Saturday, January 18, 2025
AZLE — A few weeks ago, the Tri-County Reporter advertised its Christmas Critters photo contest, asking readers to submit a photo of their pet dressed in holiday attire. Though the competition was tough, Tri-County Reporter selected Mia as the winner of the 2024 Christmas Critters photo contest.
Mia is a chihuahua mix that Sallie Hamiliton adopted in 2020 after losing her other pets.
“I got Mia in June of 2020,” Hamilton said. “It was a difficult year; all our pets were about the same age and we lost each one within the first five months of that year. In January, my daughter had gotten a 6-month-old miniature schnauzer, Isla, to help cope with the first loss. We thought Isla needed a friend and by June, I was ready to find me a dog as well.”
Hamilton had been looking for smaller dogs in shelters everywhere to no avail. But one day, she found exactly what she had been looking for.
“We looked in the local animal shelters for a small dog and they didn’t have any,” Hamilton said. “We looked at online animal rescues and they had several hoops to jump through and hardly any responses back. After much persistence and applications, we came across Mia’s picture. The lady we got Mia from had said Mia had been found wandering the streets of Houston and had a litter or two before being rescued. After messaging the rescuer on Petfinder, they brought Mia over and she was a perfect fit for our family. From that day forward Mia had found her forever home.”
Hamilton said she and her family incorporated the photo contest as a part of their holiday celebrations this year.
“My family and I used the contest as a game on Christmas Eve,” Hamilton said. “We each selected a pet and started taking photos.”
Hamilton said Mia loves to stroll in the mornings and is a lover of big piles of leaves.
“Mia really enjoys walking,” Hamilton said. “I take her out on walks on weekday mornings if it’s not too hot or too cold. She likes walking through piles of leaves in the fall. During the holiday season on those walks, I like to take her up to the big holiday inflatables. She doesn’t really like that though, just barks at them. And sometimes I make her sit and I take a photo of her.”
Tri-County Reporter thanks all the participants of the 2024 Christmas Critters photo contest.
