Well here it is Christmas time again, boy, the time went fast this year. It seems as if we just got over the big party from last year and here it is Christmas again ! But this year is going to be quieter. Most of our friends are going to be busy with their own family parties this year so it's just going to be Mom and Dad and Petey's kids and me and our very special house guest.

But that's cool because I have a really important job to take care of this year. Our little house guest is the big deal this year. He's been living with us for over a month now and we all love him to bits but he needs his own family who will have lots of time and love just for him. I need to get really serious about it before we all become too attached to one another. We call him Dusty but that's only a part time name for now. Once I do what I plan on doing his new family will give him a proper name.

One of the first things Petey taught me was how really important it was to always look out for others who didn't have things as good as we do. He really believed  that was a part of giving thanks for all we have. That's why he is at the North Pole now with Santa and Chris. It wasn't easy for him to leave all of us to go take on that job year round but he said he would leave it to me to make up for him not being here so he could help Santa and Chris even more than he had in the years before he and the family found me. So this year I've taken on a very special project.

First, I better tell you about Dusty. He's only just over 4 months old now and he's just now getting that he is starting to trust that no one is going to hurt him anymore. When we first found him he was a very sick and scared little guy. Locked in a really filthy cage, not getting enough to eat, never getting a bath and fleas were eating away at him  so he was scratching himself all the time and getting weaker by the day. There were other dogs in the cage as well, some bigger than he was and they were all in as bad shape as he was. He was never petted or held and he wanted his Mommy. He had been taken away from her by a man who shoved him in that cage and it seemed as if he had been there forever. He didn't like humans even a little bit, and I sure didn't blame him.

My Mom and Dad heard about this man and how he was treating his animals and they went to check it out. They took me with them because I go everywhere with them. This man was in the business of buying puppies from what Mom called a Puppy Mill and then selling them to Pet stores. She said he didn't care at all about dogs and in her opinion should be locked in a cage himself. Boy! did she ever tell that guy what a cruel, mean man he was. She didn't say 'man', she used some bad words I can't say but she sure didn't pull any punches. She is much more hot headed than Dad is. He cares as much as she does but he's not as likely to say what he thinks as she is. He leaves that up to her.

It took about two minutes after checking the place out for Dad and Mom to call the people that protect animals and report what was going on there. And we all stayed right there until they arrived to save those poor helpless puppies. Now, while we were waiting I saw Dusty. He was hiding in a corner looking terrified and really sick. It took a few minutes before I even realized he was a ShihTzu like me. He sure didn't look much like a ShihTzu, he was so dirty and  you could even see his bones through the matted fur. I pulled Mom's pant leg and took her over to the side of the cage where he was and held her there and tried to tell her I wanted to bring him home with us. Now, Mom usually gets the message pretty quick when I really want her to understand what I want and she did this time too. At first she said , "No Tuffy, he's too sick and you will get fleas from him" but I didn't care. I had never ever had fleas but there had to be some way to get rid of them or I would have had them too already. I could handle that. I couldn't handle letting that wee guy go where he wasn't with others like himself. He needed me.

Well, to make a long story short, Mom finally realized I wouldn't take no for an answer so she asked the animal people to give him to her and she wrapped him in her sweater and carried him to our car. We sat in the car and waited until all the animals had been put in the animal peoples' van and we followed them out of that man's place and then we went right to our Vet's office. It was closed but Mom called her on an emergency number and she said she would come right to her office to meet us. Mom said I had to come in too as I'd need a flea bath too.  I wanted to go in anyway. Dusty was really scared and I had been talking to him trying to let him know we were friends and he was safe. I wasn't about to leave him now.

We both had flea baths after the doctor examined Dusty and she told Mom that Dusty must not have been there too long as he seemed ok except for being filthy and starved. She treated a couple of sores from the fleas and gave him his shots he needed and then she shaved off almost all of his fur and  we both had flea baths. NOT a nice thing but it was worth it. I had already had a few bites and poor Dusty had hundreds ! I was not complaining.  Those fleas are something else. We had to use the stuff the doctor gave Dad to clear them out of the car and off Mom and Dad's clothes before we could even get back into the car and Mom and Dad had to wash their hair with some stuff right in the doctor's office but the fleas were gone thank goodness. And then we brought Dusty home with us. The doctor had given Mom special food to feed him till he was ok to eat regular food and Mom had a list of what to do like give Dusty that lousy worm medicine, which she also had to give me as a precaution she said.

 I know this story is a sad one but it does end happily.The other animals and Dusty are safe. He is getting a whole lot of love and attention and he's a chubby little puppy whose fur is all growing back and who even loves playing with Mom and Dad now. He sticks pretty close to me a lot of the time  and that's OK  because I have lots to teach him. He's really a handsome little guy now that he has his fur back although its shorter than it will be in a few more weeks and he's very well behaved. (better than me at times as I am still not too old to enjoy teasing Mom every once in a while.) I don't tease Dad as much, he doesn't let me get away with as much as Mom does.

It's going to be sad when he leaves us but if he stays much longer he just might replace me as Dad's best buddy .. not really, I'm trying to be funny. Dad and I are best buddies for life, that's a sure thing. We will be able to visit Dusty as we know this family really well so it isn't as if he will be moving far away although we will have to get used to calling him by the new name his new family will give him. We haven't asked them if they have picked one yet but I think they likely want to see what name will really suit him after they get to know him better. And that is only fair, don't you think ?

 I do know one thing. Petey was definitely, positively right. Doing a good thing  for someone else sure does make a fella feel really great. That's a present to yourself that's pretty darn neat.

 Have a wonderful Christmas everyone. We sure are planning to at our house.