Beckham sings his thanks!

Panda and Beckham cuddle

Dear Everyone Who Helped Save So Many of Us,

My given name is Beckham.

You may remember me as the very quiet and introspective and undemanding one...

I have three wishes. The first is in keeping with my personality: my hope that I was not too much trouble when we got to know each other so well for what I understand was about a year and a half or more (my human parents' time)...The second is that what you read here will make you feel good and bring smiles of joy to all your faces (just like I have on my face almost all the time now), and that you be so proud of yourselves for fulfilling your life mission. The third is that my story will motivate others' generosity so that you can continue to do what you did that allowed me to tell you my extraordinary story:

The truth is I will never be able to thank you enough.

For what you did in helping so many of us to find our forever families. After a rather unkind of life beginnings at the hands of someone I have come to understand was a hoarder of those just like me. From whom you and Aunt Karen from the Cardigan Welsh Corgi National Rescue Trust were so kind and compassionate to rescue us. So that I can spend the remainder of my life fulfilling the destiny of my life journey bringing smiles and laughter and aura of peaceful feelings to my family, and the hundreds of young and older friends I have come to meet since joining my forever family.

As I mentioned my given name (the reason for which I never knew) is Beckham. To which "Little Bear' was added by my adopting human parents and my sister Panda Petunia Ruach (in the "Cuddle" photo she is on the left and I on the right; in our "basket photo" I am on the left), who I have come to love and trust as my bestest human and canine friends and soul mates

You see by the time I met my new family I was what has been accurately described as "just an empty emotional shell covered by fur." It was no one's fault. Just the luck of life I guess...First trying to find a way to survive until I was rescued...And then forced to--no fault of yours or mine-- for so long to wait to be freed up so that I could find someone who would love me for the rest of my life.

I am not certain how long it was--I heard it was around ten years (my time)--before I was fortunate that Aunt Karen (Smith) of Cardigan Welsh Corgi National Rescue Trust took me into her home after leaving the Warren County Humane Society.

There, she did the best she could do to help me learn how to be socialized with others like me and those of your species. But by the time I got somewhat adjusted I didn't know that she knew I was bound to join a new family...far away...And so you can imagine how shell-shocked I was to be driven to meet them on that 2009 Sunday Memorial Day weekend. Just outside West Chester Pa, where first I met the person who is my forever human mother, outside their home, followed by at a nearby park where my father and sister were waiting for me...

It had to be so incredibly tough on my sister Panda...

For she had spent every day of her life since being adopted at a very young age as the focal point of love and affection as the sole family canine filling the cavernous emotional void of our parents' broken hearts. A role she took on within weeks of our parents' having bade goodbye to their beloved remarkable once-in-a-lifetime Anatolian Shepherd Princess Sheba Spirit,

A rescue who'd spent almost 105 years (my time) volunteering as our mother's cancer canine companion.

The truth is Panda could have closed herself off to having to share her relationship with her human parents.

She loved being the source of attention. She still does! Just one of the reasons I love Daddy's affectionate name for her: "our drama girl"...

But she did not shut me out. Instead opened her heart up totally and fully, without any equivocation, even before I was ready to accept her love and trust and that of my new human parents.

Panda not only opened her heart up, but also instinctively understood I needed a "big sister" who would teach me how to become a happy and contented canine. Who would teach me the ropes about what it meant to be a happy contented fully fulfilled one of my species. Who would also go on to teach me to trust the very notion that I truly deserved permanent love and affection, and in so doing helped me come to understand the words I sure do now when my parents tell us and each other they love us more than life itself.

Panda showed me by example what it meant to do things that were so new to me:

like chewing a bone...

like playing kick ball with daddy...

like using our dog run to go to the bathroom...

like romping like two bears and playing chase...

like sharing (a piece of) Daddy's morning muffin and coffee in bed before we go to work

like taking our wonderful family walks at the bucolic school campus nearby our summer home and beside the golf course outside our beautiful beach home, where I make sure to guard Mommy as she does her daily swim...

like going to work upstairs with my parents as they ready for publication Princess' inspirational dogautobiography ("Lucky, Mommy, and Me: An Unusual Memoir" (c) 2010), and where they respond to invitations for one or both of them to answer questions, write articles and give motivational speeches about Mommy's miraculous defeat of cancer......

and finally like my absolute favorite pastime: lying beside my sister cuddled up next to one of our parents.

I am confident...no I KNOW you'd be amazed and really happy and proud to see the changes in me:

Wherever we go, people young and old stop to say hello...to tell Panda and me how cute we are...and pretty we are...and handsome I am after they realize I am a male...We are always asked if we are twins...We're not but we are inseparable siblings and each other's most trusted canine soul mate. My fur once so thick and coarse is almost like velvet which by the way was Prinny's name before she joined the family. And everyone talks about my smile, in dark contrast to the tension and stress and sadness that was so etched on my face that first day I met my new family.

My happiness and confidence have evolved dramatically since then...so much so that I have fund my voice...not just my speaking voice...but my singing voice...Yes I sing! Not just whenever I am asked, but rather especially when accompanied by either or both of our parents.

In short (now that's a phrase Panda and I can relate to!) life for me is how Panda said it would be if I opened myself up to love: As she herself heard it described by one our favorite aunts (Aunt Jessica) who said to Panda on the very evening she arrived home: "you have no idea how lucky you are...and the wonderful life you are about to have..."

Aunt Jessica was right. So was Panda...Or as our wonderful doctor, Uncle Greg Hahn put it when we first met:

"Beckham, you have won the lottery..".

I sure have...

Thanks to all of you...

Your friend forever Beckham "Little Bear" Brooks Pomerantz

THE Cardigan Welsh CorgiS
Late November 2007 a large number of dogs, cats and birds were seized from an area breeder-hoarder.  The legal process was slow and complex.  After a jury trial in February 2009 the court granted custody of the animals to the Warren County Humane Society and twenty-five Cardigan Welsh Corgis became available for adoption. 

Sixteen months is a long time to spend at the shelter.  Some of the dogs were very old.  Some were battling cancer.  Many were very timid and struggled with socialization issues.

Some of the dogs found their forever families in Warren County.  Others found wonderful loving homes out of state. Thanks to the help and support of the Cardigan Welsh Corgi National Rescue Trust  all of the dogs now have homes of their own.  Before they left the shelter all were spayed or neutered and had any special medical needs addressed.

The dogs finding their forever homes included: Beckham "Little Bear"; Lacy Jane, a very young female who delivered her puppies two days after she was rescued; and Puppers, a big old fellow full of bravado and willing to challenge any male.

Pictured is Ms. Emily. She found her forever home here in Warren County Pennsylvania.