Part Three of Four

...Continued

Lady had a very rough adjustment to living outside of the laboratory. Things weren’t the same, and it was hard for her to remember all of the new aspects of family living. Accidents were had, things were eaten, and tempers were flared all in the matter of a few weeks. There was a time when she would only respond to – and protect – my mother. If anyone, including my father, came in between her and my mother she would get very defensive. My Dad at one point wasn’t sure if we would be able to keep her because of her dominance. There were a lot of tears in those first few weeks, too.

Time went on and Lady began to thrive and fully enjoy all that life outside of the laboratory could offer. She would go outside and actually smell the flowers. She would look up at the trees as if she were watching the leaves move in the wind. She would chase squirrels and even try to chase them up the trees. She would go out and just lay in the sunshine for hours. In fact, quite often we would have to call her in to have a drink so that she wouldn’t dehydrate herself. She was so easy going – in fact she even let my Mom and I dress her up on a few occasions. She developed an affinity for carrots and every time my Dad got out the bag for a snack she would be at his feet waiting for her share. She began to feel comfortable with everyone in the family, and all thoughts of returning her were banned from our consciences forever.

There were definitely times that I did wonder if perhaps her original name of Trouble perhaps suited her better. She became infamous at our vet for ingesting an entire 5-pound bag of skittles in one sitting and surviving to tell the tale. She developed a love affair with all things paper and could shred tissues into oblivion in mere seconds. She ingested a foreign piece of plastic that required surgery to remove it. She was nothing if not resilient.

It seems amazing to me that we brought her home with us just seven years ago. So much has happened since then, and in the background Lady has always been there.

To Be Continued...