I first met "mommy dog", during a bleak time of my life. It was late October, or early November of 2006, and very cold. I was working three days a week, seventy five miles from home, one way. I realized later, that she had chose me, of all people in and out of the school, to be HER mom. Also, she was my christmas gift, the best one in 20 years.

Mommy dog came running acrossed the play ground, towards me, it seemed. I was appalled. It was aparent that she had recently given birth, which I was familiar with. However, none of the animals that I had seen were as skeletal as the walking dead. She was nothing but bones, mamary glands and a huge bony head. Despite this, mommy dog, had a huge submissive smile and wagged her tail so hard that her body wagged with it. It became apparent that she liked to kiss, but she was really foul smelling, as she scavenged for a living. Since no one fed or watered her, she became my mommy dog.

She had such a huge head, in relation to her body, that many said that she was a pit bull, and should not be on school property. I fed and watered her three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Fridays. I felt extreme guilt, whenever I went home because, when I would return 1 to 4 days later, I would find no food, no water, or the previous day's water, frozen solid.

Soon, Angie, the secretary, would give me her left over lunch, to give mommy dog, one teacher, randomly would feed her, and Jeff, a 5th grade teacher, would take his class to take care of her. I started leaving dogfood with him, and I would return to a dog dish full of nacho chips, salad?, left over field trip lunches, and still no water.

By early December, mommy dog would sleep in the sun on a cushion, just inside the portable, outside my therapy room. She usually left to care for her puppies while I was working with my students. She almost blew the arrangement when she followed Ms. McN., the principal into the portable, hoping for food.
I thought that she would get us both tossed out, but it did not happen.

During this time would try to find a home for her, and her puppies. Her demeanor was great, but her looks and stench said otherwise. Before Christmas Break, I came to work on a Tuesday and found her four puppies waiting. Two were white with black and 2 were black with wite, all four were females, fluffy, and fat. Mommy dog was white with black, skinny and short haired. She let the pre-school students pet her puppies, under supervision of their teachers, mommy dog and me. That was when I knew that she was a truly good dog. She had always had my heart, but she now had my trust.

A week before Christmas, I came to work and found the puppies gone. They had been adoptedby a teacher, to be a gift for her grandkids. My husband had always said that it was not a good idea to bring her home as we already had two dogs, and one of them was a dominant alpha-female named Zeva. Despite this, I spoke with my friend Lynda, who gave me a dog carrier, to put mommy dog in, for the ride home. My husband, despite his concerns for all of the dog's safety, agreed that mommy dog should come home, unless I found her a better home. That Friday, dog carrier in car, I was anxious. I did not want to go home for break without her, and I was scared that she would not show up. When mommy dog showed up, running, funnily, acrossed the play ground, after my loud, long whistle, I put her in the car carrier, early in the day. She went in the box, in the car, immediately.

I felt guilty about her being in the box, as it was cold, even though she had blankets, towels, food and water. Around noon, I let her out, of the box, but not the car.

At the end of the school day, we left, right away to meet lynda, in town, as mommy dog needed to se the vet and be spayed. We met Lynda, down town, where we put the box in her truck. It had been agreed that mommy dog would not meet my other 2 dogs until she was recovered.

I took mommy dog out of the car, on a leash, and was ready to help Lynda lift her into the truck and box, and lynda turned to me and said, "you know, she can't be mommy dog after this, you have to name her"

I looked at mommy dog, then at Lynda and said,





"her name is Princess, cause she is a Princess"

She wants to know "does this angle make me look fat? Princess had gained weight during her recovery from her spaying, and her near starvation. 2 years after, we now feel that she is older than we thought, and she now is more active and has developed a "waist". Her weight was also in her mamary glands, which have also shrunk up, this winter.

Although she is a hefty 60 pounds, my brother says "a sausage on toothpicks", she finds time to sit on my husband's lap! May be the cause of his ruptured disc!! Not really, Princess, he loves you and lets you sleep with us!

She is a very happy girl, but still runs when a broom or stick like object is picked up. This flight behavior leads us to believe tha she was beaten at some point.