It’s been kind of a hush-hush thing, since we weren’t sure if an owner would turn up for this stray. But as of the New Year, my birthmom, who lives in an old folks’ mobile park in California, has a new dog.

In October a young black and tan Chihuahua cross was scavenging around her neighborhood, eating birdseed and whatever crusts of bread or other food the park residents would throw her. She stuck around and some folks were beginning to grumble about her being loose there, but no one was really willing to take her to the pound…she was also very wary and wouldn’t allow contact.

So my birthmom created a ‘trap’ area around her front porch, baited it with food (peanut butter crackers or some such, I think) and managed to snag her. The dog was so terrified of being trapped she really put up a fuss and terrified my birthmom, thinking she’d break a leg or something trying to escape. What drove her to try to keep her is a bit of a mystery to both of us, since she is in her late 60’s and really doesn’t need another pet. Of course, then she wasn’t sure she would work out since the dog was almost completely feral by this point and very frantic in temperament. But she got her to a vet to have her checked out and put an ad in the paper looking for an owner.

I just got a note from her the other day. I had sent down a huge care package of little doggy stuff and the xmas gifts I had gottten her but not sent out yet (blush), taking the chance that someone had already claimed the dog and my offerings would be very awkward indeed. My birthmom hadn’t had a dog since her buff cocker had passed, the year before Shadow did, I think. She, like me, was adamant that she’d never have another animal…however I do think she invested in a parakeet for company last summer.

Apparently a neighbor found an obituary in the paper and showed it to my birthmom earlier this month. Commenting on how much the dog in the picture with the old lady looked like “Peanut” (what my birthmom is calling the dog now), she managed to distress her enough that the neighbor called the son of the old lady and asked if they needed the dog back. He said no, that if she had a loving home, that’s how his mom would want it. The poor thing had run from the old lady’s house because of the lights and noise of the ambulance when she was taken to the hospital in her last illness and had been missing for over 6 months.

My birthmom is a bit of a recluse, doesn’t even talk to me much, but this little pup has changed her outlook. She says Peanut has warmed to her, is full of kisses, energy and surprises, runs through the coach every morning just for fun and loves to sit in her lap. Just as I didn’t realize how much I really still needed a dog with me until Jenna arrived, she did not realize-or want to see-how much she needed someone to fill the hole that losing Maxie had left in her life. I always called him my ‘little brother’ because we spoke of him as if he was one of the family.

Of course, this presents a bit of a problem should she suddenly fall ill. I know of no one who would care for Peanut in this instance and I would probably have to fly down and help, something she doesn’t really want me to do and has said so for years. But at the moment I am just glad that something in her life has changed enough that she is writing me again and sounds so happy. I have read her last two letters over again and again and I get tears in my eyes because her voice sounds so different.

Animals are amazing creatures. They bring us joy, the remind us that life is worth living, they bridge gaps that no other living being can cross. They are God’s littlest angels, His ambassadors of His Love for us.