing. Amber is ready to go. I can tell she wants to meet her forever family. I wonder who it will be. Will it be a single lady who wants a gentle soulful companion or a nice man like Atticus Finch who would enjoy sitting on the front porch swing with a girl like Amber? Will it be family with kids who want a dog to share their childhood with, like Scout and Jem?

The families are the best part. You just know it when the adoption is right. The dogs tell you. Tonight, for instance, I could tell Pip was done with my part in her life. She gave me a tiny nose to my ear, or a passing nod in dog talk, but I'm thrilled. She is Brett and Jenny's dog now. They are a family. My job is done. We had a long time together, me and Pip.

A happy Pippy Christmas

 When I snapped a couple of photos, the lights just shone around her, like the world was plugged in and Pip's own backdrop. She's made it and is very much loved. I have to hold onto that as there were some sad things today.

A momma dog who looks just like Pip is in the Modesto shelter with 10 babies. The chances are slim they'll all make it out alive. The three dogs who were living by the river near Sacramento and found by a deaf boy were all shot to death by a cop. While driving to Whole Foods, a tiny dog, maybe a little Papillon was running back and forth across the busy four lane highway. I nearly had a wreck trying to find him, but he dashed terrified down a dirt road and disappeared. I am hoping he had a home down that road.

Those are the memories which keep me awake. We are living in a horrible time. There are so many unwanted animals and so much sadness. In the movie, Atticus shoots a mad dog with the children and Cal watching. I'd forgotten about that part. I'll go down to BeBe's house in a minute and finish 'To Kill a Mockingbird' with her.

Tomorrow, we have a date to watch 'Gone With the Wind.' AMC is doing it up right this Thanksgiving with the movies. I wonder if the people who run AMC have dogs. They must, because the movies they're airing are dog watching movies. I can't imagine watching a movie without the companionship of animals. They're just better.

Buster at the beach

Buster is one of those dogs whose story is so common in rescue work. Buster and his 8 siblings were pulled with their mom almost two years ago in Bakersfield. Bakersfield KCAC is one of the highest kill shelters in the nation.

Buster and his family were found abandoned on S Street, one of the roughest areas in town. They wound up at the county shelter whose intake is 500 animals a week. Their chances were slim to non-existent.

Momma Sadie

Somehow we saw them and worked with HALT Rescue to get them to safety. Shane and family stepped up to foster and took on more than they could possibly have ever imagined. The puppies were only 3 weeks old, but mom, renamed Sadie, was unbelievably trusting for a dog from the mean streets.

They were fostered in the beginning at Shane's place of business where an assembly line was set up to wash the puppies. They smelled so badly, they had to be run through the system twice. Sadie got a spa treatment, a rarity for a dog like Sadie.

Seven of the puppies were placed over the next few months, but Buster and his brother, now Siesel, were overlooked. Buster was nicknamed 'Shy Guy' due to his low key manner.

Amazingly, Sadie was adopted by the foster family and now lives in the lap of luxury. Siesel and Buster took a little bit longer. After boarding Siesel for several months, he was adopted by longtime Reunion Rescue member, Vanessa and her husband Patrick. Siesel is adopted brother to Peugeot, their female pittie.

Buster was boarded for months and months. He was strangely not being noticed, something that continues to happen in rescue. Buster is low key, loves people, loves kids, great with all dogs and gets along with cats! With all those wonderful attributes, he just couldn't find a home.

Benny at the beach

There was a reason. Steaven and Ken adopted Benny from Reunion Rescue in early 2002. Benny's story was another one of those rescue stories. He was on death row at SFACC with his sister at four months. The SFSPCA pulled her and left Benny all alone. A shy dog anyway, Benny regressed, lonely and afraid. He knew he was unwanted and just waiting to die.

At that time, Reunion Rescue placed holds on all available pit mixes at SFACC to keep them from being put to sleep. Benny didn't know that, though. We pulled him at the last minute and he went into foster care. We were at an adoption event when Steaven and Ken first met Benny. It was love at first sight and after entering the Reunion Rescue foster to adopt program, they took Benny home.

Benny was always a shy dog, but Steaven and Ken worked hard to teach Benny not to be afraid to walk down the sidewalk and how to go to the dog park. Benny passed away after a long and much loved life.

Steaven just happened to be looking at the dogs for adoption and saw a posting for four puppies. What do you know? These were four of Sadie's pups, but on an old site. All the pups had been adopted except for Buster and Buster was no longer a puppy. He'll be two soon.

They had been thinking about a puppy, but Buster had been waiting for them. How were we to ever have known this was the plan? Steaven and Ken drove the two hour journey to meet Buster where we had him boarded. It was a match!

Buster has fit right in. He's got the right amount of shyness without being too timid. He has his own personality, but also has a little touch of Benny in him. It was as if Benny was directing this from his special place in heaven. I really believe, and so do Ken and Steaven, that Buster has Benny's seal of approval. That's how it works with dogs, you know.

Steaven and Ken took Buster for a vacation at Stinson Beach, probably the closest place to heaven on earth. He looks so happy playing in the surf and sand.

Dogs help us move through the hard things in life. What's more precious than watching a smiling dog on the beach....

"religion is the smile on a dog...

I'm not aware of too many things 

I know what I know, 

if you know what I mean...."

Buster as a little puppy