A Paw In the Door: Heidi Holidays!

Last week my editor who is Mike posted again the column Diane wrote last year about how we all have too much stuff and should give some away.  That was nice -- especially since that means now it’s my turn to write what I think about Christmas and Hanukkah and New Year’s and all of those special times that we have every year.

I get extra holidays besides just Christmas because I am also a Jewish dog.  My Mom Diane isn’t but my Dad Alan is, and so are his grownup kids called Sasha and Darrow who are my sister and my brother so that means I am Jewish like them and I get to watch while they light candles but then don’t blow them out at all.  

But a Christmas thing we usually do is bake the annual Giant Sheep-Shaped Cookie. When the kids were little Diane’s sister Susie sent them this odd big cookie cutter and nobody knew what it was supposed to be shaped like but they thought it might be a sheep. So now once it’s done we all put on as much frosting and sprinkles as we can to make sure it’s the ugliest cookie of the year! (see ugly photo).

I have been very busy recently because Diane had paw surgery and so I have been taking care of her and protecting her from things like stairs and Sherman the squirrel, who comes every day to bother us.  She has a cast on her leg that comes off soon, but while it is on I am guarding her as much as I can and bringing toys so she won’t have to get them herself.  The cast is open on the end so sometimes I even put my own toes right in there with hers to keep hers warm.

Then also my Dad Alan went on a business trip to New York.  When he goes away on trips he is always never coming back until he does.  Diane doesn’t walk me in her cast so I wondered if anyone would take me while he was gone but guess what, Kevin Newsome took me!  He is tall and has a business taking care of dogs like me, and we had fun walking every day even though I always wanted to hurry home to make sure Diane was still there.  My Dad is back now, but if you are a dog and nobody is walking you, you should go to Kevin’s website and sign up for him to take you to where you want to go.

But I have not been too busy to think about things.  One thing is, I am happy the world didn’t end yesterday so I still got breakfast today. And also that everybody in Studio City is trying to keep Henry’s Tacos open, even big TV and movie stars and a hobbit named Elijah Wood. There is also Ernie’s Taco House on Lankershim nearby if peoples want a taco, but dogs can’t go in there to eat.  At Henry’s Tacos I can be the one who cleans up any tacos or other good things that fall on the ground.

The other thing I am happy about is much, much bigger than tacos.  There is a place called Newtown in Connecticut where sad things have happened that we can’t make un-happen no matter how hard we try. But I am happy to say that we the dogs are helping out. It’s true, they sent therapy dogs to there to be with the peoples and take care of them! 

I wish I could go to there even if I missed my Christmas presents.  I am a shepherd so I would organize things – I would send the small dogs to stay with the kids and then the big dogs could help the adults.  I would make everything be as OK as I could.  I would know exactly what to do, even though I am not a therapy dog with a Ph.D.  But right now for the holidays I want to say thank you to all the peoples and dogs from Studio City who are helping out there, and helping peoples here and everywhere, too.

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