I found Sweet Pea in a lemon orchard on my way home from work one night. She was about 4 months old, frightened, thin, and covered with fleas. She was sitting under a tree with very 'old' eyes full of despair; waiting for the car that had dumped her to come back. She would have been coyote chow if I hadn't stopped and lured her into the car with the smell of my lunch sack.

She was so traumatized that she wretched every time we put her into the car to go for a ride, and then cried pitifully and struggled when it was time to get out again.

But that was long ago, and she was always the sweetest thing. She liked all people, all animals, and always played with new dogs.

You should have seen this girl RUN in her youth. It was like she floated and the angels sang with joy at the beauty of her. Over the years she had a few medical challenges, including a two eye conditions, "doggie ACL" knee surgery at about 8 years due to years of playing "grab the leg" with her brother Dufey, fused vertebrae at about 9 years from the toll of years of long distance running that she absolutely lived to do, and a heart murmer at the age of 12 due to a frayed valve leading out of the atrium. Her condition was monitored by a fine doggie cardiologist and remained fairly stable with the medication Enalapril for another 2 years until the day before she crossed. I had been warned that there was no "cure" for this since there was no artificial valve for doggies currently. I was also advised that when that valve finally gave, it would be very quick. I held her until she passed. I still miss her dreadfully. But I keep seeing images of her running in enormous circles with her happy grin, almost like she's telling me that she's happy and not to be sad.

This story is an example of how awesome this little girl was. At the age of 10, despite all the medical challenges she had overcome, she took off for an early morning mountain run in an October snow storm with the 2 year old Chow boy, Rolie Polie, in pursuit. She was gone for so long that all the nervous mother things were going through my head. So I put on all my winter gear for deep snow hiking and went out to look. After about an hour of calling and whistling and slogging through deep snow, she came galloping up to me, smiling, happy, and not even breathing hard. About 10 minutes later, the big, strong, 2 year old Chow boy dragged his butt in, exhausted and breathing hard. They had been gone, running, for almost 5 hours.

Thank goodness that not all of our critters have such an eventful life nor have such medical challenges, but they each get the care and love they need and want for a long and happy life. If you can, and would like to help, would you sponsor one of these little critters for $5/month or $60/year? We will send you their picture and story and keep you updated on your critter.