Nancy always dreaded this part of her walk to and from work.  As an animal lover, the cur she passed by every day broke her heart. With a chain around its neck and its extreme skinniness, it was obvious that it hadn’t felt love in a while, if at all.

On numerous occasions she had called animal control, only to get the same answer.  That there were hundreds of dogs like Eliza, a name Nancy and her daughter had given her, in Los Angeles.

On dozens of occasions, her daughter had begged to keep Eliza, but Nancy wasn’t so sure.  A dog like that has to have issues. Fleas being one, but what if the dog hadn’t had socialization in a while?  She watched Animal Planet and knew how important that was.

Over the next week Nancy carefully tested things out, first leaving food, then trying to pet her through the chain link fence—Nancy felt a warm tongue when she did that, and realized she was harmless.

She gave in. Over the weekend there would be a dog rescue, but Nancy was racking her brain on how to get Eliza there, since the dog was behind a low chain link fence.  On her way to work Friday she tried to open the gate, relieved when it opened.

Saturday it was easier that she though it would be.  Nancy slipped Eliza’s collar off while her daughter stood watch.

The first thing she got was a bath.  Though she seemed unsure, Eliza was patient, as though grateful.  She curled up in her brand new bed, love and gratefulness in her eyes.

Nancy only had had pure breads growing up, and had been sort of nervous around mutts—for one, you don’t know their true personality. But Eliza changed that view.  All a dog needed was to be shown love, whether a fancy show dog or a complete mutt.