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She lived across the street from my daughter, small for her boxer breed due to longterm neglect. She was probably less than 2-years-old and already nursing her second litter of mutt puppies. She was tied with a heavy rope, no shelter, no water, and no food dish.

DOG. PHOTO: PIXABAY / CORTEZ13

Occasionally, she would break or gnaw the rope and come running across the road to my daughter's house, where pancakes and biscuits saved and frozen for her would be waiting. Then she would go back across the busy road to her babies.

I first saw her on a Thanksgiving afternoon, trailing the bitten rope and begging at the back door. As I watched her eat the scraps of dinner, her swollen breasts flopping and her emaciated body almost too weak to stand, I said to my daughter that if she didn't call the animal control people, the dog would be dead in a day or so. Daughter called the next day, and she and her six live puppies (she kept trying to make a dead one nurse) were taken to the animal shelter. She weighed all of 15 pounds.

We sponsored her at the shelter, making sure she had plenty to eat. One of their special needs workers cared for her with much love and attention. It took a month of good food to get her in good enough condition to be spayed. The pups were sent to a boxer rescue to hopefully become service dogs.

PHOTO: NANCY LINGERFELT

The day she came to live with me, I promised her neither her water nor her food dish would ever be empty. We are now well into our 13th year together.

Story submitted by Nancy Lingerfelt from Newport, Tennessee.

This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!