My foster dog Minnie

On Sunday, September 20, I was volunteering with my daughter at an animal adoption event for Animal Advocates Alliance. Advocates goes to Baldwin Palk (a kill shelter) and pulls out between 10 and 30 dogs (depending on how many volunteers they have) in the morning and they bring them in dog catcher-type trucks to the adoption event. A couple of people also bring a few cats. This event was bigger than the normal events, at Pan Pacific Park near the Grove in LA. Instead of only being an adoption event, it was also a fundraiser with sponsors, a silent auction and raffles.

We started out hanging out with the cats, getting their litter, food and water ready. I remembered too late that I had wanted to bring a cat nail clipper so that none of the cats would have sharp nails when people held them. I held a cute 6 month old calico cat up by my shoulder for awhile while my daughter held a 2 month kitten. We walked around, and within 2 hours, both cats had been adopted.

Then we helped with a couple of the contests, and walked around a retriever dog, which also got adopted. We took a quick lunch break and helped out with some of the fundraiser activities, and then we were asked to walk around a 6 year-old chihuahua mix. The poor dog had been at the pound for 2 1/2 weeks and was extremely skinny, yet she was really friendly other than barking at a couple of larger dogs. Twice we almost got her adopted, but one person went with a pomeranian mix, and the other person said they weren't quite sure they were ready for a second dog in addition to their chihuahua.

As the event was coming closer to ending, we started to panic. With the dog having been at the pound for almost 3 weeks, we knew Minnie had very little time left. I asked the head volunteers if anyone was available to foster her. There was noone available. We found out that if Minnie spent 2 more days in the pound, she'd be put down. My daughter was really upset and said that we couldn't let Minnie go back to the pound.

Knowing that John would be really upset with me, I decided that my daughter was right, and asked if I could foster Minnie and bring her back to adoption events to find her a permanent home. They agreed, and so, knowing that John would be furious at me, I brought the dog to my car.

John was definitely furious. He's allergic to most dogs, and he demanded to know what my plan was. I told him that I'd keep the dog with me at all times for the next week and help her gain weight and find her a new home. By the next morning, John had gotten a little less angry and within 2 days he had taken Minnie for a walk. So far, he hadn't had any type of allergic reaction.

On the 3rd morning, he saw Minnie shivering, so he picked her up to hold her and pet her. After about 5 minutes of holding her, he started sneezing. Since then, he hasn't held her, but he's pet her a couple of times and he hadn't sneezed or gotten itchy.

We're still giving it a trial run, but it seems like Minnie might become a permanent member of the Stagliano family. My co-workers have dubbed Minnie as the Evil Angel family dog, and she's the sweetest dog I could hope for.

This comes at a good time for me because I've finally decided that I don't use my 2nd apartment in the valley enough to keep it, and that's where my 2 cats live. John is violently allergic to cats and can't be in the same room as them for more than 2 or 3 minutes, so moving them to the office or our main home isn't an option. My daughter and I are incredibly upset, but we spend almost all of our time in Malibu with John, so the cats need to go with other families that will be able to be with them on a daily basis. Minnie can't replace Tinkerbell or Squeakie, but she will be a new member of the family.