Dear Santa, Love, Chloe

December 2014

Schenectady, New York

Dear Santa,

This is Chloe, a Rescued Dog that Loves Reading.

I wanted to write to you to say thank you for making my wishes come true!

I was a Puppy Mill Mom that lived in a cage and had puppies that were sold away from me, but now I live with my person, Ms. Cullen, in Schenectady, New York.

You already know my address! (I was first rescued by the good folks at Homeward Bound and they took very good care of me, especially after my operation.)

We have been together for more than a year now and life is very good for me now!

I have gained some weight, which is a good thing; while my person, Ms. Cullen has lost some weight because we go for long walks together! I have a warm house and good food, sometimes Ms. Cullen shares her dinner with me. I have some toys, but I am still not real good at playing with them yet. I like to chew on the rawhide bones that come in all sizes. I can chew for hours!

Last year, Ms. Cullen recorded our first year together with a photographic slideshow presentation on her web pages at school. She is a librarian for the Schenectady City School District and has three libraries and almost 1200 students. I’m not sure what that number would look like in real life, but it seems pretty big. She sometimes gets their names mixed up.

My person, Ms. Cullen reads books to me that she will read to her students at school. She says I am a good listener and good practice for her to prepare for her classes. I just love to listen and look at the pages with the pictures. She turns the pages for me and does funny voices too. Sometimes she scares me, but it always works out well in the end. I think sometimes I like to be a little bit scared. Some kids like that too!

Today my person read the book, Thank you Santa by Margaret Wilde and illustrated by Kerry Argent. This cover image is from the school library catalog.