i didn't want to include this in my `dog beach day` entry because i felt it deserved it's own place. yeah yeah, i'm a nerd like that.

but anyway.

guess who we meet at dog beach today? you'll never believe it. rob and i barely did.

we meet our beloved pepper's brother, zorro.

taking a brief break from running through the waves with chocolate and maddie, rob and i made our way back to our spot and sat down. i turned around to grab some water, and immediately thought i'd lost my mind, as i was convinced pepper was standing out there on the horizon staring in my direction.

i grabbed rob by the arm and spun him around to see. his face went white and he said, ``oh, my god.``

i saw ``pepper`` head back to where a few ladies where sitting further down the beach and set out after him. arriving at the mat, i was greeted by a wet nose and those same eyes that made pepper such a lovable-looking dog. i noticed though, that this guy was a little smaller than my baby. i'd say he was about 80 pounds, whereas pepper was 95. but he had identical white markings on his chest and feet.

i introduced myself to the owner, but before mentioning pepper, asked her what breed her dog was, etc. her reply, ``timberwolf and german shepherd mix. and we know this for sure, as we picked him up as a pup and saw his mom and talked to the lady who had the pups.``

right there i thought, ``oh, well. can't be related to pepper after all. pepper was found in the dump up in ramona.``

but oh wait, it gets better.

i explain to her that i'm asking because i had a dog who looked remarkably like hers, but i got him a little over a year ago up in ramona.

oh, she says. she got hers from ramona too. (this is a big deal since ramona is nearly two hours away from where we were.)

wow, i say. then she asked how old pepper was. i said we guessed he was born sometime between feb. and may of 2001. she said zorro was born in late april of 2001.

wow again.

at this point she still doesn't know pepper's ``dump rescue`` story. but when i ask her about the lady she got zorro from she tells me more than i bargained for.

she tells me that the lady was her friends' mom. and that she breeds german shepherd dogs. which would help to explain the bitch not being spayed. and she tells me that one morning, at about 3 am the lady hears this howling and goes out and sees a timberwolf (common for ramona area) in her female dogs' kennel. and so the lady shoos off the wolf and then x amount of time passes, and oops, looks like we have puppies.

ten puppies, to be exact.

and hubby of lady knows from experience that wolf-dog mixes often `snap` and can become dangerous, and besides, it's very often difficult for them to act like domestic dogs. and so he does what he thinks is best. he takes them to the dump. the ramona dump. he figures that there, they have the chance to scrounge around for some food, and then make their way back into the wilderness where they'll be happy.

lady finds out about hubby's ``good deed`` the next day and runs to the dump to collect the dogs. she can only find nine. however, within a week she adopts all nine out to homes. mostly in the ramona area to people who have large yards. this is in september.

we adopted pepper in september.

coincidence? i think not. i'd be willing to bet everything on the fact that zorro is pepper's brother.

and whoa. i mean, how insane is that? we finally know pepper's story. maybe the sap in me is taking over, but i can't help but feel that our pepper somehow arranged for that encounter. he needed us to know that yes, he was half wolf. and wow, doesn't that explain everything. and it sucks to be thankful for an explanation that does no good, and couldn't have changed anything had we known then versus now... but at least rob and i know now that it wasn't anything we did. because i know we were both still silenting blaming ourselves. and now we don't have to.

and i think it helped zorros mom, too. because she said zorro has been showing aggression towards other dogs more and more lately. and that she's always been worried that it would come to this, and always hoped against hopes that it wouldn't. and it think it helped her to hear of someone who went through it. so that if the time ever arises, she won't feel like it's a mistake.

she gave me the ladys number, so i can call and let her know what happened to number ten. according to the woman i talked to, the lady had always felt horrible for not finding every last one of the pups. the least i can do is put her mind at ease in knowing that he was rescued from the dump and had a pretty amazing life with us.

things have a weird way of working themselves out sometimes.

any thoughts? (2)����������������