Above) Bill Wright and his chihuahua Paco. Bill's house was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. This portrait was taken outside his Fema trailer on the property where his house once stood in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Below) Sal Domino credited Buttons with keeping him alive after his bypass surgery, so when he was forced rescue teams to leave his chihuahua behind when New Orleans was evacuated, he felt that his world had truly ended. After relocation in Tickpaw, Louisiana, Sal and his family began their search for Buttons at various emergency dog shelters.

By the time they got around to the Tylertown shelter, Sal was ready to give up. "I told my wife, this is going to be our last trip. After this, I'm not going to look any more."

But as fortune had it, Tylertown records showed that Sal's dog was placed with a foster family in nearby McComb, and the family was soon reuinited with their beloved little dog. And for Sal, as his son said, "Buttons gives him the will to live."