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Blog reader Paula claimed the Mutts books by correctly identifying my retired racers as Dexter and Coral. Check back tomorrow and Friday for more free books.

Today we will send two books by artist Patrick McDonnell to a loving home.

McDonnell draws the cartoon "Mutts," which you can find daily in the comics section of The Roanoke Times. McDonnell is a passionate advocate for animal welfare, and many of his strips tell the story of pets in search of forever families.

I have a framed print of a "Mutts" strip, a "Shelter Stories" about Flash, a racing greyhound. It poetically tells how Flash always lost at the track, but finally won in the arms of a loving family.

Even though I see Flash's story every day on my office wall, it still touches my heart. That print has caused me to smear a lot of eye makeup.

I will send "Mutts Shelter Stories: Love, Guaranteed," which includes Flash's story, and "Call of the Wild: A Mutts Treasury" to the first reader that can tell me the names of my two retired racing greyhounds.

No hints this time; this one should be easy.

We have a winner! Barb C. correctly identified "Dogster and Catster" as the first entry on this blog. It was a little confusing because there were two entries on Sept. 25, 2007, but Barb picked the right one.

Check back tomorrow for another book giveaway.

One of the perks of this job is I get a promotional copies of books related to pets. This just feeds my bad habit, since I have a penchant for shopping Amazon just a little too often anyway.

Lately, the books are really piling up. My office is starting to look like a public library in need of a Dewey decimal system.

So, this week we are engaing in a first anniversary celebration of The Happy Wag by giving presents to faithful readers. Every day this week I will give away a book or two until we tidy up my workspace.

I have a copy of the bestseller "Marley & Me" by John Grogan. This was one I purchased, like millions of other people, and couldn't put it down until I finished it. I promise there are no tear-stained pages since I was quiet careful to put the book down while I was sobbing uncontrollably.

I am willing to give away my copy of this great book along with four childrens' books about Marley published to promote the movie that will be released at Christmas. "Marley, a Dog Like No Other" is aimed at young readers, "Meet Marley" and "Marley to the Rescue" are for beginning readers and "A Very Marley Christmas" is a picture book for pre-readers.

To win, be the first person to tell me the name of the very first Happy Wag blog entry (hint: look at the monthly archives on the left side of the screen.)

We haven't participated in a dog transport this summer, largely due to busy schedules and the puppy we have at home, but we decided to volunteer to chauffeur a few pooches this weekend.

To catch up those who may be new to this topic, my hubby and I volunteer to drive legs in a cross-country transport that takes adoptable dogs from high-kill shelters in the Memphis-area to rescue groups in New England that can place them in new homes.

We usually pick these pooches up somewhere here in Roanoke, the halfway point between the originating rescue group in Brighton, Tenn., and the receiving rescue group in New Jersey or New Hampshire.

Typically we drive the Roanoke-to-Lexington route (sometimes we go as far as Harrisonburg) on Sunday mornings. Then we hand them over to another volunteer who drives them to another volunteer, and so on and so on until the get to their final destination.

This Saturday, we offered to keep the dogs overnight and then drive the leadoff leg on Sunday morning. We expected to see three dogs around 9 p.m.

We got two dogs around 9 a.m., about 12 hours earlier than we planned.

Uh, okay. Well, it's all good.

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We had a wonderful time Sunday afternoon at the Greyhound Planet picnic at Wasena Park in Roanoke. The annual gathering is a way to connect with other people that have adopted these great dogs, and for our hound Coral, it was a real family reunion.

Sarah Orrick, director of Star City Greyhound Adoptions, (or Saint Sarah of the Greys as my hubs and I call her) has placed at least six pooches from one particular West Virginia-born litter in homes in this area after their racing careers ended, including our sweet Coral.

Coral was reunited with two of her sisters, Cherry and Julie, on Sunday. That's Julie on the left, Coral in the middle, and Cherry on the right wearing the bandana.

The girls did not really seem to know each other (What did we expect, really? Hugs and kisses?), but when we chatted with the other dogs' pet parents, we noticed some striking similarities.

All three hounds have a disdain for riding in the car; all three have occasional tummy troubles and do best on a steady diet of Science Diet; each girl has a small black birthmark on their snouts; all of them are snuggle pups that love to rubbed, with a tendency to lay their heads in the lap of a willing petter.

There are a few differences. Julie has a lighter colored coat, and a cute little overbite. Cherry and Julie were never tried on the track, while Coral won a few races and moved up a few classes before she was retired.

All of them are sweet dogs that bring a whole lotta love to their families.

Sarah told me a while ago that she placed another littermate, a brother I think, with a family in Richmond, either late last year or earlier this year. I am not sure when or where the other two found homes.

