Liberty

A little over a month ago, well maybe even a month and a half ago, Joy and I were on our way to town when we saw a dog almost a mile down the road from our house. The dog was dragging a chain behind it. Joy, being the animal lover that she is, begged for me to stop and get the "poor little dog" and bring it home with us. The dog did look confused and like it was on a mission to get somewhere. Well, I told her that we could not stop and pick up the dog for several reasons. It obviously belonged to someone since it had a chain around it's neck...besides the fact that we didn't need a dog. We already have two cats inside (that I ended up feeling sorry for and bringing inside). A dog presents all kinds of problems when you go out of town. Not to mention the fact that all of the stray dogs so far that we've had....always end up getting in the road and well you know what happens. One in particular I had really gotten attached to and it was really hard!

Anyway, back to the trip to town.....we went on our way. As we did, Joy remarked that she thought the dog would probably come to our house anyway....that it was okay. (I learned later that she did a little praying of her own).

We were gone less than an hour....probably about 45 minutes...for a quick run to pick up a friend. When we pulled in the driveway, there was that little dog, chain and all, waiting on us, just like it knew what Joy said....or like this was home. I couldn't believe it! The girls got out of the car and called the dog (after instructions on being careful with a strange dog). The dog acted like it was scared and pulled back...you know like a dog does when it's not trusting of humans. The girls immediately came to the conclusion that it had been mistreated. It didn't take the dog long to learn that these girls could be trusted! I helped them remove the chain (no collar...just a chain looped around and latched) because I was afraid it would get caught on something. We gave it food and water. We discovered that "it" was a girl.




Joy asked if she could be her dog. I figured the dog would be gone when we took her friend home later...but she must have liked us. She hasn't left since. She acts like this has always been her home and we have always been her "family." Even Jason has been "suckered". He's been feeding her in the evenings and Joy feeds her in the mornings. Colt loves her too! She acts like such a "faithful" dog. She waits on Joy at the door when she goes in for a minute. She sleeps on a doorstep and greets us when we come home!




We've been waiting to see if she stays around longer and stays off the road...or if someone claims her....and so far she's done well with the road and no one has claimed her. We've asked around. We really weren't looking for a dog, but what do you do when the dog lands on your doorsetep, is so cute and friendly and decides she's staying?

Oh, and since she took the liberty of making our house her home...we named her "Liberty".

She follows Joy's every step.



Then waits on her until she comes back outside!



She even "dances" with her!



Actually we've discovered recently that Liberty (Libby for short) is a "thief" dog too. Who knows what kind of life she lived before..but she's good at snatching food! She's so fast that you don't realize you've been swindled until she's gone!

We've had two different instances of having company over and she stole their food! One of Joy's friends, Molly Grace, left her package of twizzlers on the pool deck while she was in the pool. Liberty just walked up so non-chalantly and appeared to be "visiting" with us....then snatched the package and was gone! We didn't find her until those twizzlers were long gone!

Then a week or so later, we had friends over to swim. We were having lunch outside on the patio. She did the same things with little 5 year old, Tyler. She leaned up like she was being the friendliest little dog....then snatched a piece of pizza right off his plate and was gone again!

So....I guess the name fits too. She came to us on a broken chain......free......and she takes the liberty of helping herself to our home, our yard, our food, but mostly our love.



Look at her...it almost looks like a smirky smile, don't you think?