MINOT (AP) - Pepper, who was separated from her owner after Hurricane Katrina, is going home for Christmas.

The 6-year-old Chihuahua is hopping a plane to Mississippi on Saturday.

Karen Thunshelle, the shelter manager for the Souris Valley Humane Society in Minot, said Pepper will be glad to be back in warmer temperatures, and glad to see her owners, Tony and Shirley Licciardi. Thunshelle planned to accompany Pepper to New Orleans to meet the Licciardis, of Nicholson, Miss.

Darla Yliniemi, who has provided a foster home for Pepper, said the dog gets along better with her own dogs and cat than she does with the weather.

"She likes to wear her sweater," she said. "She doesn't like the cold, but she's not afraid of my big dogs."

The Humane Society of the United States is funding the trip to bring Pepper back to the Licciardis before Christmas.

"I can't wait to see her," said Tony Licciardi, who said he suffers from widespread bone cancer. He said Pepper's return might help him physically, by relieving the distress he felt since losing her.

"All I do is cry about her, cry for her," he sad. "I sure miss her."

Pepper came to North Dakota after Thunshelle befriended her while assisting with animal rescue operations in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in September. The white and pale brown short-haired dog was dirty, hungry, carrying fleas and scared.

"She was a little nippy," Thunshelle said. "She actually just bonded with me. I was about one of the only people who could handle her down there. I just couldn't leave her down there."

So Thunshelle arranged to bring Pepper to Minot.

Tony Licciardi said he became separated from Pepper and his two other dogs when police came to rescue him from his home, flooded under 7 feet of water. When the police went back for the dogs, they were unable to find them.

Licciardi said he spent a couple of days on a Navy boat and it was some time before he could search for his dogs.

"I have been all over looking for them, calling everybody," he said. The two missing dogs are a Chihuahua and Pomeranian.

Licciardi told an animal rescue worker in New Orleans about his dogs after returning to check on damage to his home there. Through a hurricane registry, Pepper was located in Minot. Licciardi said he identified Pepper's Internet picture on the computer in a library.

"I said, 'Yes, that's her!'" he said. "I have never seen another one her color with markings like she has."

Pepper was known as Booboo at Souris Valley Humane Society, until she was identified about three weeks ago.

"The first time the wind picked up, she paced half the night. She just couldn't settle down," Yliniemi said. "She's slowly adjusted to know the wind is not going to hurt her."

Thunshelle said the humane society will miss Pepper, but she is pleased to find the dog's owner.

"He doesn't have anything anymore, so we are glad we can make at least something good come out of this," she said.