According to a banner at the picnic, 38 Star City hounds have raced to new homes this year.

That's 38 dogs that now have forever homes due to the efforts of Star City Greyhound Adoptions and her crew of dedicated volunteers. These "greyt" folks bring out the dogs almost every weekend to PetsMart and introduce them to new adoptive families.

One last note for the weekend, click here to read my interview with author Lorie Long, who will be signing copies of her new book, "A Dog Who's Always Welcome," tomorrow at Barnes and Noble Booksellers at Tanglewood Mall at 2:30.

That's Lorie pictured here with her border terriers Dash and Chase.

Trainers from St. Francis Service Dogs will be on hand, and perhaps even one or two service dogs and their partners.

For the kids, there will also be a story time and a visit from Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Welcome to the Happy Wag digest. Here's a compendium of pet-related news for your pre-weekend perusal:

Last night's Cocktails for a Cause raised $1,600 for the Roanoke Dog Park. That makes it easier for me to forgive whoever outbid me for the oh-so-cute Claire V. bag at the silent auction. Keep checking here for more information on future RDP fundraising events.

Speaking of the dog park, the decision to locate it in an acre of Highland Park is being appealed. If you support the pooch park project, plan to attend the City Council meeting on Thursday, Oct. 23. Participate in the process and you can really have an effect on your community.

The benefit of my summer on WeightWatchers is that I have to shop for some new fall clothes this weekend. My little shopping spree can also benefit the Roanoke Valley SPCA if I buy a discount card at Macy's at Valley View. I can buy a shopping pass for $5 (every dime of that goes to the RVSPCA) and I get 10 to 20 percent off my purchases. Sweet deal for everyone.

RVSPCA volunteers will also be on hand at Grand Furniture across from Tanglewood Mall selling T-shirts and tickets to the Oct. 16 Spay-ghetti Dinner. The proceeds from that event are applied to the cost of spaying and neutering adoptable pets and the food is pretty tasty. For more information on the Spay-ghetti event, click here.

The Bedford County animal shelter is holding a Furtastic Festival on Saturday featuring a massive, free-of-charge, pet adopt-a-thon and activities for folks of all ages from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the shelter, 1307 Falling Creek Road in Bedford. The shelter is planning a remodel, meaning there will temporarily be less space to house the 50 cats and 35 dogs that reside there now. So, it's like a wonderful clearance sale: Everyone must go to a good and loving home.

While there is no charge for adopting a pooch or kitty at this event from the Bedford shelter, adoptive pet parents must agree to get their new family member spayed or neutered, if needed, and vaccinated within 30 days.

Congratulations to the volunteers of the Franklin County Humane Society, who broke ground on a new, no-kill adoption center yesterday. The building campaign in on-going and there are naming opportunities for the Doggie Dens and the Cat Condos. Contact Donna Essig at 493-2583 or click here to visit the Web site to become a founding donor.

Finally, the annual Greyhound Planet Picnic is Sunday. If you have a retired racer lying around your house, see if you can encourage him or her to get off the couch and come out and mingle with the other hounds at 1 p.m. in Wasena Park. This event is like a family reunion for those of us who are blessed with these wonderful dogs in our family, and it's a nice way to raise some money to support Star City Greyhound Adoptions.

Healing Strides of Virginia, an equine-assisted therapies program, will hold its second annual Saddles and Bluegrass Hoedown fall fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 18 from noon to 4 p.m. at 272 Naff Road in Boones Mill.

Healing Strides offers a variety of equine-assisted therapies to children, teens, and adults with physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities. Programs include therapeutic riding lessons, psychotherapy, and service and vocational learning and development.

The event will feature riding demonstrations, live bluegrass music by the Harwell Grice Band, a kids activities, barbeque from Henry's Memphis Barbeque, a silent auction, raffles and giveaways. Brett Sharp of 94.9 Star Country will serve as master of ceremonies.

For more information, please visit www.healingstridesofva.org.

St. Philip Lutheran Church will host a Blessing of the Animals at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 5.

The church is located at 8115 Williamson Road, just north of Hollins University. The service is non-denominational and not at all species-specific; critters of all kinds are welcome.

The blessing commemorates the life of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and the environment, who founded the Franciscan order and was known extending compassion to people and animals.

The news release asks that you "bring your pet to be blessed with God’s love. We can’t guarantee it will make them stop chewing on your most expensive pair of shoes, but it can’t hurt."

The blessing is free, but in the charitable spirit of St. Francis, the church will be accepting cleansers, antiseptics, litter, and anything else that might be useful as a donation to local shelters and rescues.

Contact David Derrick at 366-4076 for more information.