fur baby friday

This is my dog (Rene) and one of my three cats (Dinky). All of our animals are rescues in one way or another. These two are devoted to each other. Can you tell?

Today is Rene's story.

Rene came to us when we were still living in Texas. One day my daughter ran into the house and said "Mommy! There's a dog outside!" Well, that's all *I* needed. We went outside and coaxed her up onto our porch. She was very shy and skittish. Someone hadn't been very nice to her. She looked to be in good health, clean, not under-nourished but very very skittish. I finally was able to get her relaxed enough to fall asleep in my lap. That was in the evening. When my daughter and I went back in the house I told her if the pup was still there in the morning we were keeping her.

The next morning came and we rushed outside .... and the puppy dog was gone. Well, we started looking for her and, lo and behold, our neighbors thought she *was* our dog and had put her in their back yard! I have no idea why they thought she was ours. They didn't see us with her the evening before. Needless to say, we went right over and claimed her as ours. It took a while but she finally got over the worst of her skittishness. For the first two years we didn't think she could bark. Well, she has disabused us of *that* notion!

Can you imagine having to coax your dog onto the couch? Took us a while to get her comfortable with that idea. When she would come in from the rain and we would get a towel to dry her off, the towel would absolutely freak her out. Sometimes I wonder just what was done to her. As she's gotten older she has started getting more skittish again. She sticks to me like glue when she's feeling that way.

I love this dog. This is the best dog in the world.