To Foster Families Everywhere

Your home may have been
The first kind one I'd ever seen;
Your voice the first to teach, to praise,
To guide me through confusing days.
You're the one who taught to me
What the life of a good dog ought to be.
Your patient persistence all the while
May have won my very first doggie smile.
And now that I am off to roam
With the family of my "forever" home,
Yours is the home I will always dream of;
Your gentle hands, your smiling love,
The way you coaxed tangles out of my coat,
The sound of your voice, yes, every note.
If they learn to love me the way that you do
I will know that I owe my acceptance to you.
Though my paws may wander far away,
Yours is the home where I learned to stay.
Karen Ellery, 2000
http://www.maessr.org

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Doggie Haiku

I lie belly-up
In the sunshine, happier than
You will ever be.
Today I sniffed
Many dog behinds -- I celebrate
By kissing your face.
I sound the alarm!
Paper boy -- come to kill us all
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!
I sound the alarm!
Garbage man -- come to kill us all
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!
How do I love thee?
The ways are as numberless as
My hairs on the rug.
My human is home!
I am so ecstatic I have
Made a puddle.
I Hate my choke chain
Look, world, they strangle me! Ack!
Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack!
Sleeping here, my chin
On your foot -- no greater bliss -- well,
Maybe catching rats
Look in my eyes and
Deny it. No human could
Love you as much as I do.
The cat is not all
Bad --she fills the litter box
With tootsie rolls.
Dig under the fence--why?
Because it is there. Because it's
There. Because it's there.
I am your best friend,
Now, always, and especially
When you are eating.

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