Yesterday was the day we decided to call Shady’s birthday. She’s considered four, though she’s really a Permanent Puppy, and those are ageless.

One year ago yesterday, we miraculously got her back after this sequence of events:

• Horrible life with previous owner (she lived under a bed for a year)
• Return to the Humane Society
• A couple of months alone in a visiting room with little attention (the main kennel was too stressful)
• Nine days as a foster dog with Molly and Tess
• Twelve hours placed with a potential adoptive home
• One stupid decision by that potential adoptive home to put a special needs dog alone in a backyard with a crappy fence
• Three weeks on the street in and around Cooper-Young in below-freezing temperatures, apparently including a few trips to some truly scary neighborhoods
• A heart-stopping moment where we followed up a great tip from someone who saw one of our 200 signs and we actually laid eyes on her
• A frustrating couple of hours of being chased by us and neighborhood kids around train tracks and abandoned scrap yards (she was too scared and freaked out to come to us)
• Three days of being actively hunted by us around the clock
• A full-on canvassing effort by several generous Humane Society dog-walking colleagues to locate and help catch her
• Me seeing her cornered in a mess of scrap metal, climbing down in there, picking her up, and handing her to Molly

And now, she’s a wonderful, happy, well-adjusted snugglepuppy.  Her meds certainly help, as does being part of a pack in a protective and loving environment. She sleeps between the pillows in her puppy pocket, she snores and grunts and yawns like a beagle, she chases Tess around a huge (and extremely secure) backyard, and most of all, she truly seems to enjoy her life.

A life that started all over, one year ago yesterday.

Photos: Steven Bryant