01/16/2026
We met Santa when his Mom called us to ask if we would groom her new foster dog, Jen had just lost her dog Bobby and was trying to ease her grief by fostering. Needless to say Santa was a foster fail. This past week Santa earned his wings. 😢 I wanted to share this BEAUTIFUL tribute that she shared with us.
Long may you run Santa💔
You weren’t supposed to stay. You were a stray and a foster, en route to a new life. But your last stop was my heart - one that I sealed off from you for the first year and a half, in an attempt to protect myself from more inevitable grief. Is it any coincidence that you took nearly the same amount of time to leave behind whatever past had haunted you? With every tenderly cautious step toward one another, we added a layer of salve to our licked wounds. Your transformation taught me that healing, evolution, and resurrection are always possible under the right conditions. And so you shepherded me through my own tumult - you, the one constant, overflowing, soft-bodied barrel of love and loyalty that I clung to. We painted the years together and lapped up each season, snowfall, and cascade of new trails, relishing each more than the last. Our very natures were exploited by the nature that surrounded us to its most glorious degree. We navigated the doorway that separated the primal and the wild from its complementary opposite of kinship and ancestral bonding. You are eternally part of the mythology of this place, a neighborhood bejeweled with the spirits of long gone generations of people and pets. Do you remember a time when Santa was real? I do, I do. And if he were here and he could speak, what would he say? I think he would say: Thank you. I love you. I had the most wonderful time.
To my love and my luck, Santa, who I was blessed to call mine March 3, 2019 (at roughly 5 years old) to January 7, 2026 and forever onward.