Ogdensburg, NY, Dec 24, 2012 — Getting your kids' pictures taken with Santa Claus has been a longtime holiday ritual for many. In recent years another group has begun vying for Santa's attention--pets--and a picture of an awkward dog or an annoyed looking cat in Father Christmas' lap has become a fairly common site on the mantle.

In Ogdensburg on the day after Thanksgiving last year, Amvets Auxiliary post 19 invited people to come out to Tractor Supply with their pets to meet Santa. The event was a benefit for St. Jude Children's research hospital. Nora Flaherty's dog gets nervous in crowds, so she stayed home--but Nora did bring her recorder for this Heard Up North: