♥Sometimes a dog dumped out like a piece of trash finds a home for the holidays♥

Sometimes a dog just gets lucky. Sometimes a dog has a guardian angel. Sometimes everything falls in place at the right moment in time. Sometimes a life is saved.

My son and his wife decided a few weeks ago that it was time to get a family dog. They already had bunnies, a guinea pig, a couple of cats, so it just stood to reason that a dog should be added into the mix. With the decision made - Dave's wife, Becky, got on the computer and began to browse petfinder.com.

They didn't want a puppy but a grown dog of medium size, hopefully a retriever mix - a little female. Becky found a listing for a dog that sounded like it might be a good match but there was no photo. She called the shelter (about 45 miles away) and asked about the pup in question. She was told that the dog had been found in a store parking lot loaded with fleas, starved, toenails so long that they looked like corkscrews and no hair on the back half of her body. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

After explaining their family situation - four children, one with a disability - the shelter worker said that the little dog might be a good match for them because she was sweet natured and loving. But she cautioned Becky that the dog was in no way attractive to look at. The worker did have every confidence that with some good care the dog would blossom and that the hair would grow back on the pooch's back half.

Becky thought the little shelter pup might be just what her family ordered.  After everyone agreed to help with its care, mom, dad and kids piled into the family mini van and took off for the shelter. Undaunted by the bald bottom and scabby skin (there must have been 1000s of fleas before treatment by the shelter), an adoption took place and the little dog with long toenails clicking on the pavement jumped into the van to begin her new life as a family pet. The little dog wasn't judged by her looks, alone, but through eyes that knew a good home could work miracles. (I was later told that even if all her hair didn't grow back they were prepared for that, too.)

She received a name - Mitzy. She got spayed. Her toenails got cut while she was under anesthetic. She was given an oatmeal bath to soothe her skin and food was purchased that promised to promote hair growth and good skin condition. That little dog that someone tossed out appeared to have had a litter of puppies at her tender age - imagined to be about 18 months.

The dog no one wanted. The dog that was abandoned, starved and miserable had a fur-ever home at last. She wore a red collar and rainbow hued ID tag telling the world that she had a name and she had a home and she had a family of six people that cared about her.

I met Mitzy over the Thanksgiving holiday when she came to visit her northern relatives. Painfully thin, even after a month of good meals, her hair is beginning to grow back. Her temperament is remarkable. She is patient with children and loving to adults. She got along well with the other dogs she met during the course of her holiday visit. She was polite and sweet and kind and gentle. She acted as though any act of kindness or tender word was a treasure to her heart.

Yes, sometimes a pup gets lucky and sometimes a family gets lucky and sometimes a life is saved and sometimes there is a very happy ending. What someone else tossed out like trash another family found to be of worth and have value. I wish all lost dogs could find a home for the holidays just like Mitzy - my newest grand-dog.