Faithful companions of poor aren't forgotten on holiday

SULTAN — Ladybug doesn't know she is poor. For that matter, neither does Panda. Nor Aerial, Number One, nor Daisy.

And on Christmas Day, they didn't live poor, either. In fact, these and many other dogs and cats all around the Puget Sound area were kings and queens for a day.

More than 100 volunteers in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties went door to door to shower them with a combined $10,000 worth of pet food, beds, dog houses, collars, flea treatments, pet-store gift cards, and even arrangements for medical care.

It was all part of the third annual Home for the Howlidays aid effort, organized by Pasado's Safe Haven, a nonprofit animal-rescue charity based in Sultan.

And in a shantytown off North Skyview Drive in Sultan, where people live in their vehicles amid beaten-down trailers, listing school buses and metal shacks, the help was deeply appreciated.

"They don't know we are poor," Ron Nichols said of his dogs, Ladybug and Number One, who sported new feather-boa collars. The volunteers also brought a dog house and bags of food.

His beloved mutts — "brindle-pit-golden-yellow lab somethings," Nichols calls them — leaped happily into the donation truck to inspect for leftovers.

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http://www.pasadosafehaven.org/

"They are the only children we'll ever have," Nichols said. "They are everything to me, they are my kids."

As the donation truck made the rounds, the shantytown came alive with barking. Other dogs sauntered or zipped over to check out the possibilities, their owners in grateful tow.

Panda, her nipples swollen with pregnancy, scored a big bag of food. With one blue eye and one brown, the husky-malamute-Australian-shepherd mix never dropped her adoring gaze from owner Dave Magnett. Panda didn't need a dog bed — she sleeps in Magnett's bed next to him. But could a volunteer maybe come back with a raincoat for her, Magnett wondered?

"She likes to go everywhere with me, and gets a little miserable in the rain sometimes," Magnett said softly to volunteer Alicia Ames of Redmond.

A dog owner herself, Ames needed no further encouragement. She'd be back next week, she said.

For Ames, there was no better way to spend Christmas. "We love animals and it's a chance to give something back," she said. "We are very fortunate in our lives, and Christmas shouldn't just be about materialistic things."

Another volunteer, Amanda Boyd of Bothell, who has six dogs of her own, didn't need any specific reason to help other than the chance to make life better for dogs and the people who love them.

"People from all walks of life care about their animals all the same," she said. "Dogs and people just have that bond. It's so special because the dog doesn't even want anything from you except to be with you. These dogs have a great life. They get to see their owners all the time, and they get to hang out. And everyone is real grateful."

That goes for the cats, too.

Inside a camper on the back of a truck, Aerial fished a black-and-white paw into the open crack of a cardboard box filled with cat-food packets. "You're going for it! Tear it open!" her owner, Raymond Alexander Stewart, who goes by "Animal," said with delight as the cat worked the lid.

An American flag fluttered from the radio antenna of Stewart's truck, and a fire crackled amid the circle of campers, trailers and a metal sided shack. Aerial, 9, has been the only constant in his life, said Stewart. He has shared his life with her since she was 3 weeks old.

"She's my life," he said. "She sleeps with me every night, right under my arm. She is my best friend."

Three fat sacks of cat food stacked in the camper seemed to put a gleam of satisfaction in both of their eyes.

This makeshift community was hard hit by recent storms, and Stewart said he had no idea when he might be able to move out of his truck, which has been his only refuge since floodwaters swamped his trailer home.

James Winslow was just glad that he and his dog Daisy survived at all. The dainty pit-bull mix sat close by the fire, never far from Winslow's feet. "She means the world to me," he said, giving her a pat.

Daisy was pregnant, and Bubba, a black-lab mix, was a possible culprit. The Pasado folks offered a neutering appointment that was gladly accepted by the dog's owners.

Kim Sgro, executive director of Pasado's, said she was amazed at the success of the gift drive. Working with fire and police departments and social-services personnel in local communities, the organization has been able to find warm welcomes in some of the neediest neighborhoods in the region.

"This started two years ago with just a handful of people and supplies," Sgro said. "We were just determined to make it an annual event. The reception has just been so moving.

"This was just one day, and we touched on only a handful of communities and of what's needed out there. We need to keep this going every day. We can do it, and we should."

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com