Marley chose us (short story)

This is our Marley, she showed up in our area this past summer, we believe; someone dropped her off. Some of you already know what it took to gain her trust, for you that don't, it took many months of daily feedings, each day we would speak softly only to have Marley fly off. It seemed she was very afraid of the human kind.

Then one day, I came in from photographing Marley and mentioned to my granddaughter that I had been out again taking pictures of (the dog) as she was refered to back then. Our granddaughter had asked if she could get some shots on her own and headed out the front door. Busy in the house, I wandered over to the window, here is our granddaughter on the front porch her head tucked downward and she's wagging her backside like a dog and standing directly in front of her is the dog, Marley, tounge hanging out and wagging her own tail. Wow, our granddaughter is playing with the dog who we've been trying for months to gain her trust. The very next day, our granddaughter goes off to school, upon returning home surprisingly enough "the dog" meets her in the driveway.

We have captured Marley's heart, she is "learning" to trust us more and more each day. The weather outside is turning chilly as fall approaches, so we lay a heavy blanket on the front porch for the new dog to sleep nights.

We are unsure at this time, whether to let her inside, didn't know what would bring someone to drop such a beautiful creature off inthe middle of the boonies. Must have done sumptin real bad to deserve that! After about a week on the porch I tried letting her in for an hour here and there, until one day she remained inside all day. She has now worked her way into not only our hearts but our home as well. Letting Marley out nights to sleep, it is getting really cold out there dropping into the lower 30's F at night. Then a storm blew in and Marley was outside, when I got up in the middle of the night to let her in she was nowhere to be found. The wind is howling, the rain is coming down in sheets, where could she have gone to wait it out, this we never knew. From this point foreward Marley slept inside in our laundryroom, she started with just a babygate across the door to keep her in, that didn't hold Marley long before she learned to jump over it. She then required two gates stacked on top of each other to hold her in, whining each night in hopes we would just let her have her freedom.

Here you see Marley playing with our 11 year old Lab mix (who until now) would not even think of letting another animal into his yard. Marley has captured his heart also, in a big way, Buster, loves Marley and the two will play for hours.

To Be Continued