Program gives pets a home for the holidays

LOS ANGELES -- Petfinder.com is looking for at least a million people who want company for Christmas.

The online pet adoption database has teamed up with CBS and the producers of the Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie "A Dog Named Christmas" for a campaign to foster pets for the holidays.

Imagine waking up Christmas morning to find all the shelters empty, said attorney Greg Kincaid, author of the best-selling novel "A Dog Named Christmas."

"If 10 dogs in every city get a Christmas break, I think that would be fantastic," added actor Bruce Greenwood, who plays George McCray in the movie, which aired Dec. 6.

The book and movie tell the story of a shelter dog taken in by a developmentally challenged young man as part of an "Adopt a Dog for Christmas" campaign. Kincaid made it up for Christmas one year as a bedtime story for his five children.

Bobbie Beach fosters dogs at her Cape Girardeau home. (Kit Doyle)

"The kids hated it," Kincaid said in a telephone interview from his office in Olathe, Kan.

"What kind of Christmas story is that, Dad?" they asked because of the way the story ended. He rewrote the story and read it for them a year later. This version met with the children' approval. He turned it into a short story, then a novel.

The real-life "Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays" campaign will draw on 2,080 shelters and rescues across the country for a national foster week, which will last from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day. Local shelter, Silverwalk Beagle & Hound Sanctuary has nine dogs available for fostering, all spayed or neutered and up to date on shots. Roberta Beach, owner of Silverwalk, said most of the dogs are beagles or hound mixes.

"Foster homes teach dogs social manners," Beach said in an e-mail interview. "They are crucial to preparing a dog for the home to whom he already belongs but just hasn't shown up yet."

The idea took hold at a clinic in Pensacola, Fla., that started the campaign last year after the book's release. A nurse there put out a sign that read "Foster a pet for the holidays." She emptied all the cages for Thanksgiving and again at Christmas, Kincaid said, and they had a waiting list 100 people long.

Petfinder.com will provide the shelters with newspaper ads, radio spots and support, said co-founder Betsy Saul.

"The smallest act can make such a big difference," Saul said in a telephone interview from Chapel Hill, N.C.

Everyone involved in the movie hopes some animals will find permanent homes through the program. "But this is not a trick to get you to keep pets. We need fosters desperately," Saul said.

People can use fostering to find out if a pet is a good match or if they are ready for a pet. There are fosters who specialize in older pets, sick pets, pets of a particular breed, kittens and puppies, even pregnant animals.

"The beauty of this program is it can be whatever anyone wants it to be," Saul said.

In Virginia, the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA plans to pull out all the stops to promote the program and the movie, including fliers, tweets, blogs and calls. "Our goal is to get every pet out," executive director Susanne Kogut said.

No foster effort is a failure, she said, remembering Van, a plain vanilla hound that had been at the shelter for nine months and was overlooked time and again.

"We put him in a foster home. He deserved a break. There was nothing distinctive about him. He wasn't overly loud, just a quiet, gentle, wonderful heart," Kogut said.

The foster family had friends over who fell in love with the dog -- and just like that he had a forever home.

"If a pet has a choice of being in a small kennel at a shelter over the holidays or in your home with a lot of people, I guarantee you the pet's going to choose the home environment," Kogut said. "Animals love people. And I can't imagine a better thing for them for the holidays."

It might not be so bad for the people, either.

"We get it in our head that fostering a dog is about helping the dog," Kincaid said. "We don't always understand how much a dog can do for us."

"Home for the Holidays" places pets in foster homes for one to two weeks. Those who wish to foster fill out a form, providing information and agreeing to a home visit. Contact Beach at houndsandhome@gmail.com.