According to Wikipedia, St. Bernard of Menthon was born in 923 to a rich noble family but left his family to devote his life to the church. He established a monastery in the Pennine Alps for Pilgrims on their way to Rome. The monks from the monastery, accompanied by well trained herding dogs would go out in search of people who had succumbed to the rough weather.

Yesterday, as I was browsing on Facebook, I saw a picture of a young girl, probably about nine years old. In the picture, she is hugging a big white fluffy dog. I did a double take. The girl looks so much like my nine year old daughter Fiona. The white dog didn’t look particularly like our dog Wesley. Instead, it looked perhaps a bit more like I expect Rosie must look right now. Rosie was a Great Pyrenees that we fostered briefly before she found her forever home.

Following the link, I found that the dog is in the picture is a Great Pyrenees/Saint Bernard mix. He is 18 months old, and looking for a foster home.

The listing on Petfinder starts off:

Puppy is an 18 month old male in search of a new home due to his family losing their house. His family was out of food for him and could not afford to buy more. He is starved for attention, and is very loving and attentive.

Is the girl in the picture from the family that is losing their home? What must it be like for the family? I can only imagine what it would be like if I told Fiona we had to move. I suspect her first question would be, what about Wesley? If I said that we had to give him up, she would be heart broken. There would be hysterics. It would tear me apart inside as well, as I tried to keep a brave face on things.

These are rough times for many of us. I hope a good foster home can be found for the puppy. I pray for the family. I dream of some miraculous turn to come enabling the family to keep their home and the puppy. If there is a St. Bernard in Indianapolis, please come to the rescue now.