Home » Plants & Animals » Working Animals » Leaving Home Without Nina

Leaving Home Without Nina

© Pam Carneal

One of the blessings we can be thankful for, this holiday, is our pets. But sometimes their destructive behavior can make them almost impossible to live with and the pet ends up homeless. And then sometimes...well, I'll just let you read this inspirational story for yourself. ~Joy

---

When I first met Nina, sitting quietly on the sidewalk in front of the busy turnpike McDonald's at the Ohio state line, I remember thinking, "What a nice puppy."

I was meeting my stepdaughter to pick up my grandson for a weekend visit and Nina had come along with them for the exchange. What caught my attention was how calm she remained amidst all the commotion while we loaded belongings and car seats and imparted ritual good-bye kisses. She was only a few months old and seemed quite friendly, not at all shy. I guess what surprised me was, there was no sign of the frenzied energy I usually associate with young pups. Nevertheless, after we were on our way, I did not give it another thought, at least not right away.

I was surprised two months later, when my stepdaughter told me she had given Nina to a friend. She explained that it had just gotten too painful to hear Nina wailing each morning when she crated her before going to work. She said it upset my grandson terribly and she was tired of having to bathe Nina each night because she urinated on herself in the crate. She also confessed that the friend that took Nina did not really want her, but was doing my stepdaughter a favor. Without even thinking about it or talking it over with my husband, I told her to give the friend a call and tell her I would take her. I have no idea why I did that. I have raised dogs all my life, but three years earlier, I swore I would never own a dog again after having to put two down, because of intractable medical problems, within a year of each other. I had never had to do that before and did not want to be in the position to have to make that painful decision ever again. Nevertheless, there I was just a week later, at the turnpike McDonald's again. This time it was to bring Nina home with me.

When I first got Nina, I was unemployed and had plenty of time to train her by taking her to basic and then intermediate obedience classes and she did very well. She loved to ride in the car and I took every opportunity for socialization by introducing her to different situations where she could meet new people. She was welcome everywhere we went and got along well with adults, kids, and pets. I replaced the small, wire crate that my stepdaughter used with a roomy travel crate, hoping we could establish a better pattern of behavior in a new crate. I gradually increased her times in the crate, to try to build her confidence that it would only be for a little while. However, she never really took to it, so I only crated her when I had to leave home and she could not go with me.