Happy Birthday Honey Pie

May 27, 2009 -

Last weekend hosted two big events for The Pack - attending The Blessing of the Animals and celebrating Honey Pie's birthday (which is actually the anniversary of the day she entered my life). I can't believe it was only a year ago that I took Ollie be blessed (an event that also doubles as one of Arizona's largest adoption events) and we met Honey Pie (known as Tika) at that time.

While I'm not a particularly religious person, I attend the blessing each year because it's about two things I can't get enough of - hope and pets. And hey, I figure The Pack can use all the divine intervention they can get. So last year, we went through the standard fare - had our photo taken with one of the Franciscan monks doing the honors and then proceeded to leisurely wander from booth to booth, all well-stocked with pets hoping to find new homes.

If you were looking to add a member to your pack, the blessing was the place to be. Ollie and Fat Lou however were fairing just fine as a pack of two. At the time, I lived in a one bedroom apartment with one cat and one dog already and I'd had to arrange for special consideration from my landlord just to get that far. So I didn't even flinch when I arrived at the booth for Mixed Up Mutts & Shepherds Too and a friendly volunteer chimed "Look! We have a dog that looks just like yours!"

I stared from afar at Tika but didn't dare touch or get too close. Unsolicited, the volunteer told me her story: Tika had spent the majority of her life in an animal control substation in the small town of Ajo, Arizona. She was adopted once but returned after six months. No one knew why. She'd been transported along with some other pets from Ajo to the blessing in the hopes of finding her a forever home.

Ugh. That just about did it. I could almost feel logical and rational thought as it left my body and emotion took over. I phoned in a tearful plea to my landlord and waged a pretty good case for letting me cram another pet into less than 1,000 square feet of living: I reiterated that my dogs went to daycare or to work with me nearly daily. I explained how my life revolved around walking and playing with them so the little time they spent at home never resulted in any destruction (even when Ollie was a puppy). Next, I offered up large sums of money. You might consider a bribe, in my apartment complex, it was called "pet rent." To my shock and awe, my landlord conceded.

The rest, as they say, is history. Sure, there was a whole lot of craziness in between - not the least of which includes introducing one very frightened pound puppy to the outside world, including day care, dog parks furniture, car rides, kids, and cuddles. It was a long road to get Honey Pie over her fears and get her to where she is today but as the dog trainer I hired to work with her assured me, I now have a dog who I'm pretty sure would follow me into a burning building. And watching her everyday, obviously still wary of the world around her, but trusting enough to get past it, is really overwhelming. Whoever said we have so much to learn from pets was right. I hope Honey Pie has many more years of lessons in store for me.