Dear Kid,

You remember when the Puppy learned he was adopted? And couldn’t understand why he was adopted and you and Pi weren’t? Read about it here and here if you’ve forgotten.

I’m typing very quietly because it’s still a sensitive subject for him.

Yesterday at Pet Wants, I was fortunate enough to meet the ladies who founded and run Project Blue Collar. PBC (as they like to say) is (and I’m quoting here) a global MOVEMENT to celebrate rescue dogs and unite the people who care about them.

Project Blue Collar sells a number of items promoting rescue babies, including (wait for it) a blue collar designed to spark conversation.

“Oh, what an interesting blue collar your dog has. What is it?”

“Thank you for noticing. It means this little guy is a rescue animal. We adopted him.”

Hopefully, the conversation is more interesting than that.

The Lecture:

While there are over 10,000 different rescue groups in the U.S., there are millions of animals in shelters, many, many of whom are adoptable. Over 3 million animals are euthanized in shelters annually (yes—each year) and over 80% would have made wonderful pets.

Adopt!

Not you. You’re in college. You, study.

But for anyone even considering a new pet, please adopt one of these wonderful animals.

And maybe think about investing in a blue collar to help tell the story.

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

We’ve discovered a new program. By “we” I mean Pi and me, and by “new program” I mean World’s Largest Pets on Animal Planet.

I thought World’s Largest Pets would be things like pet hippos or elephants. Pi thought we’d be watching Great Danes.

Instead, we found ourselves watching a HUGE Burmese Python, a capybara, a big rat, and wolfhounds.

The python probably should have been in a zoo or left in the wild. It was big huge enormous. And by “enormous” I mean the size of Montana. The state, not the Hannah. According to the show, it was one of the largest snakes in England. And it was not happy about going to the vet for a checkup. One-of-the-largest-snakes-in-England knows how to make its displeasure known.

The capybara was adorable. His owner spends more on food for him than on food for herself. She got him a swimming pool. She gives him full run of the house even though one of a capybara’s favorite things to do is roll around in the mud. We never found out how he feels about veterinarians.

The wolfhounds were cuter than cute if a 7 foot dog can be called cute. (I have no trouble calling a dog of any size a cute puppy.) The couple in the profile breed wolfhounds and they are very careful about who they give puppies to. If the puppy-adopter-to-be doesn’t fit with their notion of how a puppy-adopter-to-be should interact with the adult wolfhounds, the p-a-t-b goes home without a puppy.

Yes, I skipped the rat. I think it was a rat. I’m really not sure because there was big discussion about whether our Puppy should be getting up off his favorite pillow and going for a walk. Dad was in favor of the walk before the rain began; Puppy was in favor of sleeping. Guess who won?

Love, Mom